Help me understand...

[bankr63]

I have to admit my experience with Disney dining is limited a couple of experiences at DD, but those two were so mediocre, especially compared to some fabulous meals that we have had at off-site restaurants (Sand Lake Rd. West rocks!), that I cannot understand the rave about Disney Dining.

In my limited experience, it seems that Disney restaurants are cavernous rooms geared to "get-in, get-out" dining. A late meal at Bongos after Cirque was expected to be a leisurely end to a fun evening. Enjoyed the Mojito while we waited about 15 min for a table (ressies not allowed), but that Mojito was the best part.

When the server dropped off the appetizer (about 5 min after ordering), she said she would put out main order in. Well they arrived less than 10 minutes later, half-way through the appetizer, and were so OBVIOUSLY off a steam table. There is no way you can actually cook entrees that fast!

For a table service restaurant, especially at those prices, I expect my food to be freshly prepared and hot. It seems that most people there were satisfied with their meals and were happy to be in and out in a time that would make a McDonalds manager proud. It's 9:00 at night; slow down a bit!!

So am I missing something here? Is this specific to the DD restaurants we have tried? I haven't eaten in the parks, but peeking into most restaurants, I haven't seen anything on the tables that made me want to stop! (Well except the frosty ones on the table at Biergarten on a hot day).

Do I need a new approach to Dining at Disney?

Here endeth my rant. Any advice or insights appreciated!

M Ross

 

[TDC Nala]

Many of us don't go offsite, so Disney Dining is all we have. It's correct that you can far outstrip the quality of Disney Dining if you dine offsite. I can only speak for me but I'm not going to rent a car just to eat offsite, cars are expensive. Besides, if I drive to dinner I can't order wine.

By the way, Bongos is not a Disney restaurant. I've been there, and I agree if you're going, get a mojito and don't bother with the food. Haven't been back. If your only experiences are at DTD it is likely none of your experiences are with a restaurant operated by Disney.

 

[disnut8]

Well, you said it yourself, "my experience with Disney dining is limited a couple of experiences at DD". It's been explained that Bongos is not a Disney owned restaurant and we don't know where you other experience was. You haven't been to places like Sci-Fi Dine Inn where you are seating in what really does appear to be a drive-in theatre and watch movie clips on the screen while you eat. Or the 50s Prime Time where you can feel like you are eating dinner with your family back in the 50s or 60s. Or the Rose and Crown on a patio overlooking the World Showcase Lagoon eating fish and chips. Or at Chefs de France enjoy Remy coming around to your table. Or at Chef Mickey's twirling napkins with the king mouse himself.

With Disney dining, it's not just the food, it's entire experience. I have never felt rushed at any Disney meal. I think Disney servers are the best at listening to their guests and accommodating them as much as possible. There are so many things Disney dining does - from special dietary needs to simply splitting a meal for two people in the kitchen instead of just slapping down an extra plate on the table - that make people feel very special. I can't really think of a Disney restaurant or even counter service place that doesn't have a theme. Something extra. And that's what makes it special.

 

[hoosiergirl7]

DTD is completely separate from real Disney dining experiences. We do eat at Wolfgang Puck Express and have never been rushed there or at Earl of Sandwich which we've hit a few times but prefer WPE way more. Both of these places are quick-service restaurants.

I've done many sit down meals at multiple Disney restaurants at resorts and in the parks and have never been rushed. They have all been very good experiences with the exception of a dinner at Chef Mickey's which I won't ever do again. The food was not good and the service stunk too.

Don't base your opinion on the service at a DTD restaurant which is not Disney affiliated.

 

[bankr63]

Thanks for the insight so far.

I don't think I would say that DD restaurants are not Disney affiliated. They may not be on DDP, but Disney controls everything on their property pretty carefully. I doubt McDonald's is out of DD because they wanted to get out. I can't remember the actual name of the other restaurant (guess that's an indicator of how impressed I was) - the one on the boat... Have stopped for a cool beverage at the pub in the center section as well, but did not eat.

It IS fair to say that I have not tried the resort restaurants. I own offsite, so the closest I've been is looking down at the breakfast crowd in the Contemporary from the monorail. But I am open to recommendations for Dining in the parks. This coming March trip we'll be there with an extended family group. Might try one of the restaurants in the parks; how far in advance do I need to reserve tho? Is it already too late for March?

Reading some of the threads here, Disney Dining does not look that encouraging to me. I just hit this Dining forum today and the top thread had some 340 posts about "worst experiences" that covered pretty much any restaurant I've seen there. Probably not the best place to start, and I'm sure it jaded me rapidly, but I didn't read too much to get excited about in other threads after that! Several about how hard it is to get ressies, clawing your way into a character breakfast, etc (glad my kids are getting too old for that now!)

Disney Dining sounds absolutely exhausting compared to calling an offsite restaurant in the morning for a table that evening. I guess I am looking for some convincing that it is worth the effort to hit some of these places. Note that this year we may only hit AK, MK, TL, and DQ. We are leaving two days for USF as the kids are teens/tweens and HAVE to do WWOHP and start breaking into some of the bigger coasters. Any suggestions for dinner restaurants at the first two would be appreciate.

Thanks for the input.

M Ross

 

[DCTooTall]

ADR's can be made 180 days out, so figure about 6mo. The Bright side is that means the window hasn't yet opened so your chances are pretty good for getting a reservation at the restaurants you want, as long as you are flexible on day/time, and are pretty quick once the ADR window opens to make your reservation.

I don't believe TL has a TS restaurant, but they do have some counter service places which you can just walk up too. DQ also doesn't have a TS restaurant, but a decent little QS on the top floors. Of course, with DQ, you are in DTD, so it would almost be preferable to step out of DQ for a bit for a decent meal at one of the places nearby. The QS though wouldn't be a bad spot for you to relax and maybe have something sweet while your kids are running around playing.

MK your Tableservice choices are somewhat limited, at least compared to EPCOT. The biggest question to ask yourself (both here and AK) would be what kind of food would you like? Is a character meal worth it for you? I think that the 3 biggest (and possibly only?) TS means in the MK are Cinderella's Royal Table (the Castle), Crystal Palace (between Casey's and Adventureland), and Tony's (Next to the Expo Hall when you first enter the park). Crystal Palace does a Pooh & Friends Meet and Greet, while CRT has the princesess. Personally, I almost feel like CRT should be done at least once in your life, if just to experience the Decor and experience of being inside the castle, but it's a personal choice.


Unfortunately I'm not too familiar with AK's TS dining options.



The other thing that is really easy and possible with the MK visit is one of the Restaurants in the Poly, Contemporary, or GF. It might also be a nice break to step outside the park for a bit midday.

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

Several comments....

Non-Disney v. Disney Restaurants -- Disney controls which restaurants they sign into DTD, they do not control that restaurant's day to day processes. These companies have their own methodologies (or not) for training their staff how to treat guests, their policies about food prep and accommodating special requests, and what their anticipated table turnover should be. I hate to resort to generalities, but I will say, in my opinion, for the most part no DTD chain can touch Disney when it comes to performance on these points. So if you're going to evaluate Disney restaurants, you have to actually eat in Disney restaurants.

Complaints about Disney Restaurants -- People on message boards, tend to complain very loudly about everything, and never remember to compliment. If a guest has 10 meals and only one was bad -- that's the only one you'll hear about. Secondly, look carefully through these threads. For every time someone complains about a specific restaurant, someone else will be along momentarily to call that same restaurant their favorite.

The Disney Experience -- I want my two college-age kids to be fawned over by the step-sisters and 1900 Park Fare. I like to trade pins with a Disney manager who stops by our table to check on our meal and notices our lanyards. I know that I can come into the last seating at a buffet and not be rushed, nor find the trays empty. So even though I often have a car, I prefer to eat on property, insulated by the Disney experience, and I'm willing to pay for it.

McDonald's -- From what I've read the contract was not renewed primarily because McDonald's did not want to continue to be tied to Disney movie merchandising. There had been several movie delays and poor box office results and McDonald's was stuck with happy meal promotions that were out of synch and/or not as popular as they had hoped.

 

[TxRabbit]

I don't think I would say that DD restaurants are not Disney affiliated. They may not be on DDP, but Disney controls everything on their property pretty carefully.

Some of the DTD restaurants ARE on the DDP. And my understanding is that the restaurants are NOT Disney affiliated. This is why if you take a look at the dining plan brochures for 2011, there are no DTD restaurants currently listed. Neither are the restaurants at the Disney resort Coronado Springs (because Disney doesn't run the onsite restaurants there). These restaurants never appear in the literature until much closer to the actual year of the dining plan.

IMO the deal with Disney TS is that they often have extreme theming, I'm thinking about SciFiDineInn in Hollywood Studios and San Angel Inn in Epcot, character experiences, and unique locations (CA Grill at Contemporary, Narccoossee's at Grand Floridian). Some of it is also that it is pretty unique that there are such choices at a theme park based vacation at all. The most recent other theme park that I have visited (Sea World in San Antonio) doesn't have ANY sit and be served restaurants. The way that Disney has set itself up (transportation options, packages), they have made a vacation that is limited to square mileage filled with choices. I think that those of us that choice to limit our vacation options to Disney only just have fun with it.

 

[mickaholic4077]

One piece of advice I saw in the Unofficial Guide that I always tell people is if you want your dinner to be a leisurely one,when you get to the table,order your drinks. When they come,order your appetizer. When you finish your appetizer,THEN order your entree. After you finish your entree,then order dessert. That should bring your table time to at least over an hour.

 

[Redwitch]

I think the majority of the park sit down restaurants are used to guests that are in a hurry, hence that is their mind set. ("Waiter, my fastpass window opens in 20 minutes - will I make it?") Given that and as previously posted, if you let them know you are not in a hurry, they will accommodate. I find the resort restaurants to have a much calmer atmosphere for leisurely dining.

I do not find the MK restaurants all that appealing. CRT is an experience, but too expensive. I'm not big on buffets and Tony's is average Italian even with fun themeing. We usually eat lunch at a nearby resort on MK days. As for AK, we usually eat lunch at Yak & Yeti and have never been rushed. Occasionally we do the buffet at Tusker House. As far as buffets go, it is one of the best I've experienced with interesting options.

BTW - care to head over to the Orlando board and give us some of your off-site restaurant favorites?

 

[skater]

One piece of advice I saw in the Unofficial Guide that I always tell people is if you want your dinner to be a leisurely one,when you get to the table,order your drinks. When they come,order your appetizer. When you finish your appetizer,THEN order your entree. After you finish your entree,then order dessert. That should bring your table time to at least over an hour.

This is great advice. My DH and I have used it on date nights .

 

[catne]

the only way to understand why people like Disney restaurants is to actually go to some DISNEY restaurants...

As others have pointed out, Bongos is NOT a Disney restaurant. Disney does not control Bongos...other than possibly making their prices higher by charging high rents for the space in Downtown Disney...but Disney doesn't set their prices, their menu, or define how/what kind of service they'll offer, etc. Saying Disney controls Bongos is like saying the local mall owner controls Sears because the Sears store is in their mall.

If you Google Bongos, you'll find user-reviews...think the best they get is 3 out of 5 stars at both the DTD location & the So Miami location. A lot of reviews mention the drinks/music as the draw, not the food.

 

[emmabemmainc]

If you are against Disney Dining--then go somewhere else to eat. It sounds like you are already anti-Disney restaurants without much experience eating in them. I'm confused. Don't eat at any of them. Period.

 

[Brian Noble]

Disney restaurants (whether owned by third party "Operating Participants" or the Mouse himself) tend to be long on atmosphere, but the food typically doesn't fare well on cost vs. quality compared to anything in the "real world," short of maybe tourist areas of major cities or other captive-audience locations. They are interesting places to eat, but not necessarily good places to eat, if that makes sense. If you live anywhere with a half-decent restaurant culture, you'll have places with better food at lower prices for most cuisines/genres.

On average, service will tend to be a little hurried, because they'd like to turn that table faster---especially at highly-demanded restaurants, this can squeeze an extra seating out of each meal period. There are counter-examples though---I've had service that I'd consider borderline slow at several different places as well.

Unfortunately, the area immediately surrounding WDW is chock-a-block with chain restaurants. If there's a chain restaurant doing business anywhere in the US, you'll find it within a 10 minute drive of some WDW property border. These tend to crowd out anything that might be more interesting. That's not surprising; most families on vacation will err on the side of caution when trying to decide where to eat, and go with something familiar that they know from back home. If you want to really eat well in O-town, you probably want to head up I-4 to the convention center area, where the business travelers (and, to an extent, the locals) eat.

That said, Disney restaurant experiences are almost always "okay" to "pretty good", if you ignore the inflated prices. Personally, I'd rather pay more for something I can't do at home than go offsite to eat at Chain Restaurant du Jour, and the I-drive area just seems too far away during an already-too-short vacation. So, we tend to eat almost exclusively "inside the bubble", even when we are staying offsite. I also agree with the other folks: the resort restaurants tend to do better, on average, than the park or DTD restaurants when it comes to service and price/quality.

 

[Tricia1972]

You'll also find as you read the thread that you reference that lots of posts are "I can't believe so many hate _____ it's our favorite, but we'll never go back to ______ it was awful!" I would guess that every person posting on that thread could list a few favorite restaurants too. It's just more fun to talk about what you don't like.

I know there is a restaurant that gets rave reviews here that I didn't like at all. In fact I'd list it as my most hated restaurant. Does that make the restaurant bad? More likely it just means that this restaurant doesn't suit my individual taste.

If you want to find a place that you would enjoy with your family, I suggest looking at the menus for something that appeals to you first. Once you have an idea of what sounds good, take a look at the overall reviews if you want.

 

[clc053103]

If you are against Disney Dining--then go somewhere else to eat. It sounds like you are already anti-Disney restaurants without much experience eating in them. I'm confused. Don't eat at any of them. Period.

If off-site dining is so appealing, by all means, I encourage you to eat off-site. I wish all that would normally eat off-site took room discounts instead of free dining, so those of us that enjoy the Disney Dining experience don't have to fight you for ADR's! Disney Dining may not appeal to everyone, and that's just fine- go where you enjoy your meal. If you have to be sold on it, it's probably not worth your time.

 

[jojomoore]

I have been to WDW twice. And when you compare everything disney has to offer to everything other vacations sights have to offer then you realize that there is very few places on earth that you can experience what you get to experience at WDW for the price (luckily I live close enough not to have to pay airfare). From my experience, Disney is actually a bargain. If you stay in a disney owned hotel and eat on sight, you actually get an experience that is disney magic. If you just want a relaxing meal, and good food then I am sure you can find better outside of disney. But for me, I am on a disney vacation and I want to experience the atmosphere, fun, and convenience. After a long day at the parks, I do not want to travel and wait for a reservation somewhere outside park. I enjoy the disney experience. it brings out the kid in me. I have a very demanding life and disney is an escape. Also, I want my children to have wonderful childhood memories of family vacation. I suggest that you try a couple of WDW restuarants to see if you enjoy them. Allears.net has menus and descriptions of Disney restuarants to assist you. Breakfast at Crystal Palace in MK is very special to me and my daughter. 50's Prime time in HS, was a lot of fun too. Resort restuarants usually have a more relaxed dining experience but can also have alot of atmosphere. The only two WDW resturants that I have been to that i would not recomend would be Tonys and Chefs de France. - not enough atmsophere to offset food quality. Olivia's, Askerus, Crystal Palace, 50's Prime Time, Jiko, Boma, CRT, Chef Mickey's, Earl of Sandwich, Wolfgang Puck Express, Starring Rolls Cafe all have delicious food. I am excited to try California Grill, Beaches and Cream, Cape May, Il Mulino, 1900 Fare dinner, Tusker House breakfast, and the new epcot Mexican restuarant on my next trip.

 

[bankr63]

Thanks everyone for the input. For those who say I'm anti-Disney dining, not so, but my first two experiences were a wash, and was looking for some guidance. There were a couple of positives here, and a couple of negatives, some that aligned with my emerging impressions. It is all food for thought.

BTW, based on the responses, I'm thinking that a Yak and Yeti lunch or Tusker's may be in order for our next attempt. I should also mention that we had tried the old Mexican pavillion restaurant at Epcot last year for a light afternoon meal. Had forgotten until I saw the new one mentioned here.

Also to redwitch, I have posted a couple of recommendations in answers other threads over on the Orlando board. Never thought of starting a thread specifically on my recommendations. I will post here my favorite tip - I check the Orlando Sentinel restaurant reviews online to find out where the local foodies like to dine. A great way to find the non-chain non-Disney places to eat. DYK, one of the best restaurant rows in Orlando is only about 10 minutes from DD. That's my little secret...

Thanks again!

 

[disnut8]

Several about how hard it is to get ressies, clawing your way into a character breakfast, etc (glad my kids are getting too old for that now!)


M Ross

Now I see where you are coming from. It's not that difficult to get a dining reservation and I do it all the time for my husband and myself. Most of what you are reading about are for the "I have to get XXX reservation or my daughter/son/husband/wife/cousin will DIE!" things. Some people think they HAVE to get a LeCelllier reservation for dinner at 7:00 and then when they don't get it, they get upset and post that it's impossible to get any reservation. Or, some people HAVE to be at the Rose & Crown for Illuminations and get upset when they can't get that.

If you are flexible, there are plenty of dining options at Disney World. Have you checked out the on-line dining reservations? I love looking there because if your first choice isn't available, the system will return options. I would highly recommend you look at the Grand Floridian Cafe at the Grand Floridian and/or the Captain Galley at the Yacht Club. Both in very impressive resorts and both fairly easy to get into with a late reservation. One of my favorite meals was at the Captains Galley - never felt rushed, service was great and I really didn't feel like I was right next door to a theme park.