Non-Disney Restaurants and Entertainment

[KBecks]

Hi Everybody,

So we are booked into an 8 day offsite trip in early December. So excited!

After booking our air and condo at the Sheraton Vistana, I started to dig into Disney dining reviews. We think we are going to eat breakfasts at home at the condo, then go to the parks, and then we can eat anywhere.

With our younger kids, we will probably come back to the condo, relax, and then we can go back to the park or go elsewhere for dinner and nighttime stuff.

What are some of your favorite places in Orlando, near Disney, to eat? We want to go to places that are a good value and good with kids. We like to eat and might splurge on one special meal, but overall are looking for fun, value places.

Also..... I had thought we might spend 7 days at Disney.... but maybe we should go to another Orlando attraction? (I have to get out the guide books and study.) We went to the Keys and went to a nice park that had a dolphin and seal show. Maybe we can do something like that in Orlando at Sea World or Bush Gardens? Again, I am trying not to go crazy with a lot of ticket fees and maybe spending all our time at Disney is our best idea.

We have three little boys, ages 8, 6 and 4.

Thanks so much!

 

[Little Flower]

There's a few places we love to eat:

Joes crab shack on the 192 is our hands down favourite restaurant! It's cheesy and even has dancing waiters the foods great and we love the atmosphere.

We also love Logan's roadhouse opposite old town in Kissimmee and we really love the pie in Perkins ( we don't have them in the uk)

As for other activities - I love love love Seaworld. The dolphin show always makes me cry

 

[Danibelle]

Seaworld is a don't miss park!!

 

[Sparkly]

Sweet Tomatoes at Crossroads is one of our new favourites

We also love Golden Corral and Ponderosa for cheap buffet breakfasts and Outback for yummy dinners. Denny's or IHop are good for breakfasts, especially pancakes.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Our dinner favourites were TGI Friday's, Chili's, and Olive Garden. All great food and an excellent value.

Golden Corral is also a good choice. TONS of selections. Great for families with finicky kiddos.

Cici's is an AWESOME value at $5.99 for an adult buffet, and there's tons of buy one get one free buffet coupons available (you can download them off the I-Drive website). From soup and pasta and pizza to dessert, its the cheapest eats you will find.

Of course, all of these may not be as novel to many families as they are chains, but they are all chains we don't have here in our little corner of Canada. So we look forward to enjoying our American favourites on each trip.

I will also toss a vote in for SeaWorld as well. Its awesome . Well worth the additional budgeting, IMHO. And a park the whole family will all enjoy.

 

[SanFranciscan]

Hit up International Drive for good eats at a good price. There are a ton of buffets there. It is like we are trying to outstrip Las Vegas for buffets up and down I-Drive. This could be very helpful if your little ones are picky eaters.

 

[mommy2jack]

You could go to Medieval Times for dinner one night. I think your boys would love it! We went a few years ago and it's really fun. Live action, horses, jousting, good food... They also have a pirate themed restaurant nearby. Although we have never gone to that one.

 

[crusherace03]

Andiamo is a very amazing italian restaurant at the Hilton Orlando. It is right up the road from downtown disney. It is in the first floor of the hotel. Although I'm going to disney, I am still going there! Very nice, quiet something to check out!

 

[Mister Skellington]

Cracker Barrel has good breakfast.
Sea World and Busch are both alot of fun. If I had to choose one I would pick Sea World partly due to its proximity to DW.

 

[BobbyBudnick]

Miller's Ale House
Bahama Breeze
Celebration Town Tavern

Those are always my 3 must dos.

 

[djm99]

My DH and I must visit Don Pablo's on I-Drive. If you like Mexican food, you'll love them. They are next to the Florida Visiting Center.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Sweet Tomato is good and if you sign up for their coupons they often have a coupon deal where 4 people can dine for $19.99

Steak and Shake is a 50/60s dinner and they have a number of $4.00 meals

At the CrossRoads by DTD there is a Fudruckers, Chevy's, Taco Bell, Fridays BW-3.

Giordono's Pizza is excellent. Its on 535 not far from DTD.

Qdoba is also on 535.

 

[isla bonita]

My thoughts on visiting another park are Disney makes it to resonable to not just do Disney. The longer you stay the cheaper it is per day.

Saying that BG's is my fav. and I enjoy both US and SW a lot. We find lovely things to do in all of the parks.

Now for food we enjoy both steak n shake, fuddruckers, millers ale hour, sweet tomatoes, chevys and will be trying joes crab shack next time we are down. Not so much for cici's, ponderosa or golden corral.

 

[LeahA]

We have good meals at Landrys, Bahama Breeze and Benihana in the Hilton Downtown Disney.

I have 3 boys and we went to Gatorland. It's not that expensive and the boys had a great time.

 

[JimShockz]

There's a few places we love to eat:

Joes crab shack on the 192 is our hands down favourite restaurant! It's cheesy and even has dancing waiters the foods great and we love the atmosphere.

We also love Logan's roadhouse opposite old town in Kissimmee and we really love the pie in Perkins ( we don't have them in the uk)

As for other activities - I love love love Seaworld. The dolphin show always makes me cry

The Earl of Sandwich,in downtown disney market place,is the best food around,no trip is complete for us unless we have a meal there.

-JS

 

[LeahA]

I agree with the above poster, Earl of Sandwich is awesome! Great sandwiches!

 

[mjplantz]

EoS is a must do for us every trip whether we are onsite or off.

 

[hockeymomNS]

I love all of the parks, but might add that earlier this month during our trip, the men and boys in our group went to Gatorland and loved it. The girls volunteered at Give Kids the World. Gatorland was fairly inexpensive too.

We had a very good and inexpensive lunch at Texas Longhorn this past trip. We had never tried them before, and very much enjoyed it. Outback is always good. I love Cracker Barrel, my guys, not so much. We always go to TGIFridays and we enjoyed breakfast at Ponderosa this time as well. Perkins has great food and are a major supporter of GKTW Village, to the tune of almost a million dollars a year. This trip we found the Menchies franchise.........OMG it is a yogurt bar and wow. Try to picture 6 or so frozen yogurt machines, each with 2 flavors. Then imagine any and every possible thing to put on said frozen yogurt. From pecans, coconut, almonds, kit kat pieces, brownie pieces, cheesecake pieces to every imaginable fruit, is there to top with. Then there are several syrups.......oh dear, no wonder I gained weight this trip - we went 4 times in 12 days.
btw it is pay by the ounce.

 

[got4boys]

Our favorite is Benihana for lunch. We will hit the parks at rope drop then leave at lunch.

It is the least expensive to go Monday through Friday and do their Express Lunch. It is over 50% price difference from the dinner menu and you still get the show with the chefs.

 

[ColonelHathi]

Um, do your boys like Legos? My DS keeps bringing up Legoland for our trip next year and I am so heartbroken to tell him "not this trip, maybe next time" - same for Seaworld, he also loves whales and dolphins. I see our next Orlando trip covering non-Disney parks.

I would recommend Cafe Tu Tu Tango - Artsy Bohemian mix. It's off I-Drive. That's one local Orlando resturaunt our list for next year. Something a little different than a typical chain.