What will be the good Disney restaurants to use the Disney Dining Plan vouchers for 1 adult and 2 kids x 4days
Posted on November 23rd, 2009 by admin
Hi, I will be taking 2 kids to Disney later this month, and I was told to make reservations for dining in the restaurants inside the park. We have purchased the meal plan for 4 days. Can someone recommend any good restaurants to experience? The ages of the 2 kids are 5(girl) and 7(boy). Many thanks,
Joann
Here are some of our favorite places to eat. Most are in the parks, some not.
Chef Mickey’s – Contemporary resort. The best character meal around. Food is above average, but Mickey and the gang come right to the table for pictures and autographs. An easy way to make sure you get to see the Mouse.
Sci-Fi Diner in MGM – You sit and eat in a car while watching a black and white Sci-Fi movie. Good food, great atmosphere. My kids love this place.
50’s Prime Time Cafe in MGM – Another great place. Food was really good. Decor is like a 1950’s style house, and your server is either "Mom" or "Auntie" or "Uncle." We ate there on our last trip in April and are planning to do it again in March. You will be told to keep your elbows off the table, and you better eat all your veggies or no dessert! My wife didn’t eat all her veggies and they brought them back to her with whipped cream for her dessert. A lot of fun.
Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom – Character meals with Pooh and the gang. Pricey but worth it.
Mexico in Epcot – great food if you like Mexican. Authentic food, great atmosphere, stuff to eat for the little guys (my kids don’t like spicy food.)
Tony’s Town Square in Magic Kingdom – GREAT Italian food. Fun place to eat, based on Lady and the Tramp.
Japan in Epcot – meal is cooked right at your table by your own chef. My kids had a blast.
1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian – Character meal with Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins and her crew. We are eating Easter dinner here this year.
That is only a few, there are tons of other places to eat. I would suggest going to the Disney website and using the dining finder for each place to eat in each park. Another place for some great info on everything WDW has to offer is the DISboards. The disboards is a message board website all about going to Disney. You can get restaurant reviews, ask questions, get advice, trip reports, resort reviews, tips for avoiding crowds, and much more all for free. I put both links below.
Hope this helps, have a great trip!!
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:13 am
the Wispering Cafe (really funny) @ the Wilderness Lodge, the 50’s Prime Time Cafe (50’s theme) @ MGM Park this will take up 2 days worth of your Dinners
References :
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:51 am
Crystal Light Palace is an amazing place to eat. You can go for breakfast lunch or dinner. And for all of the meals they have characters. The characters go around the cafes and dance and sing and the best part is that they go up to every single table and spend time with each child so the parents can take pictures. Also the place is a buffet so there is food for everyone. You don’t have to wait for your food to come out, and they have a childrens section at the buffet for your children. Overall, its just a very fun atomsphere and great food.
Enjoy your trip!
References :
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:03 am
I hate to tell you this, but good luck! The dining plan has proved to be extremely popular, and you may just have to take what you can get. A lot of things will already be filled up. People start making reservations 6 months in advance – I think it’s crazy, but they do.
http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm is a link to ALL the menus in all the parks! Very helpful.
A couple of recommendations:
At the Studios, 50’s Prime Time Cafe – your waiter pretends to be "Mom" or your cousin or aunt. You really have to play along, but kids get a big kick out of it.
The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater – kids love it. It’s like you are in a drive-in. You are seated in "cars" and watch movie clips on the big screen. Excellent atmosphere.
At Magic Kingdom – I like Liberty Tree Tavern a lot. Kind of different food than you will find at most places. They have a character dinner at nighttime or regular meals at lunch.
Epcot – we almost always eat at Sunshine Seasons because there are several different food "stations" with lots of options to please everybody. Lots of great restaurants in the World Showcase to choose from, depending on what your group likes.
And don’t forget there are lots of counter-service restaurants throughout the parks that you just walk up to with no reservations. You need reservations for your sit-down meals only.
References :
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:29 am
Here are some of our favorite places to eat. Most are in the parks, some not.
Chef Mickey’s – Contemporary resort. The best character meal around. Food is above average, but Mickey and the gang come right to the table for pictures and autographs. An easy way to make sure you get to see the Mouse.
Sci-Fi Diner in MGM – You sit and eat in a car while watching a black and white Sci-Fi movie. Good food, great atmosphere. My kids love this place.
50’s Prime Time Cafe in MGM – Another great place. Food was really good. Decor is like a 1950’s style house, and your server is either "Mom" or "Auntie" or "Uncle." We ate there on our last trip in April and are planning to do it again in March. You will be told to keep your elbows off the table, and you better eat all your veggies or no dessert! My wife didn’t eat all her veggies and they brought them back to her with whipped cream for her dessert. A lot of fun.
Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom – Character meals with Pooh and the gang. Pricey but worth it.
Mexico in Epcot – great food if you like Mexican. Authentic food, great atmosphere, stuff to eat for the little guys (my kids don’t like spicy food.)
Tony’s Town Square in Magic Kingdom – GREAT Italian food. Fun place to eat, based on Lady and the Tramp.
Japan in Epcot – meal is cooked right at your table by your own chef. My kids had a blast.
1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian – Character meal with Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins and her crew. We are eating Easter dinner here this year.
That is only a few, there are tons of other places to eat. I would suggest going to the Disney website and using the dining finder for each place to eat in each park. Another place for some great info on everything WDW has to offer is the DISboards. The disboards is a message board website all about going to Disney. You can get restaurant reviews, ask questions, get advice, trip reports, resort reviews, tips for avoiding crowds, and much more all for free. I put both links below.
Hope this helps, have a great trip!!
References :
http://www.disneyworld.com
http://www.disboards.com
Disney Vacation Club member
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:59 am
Hi,
I have 4 kids and I will tell you their favorite places to eat.
Table Service:
Chef Mickey’s (character meal)
‘Ohana at the Polynesian
Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge
Mexico in Epcot
Le Cellier in Epcot
The Land in Epcot
Counter Service:
COlumbia Harbour House
Adult Favorite (kids enjoyed it too!):
Spoodles at the Boardwalk
References :
Disney Dining:
http://www.plan-a-magical-vacation.com/disney-world-dining.html
Character Dining:
http://www.plan-a-magical-vacation.com/character-dining.html
Dining Reservation Procedure:
http://www.plan-a-magical-vacation.com/advance-dining-reservation.html
Spoodles:
http://www.plan-a-magical-vacation.com/spoodles.html
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:45 am
Seeing that you are going off season…
Many ’sit down’ restaurants it is quite possible to walk in to dinner. Especially for lunch. Though others are only open for dinner, and some are probably already booked solid. I don’t do the character stuff myself, but I’d guess that many of those are sold out…
First off, how are you dividing your park time? One park per day? Any park hopping? (Park hopping allows you to hop over to a park that has better food or is open later than the one you started in)…
And do you prefer a bigger meal at lunch or dinner? Some restaurants the menu is very similar from lunch to dinner, while others have changes (and as I said, others simply are only open for dinner). Some feel they are getting more value using them for dinner since it’s the more expensive of the meals….
And some ’signature’ restaurants (mostly at the hotels) will cost you TWO sit down tickets (but they are among the best on property). (And they have a dress code. Tasteful T-shirts are ok, but sleveless shirts or clothing with tears aren’t allowed).
ok, here’s some recommendations (assuming the 1 park per day):
Magic Kingdom – instead of eating at one of the parks sitdowns, consider getting on the monorail to the Polynesian hotel for a lunch at Kona Cafe (you should be able to walk right in). You’d be leaving the park during the time it’s most crowded, you can take a walk around the grounds there, then back to the park for the afternoon & evening fun…
Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) – The only sit down I’ve ever done is the Brown Derby. It is quite excellent and is probably the classiest place to eat on property w/o a dress code. I’ve generally walked in to lunch here. Some might recommend the Prime Time Cafe (homestyle comfort food with waitresses that act like they are your mother as part of the act) and the Sci-Fi Drive in (basically fast food at sit down prices from what I hear)…
Animal Kingdom – since it closes at 5pm, it might be good to maximize the time you spend inside the park, then for dinner to to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and eat at Boma. (You will definitely need reservations as well as a rental car). There are some ‘kid safe’ things here, but there is also a lot of great African dishes here (or things similar to it). It’s a buffett that includes dessert. A benefit of eating at that hotel is you get to take a look at the animals that they have there, which stay out even at night (it is separate from the theme park).
Epcot – easily the best food park… for lunch you can basically walk into any restaurant (except perhaps the character lunches). Dinner you probably need reservations for Italy and the downstairs French restaurant, and DEFINITELY for the upstairs one (though that is a ’signature’ and would cost you 2 tickets – but extremely good). Marrakesh in Morocco is actually preferable for lunch (food is basically the same, but with far less people in there the atmosphere is so much better). It has entertainment for both lunch & dinner. Germany does too, but the entertainment for dinner is far better. Japan has the ‘benihana’ hot tables where they cook your food in front of you. (If you have the ‘park hopper’ you could schedule multiple meals here since it is open later than the other parks)…
References :