1st Visit & dining recommendations

[Guest]

Hi
My first trip to Florida with 2 boys aged 7 & 10. We are staying in a non-Disney hotel without breakfast or dinner included.

Would like recommendations for breakfast, lunch & dinner please that is not too expensive but also in the locality of Double Tree Hilton, near Universal & Renaissance near SeaWorld? Or in the vicinity of the main parks (not Busch) that can be accessed without a car, possibly?
Maybe buffet recommendations, or with variety of choices?

Any advice is welcome as have no clue where to dine, sit down and fast food?

Also, do we need to book for sit down restaurants? Which ones are good for kids 7 & 10?

Any tips welcome

[DFussy]

If you have a look on google maps for the doubletree near universal, if its the one I think it is, there is a small complex on kirkman rd going away from idrive. it has a walgreens for picking up a few bits, a burger king, a golden corrall (buffet style restaurant) and millers ale house, as well as a couple of other places.

We were not far from here, and most of our meals were either millers or golden corrall. you can find the menu for millers on the web to see it if would suit you.

Our 11yr old loved both. The plus of a buffet is you don't have to wait for your food if your hungry, and if your kids don't like something they can pick something else.

Generally you don't need to book for these type of places, but we found that millers was busy on weekend evenings, with long waits for a table, so we tended to go to golden corrall if it was too long a wait.

Have a great hols.

[Ridersmom]

Your post confuses me but if you are staying near DS, Earl of Sandwich is quite affordable. I have also gotten Groupons.

In the parks, your kids can either have a kids meal or you can probably split one meal between two, if not three of you.

If you are in a Disney park, there are no easily accessible restaurants without a car. Also unless staying on site where you can get back to your room, it is hard to scoot in and out of the parks. For example to get to the MK you need to get to the TTC (either from the parking lot or dropped off) and from there take the monorail or a fairy to the park, then go through security before entering the park. It can easily take 20 minutes.

[derenstar]

As the OP has never been, I think it might be difficult for them to grasp the sheer scale and size of Orlando and the parks. I would suggest you might struggle staying offsite without a car, doable of course with taxis and Uber but not terribly convenient.

I’m sure there is a Denny’s and an IHOP near there, both great places for breakfast and dinner and there are of course plenty of eateries in the parks themselves once you are there but you will need to book in advance as the most popular ones will have limited availability on the day. Most of the other restaurants I would recommend offsite you would need transport to get to though.

ETA: our favourite sit down restaurants at Disney and Universal are as follows (our kids are 10 & 7 too )

Yak and Yeti - Animal Kingdom
Boma & Saana - Animal Kingdom Lodge
Ohana - Polynesian Resort
Chef Art Smiths Homecoming - Disney
Bubba Gumps - Universal City Walk
NBC sports bar and grill - Universal City Walk
Cow fish - City Walk

[Guest]

Thank you for your replies, much appreciated