Best Buffet's

[Disneyhenry]

Ok so we are going when our little guy is 2 1/2, so to keep with the dinning plan AND to keep our costs down, I am thinking BUFFET'S are going to be our restaurants of choice.
What are the "Best Buffet's" and any of the Dinner Show's or Character Breakfasts buffet style?
~Thanks in advance for your help~

 

[seadd67]

Our personal favorit Is Biergarten at Epcot. But I do have to mention my Mom Is German,so loveing german food comes easy for me. The atmosphere Is vere fun there the have a polka band playing,but the seating might be kind of odd to alot of people. They seat you Family styl,where you are all at the same table. If you dont like that then this might not be for you.but It Is fun you get to see all diffrent people. The second place I would say Is Crystal palace at MK. This Is a winnie the pooh chacter themm wich the little ones really enjoy.They have a parade(inside the restraunt) with all the chacters and the kids can get in the parade. We have eaten there for Breakfast,lunch and dinner all good.

 

[Alabama Minnie]

We liked the 1900 Park Fare Dinner. I have heard the breakfast buffet is good there also.

 

[SEPTBABIES02]

We really like the Tusker House for Breakfast. Going back again this year!

 

[Belleandtinker]

Chef Mickey's is a must! Try to work that one in your budget. You and your son will love it

Biergarten is a dinner show with an amazing buffet. We love it. I don't think many people know it's a dinner show and aren't sure what "german" food consists of. Our son was 2 1/2 on our first trip and ate off this buffet very well. The pretzel sticks were a hit!

Enjoy!

 

[traceym]

Crystal Palace breakfast and dinner are both good. My FIL even likes going here. Tusker House for breakfast is a must too. Boma @ AKL, if you are willing to try different things. This is a favorite of my entire family. It is on our must do list for the 3rd time! 1900 Park Fare is good too. The first time we went with all 3 kids the little one was 2. We hit all the buffets or family styles that we could too.

 

[EastonCat]

By far the best buffet is at Boma. We are also fans of the Cape May clambake, Tusker House breakfast and the buffets at Akershus. Akershus turns some folks off with some of the offerings, but we really like it. It is also the best cup of coffee offered at Disney. We also liked 1800 Park Fare, but we are suckers for the stepsisters and Lady Tremaine.

I haven't had the fortitude to weather Chef Mickey's. The noise that made it to the 12th floor on our one stay was enough to convince us to avoid the source. You can get all of the major characters at a much more sedate and better themed breakfast at Tusker House.

Also, I don't know that buffets are a true budget choice at Disney.

 

[jamuth]

We happened to like the Cape May Buffet at Beach Club. The buffet food was good ( not the best seafood I ever had but good) and I loved the crab legs. But I think what sold us the most was that they had paper on the table which the kids could color on. So It keep our 2 little boys busy while we ate. No characters unfortunately.

 

[DISdreamin']

Love, love, LOVED Tusker House! We'd never been before, but we did breakfast before park opening a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it. The food was interesting and good. Lots and lots of choices.

Another big hit on this trip, and a total shocker for me, was Akershus. Everyone liked the breakfast, and it's part buffet and part family-style for the hot foods. We really liked that aspect of it, as it kept you from having to get up from the table so much. What with the characters coming by, it was nice to not have to make a trip for some of the food. Also, I did the last breakfast seating (I think I had a 10:55am ADR) and it worked out great - we were full through lunchtime and I just planned an early dinner.

We did Chef Mickey's again (second trip, second CM experience) and while the characters were fun, the food was just meh. And honestly, the character interaction there was only so-so compared to some of the other places.

We also did Crystal Palace for an 8:05 before park opening ressie. I LOVE doing that - it's such a nice walk into the MK early in the morning. The food was good (love the omelets and pancakes made to order!) and the characters fun. Kids loved the little parade that they do...

Oh, and Garden Grill (I think that's the right name) in the Land pavillion at Epcot was good too! Best character interaction of anywhere we went, hands down. Fabulous. The food was pretty good, but really salty for my taste.

Wow. We did a lot of character meals. And you know what? The kids did not get sick of them. Ever. I think they could do them every meal and be thrilled. They must just be at the right age. Anyways, I wouldn't hesitate to do any of the above again if we were on the dining plan. OOP, I'm not sure, but dining plan...yup. Especially if it's "free dining".

 

[dlynn1017]

Boma for dinner and Cape May for breakfast

 

[tigerdragon]

My two favorites are Crystal Palace and 1900 Park Fare.

 

[amy-momofthree]

Tusker House. The food is wonderful, lots of choices and we saw Mickey, Donald, goofy and daisy. Lots of fun!!

 

[CdnBuzzFan]

We loved the breakfast buffet at Chief Mickeys! We dined there in September '10. We had 11:10 reservations so we actually considered it to be our lunch meal. The characters went through pretty fast but the food was AMAZING! Everything was hot and fresh. There were tonnes of choices and there was plenty of it.

 

[Goofy4]

Spirit of Aloha and Hoop-dee-Doo dinner shows are served family-style, but I don't think either would help keep the cost down

 

[Wendy31]

Character Meals - We like Chef Mickey's for breakfast & Crystal Palace for lunch (or dinner) & do those 2 every visit to WDW.

Additionally, we enjoyed the character breakfast at Animal Kingdom & will probably do this one again sometime.

Regular Buffets - I am generally not a fan of buffets! LOL! However, this year, I have 2 "adults in Disney's eyes" children & 1 under 3 child, so I thought we may have better luck finding something that everyone will eat if we included some additional buffets. So, after reading numerous good reviews, I'm making an ADR for the Cape May Clam Bake. We're also eating at Boma. We've eaten there before & really enjoyed it!

Also, in your situation, you might also consider which meals are served "family-style" - you can get an "all you can eat" skillet at Whispering Canyon Cafe which you would be able to share w/ your child. Also, the breakfast at Ohana is served family style (w/ characters) & the all-you-can-eat dinner is good too. The Garden Grill at EPCOT serves a "family style" dinner w/ characters. And Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom serves "family style" dinner as well.

 

[Huff]

We're not big on buffets because of cost vs. value at most. This is especially true at character buffets because much of the cost is to pay for the characters to be there. But if ya have kids that love characters its easily worth it.

Chef Mickey's has decent food and fun characters. Ambience to me was little better than a coffee shop. Would love to see better theming here but kids didn't care, they loved it!

Tusker House I have not been to since it became a buffet. I will say I miss it as a QS restaurant as they had some excellent food.

Boma has some of the best buffet food in WDW. Many items are unusual so picky eaters may stay with the typical carved meats and salads. For others its a chance to try some very good different foods. AKL is fun to walk around both inside and out. Nice to see the animals just outside before or after dinner. At night ask CM's to use night vision glasses to see the animals.

 

[Main Street Matilda]

For keeping costs down, consider Trail's End at Fort Wilderness. The food is really good and very similar to Hoop Dee Doo - ribs, fried chicken, etc., and the price is fair. We were surprised at how much we enjoyed this place when we stayed at Fort Wilderness. That being said, there are no characters and for a little one, the food makes almost no difference when Mickey is coming around. We always enjoyed Chef Mickeys when the kids were younger.

 

[cannp123165]

For a character breakfast I think Tusker House is great - and they had a few different options. Crystal Palace is great too (we have only had the dinner there).

 

[Pluto's Boy]

I really enjoyed Trails End at Fort Wilderness, Chef Mickeys at the Contemporary, Cape May at the Beach Club, and Tusker House for breakfast at AK. There are many tasty choices at all for young picky eaters, like myself.

 

[Disneyhenry]

This is great info thanks everyone!