Aussie WDW vets - fave eats? places to avoid?

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

So for all of your Aussie WDW vets, please share your wonderful food knowledge and let me know your favourite places to eat there and what you loved on the menu.

Feel free to throw in some places to avoid too.

 

[queenie82]

mmm...disney food.
Favs
Table service
- Tutto Italia lunch or dinner
- Chefs de France
- Rose and Crown Dinner
- 1900 park fare breakfast (dinner as well if princess fan) [just on the food front I loved this place...even without the characters]
- The Wave. Appetisers are a bit odd but the main was great.
- Yak and Yeti. LOVED it. Really surprised me.
- Biergarten Dinner. Great value if paying OOP. Love the show. Wonderful range of food. (especially if a fan of German food)

CS
- Cosmic Rays. Great entertainment
- Sunshine Seasons (food is as good (and filling!) as a TS)
- Flame Tree BBQ
- Fairfax Fare (this was the best CS we found in DHS)
- Old Port Royale at CBR. AWESOME food. Best resort CS except for Mara at AKL.

That's all I can remember off the top of my head.
Avoid - Electric Umbrella

 

[DVCAustralia]

There is WDW without the dining plan, and then there is WDW WITH the dining plan; they are very different options.
We have always done at least one character meal without it but it was always breakfast as it is the cheaper option and you do not interrupt the day. However with the dining plan the whole world literally opens up to you.

Recommended character meals in order: -
- 1900 Park Fare, Grand Floridian Resort (both breakfast AND dinner)
- Cape May Cafe, Beach Club Resort (both breakfast and dinner)
- Chef Mickey's, Contemporary Resort
- Crystal Palace, Magic Kingdom
- Tusker House, Animal Kingdom (book the earliest time on a non-early entry day to get access before everyone else)

Recommended park restaurants in order as much as possible: -
- Tutto Italia Restaurante, Epcot Italy
- Rose & Crown Dining Room, Epcot UK (dinner for Illuminations, also good value without dining plan)
- Yak & Yeti, Animal Kingdom
- Biergarten, Epcot Germany (free show every hour or so, also great value without dining plan)
- Garden Grill, Epcot Land Pavilion (good value without dining plan)
- Les Chef de France, Epcot France
- Coral Reef, Epcot Seas Pavilion

Recommended non-park restaurants in order: -
- Boma, Animal Kingdom Lodge (both breakfast and dinner)
- The Wave, Contemporary Resort
- Planet Hollywood, Downtown Disney

Recommended quick service: -
- Sunshine Seasons, Epcot Land pavilion (so much choice, good with or without dining plan)
- Cosmic Rays, Magic Kingdom
- Flame Tree BBQ, Animal Kingdom
- Fairfax Fare, Hollywood Studios
- Old Port Royale, Caribbean Beach Resort (get the smoothie as a drink on dining plan)
- Mara, Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Wolfgang Puck's Express, Downtown Disney (queue was ridiculous so I never tried it personally)

As for avoid, the places not listed above were ruled out for one reason or another, and you can really only do a certain number of places during your stay.

 

[cola]

Another Yak and Yeti recommendation here! It's really more a Tibetian themed Chinese restraunt than Tibetian, but it had more flavour than a lot of what's available in the parks.

If you like ice cream, Beaches and Cream Soda Shop at Beach Club Resort their Kitchen Sink Sundae shouldn't be missed.

T-Rex at Downtown Disney, it's by the same people as the Rainforest Cafe, but a bit more dynamic, though I'd recommend avoid being seated in the Ice Age, it's horrible lighting for actually making out what is on your plate.
House of Blues at Downtown Disney is also very good, as is Bongos Cuban Café. I have a weakness for ribs, and T-Rex and HoB both do great ribs

Olivia's Cafe at Old Key West is a nice change of pace.

Kouzzina by Cat Cora at Boardwalk was very good (greek theme and she was a US Iron Chef).

Fulton's Crab House at Downtown Disney is ridiculously overpriced, even by Disney standards, and really, Australian seafood is just as good.

Off property, I really enjoyed Cuba Libre

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Great lists everyone, thanks so much.

Notice anything different about my signature????

 

[aussietravellers]

Great lists everyone, thanks so much.

Notice anything different about my signature????

I NOTICE!!!!!
a ticker with two months three weeks!!!! trip to WDW.

YAY, how exciting!

We'll be there the same time, you arrive a few days after us!

 

[aussietravellers]

Our favourite restaurants are......
Jiko
Boma breakfast (best breaky at WDW)
Ohana's breakfast
Cape May's
Yachtman's Steak House
Rainforest Cafe
Yak & Yeti
Tusker House breakfast
Mara (best CS at WDW)
Garden Grill (more the character interaction, food wasn't great)
Beirgarden
50's Prime Time
Sci-Fi
Chefs de France
Teppan Edo
Coral Reef
Le Cellier
Beaches and Cream
Wolfgang Pucks


Off property...
Cheesecake factory and PF Changs are a must for us.

Our least favourites are..
Hollywood and Vine
Tony's (it was alright but we won't be back)
Brown Derby, have to say this was a disappointment and we won't be rushing back there.

 

[queenie82]

Great lists everyone, thanks so much.

Notice anything different about my signature????

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great lists everyone, thanks so much.

Notice anything different about my signature????

WOW! WOW! WOW! That's fantastic!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

More details in a few days but yes, I'm very very excited

 

[australiankaren]

hey

it looks like an aussie invasion..

counting down as well........84 sleeps for us till we fly out

 

[Toy Story]

After only one visit (on the Dining Plan) we are planning to eat at the following venues again (not sure when, hopefully in 2011):
- Tutto Italia (we were too full to eat dessert)
- 1900 Park Fare (character breakfast breakfast)
- Ohana
- Earl of Sandwich

 

[Jade+3]

We stayed off-site so had limited dining experiences.

We had breakfast at Chef Mickey and Akershus, and lunch at Crystal Palace. They were all ok, but the focus is definitely on character interaction and not the food. My kids are terribly slow eaters and we did feel like we were being rushed out the door, especially at Chef Mickey.

For CS our faves were:
Cosmic Rays (MK)
Sunshine Seasons (Epcot)
Flame Tree BBQ (AK)

ABC Commissary in HS was awful.

If you have a sweet tooth, try the Ghiradelli chocolate shop at DTD.

Congrats on the ticker!

 

[PrincessBelle39]

We have quite a few favourites.
Table Service
California Grill was awesome. I dream about the sushi and the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli.
The whole family love Boma for dinner, even the kids - dd's 7 and 5. We've been twice now and it will probably be one of the first we book next time.
Cinderella's Royal Table. We loved both breakfast and lunch but breakfast probably just wins out as we loved doing the early morning ADR and walking out right into Fantasyland at 9am.
Tusker House. Another enjoyable breakfast. A little bit different to some of the others.
Chef Mickeys. We much preferred breakfast to dinner although the kids loved the desert bar at dinner. The food wasn't really great at either, but we loved the characters.
Crystal Palace. Good for a breakfast. We repeated this the second time at the kids request.
Rainforest Cafe. Enjoyed this both times. Loved the Volcano.
Mickeys Backyard BBQ. I've read a lot of negative comments about this one but we went into it knowing that it wasn't a character meet and greet and had a ball.
Jiko. We were really tired when we went to Jiko as we had done the sunrise safari that morning. I'm sure we would have enjoyed it more had we not been tired. To be honest, we couldn't wait to leave. We would give it another go though. I had the prawn curry thing, and maybe I'm fussy, the prawns were rubbery. The three dips with the flat bread were awesome.
Akershus. We've done dinner and breakfast here. They were both great and I'd do either again. We did love the breakfast potato and the smoked salmon at breakfast. Probably one of the better breakfasts and of course the kids loved the princesses.
The Wave. We have only done breakfast but based on this will definitely be booking dinner next time. We loved it .
Biergarten. Loved it. Had a ball. The food, the entertainment. Dh says the beer - they were huge. The kids really enjoyed this too.
Marrakesh. This was probably the one we were most disappointed in. Didn't enjoy it at all. And we had really been looking forward to it.
Ohana - both breakfast and dinner were great. We didn't do dinner last trip, we did it back in 2007. We will be booking this again next time.
50's Prime Time. We enjoyed this and would probably do it again.
Hollywood and Vine - Play and Dine. Again one I've heard lots of negatives about but we've done both breakfast and lunch and had no problem with either.
1900 Park Fare. Characters were great, but didn't think much of the food. I don't think I would rush back.
T-Rex - One of our favourite meals. Hubby loved the ribs and my mushroom ravioli was fantastic. And I can't say enough about the Category 5 cocktail.
Counter Service.
Wolfgang Puck Express - without doubt our favourite CS. We've eaten there a couple of times each trip.
Cosmic Rays was fine.
Sunshine Seasons was fine.
We also enjoyed the Fish and Chips in UK, Epcot.
Absolutely nothing at Hollywood Studios.
We thought that the Picnic in the Park at AK was fantastic. We did the sandwich option and even getting 3 meals between the four of us was more than enough. I'd do that again without a doubt.

I can't think what I've missed but these are what has stood out, both good and bad.

Places I'd like to try.
Artist Point
Fultons
Narcoosees
Victoria & Alberts
Tutto Italia
Rose & Crown
Coral Reef
Garden Grill
and Jiko again when we are awake enough to enjoy it.

Although not a restaurant, we loved doing the food and wine festival. I would definitely go back for this. We spent a day just snacking rather than doing a TS or CS. It was fantastic.