help me please with restaurants

[kelebek]

hi, going in april this year (that sounds good) for the first time, but i'm really confused as what to do about "eats" i'm a single parent on a medium budget, but would love to eat out every other day or so, we are getting a kids eat free from attraction tickets uk, but i can't really say i want to book restaurants in advance, just as the mood takes us, would this be ok and where are the reasonable eating places along i drive. any other advise you can give us. thanks

[queenofthenile]

Golden coral is very good value, plenty of choice all you can eat buffet.

[loadsapixiedust]

You'll find lots of family friendly restaurants, some have their own kids eat free deals or very cheap kids meals.

Have a look out for Ponderosa, Sizzler, Chilis, IHOP, Denny's, Perkins, Golden Corral, Bahama Breeze, Wendys, Steak 'n' Shake to name a few. You'll find portions are generous so it's often a good idea to split meals or take what you don't eat with you to have as a snack later on.

[KarenG]

Just to reassure you a little about the cost, in a lot of dining places it is very cheap indeed. I had a few meals last trip with just me and DD and we rarely paid more then $15 (altogether) for a really good meal (that left us full for HOURS). This was in the sorts of restaurant loadsapixiedust lists above :)

[Nikki'Andrew]

You'll find lots of family friendly restaurants, some have their own kids eat free deals or very cheap kids meals.

Have a look out for Ponderosa, Sizzler, Chilis, IHOP, Denny's, Perkins, Golden Corral, Bahama Breeze, Wendys, Steak 'n' Shake to name a few. You'll find portions are generous so it's often a good idea to split meals or take what you don't eat with you to have as a snack later on.

I would add Freindlys, Pizza Hut, Fuddruckers and another tip is to try the food courts in the shopping malls eg Florida Mall and premium outlets .If you have got a car while you are out there listen to the radio as they are always advertising deals ie kids eat free ect

[DebbieJRoss]

You can pick up booklets at wallmart and other stores that will give you coupons off restaurants and places to eat. There are plenty of cheap places to eat especially the buffet type places like golden corral, chinese buffet and cicis pizza, you can also download coupons off from your computer, Im sure someone will now the site. :wavey: Debbie

[Leanne1977]

We have never had to book in advance for any of the off-site restaurants. Its really just the Disney/Universal restaurants that you may need to book.
Bahama Breeze is on my list for Dec as we still haven't tried it. You will probably have a wait here as its popular.
But lots of the restaurants off-site are very very reasonable on cost especially places like Dennys and Sweet Tomatoes.:wave:

[Florida virgin]

By far the most reasonable place we ate was Cracker Barrel - we found ourselves double checking the bill as we couldn't believe how cheap it was.

[JudyC]

If you want to eat at one of the popular restaurants like Bahama Breeze, but don't want a long wait you can do phone ahead seating.

Just ring them and say you will be there in 30 minutes or however along it takes and they will put you on the seating list.

[tinacooper]

we stayed at the top end of international drive opposite wet n wild. there are loads of eating places there. we found ponderosa very good and you can just have the buffet which our kis loved,it really encouraged them to try new things without getting told of for not wasting it.if you have a car and can get to walmart we also bought some cooked chicken and salad with fresh bread , buy some plastic plates cutlery etc and we ate this outside of our hotel.
i would not worry to much about booking restaurants unless there are special ones you really want to go to.we also loved dennys.

[kelebek]

thanks everyone, its good to learn from other peoples experience.

[sunsetlakes]

More votes for Ponderosa and Golden Coral.

[SimonB]

If you are looking at eating in Magic Kingdom during the day, it is worth hopping on the monorail to the Grand Floridian and going to Gasparilla's.

As a family of 4 we ate for $30, which included me having a beer. The quality of the food was excellent and beat the stuff in the counter service places at Magic Kingdom hands down. Plus there was no queue.

[Prest]

Rest assured, we always play it by ear for restaurants (Apart from a few ADR's we book at Disney). We avoid the busy times and usually get seated within 15 minutes. With a medium budget, you will be fine especially if you incorporate the odd fast food restaurant or takeout.

Prest.

[The Wards]

outback is really good and not too expensive. They do a kids menu for under 10s and a joey steak and fries is $7.99. They have a 2 for 1 happy hour on the drinks from 4 til 7 and if you go ask for the bread (its great and its free so no need to order an appertizer). Theres one on the outside of premium outlets so should be able to get there on i-trolley.
If you go into seaworld go to the hospitality area for food rather than the other areas. they do a great carved roast turkey or beef sandwich and if you don't have potato salad they will give you a bag of crisps instead. Its about $8.00 but large enough to half for 2 kids for lunch. You can also get a free bud for you instead of buying a drink. If you are doing more than 1 day in seaworld and or universal think about investing in a souvenier cup for $5.99 as the refills only cost $1.49 and can be used in both seaworld, universal and busch parks
Food courts are brill - try again premium outlets for lots of choice eg slices of pizza, chinese combos, subway etc.
Coupon books are great help.
Sizzlers for breakfast as all you can eat and sets you up for whole day. adult is $4.99 but coupon book gets you a $1 off per person. Watch out though as drinks (refillable coffee, tea and softs excluding eg apple/orange juice) are added on separately.