I've spent some time in this blog talking about the Signature restaurants at Disney. By all means these are some of the best restaurants around. But they all are pretty costly with regards to both Disney dining plan credits and real cash money. Fear not! there are places that don't charge quite so much for their food. Of course, the food at Disney is expensive everywhere but there are lower cost options than the Signature Dining Restaurants that we have so far spent most of our time discussing. In this post I hope to spend some time talking about some of the wonderful buffets that are offered for a single dining credit. You have to eat well, no matter what kind of budget you are on, because Disney takes a lot of strength to explore.
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| Hollywood and Vine. A great place to eat before Fantasmic! |
As you can see by my profile photo, I'm a pretty big guy. You know that I'm going to know were to get great food and where the best stuff is hiding. One of the best buffets at Disney world can be found at the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Disney's Hollywood Studios. Our first trip to Hollywood and Vine was in the year 2000. Disney was celebrating the new millennium and my parents were gracious enough to take my wife, kids and me to Disney World. A long time had passed since my wife and I had visited in 1985. Two parks had opened and the dining choices had exploded. Hollywood studios was among the new parks to open during our absence from the parks. Fantasmic opened in Hollywood studios in Disney World on October 15, 1998. The show was only open for a couple years when we went in 2000. Disney offers a dining package with Fantasmic and to my mind, booking a dinner package is a great way to go. Not only do you get great seats to the show, but you get to eat at a great Disney restaurant. For the 2000 trip we made our reservations at Hollywood and Vine. Our trip was in October so the crowds were not at their maximum but there were plenty of people there and so when we got hungry early and arrived a little early for our reservations, we still had a wait to get into the restaurant. This didn't bother me because we were, after all, early. We still got to our table earlier than our reservations and sat down to a wide and varied buffet of meats and seafood. veggies and casseroles were all over the buffet with a carving station of prime rib and Turkey i think it was. The food was constantly replenished and was hot and delicious. One of the features of this and every Disney Buffet is a special section just for kids.
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| Clams, Crab and Shrimp.. Oh My! |
My family, being from the Midwest, was intrigued by the possibility of a clam bake. Disney offers its own version of a clam bake at the Beach and Yacht resort in the Epcot area of Disney World. Cape May has a buffet restaurant that serves a couple of purposes. In the morning the restaurant one of the many places that young and old alike can interface with some of Disney's beloved characters. Specifically, Beach Goofy makes his appearance along with many of his friends while kids and adults munch on scrambled eggs, Mickey waffles and other assorted breakfast offerings. I must admit that I haven't been to Cape May Cafe for breakfast but our family did go there for dinner. The dinner buffet at Cape may was billed as a clam bake and true enough there were clams on the buffet, along with crab legs, Peal and Eat shrimp and other seafood delights. Cape May also offers a carving station and a desert bar that is full of cakes and pies. We ate at Cape Mays in 2000 and haven't returned since. The food there was good and plentiful but the size of the clams left me a little underwhelmed. We just haven't seen the need to eat there since though I'm sure the place has changed over the 13 years that we haven't been there.
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| The food is good.. the Characters are better. |
A better place, in my opinion for a Character Dinner is located in the Contemporary Resort near the Magic
Kingdom. Chef Mickey's is THE place for breakfast in all the Disney parks. Located in the atrium in the Contemporary resort near the Monorail, Chef Mickeys serves hundreds of guests every day. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy are all dressed in the Chef's coats and are out among the diners constantly. The food is typical Disney breakfast buffet fair. Menu items include scrambled eggs, pancakes, Mickey Waffles, along with assorted breakfast meats. Hash brown potatoes with gravy on them are one of my favorite things to eat at the breakfast buffet. Included on the buffet are various fresh fruits and a number of breakfast casseroles. Most of the food is designed to taste good along with staying well for a period of time on a buffet. I think there was a chef there making the Mickey waffles to order. Waffles tend to get cold fast and are not nearly as good when they loose their crisp texture. But while the food is good, it really isn't the best I have ever tasted and, of course, the infamous Disney bacon is included as part of the buffet. What makes Chef Mickey the place for breakfast for young and old alike is the character interaction. Almost every one of the classic Disney characters make an appearance. Goofy, one of my favorite Disney characters, is there. Minnie and Mickey are both there of course. Donald, Chip and Dale wander through the dining room and Pluto makes his appearance as well. Each character goes around the dining room and spend as much time as needed at each table. Squeals of delight come from kids as their favorite comes to the table. The characters don't talk. I mean how could they, but they still communicate with every one there. Then, periodically through out the day, the characters parade through the restaurant to music. Diners are encouraged to take their napkins and spin them over their heads as the characters march through greeting everyone they see. The staff is always willing to take a moment to get your picture with your favorite characters. The amazing training for the Disney staff shines through again. Everyone is thoughtful and caring I really believe that the people that work there care about the visitor's comfort and enjoyment.
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| Before Finding Nemo, lets have a bite here. |
As you may have already figured out, My family is awfully fond of a dinner and a show. Now i'm not sure that they do this anymore, but it wasn't so long ago when you could book a meal and get preferred seating to the Finding Nemo, the Musical in the Animal Kingdom. Since we are always looking for ways to tweak our Disney experience we snapped up the opportunity and made reservations at the Tusker House in Harambe Village near the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction. The Tusker House is a large African Themed buffet with tons of dishes with their flavor origins in Asia and Africa. Pork and Chicken were featured here with salmon available for seafood lovers. Curries and Tofu dishes were on the buffet as well. The flavors are unexpected and definitely different from what I am use to. The port loin was roasted with a coffee rub/glaze that was not unpleasant and the curries were spicy and, to this untrained pallet, authentic in flavor. The deserts feature many different tropical fruits included a passion fruit tart that was lovely. More familiar fare was available as well. What could be more american than chocolate chunk Cookies or Turtle Brownies. I think my favorite dish on the buffet may have been the breads. Tusker House serves a cracker bread with sesame seeds that i loved to dip into the wonderful chutneys and jellies that were offered. After the meal we saw one of my favorite shows at Disney. I really love Pixar movies and one of my favorites is Finding Nemo. The movie included some music which Disney has taken and expanded into a 30 minute musical telling the story. The condensed story is quite complete I might add, of Nemo and his dads search for him. But, I think I'll save that for another post.
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| Boma's is Famous throughout Disney as one of the best buffets. |
The last of the buffets that i want to talk about is the Famous Boma, Flavors of Africa. I had heard a lot about this restaurant and really wanted to try it. I liked the flavors of the dishes served at the Tusker house and was anxious to try what Boma had to offer. All in all the food was good, but maybe not as great as I expected it to be. The Highlights of the meal were the Crab soup which was unexpected it texture and flavor, The Ribs, which I though were rich and tasty and the Zebra Domes for desert. My mother in law was fond of the watermelon rind salad and I enjoyed the couscous as well. At one of the carving station was a whole pork shoulder. Unfortunately, I thought it a little dry and while I'm all about the pig most of the time, this one wasn't as good as I hoped. One of the big desert sensations that many people raved over is served at Boma's. The Zebra Dome is almost a truffle that includes Espresso, Kahlua and heavy cream covered in white chocolate with milk chocolate stripes. Don't get me wrong, the desert is good. I just found it wanting when compared to the hype that we have seen in many of the food blogs and restaurant reviews. Had I not read the reviews I would have probably said it was very good and worth getting a second piece but it wasn't the best desert I had eaten in Disney world. At the end of the day, I would give Boma an B+ to an A-, and while I enjoyed my meal there, I've done it now and it will be a while before I need to go back.
Generally, Disney does a great job with buffets. The weaknesses are probably all attributable to the inherent weaknesses in all buffets. Because the Disney folks keep the fresh food coming out to the buffets and don't let any one dish sit unattended for long, most of the pitfalls of buffet eating are avoided. The best part of any buffet is the amount of choice diners get and the speed at which they can get their food. All in all, the Disney buffets are a good value at a single dining credit per person and fill a niche. There is so much to do at Disney that, Unless that is what you are setting out to do, dining can take a significant hunk out of your day. I like to eat, so the dining is as much of the experience as riding the Rock and Roller Coaster but a good buffet is nice when you are in a bit of a hurry.
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