Help me eliminate a restaurant please :)

[staceylynnga]

We have 6 nights in the area, and possibly 7 restaurants on the list, some already with ADRs, but we can change (going in Jan - still time to do so).

This is our first Disney trip with kids (Nathan will be almost 19 months for the trip) and we have never been to any of the following restaurants. Please help me eliminate one:

Boma

Kona Cafe

1900 Park Fare (a possible option for an early dinner res as they open at 4:30; so we can make Spectromagic at 7, followed by Wishes at 8)

Le Cellier (highly rec)

Coral Reef (well rec, good for kids)

Wolfgang Puck Cafe (considering for our first night when we arrive in the area - driving down, this would be the night before we check into our Disney resort; sushi & menu apps look interesting)

Olivias Cafe (seems like an oft-overlooking gem)

Please don't take my notations as a preference of any restaurant over the other; it's simply my reasoning for choosing them.

Look forward to any comments!! Thanks!

 

[Wendi2000]

I'd dump Le Cellier... I think it's highly overrated, we had horrible service and a mediocre meal there, and it's not exciting or entertaining for kids.

 

[Kmango]

I'd eliminate Olivia's. It's a fine restaurant, sure, but nothing special. If we're staying at OKW and don't have other plans, we like to eat there, but it's not really worth making the trip over there.

We eat breakfast there pretty frequently.

 

[epcotbistro]

I'd get rid of wolfgang.. not a big fan of it. food is average at best, and service is lousy!!

 

[World Bouncer]

We have 6 nights in the area, and possibly 7 restaurants on the list, some already with ADRs, but we can change (going in Jan - still time to do so).

This is our first Disney trip with kids (Nathan will be almost 19 months for the trip) and we have never been to any of the following restaurants. Please help me eliminate one:

Boma

Kona Cafe

1900 Park Fare (a possible option for an early dinner res as they open at 4:30; so we can make Spectromagic at 7, followed by Wishes at 8)

Le Cellier (highly rec)

Coral Reef (well rec, good for kids)

Wolfgang Puck Cafe (considering for our first night when we arrive in the area - driving down, this would be the night before we check into our Disney resort; sushi & menu apps look interesting)

Olivias Cafe (seems like an oft-overlooking gem)

Please don't take my notations as a preference of any restaurant over the other; it's simply my reasoning for choosing them.

Look forward to any comments!! Thanks!

Personal thoughts, we ate at most all these places 3 weeks ago.....

Wolfgang was a great meal with great service

Coral Reef was wonderful, great service and great atmosphere

Olivias... agree a hidden gem and the boat ride over from Downtown Disney was half the fun!

Boma - didn't eat there but seen the restaurant in action and wasn't impressed

Kona - nothing real memorable but not bad either

Le Cellier - we think its over rated and had a bad experience there

1900 was good and the characters were fun!

I would narrow my elimination down to
Boma, Kona, or Le Cellier

Have a wonderful Vacation!!!

 

[jemgumby]

All your ADR's look so good. It is hard to choose which one to eliminate. You said your son will be about 19 months old on this trip and as far as what he might like: Coral Reef to look at fishies, 1900 because of the characters and so I wouldn't get rid of those. However, the one that really doesn't stand out to me is Boma and in all fairness I have never eaten there but there menu just doesn't appeal to me personally. LeCellier is so hard to get I wouldn't let that ADR go. Kona appeals to me and I've heard really good things about that one too and so I wouldn't get rid of that one. I would say maybe eliminate Boma but that's just me!

 

[The Hendies]

LOVE Boma, for adults. This might be one to wait for the next trip. Coral Reef is over priced and the food is not too die for, but your little one will enjoy the view. Have a great trip!

 

[septbaby]

Boma is a definite keeper, seems like LeCellier may be worth holding for another trip; isn't you baby the one with "Incredibles" like arms? The place is definitely crowded and not specifically kid friendly (though all WDW restaurants cater to families).

I wouldn't cancel anything until arrival. You may find your family isn't up to the effort of a TS meal one day, so you cancel that one that day.

 

[staceylynnga]

LOL Sept Baby - you are right, that's my Nathan. Bionic baby!!!

Ok, so I did change Le Cellier to Tuesday night (our first full day in Disney), put 1900 Park Fare for Thursday (to enjoy Spectro & Wishes), and moved Boma to Saturday. We were looking forward to seeing the AKL and the viewing points for the animals.

I am on the DDP, but wanted to ask the question without bias of which is a "better value" for the plan. Which is why I asked it on this board and left that fact out.

So for our arrival night, we have a choice of Olivias of Wolfgang Puck Cafe (out of pocket) - or maybe neither. LOL.

Any other recs and thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

[MJMcBride]

Wolfgang Pucks a big dissappointment for us. I'd drop that

 

[tnkr mom]

KEEP BOMA!! Ask for a window seat (a little quiter and more private) We do it every trip and LOVE it, ate there last week and kids can't wait to go back - I could take of leave LeCellier & Olivias (I agree with other poster if your not already there at OKW sometimes an ordeal back & fourth if not on the monorail loop & your trying to make the end of the night)!

 

[Kmango]

LOL Sept Baby - you are right, that's my Nathan. Bionic baby!!!

Ok, so I did change Le Cellier to Tuesday night (our first full day in Disney), put 1900 Park Fare for Thursday (to enjoy Spectro & Wishes), and moved Boma to Saturday. We were looking forward to seeing the AKL and the viewing points for the animals.

I am on the DDP, but wanted to ask the question without bias of which is a "better value" for the plan. Which is why I asked it on this board and left that fact out.

So for our arrival night, we have a choice of Olivias of Wolfgang Puck Cafe (out of pocket) - or maybe neither. LOL.

Any other recs and thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Going back a little on what I said before, for arrival night, I DO recommend Olivia's. As I said before, it's nothing special, but it is great after a day of travel. Perhaps this is because my family is old-time DVC, but to me, eating at Olivia's says "Here we are, we are now on vacation. Let the fun begin. Tomorrow. When we're less tired."

 

[KatMark]

We love LeCellier--have done lunch or dinner six times now and plan on doing it twice next year--we have always had OUTSTANDING service and awesome food; we haven't done Coral Reef in probably ten years and I can't remember it that well. We have never done any of the others so cannot comment on them. We have read some really BAD reviews of Boma for dinner lately and are glad we cancelled it last month--I'm not the adventurous type most of the time and after the review I read last night I know that I would not like it (although we are doing their breakfast buffet next year).

 

[mom2aredhead]

Honestly, for now I would keep all of them and see how the week goes. There may be a night that you guys want to change plans, or end up at a different park than your ADR, or just aren't hungry, so rather than be forced to eat somewhere because of your ADR, you'll leave yourself a 1 credit cushion in case you need to cancel one during the course of the week.
Our last trip we made 7 TS ADR's, we kept 6 of them, but we only had 4 TS credits on DDP, so we paid OOP for the others. It's a way to still have some flexibility while on DDP.

As for the "best value" - for me it's the meal that you'll enjoy the most, regardless of the cash price vs. the price of DDP. Don't get hung up on trying to get the best value - look at DDP as a pre-payment plan instead of a "savings" plan and just enjoy your meals without worrying about getting your $38 worth!

 

[KatMark]

As for the "best value" - for me it's the meal that you'll enjoy the most, regardless of the cash price vs. the price of DDP. Don't get hung up on trying to get the best value - look at DDP as a pre-payment plan instead of a "savings" plan and just enjoy your meals without worrying about getting your $38 worth!

EXCELLENT POINT! People are always looking for that meal that will give them the most bang for their buck. We prefer to have a meal that costs less that we truly enjoy. For example, we dine at The Plaza Restaurant every year on the free dining plan and it is a relatively cheap restaurant (in Disney terms anyway). After all the heavy meals we eat the rest of the time we are there, we enjoy the charm of this place, the great service we have always had and just having a sandwich and a yummy hot fudge sundae afterwards.

 

[mom2aredhead]

EXCELLENT POINT! People are always looking for that meal that will give them the most bang for their buck. We prefer to have a meal that costs less that we truly enjoy.

Thank you.
I get a bit tired of reading about people's endless quest for filet mignon and traveling 90 minutes on 3 buses to have lobster for a DDP credit. Then after 5 straight days of eating steak and having dessert with every single meal, they get a stomach ache and complain that a WDW restaurant gave them food poisoning.
Hello - just because you chose to pre-pay for your meals by using the DDP does not mean you need to completely change your eating habits and stuff as much in as physically possible to make sure you worked the system to its fullest - pun intended!

Back on topic though - Of the OP's original list, we've only eaten at Kona and Le Cellier. I liked (but did not absolutely-to-die-for-love) Le Cellier, and did not really enjoy Kona either time. I think it was more that it didn't live up to the hype here than anything else. They were OK, but I'm not running back to either one. But again, I'd keep all of the ADR's and play it by ear...

 

[Mocharilla]

From personal experience, I'd get rid of Coral Reef. The tank was cool, but it was SO LOUD that we could barely talk, and I got a headache. Like, yes, there's a lot of people, and a lot of restaurants were, but this was unbearable. And we had an 830 ressie, got seated at 9, so it's not like it was early dinner.

But, out of your list, I've only tried that LeCe and Kona. We only did apps and dessert at LeCe, and we loved it. We'll be going back for our honeymoon. Contrary to what we usually hear, we had great service. We did go for lunch, though. It was also great food.

Kona we did for breakfast, so it's hard to say for dessert, but we're doing that for our honeymoon, along with 1900 PF.

 

[staceylynnga]

I absolutely agree with all of you on the plan - I have only been to Disney 3 times that I can remember (went when I was a toddler, but have no memories of it), in 1990, 1998, and 2004. We have never used the plan so I figured it was worth a go. Plus the convenience of prepaying for most of our meals. My husband is not a dessert person either, so it was definitely a hesitation for me. But at the very least, I feel we will break even and maybe do a little better.

I chose all of the restaurants I did because I have never been to any of them (back in 04, we did Flying Fish, Cali Grill, Artist Point, and a restaurant at our hotel - in 98, I remember dining at Yachtsman Steakhouse, Cape May breakfast, maybe Chefs de France & Fulton's Crab House, although the last two may have been our trip in 90. We were also there during Food & Wine).

Plus I wanted a good balance of theme park and resort restaurants, figuring I could park at the resorts if we wanted to, especially travelling with one in a car seat. We generally use Disney transport for theme parks.

So it looks like this trip we'll have 2 character meals (CP bkfast and 1900 dinner), and then Boma (which I do like to try more unusual types of cuisine, so this should be fun), Kona, Le Cellier, and Coral Reef. And then there's our arrival date, still up in the air. The drive is about 7 hours and we plan to leave after a.m. traffic (for anyone who knows Atlanta area, it's a mess).

 

[Mocharilla]

Definitely agree on the fact that if you're on the DDP, the most important thing is where you want to go most, not where is the best deal.

DF and I are going to do DxDDP on our honeymoon next summer. When we went this past summer, we went to 50's, and Nic was not wanting to go because it was a cheaper place, and didn't want to waste a credit on a cheaper place, but we're still going to go, because we liked it. You really do have to look at it as more of a pre-pay thing and go where you want, not where makes the most money off of it.

 

[jpolak]

I'd drop Olivia's unless you are staying at OKW and have no other option.