Disney Dinning, first time at Disney World

[lmtm07]

Our Family has purchased the dining plan. What resturants would you suggest? We will be there Jluy 6th to 14th. Our children are 8 and 10.
Lisa

 

[tinkerkel2u]

My favorite of all is Ohaha's at the Poly resort. It is an awesome atmosphere (hawaiian-like) and have activities for the kids. Also the food is served "family style". You get your own table, but the food comes in bowls, so you can just get what you want. Look on the menu board (there's a link in this section) and you can see what food they offer. I love it!

 

[Tootles]

Sci-Fi Dine In at MGM has a great atmosphere for kids that age. What about 50's Prime Time Cafe at MGM? They'll tease the heck 'outta ya though, so hope your kids have a sense of humour! Eat, and be merry!

 

[wilma-bride]

If you're going to be there July this year, you really ought to make some ADRs otherwise you may find you will struggle to get in to TS restaurants.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Do you have any tentative plans about what parks you're going to visit on which days? If so, I suggest you plan your meals around that. Check out allears.net which lists everyplace you could conceivably eat, the menus therefore, and all the food prices.

Otherwise, you should plan at least one character meal...I generally prefer breakfasts. And allow me to echo wilma-bride, try to make your reservations as soon as you can.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Click on the "Dining" link in the light blue bar at the top of this page. It will take you to all the information about Disney restaurants you ever wanted to know.

As a first time visitor, my best advise is to spend as much time on Dis and the Walt Disney World web site as possible. The more time you spend planning and learning, the better time you'll have.

 

[Wingedheart]

It depends on what parks you're going to which days and where you're staying too.

At the MK, our favorite TS is Crystal Palace. A buffet with Pooh characters - lots of awesome choices for kids and adults. Buffet is nice while in the park because you don't have to wait around for your food to come. The restaurant is gorgeous, open, airy and happy

At Epcot, you might like Coral Reef - with the giant aquarium to watch the fish and the scuba divers while you eat. It's also only 1 TS on the dining plan and the food is good

At MGM, Sci-Fi is fun once but the food is not great. The 50s Prime Time is nice if you get a really good waiter/waitress who interacts with you. The food is good - more of a home-cooked kind of thing.

Chef Mickey's is a good character breakfast buffet at the Contemporary. Have only been there for breakfast so don't know about the other meals.

Happy Eating!

 

[G's mommy]

Make some decisions and go ahead and call soon. You are traveling at a very busy time and you will need ADR's for all TS restaurants. Since you are on the dining plan, you don't want to get stuck using TS credits at CS restaurants just to eat.

 

[Tanya90210]

Our family favorites are Ohana's breakfast and LeCellier... the only one we did last trip we could have done without was Mama Melrose... other than that all the food was great

Tanya

 

[Kimmy]

Our favorites are 'Ohanas (Poly), Chef Mickeys (Contemporary), Coral Reef, Cape May Cafe (Beach Club). I have two boys 8 & 10 and these are also their favorites. Make your reservations ASAP! Check out AllEarsNet.com, they list all the restaurants and the menus. If you can't get in somewhere for dinner, try to get a lunch. Allot of the restaurants have a wonderful lunch menu, as good as dinner.

 

[jrsmom]

Allearsnet.com is a great place to view menus. Here are some of our favorites.

Ohana for breakfast, if you can get the early seating you will be able to get into the park as soon as it opens.

Crystal palace is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Again I like the earliest breakfast, it is a great chance to get a quick picture of the castle or Main Street with no crowds before you go in to eat.

Liberty Tree Tavern is pretty good, dinner is family style Thanksgiving style with characters.

We like cosmic rays and pecos bills for counter service

Chef Mickey's is always a must for us, we usually eat here on our first night. This year our first night dinner will be whispering canyon cafe. I have heard great thinks about the food at WCC. We will be eating at Chef Mickeys for dinner during our trip and trying it for breakfast for the first time.

If you can get the Fantasmic dinner package at MGM that will save you from waiting in line for the show. We usually go to Hollywood and vine for this.
We always eat at Pizza Planet for an early lunch. My son has been a Toy Story fan since he was little , the pizza and salad are pretty decent.

Flame tree BBQ in animal kingdom is pretty good.

I always overbook my TS meals and pay for one or two breakfast out of pocket since they are the least expensive of the TS meals and use the dining credits for a dinner.

Have fun planning

Vickey

 

[MasterShake]

Go to allears.net to get menus and photos of each restaurant. IMO you have to divide Disney restaurants into 3 categories; Buffet, Family Style, and Menu. Here are our favorites and a brief reason why for each:

Buffet:

Crystal Palace - Character Dinner with w/Pooh...Great Atmosphere...Prime Rib on the buffet...Located in the Magic Kingdom

Boma - Great Atmosphere....Food Quality is IMO the best of the buffets.

Family Style:

Whispering Canyon Cafe - Great Atmosphere.....Very Loud, but a ton of fun....good BBQ/Western Style Food

Ohana - If you time it right (and get lucky with the table) you can watch Wishes while you eat.....unique serving style....good food

Menu:

LeCellier - Excellent food.....good atmosphere.....located in Epcot

Coral Reef - Good Food....one of the restaurants walls is glass and looks into the Living Seas Aquarium

 

[Maggi May]

If you're staying at a resort with TS restaurants (moderate or deluxe) be sure to book meals at your home resort, even if you decide to cancel them later. At some resorts the restaurants are so popular that you might not be able to eat where you're staying unless you plan ahead. Friends of mine stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge last year and were never able to eat at Jiko or Boma during their stay.

Oh, and enjoy! Planning can be overwhelming but no matter where you eat, you're doing it at Disney World!

 

[gabesmom]

We went for the first time last spring with DS7 and DS15. I'll echo what everyone else has said about making ADRs as soon as you can. It seems like a lot of trouble now, but is definitely worth it when you get there. We used all of our TS credits on dinners and paid OOP for character breakfasts at Ohana (Lilo & Stitch) and Crystal Palace (Pooh characters). Both were great.

We also enjoyed:

Le Cellier at Epcot for dinner (TS) - best meal of the trip

Hoop de Doo Review at Fort Wilderness (2 TS credits, but worth it for us)

Fantasmic dinner package at Hollywood & Vine at MGM (1 TS credit, buffet) - pretty good food when we were there and great seats for Fantasmic

Flame Tree at Animal Kingdom (CS - with large servings)
Pecos Bills at Magic Kingdom (CS)

We ate at Biergarten, too, in Epcot and while everyone enjoyed the atmosphere, the boys weren't too impressed with the food.

One big thing to keep in mind: If you're not park-hopping and make a reservation for a restaurant at one of the parks, it has to be the park you're in that day or you won't be able to get in for dinner.

Park-hopping helps with that, but you still dont' want to be running all over the place for dinner so try to map out where you think you'll be each day and then make your reservations asap. You can take advantage of nearby resort dining if you're not hopping and return to the same park later. That's what we're doing on a short trip in December.

 

[william4192]

Plan ahead. That is the key. But don't let planning discourage you. Let the planning be fun and the anticipation will grow.

 

[byoung]

Le Cellier, Cape May, Spoodles, Kona's, Concourse Steak House, and a lot of other resturants are good.