Adults Only Trip Recommendations

[DGsAtBLT]

DH and I are leaving the kids behind and going in October. When we go with the family we tend to do the same TS from trip to trip and have one every night, usually the buffets/family style restaurants. I *think* we’ve been to almost all those. Trying to get away from our usual and go with all new things since it’s just us, but I’m having trouble not falling back on old favourites!

Right now our tentative TS plans are California Grill for dinner, Boma breakfast, Kona breakfast (a repeat, but it’s necessary!), and the Plaza for lunch. We plan on lots of food and wine booths, and some new to us QS to fill in the gaps.

Any TS or QS recommendations for us? We’ve got a pretty wide open schedule, so location isn’t too important! Staying at BWV.

 

[goofy4prez]

If money is no problem then of course Victoria & Albert is an incredible dining experience. If that is out of the budget, some of my favorite restaurants that are nice for just a couple are.

• Jiko. One of my favorites with excellent food and service to match. The restaurant is also not usually loud either.
• Tiffins. This one surprised me in a nice way. If you don't want to leave the park (AK) this would be an excellent option.
• Narcoossee's. It can get a bit loud, but I love the food and I also enjoy the ground level view of the fireworks.
• California Grill. You already have this one and I agree with it, especially to view the fireworks.
• Flying Fish. Excellent food. And since you are at the BWV this is also an excellent choice.

And a couple other ones I enjoy that are not on the DDP would be Blue Zoo and Shula's. They are both located at the Swan/Dolphin and will not disappoint.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

If money is no problem then of course Victoria & Albert is an incredible dining experience. If that is out of the budget, some of my favorite restaurants that are nice for just a couple are.

• Jiko. One of my favorites with excellent food and service to match. The restaurant is also not usually loud either.
• Tiffins. This one surprised me in a nice way. If you don't want to leave the park this would be an excellent option.
• Narcoossee's. It can get a bit loud, but I love the food and I also enjoy the ground level view of the fireworks.
• California Grill. You already have this one and I agree with it, especially to view the fireworks.
• Flying Fish. Excellent food. And since you are at the BWV this is also an excellent choice.

And a couple other ones I enjoy that are not on the DDP would be Blue Zoo and Shula's. They are both located at the Swan/Dolphin and will not disappoint.

Thank you! We’re not on the DDP so we’re pretty much open to anything, will check our menus/reviews for those!

...except maybe not V&A lol!

 

[kiramay]

Lounges. I had so much fun trying out the different lounges with my sister. The Wave, Trader Sam’s, Baseline Taphouse, and Brown Derby Lounge were our favorites. I like the margaritas and food at Chorza de Margarita.

 

[alex9179]

Agree with lounges. No ADRs to fit into the schedule. I love a bite of different things and small plates are perfect for sharing. You get a preferred beverage and relax. The TS with bars can get busy around meal times, and I haven't tried those but Homecomin', Jiko, and Sanaa, to name a few, are on my to-do list. Several will offer a full restaurant menu so a well-timed visit could be like dining there. Tables are often as close as bar stools, anyway!
The ones we've tried and loved are:
Geyser Point - If you have a beautiful day but MK is crazy, hop on the boat to WL. They have a larger menu than most lounges and the vibe is very laid back, especially between meal times.
Territory Lounge - We would have stayed there if the weather hadn't been so pretty. Just got a drink and wandered the property.
Scat Cat's Club at POFQ - very laid back, great service, tasty drinks and a band on certain nights. We stopped in pretty regularly during our stay. Much better than the one at POR, when we were there for an hour hoping for a seat somewhere, while several tables were being "saved" with a lanyard, baseball cap, etc. No one sitting there the entire time and the manager said that he couldn't do anything about it.
Nomad Lounge - I'm now an Annapurna Zing devoteé. The food is from Tiffins kitchen and we enjoyed the whole experience except for the first 20 minutes when our server forgot about us. She was fine, after that.
Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge - went twice on my last trip. There wasn't a wait the first time but the second was around 15-20 minutes. We got a beverage and chatted with the other people waiting. Love this place, though, and our server was fantastic.
Jock's Hanger Bar - This one we took the kids to because of all the fun stuff to look at. They loved their mocktails and it was a lovely break. They have indoor and outdoor seating. Staff was great.
Outdoor bar at Raglan Rd - Just ordered a drink because we wanted ribs at Morimoto Street Food. There's an indoor QS place right next to the bar.
Bar at Blue Zoo - excellent cocktails and my mom still talks about the crab nachos she had in 2013. The atmosphere is more elevated here but lively in the evening. Love this place.

I'd do a Lounge Only itinerary if they opened earlier!

 

[westie55]

Cali Grill is great. Go at fireworks time; it makes for a magical date night. I also want to try their brunch. I would also suggest the Yachtsman steakhouse at the YC. It's a short walk over. Get dessert at Beaches and Cream. My family had a great meal at Citricos at the GF. I haven't been to Narcoosee's but that's another I want to try.

 

[holden]

I'd second Nomad Lounge. Try to hit it at an odd hour. The cocktails are great and the food is good too.

 

[Tigger's ally]

As a F&W lover, I can say that doing the booths is great fun but it does become a little redundant. We like to hit the booths for lunch. Small plates at our favorite booths (Canada, France, etc with an occasional drink) Then we like to schedule a nice meal for supper somewhere and only hit the booths for drinks before and after while waiting on Illuminations. If we want a nice meal we head to the Yachtsman steakhouse (truffles mac and cheese side dish is wonderful). If we don't want something that big, we just eat the Crew's cup lounge next door. Both are just a short boatride or stroll from the IG.

 

[cluvsdisney]

We've been loving the Turf Club at SSR on our last couple of trips..the food and service have always been excellent and it's a little quieter than other places.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Thank you everyone! Love the idea of hitting up more lounges since we’re going to be so much more loose with our plans than we’re used to.

 

[gharter]

Our favorites:
California Grill, always good
Jiko
Il Mulino at the Swan, best Italian at WDW
BlueZoo at the Dolphin, best Seafood at WDW, we like Flying Fish, this is better.
Trader Sams is a lot of fun and worth visiting.
Tiffins for dinner, Nomad lounge for an afternoon break.

 

[Undavolt]

If you have an evening to spare, Highway in the Sky Dine Around is pretty cool. We did it during our first adults only trip back in 2016.

 

[rosiebean]

Second Tiffins or the lounge attached to it. Great surprise lunch inside and later afternoon dessert and coffee in the outdoor lounge. It is on my list of repeat places to visit!

 

[leebee]

I see you have California Grill; is it for the fireworks, or because you want to eat there? We love the food at California Grill, but actually prefer the fireworks view from Narcoosee's- and the food there was delicious. I think Narcoosee's has edged out Cali Grill as our favorite fireworks restaurant! We also enjoyed Jiko, but the menu is a little limited. Boma is our favorite, and we go every trip. The only time we didn't go was when we went to Jiko instead, and as much as we liked Jiko, we missed dining at Boma! Another new favorite is Raglan Road, at Disney Springs. There is a wide variety of offerings, and the meals were superbly prepared. We had a table off to the side (2-top), almost into a side room, but we had a great (long) view of the stage and the noise level was lower! Service was impeccable, too.

 

[kiford]

Yes, lounges! DH and I like to spend some quality time with each other at lounges now that we go more often. We love Nomad (try the Mustang coffee if it's chilly). La Cava del Tequila (try the nachos). Territory lounge at WL. Victoria Falls at AKL. Baseline Tap and Grill at HS (try the beer flight and the charcuterie platter). The bar/lounge beside Ohana in the Poly. There's others that we'd like to try (and intend to!) at Disney Springs like Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar. We've never spent time in the bar at Morimoto but it looks nice (we like Morimoto itself). Also Frontera Cocina - I wasn't that impressed with the menu but the drinks were good. We're also planning to go during F&G and F&W and eat at several different kiosks during that time. We did that a bit in February at the Arts Festival and we really enjoyed that.

 

[gillep]

Wine Bar George
Jiko
Nomad Lounge
La Cava de Tequila
Tutto Gusto

 

[ambellina]

I feel like everyone has covered the bases! If it's at all possible, snag a brunch reservation for California Grill. And we had the best experience at Trader Sams, made new friends because you share a table with others and if you're lucky they'll teach you all of the participation tricks before it starts. We also loved Narcoosees and Yachtsman but we love steak and wine and steak and wine. Jiko was nice, but I think I was expecting more of a 'wow' factor, maybe my friends hyped it up too much. I loved the Boma buffet but it was very crowded each time we went, and that made for a very loud environment. Just up the steps from Boma and Jiko is the Victoria Falls lounge, and it has one of the best burgers I've ever had. We weren't crazy about Raglan Road, just felt like an Irish Applebees to us. Morimoto was a let down for lunch, the building was very cold and everything was saltier than we prefer. Another vote for Tiffins, they have a nice wine list. And La Hacienda was okay, we were mostly there to have a window seat for Illuminations. Hope your trip is excellent!

 

[littledebbie335]

Sanaa, especially at lunch time or for an early dinner when it's still light out and you can see the animals.

 

[Wild4Walt]

We tried Bongos for the 1st time last September and loved it. Food was delicious and the service was outstanding. We loved the live music and the dancing too.

If you can't get Cali Grill, another good spot is GF Cafe. This was one of the best meals we had the whole trip.

 

[toocherie]

We've been loving the Turf Club at SSR on our last couple of trips..the food and service have always been excellent and it's a little quieter than other places.

I ate at Turf Club a couple of nights ago—they had a special prix Fire dinner that included a t-bone which was huge and cooked perfectly. And the best apple crisp I’ve had in a long time! And great service! Greatly outshined the Hollywood Brown Derby—Turf Club even had copper cups for my mule—which Hollywood Brown Derby did not! (Cardinal sin.)