Is it worth it to eat outside of DW

[RN01]

I've heard so many stories of how high priced and bad the food is in DW. Is it worth it to try to hold off and eat outside of Dw for supper or is it too much hassle?

 

[jerseydizdreamer]

As with nearly anything you post here, you're bound to get folks coming down on both sides of the issue. And, as with anything you post here, a lot of it will come down to personal tastes and your schedule, along with several other variables. One big variable is whether you are staying on or off site. I'm going to guess off, because it sort of sounds as if you were considering holding off until you're out of the World and on your way back to wherever you might be staying.

Having said all that... my opinion would be to stay in the parks, or perhaps venture to one of the resorts, or Downtown Disney. Yes, there is some bad food to be had in the World. But if you look into what you're really after, peruse the menus via the websites, get some feedback from your friendly and oh-so-willing-to-share-their-opinions fellows on this board, I think you'll find there's a lot of good food, as well.

After years of taking a beating for their poor food, Disney started really working to change that reputation several years back. As a result, there are a fair number of fantastic restaurants. You'll hear a lot of people rave about Boma over at the Animal Kingdom lodge (I'm making my priority seating arrangements for a dinner there as we speak, having not yet tried it), Spoodles, California Grille, etc. There are also places much cheaper with good (dare I say, on occasion, pretty darn great?) meals to be had.

Plus, from another perspective, I've always liked the idea of making the magic last as long as possible, so by eating within the parks or at one of the resorts, you're doing that. It may cost more than stopping somewhere outside the kingdom, but then again, maybe not. There are plenty of overpriced, not-so-great restaurants to be found in the Greater Orlando area. That's not a market Disney has cornered by any means!

So personally, I say find someplace on property that's fun, comes recommended, has the kind of food you want and is within your price range. I suspect you won't regret it at all.

Richard

 

[RN01]

Thanks Richard for the info. We are actually staying at the All Star Movies. Are there places to eat close by outside of disney? Just in case we run out of money??haha

 

[crisi]

Richard has great advice.

There are menus available all over the internet. www.wdwig.com is usually recommended. Take a look at the prices and see what you think. I've never thought them to be that unreasonable.

As to being not good, it varies from not good to really great. Some of the counter service restaurants are darn good - some of them are lousy. Same with sit down. And a restaurant that is one persons favorite another person may feel that the food was sub par.

Now, is it worth it? It depends on a lot of things. It isn't worth it if you have to take time from your day to do it - time is money at Disney World, and if you are going to leave Disney property to eat and come back, you'll add an hour you don't need to add. But if the parks close at 6:00pm and you stop on your way back to your hotel, it sure can be.

 

[SimbaNoodle]

I am truly a Disney Fanatic. I love the Disney restuarants and have alway had good food and good service. But one night, we always go to Olive Garden down from Downtown Disney for a nice, relaxing dinner. It's nice downtime.

 

[Penny2]

I fall on the side of rarely had a bad meal at DW....but every once in a while we split our trips between I Drive (seaworld, universal, outlets) and DW. We have found some great restaurants in the I Drive area and while Disney comes really close to handling every craving you could imagine...there are a few categories that they fall short in (IMHO).

We love the following I Drive restaurants:

Ming Court - when you have to have Chinese..this is the place. Bring on the Pu Pu and Mai Tai's!

Cafe Tu Tu Tango - appetizers most unusual...add art and eclectic entertainment (we've seen hula and palm readers) and it makes for a delicious and entertaining meal.

Bahama Breeze - Caribbean food and drink PLUS free musical entertainment. They finally built a few in Michigan but I still like the original on I Drive.

Sometimes we just want to get away from too much Disney (heretical I know) and when this happens we find our way to I Drive for something different.

 

[Kaitysmom]

I am one of those people that try to squeeze every bit of magic that I can out of my trips. To go off site takes a while, depending on where you go. We have gone offsite before and always miss WDW and the great feeling that we get when we're there so now I stay put. The only truly awful meal we've had was at Planet Hollywood.

I haven't stayed at the All Stars but I have visited there and the food court was huge. I bet you'll have no trouble finding a reasonable, decent meal there. We thought it was a bit loud though. There is a McDonald's right near the entrance to the All Stars. Cheap, but at least familiar food.

You don't always have to eat at the parks. If you are at MGM, you might walk over to Boardwalk or over to Beaches and Cream (really good and generous portions IMO) Epcot has a great variety of places to try. The Land has a big food court with many choices. From MK you can try the resort restaurants.

I bet if you check out the menus you'll find things you like and then you can ask how everyone likes them here on the boards. I wouldn't plan to eat offsite until you get all the facts. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised. Happy planning

 

[webprinter]

Unlike most people on the DIS boards, we eat a lot of our meals outside WDW. The food is good at WDW, but we feel it is very expensive. We do, however, eat some inside the park. We very seldom ever spend more than $10 per person for a meal. Maybe, we sound cheap, but we are not rich and it is one way to cut down our costs. There are a lot of discounts and less expensive places to eat on the outside. Debby

 

[Rafikifan]

We eat just about all of our meals inside WDW. We've had a couple of less than great experiences but they are very few and far between. It really helps us to look over the menus here at DIS or on Deb's site so we know what menus look good to us and what prices to expect. We always have had a car so we stop over to the grocery store at the Crossroads shopping Center (not far from Downtown Disney) to pick up snacks for the room, wine or beer, etc. once or twice during our stay. If we are going there and have no p.s. scheduled, then we will stop at one of the restaurants near there. There are several chains in the area that offer an alternative to the onsite places. We enjoy Chevy's at the Crossroads which is Tex Mex. Good food, service, and prices. We also like Romano's Macaroni Grill. There is also a Red Lobster, Landry's Seafood, Olive Garden, Burger King, McDonald's, a Pizzeria Uno (didn't really care for it personally) and many other choices. Jungle Jim's is a burger/sandwich place that I hear is decent with reasonable prices. Would I go offsite specifically just to eat? Probably not. But if you are going off site anyway it will take a little less bite out of the wallet for that meal.

 

[BabyTigger99]

If you are looking off-site, another great, reasonably inexpensive place to eat is the Orlando Ale House. It is just outside of Downtown Disney. We always have one meal there, just to kids of get away from all the "excitement". Hubby's favorite is the peel and eat shrimp (tons of shrimp, really inexpensive, said the only problem was his fingers were sore because there was so much there!). Pretty much a "sports bar" type of atmosphere. Burgers, chilli, wonderful salads, steaks, chicken, fish. My fave would have to be the hot fudge brownie sundae!! HUGE brownie, about 3 -4 scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, tons of chocolate!! Yum, yum, even between hubby and I, we barely made a dent in it, cost about $4.00!!

 

[webray]

If you are staying at the all star movies...I am guessing the food court is pretty much the same as the as sports...you will love the food there. Breakfast is pretty much the norm...we usually get the platter.

Lunch...great options, the boneless chicken tender sandwich with the buffalo wing sauce are wonderful. The chicken quesadillas.

Dinner..the carved meats/mashed potatoes and veggies are wonderful...and then there is the made to order pasta..look at the bottom of the menu where you order the pizza, most people miss it...they cook it fresh in front of you, there were four different kinds last time we were there..and they are delicious.

The cheeseburger is very good, the nachos (I get the manager to add some extra stuff on top of them for me like lettuce and stuff..they have it all there for the taco salad anyway)

Also, from the grab and go section...the taboulie is excellent, as well as the cheese/grapes if you want a nice snack.

The sundaes/bakery items look delicious, but we have never tried them.

We have stayed at the as sports many, many many times...we have also stayed at all of the moderates...the food in the food court at as sports beats the heck out of the moderates food..taste/choices. I really don't think the prices are that bad. If you go off property to eat...the prices are not really any better, unless you want the value menu at mcdonalds or taco bell every day.

Have fun..and remember...a lot of the portions are huge and can be shared. Hubby and I do this often...we have also seen parents and kids sharing portions in the parks at sit down restaurants. Don't rule out the sitdown restaurants either...as you get more for your money.

 

[RN01]

Thank you so much to everyone that responded. This board has been so much help in planning our vacation. I guess I will save extra money so we can just eat at DW and save the time and hassle of going off site to eat. We do have a small camping fridge that we are going to take to keep sandwich stuff in. Thanks again everyone!!!!