Disney Food Archives - Page 5 of 9

Best Epcot Restaurant for Kids

May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 dis/dom Leave a comment

So many choices. Epcot has considerably more restaurants than any other Disney theme parks, and so many good ones. Some of the restaurants are better than others for kids, and Epcot has quite a few good choices for little ones. I am not huge fan of character meals and Epcot is a fantastic place to explore new cuisines without going too far outside the box. Try something new. Plus, this is Disney, and they are used to kids. Every single Epcot restaurant serves kids all day long, that is about all they do, so they have gotten pretty good at it. Most restaurants are really pretty quick, have plenty of food options for adults and kids and some even offer entertainment.

I didn’t want to narrow it down to just one, so I went with three plus a few extras:

The Best Epcot Restaurant for Kids

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall – This is my token character meal, and I am only including it in the list because I think it is the best character meal on Disney property, the restaurants architecture is awesome and the food isn’t the run of the mill buffet food. Herring is on the menu after all. Dine with your favorite princesses, eat some Norwegian inspired food and have a blast. Both adults and kids love Akershus, and if you have little princesses of your own, it is a DO NOT MISS. If you just have little boys, you may want to move on to some of the “better’ restaurants for kids below.
Via Napoli – Talk about a loud, fun restaurant! Via Napoli is fairly new in Epcot years, having opened in 2010. Of course, Via Napoli is famous for their pizzas, but do not miss the pastas, they are out of this world. The kids love the pizza ovens in the shape of three faces, you can see the fire inside their mouths. Kids love Via Napoli, as do adults.
Biergarten Restaurant – Located in Germany, the Biergarten is a buffet, complete with a special buffet just for kids, though they will probably want to pick and choose from the adult buffet. In addition to fantastic food and even better desserts (plus extra huge steins of beer), the Biergarten offers fun entertainment all night, with an oompah band, jokes and crowd participation. If you are looking for a great time, Biergarten is it.

Close seconds for Best Epcot Restaurant for Kids

As I mentioned above, there are some restaurants that are great options to experience food you may not at home, that you really should while at Epcot. These restaurants are also great options as a way to introduce kids to different cultures.

Restaurant Marrakesh – Morocco – Belly dancers and great food!
Rose & Crown – United Kingdom – Stop by for some bangers and mash, stay for the fantastic view of Illuminations.
Chefs de France – France – Fantastic food, plus you may even see Remy from time to time.
Tokyo Dining – Japan – Great sushi and other Japanese food, and the second floor location offers a wonderful view of the World Showcase.
Le Cellier – Canada – Best theme park steak you will find, and a nice quite (and air conditioned ) cellar. Treat yourself and your kids to a nice meal in the parks.

What is your favorite Epcot Restaurant for Kids?

Magic Kingdom Restaurant Changes I Would Like to See

April 28, 2016April 28, 2016 dis/dom Leave a comment

While the Magic Kingdom has some nice table service restaurants, and the recent editions have been on the right track. Be Our Guest was a home run while Skipper Canteen had the best food in the park by far, many found the food too adventuresome so it never because super popular, so the food is about to be changed. Some of the restaurants in the parks need an update, and there still needs to be a few more additions to the park. With the number of people on the Disney Dining plans in the parks now, most days it is nearly impossible to even find a time to eat any of the Magic Kingdom restaurants unless you plan well in advance. A few more restaurants would really help.

Changes to the Magic Kingdom Restaurants I would like to see

Personally, I think all Disney restaurants could use a small change or two, but the following four in the Magic Kingdom need a bit of a reboot:

Crystal Palace – While Winnie the Pooh is great and all, many kids have no idea who he is. The Crystal Palace building is down right beautiful, but I think it could be better used with a character change. Disney has not done a great job using the Pixar characters in restaurants. Crystal Palace would be a fantastic location for a Toy Story character meal. Imagine seeing Woody, Buzz or Rex walking around the Crystal Palace, it would be impossible to get a table.
Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen – Uggh, where to start. This was a fantastic idea with unique, wonderful food. Disney handicapped it from the beginning, making it impossible to get dining reservations in advance, and then wondered why it wasn’t full like the other restaurants. While the food is unique, it never had a chance to gain a following. With the upcoming food change, it will be a standard theme park restaurant with mediocre food and corny jokes. Stick with the menu Disney, give it a chance.
Liberty Tree Tavern – Liberty Tree has lost it’s way. Everyone associated the Liberty Tree Tavern with characters. Did you know characters were removed from Liberty Tree Tavern in 2008? Let’s remodel the restaurant so the characters can get around, stick with the family style menu, and bring back revolutionary Goofy and friends.
Tony’s Town Square Restaurant – Some people love eating at Tony’s, most would disagree. Easily the worst food available at any Disney restaurant. Turn over the kitchen to the people who run Tutto Italia and Via Napoli in Epcot, update the decor and you will have yourself a fantastic, winning restaurant.

Additions to the Magic Kingdom Restaurants I would like to see

I think you could go crazy with additions, but let’s be honest, it would be stupid to add 15 new restaurants in the Magic Kingdom, there just isn’t the demand. I will focus on two that I think need to be added that would be a huge hit.

Pirates of the Caribbean character meal – There isn’t one “boy” themed character meal in all of Disney. Girls have princesses, boys have nothing. Think about a restaurants built adjacent to the Pirates of the Caribbean, completely pirate themed! Include a ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean immediately after, some pirates including Jack Sparrow walking around. It would be a hit! The other option here would be to make this a signature style restaurant, similar to Blue Bayou in Disneyland, and put the boy themed character meal in Tomorrowland.
Tomorrowland Restaurant – There isn’t one table service restaurant in Tomorrowland, or one even close. There are so many themed options you could go with in Tomorrowland. This could be similar to Be Our Guest where you offer a nice quick-service meal for breakfast and lunch and table service for dinner. No characters needed. Meals can be delivered by drones, it would be awesome.

What changes or additions would you like to see to the restaurants in the Magic Kingdom?

2016 Disney Free Dining Predictions – A Follow Up

April 25, 2016April 25, 2016 dis/dom Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article with predictions about the hopefully upcoming 2016 Disney Free Dining Discount: 2016 Disney Free Dining – My Predictions

Since the 2016 Disney Free Dining discount was released this morning, I felt it was time to follow up on my predictions and see how I did.

Did I expect to see Disney Free Dining for 2016?

Original Prediction: Yes, I expected to see it, just like we have seen it for the last 10+ years.

Actual Results: Yes, 2016 Disney Free Dining has been released.

This was a fairly easy one, but one year, I do expect Disney to completely abandoned Free Dining. 2016 wasn’t the year though, but 2017 may be.

When do you expect to see 2016 Disney Free Dining Released?

Original Prediction: May 2, 2016

Actual Results: Today, April 25, 2016

I was a week off. I got the Monday part right, but I was expecting Disney to wait a bit longer until early May.

Available Free Dining Travel Dates

Original Prediction: August 26 – September 30, 2016

Actual Travel Dates: August 23 – October 1, November 15 – 21, November 26 – 28 and December 10 – 21, 2016

I did not expect to see Fall dates at all this year, and obviously, I was wrong. However, there is very little availability for any of the Fall dates, even less than last year. Disney made the dates available, but didn’t make very many rooms available. On the big set of dates in September, Disney added a few days at the beginning, and an extra day at the end, I was close, but not quite.

Disney Resorts Included and Excluded from 2016 Disney Free Dining

Original Prediction: I predicted that the list would be identical to 2016, no French Quarter, Little Mermaid rooms, limited Riverside.

Actual Results: Exactly the same list as 2015, no difference.

I nailed this one, no change at all. Riverside is available for the September dates, but nothing after, and the same resorts that were excluded in 2015 were excluded in 2016.

Requirements changes for 2016 Disney Free Dining

Original Prediction: I predicted that Disney World would extend the stay and ticket requirements to 4 nights and 3 day park passes.

Actual Results: Disney did not extend the requirements, and stuck with a minimum 3 night stay and a minimum 2 day park pass with hopping or water park options added.

I am a bit surprised by this one. I fully expected Disney to force people to stay a little bit longer and spend a little bit more money in order to qualify for Free Dining. Wrong.

Will the 2016 Disney Free Dining Discount change for 2016?

Original Prediction: I predicted that Disney would give away the quick-service dining plan at the value and moderate resorts and the Disney Dining Plan at the Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resorts.

Actual Results: No change at all for 2016, Value resort stays get the quick-service plan, Moderate, Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resorts get the Disney Dining Plan

I was expecting Disney to cut back the discount a little bit by giving away less unless you were to spend the cash and stay in a deluxe resort. Wrong again.

As you can see, I was very pessimistic in my predictions for 2016 Disney Free Dining. The predictions I missed were all changes I expected to see from the Disney Free Dining discount that were more harsh than in 2015 and earlier years. I expected Disney making fewer dates available with more requirements and giving away less. In fact, they barely changed the offer from 2015 other than shifting a few dates around. I would have been better off predicting no changes at all, but where is the fun in that?

Of note, when the discount was released early this morning, availability was basically zero if you were traveling after September 15. Value and Moderate resorts are nearly impossible to find for any dates, and very few Deluxe resorts can be found. While Free Dining was technically released, so few rooms are available that very few people will be able to take advantage. Look for 2016 to be the last year of Free Dining.

Well, Disney Free Dining is out, I hope you all were able to get in on the deal, it really is a fantastic offer. If you haven’t yet, feel free to contact Mouseketrips to check on pricing for your next Disney vacation.