BEST RESTAURANTS IN WALT DISNEY WORLD
 

My family and I are going to Walt Disney World for Spring Break. I'm taking my son and my granddaughter.....she's 11 years old. We are staying at the Contemporary Hotel and we need ideas for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. We have a package that includes our meals but I need some suggestions, there are so many restaurants. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou!

Check out wdwig.com for the unofficial guide. Current menus are posted, this will help narrow your choices. Granddaughter would enjoy Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney or Animal Kingdom

It's been awhile, but we always really enjoyed the Biergarten in the German pavillion at Epcot. A good buffet at reasonable rates with a great floor show.

Also, on Main St. USA is an Italian restaurant themed after 101 Dalmations. If you time it right and get window seats, the parade goes right by.

The best meal we ever had at Disney was at Artisan's Point in Wilderness Lodge, I believe. (This was eight years ago, however).

Current choices that would be fun for your granddaughter:

Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (worthy of a visit just to see the building and its surroundings). Food is excellent.

If you are staying at the contemporary - You need to do one meal at Chef Mickey's which has all the characters. I only did dinner their and the food was barely acceptable (I am a NY Foodie to be fair)but the experience was great. I would try breakfast, I find that breakfast buffets are better than dinner buffets. I also had an excellent meal at artisans point in May of 2003. Take the boat over to Wilderness Lodge and have dinner there or Whispering Canyon Cafe - the food was great here to0 (much more casual though than Artist Point) and a blast for kids. The hotel itself is worth looking at.
Then maybe head over to the boardwalk and try spoodles - kid friendly and the food was very good.
I hear there are some great resurants in Epcot - but I was with a 2.5 year old so we chose the Coral Reef which was very dissapointing. Enjoy

The best meal we ever had in Disney was at the Portabella Yacht Club in Downtown Disney. Our boys were 11 & 8, and loved it. We are also big fans of the Rainforest Cafes and Wilderness Lodge dining.
For fun dining, you can't beat the 50's Prime Time CAfe in MGM. The food is good, and the atmosphere is great!

The California Grill at the top of the Contemporary is the best restaurant at WDW in my opinion. Make reservations for a time during the Magic Kingdom fireworks. They turn down the lights, pipe in the music and you can watch the fireworks either from the windows or from their balcony.

Breakfast with Cinderella in the castle at Magic Kingdom would be an awesome experience for an 11 year old girl I would think. Who cares what the food is like!

This does require advance reservations but it is worth a shot.

check out wdwig.com for copies of the menues from most of the restaurants at WDW. You can see if a restaurant appeals to you. Plus its helpful to know the prices in advance for budgeting purposes.

Overall, we've gotten decent meals at WDW. A few klunkers but overall nothing too atrocious. The meals that I have enjoyed the most at WDW are:

Lunch and Dinner at Spoodles - on the Boardwalk. Mediterrean style food.

Dinner at the Coral Reef - at the Living Seas exhibit at Epcot. Atmosphere and decor was very nice, service from our waiter was excellent, food was very good.

Lunch at Teppanyaki - at Japan in Epcot. You sit around the grill as the chef cooks your food. Adds a little entertainment to your meal.

Dinner at Whispering Canyon - in the Wilderness Lodge - barbeque was good and my 5& 8 yos loved the horse play with the waiters. The waitstaff loved to pick on self conscious looking teenagers so beware.

Meals that we didn't like:

O'Hanas - at the Polynesian - all you can eat dinner with a Hawaiian singer, hula contests etc. On the plus side we saw the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom and the cocktails were yummy as were the appetizers. The entrees are less desirable. They bring you the meat on long skewers and often the meat was dried out.

Chef Mickey's - food was bad, characters were good.

Mayan Grill - at Coronado Springs hotel. In a very empty restaurant we were seated next to the kitchen. Had to ask to move. Service was bad, food was very lackluster.

Have a great time.

We (w/11 yr old sdaughter and 13 yr old son) like Chef de France at Epcot. Good simple French food, but more casual than the other French place at Epcot.
LilMsFoodie: Thanks- I have reservations at Boma for early April trip but wasn't sure whether to go there or not. Have followed your reviews and advice many times without disappointment, so we will try Boma.

BTW, coffebeana, what's w/the all caps in the title of your post? I noticed you cap the titles on all your posts. It isn't needed, we will respond without the caps.

My favorites are Boma at Animal Kingdom, the WIlderness Lodge ( BBQ type foods- all you can eat-), OHana at the Polynesian,and kids would like Rainforest Cafe.

In Epcot - German Biergarten (buffet with many choices and entertainment), Chefs de France (the one that is ground level is very nice for lunch), Rose and Crown in UK - great to sit on the patio and relax and if you're there for dinner - its a perfect spot to see the laser light show. snacks - Beaver Tails from Canada (maple and chocolate are our favorites). In Magic Kingdom - Tony's on Main Street USA is very good for dinner (Italian) and has the perfect vantage point for the nighttime parade; Aunt Polly's in Frontierland is good for lunch - on Tom Sawyer's Island, Diamond Horseshoe Revue for lunch (if open), Columbia in Liberty Square is good for lunch or dinner. Downtown Disney will have the rainforest cafe, chef mickey's etc if you are there in the evenings for shopping. Try to do a character breakfast - we did ours at the Polynesian. In Disney Studios, we like the Prime Time cafe, Brown Derby (but expensive) and Mama Melrose. You'll see lots of fast food type places in every park. What I've listed here are more sit down, relax and use silveware type places.

Thankyou so much for all the ideas. So far I have reservations for dinner at L'Originate Alfredo Di Roma Ristorante, Whispering Canyon Cafe and Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We are also going to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Review! We will try Chef de France at Epcot for lunch. Still trying to find the best character breakfast. Thanks again for being so helpful!

We also liked Sci-Fi Dine IN at MGM park, the burgers and fries were very good. You sit in cars and there are movies from the 50's showing on a drive-in movie screen. Kona Cafe at the Polynesian was great for lunch or dinner. Then you can watch the Electrical Light Parade from the beach at the Poly.

Have a wonderful vacation!

coffeebeana: Alfredo's in Epcot is not much more than an Olive Garden. You'd be better off at the Canadian or Morroccan offering if you are looking for better food. Kids seem to love the Canadian restaurant: Le Cellier. Just my opnion and FYI LMF

The wilderness lodge for dinner gets my vote. It is fun and silly and the kids have a blast, the food is good too! Plus, you get to check out the beautiful resort and it is fun taking the boat to get there!!

In regards to the character breakfast, each one features specific characters.

When we stayed at the Contemporary bck in the 80's Goofy sat down at my table and posed for pictures with us. When we stayed at the Wilderness Resort in the 90's, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger stopped by to wave hello.

I suggest you find out your granddaughter's favorite characters and pick the location that features those characters. another example: Donald, Daisy, & three nephews were at the yacht club for a while.

Inside the park try the Sci-Fi restaurant. Kids loved that! If you buy the meals, make sure and try to get reservations. It really helps.

Try the Character Breakfast at the Animal Kingdom. The food is good. The waiters are very friendly. The characters take their time to come to each table for pictures. (Do not get on the Dinosaur ride right after breakfast. It's just a little too bumpy right after eating.)