New WDW Restaurants

[MJMcBride]

Yeah, it sounds cool, but so does Rainforest Cafe, and that just comes off as hokey and cheap to me (and bad food to boot), so I'm not really hopeful that Landry's will do any better with T-Rex.

I think the Rainforest is Fair but I have small kids. Its certainly not wonderful. I find the atmosphere to be hokey but in a good way.

By the way, do we disgree on everything DancingBear?

 

[mark&sue]

This could be another way to use my safari club membership (as it can't be used currently in Europe)

I love themed restaurants. The more the merrier. The DTD one sounds good as I can walk from my "home" at Saratoga Springs Resort. Yay



Susan

 

[Cricket2]

... how much is someone going to pay for Cinderella’s Royal Banquet Hall in the castle?!...

I bid $82.73

 

[Linzybrooke]

Another interesting fact about Disney outsourcing restaurants. Walt was friends with the founder of McDonalds...their friendship ended when Walt refused to allow McDonalds to sell food at Disneyland because he wanted everything about it to be special and didn't feel that McDonalds was an appropriate partnership. Look at it now! For more on this read "Fast Food Nation", it contains a lot of interesting Disney background, oddly enough.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Always excited when new TS restaurants open. But from a "consumers" point of view--I hope these two new spots are better than Rainforest. But I fear with the "parent" company" running both, they won't be.

 

[peter11435]

I believe Restaurantasaurus is owned by McDonalds

Nope.

 

[peter11435]

If I am not mistaken Hollywood Brown Derby is not Disney owned.

Actually the Brown Derby is owned and operated by WDW.

 

[peter11435]

The Epcot World Showcase restaurants are outsourced.

Not all of them. While many are, some are not.

 

[DancingBear]

You're slipping, Peter. Horace made that point (and I clarified) back on the first page!

 

[peter11435]

You're slipping, Peter. Horace made that point (and I clarified) back on the first page!

I guess thats what you get for posting before you read the entire thread.

 

[Hookie]

The more good restaraunts the better... less waits and hopefully good food. Rainforest Cafe is really good.
Hookie

 

[Another Voice]

Except the more that WDW fills up with Rainforests Cafes, Planet Hollywoods, Wolfgang Pucks, Cheesecake Factories, and so forth - then how is a trip going to feel any different than a trip to the shopping mall. Not a lot of people will be willing to drop five grand a week just to experience the exact same things they can get a home.

Even Vegas is seeing this problem. Even the high-end versions of chain restarutants are struggling. The successful ones are the unique, "you can only see 'em here" establishments.

Disney needs special restautants, not familar ones.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Except the more that WDW fills up with Rainforests Cafes, Planet Hollywoods, Wolfgang Pucks, Cheesecake Factories, and so forth - then how is a trip going to feel any different than a trip to the shopping mall. Not a lot of people will be willing to drop five grand a week just to experience the exact same things they can get a home.

Except that many vacationers - particularly the ones that Disney attracts - aren't really that adventurous (otherwise they'd spend that $5K and really go to Europe, Africa, Asia, The Future ) and often prefer the known and comfortable.

Even Vegas is seeing this problem. Even the high-end versions of chain restarutants are struggling. The successful ones are the unique, "you can only see 'em here" establishments.

Could you please, perhaps via PM, share some specifics here. We're fairly regular Vegas-goers - although not high-end restaurant frequenters - and I hadn't heard of this. I though Wolfie, et al were still going strong.

Disney needs special restautants, not familar ones.

IMHO, they need better ones, as most of the WDW restaurants overcharge, over-promise and under-deliver....

IMHO - YMMV

 

[DisneyBaby!]

There are plenty of unique restaurants in the complex, V & A, Spoodles, Flying Fish, Ohana, Crystal Palace- the list goes on. I agree with the idea that many of the people who go to Disney are not that adventerous and they want something comfortable and familiar and there is a place for that in the parks-and probably more than you realize. I do not see the Disney restaurants as over promising and under delivering. Aside from some of the selections in the food courts at the resorts, the food is very good. The beignets at POFQ are quite good (and yes, I have been to the real French Quarter). I work in the industry and am extremely impressed by the overall quality and execution of the food, we have never had a bad meal-by that I mean made wrong or it took to long, bad service.

I used to work for a major mid-western retailer (that recently changed ownership and will soon change names) that has breakfasts with Santa and the Easter Bunny in their restaurants every year, they charged something like $15.99 for kids & $17.99 for adults (I can't remeber exactly) for 2#20 scoops of boil in bag eggs, 3 links of heat and eat sausage, 2 slices of heat and eat french toast and a wedge of orange. That is overpriced and the quality was marginal at best. What did you get, to sit on Santa's lap for 30 sec.? The character breakfasts at Disney are so much better, it is not even worth comparing the two.

The food in the German Pavillion is almost as good as the Ox Yoke Inn in Ammana Iowa, The food at Alfredo's in Italy is as good as the restarants on Taylor Street in Chicago and you don't get 3 Mobil stars (Victoria and Alberts) by overchaging and underelvering. Now the prices are higher, but if you look at and tourist heavy destinations, the prices are almost always higher. I can guarentee you the prices at the McDonalds on Navy Pier Chicago are higher than the one down the street from home. Disney is np value, but it is no rip-off.

 

[DancingBear]

There are plenty of unique restaurants in the complex, V & A, Spoodles, Flying Fish, Ohana, Crystal Palace- the list goes on.

But there has certainly been an influx of national chains on property in the last several years. And the AK arrangements with Rainforest Cafe and (from what I understand) McDonalds have meant that there is no Disney-operated sit-down restaurant in that park.

 

[YoHo]

I work in the industry and am extremely impressed by the overall quality and execution of the food, we have never had a bad meal-by that I mean made wrong or it took to long, bad service.

Hmm, you work across the street from McDonalds, so Oakbrook. You're in the industry and used to work for a Midwest retailer.

I'm officially curious.

Plus, I can't think of a major Midwest retailer that recently had a management shakeup besides Sears/K-mart and the K-marts are going away.

Target/Dayton-Hudsons/Marshall Fields seems too old to be relevent.

If you're not too frightened of me, could you pm me a few details? I used to work at 3Com/USR over in Rolling Ghettos.....er, I mean Rolling Meadows by the way.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Plus, I can't think of a major Midwest retailer that recently had a management shakeup besides Sears/K-mart and the K-marts are going away.

Many people in the Chicagoland region are upset by the acquisition of this major Midwest retailer and the impending name change. See http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4857894

Also see http://keepitfields.org/

By the way, Kmart is not going away. Some Kmart stores will be rebranded as Sears, but most will remain Kmart.

 

[YoHo]

Holy crap, I totally missed that Marshall Fields and Meryvns were sold that totally sucks. I'm shocked it's just "some people"

Chicagoland has managed to keep Macy's out for a long long time. I guess buying their way in was the only solution.

 

[YoHo]

WOW, they also bought Meier and Frank out in the PacNW.

My entire retail world has collapsed.

 

[Linzybrooke]

They just closed/are in the process of closing basically every Mervyn's in Texas. And what are most of them being replaced with? Nordstroms...