Need opinions on which restaurants - first WDW trip....

[hopetoseedisney]

I'm so excited. After many set backs, not knowing if were going to WDW or not, we have finally broke through all the things happening in our life, and finalized our plans to go in September. I can't wait. My dh is a big eater, and is rather hard convincing him to try something new or different. We have two children, a daughter who will be 7, and a son who will be five - son is like dad - will probably just want hot dog, chicken nuggets, or something like that at every meal. Daughter is less picky, and will try anything new, as will myself. We are staying from Sept 16-24 at ASMo. I am not 100% sure about which days we will see which parks yet. I do know we plan on hitting MK twice. Here's a list of all the places we want to try. I'd love your opinions as to whether they will be good to try, or if we should avoid them. Please make recommendations if you think there is something better to try for our first WDW trip. Also, trying to keep it to one sit down lunch/meal a day and the rest counter service.
AK - Rainforest Cafe for lunch
MGM - Sci Fi for lunch
MK - Liberty Tree Tavern for character dinner
Epcot - San Angel Inn (dh loves Mexican food) and/or Yorkshire County Fish Shop
Other restaurants on my list include:
Trail's End Buffet, Pecos Bill, Casey's Corner, Tony's Town Square (not sure on this one...dh likes Italian food....kids' love Lady and the Tramp), and also considering Ohana, though I've seen mixed reviews. Not sure of where else to try......wanting to keep to a budget of $900 for our meals for our stay - is this possible for a family of four? Two days of our stay (most likely Saturday and Sunday) will be away from the parks. We're not sure if we will go to Downtown Disney those days, or if we'll just stay and lounge at the pool....so I'm not really counting those days either. We're eating breakfast in the room, and will pick up groceries before we get to the hotel the first day (lunch items, snack items, bottled water, etc.). Sorry my post is so long - just didn't want to leave anything out.

 

[RAV]

I will preface this by saying it is just my opinion- If your husband enjoys good Italian food , Tony's Town Square will be a big disappointment. Though the SCI-FI has a cool setting, I think the food at Prime Time is a bit better, especially if you are planning only one sit down meal per day.

 

[crisi]

San Angel Inn is Mexican - but a lot of people don't like it because it doesn't fit their idea of Mexican - there aren't fajita, burritos and the like on the menu. The lunch menu is a little more what most people think of as Mexican. We like it here, but if your husband is picky and a big fan of Mexican, you might want to rethink it.


I think $900 on food for four people for eight days is doable.

 

[ahutton]

For big meals at good prices I would look mostly at doing sit downs for lunch, or if you want "dinner" have a late lunch. The prices are much more reasonable for virtually the same food. Whispering Canyon Cafe has a family style (all you care to eat brought to your table) barbecue meal that is very good, and there is great entertainment that the kids will likely enjoy. Another good deal is in Garden Grill at The Land. Good, plentiful food at a reasonable price and has characters for entertainment. I (unlike many posters here) love Sci-Fi - I think 98% of the fun at Disney is the entertainment atmosphere. I can get decent food anyplace, but nobody has atmostphere like Disney! 'Ohana has been a crowd pleaser in our family too, very good grilled meat and shrimp and the pineapple with caramel is outstanding. I think your budget is feasable, I would just recommend throwing some juice boxes or bottles of water in your tote bag in the morning as that is where we find it hardest to stay within our budget.

 

[disneyag]

We like the RFC at AK and do it for lunch frequently. We also do Ohana's a lot. Your kids will love the activity. I think you'd like Prime Time Cafe better than Sci Fi. Make sure you put your elbows on the table!! Epcot is full of fabulous restaurants, but I don't think that the San Angel is one of them. Check out the menus at www.wdwig.com and see if anything else sounds good. (We like Akershus, Marrakesh). The Garden Grill is lots of fun for kids (Mickey ,Chip, Dale are there.) The good news is that all the restaurants have kids meals, so you can always get chicken tenders, mac and cheese, PBand J, etc. We thought Tony's was kind of marginal. Much better food at Mama Melrose's at MGM if you want Italian.

 

[athena's mommy]

I think your choices are good. We have never eaten at Sci-Fi (going to this year), but we love 50's PTC. We ate at San Angel last year and were disappointed. The food was so-so and the service was terrible. We also ate at the little Cantina before Illuminations and that wasn't too bad. Margaritas were great! (right beside on cart). For pickey eaters I would reccommend doing some buffets. Boma is wonderful and so is Garden Grill. LTT is excellent...never disappointed there. Rose &Crown in Englad (Epcot) had wonderful fish and chips and Beirgarten in Germany has a great German buffet with wonderful entertainment. If your DH likes Italian, I would recommend Mama Melrose's in MGM. That's the best Italian we have had. We do not like Tony's. We also did not like Rainforest Cafe. Cool atmosphere but bad food. Casey's Corner has the best hot dogs on the property and an awesome fixins bar! We like Peco's too for counter service. If you go to AKL, eat at Flame Tree BBQ. Excellent.

 

[Planogirl]

My son adores the Rainforest so we've gone there for many years (actually the Downtown Disney location) and have always enjoyed the place. I agree though that you might want to rethink Tony's and San Angel since you have picky eaters. You could consider dinner at Cape May instead. It's an easy walk from the World Showcase in the Beach Club. We like the food and it seems like a great place for picky eaters.

Boma and Akershus are wonderful as others have stated but the food is rather unusual. The Sci Fi has a fun atmosphere and some unusual dishes but you can get simple burgers and shakes there too. We enjoyed Trail's End. The food is simple and satisfying, and the prices are more reasonable than many other locations.

I agree that the menus are real useful: http://www.wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm

Good luck and let us know what you decide!

 

[franw]

I agree with the late lunch to get basically the same food and experience for much less money. I think the Prime Time has better food than the Sci-Fi but they are both fun places to try. Our favorite sit down restaurant at MK is the Plaza. Suprisingly easy to get in and the sandwiches, salads and desserts are great. Our favorite meal there is the cheesesteak sandwich. The garden salad is excellent. We usually do a later breakfast, fast food or bakery and a late lunch. Epcot has too many choices but we always eat at Le Cellier in Canada and San Angel in Mexico. Animal Kingdom - Tusker House has great pastries in the morning and very good lunches. We always eat at the Kona Cafe for breakfast at least once, Rainforest at DD, House of Blues, Olivia's, GF Cafe (lunch only). Don't care for Tony's (MK) at all. There are so many wonderful places to eat that we always try to squeeze in a new place each trip and still cover the favorites. Since we stay for two weeks, you have a good idea of how many places we enjoy.

 

[webray]

You have made some great choices. I would keep sci fi...we love it, and eating in the cars will be such a thrill for the kids...it is very cool.

San Angel inn is wonderful...especially for lunch. Show up a little early and ask for a table by the water. A lot of people don't like it, because it isn't taco bell mexican...lol. It is real mexican food and very, very good. Go, your hubby won't be disappointed. By the way..the fish/ships at the yorkshire shop...if you are used to good fish frys on friday nights...or really good crispy battered fried fish...you won't like this stuff.

You will have no trouble finding the stuff for you son to eat on the kids menus...pretty much every restaurant has those items. One year when we went...all our son was eating at the time was hotdogs in bun with nothing else...cracked us up.

Even though Tony's is very cute on the inside...the food is not very impressive. However, Alfredo's in EPCOT/worldshowcase is very, very good. There is also Mama Melroses at MGM or Portobello Yacht Club in downtown disney...but I think they stopped serving lunch...so that won't help you.

One of the best things to eat in the Magic Kingdom, go back to the lunching pad and get a smoked turkey leg...yummy. Then go to the fry cart over near splash mountain/big thunder area and get a piping hot batch of fries (yes mcdonalds fries..but you have never tasted them like this). Then we like to get caramel apples from the main street bakery/candy shop. They make homemade caramel and they are to die for. That is how we eat at MK..since the only restaurant we really enjoy there is Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch...a spectacular lunch menu there.

 

[disneyfan551]

I've heard alot of people rave about Mama Melrose (in MGM) for Italian, but I don't think I've ever heard many positive reviews for Tony's.

We love RFC (except for the prices!), and usually make it our 1st night dinner at DD. The portions are large, so we have started splitting a dinner, and still have room for dessert! If you go, definitely check out their safari club, it is well worth it!

I have only been to SciFi once, and enjoyed it. I plan to take my dh for his 1st time in Dec. Most people that post reviews say to stick with the burgers here...

Epcot - San Angel...only been once, but not impressed. It is definitely not your standard Mexican fare. So, it just depends what you are used to.

We will also be trying Ohana for the 1st time in Nov., and I can't wait!!!

Good luck with your planning & have a great trip! Make sure you post your reviews when you return!

 

[sters]

I liked Tony's and it was quiet. While we waited for our PS, we met the "Mayor" and some of the Main Street CM were hilarious! I've heard nothing but bad reviews about the Epoct one in the past few years, although years ago it was great! Mama melrose was great, too. Will try Porobella's this trip, so can't comment.

The setting at Mexico is fabulous, especially for lunch becuase it will "feel" like dinner with the dark interior. One of our favourite meals was here.

Sci Fi didn't impress me food-wise, but the setting was just great.

 

[arizonacolbys]

Rainforest Cafe - we love this one & your kids will probably have fun here with all of the rainforest scenes.

Sci-Fi - we weren't impressed with our experience - poor food, poor service (and we hear this from many others, too.)

Liberty Tree - our favorite character dinner & the food is really good, too!

San Angel Inn - as others have said, not always great. We actually prefer the fast food Mexican at Epcot - we always hit it at least twice on our trips. It's much cheaper & we really enjoy eating here on the lake.

Tony's - although this used to be one of our favorites, we were very disappointed in March when we dined there. We won't be returning anytime soon. We always loved their chicken parmigiana & it is no longer on the menu.

I would highly recommend Crystal Palace at the MK for some great character interaction & great food. Chef Mickey's is a "kid" favorite with many characters. We also love Donald's Breakfastosaurus at the AK for a great & filling breakfast. Hope this helps!

 

[CK1]

I too married a picky eater -- you don't know "fun" 'til you've sat through a meal watching him pick out every single teeny tiny speck of onion from a bowl of fried rice.

Anyhooooo... from our various trips to the World, he has arrived at some meals / places he really loves... and some he clearly did not. On the whole, he loved the buffet (either self-serve or pre-plated) lunches or dinners. He felt he got more for his money, could eat what looked appealing to him, and skip the "froo-froo" as he calls it. (I find that the menu describes the food with such detail sometimes that if they just could SEE what it is, taste a bit, they find they love it... whereas just a description makes them too nervous). He loved Garden Grille, Chef Mickey's, and Whispering Canyon (at WL) -- all meals that were good, plentiful, and with lots of great, fun atmosphere. He loves Sci-Fi (the fact that we've been there every time for the last 3 trips is a testimony).

I agree about the turkey legs in the parks... not to be missed! We have 3 kids (8,7, and 3) and we all love 'em! We also enjoy Teppanyaki at Epcot -- actually simple food (steak, chicken, rice) and great fun to watch.

If you pack snacks, one thing we found handy -- tortillas (instead of bread). My son loves a good PB sandwich, but we all know what happens to a pb sandwich stuffed in a cooler -- ewwwww. Mush. With the tortillas, we could easily pack 4 to 6 nice tight little sandwiches (cheese or PB or meats, etc.) and some frozen juice boxes in a tiny cooler and have lunch-to-go while at the park, and then spend our money on the "treats" (gotta have at least one Mickey ice cream bar, ya know....)

Have Fun!