dining at animal kingdom suggestions

[thejens]

We are on the Deluxe Dining Plan this year. We are going to AK twice. We plan to have dinners at Boma and Jiko on those days. On one day we will have Flame Tree counter service. We could do this twice (yum!) but like to try new things. Yak and Yeti seem to get bad reviews. Any suggestions? Pizza and Restaurantasaurus do not appeal to us. Is Tusker House gone? Is Rainforest Cafe on the Dining Plan? We love Boma and could do lunch or bfast there, but hate to waste time leaving the park. Thanks for any suggestions or recent reviews of these options. Our trip is next week so may not be able to get reservations.

[Tick-Tock]

I don't think that Boma is open for lunch.

Tusker House is still there - it changed from CS to TS, I believe.

[Gator]

Rainforest is OK, and it should be on the dining plan. I typically go elsewhere for sit down food on the day I'm at AK. They do have the best CS at Flame Tree, and I'd eat there all week if I could.

[SBETigg]

I don't think Rainforest Cafe is on the dining plan. We did Flametree BBQ twice and it was really good both times. I like to try different things, too, but the choices were limited (pre Yak and Yeti opening) so we just tried new things both times at Flametree. I would give Yak and Yeti a go, though. I've seen mixed reviews. You could also do the character breakfast late enough to be a breakfast/lunch.

[Natazu]

I don't think Y&Y has been around long enough to put much stock in the reviews. We just haven't seen many. Plus, they're still working the bugs out (and it's tough to be a bug). We're definitely going to try it next trip bad reviews or not.

[mudpuppysmom]

We ate at Tusker House for lunch when we were there in January -- on a whim. DH did not know that it had changed from CS to TS and he said let's give it a try.

The food was good....Bomaesque I thought. Service was decent. The one thing I will say is that the tables are pretty close together, so if it was busy it would be loud and hard to enjoy a lunch with just the table you are with.

We did not have ADR's and waited about 3 minutes to be seated. I have heard that when the musicians are doing their show it is hard to hear your name being called if you do not have a pager, but when we were there it was pretty slow.

We'd go back again for lunch.

[laughingplace<3]

I find the dining options to be the worst out of all of the theme parks in Animal Kingdom. Although I know Tusker House is now ts, I thought it changed to ts AND cs, so I would still recommend going back there. Other than that, Flame Tree I thought had a very nice atmosphere. Most of the food throughout the park is the same, and I personally think it's hard to find things for picky young eaters (McDonald's- OUT!)

[Mickey 101]

Even though some of the reviews for Yak & Yeti CS have been mixed, it seems like guests have really enjoyed the TS there. The menu sounded really good. On our last trip, there was no Yak & Yeti or Tusker House as both were in construction/modification phase, so we tried Pizzafari after a long break without eating there. If you're definitely looking for another CS meal, nothing can replace Tusker House, but Pizzafari wasn't bad.

[Jared]

I don't think dining at Disney's Animal Kingdom is too bad, especially compared to the horrendous counter service options at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Tusker House Restaurant was converted from one of my favorite lunch stops to a table service buffet, leaving Flame Tree Barbeque as really the only viable quick service option in the park. Pizzafari and Restaurantosaurus are simply mediocre at best.

Like Jym said, Yak & Yeti Restaurant is still too new to form a valid opinion. I've seen mostly positive reviews of the table service section, while the Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafe seems to be lackluster. I am having dinner in the main dining room on May 25.

Rainforest Cafe does not participate in the Disney Dining Plan. Boma - Flavors of Africa serves only breakfast and dinner, not lunch like your post suggested.

If you want a counter service with that one extra meal, I'd probably try the Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafe. For table service, I'd probably try Yak & Yeti Restaurant.

Good luck!

:tasty:

[thejens]

We don't mind doing Table Service if it doesn't take too long. Can anyone tell me about Tusker House Table service? I liked the choices before. Can anyone compare YY to TH table service?

[#1donaldfan]

Just a suggestion on a very nice CS place would be Pizzafari, however since your not into pizza, I continue to suggest this, as it has AWESOME subs too.......IMHO....:thumbsup:

[LandFan]

Yak & Yeti TS was great! We ate there last fall and had a great time. The Dim Sum sampler (or whatever it was called) was fabulous. The mango pie is to die for! You can get the mango pie at the CS too (they come as small, individual pies at the CS).

It was also really beautiful inside. Lots if atmosphere and artifacts to look at.

[katzctkpt]

Yak & yeti are on our to do list for this December. We have read bad reviews but, we've decided the only way to know for sure is to try it. We have steered clear of other restaurants due to the reviews then tried and found we liked them. It's ones preference and you won't know til you try.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Rainforest Cafe is not on the dining plan but we eat there anyway...you will get a lot of mixed reviews on it because it is a chain however we don't have one close by and enjoy the decor...it can be pricey if you order steak or seafood but their pizza, pasta and burgers are all reasonably priced....

[wdwfan]

We had lunch at Y&Y in Feb. and it was very good. Have adr for lunch there in Nov.

[Goofygram]

My son and I ate at Yak and Yeti in January and we really liked it(TS). The grilled steak and shrimp were delicious, the steak had an awesome marinade on it and was good.

My daughter and two grandaughters are going back in July. You won't know till you try it yourself as I was initially skeptical myself.




Deb

[thejens]

Okay, I have made reservations at Tusker House. Mostly because I can get good Chinese food at home and the adjective "Bomaesque" proved to be irresistable to me. I love Boma. But you have all convinced me to try YY on a future trip! I'll be sure to post reviews and let you all know how it went. Thank you so much for all your help.