Help me out of a dining rut?

ratfam

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 21, 2005
Messages
484
Apologies in advance, this may get a bit long, but if you are willing to hang in with me for a few minutes I would love your advice!

I'm behind in making reservations for our upcoming March/April trip to WDW but I need some help thinking outside the box. This will be our fourth trip as a family, three years since our last visit. I can share some (hopefully helpful)info on us and our plans and I would love your suggestions for restaurants.

Us: me, dh, dd10, ds7.5. dh and I would probably be considered adventurous eaters, kids like typical kid things but also eat a ton of fruit and salad and some vegetables, so we like restaurants where they can get these. DVC members staying at BCV, so we always eat breakfast in the room along with the occasional lunch or dinner. Staying 8 nights. I was assuming we would not have access to a dining plan since we are staying on points, now I understand that there may be a new plan so I will need to research. Open to places in the parks, in the Epcot resort areas and maybe someplace very easily accessible from a park (ie monorail) but don't want to eat at other resorts which will require we spend a lot of time for transportation (ds has some special needs and too much time and energy devoted to transport can leave him too pooped to party and overly stressed).

Places we have gone to more than once: Crystal Palace, Mama Melrose's (for Fantasmic dinner package), 50's Prime Time, San Angel Inn, Pizzafari, Pecos Bill, Tomorrowland counter service (Tomorrowland terrace?). But kids' palates are expanding and so it seems like a good time to try new things. After many character meals (including CRT) and two DVC cruises the thrill of character meals has worn off for the kids so not looking to do too many of these. Although we don't eat buffets at home we have enjoyed them at WDW because the kids can get healthier fare, sort of balances out the nuggets and fries, but with dd paying as an adult I'm really debating whether $100 for a buffet is worth it. Although its cheaper at lunch we still tend to do the bigger sit down meal for dinner. We're open to anything, just wouldn't want it all to be top dollar. I'd love advice on new counter service places too!

We would also love to know people's experiences with 10 year olds being allowed to order off a kids menu if they want.

For anyone still left, thanks for hanging in there! Thanks in advance for any thoughts you can share. Happy holidays!
 
I understand your dilemma. We have eaten at almost every restaurant on the WDW property over the years and it's getting hard to find something new for our kids (DD14, DS11).

If you are spending a day a the MK, you might want to try the Plaza Restaurant at the end of Main Street for lunch or an early dinner. They have sandwiches, salad, soups and excellent shakes. This is one of our favorite places to dine.

The Kona Cafe in the Polynesian is also a good choice. There are many things we enjoy here at each meal, and the desserts are fun for the kids.

We have found that if DS has an adult menu and can't find anything he will eat, the servers don't have a problem letting him order from the kids menu.

You might want to go to the link below to check out the menus:

http://allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

Have fun!
 
Here is my understanding of the DVC dining plan. It will be the same plan as MYW dining plan - 1 Table service, 1 Counter service, 1 snack per person/per night. The cost will be the same - $37.99/adult, $10.00/child(3-9). You must purchase for every person in the room and for all nights. No requirement on tickets, so AP holders can use the plan. Not available until April. (this is the part that disqualified me - our trip is in March) Can start reserving in January with Member Services. Must be signed up in advance, but pay on arrival.

I think I would have done it, particularly since our reservation is for 3 studios the first night, then 5 nights in a Grand Villa, and then our family is at Universal for 2 nights and the other family is at POR for one night. We would have purchased for the 5 night reservation and used it over six days. But it won't be available in time. Since there is no ticket requirement, if they change their minds and do allow it in March, we could still purchase our tickets now and add later.

As for restaurants, here is what I currently have planned (our group is my family - me, DH, DS16, DD14, my husband's sister, her daughter and her family - husband and DD9, DD5, my family is fairly adventurous, but dear niece not so much and the kids are still kids.)

Rainforest Cafe - niece request, new to us
Rose & Crown - 7:30pm ADR, will request patio for Illuminations, tradition, food just OK in my option
Crystal Palace - dinner
'50s Prime Time Cafe
'Ohanna - husband request
The other family has CRT breakfast.

We have one night in the middle where the families will split up and I don't have an ADR yet. My family will be doing a water park that day, but haven't decided what we are doing that evening.
 
Here are some of my suggestions:

LTT (I know it is a character meal but the food is great and feels like it is home made, a really good balanced meal ;) )
Le Cellier - So GOOD
50's Prime Time - It is just so much fun!!!!

Some places that we are planning on going to next Dec, that you may like are:

WC - Sounds like it is so much fun
Coral Reef - So my DD can see fishes
Rose & Crown - Hopefully late so we can sit outside and watch Illuminations (wish us luck with that one :wizard: )
Hoop Dee Doo - Also sounds like it is fun

Good luck with your choices and I am sure whatever you pick will be great :earboy2:
 

Since you are staying at BCV, have you tried Cape May? You get a DVC discount there.
 
Our family absolutely LOVES Teppanyaki in Japan @ Epcot. Their food is freshly prepared, mostly very healthy (besides being FANTASTIC) and the preparation is second to none!

I second the Plaza end of Main St. in MK. Simple menu, but great food and desserts. Do you feel like really venturing out for Jiko or Boma? I've heard they are really good....a bit to exotic for our tastes. Have fun!!
 
I also really recommend Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco in EPCOT. It is really good!! Rarely busy, the food is fantastic and the atmosphere is great. I had been attempting to go here for years...my kids (my son is very picky) kept asking things like "do they serve rats?" Such silly questions as that!! :rotfl: Finally, I said "we are going to try it this trip I don't care what any of you say!" They all loved it...including my picky son. :goodvibes

We also enjoy the Teppanyaki in Japan - where they cook the meal at your table. It isn't much different than what you might get at your local Japanese steak house, but the kids love it and are willing to try anything after the show the CM puts on preparing it.

You could also try to get a seating at the Rose & Crown so that you could sit on the patio and watch illuminations.

The Sci-Fi Dine In for lunch is great fun! We laughed and laughed at those old sci-fi clips and the burgers and shakes were very good.
 
We were in a rut also. On our last trip (September) we did the following places for the first time:

Rose and Crown (Fish and Chips) - lunch; kids loved it
Nine Dragons (Epcot / China) - lunch and dinner
Kona Cafe - dinner; loved it enough that we made an ADR there on 12/30
Rainforest Cafe - dinner; a nice change of pace. Loud and fun
Shutters at CBR - dinner; friends were staying there. It was fine.

Some other places we could recommend that haven't been on this thread:

Spoodles - good food; great location.

And - or favorite place at WDW - Jiko at AKL
 
We are going with four kids ages 11 - 16 in April. They each got to pick one restaurant. Their picks included: the new Raglan Road, 50's Prime Time, Sci Fi Theatre, and Rainforest Cafe. When younger they loved Whispering Canyon, Cape May, and Chef Mickeys. For counter service we like Tusker House in AK. If you want them to try something more exotic think about the Tangerine Cafe (sp??) in Epcot. In Magic Kingdom they LOVE Sonny Eclipse and we have to catch him every trip.
 
On our most recent trip we made it a point to only eat at new places. It made it kind of fun to seek out these new places! We bought the dining guide book and we each picked out a place that we wanted to try! The only place that seems to haunt me on every trip even though I swear that I will never go back is Ray Starlight Cafe. Although in Ray's defense, I will say that this last trip was the best expierence that I've had there!

Check the thread pictures of Disney food at:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=773269

We picked several places just by looking at pics of the food!

Have fun and Happy Eating!
 
Just got back from the World a couple of days ago with an 11 yr old girl along. We had no problems ordering from the kids menu and were offered one at just about every sitdown restaurant. At buffets though, they definitely charged her as an adult.
 





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