WDW/Daytona Beach Christmas trip

[SRRN]

We'll be spending 6 days at WDW and 6 days at Daytona Beach over the Christmas holidays. I have all our meals planned for WDW but I'm looking for some suggestions for Daytona. I'll be traveling with my DH,and 2 DD,18,15. Looking for some good family-type restaurants that won't "break-the-bank".

 

[PartyofSix]

I don't know where you plan to stay but i will offer you some suggestions. As this is our premier vacation spot several times a year.

For a great breakfast, lunch or dinner try out Steve's Famous Diner. When we arrive in town this is our FIRST stop usually for lunch. I love the eggplant parm. You WILL NOT get a bad meal there. If you see something you like don't worry and order it you will not be dissappointed. Check out the fresh baked HUGE muffins on the counter they make a great snack or lunch. Coffee is excellent here. Meals are not expensive. And they WILL make mickey pancakes upon request. This resturant is located on atlantic blvd. south. If you come in off Internation Dr dead end at the beach take a right about 1 mile on the right is Steve's it's a not to miss each trip usually our first and last stop. We get breakfast on the way out of town.

Aunt Catfishs is a must. Great fresh seafood here. Travel down atlantic south to Port Orange take a right at the light and cross the bridge it's immediatley on your left. They serve lunch and dinner excellent salad bar and HOT bar with fixings. Never had a bad meal in all the years.

Billy's Tap room- Ohhhhhh man is this a yummy place to eat. It's only open for supper. Been a mainstay in Daytona for like 85 years! So you know it's good! Great Bread on the table, homemade dressings, food is freshly made to order. They are FAMOUS for there crab cakes and if you try them you'll see why. IF you are sick of seafood try the hamburger steak it's homemade and treffic! They also serve other steaks a popular dish is there fish in a bag never tried it but a TON of people are always getting this when we are there. You WILL need ressies' for this place it's draws the locals out in droves. If you are at the dead in on Int' to turn north or south onto atlantic take a left and head north about 5-6 miles you will come to a large stop light look for it there is a mall caddy corner the stop light. Take the left turn here. Travel about a 1/4 mile you will pass an out back on the right but look to your left look HARD or you'll miss it. There is a burgundy canopy out front that will say Billy's tap room. There is a red light there take a left and park street side and walk around front to enter billy's. If you go across the bridge you've passed it.

Julian's- this is an excellent resturant for steaks, seafood ect... They have nightly live piano playing. Family owned resturant. No ressie's needed if you arrive say by 7. It's on the way to Billy's Tap room. Using the same directions before you get to the light to turn right to go to Billy's about 1 mile before the light you'll pass Julians. Look for the red building with a STEEP roof Julians is printed up on the roof.

Bubba Gumps Seafood a must do. Wonderful food, the wait staff will drill you on movie trivia from the movie. Just a FUN place to eat and the food is excellent. Try the huspuppie apptizer EXCELLENT. Also cajun shirmp all the soups are wonderful here. This is located in the Ocean Walk shoppes located n. atlantic blvd. There is a cold stone creamy next door that makes for a tasty dessert and sharing is allowed.

Port Orange STeakHOuse. Best steaks around! Wonderful LOADED baked potatoes. Check the hours they are open for lunch and supper. If you are driving like to aunt catfishes and cross the bridges travel on about another mile or so look for the Kmart shopping plaza on the left you'll be coming up to a stop light it's located on the far side of that plaza. YUMMY!!!!!

Ocean Deck is located on the ocean with a view of the ocean. It's n. atlantic blvd. Great food extended dinner hours i think they are open till two. The best lobster rolls we've ever had. Clam chowder in a bread bowl can't be beat and a yummy mahi mahi!! Will not break your budget.

These are my favorite places in Daytona besides the Krispy Creme.LOL BTW that's on internaional drive coming towards the beachs on the right i suggest you stay in the left lane coming in just in case that HOT sign is ON.LOL Have a wonderful trip.

 

[SRRN]

Thanks so much.I'll print this out and take it with me. They all look so GOOD!!!!!!

 

[PartyofSix]

I promise you will not be sorry they are all worth the effort of visiting. Where are you staying? Beachside? We always stay at Ocean Walk Resort it's so near everything we love and we can usually walk to most of the things during the day. Cabs are great in daytona and inexpensive if you plan to indulge in drinks. We love to do the comedy zone show down at treasure island hotel it's on friday and saturday night we take a cab there and back usually the same driver they give out a card and tell you when they will be back they know the let out time. If you are looking for gokart and drag cars try the ones behind the hooters on International Drive! They are so fun it's clean and family oriented. They have a package deal also if you have time visit Daytona USA take the track tour if it's offered the day you visit it's so worth it. AAA i think offers a discount to daytona usa tickets or you can pick some up about anywhere for 2 bucks per ticket off up to 4 or 6 can't remember. Have a great vacation.

 

[Snoopymom]

Thanks from me too, Partyofsix!

We were just at The Ocean Deck in Daytona Beach last week, it's one of our favorites. Dh loves their wings and I love looking at the ocean with a drink called Cassies Vanilla something!

We had reservations to stay at Ocean Walk for 3 nights before Disney, but had to cancel because of Frances. We were hoping to still be able to spend at least one night there at the end of our trip instead, but they were booked and everything else was either closed or had water damage. The whole area was in a sad state even a week afterwards, no working street lights and most of the shops were boarded up. I heard Adam's Mark is still closed. We ended up in St Augustine.

We also like Parkes, The Wreck, and The Oyster Pub, but I will definitely be printing out your list.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[PartyofSix]

You very welcome. We are down in Daytona atleast 5 times a year! My dad is a foody and he found most of those great places on my list. We've been going for a while now. All of them are no brainers for anything you like on the menu. I know sometimes when i got someplace new i order things that are hard to mess up dishes but at these places you can't go wrong with a single thing on the menu. Steve of steve's diner has the best eggplant parm i've ever tasted it's fresh and piping hot! Steve is a gem you'll hear him barking occasionally at a waitress when they slip or mess up it's so neat to see him still there every time we go and so on top of things. We are due at ocean walk oct 1st then again oct 21-23 for biketoberfest! I love ocean walk so much i called to see how the resort fare and how the staff was doing i have a couple of favorite bartenders one even starting making marquee drinks back in may while we where there on our anniversary trip and we named it the sunset. So if you are at the ocean walk shoppes step inside the bar at ocean walk and ask Kourt to make you a sunset! It's a frozen concotion that's ohhhhhh so good. Nate can make it as good as courtney. Have a great trip and have a blast.

 

[pandamom]

Lots of good places mentioned -- Park's Seafood and Ocean Deck are two of my favorites. Booth's Bowery in Port Orange also has great food -- best wings around. I lived in Daytona Beach for 15 years (moved 4 years ago) and really miss all the dining options! Have a great trip.

 

[Snoopymom]

Partyofsix if you're still around, have you ever been for New Years Eve? Is it crazy? We'll have our 4 yr old ds with us, so it will probably just mean a nice dinner and a drink by the pool, if that. After reading your list of restaurants to dh, he suggested we go after Christmas! I know the weather can be tricky, but Ocean Walk has an indoor pool and I actually like walking on the beach when it's a little brisk. I'd love any suggestions. Thanks!

 

[PartyofSix]

Hey Snoop! We have so many points to use i was thinking about doing that exact thing. Maybe go down 28, 29, 30 and the 1st that'll give me time to get my house back to "normal". I would'nt think the crowds would be alwful at all. I'm sure they'll proabley have fireworks off the pier and if you've been to ocean walk you can see the pier from many points including some room locations, beach, pool areas. I know that at the Ocean Walk Shoppees they have an outdoor theather i would definetly check the band/entertainment schedule for there you could get that mostly by calling the front desk at ocean walk and talk to pat and she would hook you up with a number for info on entainment. It's great you could get a chair and set up camp and listen to the music and they also have outdoor bar areas set up and the best thing with your little one in tow you can WALK back to your room. You could eat right there at bubba gumps your son would love to dine there it's a fun resturant and just steps from the out door theather. Don't worry is your not wanting to lug around lawn chair they do have a limited number of staduim benches set up. I think i might call in the morning and see if rooms are open for nye's. Do you stay timeshare or hotel? Have a great time.

 

[Snoopymom]

Thanks for getting back to me so quick. No time share, in fact we've never stayed there before, but we sure were looking forward to it last week. (Disney was good to us so I can't complain.) We've stayed at The Beachcomer which is a quaint place about a mile north of Ocean Walk, it's nice and cheap, but there's nothing within walking distance. We love Bubba Gumps, they sure give you huge portions, glad to hear it's consistant. I forgot about the outdoor theater, that would be fun. We've never been when they were having a band or anything....the huge empty stage is ds's favorite attraction, he loves to pretend he's a rockstar, LOL. I just checked OW's website and they have availabilty for the 31st thru the 3rd plus dh is "disneyed" out, so so I think we're going to make reservations, sure is fun to have something to look forward to!!! Can't thank you enough for all the info. Maybe I'll be able repay you with a sunset on New Years! Cheers!!!!

 

[PartyofSix]

That's great! I may just see you there! Ocean Walk is awesome if you did'nt tour it you should. It has TWO indoor pools and two outpools with a separate fenced in kid play/pool area and a water slide! My triplets love it. They just turned for when we where down July 4th week. I'm sure you would just have a blast. We you firm up your dates pm me and maybe we could say hi. I'll wait to make my ressies 60 days out so i can get free upgrades on my room. We have a ton of points to use up but i'm loving the free upgrades. We are FF platuim members. Have a great time and if you need help getting around or anything let me know.

 

[kikipug]

Check out Inlet Harbor in Ponce Inlet (just south of Daytona Beach. Live music outside every day and night, and terrific food! The dolphins sometimes swim right up to listen in. Same ownership as Inlet Harbor is Cancun Lagoon, right next to the Speedway- more of a mexican flair, and not the same atmosphere as Inlet Harbor, but still a good place to eat if you are on Intl Speedway Blvd. We are locals and eat at these places often, as well as at Booths Bowery in Port Orange. Stonwood Grill is nice if you are looking for something a little more 'upscale' (though everything in a resort area is pretty casual.) There's a Stonewood on A1A in Ormond Beach, and a new one on Dunlawton in Port Orange.

 

[SRRN]

You all sent me such great suggestions,but unfortunately,we had to cancel our time in Daytona,because of severe hurricaine damage to the hotel we were staying at.We were lucky to be able to extend our Orlando vacation and will do a day trip to Daytona to survey the damage. Hopefully,we'll have a nice lunch there.

 

[kikipug]

The hotels were the hardest hit, as their 'proximity to the beach' is what makes them such a great place to stay. There are areas that fared very well, and areas that didn't, relatively close together. Many, many, many street signs are down, so if you are used to using them as landmarks or rely on mapquest for directions, beware!!! When in doubt, head east... you'll eventually run into the beach

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I'm so glad to happen upon some Daytona Beach experts. We went to DB last July for the first time in quite a few years. We had eaten at a very good seafood buffet there 11 yrs. ago, but don't remember the name. It was in a very nice, upscale building. When we were there in July, we asked around everywhere and noone seemed to know anything about a good buffet. Someone finally recommended one which we tried, but it was a joke. Can anyone recommend a good & plentiful seafood buffet we can try, if we go back next summer? TIA

 

[kikipug]

I've only lived here for a year and a half- don't know of a seafood buffet... Park's Seafood is great. but I don't think they have a buffet. When you get back here again, there is a great seafood dish at "Rivergrille on the Tomoka" in Ormond Beach- its the 'Florida Cracker'... tons of seafood... so much that it's served on a cafeteria-type tray- delicious!!!!

 

[Blondiex46]

DB is my new favorite place, was there last year and the year before. Is there somewhere I can see which hotels are damaged. I am assuming they are on A1A.

 

[riu girl]

About damage..anyone know if the Coral Beach Motel in Ormond Beach (711 South Atlantic Avenue A1A) sustained any damage from the hurricane. Am booked there for 8 nights over Christmas. Please read my new thread about this topic.

Thank you.

Suzy V.

 

[lovethattink]

As mentioned by another poster on this thread, the Wreck is a great place. It's been a while since I've been there, my brother use to work there. They have the best spinach and artichoke dip. Dh likes their hamburgers. My brother took my parents to a Hunan chinese restaurant, they said that was good. My parents were in Daytona last week to visit him. They were amazed that the ocean comes right up to the motels due to the erosion.

 

[kikipug]

Originally posted by Blondiex46
DB is my new favorite place, was there last year and the year before. Is there somewhere I can see which hotels are damaged. I am assuming they are on A1A.

I am not too sure what is damaged and what is not- I know the Adam's Mark is closed til at least January; Hilton is closed indefinitely, The Plaza Resort is open. Some of the smaller independent motels are gone completely, or damaged to the point of needing a wrecking ball... though I wouldn't have stayed in any of those anyway!!!!