Same or Different Restaurants?

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Just purely a curiosity question based on many posts I've read here. Do you all eat at the same restaurants every trip? Or do you try out new places all the time? Are there certain restaurants where it's just not a Disney trip if you don't go there?

We're only on our fourth trip, all four times with FD, so we've had TS meals each time. The last couple trips we did a mix of places we'd been before, as well as throwing in a few new ones. This time, my DS13 requested that we go all new! So we had to cross every restaurant we've been to off the list of possibilities and then go from there. I think it's a great idea--forces us out of our comfort zone a bit. With two boys, I don't get to do the Princess themed places--although we're going to try for BOG this time!

Here's where we've been:

MK - LTT dinner, CP breakfast

EP - Coral Reef, Garden Grill

HS - Sci Fi, Hollywood & Vine, 50's Prime Time

AK - Breakfastasaurus (don't remember the name of the restaurant back in 2007!)

Resorts - Chef Mickey (breakfast & dinner), Cape May dinner, Whispering Canyon

DTD - Planet Hollywood

And this year's totally new line up includes: Boma dinner, Tusker House breakfast, T-Rex lunch, Trail's End dinner, Teppan Edo, Mama Melrose

 

[figment_jii]

Just purely a curiosity question based on many posts I've read here. Do you all eat at the same restaurants every trip? Or do you try out new places all the time? Are there certain restaurants where it's just not a Disney trip if you don't go there?

For my family, it's a mixture. There are staples that we go to on every trip (Narcoossee's, Via Napoli, Le Cellier), but we do try to go to a few new places on each trip.

 

[Dislover1991]

If we absolutely love a meal or experience, we go back but if the meal was just ok or not too great, we typically try a new place the next time.

Ever since I was 9 (22 now) we've done Ohana and SciFi each time- love them!

 

[cluvsdisney]

We're creatures of habit so we tend to go to the same places each trip but add in one or two new to us restaurants to try.

 

[BrianL]

I am still discovering new places, but it is hard to break away from old favroites. Tusker House is one I find so worth it, but might try different next time. A trip to MK simply is not a trip to MK without Pecos Bill's!

If I go back to DLR, I know for a fact I will eat at Cafe Orleans again!

 

[Pakey]

I spend 2-3 weeks a year at WDW and have dined at all but 5 WDW restaurants. Until we had dined at a vast majority, we didn't repeat very many. Now that we have, we have a few favorites that we try to hit each visit (bluezoo for dinner, Brown Derby for lunch, Tusker House character breakfast and Tangierine Cafe for counter service). Then there are a few we frequent more than others (V&A and the other signatures). Then there are the rest that we try to rotate depending on how long it's been since we have dined at those places.

I'm not really sure why there are 5 still untried. There is no cuisine I dislike but these 5 just aren't on my radar for some reason.

There are just a few exceptions, but overall we have been okay with all of the restaurants but most I don't think are so exceptional that I need to make them exclusive.

 

[teacherlisa1978]

We're creatures of habit so we tend to go to the same places each trip but add in one or two new to us restaurants to try.

This is us exactly. I always try for one or two new ones. But we have so many favorites our trips keep getting longer and longer to fit them all in!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[baldy6060]

We try to mix old with new. We must do Artist Point & if we have kids, Whispering Canyon. We would like to go back to Sanaa & Boma & a few others but try to work on as many new as possible. Kinda hard to do on MK where options are limited or not attractive. BOG is a good one whether you have girls or boys. Try the rose room with the boys. Very cool.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

I spend 2-3 weeks a year at WDW and have dined at all but 5 WDW restaurants. Until we had dined at a vast majority, we didn't repeat very many. Now that we have, we have a few favorites that we try to hit each visit (bluezoo for dinner, Brown Derby for lunch, Tusker House character breakfast and Tangierine Cafe for counter service). Then there are a few we frequent more than others (V&A and the other signatures). Then there are the rest that we try to rotate depending on how long it's been since we have dined at those places.

I'm not really sure why there are 5 still untried. There is no cuisine I dislike but these 5 just aren't on my radar for some reason.

There are just a few exceptions, but overall we have been okay with all of the restaurants but most I don't think are so exceptional that I need to make them exclusive.

Okay, now I'm being nosy! What are the five you haven't tried?

 

[zy144622]

We are going on our second family trip and have a chosen almost all new places. Hubby insists we go to T-Rex again and I choose H&V (no where else at HS for our age group). Kids are DD5 and DS2 this coming trip so our meal planning is mostly about them. Our choses will change as they get older and we plan to continue to branch out. As for now character meals fit our needs best with a few others thrown in. There are defiantly places on our wish list for when they are older.

 

[wdwfan757]

A few years ago, we made a list of about 35 places we wanted to try. So usually we split it 30/70. 30% places we've been before and 70% places to try. Generally, the 30% are just hardcore favorites/traditions (my dad made us go to casey's corner every single time we ever went, so now I make every do the same thing) or just out of convenience (flametree at AK, la cantina after a long day of "spirits around the showcase (this is how decided to make drinking around the world sound slightly classier).

Im not going to lie, sometimes you HOPE you dont like a meal too much so you can cross it off the list. For example, hollywood brown derby and le cellier are two big ones that we were excited about but have removed from our go-to list. Bluezoo and Trails End are two pleasant surprises that made the must-go-again list. Then we have in-betweeners like Via Napoli and Captain's Grille Breakfast that are on the "would-go-again list" but not on the "must-go-again" list. We've got about 12 places left we have to try. Food's probably a bigger deal to us than the rides, so it's been fun picking our favorite places out


We started out with:
-Casey's Corner (Must do- tradition)
-Liberty Tree Tavern (Will go again)
-Chefs de France (December 2013)
-Coral Reef (Future)
-Le Cellier (Will not go again. Didn't hate it, but not that impressed for the ADR hassle and the $$)
-La Cantina (Will go again- tradition/convenience)
-Via Napoli (Will go again)
-Lotus Blossum Cafe (Would go again - convenience)
-San Angel Inn (December 2013)
-Rose and Crown (December 2013)
-Yachtsman (December 2013)
-50s Primetime Cafe (January 2014)
-Sci Fi DineIn (Would go again- not too many things we like at HS. This is passable)
-Mama Melrose (Will go again. She liked it more than I did. Not a big italian fan. Their portions were huuuuge though. I approve)
-Hollywood Brown Derby (Will not go again. Not impressed with the service or the food, sadly. Probably my biggest disappointment)
-Jiko (Future)
-Flametree BBQ (Will go again)
-Pizzafari (Will not go again. It wasn't bad. But FLAMETREE)
-Narcoosee's (December 2013)
-Trails End (Must go again. We loved the buffet. I was so when we got back to MK for Wishes though)
-Whispering Canyon Cafe (Will go again-tradition. Always went for dinner as a kid. We went for lunch this past time and I decided the ribs are drastically better at lunch. She doesn't really care for the limited menu though, so Trails End has become the compromise for us)
-Grand Floridian Cafe (Would go again. Nothing special for me. She likes breakfast cocktails. I thought Captain's Grille's breakfast was better.)
-Ohana (Future)
-Beaches and Cream (January 2014. We were supposed to go last time, but ran out of room in our stomachs)
-Captain's Grille (Will go again. Liked the lobster omelette a lot at breakfast. Going for the lobster roll in December for lunch)
-The Fountain at Dolphin (Would go again. Nothing special. If I was at Dolphin and I was hungry, I'd eat there)
-Bluezoo (Must go again. Officially my favorite restaurant at WDW. Probably on my top 5 restaurants anywhere list)
-ESPN Zone (Future)
-Flying Fish (Future)
-Bongos (Future)
-Earl of Sandwich (Would go again. It was pretty good. Not too many things I love at DTD, so if I wanted something light, it'd fit the bill)
-Raglan Road (I only want to go to try a dessert.)
-Fulton's Crabhouse (Would not go again. It was great in the early 2000s. It's not nearly as good anymore. Maybe it's the bluezoo blinders).
-Kona Cafe (December 2013)


We're doing the same thing with hotels. Our goal is to pretty much see all there is we want to see at WDW before the "k" word comes in to mess up disney world with character breakfast and lines for meet and greets

 

[karly05]

On the two family trips ('99 and '04), we repeated Marrakesh dinner and Crystal Palace breakfast, but I think all the other TS we did between the 2 trips was different. (I'm trying to even remember what TS we did in 99 besides the 2 I mentioned. It was a short trip, so that may have been it.)

On my solo trips ('12, '13 and the planned one for '14), I've started a routine:
In 2012, I tried 3 new places I'd never been before: Via Napoli, Flying Fish, and Les Chefs de France. (Also ate breakfast 3 days at Captain's Grille.)
In 2013, I tried 3 new places I'd never been before: Artist Point, Raglan Road and La Hacienda de San Angel - PLUS a return trip to Via Napoli.
For 2014, I'm trying 3 new places I've never been before: Liberty Tree Tavern lunch, San Angel Inn, and Le Cellier - PLUS... wait for it... a return trip to Via Napoli!

 

[clapton]

We have been to WDW so many times we have tried almost all the restaurants,
But we have our favorites: California Grill, GF cafe, Sanaa, LTT, Tusker House for breakfast, Flame Tree Barbecue, Via Napoli, Pecos Bill, just to name a few.The Swan and Dolphin also as some really good restaurants too!

 

[kaybird]

We have tried nearly all, try to add something new each trip, and have our favorites each trip. If it is the whole family, we try to let each person pick one TS.

 

[Melanie B]

This year will be our 3rd trip as adults and we've eaten at a few of the same places each trip but we add in new ones to shake things up and try new things.

 

[wendydarling826]

A mix of both. We do our absolute favorites every trip - Yachtsman Steakhouse dinner and Chefs de France lunch. We always fit in a lunch at Beaches and Cream and usually one at Rose and Crown. We love Citricos and go about every other trip. We try to go to someplace new each trip. This year we are going to Narcoosees for the first time and Hacienda de San Angel. We're also going to try Bluezoo just for drinks and raw bar.

 

[mare1203]

As others have said, we do a mixture of both. There are a few we try to hit every couple of times, but rarely do we hit the same TS restaurant twice in a row. The difference for us is in the CS locations. There are too many good TS places to try or to re-try or repeat (we are not the type of people to totally dismiss a restaurant, even at Disney), but CS tend to be more common.

Our traditional places are:
Casey's hot dogs (though they changed the buns for the worse. We'll see since Sleepy Hollow has those wonderful waffles)
Flame Tree BBQ
Sommerfest at Germany
Captain Cooks
Hollywood Brown Derby, Yachtsman, and Kona Breakfast are as close to a must-do TS as we get and we go back every couple of trips. We are always trying new places (3 out of 4 on our next trip) and love to do so.