Which rest. to choose?

[skellinton]

Hello,

I have just booked our trip with the free dining plan- I am so excited! We will be there from Sept. 18-27th, with 9 days of Park tickets. Which sit down rest. should we choose- we want to make our reservations as soon as possible. We are traveling with our 16 year old and 14 year old sons- but we know Sci Fi diner is a must- which others would you choose? We have never been (well, I was there 20 years ago!), so we are starting from scratch!

Thanks for advice, tips, hints, etc!

Skellinton

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Yay for you!! I'm 22 and my brother is 20 and we still love going and cant wait for our trip in May (luck you got free dining!) But here is where we eat at and love:
Coral Reef
Alfredos (it will be closed when you are there tho!)
Le Cellier
Biergarten (everyone but me likes it, i hate german food and I am 60% german lol)
Le Chefs de France
Englands name??
Sci-Fi
Liberty Tree Tavern
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Rain Forest Cafe but i dont think that is on the ddp
Cali Grill but thats 2 pts

*We tend to eat at the places that we know and love and try different ones each trip. We are trying Concourse at CR and Tonys at MK for this trip so I'm not sure how great they are yet.
Enjoy!!

 

[mcco5543]

Go to Allears.net

Look under dining, then menus

Go with what food appeals to your family most, then look at some reviews. Cross refrence those reviews with some searching on the Disboards and I'm sure you'll come up with some great stuff!

We're going to
The Maya Grill
Boma (African)
Chef Mickey's Breakfast
O'hana's Lilo and Stich Breafkast
Alfredo's (Italian)
Coral Reef (Seafood)
Marakesh (Morrocan)

 

[dzneelvr]

Our teen DD and DS like Biergarten in EPCOT; Mexico--the inside one--both are great experiences along with the food which is a must for us. Hoop De Do is GREAT fun for all ages and IMO should be experienced at least once. This June I'm waiting on the TRex to open up in DTD....keeping our fingers crossed it will be ready during our week That is another one to try although it probably won't be on the dining plan. with older teens, mix up the locations--go for a meal in one of the monorail resorts, maybe book a meal in the Wilderness Resort just to view the resort. our "kids" are now 19 and 17 and can look back on alot of neat dining experiences. Some we've kept since the first trip (like Sci Fi and Ohanas), some we did once and never again (50's Prime Time, Hollywood & Vine).

 

[PiperPizzaz]

I know teenage boys usually love a buffet/all you can eat. How about 'Ohanas. It is good and easy to get to.

What hotel are you staying at? I don't like to go anywhere that is super long to get to. Also, how picky are they. Do they like ethnic type of food?

 

[skellinton]

Thanks for the tips- we are staying at Pop Century (have to keep costs down so we can stay longer!). We have park hopper tickets though.

The boys will eat anything but Peanut Satay- they love curry and other foods like that, just not peanut satay sauce- and I do mean they will eat anything else. I am way pickier then they are, my husband is just like them- except we both love peanut satay sauce. So, we should be good anywhere we go!

Now for the dining, do you only make reservations for the dinners since we have the dining plan?

Thank you all for your help- off to check allears.net!

Skellinton

 

[bookgirl2632]

Especially since you are going during free dining you should make reservations! You must do this or you won't get a lot of your first choices. I find it's helpful to figure out loosely where you are going to be on a particular day and then make ADRs at restaurants in or around those parks. It worked well for me anyway.

Our favorites are as follows:
MK and MK area: California Grill (2 TS credits), Citricos (also 2 TS), Crystal Palace (two teen boys might not like the Pooh characters here), Tony's Town Square (Italian fare)

Epcot: Le Cellier (excellent steak!), San Angel Inn (great if you like Mexican), Chefs de France (not adventurous, but I like it)

MGM: 50s Primetime Cafe (food is great and it's lots of fun...I'd go for lunch)

AK: There are no table service here as of yet. But Tusker House and Flame Tree are some of the best CS in all of WDW.

In addition, I love Spoodles at Boardwalk. It's Mediterranean in flavor and the Boardwalk is a nice area to spend a little while. It's a short ferry ride from MGM and within walking distance from Epcot as well.

I'd also add that other posters are correct in saying to look at the menus on allsears.net. That site was most helpful when I was picking places to eat.

Have fun planning the trip! I think it's nearly as fun as the trip itself.

 

[GOODoldPAL]

I also will be @ POP in Sept with teen, DD age 14 from 18th-27th.
This is only our 2nd WDW trip ~ we reserved a couple of favorites and then some new ones.

Yes, we had her look @ menus on AllEars.net and also made a rough plan of what parks we will visit each day. Most of our ressies are late dinners.
We agreed on following:

Concourse Steakhouse
Le Cellier
Kona Cafe (1 breakfast, 1 dinner)
Whispering Canyon
50's Prime Time
Tempanyaki
BOMA
Planet Hollywood
San Angel Inn
Crystal Palace (breakfast)
Wolfgang Puck cafe

DD is a bit picky and doesnt like spicy but we booked a couple of places planning on paying "out of pocket" for her meals. Consider that if your fam can't agree; anyone can order the plain chicken strips, mac & cheese etc from kids menu.
As you can see we mostly stayed with steak/burger type places with just a couple more exotic. This way we know everyone will consume a good sit down meal each day but we have option to "graze adventurously" for Counter Service meals.

Best of luck with your ressies & trip planning! See ya @ the POP!

Tina

 

[jenwag2007]

We just returned from WDW earlier this month. We had our 15 y/o son & his 16 y/o friend. Here is what they had to say about our choices for restaurants:

Coral Reef @ EPCOT - loved the aquarium, LOVED the New York strip steak
O'Hana @ Polynesian - didn't love the entertainment - loved the food
Boma @ Animal Kingdom Lodge - loved the food, loved looking around Animal Kingdom Lodge after dinner - we had to drag them out of there! They explored for over an hour & talked about how cool it was for days
Tony's Town Square @ Magic Kingdom - didn't care for the food or the restaurant
LeCellier @ EPCOT - loved the steak, but really LOVED our waitress!
Cape May Cafe buffet @ Beach Club - loved the food - went back several times to the buffet & loved walking through the International Gateway at EPCOT afterward to catch Illuminations

All in all, my son says these are his favorites (from last 3 trips):
1) Boma
2) Coral Reef
3) Cape May Cafe
4) Le Cellier

Hope you have a great trip! My son said to make sure you go to Blizzard Beach with your boys - that was their favorite activity!

 

[cncDisney4]

Our DS's also like Sci-Fi so we agree there. The other restaurant we really enjoy is 'Ohana's for dinner. We have had the character breakfast there too and enjoyed that but we really like the dinner. On our last trip in December we had DS21, DS17 and his 17 yo friend - they all said that was the best meal they had on the trip.

Enjoy!

 

[PoohsFan1]

If you like fish, you should try CR in Epcot. The atmosphere makes it all worth while....plus you have to try the chocolate wave, it is to die for

 

[Disneybaby417]

Yay for your vacation. There are sooooo many good places to eat in Disney. If you like to have a good time and good food, come to Whispering Canyon Cafe . It is bbq and more all you can drink milkshakes...7 flavors to mix need I say more???. You can act silly, ride stick horses and all kinds of fun. It is a 1 point restaurant located in Wilderness Lodge. Breakfast and Lunch, you can make a reservation, but usually can walk-in (especially during the week). For dinner make reservations well in advance because it is really busy, that goes for any place at dinnertime. O'hauna has really good food and if you get a later dinner reservation you can have an excellent view of MK fireworks. Cape May Cafe is really good, they have shrimp, clams, mussles, ribs and more. Tony's in MK has really good pizzas. There are so many more places to mention, Cinderella Castle, Germany, Canada, England, China (EPCOT).....

The dining plan is really cool. You get..per person, 1 non alcoholic drink, app, entree, and dessert for lunch and dinner. Breakfast may vary, WC you get 2 drinks and your breakfast. The ddp is a great way to try new things, just come really hungry, it is a lot of food...elastic waistbands are highly encouraged

Have a great trip and a safe one