Does anyone not care for any of the food at Disney?

[robinb]

This was my exact reaction. The OP's list of places they ate read like a list of places I actively avoid! Sounds like bad luck, mostly.

I think the OP tried to find more "Americanized" food which makes sense. Little did she know that the hamburger/hot dog buns are yucky and that the pizza is terrible. Otherwise, her plan would have worked out. Personally, I don't mind the buffets as much as others do ... most of them not great but are OK. Then again, I am usually on the DDP and the pain of paying so much for "just OK" food is hidden from me.

 

[emmabemmainc]

I'll just chirp in and agree that the OP didn't try any good TS restaurants. In fact, hardly any TS spots at all. To collectively paint the food at Disney as bad after those poor choices isn't terribly fair--or accurate.
Picky eaters will always have a hard time finding restaurants they like, so I'm not going to offer any suggestions.

ITA.

 

[BuzzBiteyear]

I can say I am unimpressed with a lot of the food at Disney (the prices charged are more than the quality demands, if you will), but I am not so repulsed that I resort to eating the children's meals.

I enjoy a wide variety of food (both in terms of different types of proteins, carbs, & grains, and across ethnic/cultural lines) and cook quite well myself, so most of the food at Disney, IMHO, is not worth raving about. Several places I enjoy are far more about the ambience than the actual meal. I just figure it is kind of like Applebees/Friendly's/ Fridays/Bennigans - not the nastiest, but not orgasmic.

I think this is how we are as well. We enjoy visiting some of the TS restaurants while at Disney, but when I do eat my meals, I can think of cheaper alternatives that I enjoy more. This last trip we finally ate at LeCellier, as well as, Coral Reef, and while we enjoyed it, we all agreed we like Outback or Texas Roadhouse better. We've thought the same about our meals at Mexico and Italy in the past as well (though we love the atmosphere at Mexico). We will still visit the TS spots though, because the food is fine, just not so outstanding, however, the atmospheres as mentioned before at a Mexico, LeCellier, Coral Reef, etc. are outstanding.

Even though we were on the free dining plan, and will be again next Aug/Sept, at this point we're already planning to do some of the "trading down" to CS's for some of our TS credits.

Now not to be all negative, but DW and I both thought our best meal of the trip was when we headed to DTD for a bit, and visited Wolf Gang Puck Express. What a bargain for a CS credit, as far as we're concerned.

 

[Brian Noble]

Disney's standard theme park food is, well, standard theme park food. It's overpriced, mass-produced, and not particularly good. It's okay and sometimes even decent. But, it's not good with a very very few (expensive) exceptions. When Disney tries to be a little more unusual, it's often pretty good, and infrequently pretty bad.

Finally, Disney does some things which don't fly so well with a lot of guests. The "wheat" buns are an example. I pretty much only eat (real) wheat bread, so I don't mind the few flecks of brown mixed in amongst the otherwise substanceless buns. I wouldn't call it an improvement, but in my opinion they are not really worse off than they were before. But, if you're a big fan of bleached-white squishy-soft mostly-air bread, then they are going to be strange and unpleasant.

Unfortunately for the OP, if you want to spend two weeks trying to eat the "standard american" diet of hot dogs, pizza, burgers, and chicken at Disney, and do that at CS locations, there just aren't many options that are better than vaguely okay.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Hmm ... it looks like you did try to stick to "American" type food. I have heard others complain about the buns, so you are not alone! I also don't particularly like the pizza at WDW, in fact I call Pizzarafi in AK "Pizzabarfi", LOL! So, you're down 3 out of the 5 things you like to eat as burgers, hot dogs and pizzas are out.

That leaves steak and chicken. You won't get steak at CS restaurants but you will find it at Le Cellier in Epcot and the Turf Club at SSR. I have heard many picky eaters who request that certain sauces and sides be left off. I would also recommend Liberty Tree Tavern for your family which has Thanksgiving type of fare. You might also like Trail's End restaurant in Fort Wilderness (down home food, including fried chicken and ribs for dinner) or even the Wilderness Canyon Cafe.

As for CS restaurants, I also love Flame Tree BBQ so we agree there ... it's the only CS where I will eat in AK. You liked Cosmic Ray's so you'll have somewhere to eat in the MK. You might also want to try Columbia Harbour House for their fried chicken nuggets. I can't recommend anywhere in DHS. Maybe the place with the turkey legs if you like that kind of thing (I don't). You might want to try Sunshine Seasons in The Land in Epcot. They have some plain grilled items (like chicken and pork chops) and the food is very fresh. The Biergarten also has some great bratwurst and I don't think they use the same buns. The Rose and Crown pub has a turkey sandwich.

I actually have the opposite problem from you. I am a very adventurous eater and I find the "ethnic" foods to be boring and dumbed down too much.

You just can't find anywhere at disney to get crispy aramatic duck and thats what I miss at disney.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

This thread was an interesting read. We live on a really tight budget. Ground beef and chicken is about it. We go to Disney and everything tastes amazing to us. I was saying last night in fact, we were eating cheeseburgers and I said imagine a week from tonight we will be eating steak!!! I guess if you are used to gourmet eating you may run into troubles, we are used to eating my cooking and an occasional dinner at Friendly's (which we really like). For us the food never has disapointed. (Chef Mickey's in fact is our favorite!) We are really excited to be enjoying FREE DINING and can't wait to be spoiled for the week...

 

[Jenny-momof3]

As I said previously... I admit that I am picky. But I can walk into any restaurant around here... from fast food to Applebees to high end places.... and always find something I like to eat.

I was just dissapointed that the "american" food we chose to eat just didn't taste all that great.

We did have more TS meals planned... but started cancelling them after really not liking the first 3. My dh just couldn't stand to keep spending $150 on a meal if the food was terrible.

Thank you to all of you who took the time to suggest some new places for us to try. I really appreciate you taking the time to do so. I've made a list of everything so far and am going through each one on Allears looking at the menu. I'm very hopeful that we'll have MUCH better dining next time.

 

[itchin2go]

I think it's because of the restaurants you chose. I personally don't care for the CS places at WDW. There are a few that are ok IMHO. Some of our favorites for TS are Flying Fish, Yachtsmans Steakhouse, Jiko, California Grill, Kona Cafe and LeCellier. FF, YS, Jiko and CG are all 2 TS locations. I'd give it another try. Stay away from the CS and buffets. Check out the menus on allearsnet.com and choose restaurants based on the menus you and your family like.

Your post is SO close to what I almost posted in response to this thread. I totally agree with you.

 

[RMulieri]

I have been to WDW many many times, and have eaten most places.Some I do not care for.But I have always found at least one( sometimes more than one) stellar meal during my trips.Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

[mybubaloo]

I'll admit, we've been underwhelmed with the food at Disney too. We are heading there this weekend for the 3rd time in 2 yrs & I'm already trying to figure out ways to avoid the food. So you're not alone!

 

[laceemouse]

This thread was an interesting read. We live on a really tight budget. Ground beef and chicken is about it. We go to Disney and everything tastes amazing to us. I was saying last night in fact, we were eating cheeseburgers and I said imagine a week from tonight we will be eating steak!!! I guess if you are used to gourmet eating you may run into troubles, we are used to eating my cooking and an occasional dinner at Friendly's (which we really like). For us the food never has disapointed. (Chef Mickey's in fact is our favorite!) We are really excited to be enjoying FREE DINING and can't wait to be spoiled for the week...

I couldn't agree more
My sister's husband is basically a gourmet chef! They complain about ALL of the food at WDW. In fact, most restaurant foods don't thrill them, they ALWAYS think they could do better at home. They do go to Vegas, and I have never heard them rave about the food there either!!
We eat simple quick stuff at home (4 kids and a crazy schedule.) We do eat out ethnic food, our kids will eat everything, including sushi, but at home it is mostly tacos, burgers, chicken, meat loaf, pork chops, etc. It is all fine, but we LOVE trying new things each WDW trip!
I wouldn't say we have never been disappointed at WDW, we have, but for the most part we enjoy the food there.
I think some people have one idea about how a certain food should taste and any deviation to them is "bad." We are more flexible than that.
Never been to Vegas, don't really desire to go.

 

[clutter]

I've got to agree with the OP that the CS meals do leave a bit to be desired. I guess when I go to disney, I want to eat burgers/fries, and lets face it, they simply aren't that good there. (What happened to the good disney fries they used to serve?? In august, they all tasted like plastic.) So if you're a picky eater, Burgers, fries, hot dogs and pizza are all off the list. When we go on DDP, we generally leave CS credits behind.

That said, we do enjoy most of the TS meals. I think that Disney food all tastes pretty much the same after a few days (more so today than in years past, go figure.) But my dd 11 and I enjoy our TS meals.

Frankly, I'd look into the DDP (depending on when your middle dd turns 9, lol.) Then I'd focus on good TS meals. (Don't leave your 14yo at home for Le Cellier. It's my steak-loving dd11's favorite restaurant.) Book Le Cellier. Twice. What about something like Teppan Edo? Whispering Canyon. It's so fun, who cares if the food is good or not. Same with 50s Prime Time. The pot roast and fried chicken are pretty good. I have to say that there really isn't much good food in MK, except maybe Cosmic Rays and Columbia House. Unfortunately, I think CP is the best sit-down there. But you could hop over to Kona's for dinner. Do breakfast at O'Hanas one morning. Skip the clambake at BC. O

The reality is that you have to eat, and I'm with you that the CS isn't so great.

 

[PJAY]

Our last visit we really expanded our gastronimic horizons and ate a TS every night for dinner and CS for lunch on the DD.

At MK we ate at Tony's Town Square, Liberty Tree Tavern, Cosmic Rays and Columbia Harbor House. Of those, Columbia was HORRIBLE. DW had chicken that tasted like fish. I spit it out when she complained and told me to try it--and I eat ANYTHING.

HS we love 50s Prime Time and the abc commissary.
AK Tusker House was pretty good. Desserts were fantastic.
Epcot was the jewel though we ate at Le Cellier (believe the hype), Tangerine Cafe, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
We loved all of them here. We have also tried The garden Grill in the Land and I really enjoyed it.
Part of the fun for our next trip was booking our ADR for the TS.
I did find that almost all the CS were the same puck like burgers and fries. Filling but not the best tasting grub.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

Wow 5 pages already!

I see I'm not the only one that feels the CS food is just not so great. And I just can't justify spending $150 for TS meals twice a day. Especially when some of those meals may not be so great either.

My middle dd will be 10 when we go so I would have to pay for 4 adults and 1 child in order to do the DDP. My girls are tiny and are not big eaters... so I'm just not willing to spend that kind of money. But I will be booking more TS meals this trip and hoping for the best.

 

[DISNEY1975]

we are used to eating my cooking and an occasional dinner at Friendly's (which we really like). ....

Yummy Friendly's! No Fribbles at Disney

 

[Brian Noble]

DW had chicken that tasted like fish.

Maybe that's what it was---they have fish there, too!

For the most part, the non-burger/non-pizza options are better at CS locations. For example, the two sandwiches (tuna, hummus) at CHH are both pretty good, and we always get them in preference to deep-fried-whatever. The italian sandwich at Pizzafari is a step up from Typical Disney Pizza. The cuban sandwich is a big step up from the burger at ABC.

And, the places that don't even serve pizza/burgers/deep-fried-whatever are generally even better yet.

 

[PJAY]

Maybe that's what it was---they have fish there, too!

For the most part, the non-burger/non-pizza options are better at CS locations. For example, the two sandwiches (tuna, hummus) at CHH are both pretty good, and we always get them in preference to deep-fried-whatever. The italian sandwich at Pizzafari is a step up from Typical Disney Pizza. The cuban sandwich is a big step up from the burger at ABC.

And, the places that don't even serve pizza/burgers/deep-fried-whatever are generally even better yet.

I know, it was definitely chicken with a lovely fishy taste imbued through the oil
I had the fish and it was okay--kinda tasted like chicken... .

 

[WDisnut]

As far as where we ate...


Magic Kingdom~ Crystal Palace, Cosmic Rays, Pinocchio Haus, Pecos Bill

I did enjoy the chicken at Cosmic Rays and DH has a taco bowl at Pecos that he raved about.

Epcot~ Electric Umbrella, Liberty Inn and funnel cake ( those were delicious )

DHS~ Hollywood and Vine, Toy Story Pizza Planet, and hot dogs some place but I can't remember where

AK~ Pizzafari, Flame Tree BBQ

Crystal Palace I only do Breakfast buffet before park opens, great food and good times. Flame tree BBQ is the only other good thing IMO on your list.

I don't know if you where on the dining plan, if not try it.

I hate most in park foods (I won't ever eat in DHS again), and I dislike almost all buffets. Most resort food is the way to go from all angels. Just read what other threads have said.

I have everywhere except Vic and Al's, the places I love

MK- crystal place (breakfast), MSB, dole whip
DHS- nothing, maybe water,
epcot- le cellier, school bread norway
AK- flame tree
ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE= jiko
BEACH CLUB=Beaches and Cream
BOARDWALK=ESPN Club ( nachos, chicken wings and burgers, yum )
CONTEMPORARY=California Grill
POLYNESIAN='Ohana
Marketplace= Earl of Sandwich

call Giordano's for pizza, can never go wrong, don't remember number for delivery, either (407) 239-8900 or (407) 397-0044

 

[jblrn2b]

We love the food at WDW and we live and eat out (occasionally)in Boston. We realize when we go to WDW, not every place is "gourmet". For instance, Sci Fi doesn't have the best food in the world but it is so fun to sit in those cars, watch old movies with a big milkshake - I usually get the Cesar salad with chicken which is decent. 50s Prime Time Cafe my kids think is a riot and we had one of our best lunches there in April. Tepan Edo is fun with the onion volcano. Part of the fun of WDW is the ambiance to the restaurants. One of my favorite parts of vaca planning is my ADR's. We hardly ever eat at CS - only to grab a burger for lunch but what we do a lot is eat a Character Breakfast and then plan a nice dinner. Chef Mickey's (we've only gone breakfast) is really fun and I love having the pictures of my kids from there over the years - is their buffet the best - maybe not but I usually find something I like.

That all being said - California Grill is one of the best restaurants I have been to. There are many choices for everyone - you may want to try more TS restaurants.

 

[snookiedoodles]

When I was a kid my family had a joke that everything in disney was made in one large vat and they had a machine that would mold it into different food.

If you get the picture...everything tasted the same, from what I can remember of the 70's Disney, it did.

But.....today their is a large variety, something for everyone, and Disney is very progressive with mass production of food that doesn't taste or present like it was. (like a wedding)

I am really happy that Disney respects the fact that children do not eat the same, and some prefer not to have pbj and chicken fingers all the time. Some children cannot have fatty food (my child has a heart condition) They now offer a selection of food that is healthier.

I guess they listened to all of my surveys......