We were at WDW from Dec. 15-26 and had an amazing trip. I'm going to give overviews of the table service restaurants we ate at. We were not on Disney dining plan. Our family is myself and my husband (40 ish) and our two daughters who are 5 and 8.
Here are the restaurants in the order we ate at them. 1900 Park Fare, WCC, Biergarten, Crystal Palace, HDDR, Yak and Yeti.
Things that were surprising... Even during the week during X-mas we were able to be seated early a couple of times. Our WCC ADR was later than I wanted but we had gotten to Wilderness lodge early to look around and I just asked if it would be possible to be seated early. Not a problem. Same at Park Fare. (mind you, I'm talking early, before 5).
Don't give too much weight to reviews you read on the forums. Some of the restaurants I enjoyed the most (1900 Park Fare, WCC) I had read quite a few poor reviews of and ones I'd read a lot of rave reviews of (HDDR, Biergarten) I thought were so so. Just do what you think is right for your family.
1900 Park Fare -
Of all the places we ate I enjoyed the food the most at this restaurant. To be fair, I primarily ate the prime rib, potatos, salad and soup. I dabbled in some of the other offerings but I'm the type of eater that when I find what I like I go with it. The prime rib was very good. We all enjoyed the character interactions especially the step sisters.
The only downside was the service. Our daughter was celebrating her 8th b-day. They asked everyone who was celebrating a b-day to stand up and everyone sang. Then the servers brought tiaras and crowns to all the kids celebrating. Our server was no where to be found and our kiddo was the only one in the room not to get a tiara. Luckily I was able to distract her and I think/hope she did not notice. I was not expecting anything, but to be the only one left out kind of stunk. Our server was in general just not around.
The food and character interactions made up for the lack of service, though, and we were all happy and well fed when we left. My daughter wore the b-day pin for a couple of days of the trip and the attention she got in the parks and other restaurants more than made up for the lack of attention here. Believe me, she did not suffer.
Whispering Canyon Cafe -
My personal favorite. It was just a great overall experience with good food to boot. dh had the prime rib which he really enjoyed and I had the sausage and cheese plate which I enjoyed much more than I had expected to. The sausage was very good.
We were there pretty early (maybe 4:45) so I did not have high expectations for antics. I was wrong. There were plenty of enjoyable antics from our server and other servers in the area. DD's did the horse ride around the restaurant and were "sworn in". One of our daughters knocked a cup over while waving her napkin so our server taped it to the table. Dusty trails (Sergio?) our waiter was great. He brought dd a b-day cupcake and had everybody sing (more than made up for Park Fare).
We all had a really good time here and like I said it was my personal favorite (well, maybe a tie with crystal palace).
Biergarten -
The food was good, we enjoyed the band, but overall I was not blown away. I'm not sure what else to say. There was nothing wrong with the experience, it just does not stand out in comparison to some of our others.
Crystal Palace -
We had an 8:05 breakfast ADR. I love being one of the first into a buffet. We had a great waitress, good food, and I think the best character interactions we experienced during out trip. I just really love this place. It's beautiful and cheerful and an awesome way to start the day.
Hoop de doo revue -
Great family experience. My kids and husband really loved it, I thought it was OK. That might be because I was the only one who knew how much it cost. The food was OK. Chicken, ribs, mashed potatos, salad, cornbread, beans, strawberry shortcake. The entertainment was enjoyable (think hee haw and you'd be pretty close). The kids thought it was absolutely hysterical which almost made it worth it to me. It's hard to get over the expense though.
Yak and Yeti on Christmas day -
This was a surprise addition. I had an ADR for lunch at Kona but we decided we wanted to be in Animal Kingdom on Christmas day so I called the day before and was able to get an 11:00 ADR. We got a great table upstairs right at the windows. My husband and I split 3 appetizers, the steamed mussels, dim sum basket, and the lettuce cups. They were all phenomenal. The presentation was beautiful. What a treat.
Of the places we ate the two that I would not choose to go back to would be Biergarten and HDDR, not because they were bad, but because they were not memorable experiences for what they cost. I might get overridden on HDDR because dh and dd's thought it was great.
The bottom line is..... do what you want. Don't go by the reviews you read. They are a good place to start, but not necessarily the gospel truth. Everyone has different tastes and enjoy different things. At the time I was choosing restaurants (6 months ago) both Park Fare and WCC were getting a lot of bad reviews and I thought they were great.
Here are the restaurants in the order we ate at them. 1900 Park Fare, WCC, Biergarten, Crystal Palace, HDDR, Yak and Yeti.
Things that were surprising... Even during the week during X-mas we were able to be seated early a couple of times. Our WCC ADR was later than I wanted but we had gotten to Wilderness lodge early to look around and I just asked if it would be possible to be seated early. Not a problem. Same at Park Fare. (mind you, I'm talking early, before 5).
Don't give too much weight to reviews you read on the forums. Some of the restaurants I enjoyed the most (1900 Park Fare, WCC) I had read quite a few poor reviews of and ones I'd read a lot of rave reviews of (HDDR, Biergarten) I thought were so so. Just do what you think is right for your family.
1900 Park Fare -
Of all the places we ate I enjoyed the food the most at this restaurant. To be fair, I primarily ate the prime rib, potatos, salad and soup. I dabbled in some of the other offerings but I'm the type of eater that when I find what I like I go with it. The prime rib was very good. We all enjoyed the character interactions especially the step sisters.
The only downside was the service. Our daughter was celebrating her 8th b-day. They asked everyone who was celebrating a b-day to stand up and everyone sang. Then the servers brought tiaras and crowns to all the kids celebrating. Our server was no where to be found and our kiddo was the only one in the room not to get a tiara. Luckily I was able to distract her and I think/hope she did not notice. I was not expecting anything, but to be the only one left out kind of stunk. Our server was in general just not around.
The food and character interactions made up for the lack of service, though, and we were all happy and well fed when we left. My daughter wore the b-day pin for a couple of days of the trip and the attention she got in the parks and other restaurants more than made up for the lack of attention here. Believe me, she did not suffer.
Whispering Canyon Cafe -
My personal favorite. It was just a great overall experience with good food to boot. dh had the prime rib which he really enjoyed and I had the sausage and cheese plate which I enjoyed much more than I had expected to. The sausage was very good.
We were there pretty early (maybe 4:45) so I did not have high expectations for antics. I was wrong. There were plenty of enjoyable antics from our server and other servers in the area. DD's did the horse ride around the restaurant and were "sworn in". One of our daughters knocked a cup over while waving her napkin so our server taped it to the table. Dusty trails (Sergio?) our waiter was great. He brought dd a b-day cupcake and had everybody sing (more than made up for Park Fare).
We all had a really good time here and like I said it was my personal favorite (well, maybe a tie with crystal palace).
Biergarten -
The food was good, we enjoyed the band, but overall I was not blown away. I'm not sure what else to say. There was nothing wrong with the experience, it just does not stand out in comparison to some of our others.
Crystal Palace -
We had an 8:05 breakfast ADR. I love being one of the first into a buffet. We had a great waitress, good food, and I think the best character interactions we experienced during out trip. I just really love this place. It's beautiful and cheerful and an awesome way to start the day.
Hoop de doo revue -
Great family experience. My kids and husband really loved it, I thought it was OK. That might be because I was the only one who knew how much it cost. The food was OK. Chicken, ribs, mashed potatos, salad, cornbread, beans, strawberry shortcake. The entertainment was enjoyable (think hee haw and you'd be pretty close). The kids thought it was absolutely hysterical which almost made it worth it to me. It's hard to get over the expense though.
Yak and Yeti on Christmas day -
This was a surprise addition. I had an ADR for lunch at Kona but we decided we wanted to be in Animal Kingdom on Christmas day so I called the day before and was able to get an 11:00 ADR. We got a great table upstairs right at the windows. My husband and I split 3 appetizers, the steamed mussels, dim sum basket, and the lettuce cups. They were all phenomenal. The presentation was beautiful. What a treat.
Of the places we ate the two that I would not choose to go back to would be Biergarten and HDDR, not because they were bad, but because they were not memorable experiences for what they cost. I might get overridden on HDDR because dh and dd's thought it was great.
The bottom line is..... do what you want. Don't go by the reviews you read. They are a good place to start, but not necessarily the gospel truth. Everyone has different tastes and enjoy different things. At the time I was choosing restaurants (6 months ago) both Park Fare and WCC were getting a lot of bad reviews and I thought they were great.
