But it's tradition...

[zurgandfriend]

We always do California Grill, Kona Cafe for breakfast, Grand Floridian Cafe for breakfast and Cosmic Rays. I'll be honest I have not seen any drop off. We have had other "must-do's" e.g. Chef Mickey's, but as DS got older they went by the wayside.

 

[OneDNP]

Our only tradition seems to be changing our minds about where we want to eat. Last trip, I think I changed half the ADRs we had while we were there.

 

[stevehousse]

Chef Mickeys and Kona Cafe breakfast are the must do every trip for us! For quick service its Caseys at MK!

 

[ItlngrlBella]

We do one traditional (The Garden Grille) because of the characters there for our kids and the food is decent - otherwise, we do a decent counter service for dinner and/or a sit down dinner in one of the parks or hotels.

We usually eat breakfast at our rental, counter service lunch and sit down dinner or vice versa on lunch sit down/counter dinner.

PS: Has anyone done the "clambake" seafood buffet at The Yacht club recently? We're in Florida on family business (no parks this time) next weekend July 17-20 and are thinking of hitting it up for dinner on Friday night. I haven't don't it since the 90's when I was in high school. Last I checked I think it was $30 pp. I'm hoping for more than fish sticks. I'm traveling with a pack of Italians (my family), who really love their shellfish.

 

[worldfanatic]

We "almost always" do split stays.
The Boardwalk Resort is "almost always" one of our hotels.
And burgers and pitchers of beer at Big River Grille are "almost always" part of our plan.

 

[NonnaT]

We do one traditional (The Garden Grille) because of the characters there for our kids and the food is decent - otherwise, we do a decent counter service for dinner and/or a sit down dinner in one of the parks or hotels.

We usually eat breakfast at our rental, counter service lunch and sit down dinner or vice versa on lunch sit down/counter dinner.

PS: Has anyone done the "clambake" seafood buffet at The Yacht club recently? We're in Florida on family business (no parks this time) next weekend July 17-20 and are thinking of hitting it up for dinner on Friday night. I haven't don't it since the 90's when I was in high school. Last I checked I think it was $30 pp. I'm hoping for more than fish sticks. I'm traveling with a pack of Italians (my family), who really love their shellfish.

OK, Garlic girl (I'm Gaelic and Garlic, so I can say that!). If you're from anywhere along the eastern seaboard, New England especially) the clambake at YC is not all that and a bag of chips. Although decent, it is surely not memorable or worth driving out of the way for. There are simply too many clam shacks open all summer long for Cape May to even begin to compete. If, however, you hail from some Notforsaken inland place that has no ocean (so sad) then by all means have at it! IMHO

 

[ItlngrlBella]

If, however, you hail from some Notforsaken inland place that has no ocean (so sad) then by all means have at it! IMHO

Thanks for the heads up- yes, we are from a foresaken inland place: Chicago (my family). I live along the southeastern "coast" of Wisconsin about 2 miles from Lake Michigan. If we want good shellfish here we have to pay a premium via Superior Lobster in Chicago (we get our Christmas Eve seafood there).

So, I guess the Yacht Club it is! I hope it's still as "eh...ok" as I remember!

@NonnaT - I think you convinced me to get my family on a vacation to Nee England so we can just eat shellfish until we explode!

 

[WDWDreamer4]

PS: Has anyone done the "clambake" seafood buffet at The Yacht club recently? .

Cape May Café is actually in the Beach Club, as a cast member once said to us "who would have a clam bake on a yacht?" Great way to remember where it is.
This is one of our must do sit downs every year. There are clams, mussels, and crab legs. But they also have a great salad bar, non seafood buffet options and carved meats. I love this buffet for the all you can eat clams (my favorite shell fish) but the atmosphere is really nice and the cast members have been awesome every time!

Our other must do is Chef Mickey's for breakfast the day we leave. This is a great farewell for our family. Even as the kids get older I think we will still continue this tradition.

 

[Scott10]

Another shout out to Cape May as our go to restaurant each visit! This is the relaxation day dinner that we hit to enjoy the all you can eat crab legs! The benefit of having Beaches and Cream for dessert if I ever leave room is a nice option as well!!!

 

[LuvtheGoof]

We also do via Napoli on every trip, and have not noticed any difference in quality. Servers have always been awesome, and the pizza is always the best. Maybe they just had an off day for you?
We also visit Rose & Crown, 50's Prime Time, and Kona Cafe. Quality has not suffered at any of them. I agree that sometimes people have off days, so that something may not be perfect, but we can't say that quality has declined for us. We've made 16 trips in the last 6 years, and will be back again in less than 2 months!

 

[collinsbrooke89]

We've only been coming to Disney the past 3 years (we had both been a few times as kids) but the one thing is becominga traditon is lunch at Flametree BBQ. Of course, this coming trip is the first time we've done Disney Dining so we'll be trying a lot of new places and seeing if we like doing the dining and possibly starting new traditions

 

[meganwdw]

Raglan Road is our first night tradition. My girls love the entertainment and Ya can't beat the food and of course, beer!!

 

[DABIGCHEEZ]

We do not have any must do restaurants or traditions, as we try something new each trip. Been to many over the years. I will say we usually do the Rose & Crown counter for Fish and chips, but last trip we decided to do the restaurant side... needless to say from now on it is counter service. Everyone but me ended up getting the Fish & Chips(for more $) except me. I tried some type of Indian-curried Chicken that I would not pick again. But you gotta try it to know.

 

[Tom 55]

Me, it is a breakfast at Crystal Palace with an ADR before the park opens. Other than that we try different place every time we get free disney dining promo.

 

[jaklgreen]

For us, the service has been failing, slow inattentive and even rude waiters. The food, while still tasty, has gotten very sloppy. Here is an example from our last visit, a large with pepperoni and sausage:

It takes a lot for us to complain, and we didn't with this and will take the hit for that, but this pie was just straight up sloppy, no effort went into making it. This is not the first pie we received like this only the one I could get to a picture of quickest.

I love their pizza, but I do agree that they are very rude and the pizza chefs need to be replaced. The first time I ever went there they sent out my pizza burnt, like completely black on the bottom. Took me a while to flag down the server, even the people at the next table where trying to help me flag him down. When I finally got his attention he said he would bring me another. They chefs put my at the bottom of their list because it was another 20 min before I got my new pizza. It takes 90 seconds to cook one of those suckers. The people next to me were so appalled by how I was treated that they called the manager over and explained what happened( I was going to let it go). I ended up getting the pizza for free so I was happy. But still, it was really crappy service. I have since been back several times and while I never had a repeat of that experience the service is still lacking. They look like they are really busy running around so its hard to tell if they just walk fast and then spend a bunch of time in the back or if they have way too many tables.

 

[hollymc3]

Liberty Tree Tavern on arrival day for dinner is our tradition

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

I love their pizza, but I do agree that they are very rude and the pizza chefs need to be replaced. The first time I ever went there they sent out my pizza burnt, like completely black on the bottom. Took me a while to flag down the server, even the people at the next table where trying to help me flag him down. When I finally got his attention he said he would bring me another. They chefs put my at the bottom of their list because it was another 20 min before I got my new pizza. It takes 90 seconds to cook one of those suckers. The people next to me were so appalled by how I was treated that they called the manager over and explained what happened( I was going to let it go). I ended up getting the pizza for free so I was happy. But still, it was really crappy service. I have since been back several times and while I never had a repeat of that experience the service is still lacking. They look like they are really busy running around so its hard to tell if they just walk fast and then spend a bunch of time in the back or if they have way too many tables.

I agree 100%. My wife and I visited there this past November and her pizza was ok but my prosciutto and melon pizza was not nearly as good as the times before and they didn't even bother to cut it. Service was very subpar.

Our favorite tradition is to start out the week in the Bier Garten. Nothing like carbs, carbs, carbs to begin a vacation!

 

[Disney4family]

We always do Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace for bfast. We also always did Cindy's for bfast, but since our "princess" is almost 13, the magic has changed a little . It's our tradition to start with Chef Mickey's since we stay at BLT and it's a great welcome to our vacation. We always end with Crystal Palace. My husband doesn't know if I'm crying because I get to hug Eeyore (my fave next to Mickey), or because my depression has started to kick in that we have to return to the real world soon.

We do have restaurants we enjoy and book a lot, but if we change it up, it's due to a mix of "needing a change" and "not having the best quality experience". We'll take a couple of years off and try again. This year we'll try San Angel Inn, Via Napoli and Le Cellier again. I'm looking forward to them and hoping for the best. It's become hit-or-miss since the dining plan took over. We're also throwing in Boma and The California Grill for our first time.

 

[fauzha7]

We tried Via Napoli for the first time in January. I was excited to finally try it and hoping it would be one of those go to places to eat. Our server seemed to not have much interest in our table. I had a pizza which was good but not as much as the hype. My wife had a pasta dish which was just a bowl of pasta....no salad, no bread. She asked if there was a salad with her meal and they said yes for an additional $7-8. For a side of lettuce? Been there. Tried it. Won't be back. Crystal Palace on the other hand is an "every trip" restaurant and after dining at 1900 Park Fair, we will definitely go back.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Biergarten, Ohana an Via Napoli. After these it is mix and match the rest of the vaca.