All foodies: Attention please

[Paulines]

Curious if you go primarily to DW to dine, is the main objective of your vacation to eat good food, try new cuisines and relax?

For me, the rides and attractions are somewhat limited...the Haunted Mansion and Thunder Mountain are as adventurous as I get (whoopy!). Ask me to check out a menu though, I’m all over it, lol

 

[Mr & Mrs DD]

I would not say that it is "the primary reason" we go to DW, BUT we do look forward to planing our dinning. We enjoy a good meal and I like to try new things. I am an adventurous eater and enjoy new places and new foods. For us, it is the whole experience of the rides, the dining and the overall Disney atmosphere. Spending time in the "Disney bubble" gives us a good break from everyday life.

 

[Lisa F]

I enjoy good food, my kid is somewhat picky. I love WDW because we can both be accommodated without drama. I know there are people who consider themselves "real" foodies who think the food at WDW is subpar but I always enjoy my meals there, from the cheapie places on up to the signatures. We spend a decent amount of time thinking about our dining and do 1-2 TS a day because I like the break of sitting and eating. We don't always eat a full meals, sometimes it's just a kid meal for the kid and a kid meal or an app for me.

Agree that it's part of being in the Disney bubble!

 

[Kip Herner]

I would not say that it is "the primary reason" we go to DW, BUT we do look forward to planing our dinning. We enjoy a good meal and I like to try new things. I am an adventurous eater and enjoy new places and new foods. For us, it is the whole experience of the rides, the dining and the overall Disney atmosphere. Spending time in the "Disney bubble" gives us a good break from everyday life.

This is the reason we go to Disney as well, the whole package. We want to totally submerse ourselves in the "Disney Magic". Dinning is a pretty big part of that also. We will be sitting down right at the 180 day mark to get our initial reservations at the must do places.

 

[dachsie]

Dining is not the primary reason I go but I do enjoy trying different restaurants. At one time on the boards here there was a link to a checklist of all the restaurants and how many you had eaten at. It would give you a percentage and a ticker you could put in the bottom of your signature. It challenged me to try different restaurants each time. Not sure what happened to that ticker

 

[pattyw]

Now that we've gone so many times and so often, we only spend a small amount of time in the parks. We like to visit Universal, Se World, and other Orlando attractions. And dining is a huge part of our trip- Disney and off site. I love my TIW card for our 20% off. Sometimes we go into the parks just to dine!!

 

[freshmanjs]

A foodie looking for a primarily food oriented vacation would never choose WDW. The food simply isn't good enough. It's good for a theme park resort, sometimes very good. But, compared to a major city with a great food scene, it's not anywhere close.

On the other hand, enjoying the restaurants as a major part of enjoying WDW. Yes, we do that.

 

[rwdavis2]

A foodie looking for a primarily food oriented vacation would never choose WDW. The food simply isn't good enough. It's good for a theme park resort, sometimes very good. But, compared to a major city with a great food scene, it's not anywhere close.

On the other hand, enjoying the restaurants as a major part of enjoying WDW. Yes, we do that.

^^^^THIS^^^^^
Given that we have a lot of excellent restaurants to choose from between DC and Baltimore dining at WDW is last on our reasons to visit WDW. But we still have favorites: CG, Sanaa, Jiko, among others. With CG a favorite for dinner or brunch. As quoted, WDW does not come close to what we have available where I live.

 

[Paulines]

Yes, I do agree that finer dining can be had at most, if not all, major cities -I’m originally from NYC and now reside in Boston, 2 great food cities!

In my mind though, the DW bubble is a far more relaxing atmosphere (I hope) and more conducive to chilling...unless you’re a, what is it called, a ride warrior???

 

[GillianP1301]

Although dining is a huge part of my WDW vacation, I would not say it's my primary focus, the parks and attractions would have that spot for me. But, we do 2 - 3 TS a day and really enjoy a combination of our old favourites and trying something new - I view the restaurants kind of as attractions in themselves. I also find them a great way to sit and relax and cool off (important to us during our August trips) and reflect on the time we have spent in the parks.

 

[KellyHonos]

Food isn't my main interest, but it's certainly a very important component, seeing as the minute our ADR window opens, we start booking.

 

[cadien]

The answer depends in part on whether you think foodie = gourmet. Even the celebrity food writers endlessly debate that one.

I'm not a rides person like the rest of my family, so trying new foods is very close to the top of my list for what is appealing about WDW. Something completely new and different is a higher priority than fine dining or other form of quality. It's certainly less likely to be disappointing. I'm more likely to get excited by creative snacks.

 

[kiford]

It's not the primary reason we go, but every vacation regardless of where we go is partially planned around food. Favourite places, new places, new foods, local/regional foods/drinks (Italy in Sep/Oct 2018!!). DH's family in Germany thinks it's hilarious that I can tell you what I had in a particular place a few years ago when we return there. I can still remember certain dishes from V&A's from 2000. The first port excursions on a cruise to go on my list of options are those that include food.

 

[Magical2017]

It is not the primary reason, but the themed restaurants are fun. I love to have dinner in World Showcase and my kids love the character meals.

 

[Arielfan98]

I would consider my family a bunch of foodies, but that does not mean my family dines at 2 TS credit places! We eat where we feel the food is above average. Food is definitely not the main objective of our vacation, unless you're talking about Food and Wine season. We always do the dining plan, even if it's not included because we feel it's worth it. We also try to make it a point to adventure out of our comfort zones and try new places. For example, on my upcoming trip we are trying Ale & Compass and Sanaa for the first time. We also look to try the cool new treats such as the PB&J cupcake. Our trip is certainly planned around food, but not entirely. We plan our park days by EMH, then find FP+, then figure out which QS and TS we want to do that day. And yes, we do look at all the menus far in advance to our trip lol!

 

[Magical2017]

I would consider my family a bunch of foodies, but that does not mean my family dines at 2 TS credit places! We eat where we feel the food is above average. Food is definitely not the main objective of our vacation, unless you're talking about Food and Wine season. We always do the dining plan, even if it's not included because we feel it's worth it. We also try to make it a point to adventure out of our comfort zones and try new places. For example, on my upcoming trip we are trying Ale & Compass and Sanaa for the first time. We also look to try the cool new treats such as the PB&J cupcake. Our trip is certainly planned around food, but not entirely. We plan our park days by EMH, then find FP+, then figure out which QS and TS we want to do that day. And yes, we do look at all the menus far in advance to our trip lol!

Sanaa is my favorite. Enjoy!

 

[Arielfan98]

Sanaa is my favorite. Enjoy!

Any recommendations? We plan on ordering the bread service for appetizer.

 

[DisneyFive]

For us, meals have become just as important at Disney as the attractions. We try to eat at locations that are completely different than what we can get at home. So unique themes, unique or fun food choices, fun locations (Boardwalk area, Polynesian, etc...)

Dan

 

[Hopefully]

I agree with PP. True foodies should not expect that level of Dining at WDW. Think about it, they feed thousands of folks every day.
With realistic expectations the food can be fun and good. This way we enjoy dining as part of our WDW vacation

 

[Lydia S]

We went with the Disney Dining Plan last year, and our primary objective when booking restaurants was for atmosphere/theme. Of everything we ate in the sit-down restaurants, nothing really stood out to me as being "Outstanding" with the exception being the Bacon at Tusker House for Breakfast (don't know how they get it so crispy and perfect, but it was AMAZING!!!) and Satuuli Canteen which we ate at twice because we loved the food so much.

What we really loved were the snacks! Especially in Epcot. The Holiday booths had a nice variety of things to try.