Best Disney World restaurants for international first-timers

[Lei]

Hey there! I'm from Singapore, just returned from a Disney honeymoon back in December.

Okay, first, congratulations on your wedding! Wow, so nice to have a Disney World honeymoon! Hope you had an enjoyable one.

Second, I have to admit I’m really excited to meet a Singaporean on the board! LOL. Hi, I’m from Jakarta! You should do a trip-report. I’d love to read it for references

These are the restaurants with character meals we dined at:

Akershus (Dinner) - Belle, Aurora, Snow White and Ariel
Cinderella's Royal Table (Lunch) - Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White, Jasmine and Ariel (repetitive, I know, but we *had* to eat in the castle!)
Crystal Palace (Dinner) - Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet
Tusker House (Brunch) - Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy (in safari clothes!)

And other Disney restaurants:

Le Cellier Steakhouse (lunch)
Sci Fi Dine-in Theatre (dinner)
Be Our Guest (lunch) -- technically quick service but worth a mention due to its popularity

Awesome choices! Before this upcoming trip, I’ve tried Sci-Fi (back in the day where I could walk-in! Is this still possible to do?) and Be Our Guest lunch, and I absolutely adore the venues.

I definitely 100% recommend the character meals because it's an experience that you can only find at Disney. It also helped that everyone at Disney was so incredibly sweet to us. Traditionally, the service is quite stoic in most Asian restaurants so it was such a refreshing change. If you ever decide to try another character meal, I highly recommend Crystal Palace. The food is amazing. It's standard American fare that is perfectly done. Nothing exotic, but I think we have enough of that at home hehe. Crystal Palace is a beautiful place to dine in and the character interaction here is amazing.

On the topic of spicy food, what I meant on the original post was, we don’t mind spicy/somewhat exotic food, so anyone feel free to suggest places like, for instance, Restaurant Marrakesh or something similar, if it’s up to someone's liking. I probably should’ve worded that statement better!

But overall, I realize that Disney World “exotic” food would taste rather bland for our palate, so yup, I’m more inclined to Western/American food or aim restaurants for their atmosphere/character experience.

Crystal Palace is actually really high on my list. But to get more bang for our buck, I’d only like to do pre-park opening breakfast at CP. Of course, due to its popularity and me being late to the reservation party, I couldn’t get a ressie, LOL. Will keep trying. Hopefully we could squeeze a third table-service meal there!

Tusker House is really great too, with slightly more varied food offerings. I actually prefer the food at Crystal Palace because a lot of the Asian inspired dishes were actually not as enjoyable for me. It's very nicely cooked but having already developed a kind of expectation of what it ought to taste like made me a little biased. I'm only pointing this out since I think we should have a similar palate. Having said that, the food was nice and the restaurant's safari theme is really unique and fun. It's also a real plus to see the characters in special attire.

This is exactly why I'm not too excited with Tusker House's offerings. Actually, I suspect I would be somewhat disappointed with most of Disney’s Chinese/Asian-inspired cuisines

Thanks for your input!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

A buffet is a good fit for your family I feel. Boma at AK is lovely a good range of flavours.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Another great reason for character meals is that you get one on one time and photo ops with the characters, which saves time in the parks waiting in line to see them!

 

[aviva5675]

Have to throw my vote in for Crystal Palace. Breakfast if you can get it, or lunch...I know it is expensive but if you are doing only one character meal, see if you can try here. Regular buffet outside of parks, Boma hands down. Since you live where there is actual Asian food, why bother with any of this type of meal at WDW? Tho again, if you want sushi- the suggestions given so far are spot on. I have found at many places also that I have enjoyed the appetizers as much or more than entrees- so especially for light eaters that might be a way to go- also would cut costs. Enjoy your trip! Don't stress too much over it--- just enjoy the magic of family's first time.

 

[LovesTimone]

Thanks for all the recommendation, you guys! California Grill and character breakfasts definitely got a solid vote. I wish we can do them all, really, but can't due to time and budget constrains (and being late to snag the breakfast ADRs, dang it).

So far, we have decided on The Garden Grill (lunch) and T-Rex, due to DS' current love for dinosaurs. Both dining experiences are nothing like we've seen before and we're excited! Thanks again everyone.

On the ADR's keep trying and trying, you will be surprised at the last minute ADR's you can pick up, so don't give up. We decided at the last minute to go to the parks for Christmas eve dinner, and I made ADR's that morning for Teppan Edo, so keep checking.

Garden Grill is fun with great character interaction, and the food is good, T-Rex is super fun and if your son loves Dino's this is the place to be. DH and I love to dine here, this is one of our fav's for appetizers, and we make a meal out of them. On our list for appetizers - Colosso beef nachos is a huge plate of food for 16.99, and very filling... if you are super hungry you could add a couple of side salad around 7.00 each, or skip the healthy options and go for some dessert. There is also a Supersaurus Sampler which is 18.99 and you can add ribs for 7.99, its so much food. There is one meal that we like to share and its called the Boneyard Buffet (27.99) there is Rotisserie chicken, and St. Louis style ribs with some sides. Its a lot of food and really good. I am going to check out your pre-trip report. I am a local so if you have any questions about anything else... good shopping, dinning away from the parks, let me know and I will be happy to help.