Dining Recommendations Please!

[Meredith Girl]

We just booked a trip to Disney December 11-17. I realize we have some time before we can make our dining reservations but I am totally overwhelmed with all the choices. We got the dining plan but no park hoppers. It will be DH, DD (7) and me. Based on what I have seen, it's a better value to use table service credits for lunch or dinner. We don't mind paying some extra for out of pocket costs such as character breakfasts, etc. but certainly not everyday. I'd love some suggestions on table service restaurants and how to "work" the plan. We like large portions and nothing too exotic!

 

[cbg1027]

In general, it is better to use your credits at dinner. Most TS places will be expensive at dinner, thus giving you a better value for your DDP credit.

Where you get the best bang for credit will depend on where you eat though.

Restaurant suggestions based on your stated preferences:

In DHS:
50's Prime Time Cafe
Sci-Fi Dine In Theater
Mama Melrose's

Epcot:
Garden Grill
Coral Reef
Le Cellier
Tutto Italia

MK:
Any TS location in MK will have basic American food, save for Tony's, which offerings generic Italian.

AK:
TS options here are a bit more exotic.

Beach Club:
Cape May Cafe Clambake Dinner

Grand Floridian:
Grand Floridian Cafe

Saratoga Springs:
Turf Club

Wilderness Lodge:
Whispering Canyon Cafe

 

[Cafeen]

cbg above me has good recommendations. To help you when you actually plan your meals, keep the following in mind:

• Dinners are typically more expensive than lunches (which are typically more expensive than breakfasts) when comparing to the same restaurant. When comparing different restaurants, it flys out the window some (Breakfast as Chef Mickey's is more expensive than Dinner at The Plaza for example).
• You will get more "bang for your buck" at the costlier TS places.
• Make sure to use all meal credits and all credit entitlements (so no skipping dessert, though usually you can get a bottle of water in place of dessert at CS locations)
• The estimated "cost" per TS credit is around $31 on DDP. When checking if the DDP makes sense for your plans, if you average $31 (incl tax) per TS, then you should be good to go. This does NOT mean you shouldn't ever get anything less than that number. You can easily end up with a $40-50 meal at some of the 1 credit TS places, "allowing" you to be less on others. This is more to prevent cases where people dine at places like The Plaza (relatively inexpensive OOP) all week and then feel they got ripped off with the DDP.
• You can (and can sometimes be recommended if you're paying OOP for some meals) split the bill and pay for some meals OOP and some on the DDP. A great use of this would be paying OOP for children at menu-based TS locations (so not buffets), and DDP for them at character breakfasts, while doing the opposite for the Adults (OOP at the character breakfasts, DDP at the TS). This can lead to a bit of savings overall, but if it's too complicated, then your convenience and sanity are worth more than a little bit of extra savings

For some more recommendations, without knowing your full plans...
AK - Tusker House breakfast - One of the least expensive and higher quality character meals on property. The food is quite good and ranges from standard breakfast fare to a slightly exotic stuff (if you happen to be feeling a little adventurous). Cost is roughly $21 per adult, and $12 per child. (This is one of those good uses of splitting the bill in my last point).

MK - The Plaza (OOP for all most likely). Good solid standard Fare. Nothing fancy here, but desserts are great . Crystal Palace works well as a character breakfast if your daughter (or your or the husband) are into Pooh and Friends.

Epcot - So many good restaurants, so little time...
- Via Napoli works out well if looking to share a pizza. Be warned though, it's not your traditional American pizza and while very good, may be too far from the norm for your tastes. Cbg covered all the other "normal" types of places already.

Grand Floridian - 1900 Park Fare Dinner. I've personally never done this, but it's a very unique character meal with Cinderella & Prince Charming, along with Cindy's Stepmother and Step-sisters. Character interaction gets very highly rated here. Food is usually ok, not great (but you'll hear that about every restaurant) (Would be solid for DDP usage for both Adults and Children as well)

 

[Feisty Fairy]

We just booked a trip to Disney December 11-17. I realize we have some time before we can make our dining reservations but I am totally overwhelmed with all the choices. We got the dining plan but no park hoppers. It will be DH, DD (7) and me. Based on what I have seen, it's a better value to use table service credits for lunch or dinner. We don't mind paying some extra for out of pocket costs such as character breakfasts, etc. but certainly not everyday. I'd love some suggestions on table service restaurants and how to "work" the plan. We like large portions and nothing too exotic!

Me and DH usually just get a snack from the resort for breakfast such as a pastry or bowl of fruit using a snack credit and use our refillable mug for a soda or coffee. We usually just pay for one meal out of pocket because we choose one 2 credit table service per trip and then breakfast on the day we go home. We always schedule dinner for the table service meal and then use the QS for lunch. This time is an exception is this time we plan on getting a Mickey Waffle with Strawberries on arrival to the resort and one on checkout day before we leave . And then we are paying out of pocket for Kona Cafe breakfast. But three meals and two of them are cheap out of eight days is not too bad.

As far as which restaurants you chose it depends on what Parks you want to visit. Garden Grill is a character meal at Epcot and it is very good and is served family style and free refills on food and drink as much as you want. Kouzzina at the Boardwalk which can be reached easily from Epcot by boat or walking from the World Showcase as some Greek food with a flair that is good. Akershus as Princess dinning for dinner. Appetizers are included and is served buffet style. Then each person chooses an entrée and dessert is shared. Pictures are also included in price of meal and it was a way better experience than Cinderella's Royal Table. There are many others that I have enjoyed as well. Keep the questions coming.

 

[MJMcBride]

My personal favorites are Kona Cafe, Boma and Teppan Edo. I would try Whispering Canyon Cafe and Sci-Fi for the youngsters

'ohana is a great character breakfast

 

[Cherinva]

Here's my list of restaurants that we like......

MK - Crystal Palace (Character) - TS (Buffet)
Cinderella's Royal Table (2 TS credits, Character)
Casey's - CS
Starlight Ray's - CS
EPCOT - Coral Reef - TS
Beirgarten - TS
Electric Umbrella - CS
DHS - 50's Prime Time Cafe - TS
GF - 1900 Park Fare - TS - Character (Buffet)
Poly - O'Hanas - TS...this is our favorite breakfast - Character
Contemporary - Chef Mickey's - TS - Character, (Buffet)

 

[mommystieg]

Our family favorites are:

MK
Crystal Palace - TS
Pecos Bill - CS
Cosmic Ray's - CS

AK
Flame Tree - CS
Pizzafari - CS

Epcot
Garden Grill - TS
Akerhus - TS
Sunshine Seasons - CS

DHS
50's Prime Time Cafe - TS

There are also several great places to eat at the monorail resorts. We like Whispering Canyon Cafe.

 

[Wendy31]

Of the places we've tried, we like the following:

MK - CRT, Crystal Palace, Liberty Tree Tavern

MK Resort Area - California Grill (Contemporary) Chef Mickey's (breakfast only, Contemporary), Kona Cafe (Poly), Ohana (Poly), Whispering Canyon Cafe (Wilderness Lodge)

EPCOT - Garden Grill, Coral Reef, Le Cellier, San Angel

DHS - Sci-Fi, Mama Melrose's

AK - We like the character breakfast here, but we did it back it when it was still at Restaurantasauras, so I can't comment on its current location

AK Resort - Boma (at the Animal Kingdom Lodge)

For counter service, we like Columbia Harbor House (MK), Sunshine Seasons (EPCOT), Cantina De San Angel (EPCOT), the France Counter (EPCOT), Toy Story Pizza Planet (DHS), Flame Tree (AK), & Earl of Sandwich (DTD)

Does your DD like the princesses? If so, I'd plan for at least 1 princess meal (maybe even 2! ); I'd probably do either CRT and 1900 Park Fare or Akershus and 1900 Park Fare. I'd also want at least 1 character meal w/ Mickey. What I like about Chef Mickey's over the character meal at Tusker House is all 5 of the main characters are at Chef Mickey's - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, & Pluto.

Depending on where you're staying and what parks you're planning for what days, I'd probably try for the following:

Arrival Night - Dinner at CRT (either pay OOP or use 2 TS credits) or, if you didn't want to use 2 TS credits or pay OOP, Whispering Canyon Cafe (table-service) or 'Ohana (table-service) or 1900 Park Fare (table-service) - something special for your 1st night!

MK Day - Lunch at Crystal Palace (table-service), Dinner at Columbia Harbor House (counter-service)

EPCOT Day - Lunch at Sunshine Seasons (table-service), Dinner at either Garden Grill (table-service) or Coral Reef (table-service) or Akershus (table-service) or 1900 Park Fare (table-service, Grand Floridian) - if I weren't doing CRT & my DD liked princesses, I would choose Akershus for breakfast, lunch or dinner on my EPCOT day & then do counter-service for the other meals.

DHS - Lunch at Toy Story Pizza Planet (counter-service), Dinner at Mama Melrose's (Fantasmic Dinner Package)

AK Day - Breakfast at Tusker House (OOP), Lunch at Flame Tree (counter-service) & Dinner at either Boma (table-service) or Earl of Sandwich (counter-service at DTD)

MK Day #2 - Lunch at MK Counter, Dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe (table-service) or 'Ohana (table-service) or 1900 Park Fare (table-service) - depending on what you chose for your 1st night, but also something special for your last night!

Departure Day - Breakfast at Chef Mickey's (OOP)

Have fun planning & choosing!!! I love planning out our Disney meals!!