Where Should We Eat Lunch and Dinner in Each Park?

[HipToBeKyle]

Howdy!

I know there are a lot of threads that involve asking for help with choosing places to eat while at WDW, but I was hoping you wouldn't mind one more.

My wife and I are going on the christening cruise of the Disney Dream and will board the ship the evening of Tuesday January 18th.

We go to Disneyland twice a year and are pretty seasoned in respects to that park but we have never been to Walt Disney World so we have decided to go in the days leading up to the christening cruise. In terms of all things WDW we are pretty much in the dark. I've been trying to plan for us as best as possible, but one area i'm lagging in is the food choices. With so many options I just have no idea where to go and since this is our first trip and, who knows the next time we'll get back, i'd like to make sure we check out the ones people seem to enjoy the most.

We fly in on a redeye Friday night so we'll be at the parks Saturday - Tuesday. We're staying at the Polynesian. We have 4 days so the plan is to do a park a day. We'll have the option to park hop as well incase we finish up a park early.

I am hoping that you most excellent board members can help us pick where we should eat. We'll eat just about anything sans fish. Not big seafood fans here. Also you can leave out character dining since it's just us 'adults'.

While we're always mindful of the money we're spending we know this is our first time to WDW so we're willing to spend more than usual to experience the different dining options at the parks. Obviously we won't eat signature restaurants for every meal, but we'd like to try a few of them and then have the rest be casual dining, etc.

So now that you have more details on our trip then your could ever possibly want, I ask you to please help us choose where to eat!

Fill in the below with your selections and if you don't mind, may a quick sentence on what you like about it.

Saturday - Hollywood Studios
Lunch:
Dinner:

Sunday - Epcot
Lunch:
Dinner:

Monday - Animal Kindgom
Lunch:
Dinner:

Tuesday - Magic Kingdom
Lunch:

THANK YOU in advance for taking the time to help us first timers out, I really appreciate it!

-Kyle

 

[p&tbrown]

epcot- lunch- bier garten is good
dinner- Coral reef- the view is worth it! steaks are good too!

 

[ssdelaney]

Animal Kingdom lunch at the BBQ place.

 

[Quin]

HS - lunch Starring Rolls: big sandwiches and large selection of excellent pastries for dessert. Dinner - go back to the Poly and eat at 'Ohana. Or Kona. But ONLY if you can get a reservation; I believe these 2 are particularly hard to get into as walk-ups.

Epcot - I agree Biergarten for lunch (much cheaper than at dinner and very little difference in the food). Le Cellier for dinner, again only if you can get an ADR. If none are available, Coral Reef actually does have some good steak. Or does one of the other cuisines appeal to you, such as Mexican or Moroccan?

AK - lunch Flame Tree BBQ. Dinner Yak & Yeti if you want to stay in the park, or Boma or Jiko if you are OK with working the transport system to go from the park to AKL (no, they are not the same thing and you cannot walk from one to the other) and then back to your resort. If you have your car there, definitely try either of the 2 AKL restaurants.

MK - lunch either Pecos Bill (good fixings bar including sauteed mushrooms) or Cosmic Rays. Or for a different experience and more food choices, take the monorail to CR & have lunch at the Contempo Cafe. Dinner - Artist Point at WL.

-------just checked your OP again. Are you not having dinner at WDW Tuesday? If so, if you can't get Le Cellier on the Epcot day go to Artist Point instead. The travel is worth it.

 

[missmun52]

Saturday - Hollywood Studios
Lunch:
Dinner: Kona - The food is really very good, they have the best pork chop I ever ate. Its hard to find a bad review. A must do for us, and its right in your resort.

Sunday - Epcot
Lunch:
Dinner:Le Cellier, I am not a steak person but my DH loved his steak here and is a must do for us and apparently many others as its often very very difficult to get a ressie here.

Monday - Animal Kindgom
Lunch:Flame Tree BBQ- very good CS food. Most will agree.
Dinner: Jiko, Outstanding Signature restaurant; most will agree. The food is amazing, and it will also give you a chance to see the Animal Kingdom lodge. If you want more relaxed atmosphere, Boma is also an excellent choice.

Tuesday - Magic Kingdom
Lunch: Columbia Harbor House

I left the other blank because I dont have any I would necessarily recommend......at DS we always do Pizza Planet- Pizzas are good, not amazing. At Epcot we eat at the Mexico & China CS which I think is pretty good but there may be better choices; I dont think you can go wrong with these, but they are not anything to go out of your way to get.

 

[PoohsFan1]

Saturday - Hollywood Studios
Lunch: Mama Melrose
Dinner: 50's Prime Time Cafe

Sunday - Epcot
Lunch: Chefs de France
Dinner: Le Cellier

Monday - Animal Kindgom
Lunch: Flame Tree BBQ (Counter Service)
Dinner: Boma's over at Animal Kingdom Lodge

Tuesday - Magic Kingdom
Lunch: Liberty Tree Tavern

My suggestions are in Red....of course like you said there are so many places to choose from, but the ones I suggested are our family favorites. If you are interested in doing any sort of Signature Restaurants, I would highly recommend going to either California Grill at the Contemporary Resort, Yachtsman's Steakhouse at the Yacht Club Resort, or Artist Point which is in the Wilderness Lodge. Have a great trip and have an awesome time on the Disney Dream.....you are sooooo lucky!!!!!

 

[Ms.Mouse]

Sat: HS
Lunch: 50's Prime Time is great and not much more expensive than eating a good lunch at home. It's "comfort food" and pretty good. If you want counter serve, we've found Starring Rolls to be the best.
Dinner: I would take the boat over to Yacht Club for the signature Yachtsman. We've found it to be the best for a good steak and great service every time we've been.

Sun:EP
Lunch: There are so many good counter serves in EPCOT! In Future World there is Sunshine Seasons with many varieties of foods. And then....Those wonderful countries!!! In France, Boulangerie Patisserie has a great platter of cheese, fruit and a baugette or quiche or ham and cheese on a croissant. If you want to sit, Chefs de France has a Prix Fixe menu that is reasonable and the food is good. Service has always been great for us.
Dinner:Why don't you try the new Via Napoli restaurant? We are going to on our next trip. I work with a couple of people who loved it. A little pricy for a pizza but it's made to be as the pizza right from Italy and they even import all the ingredients (including the water) to make them. I know someone who goes to Italy every few years and she said it is as close as you can get to a good "real Italian" pizza!....If that doesn't suit you, How about Rose and Crown?

Mon:AK
Lunch:If you want counter serve, I also would go for Flame Tree BBQ...very good! If you want to sit, Tusker House.
Dinner:We usually get on the bus from the park and go to Boma. That is one of the best buffets in WDW, in our opinion. There is something there for everyone, the "plain" eaters, and the "adventerous" eaters.

Tue:MK
Lunch:I agree with Columbia Harbor House. It is a great Counter service meal. And if you want to sit, I would choose Liberty Tree Tavern.

 

[crostorfer]

Are you on the dining plan? If not, save your $$$ and book a late lunch/early dinner at Crystal Palace on your MK day. The buffet is FABULOUS, and you can stuff yourself so silly you won't want dinner. I had the best salmon on property there and the dessert bar is TO DIE FOR! Just ignore the characters if you must, the food is amazing!!!

 

[HipToBeKyle]

Awesome! Thanks for the great responses so far!

To answer a couple questions, we do not have the dining plan because of the rate we got with the room we can't pair it up. We'll also be having dinner on the ship that Tuesday evening which is why we won't need to eat in MK.

-Kyle

 

[glm777]

We LOVE the Kona Cafe at the Poly! We always have dinner there at least once every trip and sometimes twice if we can fit it in. Between us we have tried every entree on the menu and have never had a less than delicious meal. My personal favorite is the pomegranite pork chop followed closely by the teriyaki steak. And the bananas foster is to die for!

 

[Dobie]

Studios--Dinner--take the boat to Epcot and have dinner in World Showcase. Le Cellier in Canada, or in Italy or France. Stay in World Showcase for the evening--you won't have time to see it all in one Epcot day and HS is not great a park.

Epcot--Again, have dinner in Canada, Italy, or France. For lunch, we like Norway.

MK--Pecos Bills for Lunch, Kona at the Poly for dinner.

AK--Barbecue place for lunch, Jiko's at AKL for dinner.

 

[pmaurer74]

Some of the best restaurants are at other resorts especially the one you are staying at.

O'Hana's is great and I have heard Kona's is good. Boma's at the AK Lodge is very good and fun. I have heard Narcossee's at the GF is good as well.

At Epcot Le Cellier is popular and I have been to Tutto Italia.

I have heard good things about the House of Blues at DTD.

We have very young children so most of our meals center around characters.

 

[pixiemeg]

I agree with many of these recommendations. Not sure if you are doing dining plan but may be worth it if doing at least one sit-down a day:

At you hotel:
Ohana-- for breakfast if you want to meet a few characters
Kono-- dinner

At Epcot:
Le Cellier for dinnner or Coral Reef.
For a counter-service lunch that is my favorite at all of disney, try Yakitori House in Japan. Great Udon noodles and some basic sushi.

At Magic Kindom:
Cosmic Rays for lunch
Crystal Palace for Breakfast (with early park entry) or lunch-- really dinner is terrific too-- this is our favorite buffet.

Good luck and have a fun trip!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

You are looking for reservations for next week? I'd get on the WDW Dining site and see what's available....

 

[kazfloyd]

If you are leaving for your cruise on Tuesday and having dinner there. Normally they leave at 4ish. I would think you would want to do at counter service breakfast or an early table service to get some time in park. It will take you some time to get to the port and go through secutrity and check in.

Ohana is an excellent choice at the Polynesian!

LeCellier is great, but most likely you will not get in at this point.

Tutto Italia is delicious and normally is available last minute.

Peco Bill's counter service at the Magci Kingdom!

 

[allstar]

Howdy!

I know there are a lot of threads that involve asking for help with choosing places to eat while at WDW, but I was hoping you wouldn't mind one more.

My wife and I are going on the christening cruise of the Disney Dream and will board the ship the evening of Tuesday January 18th.

We go to Disneyland twice a year and are pretty seasoned in respects to that park but we have never been to Walt Disney World so we have decided to go in the days leading up to the christening cruise. In terms of all things WDW we are pretty much in the dark. I've been trying to plan for us as best as possible, but one area i'm lagging in is the food choices. With so many options I just have no idea where to go and since this is our first trip and, who knows the next time we'll get back, i'd like to make sure we check out the ones people seem to enjoy the most.

We fly in on a redeye Friday night so we'll be at the parks Saturday - Tuesday. We're staying at the Polynesian. We have 4 days so the plan is to do a park a day. We'll have the option to park hop as well incase we finish up a park early.

I am hoping that you most excellent board members can help us pick where we should eat. We'll eat just about anything sans fish. Not big seafood fans here. Also you can leave out character dining since it's just us 'adults'.

While we're always mindful of the money we're spending we know this is our first time to WDW so we're willing to spend more than usual to experience the different dining options at the parks. Obviously we won't eat signature restaurants for every meal, but we'd like to try a few of them and then have the rest be casual dining, etc.

So now that you have more details on our trip then your could ever possibly want, I ask you to please help us choose where to eat!

Fill in the below with your selections and if you don't mind, may a quick sentence on what you like about it.

Saturday - Hollywood Studios
Lunch:
Dinner:

Sunday - Epcot
Lunch:
Dinner:

Monday - Animal Kindgom
Lunch:
Dinner:

Tuesday - Magic Kingdom
Lunch:

THANK YOU in advance for taking the time to help us first timers out, I really appreciate it!

-Kyle

HS- Lunch- 50's Prime Time Cafe Dinner- Mama Melroses
Epcot Lunch- Coral Reef Dinner- Beigarden
AK- Lunch- Rainforest Cafe
MK- Tony's

Hope this helps!

 

[dansyr2514]

Saturday - Hollywood Studios
Lunch:Brown Derby
Dinner:

Sunday - Epcot
Lunch:Via Napoli
Dinner: Yachtsman Steakhouse

Monday - Animal Kindgom
Lunch:flame tree bbq
Dinner: Jiko or Boma

Tuesday - Magic Kingdom
Lunch:Crystal Palace

THANK YOU in advance for taking the time to help us first timers out, I really appreciate it!

-Kyle[/QUOTE]

 

[Wendy31]

Saturday - HS

Lunch: Sci-Fi
Dinner: Take the boat from the Studios to the World Showcase in EPCOT & eat at one of the World Showcase restaurants (maybe Italy or Japan) & then stay for Illuminations

Sunday - EPCOT

Lunch: Sunshine Seasons
Dinner: Coral Reef or go back to the Poly for dinner at 'Ohana & then go into the MK for "Wishes"

Monday - Animal Kingdom

Lunch: Flame Tree or Yak and Yeti
Dinner: Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge

Tuesday - Magic Kingdom

Lunch: CRT - How many other times are you going to have an opportunity to eat in a castle?

 

[TruBlu]

Saturday - Hollywood Studios

Lunch: Sci-Fi is AMAZING! Just make sure you order something simple like burgers (which are really good). It is so cool to sit in a car at a drive-in movie in the dark after walking in out of the bright Fla. sunshine. This is a big MUST DO for us every trip. We love it!

Dinner: We tried 50's PT Cafe for the first time this year and really enjoyed it. Fun place to eat with pretty good food.


Sunday - Epcot (So many wonderful choices here! You can't go wrong with almost anywhere you choose, but I'll list my favorites...)

Lunch: Teppan Edo

Dinner: Le Cellier


Monday - Animal Kindgom

Lunch: Tusker House (fantastic buffet)

Dinner: I'd take a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge and have dinner. The bus ride is really short (5-10 min max), and it's definitely worth the time just to see the lodge! Since AK closes early most nights, you could have a late dinner at either Boma or Jiko. Yummy!!!


Tuesday - Magic Kingdom

Lunch: Crystal Palace or Columbia Harbor House

 

[tjlemkuil]

Biergarten in EPCOT.