Category — h. Where to Eat at Walt Disney World

DINING OUTSIDE OF WALT DISNEY WORLD

This site has lots of advice on where to dine at Walt Disney World–see this for a recent introduction to its “Where to Eat” material.

It lacks, though, material on anything off-property, and is thin on some on-property areas, like Downtown Disney and the Swan and Dolphin.

Those looking to supplement–or ignore!–my suggestions would be well-served by grabbing a copy of the Zagat Orlando City Guide.

THE ZAGAT ORLANDO CITY GUIDE

The Zagat Guide to Orlando–a 2013 edition published in late 2012–is a long and slim 158 page guide to Orlando dining, nightlife, shopping, and attractions.  More than half the book is devoted to Orlando area dining, with 360 restaurants ranked and (briefly) reviewed, and that’s its real strength.

The dining section begins with summaries of top-ranked restaurants in various categories, including “Most Popular,” “Top Food” (overall and also by cuisine, by “special features,” and by location), “Top Decor,” “Top Service,” and “Best Buys.”

It then gives even more detailed lists of top-ranked venues in the special features, cuisines, and locations categories, and then shifts to more than 50 pages of detailed individual restaurant entries, arranged alphabetically.

So you can use the guide in many ways.  You can look for a venue in any of the category rankings covered in the first sections, or you can check out an alternative you are considering in detail in the listings section.

Compared to this site’s material, the Zagat Orlando City Guide has much more comprehensive coverage, especially–as you might imagine–outside of the core Disney World properties. It can help with Downtown Disney and Universal Orlando dining much more than I do–and also of course with dining unrelated to theme parks!

Among the Disney World venues, Victoria and Albert’s shows up at or near the top of any category it is eligible for, and Jiko also does quite well.

Curiously, neither Rainforest Cafe nor Raglan Road is included…which would be my top-ranked restaurants in Downtown Disney for families and adults respectively.

But regardless of these lacunae, I still think the Zagat Orlando City Guide is a great buy for visitors wanting to go outside the Disney World walls for their dining, or for those looking for another source of guidance.

I much prefer it to on-line alternatives like TripAdvisor, because while like them it’s crowd-sourced, it is also both curated and edited.

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DISNEY WORLD DINING CHOICES

Welcome to those coming from Capturing Magical Memories and those of you just hopping aboard.

I am the 3rd stop on our Magical Blogorail. Enjoy the ride as this month Magical Blogorail Teal discusses Walt Disney World restaurants!

This site has both suggestions and rankings for Walt Disney world dining.

Each of its integrated itineraries has a full set of dining suggestions. These suggestions are enduringly family-pleasing–especially kid-pleasing–experiences.   A full list of what’s in the Basic December Itinerary is here.

In addition, it offers ordered rankings of the theme park table service restaurants, of the resort hotel table service restaurants, and of character meals and dinner shows.

The first two of these are tricky, as I’ve tried to balance dining for adults with what kids like, with the emphasis on adults. The results, frankly, could be endlessly argued about.

So as a final aid, the site also provides The Comprehensive Guide to Walt Disney World Dining.

For families with kids who aren’t paying attention to my suggestions, the Comprehensive Guide is the place to start, but it also serves adults just looking for the best dining on a night out.

That’s because it has two rankings for each table service possibility, in a matrix: one for kids, and one for adults.  Thus any choice can be filtered for kid appeal, for adult appeal, or for both.

CHOICES FOR THE BEST OF DISNEY DINING

Which of the Disney World dining options is my strongest recommendation, or my favorite?  Well, none, for a couple of reasons. 

First, I’m just kind of a counter- service guy.

Let me have the rib dinner from the food court at Port Orleans French Quarter and I’m happy as a clam!

That is, so long as the sides are mashed potatoes and collard greens, and I eat it in the right order–first the ribs, then the collard greens, and only then the mashed potatoes, mixed in with what’s left on the plate of the greens!

Or breakfast from any resort’s food court is special for me.

Though I mostly just love traditional breakfast foods, this is also partly symbolic.

Most mornings at Walt Disney World I’m up early and “working”–either working at my real job or on this site, or researching this site in the parks.  That means I tend to miss breakfasts in the resorts…so when I get one, it means an easy day!

Second, when I’m at Walt Disney World, table service dining is not a huge priority, for a couple of reasons.

I visit six to eight times a year, and half those times are solo--I’m there alone to research something for this site.

And by temperament I’m just not someone who’s going to reserve a solo spot at Akershus or the Crystal Palace…although sometimes, when I’m particularly missing Paris, I’ll order appetizers and coffee for brunch at Chefs de France, while finishing off the morning’s Wall Street Journal and faking like it’s the International Herald Tribune.

The other half of my time, I’m with some or all of my family.

Now my wife and older son are very much table-service people, and if they had their way, every trip would have multiple table service meals, at Jiko, Citricos, Artist Point, and the like, with perhaps a side round-trip flight to Charleston for Husk.

If we ate the way these two would love to eat, we’d only be able to afford to be at Disney World once every three years!

MORE DISNEY WORLD DINING FROM MAGICAL BLOGORAIL TEAL

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Heidi’s Head.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail Teal loop should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

• 1st Stop ~ The Many Adventures of a Disney-Lovin’ Spectrum Mom
• 2nd Stop ~  Capturing Magical Memories
• 3rd Stop ~ Your First Visit
• Final Stop ~  Heidi’s Head

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HOOP DEE DOO REVUE…REVIEW

Welcome to those coming from The World of Deej as Magical Blogorail Teal writes about our favorite things to do outside the parks!

This site promises first-time family visitors who may never return all the best of Walt Disney World.

From the start, that’s meant the best in or outside of the parks.  Some of the key things outside the parks in the itineraries are Cirque du Soleil at Downtown Disney, and the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues.

Another “best outside the parks” is the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue. [Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD HOOP-DEE-DOO REVUE CLOSURE?

Update 6/10/2012: DiningDiva says that Hoop will begin re-booking June 12 for the October-December dates, and that new show times have been the cause of the booking delay–see comment 8 below and this…

Update 6/9/2012: See the comment from Disney Dining Agent lower on the page.

Update 4/19/2012: The situation is the same as it was 4/4.

Update 4/4/2012: Allison and my other friends at Destinations in Florida Travel have spoken to half a dozen or so Disney Dining staff, and have gotten consistently the following inconsistent message:  Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue will be closed for refurbishment October 1 to December 31, 2012, but that they are still allowed by the system to book dates in this window.

This combination suggests that either the systems are behind, the closure dates aren’t firm, or both!  But the autumn closure of Hoop-Dee-Doo seems real, just the details are still not set.

HOOP-DEE-DOO BEING CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT?

Crack commenter Colleen notes here that Disney World told her today that the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue will be closed for refurbishment from October to December 2012.

This has been rumored for a while…I’ll post more after additional confirmation and details…

(This page is one of a series explicating Walt Disney World lingo, abbreviations, and FAQ for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.)

DISNEY’S 2011 INTERNATIONAL FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL AT EPCOT

Every year from October through mid-November, Walt Disney World presents the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.

In 2011, the dates are Friday September 30 through  Sunday November 13.

There are two components to the festival, one available to all Epcot visitors, and another made up of a bunch of events which have limited capacity and require reservations.

Neither has an extra ticket admission cost–you get to participate by virtue of your theme park ticket–but there are cash costs for the food, wine, and for entry to some special shows and events. [Read more →]

MORE ON WALT DISNEY WORLD DINING

The Disney World itineraries on this site all include suggested dining venues, and assume that you will be using the Disney Dining Plan.

This page brings together to one place linksto Walt Disney World dining issues, including  more on how to eat, where to eat, and Walt Disney World restaurant rankings.

It’s part of a series on navigating this site. 

DISNEY DINING ON THIS SITE

How to Eat

The Disney Dining Plan

What if You Can’t do the Dining Plan?

Where to Eat

Dining Alternatives

The Comprehensive Guide to Walt Disney World Dining

• The Comprehensive Guide to Magic Kingdom-Area Dining
• The Comprehensive Guide to Epcot-Area Dining

Character Meals and Dinner Shows Ranked in Order

Table Service Meals at the Parks Ranked in Order

Table Service Meals at the Resorts Ranked in Order

The Tightwad’s Guide to How to Eat at Walt Disney World