Favorite Place to Eat??

[littlemermaid95]

We're going on our first WDW trip in October. It will be me, DH, and three DD's - ages 10, 8, 6. I'd like to know everyone's favorite place to eat. What place(s) should we be sure not to miss? What character dinners and shows should we not miss? (I want to go to Hoop De Doo, but it would be $200 for our whole family. Is it really worth that?) Also which princess meal is better - the one in Cinderella's castle, or the one with more princess (Norwegian)?

 

[Luv4Disney]

We're going on our first WDW trip in October. It will be me, DH, and three DD's - ages 10, 8, 6. I'd like to know everyone's favorite place to eat. What place(s) should we be sure not to miss? What character dinners and shows should we not miss? (I want to go to Hoop De Doo, but it would be $200 for our whole family. Is it really worth that?) Also which princess meal is better - the one in Cinderella's castle, or the one with more princess (Norwegian)?

We always do Le Cellier, Liberty Tree Tavern (great character interaction), 'Ohana (dinner) and Sci-Fi for lunch. We also usually do: Crystal Palace, Mama Melrose, Tony's Town Square (although this is very controversial, we love it there), Fulton's Crab House, Les Chefs de France, Biergarten. We ALWAYS do Hoop Dee Doo. We love it there! And we like Cindy's for lunch best. The atmosphere can't be beat there.

 

[_queenie_]

Are you looking for fine dining, or something more casual?

 

[smep013]

We always do Le Cellier, Liberty Tree Tavern (great character interaction), 'Ohana (dinner) and Sci-Fi for lunch. We also usually do: Crystal Palace, Mama Melrose, Tony's Town Square (although this is very controversial, we love it there), Fulton's Crab House, Les Chefs de France, Biergarten. We ALWAYS do Hoop Dee Doo. We love it there! And we like Cindy's for lunch best. The atmosphere can't be beat there.

I second LeCellier and Ohana.
We also enjoyed Spoodles at Boardwalk.
And we love California Grill in the Contemporary.

 

[littlemermaid95]

Are you looking for fine dining, or something more casual?

More casual. We will not have the meal plan, so we need to be somewhat careful in our planning. We will probably only do one character meal with our three dd's, and one other show - such as Hoop De Doo or Ohana. Not sure which ones to pick at this point. Where are good CS places to eat?

 

[SnowWtch]

O'Hana for dinner and CP for late lunch/dinner. For CS, we love Yorkshire County Fish Shop in the UK for fish and chips and Yakitori in Japan.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

A couple of great restaurants for families is 50's Prime Time Diner and the Sci Fi Drive In both at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The Prime Time has a fun staff who treats you like family (we are all cousins) and scolds at you if you put your elbows on the table or haven't cleaned your plate. It's alot of fun but probably not the ideal place though for people who are very shy. I am shy but still love it. The SciFi is even better. You sit in cars like you are at the drive in and watch old scifi movie trailers on the big screen. I think this is the ideal themed restaurant for kids. I like the food at both restaurants too. These are must do's for us every trip.

 

[Coconuts]

A must do for us is always HDDR. The food is great, staff is accomodating, and the show is fun for the whole family. It makes for a memorable night. On the last trip we tried a lot of new places for us, which are recommended by most. We loved Le Cellier the best, but also enjoyed LTT, 50's PTC, and GG. You can also never go wrong for character meal by going to Chef Mickey's. It was booked the whole week we went! Good luck.

 

[Hopefully]

Your questions are very complex
We love the HDDR, many others hate it. Is it worth $200 - "Worth" is a totally subjective thing. If spending $200 on one meal is going to bother you the whole night while you constantly try to decide if it is "Worth" it - then no it is probably not worth it. We feel it is a great show for all ages - "Corny" jokes and all. It is great fun. The food is "Down Home Cooking" ribs and fried chicken and sides. It is not gourmet fine dining. Is it "worth" it, maybe not on its own, but for us it is. The cost is for dinner, a show, and a lifetime of family memories. For Us, priceless.
Eating with Cinderella in the Castle is expensive. Again, you are not paying for the food, but the total experience. There is no way the cost of breakfast is "worth" it for the food alone.
We have done both the Castle and Norway. Both have their advantages. It is magaical to eat in the Castle with Cinderella, at least once. The interaction and Princesses in Norway at breakfast are great. I think I would do this one first.
Some CS we love include the Columbia Harbour House in the MK for sandwiches and Peco Bill's for burgers and fries. We like the Tangerine Cafe in Morroco and the Cantina in Mexico for International CS in Epcot.
The Backlot Express in the Studios is acceptible.
HTH

 

[goldenears]

HDDR is also one of our favorites. Our oldest was 1 on her first trip to WDW and we took her. She loved it! It does seem like a lot of money to spend on chicken and cornbread, but the entertainment is great and it makes for a really fun evening.
We have never been to CRT, but have taken our DD to Akershus. She really liked the interaction with the princesses. We plan on doing CRT when she is a little older. I have heard that it is better to go at breakfast.
If you are at Epcot, try taking a walk to BCV and eating at Beaches and Cream. We make sure we hit this tiny diner-style restaurant each time we go. They have great burgers and even better sundaes!!!

 

[jhnsnfamily]

I'm writing this all down for our trip in June 2008!!!

Thanks to everyone for the info so far! Keep 'em comin'!

 

[TruBlu]

Coral Reef is by far our favorite. The food is wonderful, and you can't beat the view. It is so relaxing and beautiful. We wouldn't miss it.

 

[TruBlu]

I'm writing this all down for our trip in June 2008!!!

Thanks to everyone for the info so far! Keep 'em comin'!

If you are going in June, you should make your ADRs now or you'll never get in. Better choose fast.

 

[garris3404]

HDMR is a great experience. Our family did it on our lasrt trip. We sat right next to the stage. The food was OK. The show was very funny. we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

As far as character meal, if your girls are into the dressing up like princcess, then have them dress up. We did both CRT and PSB last time.

CRT is a once in a life time experience. We surprised our kids. We snuck in our youngest daughter's Snow White costume, and had her change just before dinning. She loved all the attention! We ate lunch there. The food was pretty good. With 5 people, your price includes 2 photo sets.

PSB was very nice too. We ate breaffast there. The food was normal breakfast food. The carmel sticky buns were fabulous! We ordered extras! You will need to purchase a photo set if you want one. If you have your owm camera and take decent pictures, it's up to you.

Chef Mickey's is also very nice.

Other family fun experiences are WCC at WL, Ohana (dinner) at Poly, and Biergarten at Epcot.

Great food can be found at Le Cellier at Epcot and Boma at AKL.

 

[Allensfan]

okay, get ready to laugh

But we have been to so many wonderful places like CA Grill, Coral Reef...heck we have even dined at Victoria & Alberts and you know what is a can't miss for us.......

San Angel Inn...in Mexico. I have read some not nice things about it but we just love it. It is not pricy and not even fancy but we love sitting in the dark, by the river...listening to the music and walking around to the shops after dinner.

I just adore that cute little place. We are skipping V & A this year but we all agree that San Angel Inn is a must!

Happy planning

 

[jhnsnfamily]

If you are going in June, you should make your ADRs now or you'll never get in. Better choose fast.

I know! I just can't decide! The only thing I really want to do (which isn't even for me) is sign my kids up for the Pirate cruise. As far as ADRs go, I still have no idea !

I'm still surfing these boards for suggestions. Nobody in my group has been for many, many years, so we are all like NEWBIES. Probably Hollywood Studios on Sun for Star Wars weekend, AK on Monday, free day on Tues (probably pirate cruise in am and DTD in pm - dinner at Wolf Gang Puck Express), Epcot on Thursday (eat at Biergarten -- no ressies needed right?), and MK on Friday.. Any other suggestions for dinner?

 

[byoung]

Le Cellier is my favorite.

 

[ahowanitz]

We had the best time at 50's Prime Time Cafe....and the pot roast was SOOOO good! We also really enjoyed the Rainforest Cafe in AK.

 

[summerlandjeff]

Our DD12 loved the Princess Character Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. Decent food (buffet) and plenty of interaction with the characters (Cinderella, Prince Charming, Alice, Mad Hatter...etc.)

 

[Disney Fool]

As an alternative to Cinderella's Royal Table (in the castle, very $$$) I would recommend 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella and family. This dinner features Cindy's stepmom and step sisters and they are a hoot! Prince Charming is there also. It's buffet style, and less $$ than Royal Table. 1900 Park fare is located at the Grand Floridian Resort, and is a short boat ride over from the Magic Kingdom.