Dining in Walt Disney World

On my December trip I tried a few new restaurants at Disney - here's the run down:

Via Napoli - I went here as part of the Candlelight Processional Dinner Package so based on a pure price standpoint, it was overpriced.  But I paid for seating at the Candlelight Processional too.  The food was very good.  My friend and I both had Pizza and the tomato and mozzarella appetizer.  The server was cute, actually they all were.  This place has good food but even better eye candy.

Hollywood Brown Derby - This is a pricey restaurant at the Hollywood Studios, but it had a nice atmosphere since it replicated the Brown Derby in Hollywood.  The food here is fabulous.  I split a salad with my friend and it was the perfect size and delicious and the pork was the best pork I've ever had in my life.  I didn't care for the grapefruit cake though.  My server was also excellent, making this a great dining experience.

The Plaza - Located in the Magic Kingdom, but a bit hidden from view just off Main Street was underwhelming.  While the prices were some of the most reasonable I paid in Disney World, the food was no better then I found in quick service places and my waitress was barely average.  I've heard good things about The Plaza, but I don't plan to go back anytime soon.

Portobello - Located in Downtown Disney I thought was was good, but not great Italian food.  Living near NYC I know good Italian food and this was just ok.  I think if you're used to Olive Garden or other chain Italian you'll enjoy the food here.  But if you're picky about your Italian then you should probably skip eating Italian in  Disney World.

Coral Reef - Located in Epcot and set back a bit from the action this restaurant is hard to find if you arne't looking for it.  Yet it's a busy place.  The theme is that you're eating under the sea in a coral reef, the entertainment here are the fish in the tanks that line one wall of the resturant.  The food here was very good, my friend and I both had steaks (yes, we had steak in a seafood restaurant).  The food was tasty and the wait staff good. 

Captains Grille - Located at Yacht Club this was an accidental meal, our last lunch in Disney World.  My friend is allergic to crab and when she asked for her burger without crab meat on it the waitress insisted on having the chef come out.  The chef was really nice and made our burgers to order, they were the best burgers we had on-property. 

Chef Mickeys - A buffet located at The Contemporary Resort featuring the Fab 5 (Mickey, Minni, Donald, Goofy and Pluto).  I've eaten here before and had a pretty similar expereience.  The buffet is ok and the character interaction great.  If you want to see the Fab 5 this is a great option, if you want good food I would choose a different restaurant.

Cinderella's Royal Table - My friend and I choose this for the venue and the chance to meet the princesses.  A good but expensive breakfast, the venue and the characters are what make this worth the price tag.  When you enter you get a photo (included in the price) with Cinderella and then princesses come around during the meal for photos, we met Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Ariel.  Our waiter was very good and friendly.  The character interaction was a little weird, I'm not used to interacting with face characters and I'm not sure I was a fan of it.  But the girls all did a nice job.  It was a fun once or twice in a lifetime experience.

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Disney Restaurant Reviews:

My resturant reviews from my May trip to Disney World:

Big River Grille and Brewing Works
Located at the Boardwalk Resort.  I didn't really like this place.  My Mom and I waited at least 30 minutes, probably closer to an hour to eat here.  Then the food was just average.  I got a pasta dish and it didn't have much flavor. Even though it's a brewery type of place I do expect tomato sauce to have flavor to it.  The service was ok, but the best part of the place was that you could watch sports games at the bar.

I doubt I would ever go back here, maybe if I was at the Boardwalk and despirate, but I would go to the ESPN Zone or Flying Fish first.

Wolfgang Puck Cafe
This was better then the Big River Grille, though not a place I would add to my highly recommend list. 
I had the BBQ Pizza, which was spicier then I expected and made it not as good as it could have been.  But I found the menu to be a little too fancy for a restaurant at Downtown Disney.  I've been to Wolfgang Puck restaurants in Vegas with a more basic, but interesting menu.  When my sister tried to make a reservation for us she asked for 6:00 and was given 5:30, which is fine if they're busy since we were a bigger group with kids.  But, when we left at 6:45 the place wasn't that busy, at least 1/3 of the tables were empty.  That left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. 

I liked Wolfgang Puck Cafe and would go back.  However, I would pick another resturant that I haven't been to at Downtown Disney first.

The Disney adventure begins

Mom and I flew down to Disney on Jetblue on a Wednesday from T5 at JFK. I've been through T5 previously, and it's a pretty good terminal as far as terminals go. I do find the fast food area a little crammed and offered a strange selection. While there is a Dunkin Donuts, it only serves donuts and muffins - no breakfast sandwiches. The whole set-up is a little uncomfortable. You go to different counters or to the tables/refrigerated boxes and pick out your food, then go to a seperate area to pay. It's just overwhelming if you have luggage with you that you're dragging around.

The other thing I don't like is that there is no Hudson News. I like the extremely large selection of magazines they offer. T5 only has a Borders books (no magazines) and a CNBC with a moderate selection of magazines.

Our flight to Orlando was on one of Jetblue's Embraer 190's. My sister has a thing about these smaller planes, but I liked that I was sitting with just my Mom and not in a middle seat with a stranger next to me. The flight was uneventful - I got my chips, drink and watched TV.

Upon landing things got a little more interesting. After getting our luggage in Terminal A we had to find the Magical Express counter; however, it was in Terminal B which I didn't know until wandering around Terminal A for 10 minutes. My luggage didn't weigh too much, until I had to drag it all around the airport. We finally found Magical Express and since we weren't booked on the hotel room we had to pay $20 each to ride. Fortunately, we only waited about 10 minutes for the bus and the kids on the bus weren't annoying.

My sister met us with the baby, Matty, at the bus drop off and took us up to the room. The Boardwalk Villa's was very nice at first glance, and I got to see lots of since our room was at the end of a hallway. The balcony overlooked the back of the slide. That night we had reservations for dinner at Wolf Gang Puck at Downtown Disney. I got a BBQ Chicken pizza, it was good, but not great. I think everyone else liked there dinner, but no one found the place great. I wouldn't

add it to my list of places I would like to go to on the next trip, I would rather try a different restaurant.

After dinner we went to a place where my nephew Alex got to make his very own car. It's similar to a Build a Bear, but with cars. So you pick a basic car, and you can get away with just that for $15-$30. But of course you'll want the special tires, and stickers and the remote control - you get the idea. Then they put your car together for you, with your assistance if you want.

So far things were going ok, although the sleeping arrangements of my mom, nephew and I on a fold out couch kept me from being well rested.