View Full Version : Best Table Service?
savafan
06-22-2014, 12:50 AM
Taking our 3rd annual family trip this coming November, and we were lucky enough to get a pin code that gave us free dining at Port Orleans Riverside. Previously, we've only stayed at the value resorts, so this will be our first chance at trying the table service restaurants. Also the first time both kids (5 & 6) will be traveling together. We've booked an 8 day stay, so what places should we definitely check out?
hauntedmansiongirl
06-22-2014, 04:12 AM
You have to go to 50s Prime Time Cafe or the Sci Fi Dine In Theater with your kids! 50s has amazing fried chicken and the atmosphere is so cool. The Sci Fi has cool cars that you sit in and watch corny Sci-Fi movie clips. It is all dark and starry like a real drive in. And they have the best Oreo milkshakes. Remember that you get dessert every lunch and supper, so you have to take that into account when you look at the menus. Both are at DHS.
Chef mickeys and The Garden Grill are our two favourites for character dining. Chef Mickeys is cool because you get to see the monorail glide overhead. And The Garden Grill slowly rotates so you can see part of the Living with the Land ride in Epcot (although it hasn't been turning lately).
Another cool, very Disney spot is the Coral Reef at Epcot. It has a huge aquarium and you get to watch the amazing sharks, sting rays and fish while you eat. We love their trout and steak. Very yummy!
Trails End Buffet in the campground in very underrated, as far as were concerned. It is a smaller buffet, but the kids love it- pizza, ribs, fried chicken, salad bar, some kind of roasted meat (we've had turkey and prime rib), soft serve ice cream sundae bar... All great food. Plus you can walk to the Chip N Dales campfire and sing along after you eat. It is a great walk seeing all of the huge RVs on the way. And the show is a lot of fun for young kids! Fort wilderness also has the stables with the huge Belgian and. Clydesdale horses that are used in the MK and you can go and visit them. It really is worth the trip!
The hot reservation right now is Be Our Guest. I tried to reserve it on the 180 days, and couldn't get a single reservation for our whole 13 night trip! But we've been there before, so it wasn't a huge loss.
If you can swing a 2 table credit meal, California Grill or Narcossees are both amazing. Cali Grill is on the top of the Contemporary and has wonderful steak and sushi. Narcossees in the Grand Floridian has the best lobster we've ever had. And both have amazing views of the MK fireworks.
You can check every menu on the Disney website so that you know if your family will like what they have. Enjoy the dining plan! It's fun to eat dessert every day!!! :mickey:
MississippiDisneyFreak
06-22-2014, 11:06 AM
Ohanas is awesome but a hard one to get you'd have to start checking now , we also love Kona for breakfast as far as food but for a character breakfast 1900 Park Fare was a blast . Via Napoli in Epcot is popular for their pizza the kids might. Appreciate that we also liked Crystal Palace buffet at MK for food and character dinner
Little off topic.....but how did you get free dining at port Orleans?
faline
06-22-2014, 05:07 PM
Little off topic.....but how did you get free dining at port Orleans?
I think they mean they got a pin code that provided them with free dining as an odd-on to their room stay. They selected Port Orleans as their resort location. I don't think it means that they got free dining at that resort - just the dining plan as a free add-on in general
savafan
06-22-2014, 05:15 PM
I think they mean they got a pin code that provided them with free dining as an odd-on to their room stay. They selected Port Orleans as their resort location. I don't think it means that they got free dining at that resort - just the dining plan as a free add-on in general
Correct. The Pin Code offer was Free Dining for Returning Guests, offering free dining at many of the resorts not offered in the free dining package offered to the general public.
lawgirl
06-22-2014, 05:58 PM
Our favorites (kids are 4 and 2) are Garden Grill, Ohana, Chef Mickey's, San Angel Inn, Jiko or Sanaa at AKL. When I did the DDP (I tried it once) I tried to look at where we got the most bang for our dining credit. Chef Mickey's is so $$ for dinner and the food is not that good, but turned out to be a good deal with the DDP. I googled best DDP restaurants, and there were a couple of blogs that had really good advice about using the plan.
If you do Cinderella's Table, (and there maybe some other ones like this) I am pretty sure it uses 2 credits, so just note that.
savafan
06-22-2014, 06:15 PM
Cinderella's Royal Table, Be Our Guest (dinner) and Ohana were all completely booked for our week.
First time doing ADRs, and it's both fun and frustrating. Currently have reservations for these:
50's Prime Time Cafe (lunch)
Boma (dinner)
Hollywood and Vine (lunch)
Akershus (lunch)
The Crystal Palace (dinner)
Teppan Edo (lunch)
1900 Park Fare (breakfast)
lawgirl
06-22-2014, 06:21 PM
If you can get Garden Grill, its my favorite! And I just read that it is rotating again. That is my favorite character interaction, and it's just so cool!
Also, was Ohana booked for breakfast time? I love their brunch!
savafan
06-22-2014, 06:23 PM
Ohana was booked on every possible day for every possible meal. :(
SBETigg
06-22-2014, 07:23 PM
Ohana was booked on every possible day for every possible meal. :(
Keep checking. Sometimes they get openings.
Biergarten is fun for kids, from what I've seen. They can get up and dance with the Oompah band. Coral Reef is good if they're into watching fish. If they're into dinosaurs, T Rex in Downtown Disney. Sanaa for animal watching while dining (or before and after dining, depending on where you're seated).
My kids loved San Angel Inn and Chefs de France when they were younger, though I think it depends on the kids. Via Napoli, but once they were older (it wasn't there when they were young). Character meals were always a hit, and I see you have plenty of recommendations for those.
Grand Floridian Cafe is a good choice if you've had enough character meals and just want some good food in a setting fit for families (though not overly thrilling for kids).
lawgirl
06-23-2014, 10:48 AM
Biergarten is fun for adults too! I thought it was a really cool place.
I forgot about TRex. We went last time and really liked it. The food was comparable to Applebee's or Chili's in my opinion...ok no real complaints. But the atmosphere was just so cool. I loved the meteor showers and my 3 YO was amazed.
Keep trying for Ohana...it is one of our favorites.
savafan
06-26-2014, 12:56 AM
When looking over the menus, Le Cellier looked amazing to me, and I was able to book a reservation near the same time as Teppen Edo. Obviously, we won't be able to keep both, I just need to convince my wife why we should go with Le Cellier instead of Teppen Edo, as she's the one who really wants Hibachi. :)
Our favorites include Mama Melrose, Chef Mickey's, Be Our Guest, Tutto Italia and Ohana
SBETigg
06-26-2014, 09:38 AM
When looking over the menus, Le Cellier looked amazing to me, and I was able to book a reservation near the same time as Teppen Edo. Obviously, we won't be able to keep both, I just need to convince my wife why we should go with Le Cellier instead of Teppen Edo, as she's the one who really wants Hibachi. :)
Le Cellier is consistently good, but a bit overrated to me. I've been to better steakhouses. If you've never done hibachi style dining and don't have it near you where you live, I would definitely recommend going with that for the experience over Le Cellier. Especially if you're dining with children.
savafan
06-26-2014, 10:01 AM
Keep checking. Sometimes they get openings.
You were right, I was able to get an early breakfast reservation when trying today. Now I have to decide which meal to give back. :confused:
To be clear, the dining plan provides meals for every night's stay, correct, not each day at the parks? Meaning, if we are staying at the resort from 11/1 until 11/8, we would have 7 QS, 7 TS, and 7 snacks each, then be on our own for food out of pocket for one day?
You were right, I was able to get an early breakfast reservation when trying today. Now I have to decide which meal to give back. :confused:
To be clear, the dining plan provides meals for every night's stay, correct, not each day at the parks? Meaning, if we are staying at the resort from 11/1 until 11/8, we would have 7 QS, 7 TS, and 7 snacks each, then be on our own for food out of pocket for one day?
Yes, you are right. You will have 7 of each like you listed.
Also, if it were me, I would keep trying to get a Ohana reservation for dinner (it is a favorite of my family)...don't stress about what to give up just yet, you have time to release your reservations. I just don't want you to feel rushed into making a decision.
When looking over the menus, Le Cellier looked amazing to me, and I was able to book a reservation near the same time as Teppen Edo. Obviously, we won't be able to keep both, I just need to convince my wife why we should go with Le Cellier instead of Teppen Edo, as she's the one who really wants Hibachi. :)
You will want to note that Le Cellier is a signature restaurant and if you are using the dining plan, it will take two of your Table Service credits, where as Teppan Edo would take only one.
savafan
06-26-2014, 01:29 PM
You will want to note that Le Cellier is a signature restaurant and if you are using the dining plan, it will take two of your Table Service credits, where as Teppan Edo would take only one.
Well, that changes things. Thanks for the info! :thumbsup:
savafan
06-26-2014, 01:42 PM
Also, if it were me, I would keep trying to get a Ohana reservation for dinner (it is a favorite of my family)...don't stress about what to give up just yet, you have time to release your reservations. I just don't want you to feel rushed into making a decision.
Dinner at 9:50 PM on 11/4. A bit late for the kiddos, but I've got it reserved for now.
Dinner at 9:50 PM on 11/4. A bit late for the kiddos, but I've got it reserved for now.
Yeah that is pretty late, but, I can sort of justify late reservations because of the time change. So for us, it isn't "really" 9:50 pm, it is 8:50 Texas time.... :secret:
Not sure if that "trick" would for you.
lawgirl
06-26-2014, 02:29 PM
One thing to note when using the DDP, and good to do when paying OOP too...a couple of times the cashier rang up our meal plan wrong. If I remember correctly, she somehow overcharged us a dining credit on a meal. I think I had a snack or something along those lines, and she charged us a full meal off our dining plan. Thank goodness I was paying attention and she was able to correct it there. But I tried to keep a running tally of how many credits we used and how many left. It's alot to keep up with, but worth paying attention to the receipts.
4disneynuts
06-26-2014, 02:32 PM
Here is a list of our favorites:
Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness (this is our two DD favorite place) you would have so much fun there and the food is awesome
Liberty Tree Tavern (my favorite place)
Boma (my husbands favorite)
Crystal Palace
We are trying Chef Mickeys for the first time in November and are excited. I could never get a ressie before.
Tusker House at AK is also a good one.
Have a fun trip!:mickey:
savafan
06-26-2014, 06:52 PM
Which of the better table service options are the most affordable paying out of pocket?
savafan
06-26-2014, 07:00 PM
Yeah that is pretty late, but, I can sort of justify late reservations because of the time change. So for us, it isn't "really" 9:50 pm, it is 8:50 Texas time.... :secret:
Not sure if that "trick" would for you.
Nope, being from Ohio, 9:50 is 9:50 :)
savafan
07-12-2014, 02:17 PM
Yeah that is pretty late, but, I can sort of justify late reservations because of the time change. So for us, it isn't "really" 9:50 pm, it is 8:50 Texas time.... :secret:
Not sure if that "trick" would for you.
After checking 3 times a day, every day, I finally found a 6:45 dinner reservation at Ohana open up. :thumbsup:
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