1st time - what restaurants shouldn't be missed?

[Madhattermad]

All,

I'm planning my first trip to WLD and wondered which restaurants shouldn't be missed? We will be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

I'm looking for tips on:

1) The best places for foodies
2) The best places for signature Disney favorites
3) Advice on the best character dining experiences - where can the best character interactions be found?

I love all things Disney and my hubby is a chef (and generally thinks himself a food critic lol ), so I want a good mix of high end food but also loads of Disney flare.

Oh any views on dinner 'must do' dinner shows also welcome.

Thanks in advance

K.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

So the hardest ADR to get is be or guest. I've never eaten there but we do have a dinner ADR for our april trip. I've heard that the lunch time fast pass is better than dinner but dinner u get to meet the beast.

As for best character dining I think the dinner at 1900 park fare is by far the best character experience. It has Cinderella, Prince Charming, lady tremaine, drisella, and Anastasia. The step sisters are loud and funny and are basically what you would expect. It's a really fun meal!

I also think if you are early risers try getting early ADRs for Crystal palace (magic kingdom), akershus (epcot), & Hollywood & vine (Hollywood studios). It's always fun to get into the parks before it opens and take some really nice pics without a mob of people!

 

[jezebel73]

I agree with the PP about 1900 Park Fare dinner - definitely a fun character experience, LOTS of personality and laughs from the stepsisters! In general, all of the characer buffets are OK food, nothing out of this world, but fine. Personally I prefer face character interaction, where you can actually talk to them, but we did have a fun time at Cape May breakfast. Goofy sat in our booth and Chip and Dale stayed quie a while. It was less hectic than Chef Mickey's, etc.

Some of our non-character favorites for atmosphere: Biergarten, Sci-Fi, and we are really looking forward to our BOG lunch next month.

Favorites for food have been Boma dinner buffet (you get some more interesting flavors than your standard places), Artist Point, and Victoria & Alberts if you don't mind breaking the bank a little. From a foodie perspective, it blows everything else away. They are hapy to cater to requests and the service was fabulous as well. There is bread progression with different butters for each. Enough said.

I have not yet been to the following, but they are either booked for next month or slotted for the next trip, based on reviews of others and menu research: Narcoossee's, Jiko, the Wave, Raglan Road, California Grill, Kona Cafe. Naturally, the signature meals tend to have the best quality food and service, but less Disney flare.

 

[Kuzcotopia1]

So the hardest ADR to get is be or guest. I've never eaten there but we do have a dinner ADR for our april trip. I've heard that the lunch time fast pass is better than dinner but dinner u get to meet the beast.
QUOTE]

I ate dinner at Be Our Guest at the beginning of the month and thought it was overrated. Sitting here I'm trying to think of the highlight of our meal and nothing is coming to mind. I had the french onion soup and steak. The wine was really good - Enchantee & only available there - but I could easily find something just like it at home.

I would highly, highly, highly recommend Yak & Yeti if you're in Animal Kingdom and like asian fusion. Yum!

 

[Vemnox]

All,

I'm planning my first trip to WLD and wondered which restaurants shouldn't be missed? We will be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

I'm looking for tips on:

1) The best places for foodies
2) The best places for signature Disney favorites
3) Advice on the best character dining experiences - where can the best character interactions be found?

1. Boma
2. Artist Point
3. Chef Mickey's

 

[katiea86]

IMO the ones that shouldn't be missed are Boma and California Grill. Boma has great food and atmosphere, different than i can find where i live (and i live in the NYC area, so i can get basically anything), and since its a buffet, there's no worry that about trying new things and potentially not liking something. I love the carrot ginger soup so much that i now make it at home. The food at California Grill is great and the view from the dining room is unbeatable. I went fro my birthday last year and our waiter actually held off on putting in our entrees so that we would definitely be there to go outside and watch the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom. He timed it such that we finished our entrees, went outside for fireworks, then came back in for dessert...the kitchen even wrote "happy birthday" on my plate

As far as Be Our Guest, I love it for lunch since i can use a quick service credit, but i think it sounds overrated for dinner. The food is good IMO, but my favorite thing about it is that i get the feeling that I'm walking into the movie when i walk in the dining room, so I dont see a reason to spend extra money on it.

A few other restaurants that I like are Artist Point (good food/atmosphere), Restaurant Marrakesh, and 50s Prime Time Cafe(themeing can't be beat).

 

[holden]

Jiko is our favorite restaurant. California Grill is good too.

Best character interaction is Chef Mickey's but the food is terrible. Breakfast at CRT is nice too, but food is just ok.

 

[JoeA]

We love Jiko. Food is wonderful and they do a very good job with special (dietary) request.

 

[Hootch]

a couple of years ago on the restaurant board naming the worst restaurants at WDW. Eventually every restaurant was named - including V&A. Tastes vary widely.

Higher end:

Victoria and Alberts is the best restaurant on property.
Blue Zoo is great also

Signatures:

I'm fond of Artist Point for the food and atmosphere
Jiko is a different experience with great food.
California Grill is also woth considering

Characters

Chef Mickey's for the fab five. Do breakfast
Crystal Palace for the Pooh characters
1900 Park Fare if you like the Cinderella story. The step sisters are fun

There is a new character breakfast at the Four Seasons. It is Goofy and Pals. In the one review I have seen, Mickey and Minnie were there and the food got very good reviews.

 

[tina.tina]

We had the best character interaction at Crystal Palace and Garden Grill. Chef Mickey's was so loud and people were everywhere. It was definitely not relaxing for dinner on our arrival day. Someone I know went to Chef Mickey's a couple of months before we did and said it was their best character meal. So, I think they're all hit or miss.

We ate at CRT, Garden Grill, HDDR, Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, and H&V. Garden Grill was probably our best meal food wise. Most other places weren't as good as Golden Corral. Our kids loved fried chicken at the time and therefore loved the HDDR. The show was cheesy but cute.