Dining Ideas for our 5-night "go with the flow" trip

[Suze10860]

We leave in 9 days.

I’m doing tons of research and planning, but no actual reserving, either for dining or attractions. With just the 2 of us we much prefer to go with the flow and not commit to anything in advance. There’s no ride or restaurant important enough to cause us distress if we miss it.

That being said, I am actively investigating and reading up in general. We have Park Hoppers and we’ll be there for 5 nights during the Epcot Festival of the Arts staying at The Yacht Club. There will definitely be lots of eating our way through the park itself I’m thinking.

We’ll probably try to do one TS meal a day and that’s what I’m concentrating on here. A late lunch or early dinner is fine with us and we like buffets, although not interested in character meals. (I’m open to other good sit-down breakfast ideas but the choices where the food is appealing seem character heavy.) There are lots of lunch/dinner places on my list because I figure without reservations, I better have many choices!

Looking for thoughts and maybe other suggestions to add to my list of “dining locations I’m interested in.” Anything particularly yummy you’d recommend?

Breakfast ideas:
Les Halles (Epcot)
Kringla Bakery (Epcot)
Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge)

Lunch/Dinner ideas:
Cape May Café (Beach Club)
Biergarten (Epcot)
Ohana (Polynesian)
Hollywood & Vine (Hollywood Studio)
Liberty Tree Tavern (Magic Kingdom)
Ale and Compass (Yacht Club)
The Boathouse (Disney Springs)
Yak & Yeti (Animal Kingdom Park)
Chefs de France (Epcot)
Teppan Edo (Epcot)
Via Napoli (Epcot)

Thanks!

 

[NYCgrrl]

If you don’t want to make ADRs until the last moment consider eating in Disney Springs from time to time. For instance, I’d replace Cafe May with the Boathouse is a nanosecond. Most DS table service can be reserved via Open Table with no wait. It might not hold true on weekends though so book maybe two days in advance.
Have fun no matter what you decide to do.

 

[tinkerjo]

Following, we are in the same boat! Just me and DH at the end of February at Yacht Club. We love Yak and Yeti, one of our favorites. Liberty Tree was good but way too much food. I would like to add a suggestion though. We loved eating at Guyser point over at Wilderness Lodge. Comfy laid back seating. It’s outside but there were heaters on cold days. Food was good and a relaxing atmosphere.

 

[Simba's Mom]

As I just learned, don't discount Les Halles for lunch or dinner. I ate dinner there last week, and had the best Quiche Lorraine ever (not the Florentine, which has goat cheese and spinach). For dessert, I had a lemon meringue tart.

 

[We’reAllMadHere]

We like the festival food booths and snacking around the world.

 

[vakamalua]

Steakhouse 71
Boatwrights
Boma (dinner buffet)
Enzo's Hideaway (Shh! DS Best kept secret))

 

[focusondisney]

Steakhouse 71 is our favorite place for lunch. We like Via Napoli & often split salad & a pizza or pasta there.

 

[loves to dive]

We never make ADRs in advance, have been going for over 40 years and never have. We like to kind of play the dining slots. Depending on what meal we are interested in we will just hop on MDE and find what is available and go from there. Say we are interested in supper, around 4 or so, we look on MDE (that's usually when we are back in the room resting). Because we always have hoppers, any park is available to us and before my son got hitched and had a child, two adults so any time was fine. We have never had any problem finding somewhere to eat. Caveat: we aren't much for a sit down breakfast so 80% of the time that is just either QS at the resort of at the parks. When I'm there solo if I'm staying at one of the Epcot resorts I'll mobile order something from the YC and eat it out on their porch or in the sunroom. For lunch we tend to rely on walk up wait list type places like HBD Lounge or Nomad Lounge or Spice Road Tables or just something snacky. I don't eat large amounts at any of my meals so more than one TS a day would not work for me and more often than not, if I'm eating QS its a kids meal. Doing it this way we always get to try something new and try not to repeat TS restaurants. Thankfully, no one in my family is a picky eater (except hubby and he doesn't do Disney) so the sky is the limit for us.

 

[Marthasor]

We leave in 9 days.

I’m doing tons of research and planning, but no actual reserving, either for dining or attractions. With just the 2 of us we much prefer to go with the flow and not commit to anything in advance. There’s no ride or restaurant important enough to cause us distress if we miss it.

That being said, I am actively investigating and reading up in general. We have Park Hoppers and we’ll be there for 5 nights during the Epcot Festival of the Arts staying at The Yacht Club. There will definitely be lots of eating our way through the park itself I’m thinking.

We’ll probably try to do one TS meal a day and that’s what I’m concentrating on here. A late lunch or early dinner is fine with us and we like buffets, although not interested in character meals. (I’m open to other good sit-down breakfast ideas but the choices where the food is appealing seem character heavy.) There are lots of lunch/dinner places on my list because I figure without reservations, I better have many choices!

Looking for thoughts and maybe other suggestions to add to my list of “dining locations I’m interested in.” Anything particularly yummy you’d recommend?

Breakfast ideas:
Les Halles (Epcot)
Kringla Bakery (Epcot)
Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge)

Lunch/Dinner ideas:
Cape May Café (Beach Club)
Biergarten (Epcot)
Ohana (Polynesian)
Hollywood & Vine (Hollywood Studio)
Liberty Tree Tavern (Magic Kingdom)
Ale and Compass (Yacht Club)
The Boathouse (Disney Springs)
Yak & Yeti (Animal Kingdom Park)
Chefs de France (Epcot)
Teppan Edo (Epcot)
Via Napoli (Epcot)

Thanks!

We have had great success getting late morning walk-ups as a party of 2 at Le Creperie in France. It is much more relaxing than standing in a long line and fighting for a place to sit in Les Halles. Also very successful doing walk-ups at Via Napoli.

 

[beccasmom]

As I just learned, don't discount Les Halles for lunch or dinner. I ate dinner there last week, and had the best Quiche Lorraine ever (not the Florentine, which has goat cheese and spinach). For dessert, I had a lemon meringue tart.

I heartily agree with this recommendation! For a small-ish space there is a good variety of items to choose from and the quiche especially is yummy! DH enjoyed the chicken breast sandwich. And great dessert choices as well! Or head to the L’Artisan des Glaces shop right outside for terrific ice cream (including an ice cream martini if you are so inclined).

 

[fly girl]

For a lunch idea dh and I did on our last visit.

Le Cellier walk up reservation for a bowl of cheese soup with pretzel bread. We split the poutine, but now that I see mussels back on the menu, that is what I would get hands down instead.

Made for a lovely lunch to get some quiet time and we both said we would do that again in a heartbeat.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Chicken Guy and Earl (we split the Thanksgiving sandwich) at DS.

Kona Cafe has a similar menu and is less expensive. We find it is too much food at Ohana and the food is mediocre (especially the steak). I got sick the last time we were at Ohana 2022.

Le Cellier has great atmosphere but again an issue with steak on the last two visits. If you skip the steak and go with @fly girl cheese soup and pretzel is pretty awesome!

Boma is always a go to!

Topolino's is our #1 for breakfast and dinner since 2022 and we do both on each trip.

Steakhouse71 has an excellent steak and eggs for breakfast.

Chef's de France is a definite NO. Last several meals were a disaster in both service and food quality.

Enjoy!!

 

[pixiedust33]

Kona Cafe has a similar menu and is less expensive. We find it is too much food at Ohana and the food is mediocre (especially the steak). I got sick the last time we were at Ohana 2022.

Came here to say this! We thought the food at dinner at Ohana was extremely mediocre but absolutely loved our meal at Kona. The poke bowl was delicious and super fresh.

 

[JODEE2090]

Ale & Compass has a really good breakfast and last trip we sat at the bar at Chef Art's Homecoming and had a nice dinner. We are coming for 8 days in early March and I really don't want to be tied down to a bunch of reservations.

 

[vakamalua]

Was at Ohana dinner recently, the service & food was wretched. So was Kona’s breakfast—the Tonga French toast was solid tasteless brick of bread that no amount of syrup could help!

 

[cmbr]

Ale & Compass is one of my favorite more casual recommendations. We went on a whim for lunch and it wasn't too crowded, the food was very good, and since we went there on our arrival it set a great mood for the start of our trip. Went to Cape May Cafe on the same trip and it was alright, but I'd pick Ale & Compass over it any day.

 

[jimmymc]

Flying Fish has a bar that's walk-up only.

Steakhouse 71 usually has plenty of availability for lunch, and the bar is walk-ups for dinner.

Jungle Skipper Canteen is my favorite Magic Kingdom restaurant. Reservations go early, but the walk up list is normally open.

 

[Suze10860]

I'm checking the menu for every single place recommended! Thanks so much...

 

[emilyann704]

Trattoria al Forno on the Boardwalk was really good for breakfast. We we were able to book a reservation for 4 the night before during Marathon weekend so I'd think you'd be safe doing the same or morning-of.

 

[bnf0522]

We love Polite Pig at Disney Springs! Technically a quick-service but the food is much higher quality than what you think of a quick-service!