Anyone ever eat only at Counter Service for their entire vacation???

[dkrause716]

We've never done all counter service but there are great choices. We especially liked the counter service in Japan and the portions are huge so you could share! I also liked the counter service in Mexico. Beaches and Cream is awesome but not quite counter service I guess. I couldn't take eating just burgers but you certainly have many other choices.

Oh, I almost forgot..we love Casey's. Never miss it!
I say do what makes you happy.

 

[monorailsilver]

We do it all the time.

We usually eat the same places when we do counter service-like we have to get a salad from The Land a few times on our vacation. We just love it.

You can eat when you want & you don't have to wait to be served or wait to be seated (you just may have a line to order).

I think some of the best places in the World are counter service such as The Land, Pizzafari, can't beat the burgers at Cosmic Rays to name a few. And they all aren't burgers & fries either.

We are taking our 4 yr old (2nd time for her) & our currently 17 month old this summer & we are only going to do 2 sit downs-breakfast-If I can get it & dinner at Chef Mickey's.

I even hate to do the breakfast meal since we just eat in the room while one of us is getting ready & then hop the monorail/boat or dreaded bus to a park.

Kerri

 

[robinb]

I could not imgine eating counter service every day. We get sick of eating it once a day for lunch! How many burgers, hot dogs, and sandwiches can you take? We eat a light breakfast, a counter service lunch if we have to, and then a nice sit down for dinner every day. Some days we skip the lunch altogether. I couldn't do it.

ITA with Terry. I can barely stand the traditional counter-service food every day for lunch, not to mention the atmosphere! I have quite enough of carrying my tray so my drink doesn't spill, hunting for a table, cleaning it myself because the previous people were slobs and then cleaning up after my own family. I like to be waited on every once in a while! Sit down meals are one of the highlights of WDW for us, even when our daughter was small.

I find that any of the buffets are very family friendly. But, if you're really looking for counter service only, I really like any of the WDW moderate/value resort food courts. They usually have a nice variety of food. My favorite, by far, is the Pepper Market at CSR. In the parks I like all the counter-service restaurants with the word "House" in the name. Columbia Harbor House (MK), Tusker House (AK), Yakitori House (Japan, Epcot). There is no "House" restaurant at MGM ... I guess that's why I don't like any counter service there!

 

[PamNC]

We don't have kids, so nice sit-down meals are part of our vacation. However, when I was a child my parents took me to Disney a lot! We never had sit-down meals, expect Crystal Palace. I think if I had kids, especially more than 1, I wouldn't do sit-down. I don't think kids like sitting in a nicer restaurant for a lingering meal. They prefer chicken nuggets, hot dogs, fries, and food courts. And, there are some decent counter service places. We like Tusker House and Flame Tree Barbeque in AK, Harbour House in MK, and the Cantina...something in Mexico. I can't remember the name, sorry.

However, I think you must do one character breakfast with your kids!

PamNC

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Our favorite counter service is Columbia Harbor House in MK. Make sure you take your food upstairs. It's very peaceful and relaxed and actually has a nice view of the MK.

 

[skiwee1]

ITA with Terry. I can barely stand the traditional counter-service food every day for lunch, not to mention the atmosphere! I have quite enough of carrying my tray so my drink doesn't spill, hunting for a table, cleaning it myself because the previous people were slobs and then cleaning up after my own family. I like to be waited on every once in a while! Sit down meals are one of the highlights of WDW for us, even when our daughter was small.

I find that any of the buffets are very family friendly. But, if you're really looking for counter service only, I really like any of the WDW moderate/value resort food courts. They usually have a nice variety of food. My favorite, by far, is the Pepper Market at CSR. In the parks I like all the counter-service restaurants with the word "House" in the name. Columbia Harbor House (MK), Tusker House (AK), Yakitori House (Japan, Epcot). There is no "House" restaurant at MGM ... I guess that's why I don't like any counter service there!

I agree. Though I only mentioned burgers and hot dogs I think the same goes for the non traditional food that you can get counter service. To me the quality still isn't as good as the sit down meals. And forget about all the activity and finding a table and this and that! I hate that! I like to relax when dining and can do it better with two kids in tow seated at a restaurant then juggling trays, kids, and drinks looking for a table. With kids the character meals are a MUST! We do at least 4 character meals a trip and the food is much better then any counter service.

 

[beattyfamily]

I could not imgine eating counter service every day. We get sick of eating it once a day for lunch! How many burgers, hot dogs, and sandwiches can you take? We eat a light breakfast, a counter service lunch if we have to, and then a nice sit down for dinner every day. Some days we skip the lunch altogether. I couldn't do it.

ITA!!! You sound like me! That's what we do as well. I have 2 DDs and luckily they have always, for the most part, behaved in restaurants and they LOVE character meals.

Although Disney has some great counter service restaurants, I just couldn't handle counter service food/atmosphere my whole vacation! Plus their counter service is almost as expensive as sitting down to a nice meal

 

[Ilovestitch]

Our favorite counter service is Columbia Harbor House in MK. Make sure you take your food upstairs. It's very peaceful and relaxed and actually has a nice view of the MK.

I agree, my bf and I were at the MK on Dec.20th- the park was a madhouse- but we were practically the ONLY ones upstairs at CHH. It's always very clean and its decorated so nice.

Anyways, we usually make 3 or 4 PS's per trip- we can NOT eat a PS every day- that's just too much for us. And, we don't have a set itinerary so I don't like to have to worry about being somewhere at a particular time. Sometimes we just like to hop on the first bus that pulls up.

When I was a kid, we only ate counter service. I don't think I even knew there was such thing as sit down restaurants in the parks. We did stay in the Ft. Wilderness cabins, though, so my parents cooked some healthy meals. I don't think I could eat chicken fingers and fries every day.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

My family's favorite is Columbia Harbour House in MK. Not many people know that there is an upstairs. Also, right outside of this resturant is a little cart that sells baked potatos with all the fixings, fruit as well.

 

[mickeymom629]

It's definitely doable! I always make a few ps's for our trips, but my kids hate to waste time at sit down meals when they could be on attractions. I can't afford to do too many with 6 of us anyway. So, we could make do with only counter service, and we usually do.

I always love to get eggrolls and Dole Whips in MK, and my family likes Columbia Harbor House. In MGM, I get baked potatoes at the Turkey Leg stand. My family likes Yakitori in Japan (teryaki skewered chicken and rice, yum!) and the Electric Umbrella in FW (I got a yummy bean soup and salad). My kids like to get salads or fruit cups, along with their burgers or nuggets, and I read that you can order meals without the fries and save on money, too! But we do love the fries at Casey's. There are definitely options, and healthy ones too, if you look at some menus (preferrably before you leave on your vacation and not when you are hot and starving!) I also bring raisins, apples and fruit bars in my backpack.

 

[chobie]

I wouldn't cancel those PS yet. You can always change your mind and eat at a counter service place when you get there. As some have pointed out, the buffets and character meals tend to be loud and busy anyway. The kids can eat hot dogs and chicken fingers and any restaurant in WDW. Try it the first night and see how the family handles it before canceling all the PS.

 

[keishashadow]

The Columbia Harbor House in the MK is excellent, with a surprising good apple pie, although pricey is my estimatation (over $40 for 3 meals with dessert), but we used the dining plan, i.e. $35/Adult, $10/Child and came out ahead with a sit-down dinner at Cinderella's Castle.

The Electric Umbrella in Epcot makes a great double cheeseburger, with a large fixings bar. Beware ordering at 10:30 a.m., this is the change-over from Breakfast to Lunch and things got confusing and backed up in line. By the time we done eating our early lunch, the lines had abated.

During our trip this February over Daytona/Presidents Day (Never Again, Beware the Crowds!), the food courts in the All Star Resorts were noisy, dirty, crowded and the food was sub-par. I hope that the "sold out" resorts were the reason as opposed to the overall quality declining from the last time we ate there (6/03).

Lastly, although not a counter-serve, both Chef Mickey's (Characters at Breakfast & Dinner) and Hollywood & Vine in MGM are both buffets, with seperate child-friendly, children's buffets. They are bustling and full of happy, noisy, children and adults having a great time.

 

[Disneyof3]

In 2004 it was our first trip and we had only made1 at CM for brunch and that was it. It was good and the kids were happy. At the time my kids were 2 1/2, 4 and 7. The kids were just so happy to be at WDW and in the sun in the winter they didn't care. Now this year we went and made 3 and the kids really weren't keen at all. I woke up early 90 days for CRT and my daughter afterwards said she perferred CM last year instead. So likely next time we go (no date yet) we will only make 1 and it will be CM and that will be it.
Again I think it is what you really perfer as a family and the ages of the kids.
Fancy restaurants are really not important to us as a family. Another opinion

The 5 of us