...having a car!
First I must state that our family loves dining at WDW restaurants. Some are must do's (including Biergarden for lunch on the first day of our visit and breakfast at 1900 Park Fare) but there are some very good meal time opportunities outside WDW that without a car or pricy transportation most families would not invistagate.
This past week week we visited WDW. For the past 4 years we have always flown to Orlando and used magical express. Doing this locked us to mostly staying on property. However, this past visit we were unable to find a reasonable airfare from Syracuse to MCO (this was President's Week when most of the schools here are closed for Winter Break). We decided to drive and left on Valentine's afternoon and 19 hours later found ourselves checking into Old Key West resort.
Our advance reservations had us booked for lunch at the Biergarden on the day of arrival, Ohana for dinner Sunday night, Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, and a get-away morning breakfast at Whispiring Canyon Cafe before traveling to Disney's Vero Beach Resort for a few days R & R before going home.
Since we had not traveled off-property for a few years we decided to try some of the "talked about" restaurants within close proximity to WDW. These were:
Miller's Orlando Ale House
Bubbalou's Bodatious BBQ
CiCi's Pizza
Golden Corral
Chick-Fil-A
Cheesecake Factory
Tony Roma's Ribs
First the Hits...
Breakfast seemed to be the best bet at WDW this trip as both 1900 Park Fare and Whispiring Canyon Cafe were outstanding experiences for both the food and entertainment (Character and Cast interaction). These were well worth the cost of the meal (yes, we do have a DDE card).
As for all of the Orlando restaurants we visited were GREAT! Miller's was wonderful as we all had trouble choosing from thier wonderful menue. My daughter said that "her cheesesteak was the best one outside of Phladelphia" and we lived in Philadelphia for many years and we should know a good cheesesteak when we eat one! Bubbalou's BBQ was very good with good prices, great BBQ (we did not love their BBQ sauce though) and the best BBQ Beans on the planet! It was worth the drive as it is up off Conroy Road past Universal.
Cheesecake Factory and Tony Roma's were as good as we found them to be over 4 years ago. Good food and great service at reasonable prices compared to Disney dining.
If you have never been to a CiCi's Pizza and you have kids then you don't know what a bargain it is to feed your family all the Pizza, Salad, Pasta, and soda for less than $7.00 per person. This was a great find and it is located just outside WDW on 535 across the street from Walgreen's and just up the block from Golden Coral and Chick-Fil-A (which were both as good as it gets in their catagory).
Not one of the meals outside WDW disapointed us for quality and value!
The misses were all Disney's doing...
The dinner at Ohana was the low point with being seated 1 hr. later than our reservation. Our wait staff (two of them) were unattentive and lacking any personality. Our late snack at Casey's (one of favorites) was a cold ugly hot dog that we could not even get to return due to the lines of people waiting for more of the same (as noted on these boards the roll was not the issue).
The end result is that without a vehicle to explore what is outside of WDW we would have paid much, much more and not found some wonderful dining experiences (not to mention savng a bundle on Disney items at the Disney Outlet Store at Orlando Premium Outlets)
It will be a tough choice on our next visit to choose flying and Disney's Magical Express and driving which will provide us with quite a few good choices and money saving opportunities.
First I must state that our family loves dining at WDW restaurants. Some are must do's (including Biergarden for lunch on the first day of our visit and breakfast at 1900 Park Fare) but there are some very good meal time opportunities outside WDW that without a car or pricy transportation most families would not invistagate.
This past week week we visited WDW. For the past 4 years we have always flown to Orlando and used magical express. Doing this locked us to mostly staying on property. However, this past visit we were unable to find a reasonable airfare from Syracuse to MCO (this was President's Week when most of the schools here are closed for Winter Break). We decided to drive and left on Valentine's afternoon and 19 hours later found ourselves checking into Old Key West resort.
Our advance reservations had us booked for lunch at the Biergarden on the day of arrival, Ohana for dinner Sunday night, Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, and a get-away morning breakfast at Whispiring Canyon Cafe before traveling to Disney's Vero Beach Resort for a few days R & R before going home.
Since we had not traveled off-property for a few years we decided to try some of the "talked about" restaurants within close proximity to WDW. These were:
Miller's Orlando Ale House
Bubbalou's Bodatious BBQ
CiCi's Pizza
Golden Corral
Chick-Fil-A
Cheesecake Factory
Tony Roma's Ribs
First the Hits...
Breakfast seemed to be the best bet at WDW this trip as both 1900 Park Fare and Whispiring Canyon Cafe were outstanding experiences for both the food and entertainment (Character and Cast interaction). These were well worth the cost of the meal (yes, we do have a DDE card).
As for all of the Orlando restaurants we visited were GREAT! Miller's was wonderful as we all had trouble choosing from thier wonderful menue. My daughter said that "her cheesesteak was the best one outside of Phladelphia" and we lived in Philadelphia for many years and we should know a good cheesesteak when we eat one! Bubbalou's BBQ was very good with good prices, great BBQ (we did not love their BBQ sauce though) and the best BBQ Beans on the planet! It was worth the drive as it is up off Conroy Road past Universal.
Cheesecake Factory and Tony Roma's were as good as we found them to be over 4 years ago. Good food and great service at reasonable prices compared to Disney dining.
If you have never been to a CiCi's Pizza and you have kids then you don't know what a bargain it is to feed your family all the Pizza, Salad, Pasta, and soda for less than $7.00 per person. This was a great find and it is located just outside WDW on 535 across the street from Walgreen's and just up the block from Golden Coral and Chick-Fil-A (which were both as good as it gets in their catagory).
Not one of the meals outside WDW disapointed us for quality and value!
The misses were all Disney's doing...
The dinner at Ohana was the low point with being seated 1 hr. later than our reservation. Our wait staff (two of them) were unattentive and lacking any personality. Our late snack at Casey's (one of favorites) was a cold ugly hot dog that we could not even get to return due to the lines of people waiting for more of the same (as noted on these boards the roll was not the issue).
The end result is that without a vehicle to explore what is outside of WDW we would have paid much, much more and not found some wonderful dining experiences (not to mention savng a bundle on Disney items at the Disney Outlet Store at Orlando Premium Outlets)
It will be a tough choice on our next visit to choose flying and Disney's Magical Express and driving which will provide us with quite a few good choices and money saving opportunities.
