How are the buffets??

[Andrea73]

Hi!

I have a very buffet heavy dining schedule. Mostly because the kids menus at a lot of TS places sucks IMO. My kids don't do mac& cheese and one does not like chicken.

So yesterday somehow we ended up in Golden Coral, one of my least favorite places in the world. Gross!

I started thinking...what if the buffets at Disney are like THIS?! 8 days of Golden Trough like food?!

Are any of our choices Golden Coral-ish

The buffets we have right now are:

Tusker (breakfast)
Boma (dinner)
Crystal Palace (breakfast)
Cape May (dinner)
1900 Park Fare (dinner)

 

[vtwep]

I have not done all of those, but my experiences with Disney buffets in general are - they are fine. Haven't been blown away by any, but normally they have been pretty good. Here are my specific comments on the ones I have done:

Boma - you have dinner. We did breakfast. Enjoyed it. Great resort, great atmosphere, friendly/talkative servers, food was good. We would do this again.

Cape May - we did this back in 2007. Enjoyed it. Lots to choose from. We would do it again if "convenient" to our plans (we stayed at Yacht Club in 2007 - went here for dinner, then walked over to EPCOT for illuminations and some beer/dessert).

1900 Park Fare - this is probably the buffet that impressed us the least. We were staying at GF, and our DD is big on Princesses. The character interaction was excellent, and the Stepmother and Stepsisters were outstanding - perfect "acting". Very enjoyable. However, the food really was below average in my opinion. A lot of it seemed very salty. But the overall experience was good, and our kids had a great time - so in the end, that seemed worth it.

Hope this helps! Have fun planning and have a great trip.

 

[tony67]

I am not a fan of the buffets (or food in general these days) at Disney.
Many of them are mainly character meet and greets, and the food is secondary.

If you avoid the character ones (unless you have kids) then you will be fine.
If you have kids just go and suck it up, they will love it.

I like Cape May, Germany and Boma.

I would avoid 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey’s.
All these have fans, but I think many people are swayed by the experience of meeting the characters.

That being said they are all better than Golden Coral.

 

[HunnyJar]

Personally, my family happens to enjoy the buffets and we usually will do about four or five per trip. We like that they have plenty of different options for the whole family to enjoy. That being said some buffets are better than others, but in all the trips we have taken we haven't run into a "bad" buffet. Some of the ones that usually rate higher for us are..

Boma (dinner)
Cape May (dinner)
Biergarten
1900 Park Fare (breakfast)
Crystal Palace (breakfast)

We haven't tried Tusker House yet, but I often see lots of positive comments from that buffet. I would not hesitate to book a buffet meal - we are currently a family of 4 (number 5 is on the way) and with two meat eaters, one vegetarian and one that's finally getting teeth, it's definitely an easier meal for us.

 

[stepdisney]

Even though 'Ohana is not a buffet, it is all you can eat, family style. We like the buffet for the same reasons, variety, one child has strong food allergies and I know just what to select, and we can get plenty of what we like and none of what we don't like. If I included 'Ohana, our choices in order would be:

'Ohana
Boma
Crystal Palace
Cape May
(We are trying 1900 this year so I can't really speak about it except to say we love buffets and will be pleased most likely).

Both 'Ohana and Boma are must do's for us. We love how different Boma is from the rest of the buffets. We all love 'Ohana too.

 

[TINKERIFIC]

Hi!

I have a very buffet heavy dining schedule. Mostly because the kids menus at a lot of TS places sucks IMO. My kids don't do mac& cheese and one does not like chicken.

So yesterday somehow we ended up in Golden Coral, one of my least favorite places in the world. Gross!

I started thinking...what if the buffets at Disney are like THIS?! 8 days of Golden Trough like food?!

Are any of our choices Golden Coral-ish

The buffets we have right now are:

Tusker (breakfast)
Boma (dinner)
Crystal Palace (breakfast)
Cape May (dinner)
1900 Park Fare (dinner)

You and I are in the same boat. I really really dislike buffets of ANY kind....especially chinese. Plus, I really do not like Golden Corral.

In our experience, we have tried to steer clear of buffets. Although, I have noticed that the buffets that are served "family style" seem to be better than the "get your own food" type. Here are the ones we have tried and my comments on them:

OHANAS (dinner) - no characters, family style - This one is one of my two favorite places to eat. We love the food, entertainment and atmosphere. It is loud, but not so loud you cannot interact with your party. They serve a variety of meats from the fire pit grill. Plus, if I am not mistaken, everyone, regardless of age, is served the same food, unless you ask for an alternate menu for kids, special diet, etc.

TUSKER HOUSE (breakfast) - characters, get your own food - this is my most favorite place to eat at WDW. The food is so good. The variety is awesome and the choices have got to be the largest on Disney property. The characters are great. I can never say enough great things about this place.

1900 PARK FARE (breakfast) - characters, get your own food - this is a great place as well. The food is good and hot - your typical breakfast foods - eggs, waffles, bacon, sausage, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary. What made our breakfast was the Mad Hatter...he was the best character I have ever encountered.

CHEF MICKEYS (dinner) - YUCK, YUCK, YUCK...oh did I say YUCK! The food was so awful I felt later. The same feeling I get when I go to chinese buffets. On the other hand, I have heard people rave about breakfast. The characters are great and it is a great way to see a the fab 5 if you are a die hard fan.

LIBERTY TREE TAVERN (dinner) - we went there when it was a character meal and the food was served family style...now there are no characters. Plus, I am not sure if they still have the same family style menu available. It was good food...sort of like thanksgiving year-round type food.

CINDERELLAS ROYAL TABLE (breakfast) - characters, family style - Typical breakfast food - hot and good. Great for die hard Princess fans.

We are trying Crystal Palace for lunch this summer for my DS 4th birthday. I have heard mixed reviews for lunch and dinner, but hey it is for my son, so I am going to grin and bear it.

 

[lilys.mom]

I have only been to Disney once and only ate at one off your list Crystal Palace for breakfast. I tried to schedule all my breakfasts for buffets because I feel as though you cant really mess up breakfast the buffet at Crystal Palace and Chef Mickeys was very good! I however cant speak about dinner. I will tell you we ate at the Plaza in the park one night for dinner and thought it was one of our best meals the whole trip...in the AC but not too fancy and the sandwiches were so yummy and they have huge milkshakes.

 

[evedein]

I've eaten at several of the buffets @ WDW. THe only one I didn't like was Hollywood & Vine. The food was only fair & the service was poor.

 

[Luv4Disney]

We are not buffet people, but we do like 1900 PF, Biergarten and the family style restaurants. You don't have H&V so I think you're fine.

 

[loafskier]

We don't do a lot of buffets in general or at WDW. In three trips here is a buffet review for WDW:

Crystal Palace: good food, decent variety, good atmosphere
Boma: great food and variety, good atmosphere
Chef Mickeys: fair to poor food, poor variety, cramped atmosphere - not a fan and will never go back (coudln't find the thumbs down smiley)

 

[Pumbaa_]

I think you have some of the nicer ones on your list

go, have a great time! And second guessing your ADR's is a favorite activity...on the DIS - not me, never

 

[mmtska]

I liked Crystal Palace. I found a lot of different foods there that were really good and some that were eh....but I'm picky so that doesn't mean anything. I'm not a huge fan of buffets either!

 

[maureeny]

we are breakfast people... and LOVE breakfast buffets - SO much to choose from. Just make sure you schedule a later lunch after a breakfast buffet. For dinners, we much preferred to order off a menu.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I've never been to Cape May, but the others are good.

 

[jemmouse]

Just came back from Disney 10 days ago, and we did 3 buffets. Defiantely not my favorite food !!! I have to say CHef Mickeys dinner I think is the absolute worst. 1900 Park Fare to me was decent. But my FAVORITE is OHANAS for breakfast. Thankfully my son is getting older and our buffets are limiting every year we go back. Great for characters, but NOT SO GREAT for food. Definately try for OHANAS I promise you will not be dissappointed.

 

[Carl Fredricksen]

So yesterday somehow we ended up in Golden Coral, one of my least favorite places in the world. Gross!

I started thinking...what if the buffets at Disney are like THIS?! 8 days of Golden Trough like food?!

Are any of our choices Golden Coral-ish

I just wanted to say you made me laugh out loud. Golden Corral SUCKS huge, and because we rarely eat out I was concerned about the same thing at Chef Mickey's. It's terrible that Golden Corral has that effect on people to skew their view of Buffet dining forever!

We have not been to GC in over a year, but we used to call it the "Golden Moo-Moo" because we felt like we were eating from a trough I don't know why we kept going back....

 

[cbg1027]

Outside of Disney, I avoid buffets like the plague.

But all of the buffets I've been to in Disney are pretty decent, some even very good. I think the breakfast at Crystal Palace is amazing!

I would stick with the buffet ADR's...you might be pleasantly surprised!

They're not the best food Disney has to offer, but they are yummy and offer a good value compared to other Disney restaurant prices.

 

[dixonsontour]

We did all of the buffets on your list except cape may last December.

We are planning for this Oct and most are on my list again.

I've only been to a golden coral once but I thought the food was gross and the place dirty. Disney was nothing like this - fresh food, and clean - not food on the floor etc.

I found buffets harder work with a nearly 4 year old but as long as you have a mix of a few sit down's your list looks great.

At crystal palace they will make to order omellets, fried eggs, choc chip pancakes so not just buffet food.

 

[beroh2253]

Love Boma and Crystal Palace breakfast buffets and don't like Hollywood and Vine dinner buffet. Chef Mickeys did many years ago and was ok, I liked Chef Mickeys better when it was in DTD that was many many years ago and I think that is where the Rain Forest Cafe is now.

 

[MadysonBelinda]

Many hotels feature weekend champagne brunches. They cost more but include all the bubbly a person can drink.
For those who prefer variety, some hotels offer theme buffets highlighting different cuisine's such as seafood, Italian or Greek food.