Category — h. Where to Eat at Walt Disney World

NARRATORS AND BOOKING DATES FOR THE 2013 CANDLELIGHT PROCESSIONAL AT EPCOT

Crack commenter DisneyDiningAgent has posted one of his—or her!—incredibly helpful comments here.

There’s a lot of “food for thought” there, which I’ll note more about later, but for now, focusing on the Candlelight Processional Dinner Package:

The Candlelight Processional Dinner Package starts booking tomorrow, 7/9/13 at 6a Eastern at disneyworld.com and 7a Eastern over the phone (407-939-3463).

And the Candlelight Processional 2013 narrators are as follows:

• TBD: 11/30-12/3
• Ashley Judd 12/4-12/5
• Whoopi Goldberg 12/6-12/7
• TBD 12/8-12/10
• Dennis Haysbert 12/11-12/13
• James Denton 12/14-12/16
• Edward James Olmos 12/17-12/19
• Trace Atkins 12/20-12/22
• TBD 12/23-12/25
• Blair Underwood 12/26-12/28
• TBD 12/29
• Amy Grant 12/30

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‘OHANA AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN RESORT

‘Ohana (the name is Hawaiian for “typographical error” “family”) is a deeply-loved restaurant at Disney’s Polynesian Resort.  In the evenings, dinner features flame-cooked meat skewers cooked over an open fire (menu here).

In the morning, though, the fires are out, and their entertainment value is replaced by Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and friends.

THE LILO AND STITCH BEST FRIENDS CHARACTER BREAKFAST AT ‘OHANA IN DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN RESORT

The Lilo and Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast features standard continental American breakfast foods in any quantity you want, highlighted with a little Polynesian flair. (Somewhat vague menu here.)

The first course is fruit, yogurt, breakfast breads with a hint of the Pacific Islands, and mango juice (other standard breakfast beverages are also available).

This is followed by a skillet with biscuits, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and breakfast potatoes.  In our visit, we were among the earliest to be served (we had a 7.45a reservation)—before the real demand on the kitchen began–and the food was hot and perfectly cooked.

The potatoes and sausage each have a hint of the exotic to them—but the hint is subtle enough that even the most finicky kid won’t pine for a McDonald’s Big Breakfast instead.

The fruit, bread, and hot food are all served “family style”—your party serves themselves from the serving utensil, and you can get more of anything should you want it.

Later, the dedicated waffle service comes by!  I’d forgotten this was coming so could manage only one…a turn of events I regret as I sure do love those Mickey-head waffles…kind of a weird Disney communion…

All in this is fine but largely routine breakfast fare.

What distinguishes the Lilo and Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast is the cool setting of the Polynesian—one of Disney World’s most kid-pleasing locales—attendance by Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and others, and fun Mickey-led marches for kids around the restaurant.

At various times during the morning, the characters come out and visit with each table, pose for pictures, and then shift into parade mode. After the parade—at least on our visit—they take a break, then return a little later.

The Lilo and Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast is a great place for breakfast, and a fun alternative to this site’s recommended Chef Mickey’s character breakfast.

Chef Mickey’s has better characters, in its buffet a wider variety of food choices, and better access to the Magic Kingdom.  But the Lilo and Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast is a fine choice as well!

HOURS, THE MAGIC KINGDOM, GETTING THERE, AND SUCH

Disney’s new website—which often works—lists the hours of the Lilo and Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast as being 7.30-11a.  I can’t tell for sure when the last seating is, but it is at least as late as 10.20a.

• Families eating here as part of a leisurely morning can make their reservations for anytime.
• Families combining breakfast here with a visit to the Magic Kingdom should eat as early or as late as possible.

Very early dining allows you to still make a standard 9a opening (but not morning Extra Magic Hours, or one of the 8a opening you’ll see at the busiest times of the year) while not having to rush out just as Mickey shows up.

Getting one of the latest possible reservations—10.20a, or later if you can–lets you do rope drop whenever it is, and thus see part of the Magic Kingdom while crowds are the lowest.  It also lets you sleep in a bit longer, and to treat the all-you can eat meal as a filling brunch. So that’s the way to do Best Friends.

‘Ohana is on the second floor of the Great Ceremonial House—the main building—at Disney’s Polynesian Resort.

You get there from the Magic Kingdom by either boat or monorail.

• Check the Polynesian boat boarding area at the Magic Kingdom before you get on the monorail—if the boat is there, it’s more fun, but it’s not worth waiting for.
• Otherwise, take the resort monorail—also fun–getting off at the Polynesian.

If you are coming from the Contemporary Resort, take the resort monorail. From the Grand Floridian, you can walk, take the boat, or take the resort monorail.

From other Disney resorts, if you have one of the early reservations, ask your hotel concierge the day before how to get to the Polynesian.  Disney runs special buses for early character breakfasts, so you may be directed to one of these, or to the resort’s standard Magic Kingdom transport if it is operating that early.

You can also drive to the Polynesian, but while construction is going on there—as it will be for a while—parking is scarce, so you may have to valet.   It’s bad form, by the way, to leave your car in the Poly lot and head off to the Magic Kingdom for the day…

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VICTORIA AND ALBERT’S AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Victoria and Albert’s, located on the second floor of the Grand Floridian, is Walt Disney World’s highest-priced restaurant, the only restaurant at Disney World that does not seat children younger than 10, and the restaurant at Disney World with the most strict dress code—for men, dress pants, dress shoes, collared shirts and jackets.

Astonishingly expensive (expect dinner with wine pairings for two to exceed $500 including tax and tip), Victoria and Albert’s provides an even more astonishing dining experience—one worth well more than the price. [Read more →]

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 →]