Buffet Remorse

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Does anyone ever regret doing too many buffet or all you can eat meals? I find that sometimes I book several buffets instead of normal TS resturants for the characters or location but disappointed that all my meals feel the same. I know they all have their differences but I enjoy sitting down for a relaxing meal and a menu. Anyone else ever get this feeling?

 

[bumbershoot]

Tusker is the only onsite buffet that makes it on our list anymore. The food is interesting. We don't go for characters (which makes their dinner change a huge bummer), though. The only other buffet we go to is at Sweet Tomatoes offsite.

 

[Disneylover99]

I never have buffet remorse, but I often have ordering off the menu remorse.

If you get something you don't like from the buffet, you just go up again and get something different. If you don't really like what you've ordered off the menu, you're out of luck.

 

[starwart]

Tusker is the only onsite buffet that makes it on our list anymore. The food is interesting. We don't go for characters (which makes their dinner change a huge bummer), though. The only other buffet we go to is at Sweet Tomatoes offsite.

Yes!
Tusker House or Boma for me &
Sweet Tomatoes definitely.
I'm still looking for offsite places to add to my list.

 

[smiths02]

With 3 kids, even with two qualifying as "free" at buffets, I did try to limit our buffets. I don't want to feel like I do at home, constantly up and down.
We still want characters so we are doing CRT and Garden Grill...even if not worth the food, at least we can sit!

 

[100acreHiker]

I put my foot down on our last trip: ONE buffet. I became so tired of having my meals interrupted and serving myself and the food being so similar. After an exhausting day in a park, I prefer a more unique cuisine and a quiter atmosphere that my family can focus on one another rather than characters and hunting down our own food.

 

[loves to dive]

I don't do buffets, just can't eat that much so it's not worth the money for me. I think I did do the one at BC for breakfast a few times in the past. I like to sit down and be served.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I love breakfast buffets. I have one per trip, but no more than that. For lunch/dinner I do TS because the quality of food is better.

 

[Belle61513]

We have TH, Biergarten AND H&V (SWW with Mickey) this trip. We usually do 1 breakfast and 1 dinner, but DH was all about H&V and Biergarten is in our rotating faves.

That said, I don't have so much buffet remorse as I do have TOO MANY ADR remorse. I hate feeling like I'm rushing from meal to meal. I really tried to leave time for CS meals, especially since we'll be there during the F&G show and want to experience the outdoor kitchens.

 

[eliza61]

As a general rule I don't do buffets. they are way overpriced and Disney's quality is lacking at best for the buffets. So the only reason we do one is for the character experience.

This year we are doing Crystal palace breakfast buffet, lol the big draw is that we picked a before opening time and I have always wanted to get MK pictures when the park was mainly empty. expensive way to get pictures.

I think as you go more and more over the years you'll do less and less of the buffets

 

[butsy113]

I don't mind the family style all you can eat meals but we don't do the buffets any more. We always do Ohana and the kids like Liberty Tree also, but we stay away from 1900, CM, etc. Their buffets are all the same and rather bland. We usually like to pick from the menu, and that can be much cheaper for better food.

The only time we do those types of buffets, is when we have people come with us that have never been to WDW. Then we do CM for the character experience which just happens to have food, not the other way around.

 

[sullyfam]

We always do the Crystal Palace breakfast as that's our favorite Character Buffet. Love the location in MK and the fact that you can get in early before the park opens and then you're right there for the day.

Other buffets we've done I could take or leave. I definitely enjoy the TS as it's more relaxing and not the up and down and stress of waiting at the table for the characters to come by ...

 

[TheRustyScupper]

[QUOTE="bumbershoot, post: 53258657, member: 141567. . . The only other buffet we go to is at Sweet Tomatoes offsite.[/QUOTE]


1) We LOVE Sweet Tomatoes.
2) What a great concept! And, the food has pretty decent quality.
. . . good daily homemade soups
. . . fresh, fresh veggies
. . . almost anything you want for salad toppings/fixings

 

[ellie05]

As a general rule I don't do buffets. they are way overpriced and Disney's quality is lacking at best for the buffets. So the only reason we do one is for the character experience.

This year we are doing Crystal palace breakfast buffet, lol the big draw is that we picked a before opening time and I have always wanted to get MK pictures when the park was mainly empty. expensive way to get pictures.

I think as you go more and more over the years you'll do less and less of the buffets

I agree with this 100%. We don't do buffets after a day of walking the last thing we want is to stand around trying to serve our food. Add the quality issues and the very limited options for me (vegetarian) it is just a no go. We haven't done a buffet in a while and we are not planning on making ADRs for one on our next trip.

We don't have kids and that is the only way I will see the value of a buffet for the characters.

 

[goofy4prez]

I love breakfast buffets. I have one per trip, but no more than that. For lunch/dinner I do TS because the quality of food is better.

This describes us as well. We enjoy a breakfast buffet or two each trip with our favorites being Cape May and Crystal Palace. As for dinner buffets, I'll pass. I enjoy sitting down and relaxing to a nice dinner prepared when I order it. I prefer quality over quantity. I am also of the opinion there are some very good restaurants in Disney.

 

[pixarmom]

Yes! I dislike buffets in the first place and they are never a good value for me. We've done all of the character meals except for 1900 - most multiple times each. We booked these for the experience, not for the food. We have two teens and an 8-year-old, so even after our older kids were finished with the character meal rounds, we went back again for our youngest.

I started thinking that fixed price meals might work for us again because our older boys are now teens and they eat more. But the "more" is snacking throughout the day - they don't sit down and eat a buffet amount of food at once. So CL works well for us, but buffets do not.

Also, quantity and selection does not outweigh quality for us. The Tomorrowland Dessert Party is a good example. We had a great time, but the desserts were just OK. Our oldest said he would prefer far fewer desserts of better quality, instead of a zillion "just OK" desserts.

So moving forward, our plan is to only keep two fixed price favorites in our rotation: Garden Grill and Biergarten. And I'm only likely to book Biergarten for lunch and Garden Grill when we're not staying CL so that they remain relatively good values.

 

[philschrek]

I have Buffet Remorse after even one lol! We've done a Character Breakfast buffet each trip but I think we may skip them entirely this April. We are vegetarians so the choices are not too thrilling and we never even come close to getting our 'money's worth'. With being able to FP the kids' favorite characters if needed, the meals are less of a pull IMO. We travel with my 10 year old nephew and even though he's not a vegetarian, we paid the adult's price for the Cape May breakfast last year so he could eat a bagel and a plate of bacon! We would like the atmosphere of Biergarten I think and would love to try it if it were more suitable for our diet.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

Lately we've only been eating at one buffet every other trip or so, usually CMC for dinner. I'm actually trying to change that! I love and miss doing character meals, but my sister throws a fit about breakfast buffets, which is the best time for our family to do them. This trip I told her to suck it up, we're eating at CP. I've got Boma booked for dinner too.

 

[ThistleMae]

Well...you will get as many different answers as there are people. So here is mine. I love buffets. I love Boma, Cape May Café and Ohana. I also love several restaurants. Rainforest Café and T-Rex. I also really enjoy the Crystal Palace, even though it is not for the character meal. The bottom line....you can't go wrong no matter where you eat! Try something new every time you go. I love the countries for lunches, so much variety there. France has the best selection of pastries and Switzerland has great sandwiches and the "school bread" is delicious. Bon a petite'!

 

[minnie mum]

Switzerland has great sandwiches and the "school bread" is delicious. Bon a petite'!

Um, I think you meant Arendelle, not Switzerland. Bon appetit.

Most of the buffets and AYCTE have lost their lustre for us. Especially the character meals. Some of them have decent quality food, but without small ones clamoring to meet the characters, we just prefer something less chaotic. There are still a very few that we do, usually only one or 2 per trip. Biergarten, Boma, LTT dinner (DH loves it), and rarely CP.