So confused about dining

[PrinczJs_Mom]

Here's my problem. This is our first family vacation, so of course I want it to be perfect. We will be there Jul 24-29. I have opted not to do a dinner plan. I figured we would just grab quick sit down meals. I didn't want to do anything to fancy. Since receiving our confirmation packet, there was a voucher for Planet Hollywood. So I figured for at least 3 nights we would actually go in and sit down somewhere. So, beside PH. What other two moderately priced restaurants should we do? And would we have to make advanced reservations. I guess I'm so used to just walking in a restaurant and putting our names on the list to be seated. Is this what everyone is talking about with the ADRs? I'm so confused. I need two restaurants where we can just show up and be seated (like you do at home on Sundays). LOL

 

[SorcererDonald16]

Let's see... generally there's no place in WDW you can just walk up and be seated unless you have ADRs. Even with them, there's sometimes a lengthy wait (we waited almost 40 minutes to get into Chefs de France, despite having a reservation ). The only walk in and get a seat and eat places are counter service. Especially in summer, you definitely without question need to make reservations. Most of the restaurants aren't exactly moderately priced; it's easy to drop $60 on not much food at all. But some are much higher than others. I'll list all the table service places I've been to and what I thought of them, and hopefully that'll help get you started. I'm sure others will add to this as well.

Magic Kingdom:
I have yet to eat a TS meal there

Epcot:
Chefs de France, France-- I always order the French onion soup and usually a dessert. I'm a light eater, so that's enough for me. Soup is around $5.95. Entrees go up into the $20s, if memory serves. My dad loves their lobster bisque as well. It's a fine place for children; not an adult only feel at all

L'Orginale Alfredo di Roma (or some such arrangement of words; I never can remember the exact name)-- my mom and I had the fettucine alfredo for around $15.50, and my dad had spaghetti and meatballs for maybe $14. All were delicious, particularly the alfredo. Another place that seemed child friendly to me

MGM:
50s Prime Time-- only had dessert here, but the atmosphere is great for children and adults, provided you get a good waiter/waitress. even if not though, it's still fun.

Sci-Fi Dine In-- atmosphere is great again, but I hated the food (over cooked, burnt, tough, you name it) and it was incredibly expensive. That meal almost cost as much as breakfast at Chef Mickey's!

Hollywood Brown Derby-- more upscale, but still child friendly, IMO. Yummy Cobb Salad (around $15 when chicken was added) and delicious Grapefruit Cake. My dad loved the coconut shrimp (around $7 for two huge shrimps plus some fruit and noodles, I believe).

Animal Kingdom:
Rainforest Cafe-- a lot of people hate RFC, but we love them. The Passport to Paradise pizza is great, as is the desserts. And oddly enough, it seems to be the one restaurant in WDW that sells sweet tea...

Contemporary Resort:
Chef Mickey's Breakfast buffet-- not cheap (around $18.99 per adult), but worth it. Some of the best memories of my traveling life. Food was wonderful as well. Go around 11 or so, and you can use it as a sub for lunch (even though it's breakfast food)

California Grill-- very upscale (in my opinion anyway), but children were still welcomed. Also very expensive. We each only got a flatbread pizza because we weren't too hungry (very yummy though) and tea, and it came out to over $40. Those pizzas were mainly the cheapest thing on the menu, so needless to say it's not cheap. We ordered them though not because of price but reputation; and sure enough, they were amazing.

Anyhow, hope this somewhat helps, even if just to give you some ideas. I would rank the restaurants as follows:

1. Chef Mickey's (I'm 23 and I still it! )
2. Alfredo's
3. Hollywood Brown Derby
4. California Grill
5. Chefs de France
6. Rainforest Cafe
7. Prime Time
8. Sci-Fi

Only one I will never return to is Sci-Fi. I'd suggest you decide something quickly because many places may already be full. I hope y'all have a great trip!

 

[PrinczJs_Mom]

$60 sounds about what I was thinking for a family of five. That's sounds moderate to me. I was thinking between $40-$65 dollars for the five of us. That soup sounds delicious. A 40 min. wait sounds reasonable for DW in the summer. I guess I'm getting confused with everyone talking about the dining plans and reservations. I guess what I wanted was a place we can dine at without being on an advance dining plan. Thank you so much for you wonderful help and info.

 

[PrinczJs_Mom]

Okay, I must say thank you again. The first time I just browsed over what you listed, then I went back and actually read it. You were absolutely awesome for posting that info for me. You have helped so much it's ridiculous. I guess it can get overwhelming with so many places to eat at DW.

 

[SorcererDonald16]

$60 sounds about what I was thinking for a family of five. That's sounds moderate to me. I was thinking between $40-$65 dollars for the five of us. That soup sounds delicious. A 40 min. wait sounds reasonable for DW in the summer. I guess I'm getting confused with everyone talking about the dining plans and reservations. I guess what I wanted was a place we can dine at without being on an advance dining plan. Thank you so much for you wonderful help and info.

Not a problem! Unfortunately the 40 minute wait for Chefs de France really got my goat. It happened in March, and I had us on a tight schedule and that basically messed everything up for that day and caused us to have to make our 2nd trip to Epcot a bit longer to visit a couple countries we missed (which cut down on Magic Kingdom time). I would understand it if we were walk-ups, but we had a set reservation. In general, it doesn't work like that (thankfully!). Everywhere else we were either seated immediately or waited 10 minutes, tops.

Just fyi, I'd say 95% of places will turn you away without a reservation. It's gotten really bad in the last year+. We never made ADRs before, but last summer we suddenly found ourselves unable to get in to ANY restaurant the entire trip aside from RFC and Planet Hollywood. We did the ADR thing this time and ate really well. Cut down on park time a bit, but it beat eating solely fast food for a week.

As for cost, we were a family of 3 adults (my mom, my dad, and me). We ate breakfast in the room every morning except the morning of Chef Mickey's, so that saved money. We allocated $75 a day for the three of us all together. We were well under that every single day (usually around $40-$45 because we aren't big eaters), except on the day we wound up at both Chef Mickey's and Sci-Fi (I think we spent over $150 that day thanks to Sci-Fi ). A typical counter service meal cost around $25-$30 for the three of us. So, I really doubt $60 a day will be enough for five of you, unless your children eat very little.

Nothing's cheap down there, but there are ways to cut costs. As a general rule, with table service restaurants, typically the lunch prices are cheaper than dinner prices. And a lot of counter service meals are large enough for two people to share. The Cobb salad was large enough for my mom and I to split, as was the pizza at Rainforest Cafe. I suppose you could split the alfredo at Alfredo's as well because it's so rich.

So, in summary:
1. You probably need to increase your food budget

2. You need to pick a couple of table service restaurants you think you would like and call 407-WDW-DINE to try and make reservations. Otherwise, you likely will not get in them.

3. An ADR means you're seated ahead of walk-ins and shouldn't have to wait long. Of course, most places don't take walk-ins anymore, so mostly you're just waiting for other people with ADRs to clear out of the restaurant

4. Try sharing some meals and going at lunch time for table service restaurants to cut costs.

Hope this helped a bit more.

ETA: I'm happy to help. If I can help one person have a better trip by briefly sharing my experiences, it's worth it. By the way, as you can tell from my signature, I stayed at Caribbean Beach for the second time this past March. It is truly a beautiful place and (usually) very quiet if you're away from Old Port Royale and/or the bus stops (as in not right next to them). Very nice, tranquil place to return to after all the busy-ness of the parks.

 

[Mamu]

ADR Advance Dining Reservations. You call ahead and book a time at a table serve restaurant. Your wait can be anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour with ADR's. If you want a table serve restaurant I would make an ADR many places fill-up before that day.

Most table serve restaurants at Disney are pricey for dinner (figure around $100, meal, drinks and tip) Lunches are a little cheaper.

Disney's counter serve restaurants are a great option for a family on a budget. In most places the food isn't that bad, your typical fast food places. Some are a little better then others.

I would recommend having breakfast in your room you can save a little money by doing this. You can pre-purchase some breakfast foods at one of the markets on your way to Disney if you have a car. I actually pack some food and juice boxes in a hard-sided luggage I've had forever and would never get rid of it. I call it "My Disney Food Luggage" Ice is free at the resorts so with a cooler (fold up coolers work great) you can keep drinks and milk cold. Also bring your own water it's $2:00 a bottle when you purchase it at Disney (water is very important when your walking around the parks all day, you need to stay hydrated to avoid getting sick). Another must in my book is hand wipes, we use them faithfully when visiting and have avoided getting sick. Each resort does have a small store where you can purchase some food items ( more expensive then the market, but cheaper then the parks)

Disney can be done without breaking the bank.

Have a magical trip!

 

[katgarbars]

Check out this link to review the restaurant menus, it will help you decide where you might want to eat and how much to budget. I found it a good reference point for making dining decisions.

http://allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

 

[Va-bear]

I can really sympathize with your confusion. There's SO much to know. We have been to Disney 3 times before our upcoming trip in August and this is the first time we've made advanced dining reservations. They are worth making - even tentatively - you can always cancel later if you change your mind/plans. Before this trip we just didn't eat any sit-down meals (never any tables availible...), with two exceptions. We could always "wait" at Chef Mickeys and get in in about 45 minutes - hour, even in the middle of summer. I guess because it's pretty large they seem to turn over pretty quickly. We also had the same luck at Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney - later found out the reason why...they dont take advance reservations (or least they used to not...things change so fast around Disney! . So Planet Hollywood is always a great bet - everyone starts with the same chances - and its not too expensive either.

Good-luck!

 

[Microcell]

If it is a table service place- sit down you really need those ADR's to ensure eating when you want to or close to when you want to.

Counter service is not a huge problem. You cant get ADR's for those anyway.

 

[rigs32]

As others said, for the summer you really need reservations, even if you have to cancel them. If you really want to just walk up and be seated, you'll likely have to leave disney property to do that, and the lost time doesn't really make it worth it.

Many of the counter service places have nice themeing so even though your food is on a tray, you can *feel* like it;s a sit down meal. Use the menus to your advantage.

 

[sportears]

There are counter service restaurants throughout every park that serve very decent food. You stand in line, place your order, get your food and go find a table. There are full service restaurants throughout WDW that you must have a reservation. There are more and more of these each year, however that are becoming way over priced. There still are a few, however where the price is high, but the food is worth it. Kona Cafe - Polynesian, LeCellier - EPCOT + the Signature Restaurants. Most others I have found to be hit & miss.

 

[SandraVB79]

I liked Columbia Harbour House and Tusker House (both counter service) as much as table service restaurants!!

If you don't mind doing a very early dinner, you could go to restaurants for a late lunch (this is what I did) I went around 3 pm, that way I had very early dinner for lunch-prices!

Coral Reef has a nice 3-course fixed menu for a reasonable price.

If I were you, I would check out the menus on allearsnet.com

 

[Canbarker]

I used the dining plan after first thinking I would not use or like it. Worth every penny. For example...one hot dog, fries and pepsi is just shy of $9.00. Our dining plan for 6 days cost us about 500. Our first dinner in Epcot was 130.00 at Le Cellier (and that is with DD eating from the childs menu). By the end of the trip we still had credits for food as you have so many choices. We used are credits for character breakfast as well as the Luau. We ate at the food court at our hotel which offered a huge variety of menu items. If we hadn't had the dining plan, each counter service would have been around $35-40. We had snacks each day and so on.

 

[lisadisney2003]

Here are my picks for moderate priced locations:

MK - Liberty Tree Tavern (lunch only)
Epcot - Biergarten (lunch only)
MGM - 50's Prime Time
Animal Kingdom - Tusker

Outside of that, the moderately priced meal at a resort would be at Ft. Wilderness Campgrounds - Trails End Buffet.

Take the tips you have been given and look at the menus on allearsnet.com

That will give you a much better idea.

You will save time and frustration if you just make ressies. That would be the best tip I could give you!!

 

[flamestarrdust]

I am going for July 4th and have all of my ADRs booked. I went in February and found it impossible to get into any TS restaurant in the MK at dinner time. I was turned away from every restaurant I went to. A CM told me that the best times to eat dinner without ADRs are after 7 or 8 pm. They said most people go to dinner around 6 or 7pm because they have small children. I tried this out and had no trouble getting into Biergarten. It's always pretty big and is buffet style so it seemed to have a fast turn around. It's a great place if you don't mind sitting with other people that you don't know. Their tables seat about 8 people. Also if you want to go to TS for lunch, the CM said the worst times to go are btwn 12 and 1pm because that's when most famililes go. If you can get a last breakfast at a food court or CS restaurant, then you can go to TS for lunch at around 2 or 3pm. There may be a wait but not as bad as earlier in the day. Also a good bet for doing character breakfasts is around 10:30 or 11am. Most people come earlier in order to get into the parks earlier so the characters stay pretty busy. I went at about 10:45 or 11 to Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace and had lots of time with all the characters. Good luck with your trip and have fun!

 

[JennyMominRI]

The Biergarten at EPCOT is also a cheap,fun place to eat.