Ideal day of eating in the parks

[allisonpartyof4]

DH & I were talking about adr's and that sort of thing and we got on the topic of what our ideal day of eating would be like in each park. We're still in the planning process of our next trip but just out of curiosity (for future trips, of course) what would your ideal day of eating/snacking be in each park?

If you could eat wherever you wanted in each of the parks, where would you eat? What would you eat at each place and why?

 

[photophreak]

Following. I'm hoping to get lots of great snack recommendations for the parks, especially Epcot.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Ive got this down to a science! Ive tried lots of different approaches and the best that works for us is 2 meals per day with a possible snack. Those two meals are TS.

We ALWAYS do a character breakfast (I have 3 kids, mostly grown now, but my youngest/daughter is almost 13, so we are probably ending our character meals soon), which means buffet or family style AYCTE. I used to do 7:30 - 8am breakfasts, but now that I am older, it has changed to 8 - 8:30..even 8:45!

We do the character breakfast at the park we will be in on that particular day, or a resort restaurant for days we will go to the waterparks. Typically to get all the characters to our table, the meal lasts 60 - 90 minutes, getting us out around 9:30 - 10.

We go do our park thing and head back to our resort around 4:30 - 5 to get ready for dinner. On rare occasion, someone may be hungry during the day and we'll get a snack, mostly ice cream.

Dinner is a lot of Epcot, dinner shows or deluxe resort restaurants. We get an app, entree, dessert. After a day of walking around, or swimming and being in the sun, its nice to be off our feet having a leisurely meal in a nice environment. If MK or EP are having evening extra hours, we will head there after dinner, if not, we go back to the resort and get to bed, ready for another LONG day!

My favorites -
EP
Breakfast - Akershus or Garden Grill
Dinner - San Angle Inn or Les Chefs de France

MK -
Breakfast - Crystal Palace
Dinner - Monorail Resort restaurant, probably Cali Grill or Grand Floridian Cafe - None of the MK places are amazing to me, and we've been to them all at least 3 times!

AK -
Only options...
Breakfast - Tusker House
Dinner - Yak & Yeti (havent been since Tuffins opened and I like going to Bomas for dinner rather than Yak & Yeti)

DHS -
Breakfast - Hollywood and Vine
Dinner - Brown Derby

I get what I like on the menu. I wont write it out because everyones taste is so personal, but for atmosphere, I think these places are great. I also like to go to at least one, if not 2 of the dinner shows. SOA is always on the list, then we choose between the BBQ and HDDR. I really wish they would add another, or change one of them. Ive literally been going to the same ones for 20 + years. SOA I think has been closer to 40 years!!!! I was a kid when I started going to that one!

 

[Lisa F]

2 meals per day with a possible snack. Those two meals are TS.

This. or sometimes a very early lunch (11-11:30 when they open) and dinner (at least 6-7 hours apart still puts you at 6:30 at the latest)

CS is stressful for me and never seems to take THAT much less time than TS. it's vacation and I like for someone else to be responsible for the transport of my food and beverages through a crowded room on a wobbly tray and I like having someone else being responsible for finding me a seat at a clean table and I like having someone else be responsible for cleaning up after me and I like not having to wait on extra lines (usually two - one to order and one to pick up) and I like not having to corral my kid while doing all of the above but rather have us both sitting calmly at a table, sipping beverages and what we're going to do for the rest of the day/evening. My son won't touch a princess meal with a 10 foot pole but we love

MK: CP breakfast
dinner monorail resort ('Ohana, or CG)

HS: sci fi dine in for early lunch
dinner at a resort

AK: Tusker house breakfast or dinner
not thrilled with anywhere else but haven't tried tiffins yet
Love Boma and Sanaa if we feel like leaving the park

Epcot: GG breakfast
we love coral reef or biergarten or le cellier

I never was good at snacking with two meals.

 

[emsstacey]

MK:
Sleepy Hollow fruit and nutella waffle.
BOG lunch
Dole Whip's
then Ohana at the Poly for supper since it is so easy to get to from MK.

AK:
Tusker House breakfast
Yak & Yeti fried rice
Jungle Juice slushy

 

[Uncranky Donald]

I can only get through one park before I get too jealous of my own words:
MK:
Kona Cafe Poly for breakfast (for the 30th time, The Samoan...soooo good)
Columbia HH for lunch almost anything on the menu makes me happy
Pecos Bill snack love to share fries/nachos (whichever they're serving when I'm there) and load them up at the fixin's bar
Artist Point for dinner WL a quick boat ride to culinary delight!
Adventureland for dessert aaand a Dole Whip right before they close, I like to eat it as I'm walking out of the park

 

[nursejackie]

If my wallet and waistline could accommodate it, my choices would be:

MK:
Breakfast - Crystal Palace
Lunch - The Plaza
Dinner - CRT (never been but desperate to dine in the castle)
Snack - Sleepy hollow for nutella fruit waffle

EPCOT:
Breakfast - Garden Grill
Lunch - Via Napoli
Dinner - Monsieur Paul
Snacks - anything from Karamel Kuche

AK:
Breakfast - danish from Kusifari
Lunch - Yak & Yeti
Dinner - never stayed in park long enough for dinner

HS:
Breakfast - Starring Rolls (RIP)
Lunch - Sci-Fi Diner
Dinner - Hollywood Brown Derby
Snacks - candy apple from sweet spells

Back in the real world we have breakfast in our DVC villa, QS and snacks in the park for lunch, and the occasional TS or Signature for dinner. I know which I prefer!

 

[minoh]

This is a great thread. We're going to Disney in just over a week for our first trip and I love reading everyone's suggestions (especially when some of the faves overlap with our ADRs )

 

[DisneyNB]

We typically do the DDP so we will use snack credits for breakfast at the resort.

For lunch we do QS and my choices by park are:

MK - Pecos Bill's Fajita platter, we can typically do a bit of sharing here to stockpile an extra QS credit.

AK - Flame Tree BBQ, again serving sizes are huge so we do a bit of sharing here.

HS - Not a ton of options here so we usually just grab what we can or leave the park for meals.

EP - We love the fish and chips in the UK so that is our go to meal. That being said we will be there during flower and garden and plan to eat at the kiosks for our next trip.

We like character dining so our dinner choices tend to swing that way.

MK - Monorail resort dinner @ Chef Mickeys or O'hana. We've done 1900's PF but I find it smells in there...

AK - Tusker House

HS - Meh... Disney springs night? Lol

EP - So many great choices!! We like Akershus and have done it many times, but on our next trip we are going to try Teppan Edo as we love Teppanyaki.

Bonus: Wolfgang Puck Express @ DS is a great counter service choice, we love going there.

 

[VAfamily1998]

For me, one or two "meals" is usually enough--I did a deluxe dining plan several years ago when I went with my brother (we were both adults in our 30s at the time) and it was just too much. Too much food, and also I felt like we were planning our whole day and kind of "held hostage by" our dining reservations. So I prefer to just make one ADR per day for late lunch or early dinner, and then snack or light counter service around that. Another consideration is that we sometimes stay club level, which means we already have the light breakast and appetizers in the evening provided for us in the club lounge.

Magic Kingdom--I think has the least interesting food options of the parks. We've done Liberty House which was good, but I heard they changed the menu recently? We also did Be our Guest and I did like that, we will be trying dinner there on our trip this summer. I would love to try Skippers Canteen soon too.

Animal Kingdom--Flame Tree BBQ has GREAT counter service. Usually we combine our AK day with Disney Springs---AK in the morning and early afternoon and then our table service meal will be at Disney Springs for an early dinner. But on our next trip we hope to do Tiffins with the ROL package (they haven't released ADRs for our dates yet.)

Epcot--Biergarten is a family favorite for us. We enjoy that style of food, love hearing the band play while we eat.

Hollywood Studios--I know a lot of people don't like the food options at HS--but I actually have a hard time choosing there! If I had to pick one favorite, it would be Brown Derby. I love the old Hollywood vibe and the food has always been excellent.

 

[JZCubed]

DH & I were talking about adr's and that sort of thing and we got on the topic of what our ideal day of eating would be like in each park. We're still in the planning process of our next trip but just out of curiosity (for future trips, of course) what would your ideal day of eating/snacking be in each park?

If you could eat wherever you wanted in each of the parks, where would you eat? What would you eat at each place and why?

An ideal day of eating in the Parks means leaving to eat food that we really enjoy.

This would include: #3 - Capa, #2 - BlueZoo, #1 - Victoria & Albert.
Honorable Mention - the nachos & cold beer at ESPN

But you asked inside the Parks:

Magic Kingdom:
-- Be Our Guest for dinner. We love the ambiance, the relative value on the menu, and meeting The Beast. We always seem to order a Charcuterie Plate and Lamb Chops. Frankly, the adults avoid the cupcake desserts.
-- ***Skipper Canteen - it's our type of menu, but alas, we've not been yet.
-- Snack - a very big snack - a BBQ Pork Hotdog at Casey's

Epcot:
-- Coral Reef. I know, plenty of folks do not like it here, but we always get a Trout with Beans & Greens and have never been disappointed. Love the view. A case can be made for Biergarten (fun), Spice Table (on the water), and/or Marrakesh (belly dancer).
-- Snack - France. Pastry. Gelato. Champagne. Cheese if you must.

Hollywood Studios:
-- Sci-Fi. It's not about the food. Frankly, nothing is Hollywood Studios is about food quality, save maybe the Cobb Salad at Brown Derby.
-- Snack - no brainer, popcorn.

Animal Kingdom:
-- We have not yet fallen in love with Tiffins (bad first, and only, experience); returning for Rivers of Light dining package. We pretty much leave AK to eat (or arrive full). But if I had to make a choice - Flame Tree BBQ for no other reason than they take Tables in Wonderland (a rarity discount for Qwik Service). We used to enjoy the 'hidden gem' aspect of Tamu Tamu when they served food and have gained no affinity with Harambe Market. We arrive next with Pandora: World of Avatar having opened.
-- Snack - a pretzel....hoping AvatarLand has something fun.

 

[allisonpartyof4]

We typically do the DDP so we will use snack credits for breakfast at the resort.

For lunch we do QS and my choices by park are:

MK - Pecos Bill's Fajita platter, we can typically do a bit of sharing here to stockpile an extra QS credit.

AK - Flame Tree BBQ, again serving sizes are huge so we do a bit of sharing here.

HS - Not a ton of options here so we usually just grab what we can or leave the park for meals.

EP - We love the fish and chips in the UK so that is our go to meal. That being said we will be there during flower and garden and plan to eat at the kiosks for our next trip.

We like character dining so our dinner choices tend to swing that way.

MK - Monorail resort dinner @ Chef Mickeys or O'hana. We've done 1900's PF but I find it smells in there...

AK - Tusker House

HS - Meh... Disney springs night? Lol

EP - So many great choices!! We like Akershus and have done it many times, but on our next trip we are going to try Teppan Edo as we love Teppanyaki.

Bonus: Wolfgang Puck Express @ DS is a great counter service choice, we love going there.

I've heard so many good things about Flame Tree BBQ and it's definitely on our list for our AK day this coming May! The girls (myself and 8yo DD) are doing Akershus for breakfast one morning and I'm really excited about it. On our last trip which was the kids first trip we did a lot of QS and it worked out well for us because we typically share everything. This year we have a few more ADR's that we're looking forward to!

 

[allisonpartyof4]

We typically do the DDP so we will use snack credits for breakfast at the resort.

For lunch we do QS and my choices by park are:

MK - Pecos Bill's Fajita platter, we can typically do a bit of sharing here to stockpile an extra QS credit.

AK - Flame Tree BBQ, again serving sizes are huge so we do a bit of sharing here.

HS - Not a ton of options here so we usually just grab what we can or leave the park for meals.

EP - We love the fish and chips in the UK so that is our go to meal. That being said we will be there during flower and garden and plan to eat at the kiosks for our next trip.

We like character dining so our dinner choices tend to swing that way.

MK - Monorail resort dinner @ Chef Mickeys or O'hana. We've done 1900's PF but I find it smells in there...

AK - Tusker House

HS - Meh... Disney springs night? Lol

EP - So many great choices!! We like Akershus and have done it many times, but on our next trip we are going to try Teppan Edo as we love Teppanyaki.

Bonus: Wolfgang Puck Express @ DS is a great counter service choice, we love going there.

Sorry to post twice and respond to you. However, I'm gonna need you to sum up your F&G kiosk eating adventure when you get back! We'll be going at the end of F&G so I'm looking forward to the kiosks!

 

[loves to dive]

We are go with the flow people so there really isn't one thing in each park we crave, we eat when we want to eat, what we want to eat. We tend to eat one TS meal a day, but that is never booked in advance, we just hop on MDE some time during the day and find something. We like trying new places and are pretty adventurous eaters so that works. When we are there for F&G (which we will be March 5-11) most of our meals come from the booths, we try to get two things from each booth and share. We might grab one or two other meals through the week. I eat breakfast at the resort most days, usually a kid's bounty platter or I'll grab a muffin or pastry in the park, my son (grown) isn't a breakfast guy. When I'm there solo for F&W, every meal except breakfast is from either the booths or meal/wine pairing meals or seminars.

As far as places we love:
At MK Skippers Canteen or Pecos Bills
At AK Nomad Lounge or Tiffins
At HS Hollywood Brown Derby
At Epcot - anywhere in WS except Germany, we are not buffet or family style types.

 

[photophreak]

CS is stressful for me and never seems to take THAT much less time than TS. it's vacation and I like for someone else to be responsible for the transport of my food and beverages through a crowded room on a wobbly tray and I like having someone else being responsible for finding me a seat at a clean table and I like having someone else be responsible for cleaning up after me and I like not having to wait on extra lines (usually two - one to order and one to pick up) and I like not having to corral my kid while doing all of the above but rather have us both sitting calmly at a table, sipping beverages and what we're going to do for the rest of the day/evening. My son won't touch a princess meal with a 10 foot pole but we love

OMG. You are my spirit animal. haha!

 

[goofyintoronto]

Epcot:
Lunch: Food & Wine (I love going in the fall)
Dinner: Via Napoli (love this place, great pasta and pizza).

MK:
Crystal Palace breakfast (breakfast lasagna is amazing, so is pooh's french toast)
Lunch: Columbia Harbor House (love the tuna sandwiches)
Dinner: I'd probably walk across to CR and eat at the Wave. (Great food! Love the steak!)

AK:
Tusker breakfast (great food selection)....thats about it for AK. I dont normally stay at AK all day. After a few hours I head over to Dis.Springs and eat there (Raglan Road or WGPE, both really good food btw). If my meal is mid afternoon, i'll head over to epcot later and snack at F&W again.
If your one of those who stay at AK all day, i'd have lunch at Flame Tree.

HS:
Lunch: Scifi (one of my fave places, great theme. So quiet too)
Dinner: 50's. (great comfort food)

I dont always have breakfast...max 2 restaurant breakfasts per trip. Often my meals start at lunch. Outside of that, if i do have breakfast at my resort, which is very rare....it'll be something like kids mickey waffle.

 

[nco91590]

Ideal for me would be a nice relaxing 10am brunch with champs, a 2pm snack or F&G booth, and an 8pm dinner. None of these things actually ever happen in WDW with children. So typically we do breakfast in the room (cereal, oatmeal, fruit) and then head to the parks, have a QS lunch and then a 6pm TS.

MK: Lunch @ Columbia Harbor House
Dinner @ The Wave

Epcot: Lunch @ Les Halles
Dinner @ Rose and Crown

AK: Lunch @ Flame Tree
Dinner back at hotel (I cannot stand to be in AK after 2pm because it's SO HOT)

HS: Lunch @ nowhere now.
Dinner in Disney Springs or Boardwalk area

 

[Lisa F]

OMG. You are my spirit animal. haha!

I'm a princess and I admit it. but what better place to be a princess than at disney?

 

[photophreak]

I'm a princess and I admit it. but what better place to be a princess than at disney?

That's what I'm talking about. #StraightensInvisibleCrown

 

[DisneyNB]

Sorry to post twice and respond to you. However, I'm gonna need you to sum up your F&G kiosk eating adventure when you get back! We'll be going at the end of F&G so I'm looking forward to the kiosks!

I cannot wait to do the kiosks! I have been scoping out the menus and planning our "Must Do" list. I am also going to do the "wine walk"... So excited!