2 adults/DDP/First Trip

[itsallaboutme]

As we know nothing about WDW restaurants , please help me decide for our first trip in August! We have that free dining plan promotion.

PLEASE help me with suggestions! I would like TS restaurant ideas for each park please! My hubby is a meat/potatoes kind of guy and I am more open to trying new things.

Thank you so much and I am worrying as I keep reading about needing ADRs made now but don't know enough to choose. We are open to characters meals as well as non-character meals.

 

[chirurgeon]

I'll give you my top pick for each park.

Crystal Palace Buffet in the Magic Kingdom. This is a character buffet. It is very good. A nice variety including meat and potatoes.

Chef De France in World Showcase. The best onion soup in the world. And meat and potatoes too.

Hollywood Brown Derby in Hollywood Studios is very elegant and relaxing.

Tusker House is also a buffet. To be honest I haven't eaten here since it changed to a buffet, but I did have the breakfast buffet they serve for the Sunrise Safari and it was wonderful. I am basing my recommendation on that experience.

Have a great time.

Kim

 

[FireDancer]

I was an annual passholder for 2 years while living in FL so I did get to eat at a lot of restaurants so here are my choices:

Magic Kingdom: I agree with the Crystal Palace. They have a wide variety of food and to be honest is the only note-worthy place to eat in the MK as far as sit down restaurants in my humble opinion.

Epcot - Future World: You either love or hate the Garden Grill in the Land Pavilion and I am the former. I will warn you to check out the menu first which you can do online because it isn't huge but I love the atmosphere. This is my favorite pavilion in Future world though so I could be biased.

Epcot - World Showcase: There are two trains of thought here. One, grab a smaller item at some of the counters in the different pavilions and just “graze around the world”. This could work out great because you could get a taco or burrito in Mexico, some desert in Norway, a cup of coffee in Italy, and so on around the world. I have to say it is very hard to pick only one place in WS. I have to go with Restaurant Marrakesh but they aren't very meat and potatoes so I will go with the San Angel Inn inside Mexico. While technically not meat & potatoes either what American isn't at least familiar with Mexican food?

Animal Kingdom: I love the new menu at Tusker House. Boma in the AKL is my favorite restaurant in WDW and Tusker House is like a Boma-light restaurant. They have stuff like couscous and humus but also have prime rib for your husband. I also believe the kids station had hamburgers which an adult can grab.

Studios: I almost never eat at the Studios so I will make a different suggestion. It is a very scenic walk from the studios to Boardwalk where I think you will find better food. My recommendation would be to throw your husband a bone and eat at the ESPN zone. It would be almost impossible to get in if you are going during a big game like the Stanley Cup or something like that so make an ADR but the food there is excellent! I know most people would lump them in with Planet Hollywood type food but I have eaten there at WDW and DL and never had a bad experience.

That is all I've got...have a great trip.

 

[olydizknee]

I went on an adult only trip last September during Free Dining and had a blast.

My picks:
Magic Kingdom: Liberty Tree Tavern- All you can eat meat and potatos, plus green beans for color. It is character dining.

Epcot: Coral Reef- Great atmosphere and delicious Chocolate Wave dessert.

Animal Kingdom: Did not eat at table service restaurants, but I will be trying the Yak & Yeti and Tusker House this time around.

Hollywood Studios: 50's Prime-time and Sci-fi are tied in my book. Both have neat theming and OK food.

 

[beroh2253]

Just ME and DW this year and past 2 years on the free DDP. Did you check out the menus, I'll attach the All Ears site. Lots of great restaurants in EPCOT , also really like Capt Jacks in DTD and Kona Cafe at Poly. Maybe try the Hoop DE Doo we are doing that one OOP to free up 2 TS for other restaurants. New for us this year is Spoodles at the Board Walk. For breakfast Boma but going to try Crystal Palace this year.
Love the ribs and BBQ chicken @ Flame Tree BBQ for CS in the Animal Kingdom. We have always gone the last week in Sept. so we could use some of the snack credits at the Food and Wine Fest.
Spend may a night at Germany EPCOT watching Illuminations having a Draft Beer (OOP)
Best place for watching Illuminations during dinner for us is Rose and Crown out on the lower patio.

Just make sure to get those ADR's made asap and have a great time.


http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

 

[itsallaboutme]

So far we have decided on Crystal palace and Tusker House for the latest breakfast at each. We also booked Liberty Tree for dinner before the halloween party on September 5th.

So will spend 2 days at Epcot, 1 day at Magic Kingdom in addition to the party night, 1 day at hollywood studios and 1 day at animal kingdom.

Here's what we have got so far but have many open spots:

Animal Kingdom - latest breakfast at Tusker House

Magic Kingdom - latest breakfast at crystal palace one day, liberty tree tavern for dinner the night of the party

Hollywood Studios - open

Epcot x 2 - both open

 

[justplaingoofy]

this is my 2 cents:

Magic Kingdom- Crystal Palace or Liberty Tree Tavern
MGM- Mama Melrose's or 50's Primetime Cafe
Epcot- LeCellier (fabulous steakhouse, but hard to get reservation)
Animal Kingdom- don't do sit downs here..

have you been to allearsnet.com website? They have menus posted for restaurants.

 

[itsallaboutme]

We added Coral Reef for lunch. I tried for dinner but there were no opening other than 4pm which seemed way too early for us. We also booked a dinner at Chefs de France. We have a total of 8 credits so three more options for us to choose yet.

 

[catne]

at HS, try for Mama Melrose (Italian menu) or Hollywood & Vine (American buffett) and get the Fantasmic package with it (reserved seating section for Fantasmic...saves a lot of waiting in line to see the show.) You have to give a credit card to hold the reservation, but it only takes 1 TS credit. If you choose this, hurry to get your ADR's because they only book a limited number of the Fantasmic packages.