Talk to me about buffets

[Calee]

We leave in 6 days for our first trip. We have our adr's, but I am always looking for openings and tweaking things!

We have the dining plan, and 2 adults and 3 children (4,6,8). 3 of the buffets are character meals (crystal palace breakfast, Tusker breakfast, chef mickeys dinner) and one is not (trails end dinner). I'm starti ng to worry that it's too many buffets and that they will be stressful. Do you have to wait in long lines to get the food? My kids will need help obviously and I'm wpnderi ng if I will spend the entire time in line for food between making my own plate and theirs.
I've of course been to a buffet before, but not ones as crowded as I'm picturing these will be.

We have two sit down meals where we order-via napoli and sci-fi.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Buffets are the easiest of meals at Disney, in my opinion. The service is fast, buffet lines are never bad and you are getting the biggest bang for your DP. I have been to all of the ones you are doing and have liked all of them except CM food at dinner for us was not to good. It reminded me of a hospital cafeteria. The characters may take awhile when you are at the places, however we have never had to long of waits. We really liked Trails end food very good at dinner. TH breakfast has been a fave of ours for several years, we were there about one week ago and I thought breakfast was fine but not quite as good as years before and our server was just ok. Enjoy your trip! Ours was awesome.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

We leave in 6 days for our first trip. We have our adr's, but I am always looking for openings and tweaking things!

We have the dining plan, and 2 adults and 3 children (4,6,8). 3 of the buffets are character meals (crystal palace breakfast, Tusker breakfast, chef mickeys dinner) and one is not (trails end dinner). I'm starti ng to worry that it's too many buffets and that they will be stressful. Do you have to wait in long lines to get the food? My kids will need help obviously and I'm wpnderi ng if I will spend the entire time in line for food between making my own plate and theirs.
I've of course been to a buffet before, but not ones as crowded as I'm picturing these will be.

We have two sit down meals where we order-via napoli and sci-fi.

I think you have made great choices and we enjoy the buffets. Your 6 and 8 year olds will be able to carry their own plates so won't be too difficult. We went to Trail's End for the first time this past week and it was extremely quiet there. Only thing was they sat us down the stairs close to the bar area, if I ever return I will request to be upstairs in the main dining area by the buffet. If you want to make one change, Garden Grill is a family style all you can eat at the table which was a great breakfast. I do think you'll be fine though.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

We also ate in Via Napoli last week and my family raved about it, Sci Fi is my son's all time favorite. You'll have a great time, no worries!

 

[simplyton]

Went to 3 buffets for our trip in February and did Crystal Palace (mid afternoon) & Chef Mickeys (7am) as well as Hollywood & Vine (10am) with 4yo & 9yo (Actually H&V was for DS 4th birthday)

We found while the locations were busy there was plenty of stations & food and never found they got particularly snarled up with people - certainly no real lines.
With the kids we found buffets worked better than TS (We did Akershus & T-Rex) as they could pace themselves and wasn't long wait on food.
We were basically in, seated and had some food in front within 5mins rather than relying on service.

None of the meals were particularly relaxing affairs (with our two no dining experience really is) so a buffet might not be the best choice to recharge your batteries in the middle of a hectic park day but if we were doing it over again we'd certainly include the buffets again both for convenience and character interaction

 

[kjw42]

We loved the buffets with our young kids. No waiting for food and they can eat whatever they want. We could also get them to try new foods with minimal commitment.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We always eat lots of buffets at Disney. DH is somewhat picky, so buffets allow him to always find things he likes. I've never had much of a line to get food at any buffet over the years.

 

[TeachrRay]

We do multiple buffets with our kids, and have done so since they were 3 and 5....For us, it is the easiest way to have food on the table quickly...Might not be the most relaxing, but lines are never too long, and it is the easiest way to ensure everyone gets what they want. Plus you have the bonus of characters, which saves all the time waiting in line to see them. To me that is the hardest part to navigate...it never fails that the next character is right by your table when you are ready to head to the buffet!

 

[B-Ride]

The hardest part of a buffet is making an ADR and getting seated (can take some time because people don't leave). Once you are in the meals are easy.

 

[speeb]

Really glad to hear so many positive things. We have 3 buffets booked (Crystal Palace, Hollywood & Vine, Tusker House), plus Akershus breakfast. I actually took the three kids (4,7,9) to Hometown Buffet this summer to test the waters with them. They actually all did great and two of three went directly for fruit first.

With 3 kids and 3 adults, buffets seem the best way to go. If we were to do non-buffets, I imagine the kids getting mac & cheese every time. Maybe a hot dog. This way, I know they'll see other things they want as well.

Originally I had all dinners booked, but moved Crystal Palace and Tusker House to 10:30AM. I prefer breakfast food, believe it's easier to not mess up, and 10:30 should allow us to have dessert too. But mostly, it gives us the option of leaving the parks whenever we feel like it and not be beholden to an ADR that we'll just be miserable for.

8 weeks left and I can't wait.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

I love the Disney buffets because everyone can have what they like. I've never experienced a line/back up for food. Everything was moving smoothly, and CMs kept the stations clean and fresh. On our July trip, we had: Akershus and Tusker House breakfast, Crystal Palace lunch, and 1900 Park Fare dinner.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We did many buffets when our kids were younger. It always worked out really well. Usually, I took one kid and DH took the other and they carried their own plates when they were able to.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

The only WDW buffet where I've encountered long lines is Boma, and that one wasn't on your list anyway. However I like Chloe's idea about Garden Grill, and if I were in your position I might replace Chef Mickey's with Garden Grill, but keep the others.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Another thing nice about the buffets, is that they often have an area that is lower that has lots of food the kids like. So it is easy for them to fill their own plates if they are the ages of your two older children. Just remind them to use the utensils and not their hands. You could watch them while they fill their own plates. I'd bet they would do okay.

 

[Pixie_Dust]

Thanks for this thread, it led me to think about making a ressie at Trail's End

 

[ShannonMB]

Character buffets are so great with little kids! We have been to a lot of them, at all different crowd levels throughout the year, and have never had long waits in line. You want to keep an eye out for the characters though, you don't want to all get up to get food just as Mickey is coming close to your table, for example. You'll get a feel for it, and it will be great! It's a super great way for your kids to feel like they had a lot of character interaction on the trip without your having to wait in a bunch of lines to meet them.

Have a wonderful time!!

 

[jsrj21]

My family and I love the buffets. On this last trip Aug 10-21, we went to Boma and Trails End. At both places we didn't wait at all for food....other than the time we took to look through the items. It was the first time at Trails End in years and the food was exceptionally good. Boma is always really GOOD! Biergarten and O'hana are two other faves but we just couldn't squeeze them in on this trip.