Where to Eat...Haven't got a CLUE!

[laurainsem]

Hello All!

My sisters and I are headed to WDW for the first time. Our travel agent told us to start deciding on places to book reservations at and we haven't got a clue. I love Mexican, my older sister loves Chinese, and my "baby" sister loves Italian. We also like anything other then seafood.


PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Vemnox]

www.disneyworld.com/dining

www.allears.net

 

[laurainsem]

Thank you for the links! I've checked out the listing but feel so overwhelmed. Disney's got too many yummy places to eat. I'm hoping some can share some of their favorites. Please?!

 

[Vemnox]

You might want to post over at the Disney Restaurants board here:

http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=14

...for more dining expertise. Your family, tastebuds, and likes/dislikes are unique from everyone else's and you really can't go wrong with Disney, so just pick a few of your favorites!

 

[Tink888]

You might want to try San Angel at Epcot for Mexican; there is a Chinese place at Epcot but I think it is closing soon so another option might be Yak & Yeti at AK; and for Italian there is Tutto Italia at Epcot, Mama Melrose's at DS and Tony's Town Square at MK. http://www.alllearsnet.com has a listing of all the restaurants at Disney along with menus.

 

[laurainsem]

Thanks you guys! I didn't know there was a board specifically for dining. I will post there too but if you all have more suggestions, please, let me know!

If the chinese one is closing, do you think a new one will open?

 

[pl'smama]

Hello All!

My sisters and I are headed to WDW for the first time. Our travel agent told us to start deciding on places to book reservations at and we haven't got a clue. I love Mexican, my older sister loves Chinese, and my "baby" sister loves Italian. We also like anything other then seafood.


PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think it all depends on your interests, but since this is your first trip to see Mickey I think a character meal or two is in order. I suggest Chef Mickey's for breakfast to start off your trip! Chef Mickey's is in the Contemporary Resort and they have a lovely buffet. They also serve dinner and I think lunch. You get to meet the Fab Five in the Chef's gear ( Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto) and also have some decent chow. The atmosphere is high energy and a great way to start things off. We went for breakfast on our last trip and LOVED it!

Another fantastic character meal is breakfast, lunch or dinner at the Castle with none other Cinderella herself. It is a bit more costly then other character meals, but you are dining in the castle so it is worth. Fantastic photo package as well.

Another fave character meal for us in Ohana's Breakfast with Lilo and Stitch at the Poly Resort. Mickey and Pluto are there and the food is great. We have been twice.

For a non character meal I suggest you try Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It has a wonderful ambiance about it and the food was pretty great. I am picky and I really enjoyed the different flavors. The resort is lovely to visit and explore as well.

For a fun and interactive meal try the 50's Prime Time Cafe in the resort formerly known as MGM ( Disney's Hollywood Studios now). The food is pretty good, but the interaction part is terrific!

I hope this helps you get some ideas. There are lots more great character meals, but they are not for everyone. I highly recommend you do at least one though for the fun and experience. Bring your camera!

Suz

 

[disneydad78]

You will love 50's Prime Time in Hollywood Studios,its fun!
Magic Kingdom we love ,crystal palace!
Animal Kingdom we go to Rain Forest Cafe.
Epcot whatever you want, you cant go wrong in world showcase!
We allways eat dinner, during the day we bring sandwiches and snacks to help save money for more expensive dinner. Bring your own bottles of water if you carry backpack, just some helpful hints!

 

[Joel&Bee]

I would stay away from San Angel at Epcot for Mexican. The food has been disappointing the times we have tried it.

For Italian, Tutto Italia at Epcot and Mama Melrose's at Disney Studios are two of our favorites.

If you like chinese Yak and Yeti in AK would be a great choice.

 

[chipndales]

We love Tony's Town Square in MK for Italian! Coral Reef is also one of our favs even though not all of us like Seafood. We get the steak which is out of this world. And you can't beat the view.

 

[KitCloudkicker]

cheapest place to eat Mcdonalds

 

[CanadianGuy]

I'm going to move this over to the Restaurants and Dining board where you'll get some advice from the experts. They're FOODIES!

Knox

 

[tluvstink]

I agree with a PP. You should have at least 1 character meal. They aren't just for kids

I love Chef Mickeys and dinner at LTT but there are tons of options!


Terri

 

[Aliceacc]

For what it's worth, here are our ADRs and the reasons behind them:

Chef Mickey's (In the Contemporary, an easy monorail ride from MK.) Character dinner w/ Mickey and the crew. This one's mostly for my kids, but I want to see Mickey too!! And there's an ice cream sundae bar we'll all enjoy.

Fantasmic Dinner package at Hollywood & Vine. I love the idea of lessening the wait for this "must see" show. The other alternative on the DDP was Mama Melrose (Italian food-- take a look )

Coral Reef: One entire wall is an aquarium. But if you don't like seafood, ignore this option.

Cinderella dinner at 1900 Park Fare (Grand Floridian, on the monorail) I have 2 little girls, enough said. The Stepsisters are supposed to be hilarious.

Le Cellier in Epcot (Canada) Supposed to be AMAZING steaks, which my son will love (as will my husband and I.) Payback for him sitting through a princess dinner.

'Ohana at the Poly (on the monorail.) Polynesian food, served family style. You don't order, they just keep bringing you food. Take a look.

My sister is on the Deluxe plan, and also booked in the following places:
- Biergarten in Germany
- The Japanese steak house
- Crystal Palace in MK

and I forget where else.

 

[ChelleinNC]

Honestly, I would skip Mexico & China. Chances are you have a Mexican & Chinese restaurant around the corner from your house that you ate at last week This is your chance to experience some restaurants that are only at Disney or from countries that may not be on every corner in every city. At Epcot we really like Les Chefs de France, Les Cellier, Restaurant Marrakesh. We're going to Norway's Restaurant Akershus in June for dinner.

Chef Mickeys is the "traditional" first character meal. It's a little loud and food is not gourmet, but ok. We prefer the character breakfast at Cape May Cafe at the BC. Mickey isn't there, but Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale are it's quieter/less busy and the food is good.

At MK for character meals we like Crystal Palace. Love Tigger & Pooh Bear We prefer lunch at LTT (not a character meal, not family style set meal).

AK, Flame Tree BBQ is counter service but one of our favorites. Then we usually go over to Boma at AKL. Wow! Love Boma and even the picky kids find things to eat there Gonna try Yak & Yeti in June but it looks pretty good.

DHS our favorite restaurant is Hollywood Brown Derby. If you're on the DDP it is 2 TS credits, we think it's better to pay OOP for it. The famous Cobb Salad is yum! Everything we've had there has been wonderful 50's PTC is a fun place with a very "homey" comfort food menu. The characters, I mean wait staff are very fun Sci-Fi's food is good, not great, but it's neat to sit in your "car" and watch the old B-movie clips on the Drive In screen.

Other places to try not in parks: WCC at WL, good food & fun atmosphere. Beaches & Cream at BC, no adr's here but great burgers & onion rings. Just make sure to save room for the ice cream!!!! If you've never been to Planet Hollywood, it's a fun place and we've had very good meals there. I think people enjoy it more when they order "real" food and are disappointed when they just get burgers (and feel it was overpriced for a burger)

We'll I'm still on my first cup of coffee of the day so that's all I can think of for now.

 

[mickeynut1]

A few of our favorites are:

1. Kona Cafe @ the Poly - awesome prime rib and filet

2. Cape May Cafe @ the Beach Club - great buffet (it's called a "clam bake" but the buffet is filled with lots of other things besides seafood...we don't eat seafood and we LOVE Cape May....we eat there every trip)

3. Chef Mickey's @ the Contemporary - great character buffet

4. Boma @ Animal Kingdom Lodge - great buffet

5. Wispering Canyon Cafe @ Wilderness Lodge - fun place to eat, even for adults

 

[laurainsem]

Ya'll are so awesome! I love all the suggestions and the nice thing about this is you give me a more personal feel to the places.

Couple questions:

What is an ADR?

Is it tough to get to the resort restaurants?

Thank you so much for all your help! I've sent some of your opinions on to my sisters so they can get an idea. I'll be sure to let you know which places we decide on!

 

[ChelleinNC]

Ya'll are so awesome! I love all the suggestions and the nice thing about this is you give me a more personal feel to the places.

Couple questions:

What is an ADR?

Is it tough to get to the resort restaurants?

Thank you so much for all your help! I've sent some of your opinions on to my sisters so they can get an idea. I'll be sure to let you know which places we decide on!

Sorry, sometimes we forget that not everyone speaks in TLA (Three Letter Acronyms)
ADR=Advanced Dining Reservation

Resort Restaurants can be difficult to get to depending on where you're coming from. If you're trying to go from your resort to another resort you'll need to plan for at least an hour travel time. There is no direct resort to resort transportation (with 2 exceptions--Monorail Resorts or Epcot resorts). For example to get to the BC from ASM you'd need to take a bus to DTD (Down Town Disney) then catch a BC bus there or you could take a bus to DHS (Disney Hollywood Studios). Then you could walk (nice path from DHS to Epcot) or take the Friendship boat.

Now, BC & BWI are a short walk from each other, so that's easy to do. The monorail resorts you can (obviously )just hop on the monorail to get to & back from.

If you're in a park, just catch the monorail/boat/bus that is going to the resort with the restaurant you're headed to. To get back to your resort after, you'll either go back to a park or to DTD to switch busses.

Hope that wasn't to overwhelming

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

I agree with the previous poster on San Angel (the table service restaurant in Mexico), the food just wasn't that great. The counter service Cantina though is pretty good and the seating by the lake is so nice & relaxing! We share the combo plate every trip!

Spoodles at the Boardwalk is another place I thought of. We have enjoyed our meals there and it is nice to spend an evening on the Boardwalk.

Kona Cafe is another favorite of ours that I know other posters have mentioned. Terrific steak!

As for italian, I wasn't a fan of either Tony's or Mama Melroses but am really looking forward to try Tutto Italia in Italy next trip!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

OP,
I typed out a list of restaurants Id suggest, then it occurred to me that some of them may be more expensive than you want to spend. I know my DH, DS, & I eat at nicer restaurants on vacation than my sisters & I eat at on our sister trips. WDW has some great restaurants, if you want to pay a bit more for the meal.

We love Tony's Town Square in MK for Italian!

I'm glad to hear that. We're eating there for the 1st time in Oct., hoping to time our meal with Spectro. What menu items do you like? TIA