We just came back from Mouseland and I had to add my experiences with the dining situation. We arrived on Sunday 4/27 and after checking in at POFQ headed to the MK.
We walked up to the Plaza Restaurant at about 4:45 PM and asked about seating. We were given a pager and were seated within 15-20 minutes. The park was as busy as I have ever seen, wall to wall people. Were we just lucky?
Monday 4/28 we arrived at Epcot at about 11 AM after sleeping in. We went to the Customer Service area . They had a board listing all of the open and closed options. We asked about the Cape May Buffet and they had seating at 8:30. That was too late or us so we asked for and received 5 PM seating at San Angel Inn. They also had opening that evening at Chefs France, the Chinese place and Morocco that I remember.
Tuesday 4/29 we did Animal Kingdom. At about 11:45 we walked up to the Tusker House and asked about seating. We were told that we could be, and were, seated in about 10 minutes.
Wednesday 4/30 we toured the Hollywood Studios. Arrived about 10 AM, went directly to Guest Services and were told we could have our choice of places for lunch. We choose Mama Melrose and at about 12 noon the place was about 3/4 empty although it was filling fast as we left.
My only point in writing this is to let you know that if you are flexible you do not always have to make ADR's months in advance. We are a couple of seniors who like to wing it and it worked for us.
Of course if you are on the Dining Plan, really must have a certain restaurant, or have a larger group this might not work for you. But it did for us. Each Day we started with a breakfast bar and coffee in our room. We then had one large sit down meal per day and then had either a snack like a Dole Whip or popcorn to fill in. I am usually a pretty big eater but I was comfortable with our total intake.
BTW all of the meals were very good. Had the Plaza Club at the Plaza and it was HUGE. I did not care too much for the potato salad but it was OK. Wife had the Chicken Strawberry Salad and was VERY happy.
The Buffet at Tusker was very good. I loved the seafood stew and had some excellent chicken. Even pickey eaters can find something good here and the price was right at lunch.
Mama Melrose was a good meal. If you are used to super authentic Italian you may be dissapointed. But if you like decent Italian a bit above Olive Garden quality you will enjoy it. Here again the portions were really big. One glaring note on our experience here though. The music being played was soft rock, not Italian as in past visits. Also our waiter was from China. Kind of made it a bit unreal.
San Angel Inn. After reading the many bad reports, and also having a few bad meals here in the past I was ready for the worst. we both had the Plato Mexicano and it was very good. The steak was not cut with your fork tender but it had great flavor. The chicken enchilada and beef flauta were very tasty. The only bad part of the meal was the drink. We ordered Sangria and it was really bad.
The Dole Whips and Dole Floats are still some of our favorite vices at Disney, also the popcorn even though this trip I always seemed to get some that had lots of hulls. Oh well...
Enjoy your Disney meals wherever you decide.
We walked up to the Plaza Restaurant at about 4:45 PM and asked about seating. We were given a pager and were seated within 15-20 minutes. The park was as busy as I have ever seen, wall to wall people. Were we just lucky?
Monday 4/28 we arrived at Epcot at about 11 AM after sleeping in. We went to the Customer Service area . They had a board listing all of the open and closed options. We asked about the Cape May Buffet and they had seating at 8:30. That was too late or us so we asked for and received 5 PM seating at San Angel Inn. They also had opening that evening at Chefs France, the Chinese place and Morocco that I remember.
Tuesday 4/29 we did Animal Kingdom. At about 11:45 we walked up to the Tusker House and asked about seating. We were told that we could be, and were, seated in about 10 minutes.
Wednesday 4/30 we toured the Hollywood Studios. Arrived about 10 AM, went directly to Guest Services and were told we could have our choice of places for lunch. We choose Mama Melrose and at about 12 noon the place was about 3/4 empty although it was filling fast as we left.
My only point in writing this is to let you know that if you are flexible you do not always have to make ADR's months in advance. We are a couple of seniors who like to wing it and it worked for us.
Of course if you are on the Dining Plan, really must have a certain restaurant, or have a larger group this might not work for you. But it did for us. Each Day we started with a breakfast bar and coffee in our room. We then had one large sit down meal per day and then had either a snack like a Dole Whip or popcorn to fill in. I am usually a pretty big eater but I was comfortable with our total intake.
BTW all of the meals were very good. Had the Plaza Club at the Plaza and it was HUGE. I did not care too much for the potato salad but it was OK. Wife had the Chicken Strawberry Salad and was VERY happy.
The Buffet at Tusker was very good. I loved the seafood stew and had some excellent chicken. Even pickey eaters can find something good here and the price was right at lunch.
Mama Melrose was a good meal. If you are used to super authentic Italian you may be dissapointed. But if you like decent Italian a bit above Olive Garden quality you will enjoy it. Here again the portions were really big. One glaring note on our experience here though. The music being played was soft rock, not Italian as in past visits. Also our waiter was from China. Kind of made it a bit unreal.
San Angel Inn. After reading the many bad reports, and also having a few bad meals here in the past I was ready for the worst. we both had the Plato Mexicano and it was very good. The steak was not cut with your fork tender but it had great flavor. The chicken enchilada and beef flauta were very tasty. The only bad part of the meal was the drink. We ordered Sangria and it was really bad.
The Dole Whips and Dole Floats are still some of our favorite vices at Disney, also the popcorn even though this trip I always seemed to get some that had lots of hulls. Oh well...
Enjoy your Disney meals wherever you decide.
