If you stay off site do you........

[CBR600]

tend to......eat your 'main' meals in the Disney parks/hotels or off site? I have just noticed than even though we are staying off site again we have more ADR's planned for on site than we have for restraunts off site - it was the same last year too :d:
I know it makes sense to eat at WDW resort hotels and parks if your staying on site but wondered how many people staying off site still choose to eat most of their meals at the parks/hotels? :tounge:

Infact the only 'offsite restraunts' we have planned so far are Bahama Breeeze and Tony Romas!

[Nicksgirl]

tend to......eat your 'main' meals in the Disney parks/hotels or off site? I have just noticed than even though we are staying off site again we have more ADR's planned for on site than we have for restraunts off site - it was the same last year too :d:
I know it makes sense to eat at WDW resort hotels and parks if your staying on site but wondered how many people staying off site still choose to eat most of their meals at the parks/hotels? :tounge:

Infact the only 'offsite restraunts' we have planned so far are Bahama Breeeze and Tony Romas!

Your not going to the Cheesecake Factory ??????

NOOOOOO, you must put it on your list - the best Food in Florida !!!!!!! :o:

[Nicksgirl]

Dont forget Smokey Bones too....
:wavey:

[Jools]

We eat off site all the time, (stay off site as well) although we do like breakfast at Spoodles at least once each holiday.

There are loads of really good off site places. It would be a shame to miss out on them.

[CBR600]

Your not going to the Cheesecake Factory ??????

NOOOOOO, you must put it on your list - the best Food in Florida !!!!!!! :o:


Yep - defo plan to go to the cheescake factory for lunch at the mall of millenia on our shopping day :tounge:

[Petalsoftly]

It's a heck of a lot cheaper we find to eat off site.

[Jools]

It's a heck of a lot cheaper we find to eat off site.

I agree, not to mention less crowded and not so rushed. :)

[quacker]

GOing for the first time, staying off site, and planning on mostly eating off site, but inevitably will have to eat in some parks - you know little'uns - gotta eat when hungry.

[carys]

I haven't planned any offsite but we will have some.

[purple myra]

before we have always had our breakfast and dinner off site and just bought a scooby snack in the parks, but this time.......
lots of ADR's getting booked for park restaurants and resort hotel restaurants for 2 reasons
1: got lots of info from the dibb, didn't even know you could go into a resort hotel till i came on here
2: we're going over christmas and new year so want something a bit special/different

[cat]

We tend to eat about 50% of the time in the parks. We don't really plan where to eat offsite much in advance but just pick somewhere on the way back or to the parks. IHOP being my DS fav at the moment. We also grab a chinese / pizza / Taco bell take out and take back to the Villa a lot of the time as well.

[BevS97]

We do both - tend to eat onsite for lunch (at sitdowns too), as the sit-downs are much cheaper for lunch and the food is just as good as it is for dinner

[LizzyBear]

Since i'll have the dining plan this year I just have a few offsite meals planned (doing some 2 credit meals on the dining plan) The past 2 trips were offsite though so we only ate big meals onsite a few times (ate a lot of CS onsite though for convenience)

[beanybucket]

last year when we stayed on site we rarely ate off site it was just to difficult getting about:confused2
this time we are doing a bit of both we'll book a few ADR's
off site is not only cheaper there's more choice to and we like trying all the different resturants:grin:




INT/DRIVE 04 :stitch: AL*mOVIES 06:pluto:

[Sue]

Usually ate off site even when staying in a WDW resort on previous trips - did not know the variety etc of places inside WDW!!
Plus we liked the drive off property in an evening occasionally.
Favourite off site eateries are Red Lobster, Chillis and Tony Romas.

[fintywalker]

we eat mainly off site, have a few ADR's for this year but only a few, we tend to eat only twice a day in Florida because of the heat.

[Enright78]

Almost always off site, cheaper and better choice. Always have a couple of on sites too though!

[Bardy]

Stay off site and eat off site, there is sooooo much choice

:tounge: :tounge: :cool2: :tounge: :tounge:

[SUZANNEG]

We tend to have breakfast and dinner off site and have lunch at the parks-so much cheaper when you have kids to feed too(especially when they are so tired\in the evenings and tend to waste food).

[motty1969]

We stay on I drive and eat all our main meals there too. Find the food in parks a bit all the same. We do have a meal at Hard Rock Cafe at Universal cos the food is great. Apart from that we always find great places to eat on I Drive.

[annie-lisa]

always stay off site and eat main meals off site!

[Petalsoftly]

So many good places to eat off site.

[wrpac00]

Always eaten off site, would never eat in Disney as the quality and price don't match off site restaurants.

[annie-lisa]

Always eaten off site, would never eat in Disney as the quality and price don't match off site restaurants.

ouch , i said that once and nearly got torn to shreds. i was assured in no uncertain terms that disney was extremley fine dining!

[CBR600]

Always eaten off site, would never eat in Disney as the quality and price don't match off site restaurants.


Just out of interest - what are your favourite off site restraunts? I found most off site places to be just chains that you get back in the UK, seen one TGI's seen em all type of thing!


With the exception of places like Olive garden etc that you dont find in the UK, but they in themselves are still chain restraunts catering to the masses.

[Enright78]

I felt that most of the chains were not the same as the UK and offered a huge range of styles and varieties of food, to name a few, Olive Garden, Sweet Tomatoes, Red Lobster, Cracker Barrel, Waffle House, IHOP, Macaroni Grill, various Pizza places (some chain, some independent) Cheesecake factory, Tony Roma's, and then more specifically, Bahama Breeze, Cafe TuTu Tango, Texas de Brazil. Then there are great restaurants in some of the non Disney hotels, Villa de Flora (Gaylord Palms) Capriccio Grill and B Line Diner (Peabody) and loads more. We also particularly like a privately owned restaurant called Coq au Vin which is towards Winter park.
I have to stop, I am hungry now!!
And I suppose you could argue that the Disney restaurants are part of a large chain too!

[Minniesmum]

off site, dont really like disney food never had anything outstanding i think chef mickeys was the best but had better off site.

[mcknigma]

Never eat much onsite - pretty much all of our main meals are off site

[Petalsoftly]

Bob Evans, Houlihans and Outback steakhouse. (thumbs up)

[marionmcclung]

we will be staying and eating off site, mainly as this is our first holiday to orlando and wouldn't know where to start with ADRs. We are on international drive so i don't think we'll be stuck for food. Probably eat in the parks while we are there for lunch etc though.

[LizzyBear]

ouch , i said that once and nearly got torn to shreds. i was assured in no uncertain terms that disney was extremley fine dining!

I definitely wouldn't say all eateries on Disney property are 'fine dining' (not sure who would think that actually!) but there are some very nice signature restaurants with world renowned chefs :thumbs-up

[Helen uk]

We are staying off site and on and have made loads of ADRs.We are also eating at the cheesecake factory when we are shopping that day,TGIs,Espn and universal.Everywhere else is in the disney park/hotel areas.

[CBR600]

I definitely wouldn't say all eateries on Disney property are 'fine dining' (not sure who would think that actually!) but there are some very nice signature restaurants with world renowned chefs :thumbs-up


I agree - I have eaten in restraunts all over the world an the steak in Le Cellier is the best I have ever had, and I wouldnt call Le Cellier a 'signature restraunt' just a sort of Bistro steakhouse type thing!

The meal we had in Victiria & Alberts beat anything that Gordon Ramsey or Rick Stein has ever put in front of me, most definately heaven on a plate - quality fresh ingredients cooked to perfection and served by knowledgeable staff - never had better :tounge:

I have booked a load of ADR's again for 2 resons - the first one is character meals - I find it easier/less stressfull to have the characters you really want to see come right up to your table for photos/autographs instead of wasting precious park time standing in lines waiting for your 2 seconds of interaction. When ever we met characters in the parks it was always just a quick photo because I felt bad taking up too much time with 50 other people waitin in the queue :(

The other reason is sheer convinience - when we do a park, we do it for the whole day, instead of going back to the villa for a bit of R & R and eating on the 192 we take an air conditioned dinner break at a table service restraunt so we get a good 2 hours or so to sit and rest - plus it means that DH isnt driving to the park then back again then for dinner then back to the park then back again etc - he doesnt mind driving but it can get a bit of a pain struggling through I4 roadworks or 192 traffic even with usuing the shortcuts- so I just opt for the 'easy life' all round :D

Its been interesting to read what other people do though - thanks for joining in and sharing your comments :wavey:

[disney owl]

We stay off site & tend to eat lunch on-site & our evening meal off-site. This gives us a choice of returning to the villa & showering & changing or going straight from the parks

[maggie b]

We are staying off site & we are staying on ID so i'm sure there is loads of places to choose from.We will also eat at the parks:smile:

[wombat]

Hi,

We tend to only eat ON site a couple of days when we are there late in the evenings.

The rest of the time we prefer off site.

[sparklepants]

Stay offsite and eat maily offsite, only eat onsite if we are at the parks during the day and even then it's nothing fancy, just burgers and stuff, never bothered with ADR's, good idea if you have kids but there's just the two of us so we never know what we'll be doing and when.

[Carlmelia]

In the past we've grabbed a light lunch or snack in the parks and had our 'main' meal off site later in the evening 8-9pm, this time though think we'll be probably eating a larger lunch on-site and having a light dinner or snack in the evening off site due to having our 16 month old DD with us this time.

[apc18phc]

We always have dinner off site, with snacks during the day in the parks.

As we're early risers, we try to get to the parks at opening time (after breakfast either at Denny's, IHOP, Perkins or in the Villa), which means by around 4pm, we're ready for a rest.

Back to the Villa, then out for about 7/7.30 to our favorite restaurants.

The only exceptions to the 'go back to the Villa', are when we are at Universal, where we head down I-drive for dinner, rather than go all the way back to the Villa and out again.

[Florida_Bear]

Hi, We alway's eat off site.(unless we are staying late at a particular park)
We try and visit as many different restaurants as possible,and have the odd
ADR (depending on the finances)

Ted

[wrpac00]

Just out of interest - what are your favourite off site restraunts? I found most off site places to be just chains that you get back in the UK, seen one TGI's seen em all type of thing!


With the exception of places like Olive garden etc that you dont find in the UK, but they in themselves are still chain restraunts catering to the masses.

Doesn't sound like you looked around enough to me, also Disney are only catering for the mass captive market they have they have no competition.

But to name but a few:-
Carrabbas
Bruno's (Italian)
Colorado house of beef
River Island (@ Orange Lake Country Club)
Colombia (@ Celebration)
Bahama Breeze
Houlihans
Outback Steak House

There is a REAL world outside Disney, don't be scared to look

[michelleminnie]

We try to mix it about a bit, and get the best of both worlds.

[Bethanuk]

last Easter the parks were so busy that after the first couple of days we took a small cooler in with us and ate sandwiches!
This was supplemented by a lovely big breakfast at the Villa before we left.

We did do quite a few character meals as it was our first trip.. and the Crystal palace was sooooo lovely..... I was more excited than any of the kids!

We left the parks quite early most days so ate evening dinner off the park most days and enjoyed a wonderful chinese takeaway... this was a must do as the kids were dying to get a chinese delivered in the little boxes they use !

We also feated at both the Goldan Corale and Ponderosa... I can honestly say I have never quite seen so much food on plates as in those places and so cheap!!!!

Anne

[Siobhan]

We usually only eat onsite when staying for fireworks, ie Wishes, Illuminations and Fantasmic, eat off site rest of time, however we are staying on site this year and will be mainly eating on site except for Universal and Sea World days.

[CBR600]

Doesn't sound like you looked around enough to me, also Disney are only catering for the mass captive market they have they have no competition.

But to name but a few:-
Carrabbas
Bruno's (Italian)
Colorado house of beef
River Island (@ Orange Lake Country Club)
Colombia (@ Celebration)
Bahama Breeze
Houlihans
Outback Steak House

There is a REAL world outside Disney, don't be scared to look

Your right - we didnt really have time to explore beyond the 192 and I drive during our last trip - it was our first experience of Florida and we wanted to make the most of being in the parks - so for practical reasons that meant ADR''s which we all, to our delight, thoroughly enjoyed :tounge:

We did eat at bahama breeze and loved it, so much so that we ate there 3 times during our last trip! Hated the Outback, it was a real dissapointment, which is a shame because I know its a firm Dibb favourite.
Had lunch in Carrabas which was ok, kids and I enjoyed it but DH wasnt fussed. Houlihans we gave a miss - but may give it a whirl next time if you think its good?
We also tried a few places up I drive, Ming court which was average and again i was expecting great things so a tad dissapointed. I know Tony Romas is a big chain but we had a gorgeous meal in there and thats a 'must' on our list too! :tounge: We ate at a couple of city walk places, Jimmy buffets was fun, but I am looking forward to exploring the eataries up at Universal during our next visit - especially Tchop chop and Bubba gump :tounge:

[AJAXON]

It's a heck of a lot cheaper we find to eat off site.


Hi :wave: , we were lucky enough to book our holiday with the free Disney Dining Plan :spin: So I suppose I could say for us, it will be one heck of a lot cheaper to eat on site ;)
We have managed to make ADR's for:-Cinderellas Table B/fast, The Princess Storybook B/fast at Epcot, Mama Melroses & Fantasmic, Hoop-De-Doo Review, Le Cellier, Narcoosees, Spoodles, Californian Grill and 6x Various Character Meals for 3 adults and 4 children and all at nill cost :spin: (and we still have 18 counter service meals each and 18 snacks each to be used if we need them :d: !
We will be having around 6 meals off site when we are at:- Seaworld, Universal, Wet & Wild, Space Centre and our Shopping Trips (could you recommend anywhere with good food and reasonably priced?) But still, I must admit, I do like the thought of the "Free Meals"
Best Regards, AJAXON :wave: .