NP. opinions are all over the place when it comes to dining, and we all have our favs and not-so greats. The best way to plan dining is try and figure out what type of experiences you want vs where you are going to be on certain days and plan around that.
Experience types:
• Character meals: These are all about the traditional Disney character experience. Most are buffet style and are a great use of credits because their OOP (out of pocket) cost is pretty high, so you are getting good value per credit. Usually these are 1 credit per person meals. There are others that are sit down meals that would be the same 1 crd, but then there are ones like Cinderella's Royal Table (where you are eating inside the castle) that are 2 credits.
This is a pretty good run down of character meals.
• Regular dining: There are a ton of normal-to-highly themed restaurants on property. In the parks, resorts and over at Disney Springs (Disneys free to enter shopping and entertainment complex), you can find pretty much anything you want. Most all of them (99%) accept the dining plan.
• Signature dining: these are the top tier restaurants on property. These normally are 2 credit meals.
• Dinner Shows: There are 2 running dinner shows on property. The Hawaiian Luau at the Polynesian resort, and the Hoop-de-do review at Fort Wilderness. These are generally 1-2 credits each depending on what seating section you reserve. Note that you will spend much more time at these vs any other dining b/c they are full on dinner shows.
I know it seems super early, but you should start planning where you want to be on your park days. WDW is a huge place and there is a ton of distance between locations. The last thing you want to be doing is criss crossing property going from resort > park > restaurant > park, etc. If you can get even a basic itinerary down, it will help to slug in your dining. You are staying in a really good spot for dining b/c you have 4 resorts within arm's reach plus good reach of Epcot and their proximity resorts with some good options.
So whats best? Gosh, who knows. But here is my bad attempt:
Character
• 1800 Park Fare @ Grand Floridian: Really good food overall. The characters are different between brkfst and lunch/dinner, but they are mostly what are called "face characters" where they are not wearing a mask and can actually communicate with you. IMO, as we have older kids, the silent characters get kinda boring. If you have a fun personality and can banter with them a bit, it makes for a great time.
• Chef Mickey @ Contemporary: We stay there a lot, so its our staple meal. Food is average, but plenty of options. you won't leave hungry. Its a bit loud and chaotic, but you are also getting the main dudes: MM, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto.
• I forget your kids ages and genders, but if you want all Princesses, Akershus in Epcot is your best 1 credit bet. I prefer breakfast b/c it is more traditional, lunch and dinner are more Norwegian flavors which may or may not work for you. The Royal table (Castle) is a great meal, but it is 2 credits and you are getting the same princesses.
Sit Down: Again, you can throw a rock anywhere on property and hit a restaurant there. For me:
• Magic Kingdom: Not much here surprisingly.
• Epcot: You'll get lots of international options here. We like Hibachi , so Japan is in the mix. Mexico is really cool for the scenery, but i've heard mixed on the menu. UK has a really fun pub with traditional food. LeCelier is in Canada and is one of the best places to get a steak—It is 2 credits though. Wild card: by the time you get there, the new "Space themed" restaurant called Space 220 should be open, it seems like a cool concept where you get in an elevator and shoot up to space. Once in the restaurant, all the windows are LED panels showing outerspace. Double wild card, there are 3 resorts within walking distance of Epcot that have really good restaurants...I'll mention them below. But there is a back exit to Epcot and they are right there, very easy.
• Studios: The Brown Derby is your best bet here. However, there are 2 really fun restaurants I enjoy.
50's Prime time Cafe is one. It is set up like a 50's kitchen and the servers (your aunts and uncles), make sure those 50's era manners are followed, including eating all your veggies and washing your hands after the bathroom trip. The other is Sci-Fi Dine In. Like no place you ever eaten before. You basically eat in
special cars with tables that all face a big drive-in theater screen showing clips of old b&w monster movies.
• Animal Kingdom: Tusker House is the main draw here, but it is a character meal (A very good one but you need to be somewhat adventurous eater for lunch or dinner). However,
Yak and Yeti is the best sit down there IMO. There is also a Rain forest Cafe there.
Disney Springs
This is the best thing to happen to dining at Disney since who knows when. Dis Springs was the old Disney Marketplace and Pleasure Island location. It is their shopping, dining and entertainment hub on property and it is pretty awesome. It is free to enter and walk around, no tickets or anything required. However it is also very popular with locals so it gets very busy on a weekend night. Here you will find most restaurants are not owned by Disney, but they still accept the dining plan and can be booked at the same time as other on-property locations. Bonus is that they also hold a portion of their tables out of the Disney system, so it may seem to book quick, but you can usually grab a table on the Open Table app.
My favs (that I have been to) include The Boathouse, Homecomin and Morimoto Asia. Rain Forest Cafe also has another location here and a sister restaurant called T-Rex with a Dino theme here.
This is a pretty good run down. DS is a great place to go when you don't ant to do a theme park, but it is also kind of out of the way and pretty large, so plan accordingly.
Resorts and Signature Sit Down:
• Contemporary:
California Grill is a pretty awesome meal. It is signature, so 2 credits.
• Beach Club (one of them you can walk to from Epcot):
Cape May Cafe is a basic character meal for breakfast, but dinner it turns into a fantastic seafood buffet with endless, delicious crablegs. I can't leave there without polishing off a tables-worth.
• Boardwalk (also walkable from Epcot) has 2 restaurants
Flying Fish and
Trattoria al Forno which are both great meals outside the hustle and bustle of the theme parks.
• Inside the MK there is
Be Our Guest which is a signature (2 credits) restaurant themed after Beauty and the Beast. Its a pretty cool restaurant with some very themed rooms. They recently changed the menu and I have not been there since. Its a pretty hard reservation to score though.
• In animal Kingdom is Tiffins which is a 2 credit meal. I've heard good things, but have not been.
• At the Polynesian is the widely favorite
Ohana (Dinner). Again, another hard one to score, but if you get it, pack stretchy pants. Its a sit down, but in addition to the ample sides, the servers walk around with meat skewers of steak, (huge) shrimp and chicken. But be sure to save some space for the bread pudding...offa. There is also the easier to get Kona Cafe where you won't get the Ohana experience, but they do have the bread pudding.
• Across the lake from the contemporary (via boat) you can go to the Wilderness lodge and hit
Whispering Canyon. They have toned things down a bit, but its still a blast for kids. I won't ruin it for you, but it is a good meal and a fun time. Plus WL is an amazing resort and a trip to the lobby is worth it alone.
• My last recommendation is really hard to get to, and I almost don't want to mention it, but I love it there.
Sanaa at Animal Kingdom lodge (Kidani side) is pretty damn good. The bread service is a must do for me, so much so I've made runs there just for that when I am there solo. The 2 restaurants on the Jambo side are amazing a well...Jiko and Boma, and like Wilderness lodge, that resort lobby is amazing. But again, they are very much out of the way.
Just an additional point to ponder, there are no resort > resort buses, only park > resort. You are in a great location having the monorail right there. That makes dining at the Polly or Grand Flo so much easier for you, and the boat to Wilderness lodge makes that resort within reach too. When we need to go to the other resorts, we use Uber, Lyft or taxis a lot. It is so much more convenient and direct. not as magical, but hey, I got places to go. Most trips have not been more than $15 each way.
hope that helps
