Which counter service gives you the most bang for your buck

[2DisneyIgo]

I have a trip planned for July for 2 adults and 1 child. I've read a lot about the dining plan and I think it's a good deal if you eat a lot of table service meals, but we don't and we don't want to be tied to a time and place for dinner.

I know that the counter service food will be mostly considered junk food like hamburgers and fries or things along that range, but are there any counter service places that we can get some healthier choices. Are there any places that you can get some chicken that's not fried and some salads?

My nephew loves chicken, especially chicken nuggets or chicken cutlets, but I don't want him to eat chicken nuggets for 10 days. He will eat hamburgers. Which place has the best hamburgers, more like a homemade hamburger, not McDonald's type of burger?

Most of the time we will be eating breakfast in the room but on occasion we would like to eat breakfast out. Which fast food place has the best breakfast?

The same goes for lunch for us. We plan on purchasing cold cuts and making sandwiches to take to the parks and to eat around the pool on our lazy days, but are there any counter service places to get sandwiches in the parks? We don't want to eat a hamburger for lunch if that's what we will end up eat for dinner. Even though we're trying to eat cheap meals we still want to have a little variety.

Any suggestions or comments about the counter service places in all the theme parks will help us plan. About how much will counter service meals cost for 2 adults & 1 6-year old -- an average price.

Thank you

 

[JoiseyMom]

Cosmic Rays has good food and large portions, it is in MK. Another good CS, is Pepper Market, at Coronado Springs Resort. Expensive, but portions are big enough to share, and lots of variety. YOu can check out menus and prices at www.allearsnet.com Go to dining and check out menus.

 

[bluejasmine]

Cosmic Rays has good food and large portions, it is in MK. Another good CS, is Pepper Market, at Coronado Springs Resort. Expensive, but portions are big enough to share, and lots of variety. YOu can check out menus and prices at www.allearsnet.com Go to dining and check out menus.

Another vote for CS for bang for your buck.. Also breakfast at the resort food courts are good too..

 

[deany]

When we stayed at POR with our three kids I usually went and got breakfast to bring back to the room. They were not too keen on getting up early!! There were lots of healthy choices at one kiosk - kind of like a little store. I would get them milk - always had to have milk once/day at WDW plus a piece of fruit and usually a muffin or croissant (not healthy, I know). If we were there for dinner, I would often get a fruit salad or two and we could share it or green salads. At Epcot, the Land foodcourt had some healthy choices. At MGM I think it was Backlot Express that had chicken wraps with fruit.

 

[monarchsfan16]

Definitely Cosmic Rays. We got two of the rotisserie chicken platters and split them between 5 of us.
From pictures I've seen Tusker House in AK looks like you can get pretty good deals, for a lot of food. They have rotisserie chicken there too.
For burgers, if you decide that you want a really good burger and do want to go to a sit down place, try Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club. Not really any more expensive than counter service, and the burgers are AWESOME

 

[bobcat]

Tusker House at Animal Kingdom had the best counter service. They have a half roasted chicken that is so YUM. My kids love the mac and cheese here as well.

The Land food court in Epcot has a good variety. I love the kids roasted drum stick meal with red mashed potatos (skin included) and carrots.

For Magic Kingdom you have a few choices. Cosmic Rays is good and they even have a family chicken meal, although I have never had it. We like their burgers. Pecos Bills has a great burger topping bar that includes sauteed mushrooms and onions as well as cheese sauce. A money saving tip here is to order a double burger and split it, you can even get another bun for less than $1, and load up on the toppings bar.

The turkey legs are good and I usually share one with my kids, 11 and 13, for a light meal. Of course we add a lg bag of chips, drinks and fruit but this is a pretty cheap and filling meal. We love the turkey legs, just make sure you have handi wipes as they are messy.

MGM doesn't have any spectacular counter service. All of the choices are just ok in my opinion and we usually eat sit down here.

As JoiseyMom posted go to www.allearsnet.com and you can see all the restaurants and their prices. Adult counter service meals can run around $6-7 and kids meals are around $4. I usually budget $25 per counter service meal since my 13yo gets burgers, which are only on the adult menu, and the 11 yo usually gets a kids meal. Adults can order a kids meal as well and if I'm not hungry I will get one. Hope this helps.

 

[CheshireVal]

Tusker House in AK has *healthy* meals, much better than hamburgers. And... you get a lot of food for the price.

Alternatively, if you want something a little more ethnic, Cantina de San Angel in Epcot has great combo platters with tons of good food.

There is more to life than hamburgers, after all.

 

[indigoxtreme]

We always eat at the Backlot express in MGM and love it.

AK Tusker house is great Rotisseri (sp) chicken and other things. Also Flame tree BBQ, seating by the water, ribs etc.

MK Columbia Harbour House or Cosmic Rays

EP we really don't have a place here. Mostly TS

 

[Bev J]

Columbia Harbor House at the MK is very good also. Very good chicken and fish, sandwiches and salads. Good AC and if you sit upstairs it is pretty quiet too.
Tusker House at the AK is YUMMO! Chicken, Salmon and a good turkey wrap.

Epcot has lots of counter service choices, the Land plus many of the countries in the World Showcase have counter service options.

There are so many great counter service choices that you really don't have to settle for burgers and frys all week....

Bev

 

[english rose 47]

Tusker House at Animal Kingdom had the best counter service. They have a half roasted chicken that is so YUM. My kids love the mac and cheese here as well.

The Land food court in Epcot has a good variety. I love the kids roasted drum stick meal with red mashed potatos (skin included) and carrots.

For Magic Kingdom you have a few choices. Cosmic Rays is good and they even have a family chicken meal, although I have never had it. We like their burgers. Pecos Bills has a great burger topping bar that includes sauteed mushrooms and onions as well as cheese sauce. A money saving tip here is to order a double burger and split it, you can even get another bun for less than $1, and load up on the toppings bar.

The turkey legs are good and I usually share one with my kids, 11 and 13, for a light meal. Of course we add a lg bag of chips, drinks and fruit but this is a pretty cheap and filling meal. We love the turkey legs, just make sure you have handi wipes as they are messy.

MGM doesn't have any spectacular counter service. All of the choices are just ok in my opinion and we usually eat sit down here.

As JoiseyMom posted go to www.allearsnet.com and you can see all the restaurants and their prices. Adult counter service meals can run around $6-7 and kids meals are around $4. I usually budget $25 per counter service meal since my 13yo gets burgers, which are only on the adult menu, and the 11 yo usually gets a kids meal. Adults can order a kids meal as well and if I'm not hungry I will get one. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the extra bun tip I'd spotted the double cheeseburger meals and thought they'd be splitable but an extra bun would be great, also do they have hamburger sor just cheeseburgers?

 

[ceecee]

Another vote for Tusker House, Flame Tree BBQ at AK and MK's Columbia Harbor House and Cosmic Rays.

 

[Aidensmom]

Flame Tree BBQ at AK is our favorite.

 

[MelanieC]

One of our favorites is the sandwich at Pizzafari at AK. My husband always talks about how good this sandwich is. We eat there twice during out two week stays. It's a very tasty sandwich.

 

[smilingmouse]

My favorite CS at WDW is Starring Roles at MGM. I'm a huge fan of their salmon and cream cheese on a bagel.

 

[grinningghost]

MK - Pecos Bills, Pirata y Perico

Epcot - Electric Umbrella

MGM - Pizza Planet

AK - Pizzafari

 

[jimmiej]

Well,this technically isn't in a theme park, but Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney gets lots of good reviews. And, the prices seem VERY reasonable for Disney. DW & I are looking forward to trying it on our upcoming trip.

 

[maggs]

The Earl of Sandwich is fantastic - easily the best service counter service restaurant I have been to at WDW.

Maggs

 

[buckler]

You can order cheeseburgers without the cheese. In fact they charge a bit less for the burger without the cheese (only like 10 cents less).

 

[english rose 47]

Thanks for burgher info I have 1 cheeseburg. and 1 hamburg. kidso I guess they can put chhese on the one and not on the other 10c doesn't matter.