Plaza or Grand Floridian Cafe?

[antmaril]

Going with a friend for a quick trip in early December. We will not have hoppers, so we will be going to the Magic Kingdom twice in one day, since we want to see the Castle lit for Christmas. We are having breakfast at the Crystal Palace in the morning. However, we will not stay there all day. We will definitely take a break and go back to the hotel CSR. My friend is 74 years old and has some knee problems.

I'm trying to decide what to do for dinner. We have ADR's at both The Plaza in the Magic Kingdom and the Grand Floridian Cafe. I think it would be fun to see the Grand Floridian decorated for Christmas, but I think it might be easier to just have dinner at the Plaza (less walking for sure).

How is the Plaza? I've never eaten there and don't hear too much about it. Will I be really sorry I didn't see the Grand Floridian?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Silver Queen]

Although we've never eaten in The Plaza I'd like to advocate for the Grand Floridian Cafe. What a nice little gem of a restaurant with good food and excellent service. Experiencing the Grand Flo at Christmas is a real treat. Their gingerbread house is spectacular. Their tree and decorations are also lovely and there is usually some kind of live, seasonal music in the lobby. In my opinion you will love this delightful change of pace from the park.

 

[Lynn5700]

Hi! I have been to both and I prefer The Plaza, but I feel the Plaza is better to go for lunch. You will have more menu choices if you go to GFC.

 

[engle]

I had the worse service of all time at The Plaza. And I wasn't too impressed by the food either. I have heard great things about the GFC. Will you have a car or will you be taking Disney transportation back to CSR? If that is the case, you aren't really talking that much more walking for GFC. But if you have a car, maybe you will want to try somewhere else before venturing back to MK. Also, you may want to just do counter service at MK. The food is better at Cosmic Rays than at The Plaza IMHO.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

The Plaza is good for sandwiches. GFC -is good for dinner.

 

[tfoster]

delete

Sorry - I posted in the wrong place!

 

[catne]

Have been to both restaurants & had good food & good service at both. But the Plaza is much more of a lunch-type menu - sandwiches, and it's generally busier/noisier. For dinner, I'd definitely say the Grand Floridian Cafe -- has full restaurant menu with steaks, fish & chicken dishes. It's elegant without being stuffy, and the Grand Floridian is beautiful place to look at even without holiday decor. It's not difficult to get to the GF Cafe using the resort monorail from the Magic Kingdom, or you can get the resort monorail from the Transportation & ticket center if you're taking a bus from your hotel (you can also take the resort boat, but coming from someone who also has bad knees, I think the monorail version is a shorter walk - it's a hike up the monorail ramp, but it's also a hike down to the boat dock. And then once you're at the boat dock at the GF it's a long walk up to the main building that the restaurant's in. Just make sure you use the elevator at GF instead of the staircase...the monorail comes in on the 2nd floor, the restaurant is on the first floor.)

 

[mainemouselover]

We were just there last month and the Grand Floridian Cafe was our favorite meal of the whole week! The Ribeye was out of this world! The service was slow, but the food made up for it.
We also ate at The Plaza and the food was good as well and the service was the BEST we had all week! But like other posts have said - the Plaza is sandwiches we to me is more lunch.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

Tough Call. I have eaten lunch at both places and both are good for lunch. I prefer the Grand Floridian for lunch, the Grand Sandwich and the Grand Floridian Burger are not to be missed! Dinner at the GFC is not as good as the lunch, however the GF is stunning for Christmas.

I haven't had dinner at The Plaza so I really can't say.

For your friend the The Plaza seems much more convienent.

 

[dchi]

I've eaten at both. They are both very good but different. The plaza has sandwiches and yummy banana splits and the Grand Floridian Cafe has plated meals. Example - I had a porkchop dinner there last November. The plaza is more casual. I would pick the restaurant that had the type food I felt like. Know that you cant go wrong with either. Oh, also some tables at the plaza have a view of the castle. Happy Planning!

 

[antmaril]

For your friend the The Plaza seems much more convienent.

I think, for this reason only, I may go with The Plaza. My friend and I will be on vacation for a week (even though we will only be at WDW for three nights), so having a good sandwich for dinner is not a problem. We may pay for this one OOP anyway, so it could work for us.

We are having breakfast the following morning at Whispering Canyon. Maybe we will stop at the Grand Floridian just to see it. We have time, since we aren't going to Epcot until later that afternoon/evening.

Thanks to all for your thoughts. While I think most people favor the Grand Floridian Cafe, I think it will be easier for my friend if we just go to the MK and eat at the Plaza. It's only one meal - no big deal.

 

[Golf4food]

If you plan on leaving the MK anyway I'd definitely recommend the GFC over the Plaza any day of the week based on our experience at both in September. The Plaza took forever to get into (even though there were some empty tables and there were only two of us - with an ADR) then the service was quite slow, food was average. The GFC on the other hand was fabulous (we ate there for lunch and breakfast on different days and both were great). The GFC is very nice but not stuffy, and the GF is gorgeous at Christmas. Even if you don't eat there you should visit the resort at some point.

 

[MagicShell]

I have not been to GFC, but I loved the Plaza. It is very nice and the food was good. You will enjoy it.

 

[antmaril]

If you plan on leaving the MK anyway I'd definitely recommend the GFC over the Plaza any day of the week based on our experience at both in September. The Plaza took forever to get into (even though there were some empty tables and there were only two of us - with an ADR) then the service was quite slow, food was average. The GFC on the other hand was fabulous (we ate there for lunch and breakfast on different days and both were great). The GFC is very nice but not stuffy, and the GF is gorgeous at Christmas. Even if you don't eat there you should visit the resort at some point.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. Yes, we are leaving the MK, but what I'm trying to avoid is too much walking for my friend. We will go to the MK in the morning (breakfast at CP), walk around the MK a while, do a few rides/attractions, go back to CSR, and then go back to the MK in the late afternoon/evening to see MK lit up for Christmas. I'm afraid that if we have dinner at the GF, it will just be too much walking for my friend. Two trips to the MK in one day takes a lot of energy - throw in going over to the Grand Floridian and it just seems like too much. It just seems simpler to have dinner at the MK. I've tried to get ADR's for Liberty Tree Tavern or Tony's, but nothing comes up - just The Plaza. It really isn't about the food or the service. We just want to see MK at night during the Holidays and I don't want my friend to be so exhausted she can't enjoy it.

I think the Plaza will be fine.