Need help and advice on restaurant choices

[mom2nickntink]

We narrowed our choices down to:

MGM: Pizza Planet and 50's Cafe
AK: Flame Tree and Tusker House
MK: Cosmic Rays, Columbia Harbour and Pecos Bill
Epcot: Cantina de san Angel, Tangerine Cafe and Yakatori

1. Are these places good choices? Any other recommendations at each park?

2. Does any of these places have meal programs? Are there any other meal programs available?

3. Are meals generally big enough to share if we aren't big eaters and if we order an extra side? What places DO have large portions that will allow us to share.

4. I heard on a board people saying they order from the kids menu for light eaters. Do they allow you to do that and do they charge extra? What generally is the difference between a kids meal and an adult meal? (i.e. burger, chicken strips)

5. What are these vouchers I hear people mentioning and how EXACTLY do they work? Where are they good for? (sit down restaurants or counter service places?) Can a party of 3 adults and 2 kids use 2-3 vouchers or do we need to use one each?

Thanks for any advice/help you can give. Trying to make this a special trip for all without bankrupting us.

 

[jgates]

I would say your choices are pretty good.

In MGM I like the ABC Commissary though- it's usually very cool and a little darker. I find it a great place to unwind. We also ate at Hollywood & Vine for Fantasmic and it was great food.

The children's meals can vary. We had kids Taco meals in Magic Kingdom. (Back by Pirates)- it is actually part of the same kitchen as Pecos Bills - they run two full restaurants and i think one snack stand from the same one. I was fine with the kids taco meal & so was dd.

However, at the China lunch counter (is that the Tangerine Cafe?) I ordered Sweat & Sour chicken. I kind of expected it to come with rice. We only received a small cup of batter fried chicken nuggets. We had to go back up and ask for the S&S sauce-it didn't even come with. I was just amazed it didn't have any rice with it. Not filling at all.

My dd had a kids meal at ABC Comm. which would have been fine for me but I wanted one of the ?Teriayki Chicken meals - adult size.

 

[kendo9114]

Pecos Bill is a good choice we eat there everytime we go. You usually can get an inside table and cool off and relax

 

[kshabare]

When we went in 2000 we went to the Sci-Fi Diner in MGM. What a fun place. You sit in 'cars' and they bring the food to you on roller skates/blades. During dinner you get to watch flicks on the drive-in screen.

We were able to order kid meals. The portions were right for us. We like to eat often but not overly filled at meal-time. Only thing you miss is the larger drink but order water as a filler.

New to this board but wanted to add my 2 cents worth.

Kim

 

[CRCrazy]

Hi, these were our favorite places to eat at MGM. Pizza Planet is pretty basic, not like the one in the movie, but my kids loved it just the same. The individual pizzas are large - definitely could feed two with one pizza if you are not big eaters. 50's Prime Time is great fun! The kid's meals do not come with veggies, but the adult entree's do - be forewarned! My Father in Law didn't eat his green beans, and they made him a green bean sundae for dessert!

Animal Kingdom does have a meal voucher system in place. I think it is $10.99. You get your meal combo and drink, plus two coupons for a bottled drink and an ice cream or popcorn treat that you can redeem later from the outside vendors. I don't know how long they will run this - it is still a test program. We loved the chicken from Tusker House, Flame Tree was closed when we were there!

Loved Cosmic Rays, Pecos Bills and the Cantina as well. Great Toppings bars at both CR and PB. My kids loved the churros in Mexico for dessert!

Happy eating, and yes - portions are large, so you can definitely order one meal and split, especially with an extra side. Most places have no problem with adults buying kid's meals either - unless they are buffet or all you can eat types - then you must pay by your age.

 

[mousecrazy]

The Animal Kingdom offers the meal vouchers for $10.99 and $5.99 for childrens meals. This includes a lunch entree and drink with an additional coupon for a bottled soda or water and another coupon for an ice cream treat or popcorn.

I think the very best deal is at Pizzafari with the kids meal deal. I ordered the child size pizza (which was plenty for me) which comes with chips and a child's drink (regular price is $5.99)...which means you get the soda/water and ice cream/popcorn coupons for free!

And I think the fixin bar at Pecos Bill and Cosmic Rays is pretty much the same...as is most of the burger menu (but I might be mistakin).

 

[Poohnatic]

As mentioned, there's a voucher program at AK and both of those places participate. I have to say that I really enjoyed Flame Tree and Tusker House, and used the voucher at Flame Tree to get the rib meal . I got 13.00 worth of food, then 5.50 in snacks for that 10.99. The pulled pork sandwich was also very good...bummer part is my husband only got two bites before our 6 year old took it away! Be warned, if your kids don't like franks in beans or pbj sandwiches, you'll suffer the same fate my husband did.

Tusker house has great choices. The last time we ate there, the daily special was peanut chicken skewers on rice that my kids split and loved. Husband had a bread bowl with stew and I had rotisserie meat...yum.

Pizza Planet has great greek salads besides the pizza. I'm from NY, so I don't really get pizza, but that always ends up being a stop for the kids, because they haven't been raised on NY pizza.

Pecos--great and filling, Cosmic-decent and haven't done any of the others.

If you're getting the connections Q&C's, many people do say they've split the food and it's worth it. It doesn't work out any better for us, so we haven't purchased them.

I think planning the meals is so much fun. We did our most recent trip planning half, and just flying by our stomachs for half. Now we have three new favorites that we are trying to figure out when were going back to each ('Ohana, Biergarten and 1900 Park Fare--yep all expensive sit down but worth every darn penny )

Suzanne

 

[cmbelle]

Pecos Bill meals are huge. I wish I knew that before I ordered. My husband and I could have shared a meal easily. Cosmic Rays was great fun. Personally, I didn't like Pizza Planet. I expected more atmosphere. I felt more like I was at Chuck E. Cheese, and I didn't like having to argue with my kids about spending tons of money on arcade games