The Wave

[yedliW]

I just tried to book my dining for our trip in November, and after 2 hrs on the phone with Disney, I was able to get 1 of what I had planed.. 2 more restaurants that I wanted (but had to get on a different day).. the rest I had to adjust on the fly.. One I got was for the Wave at the Contemporary.. I don't know anything about that place, the dining page at Disneyworld.com lists it as a buffet, but looking at the menu, it doesn't look like it is.. Our group is 7 people.. (5 adults, 1 child and 1 infant) Is this going to be a good fit, or should I keep looking?

 

[NYwdwfan]

I just tried to book my dining for our trip in November, and after 2 hrs on the phone with Disney, I was able to get 1 of what I had planed.. 2 more restaurants that I wanted (but had to get on a different day).. the rest I had to adjust on the fly.. One I got was for the Wave at the Contemporary.. I don't know anything about that place, the dining page at Disneyworld.com lists it as a buffet, but looking at the menu, it doesn't look like it is.. Our group is 7 people.. (5 adults, 1 child and 1 infant) Is this going to be a good fit, or should I keep looking?

We love The Wave. Unless they changed something recently it's not a buffet. We found the food really good - especially the desserts. I'd say give it a try!

 

[yedliW]

From the website it says:

Magic Kingdom Resort Area

Disney's Contemporary Resort

American Cuisine
Buffet/Family Style, Reservations Accepted, Unique/Themed Dining

$ ($14.99 and under per adult) - $$ ($15 to $29.99 per adult) More Information Beginning of tooltip contentEnd of tooltip content
Some Dining Plans Accepted

I didn't think it was, but it is deceptively listed at first glance..

I am looking forward to it, but we have some picky eaters in the group, so I was apprehensive to try a place I knew so little about..

 

[NYwdwfan]

From the website it says:



I didn't think it was, but it is deceptively listed at first glance..

The breakfast menu says "Breakfast Buffet". It's a regular menu for lunch/dinner.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/d...rt/wave-restaurant-of-american-flavors/menus/

Like I said - we really enjoy it. Great location close to MK yet not a chaotic place to eat.

 

[yedliW]

Ah.. that clears it up. Thanx for your feedback!

 

[wdwmagic]

Not a fan of the wave. Feels like eating in a basement. No natural light, drab interior, and food wasn't particularly good either. Much better options elsewhere in my opinion.

 

[Tom 55]

Over the years of travel to DW i have tried many of the sit down restaurants. The Wave was one that I was disappointed with. Slow service even though the restaurant was mostly empty. It did not fit with my formula for amount of food for this price. Here is picture of the $33 beef tenderloin. It comes all stacked up so you do not see how little food you are getting. It was good food but I will not go back there again.

 

[aw14]

We are heading there in August since we are staying at CR. I haver heard good things, but it doesn't seem too popular her on the forum

 

[lostpro9het]

I've only ever had dinner, not a buffet, there and they won us over! We will be working The Wave into our regular rotation going forward. Our Wave visit can be seen here.

 

[Kingoglow]

It just goes to show that you will get all opinions on this board. My wife and I love The Wave. It is our tradition to eat there our first night on property. We eat dinner then walk to MK and ride space mountain all night.

As others have said, the buffet is breakfast only. Lunch and dinner are both separate menus. The thing you get with the Wave is that your menu options are seasonal. So Fall dining has a lot of pumpkin or squash flavors available. Summer has a lot of citrus or berry flavors. The chefs change it up a lot. There are easy and traditional dishes as well if you are not into anything overly fancy.

What wdwmagic said is right though, the restaurant is in the bottom floor of the Contemporary and there is no natural light. That never bothered me. In fact at night, that is a welcome feature for dinner or just hanging at the bar.

 

[yedliW]

since the menu changes quarterly (or so..) is there anywhere I can find the menu from last fall (or any previous fall) so I can get an idea of what to expect when we go? We will be there in November.

 

[Jae99]

We ate at The Wave on January 1st. It was very good. I just had a look at the menu and it is the same as when we went. I would imagine that the menu that you see listed now will be very close to what will be available when you visit.

A little tip if you are on the dining plan. There is a cheese plate listed on the dessert menu, you can order it before your meal arrives and use it as an appetizer to share among yourselves and then share a dessert at the end of your other dessert entitlement at the end of your meal.

 

[MaryJaneP]

We enjoyed the Wave several times when we stayed at the CR. For those that remember the Concourse Steakhouse and the former arcade/food area, the Wave is definitely an upgrade in our opinion. It was never crowded when we were there and the food was always delicious. It was, however, not something to write home about and could easily be jettisoned if it conflicts with other more desirable ADR's. Nice change of pace especially if you haven't been there before.

 

[yedliW]

A little tip if you are on the dining plan. There is a cheese plate listed on the dessert menu, you can order it before your meal arrives and use it as an appetizer to share among yourselves and then share a dessert at the end of your other dessert entitlement at the end of your meal.

I saw that there.. I thought it was odd that it was a desert.. I wondered if it could be ordered, given the price.. (over $15) good to know that it can be ordered as an 'appetizer'.. We'll have to keep that in mind if it is still there in November.. thanx for the tip!

 

[Andy_0410]

I saw that there.. I thought it was odd that it was a desert.. I wondered if it could be ordered, given the price.. (over $15) good to know that it can be ordered as an 'appetizer'.. We'll have to keep that in mind if it is still there in November.. thanx for the tip!

The cheese option was given to us by our server last year when she knew we were on the dining plan
The desserts are mainly a selection of 3 mini desserts so it is all easily shared
Love this restaurant always had a good experiance here and have a reservation for November

 

[Jae99]

No problem @yedliW... It was the server that told us about it after finding out that we were on the DP. It wasn't a huge app, but was something to nibble on with our drinks before our mains showed up.

 

[emcclay]

The Wave's breakfast buffet is a great value for the price, to me. Had one dinner there and was turned off because my chicken was dry and dense blueberry bread pudding was served with my entree.