Dining at Disney

Good golly, what can I say about the food at Disney World? 

Oh, yeah.

Yum.

and.....

really freaking spendy.

When I was planning and researching for the trip way back in June and July I went back and forth on the Meal Plan option. Sigh. Back and forth. Back and forth. There were opinions a plenty on both sides of the issue, but I finally decided to go with the Disney Dining Plan. It just seemed like the better option, especially after I took a look at the price points on the majority of the fine (and not so)dining establishments around Mickey's extra special playground. 

It turned out to be a GREAT decision. 

The Dining Plan takes a few minutes to get the hang of (quick serve vs table serve.... and just what the heck constitutes a "snack"...) but once you sit down and figure it out.. yeah, total breeze. And, you can go ahead and not worry about what you're going to eat because you've already made your reservations for the table side dining (you did that right? as soon or maybe even before you made your hotel reservations??... yeah, not kidding. dining fills up before hotels. way. way before.) before you even left for the trip! And, (bonus) it's all paid for. (well. almost.)

I can say that keeping up with the 'snacks' was a pain. I could never remember how many we had left.

With 4 people (well, 3 adults), it just became a little much. 

However, because I had planned the table side dining out (literally) months before the trip, that was a cinch & the quick serve was easy-peasy too. 

(I know I'm speaking Greek to some of you. Sorry. If you decide to go to Disney & check out the Dining Plan, all will be made clear! I promise!)

Anyway.

A few places we ate yummy food......

Teppan Edo at Epcot.

So. Very. Very. Good.

And, lot's of fun. Even the short one enjoyed watching our food being prepared!

 ****

Hollywood & Vine at Hollywood Studios

It's a breakfast & lunch buffet and a character meal!

We ate breakfast there one morning. Really good.

And the character interactions were great too. They came to each table a couple of times & when Jacob (some how) missed June, they made sure he saw her before we left. Very sweet.

(yup. not one picture of the food. too busy eating & meeting the characters!)

 ****

Two mornings we ate breakfast at our hotel. 

Behold.... the famous 'Mickey Waffles'

Yes. You should go just so you can have these. 

 ****

Lunch in the Magic Kingdom from a quick serve that I cannot remember the name of for the life of me & I am far to lazy right now to go look it up.

But! Look! It's a lobster roll! 

 ****

We ate at Chef Mickey's our last night.

Yes. Whatever you do. Wherever else you eat.

Go. Here.

It's at the Contemporary Resort (right next to Magic Kingdom)

we sat at the little bar area to the left while we were waiting for our

reservations (9pm!) and were HIGHLY entertained by the bartender/magician. 

He was awesome.

and he made the ice in Jacob's water glow.

and got Jacob on a kick of saying "Abracadabra!"

Chef Mickey's is another buffet and a character dining.

And we all loved it.

Because our reservations were so stinking late, I think that actually ended up working in our favor.

The characters ended up being able to spend a little more time with the people there. Goofy and Donald came by several times and horsed around quite a bit. The rest of the staff was very sweet as well.

The food was good, for the most part. We didn't love the meats.... but the sides, the pastas and the salads were AMAZING. I went back twice. 

 ****

On the night we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (another blog of it's own, I think), we ate at the Liberty Tree Tavern. Again, we had reservations. We had to have them & we still had to wait about 20 minutes to get our table. But, it was well worth it.

Cause, the food was fabulous.

(especially my birthday fudge cupcake)

the salad... and the dressing. so crazy good.

Hey look, the mug! It's cute!

I was going to snap a picture before we started eating.... yeah, not so much. The food was served (family-style), we served our plates & then ate like we hadn't eaten in a week.

and... there was dessert. 

there you go....

Long winded, but with such an important subject, I just couldn't leave the details to chance!