Why Buffets are a MUST

[Sandy22]

I have 12 year old and a 14 year old boys.. we need buffets... I can't afford to buy them 2 entrees each

My 13 DS LOVES buffets! My formerly picky eater has turned into a teenage bottomless pit!

 

[GC&S]

We used to love intimate sit down dinners with bottles of wine but dining with a 3 yr old limits that! We do a lot of buffets mainly for the time factor. It's just too hard to sit in a rest. for an hour or more, especially if they are busy. Our dd is usually behaved but she's usually done eating very quickly. And buffets are great for getting her to eat different types of food. Yes, the food may not be in perfect presentation and others may touch it, but how many of us know what really goes on in the kitchen of even the best sit down restaurants?

 

[Chicago526]

I do like sit downs better than buffets, but I don't mind them either. I'll only go to them for breakfast, though. I find that breakfast foods are much easier to prepare in bulk and turn out much better than lunch/dinner foods. And I can still get my eggs to order! And, at least while DFi and I are child-free, they are much faster than sit downs, and I'm always in a hurry in the morning at WDW, I'm anxious to get to the park!

 

[calgarygary]

I think the complaint is not about serving one's children but serving them after a long day of walking in the parks. (Keep in mind how very far away the buffet is at WDW restaurants from where you might be seated)

--From a mom of 6 who cooks and serves non-stop at home at would like to be waited on while on vacation.

I can certainly appreciate wanting to be served - after all I do most of the cooking in our family. But let's face it, if the walk to the buffet is too far it may be time to consider a vacation other than WDW.

 

[crisi]

Well, I suppose that depends on what you use the meal for....our purpose in eating a sit down meal as opposed to counterservice has a lot to do with getting off our feet and relaxing, so regardless of if we can walk to the buffet, we don't WANT to walk to the buffet. Sort of defeats a main purpose of having a sit down meal for us.

Other people have a purpose to feed a 14 year old boy (or themselves!) with some regard to cost. Buffets can be a great thing for that. Others want to try a lot of different foods - buffets can be great for that too.

But if your purpose is to spend an hour sitting down, talking to your family, while a waitress brings you dinner and a drink with an umbrella in it, buffets are at a definate disadvantage. (Though Boma had a pretty good umbrella drink, and Biergarten serves some nice wines).

 

[Belle5]

I can certainly appreciate wanting to be served - after all I do most of the cooking in our family. But let's face it, if the walk to the buffet is too far it may be time to consider a vacation other than WDW.[/QUOTE



Getting ready to enjoy our 20th family vacation to WDW in spite of my obvious LACK OF ENERGY!

 

[calgarygary]

Belle5, this is only our 3 trip (pretty expensive to get there with a family of 6 from Calgary) - maybe that's why I still have the energy for the buffets.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Well--except for breakfast, I never do buffets.
But way back when I did, I used to get a kick when folks filled their plates with SO much food that it fell off walking back to the table--leaving a trail on the floor of relish, pickles, cottage cheese, peel n' eat shrimp, salad, bread, etc etc .

 

[erikthewise]

I guess I'm not as squeamish as some because I do enjoy the buffets when we do them. We've eaten at Crystal Palace, Hollywood & Vine, Akershus, and Cape May twice.

But oddly, I haven't scheduled any for this year. It wasn't really intentional, but clearly something is going on here.

I guess the things I don't like are the high prices and facts that so many of them are either for breakfast or have characters, and we're not looking for those things.

Some dishes work at buffets and some don't, fish and pizza being prime examples of the latter. Salads and desserts are usually fine.

I don't believe that buffets are intrinsically inferior, as evidenced by the fact that on our 4-night DCL cruise last year, two of the three best meals I had were buffets! Namely the embarkation buffet at Parrot Cay and the Brunch at Palo. (Dinner at Palo was the other.)

 

[skuttle]

If we do a buffet, it's usually breakfast. We don't care for the food offered at the lunch/dinner buffets...it's just not as good as a regular sitdown place.

 

[Scotch]

Why I don't like buffets:

1. I'm getting more and more icked out by the thought someone has been sticking their fingers in my food. Especially at Disney, where a ton of little hands need to graze over all the desserts, and are too short for the sneeze guard to keep their little faces out of my entree.

This is why we bring hand sanitizer and ALWAYS use it after a trip to the buffet line and before we touch our own utencils/food.

 

[Savin4Disney]

We hardly go to buffets here at home. Not a big fan of the ones here. For Disney I have 2 booked I believe. But with a 14 son who is 6 foot - 189 and plays football...he needs all the food my budget can't buy.

 

[cillakat]

<<I'm getting more and more icked out by the thought someone has been sticking their fingers in my food. Especially at Disney, where a ton of little hands need to graze over all the desserts, and are too short for the sneeze guard to keep their little faces out of my entree.
>>

ITA. and it's getting worse. My mom was so not a germ freak. The opposite infact. She was raised by a mother who was the Supreme Queen of Clean and Perfectionism and soooooo went the opposite way with us. I didn't really 'get' that there was any problem with eating food off other ppls plates (besides the manners thing) or even off the floor if it something dry like an m&m. OMG. Shudder at the thought now.

Since my first child was born, it's been a gradual progression....during my midwifery training of course I was washing my hands all of the time. Then my nb baby was getting frequent colds....so we started with frequent (freakishly so) handwashing and hand sanitizer.

If you see someone squirting their kids hands with a giant bottle hand sanitizer between 12/22-26, that'd be me they have the tiny size that they carry on their tiny fanny packs but i carry a full size in the backpack.

Last year, my SIL's kids were all sick by day four (of 7). my kids didn't get it thankfully. "go wash your hands please"..."oh here, mommy has some hand sanitizer for you" <singing little happy hand sanitizer song> "definitely, after you wash your hands" "oop! i need to hear a toilet flush then some water running for a hand wash" "okay guys as soon as we get off the ride mommy has hand sanitizer for you" and on and on.

they're far from germaphobes or clean freaks, so my tendencies haven't taken a negative toll yet LOL. but it's keeping us healthy,.....which is a plus when mom is prone to bronchitis and upper respiratory infections.....and one of the little ones has bad asthma.

anyhoo, sitdown or CS for us when available.

katherine in atl

 

[jann1033]

i'm not a fan of buffets either. i guess they are good for a large group since everyone can get what they want but imo they aren't usually as fresh and i hate the fact someone could be touching/sneezing / licking the spoon
have seen kids do all the above

however not into constantly using hand sanitzer due to antimicrobials killing off "not so bad" and leaving only the "really bad bugs" so i eat sit down

 

[floridaishot!]

My husband teases me about not liking buffets because he just thinks I'm snobby. I just don't like the germ factors of food laying out, people touching the utensils and their plates with the utensils etc... Also, the biggest problem I have is the gluttony factor of buffets...its just too much food and I would guess that 99% of the people eat more at a buffet than a pre-plated serving (which is also too large). This will sound mean but I always have thought that buffets attract/ are for... fat people.

 

[jann1033]

This will sound mean but I always have thought that buffets attract/ are for... fat people.

yes you are right... that is very mean and wrong and stereotyping and uncalled and evidently you never noticed any thin people there with their plates filled up????

 

[tmanaster]

We love buffets at Disney too! While we do not usually go to them at home, at Disney they are great! With 4 kids under 7, no waiting is heaven!

 

[maya44]

however not into constantly using hand sanitzer due to antimicrobials killing off "not so bad" and leaving only the "really bad bugs" so i eat sit down

Hand Sanitizers (one of which goes by the brand name starting with a P) do not have added anticicobials like a anti-bacterial soap.

They are alcohol gel which kills almost all bugs naturally. A recent study in the Journal Pediatrics found that they SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the risk of gastroinestinal illness and are MUCH more effective in an every day situation then "good old fashioned soap and water" mostly becaue most people do not scrub long ennough with soap and water and alcohol gel takes only one second to wipe out the same bugs.

 

[shellybaxter]

This will sound mean but I always have thought that buffets attract/ are for... fat people.

As a "fat person" I'll tell you that that is not true. I hate buffets. I'm not as large as I am because I'm a gluttonous person. Most of the time I eat very little. In fact even being large, there have been times in my life that I've had serious eating disorders where I would eat nothing but a bowl of cereal all day, causing pretty serious health issues. I am ALWAYS conscious of people like you who will judge me by the number of spoonfuls of mashed potatoes I'll put on my plate at a buffet, or how many trips I make. I usually make several because I WILL NOT over fill my plate for fear of what people will think as I walk back to the table. I have literally planned how many different paths I can take to the buffet line as not to walk in front of the same people each time.

I'm large because I binge eat. Mostly because of emotional issues that are not something I'd like to get into here. Please don't make such hurtful comments and perpetuate hurtful sterotypes like those about buffets. I have a hard enough time suspecting there are people like you judging me, I don't need actual proof.

 

[Belle5]

My husband teases me about not liking buffets because he just thinks I'm snobby. I just don't like the germ factors of food laying out, people touching the utensils and their plates with the utensils etc... Also, the biggest problem I have is the gluttony factor of buffets...its just too much food and I would guess that 99% of the people eat more at a buffet than a pre-plated serving (which is also too large). This will sound mean but I always have thought that buffets attract/ are for... fat people.

If it weren't for the germ factor, I would LOVE buffets. There is such an opportunity to eat a healthy meal with salads and veggies instead of the burgers and fries counter service scene.
You say your husband thinks you're a snob about not liking buffets. It sounds like you're a snob for looking your nose down at other people. That can only be fixed by a heart change. I am sorry for you.