Comparisons of restaurants on site and budget?

[kam502]

Hello and thank you!

I am a single mom of 4 children ages 8, 10, 13, 16 all with big appetites. This is our first trip to Disney. I wonder if anyone has any points tips, comparisons etc. regarding the following restaurants. My money saving food plan is as follows; eat one large meal a day out. It might be a breakfast or lunch buffet or large lunch or special dinner. Another meal I plan on eating lightly in the room and the third meal will be mostly portable snacks or vendor food depending where we are. What do you think of the following?
COUNTER SERVICE TYPE PLACES
1. Epcot - The Electric Umbrella? Is it a good place to stop good for lunch?
2. Magic Kingdom - (Lunch maybe even an early dinner )Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe or Aunt Polly's @ Tom Sawyer Island?
3. Animal Kingdom - Flame Tree Barbeque for lunch?
4. MGM - Toy Story Pizza Planet or Studio Catering Co.? Which is better for lunch again?
BUFFETS
Grand Floridian or Chef Mickey's for a character breakfast buffet, or maybe Grand Floridian for breakfast one day and Chef Mickey's for the dinner buffet another day?
SIT DOWN SERVICE
Boatwrights - Port Orleans, where we are staying. I do not think my children would be too fond of anything real Cajun or too spicy.
Liberty Tree Tavern - Magic Kingdom - Sit down for Lunch? priority seating?
Whispering Canyon Cafe - Wilderness Lodge - what meal is best/ nicest/ most economical? Is it difficult to get to?

How much would you budget a day for food for 5 people - 3 of them teens /preteens?

Thanks
Kris

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

Hi and Welcome!

Have you checked out the menus on www.wdwig.com? Most prices for meals can be found on there.

We have ate at the Electric Umbrella and we found it very good, it was relatively inexpensive counter service. We all had burgers except for my DD who had chicken strips (her favorite). We will be dining there again in a couple weeks. We have also found good counter service at Pinnochio's Village Haus in the MK. Some people don't like it, we have never had a bad meal there.

1900 Park Fare is a good b-fast buffet, I didn't care too much for the dinner buffet. I've heard that Chef Mickey's is great as well.

My advice would be to check out the prices on the above website, it will give you an idea of how much to budget.

Hope this helped!

 

[kam502]

thank you "Wish"

I have looked at some menus but also want to take into consideration crowds, atmosphere, temperature and ease to get to. I haven't made any priority seating arrangements. I also wonder about the wiseness about making lunch a big meal if I am also thinking about going to the room for a swim and rest midday. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
Kris

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

What we do is have our BIG meal at b-fast. We usually do a b-fast buffet at least 4 or 5 times during our stay. We don't do lunch, instead we grab a small snack by the pool in the afternoon. Then we have dinner. I always make Priority Seatings because you never know if you'll be able to just walk right up to a restaurant and be able to eat there. We had that problem in 2000 when we went. I had no PS's because in 1999 we just called the night before and were lucky enough to eat where and what time we wanted. In 2000 we weren't able to get dinner until 8pm! Soooooo needless to say I've learned my lesson. What I do is just pick out a few places that I want to try for dinner and leave the rest for counter service. We usually just stick to 1900 Park Fare, Kona Cafe, Chef Mickey's and Concourse Steakhouse for b-fast.

Always go back to your resort and take a break . . .it's a nice way to get refreshed before you head back to the parks in the evening.

 

[Cinderella]

Hi Kris - making lunch a large meal is definitely a good idea, as meals are often much cheaper at lunchtime in the restaurants than in the evening. We found that we only needed one big meal and maybe a hot dog or something for the other meal. We couldn't have managed three proper meals a day - the portions are huge.

When is your trip? U should really try to make priority seating for Liberty Tree Tavern, Chef Mickey's and 1900 Park Fair if possible. It is possible to get a walk in but, best to make PS.

For character breakfasts, we usually have them as brunch - eating a snack on the way to the park in the morning, or in our room then having the breakfast say 11am to 11.30pm.

Electric Umbrella is a great choice and reasonable. Also good in Epcot is the Sunshine Food Fair food court in the Land.

Cosmic Ray's and Aunt Polly's are both good food and reasonably priced. Aunt Polly's menu is limited but the fried chicken is great.

Haven't tried the Flame Tree Barbeque but, have heard great things about it.

Haven't eaten much in MGM - we like the food stands near Tower of Terror best there. The prices are reasonable and the huge hotdogs are great.

Chef Mickey's and 1900 Park Fair are both great buffets with plenty of choices.

Do make a ps for Liberty Tree also - haven't eaten lunch there but, enjoyed dinner.

Whispering Canyon Cafe - have eaten dinner there and thought it was a bit overpriced, we also had breakfast and enjoyed that more. I shouldn't think you would need to make a ps ressy for lunch there.

I usually look at the menus on this website and also www.wdwig.com to work out my budget. Good luck choosing and have fun planning your trip.

 

[Cinderella]

Sorry - forgot to mention - on the days that u make lunch your main meal you could always rest/sleep before swimming. That's what we usually do to give our meals time to settle.

 

[tar heel]

Aunt Polly's hasn't had that chicken for several years -- VERY limited menu. That's unless the menu has been changed very recently.

My kids really like Pizza Planet, but again the menu is very limited.

If budget is an issue, Flame Tree may be the most expensive counter service option. The kids' meal is pbj.

If you've not already, make sure to study the menus -- that will answer a lot of your questions.

 

[tink2dw]

Most of your questions are answered in the post called
"a challenge for all you spend thrifts"
Here is a link to it,click on it.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221413

 

[SandraC]

Our best value was at Fort Wilderness. I read the menu for the TRAIL'S END BUFFET on www.wdwig.com it was awesome! Adult lunch buffet was $8.99 and kids $5.99, they food was plenty and very good quality. We went a few minutes before 2:30pm when the lunch buffet ends. The restaurant was empty and still lots of great food!

We ate lots and then for dinner we went to BEACHES AND CREAM for ice cream! The kids loved having ice cream for dinner! Since our big meal was a late lunch, ice cream was great! We had breakky in room (CSR) from groceries we bought during the stay. This was definately the best meal value day! S