My Eating Choices- Help Please!

[JustGottaGoDisney]

I would love to have some feedback on the places we've chose to eat. I've made this list from so many things I have read.

Please any positive or negative input! Also, am I picking the right choices for Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner!

FYI- This trip is being primarily focused on our 9yr. ds and we really like clean restaurants if possible

Sending out a huge thank-You!

Breakfast
1.Chef Mickey
2.Main Street Bakery
3.1900 Fare
4.Donald’s Breakfastosaurus
5.Ohana

Lunch
1.Liberty Tree
2.Casey’s Corner
3.The Lunching Pad at Rockettower Plaza
4.Pecos Bill Café
5.Beaches and Cream

Dinner
1.Crystal Palace (night of MVMCP)
2.Hoop-De Doo Review
3.Hollywood and Vine
4.50’s Prime Time Café
5.Garden Grill
6.Nine Dragons
7.Maya Grill
8.Trail End Buffeteria
9.Planet Hollywood

 

[jennymouse]

Your choices are great. Just one piece of advice: Pick your restaurants around the places you'll be that day. For example don't chose a restaurant in Epcot when you're planning to spend your day in Magic Kingdom. Sounds pretty elementary, I know, but I don't know how many times I see itineraries where someone has chosen to eat at Ohana on their Animal Kingdom day and they're not even staying at the Poly, for example. WDW is huge, the size of a fairly large city, with lots of traffic, etc., plan at least an hour or more to get to many locations.

 

[JustGottaGoDisney]

Had not taken into account travel time! How embarrassing!

Thank you!

 

[3princesses4us]

Are you going to LTT for the character meal? If so, they only do it at dinner which I believe starts at 4. Other than that, the restaurant choices are good you just might want to eat at some of the dinner choices earlier in the day. Same food, much lower price. For example, Crystal Palace, H&V (although I know it's probably Fantasmic! night for you) and Garden Grill are all buffets and the food will be extremely similar at lunchtime but save you money. One idea is to switch CP and LTT. That way you can do the only character meal at LTT on the night of MVMCP. CP has a character meal all 3 meals every day! Just a thought- I'm obsessed with trying all the character meals.

 

[Luv4Disney]

Breakfast
1.Chef Mickey-we enjoy it, but will be skipping it this coming trip. It's a lot of fun and you won't be hungry when you leave.
2.Main Street Bakery yummy croissants. plus, it smells so good
3.1900 Fare more...elegant than other breakfast buffets, but very good
4.Donald’s Breakfastosaurus-never been
5.Ohana-never been

Lunch
1.Liberty Tree-we've only been for dinner, and it's very good for that. we really like it there
2.Casey’s Corner-eh, we're not really hot dog lovers and that's pretty much all they have
3.The Lunching Pad at Rockettower Plaza-quick and convenient, but we prefer Columbia Harbor House
4.Pecos Bill Café-lots of choices, pretty good food.
5.Beaches and Cream-yummy

Dinner
1.Crystal Palace (night of MVMCP)-just "okay" for us. good character interaction, but wasn't that impressed. we can do without it from now on now that we've experienced it.
2.Hoop-De Doo Review-MUST DO! It's so much fun!
3.Hollywood and Vine-just okay for us. We'll be skipping this as well this trip and going back to MM.
4.50’s Prime Time Café-Love it. Always on the must do's. Very homey feel.
5.Garden Grill-never been
6.Nine Dragons-not worth the money in our opinion. we didn't think it was any better than our local Chinese place and it cost 3 times the money.
7.Maya Grill-never been
8.Trail End Buffeteria-never been
9.Planet Hollywood-fun, but just like every other Planet Hollywood in the world.

Hope that helps somewhat!

 

[annie1995]

Great Choices! If at all possible I would try and do Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner. I don't really have anything to base that on, except that we ate there for dinner and it had really good food and character interaction! Lunch is run a little bit differently than dinner with no characters and I believe different choices on the menu. Dinner has a family style buffet with mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, stuffing 3 kinds of meat, and cherry cobbler for dessert! Really yummy!

 

[chell]

You list looks great to me. Casey's Corner is a must do for me. They have the absolute best hot dogs you can buy out anywhere. The hot dog is so huge that you don't even need fries with it.

The Garden Grill is another must for me. It is my all-time favorite. YUM!

If you are not concerned about the characters at LTT their lunch is very good.

Main Street Bakery is such a great start to your MK day. When getting breakfast there I always go down to the little tables overlooking the little pond and eat there and watch the ducks and birds.

Hollywood & Vine was just so-so for me for dinner. I prefer the Brown Derby much more.

Have fun!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Breakfast

1.Chef Mickey
2.Main Street Bakery
3.1900 Fare - Ate here, had really bad service, the characters and food were good though.
4.Donald’s Breakfastosaurus
5.Ohana

Also, in Epcot, I really enjoyed the Fountainview Bakery.

Lunch
1.Liberty Tree
2.Casey’s Corner
3.The Lunching Pad at Rockettower Plaza
4.Pecos Bill Café
5.Beaches and Cream

Columbia Harbor House is also very good.

Dinner
1.Crystal Palace (night of MVMCP)
2.Hoop-De Doo Review - Really liked the food.
3.Hollywood and Vine
4.50’s Prime Time Café - Really enjoyed this.
5.Garden Grill
6.Nine Dragons
7.Maya Grill
8.Trail End Buffeteria
9.Planet Hollywood

 

[JustGottaGoDisney]

Thank you all so much! It is so wonderful to be able to talk to all of you and get great feedback!

Paige

 

[DVCconvert]

Breakfast
1.Chef Mickey--Excellent!
2.Main Street Bakery--Very good!
3.1900 Fare-Very good!
4.Donald’s Breakfastosaurus-OK!
5.Ohana-Jury is still out considering new menu

Lunch
1.Liberty Tree-excellent!
2.Casey’s Corner-Great place for a Main Street experience!
3.The Lunching Pad at Rockettower Plaza-questionable
4.Pecos Bill Café-One of the best in it's class
5.Beaches and Cream-You won't leave hungary!

Dinner
1.Crystal Palace (night of MVMCP)-You won't leave hungary!
2.Hoop-De Doo Review-No expereience
3.Hollywood and Vine-decent buffet!
4.50’s Prime Time Café-Every should try it at least once!
5.Garden Grill-No experience with new menu
6.Nine Dragons-Go hungary, buy lots of dim sum!
7.Maya Grill-no experience
8.Trail End Buffeteria-no experience (but hear good things)
9.Planet Hollywood-well, loud, but food is fine

HTH

 

[Costumesaremylife]

Breakfast
1.Chef Mickey--totally fun
2.Main Street Bakery- great place to grab a treat any time of day. My mom likes to grab something on the way out of the park at night and take it back to the room to eat in the morning on our way to the next park.
3.1900 Fare--Never been, but interested in going for dinner.
4.Donald’s Breakfastosaurus--Never been
5.Ohana--Never been, the food choices don't do anything for my family

Lunch
1.Liberty Tree--very yummy
2.Casey’s Corner--easy to get to, fast quick lunch.
3.The Lunching Pad at Rockettower Plaza--They only have turkey legs and pork sandwiches (I never saw one though) I do like to sit at those tables and have a frozen cherry slush while watching tomorrowland go by. We usually eat further down in tomorrow land at Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe. It has a seating section with this silly robot guy who tells bad jokes and sings (or at least it did a year ago) Neither are must go places in my book. The MK has way more fun places to eat than that.
The Plaza restaurant is a fun place to eat while the parade is going by. I love the burgers and my mom said the Ice cream is delicious. She's a serious ice cream snob so the hot fudge sundae would have to be good.
4.Pecos Bill Café--hamburgers are good people like the topping bar.
5.Beaches and Cream--Delicious, don't miss, you won't need to eat for the rest of the day. Worth the trip out of your way, you can take the boat from the back side of Epcot I believe.

Dinner
1.Crystal Palace (night of MVMCP) I have heard great things,
2.Hoop-De Doo Review No idea.
3.Hollywood and Vine Another Buffet, not sure if you love those.
4.50’s Prime Time Café-Cute, I personally like Sci Fi Dine in theater atmosphere better, but usually I go as a lunch/share a few appetizers place. The drive in movie trailers are so hokey, and you sit in a car.
5.Garden Grill-Check the menu, there have been a few threads about the Menu changing and some of it changing back, some like it, some don't.
6.Nine Dragons- I ate there once, it was pretty good.
7.Maya Grill-- No Idea.
8.Trail End Buffeteria-- I personally feel like it's not that exciting, you'd be better off having a counter service or a sit down in the park. Treking out there (the boat from MK is really the best(fastest) way to get there) is time spent away from the park for ok food. I don't think there's any qualities about it that a nine year old would love.
9.Planet Hollywood--I haven't been there in a long time, at downtown disney I like Wolfgang puck takeout. My mom just informed me that she had lunch at Captain Jacks and enjoyed it very much. The Mystery is we always go together and I've never eaten there. Not really sure when she snuck off and ate lunch without me. Curiouser and Curiouser. I haven't eaten at the earl of sandwich, but people say that is very good. Planet Hollywood does have all the hollywood memorabilia which is cool. I do like places like that. I believe they are famous for some sort of captain crunch fried chicken.

Whispering Canyon at Wilderness Lodge is totally fun. That you should look into. They have crazy waitstaff and all kinds of general mayhem.

 

[The Sweetness]

IMO, restaurants in WDW are far cleaner than ones outside of WDW. Here's what Ive noticed, in my vast trips to WDW:

Counter service places are cleaner than those *outside the world*, but can still get a little messy durring peak hours if they are super busy. If you have to "look" for a table, the place may not be up to your cleanliness standard.(Leftover trays on tables that havent been cleared yet, possibly food thats been dropped on the floor by young-uns that hasnt been swept up yet). This is less likely in a less crowded place.

The buffets, as far as Ive noticed, are extremely well kept. Neat, hot food hot, all fresh. Same issue possible though with the Cleanliness, and the crowd level. Ppl there work their best to keep up, but 50 2y olds spread out through a huge dining room can really cause some damage

If those things would bother you, try table service places that arent buffets, such as The Plaza, 50's PT Cafe etc. There wont be any characters, but it may be quieter & slightly neater

 

[Rella Bella]

Okay, here we go!!

Breakfast
1.Chef Mickey Very fun, you will love it.
2.Main Street Bakery Very yummy! Huge muffins, good coffee. Single serving quiche is a favorite.
3.1900 Fare Never been.
4.Donald’s Breakfastosaurus Fun, when we went the breakfast buffet had made to order omletes... a nice change.
5.Ohana Has always been our favorite breakfast! Hope it hasn't changed too much with the new menu!

Lunch
1.Liberty Tree We had a blast... the characters are dressed in colonial outfits and the food is served family style.
2.Casey’s Corner We do Casey's every trip! Usually after the last parade while the crowds are walk out of the park shoulder to shoulder. We have hot dogs and watch the old Mickey cartoons they play thier back room! The best!!
3.The Lunching Pad at Rockettower Plaza You mught want to rethink this. It's not really a restuarant. It's open air tables with a walk up counter... like our friends above said, they have turkey legs and pork sandwiches. There is ALWAYS a crowd there... people standing/waiting around. Not at all a place to relax... more like 'I'm starving and I've got to collapse somewhere'.
4.Pecos Bill Café No idea
5.Beaches and Cream We're going our first time on our next trip... I'll let you know.

Dinner
1.Crystal Palace (night of MVMCP) We love it! I think the buffet is great. A bit noisy and the wait can be long to get in... even with an ADR.
2.Hoop-De Doo Review Very fun. Food was good.
3.Hollywood and Vine One of our favorites. My family does best with buffets, once my son is hungry he doesn't want to be sitting around waiting to eat. So "get a table...go get food" really appeals to him. All the Disney buffets have a separate kids area with Mac-n-Cheese, chicken nuggets and other kid favorites.
4.50’s Prime Time Café ??? At MGM we alway opt for Sci-Fi or H&V...don't know why.
5.Garden Grill We love the Garden Grill. The restuarant is on a turn-table... so you're slowly going around the whole time you're there. Which means the scenery changes... and the food and characters are great... or at least were... I heard they had a menu change too.
6.Nine Dragons ??? Can't help with any of the rest.
7.Maya Grill
8.Trail End Buffeteria
9.Planet Hollywood[/QUOTE]

The only other thing I'd say is... you don't say how many days you are staying... but don't try to do three ADR's in one day. We rarely do two. They take up quite a bit of time... because you aren't always seated at the exact time of your reservation. Plus they give you LOTS of food! We find if we do one mid morning or early afternoon we aren't really hungry again until quite late. If we do a breakfast we might also do a dinner but unless you are really really hungry people you will not want to do all three meals in one day... ya gotta save some room for snacks & Mickey Bars!!

 

[Rella Bella]

Just noticed you have a DS9... so do I! He's the one that loves the buffets! His favorite restuarant??? "I don't ever want to stop & eat"!
I have to get him fed before we get to the park or do a buffet... or Casey's he loves the food and cartoons at Casey's!
When in Dec are you going? We'll be there 3-7.

 

[mrcricket]

Breakfast
1.Chef Mickey - never been
2.Main Street Bakery - EXCELLENT
3.1900 Fare - never been
4.Donald’s Breakfastosaurus - never been
5.Ohana - never been

Lunch
1.Liberty Tree - going in 2 weeks, I'll let you know
2.Casey’s Corner - Good
3.The Lunching Pad at Rockettower Plaza - Turkey legs okay
4.Pecos Bill Café - good
5.Beaches and Cream - Fun and filling. If you have room and your party is big enough, try the kitchen sink. But be warned, don't ride any fast rides afterwards.

Dinner
1.Crystal Palace (night of MVMCP)- GREAT. Excellent food. going again in 2 weeks
2.Hoop-De Doo Review - never been, but want to go soon.
3.Hollywood and Vine - never been
4.50’s Prime Time Café - never been
5.Garden Grill - never been
6.Nine Dragons - Don't bother. Absolutely the worst food I've had at Disney World. Not worth the money. The Japanese establishments are much better.
7.Maya Grill- never been
8.Trail End Buffeteria - never been
9.Planet Hollywood - not worth the price.

It really strikes me how many places I haven't eaten at. Just proves WDW is huge with many choices for many taste. Enjoy your trip and happy eating.

 

[JustGottaGoDisney]

Just noticed you have a DS9... so do I! He's the one that loves the buffets! His favorite restuarant??? "I don't ever want to stop & eat"!
I have to get him fed before we get to the park or do a buffet... or Casey's he loves the food and cartoons at Casey's!
When in Dec are you going? We'll be there 3-7.

We will be at WDW Dec. 5-9. Looks like we will be overlapping!
Thank you for all the input. It sounds like the buffets are the best bets when you can for value and cleanliness.

 

[LAWalz23]

My niece and nephew (twins, almost 8) loved the Hoop Dee Doo Review this past summer and want to go back again. Trail's End has the same fried chicken as the HDDR as they share a kitchen. This place is the best bargain at WDW for me.
Chef Mickeys and Donald were ok for breakfast, we enjoyed Cape May more.
Have only had dinner at Beaches and Cream and it was excellent!
We really enjoyed 50s PrimeTime and both CP and old Garden Grill were good.
Have fun!

 

[jiggerj]

Breakfast
1.Chef Mickey-your 9 yr old will love it and you will too!
2.Main Street Bakery-way too yummy!
3.1900 Fare- havent had breakfast there
4.Donald’s Breakfastosaurus-one of our favorites
5.Ohana-havent had breakfast there

Lunch
1.Liberty Tree-to be honest did not enjoy the food but did get to ring the dinner bell!
2.Casey’s Corner-great for sitting out and enjoying Main Street
3.The Lunching Pad at Rockettower Plaza-ok
4.Pecos Bill Café-ok
5.Beaches and Cream- good and very popular

Dinner
1.Crystal Palace (night of MVMCP)-YES!
2.Hoop-De Doo Review-havent tried it yet
3.Hollywood and Vine-long time ago...it was ok
4.50’s Prime Time Café-lots of fun just dont let your 9yr old put his elbows on the table!
5.Garden Grill-Blah! Last time we went in Sept 04 heard its changed
6.Nine Dragons-havent tried it yet
7.Maya Grill-havent tried it yet
8.Trail End Buffeteria-had for breakfast was very good and inexpensive
9.Planet Hollywood-VERY NOISY!