Need some different restaurants please!

[weschmom]

We are going again in Dec '10, and I'd like some input on some different restaurants, as we've been several times, and I want some different things for the kids this time. They will be almost 9 and 5.5 when we go, and we will have the DDP.

Places we've been:

*Crystal Palace
*Akershus (princess meal)
*Tepan Edo
*1900 Park Fair
*Whispering Canyon (which we will probably repeat for DH!)
*Tusker House (prob won't do AK this trip)
*Chef Mickey's bfast
*Garden Grill
*50s Prime Time (still my favorite)

What about dinner shows????

Any/all advice is welcome! Thanks!

 

[Tamdude]

Hi!

I suggest Garden Grille at Epcot. Its such an all around great experience. The food is yummy... its all you can eat served family style. They serve you at the table and you can just ask for more if you want more. There are charachters there - Mickey, Goofey, Chip and Dale. And... The restaurant rotates and takes you past scenes from the Living with the Land ride! It was one of my fave restaurants and I think it would be perfect for your whole family!
Have fun!

 

[ktlm]

Biergarten. They have a good buffet; a German Band that puts on a show; and a dance floor the kids can get out on for part of the show. My DD is only 4, but she equates it with Princess meals. Ask her where she wants to eat at WDW and you will get "CRT, Akershus, and Biergarten" She's been to several of the other character meals, and she ranks Biergarten above them.

 

[jen42002]

How about Kona at the Poly or Cape May at the Beach Club? Our kids (7 1/2) love the Hoop De Doo review. Lots of fun and good food!

 

[lulubelle]

Our favorite restaurant is Kona Cafe.
Breakfast, lunch or dinner. So many delicious options. Plus there is always something cool to check out at the Poly. Every since we stayed there back in 1999 the Kona Cafe has been the best.

Have a great trip.

 

[ckpegasus102313]

The Wave at the Contemporary, Ohana is really is really great for kids at the Poly, the Cape May Cafe has an AMAZING buffet, for breakfast it has characters and for dinner its a clambake, but if you don't like seafood, there is also other options at the buffet. In Epcot i liked le cellier de steakhouse and chefs de france. They had good options for kids and adults

 

[megan4777]

I'm trying to add new restaurants, too. I would also suggest Garden Grill b/c we ate there last Sept (DD's were 6 and 4) and we all loved it. What about Sci-fi? My 2 LOVE the car and clips that are played during the meal and also LOVE sitting in front of us so it's like we're not there.

This time I have Chefs de France (b/c of Remy) for lunch and Rose and Crown for dinner.

We're also doing Hoop De Doo Revue b/c it's a huge family trip (18 of us) and that's new to us.

Good luck!!

 

[kwdancer26]

I haven't been there myself, but a friend said that Hoop Dee Doo is a lot of fun!

If you do visit AK, Yak & Yeti is your best bet for the best food.

50s Prime Time does have wonderful food, and it's a ton of fun! However, this trip, I just don't feel in the mood to play along with the waiters. I originally reserved at Sci Fi, but apparently the food is mediocre, so I'm switching our reservation to Hollywood Brown Derby. I hear that the grapefruit cake isn't to be missed!

The food is decent at Coral Reef at EPCOT. I've heard only positive things about Le Cellier too.

You must try Liberty Tree Tavern at MK. The unofficial guide agrees with me when I say that it's MK's best restaurant. The pot roast is a classic.

Some other resort favorites of ours include: California Grill, Citricos, and Olivia's (for more casual dining. Food isn't as great but I could eat a meal off the bread alone).

R.I.P. Concourse Steakhouse. It was actually one of my favorites.

 

[KTJAY]

I would recommend Coral Reef-they have an aquarium there for the kids. We love Cape May Breakfast-you get great interaction with the characters there. Trying the dinner at Cape May for the first time this trip.

 

[mdsouth]

Definitely O'Hana's at the Poly. It was our family's favorite meal of our entire trip last summer. My DH and I loved, loved, loved the food and atmosphere and the kids loved all the excitement of the games: Coconut races, Hula Dancing, Limbo, etc. My DD was six at the time and my son was 12.

We also enjoyed the food at Liberty Tree Tavern - I just wish they would bring back the characters!

We had lunch at Chef de France so we could see Remy. He was cute but none of us cared for our meal. So, for our family it was a waste of our TS credit. Oh well, that is the adventure of Disney dining. Sometimes, he find a gem and other times not much but the experience is still fun.

 

[lupp2217]

I agree about Hoop Dee Doo. We went last summer and our girls were 8 and 4. We were a table of 6 and everyone loved it. It was good food and great entertainment. We also loved Capa May Clam Bake. We ate there our 1st night and enjoyed walking over to the Boardwalk afterwards. Trying Coral Reef for the 1st time this trip because of the aquariums. Personally, I did not like the Skillet at WCC, but my father-in-law did. My DH had a steak and said it was good. The shakes areincluded on the dining plan and are unlimited refills! We all enjoyed the atmosphere and will probably go again this trip. Our absolute favorite meal was Ohana breakfast. We were one of the last tables and the characters were awesome! They gave us lots of attention and we loved the juice(can't remember the name?)

 

[abubu919]

I like Cape May for breakfast, Nine Dragons was good, Rose and Crown as well. Then I also like Ohana.

 

[bnk1120]

We love Ohana for both breakfast and dinner. They have activities to keep the kids happy- like coconut rolling and singing songs. DD (6) loves the Biergarten and chose dinner there for her b-day dinner this year.

 

[nonsmom]

We try to mix up the restaurants, but every year there are a lot that reappear. Tutto Italia, LeCellier, Chef Mickey's Dinner, 'Ohana breakfast, Crystal Palace Breakfast, Liberty Tree (didn't do last year, because they dropped the characters).

Of the ones I have ate at and will probably never return to: Garden Grill, 50's Primetime and Coral Reef. No one in our party of 10 even remotely liked there meal.

 

[darlak]

O'Hana is a great choice...with kids or without. They do have activites for the kids though, plus their food is wonderful! I try to add at least one new restaurant every trip, but I'm beginning to run out of untried ones. O'Hana is on my short list of must-do's every trip.

 

[disneyinseptember]

Of all the places at Dis we've been to, Ohana's is BY FAR our favorite. My kids and hubby all want to go there our first AND last night on our next trip. LeCellier is really good too, and we LOVE the atmosphere and food at WCC. We really like Planet Hollywood- not a popular choice here on the boards, but we like the food there and the neat atmosphere. We weren't crazy about Chef Mickey's- the food was OK, but it was really dirty...food on the floor, messy tables, etc. really turned me off from the place. People on here rave about Boma, but we didn't like it- too exotic for our taste.

 

[nicki.momof3]

Biergarten - make your reservation 30 miunts before a hsow times - the kids will enjoy the dancing and fun.

Hoop De Review - your kids will love it.

Sci - Fi - Kids love it - food is OK but the theming is the best at WDW

T-Rex - great theming


Never again for us:

Garden Grill - hated the food and the seating is tight and limits interaction with the kids.

Chef Mickeys - boring buffet and you get about 2.5 seconds with the characters.

 

[Shih-Tzu]

Of all the restaurants, my DH loved the Sci-fi the best - you get to sit in a car like you're at the drive-in and watch movies up on the screen....we thought their milk shakes were great! (If I remember right, you could use the milk shake as your beverage OR dessert...but not sure)

We also enjoyed the Beirgarten in Germany....the music was fun to listen to.

For CS, we really enjoyed the Cantino at Mexico in Epcot - it was the outdoor tables facing the Lagoon and it was so nice and peaceful (more the atmosphere I think). We also enjoyed the CS restaurant just across from POC at the MK - I can't quite remember the name...

We ate at the Coral Reef, but even though we had ADRs, we ended up waiting for over an hour past our ADR time. The meal was alright (not really anything to write home about but the atmosphere was neat) but it meant we lost time and didn't get that great of a spot for Illuminations that night.

 

[guitarob]

A couple of my favorites are:

Kona Cafe @ the Poly
Sci-Fi Dine In @ Hollywood Studios

 

[weschmom]

Wow...thanks everyone! Lots of great ideas here.

I'm seriously looking at adding:

*HDDR
*OHana
*Le Cellier (well I've tried for this before and have never been successful...fingers crossed!)
*Biergarten
*Sci Fi

Is HDDR one that is 2 table credits? How does it work if we only want to use one? Is there an amount that we can pay OOP?

Thanks so much for all your suggestions....I will refer back to this often in my planning, I'm sure.