When dining at WDW what drives you to choose a restaurant?

["El Gran Magnifico"]

I voted "quality" But it really comes down to value, which incorporates many of the choices given. If I spend X, what am I getting from a value perspective? The quality may be good but the selection may not be, the service may not be, the ambiance may not be, the location may not be. So while I get a good quality meal, it isn't necessarily a good value. It can work in reverse as well.

 

[jaklgreen]

For me, it is all about the type of food. I don't care how themed it is, if all you are offering is the same, tired burgers then I am not going. I rather eat more of the Ethnic foods, Morocco, Japan, Germany, etc.

 

[Hockey89]

I voted "quality" But it really comes down to value, which incorporates many of the choices given. If I spend X, what am I getting from a value perspective? The quality may be good but the selection may not be, the service may not be, the ambiance may not be, the location may not be. So while I get a good quality meal, it isn't necessarily a good value. It can work in reverse as well.

Do you have a cost benefit graph?

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Do you have a cost benefit graph?

No. I don’t take it quite that far. Usually it’s a family consensus.

 

[Kevin_W]

I agree with the others that it's a mix of these things. "Theme" would probably be #1 because overall that's what I'm at WDW for. But location is also important because if I'm spending the day at MK I'm not going to grab lunch at Octoberfest just because it has great themeing. Price and menu also definitely comes in as well - keeping with Octoberfest; I don't particularly care for German food or the cost of WDW buffets so I skip it from those regards.

Service would be last place because it can be hit or miss at any restaurant. But in years of visiting WDW I've never had "bad" service that made me not want to come back to a restaurant. Just somewhere between "decent" and "great".

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

When I can get something resembling pre-2005 food quality at something resembling pre-2031 prices

 

[DznyGrlSD]

When I can something resembling pre-2005 food quality at something resembling pre-2031 prices

^^ this. 100%. DDP has wal-marted dining at Disney something awful.

 

[Nottamus]

There should have been a multiple option

I'd say, the food, the location, the theming, plus we have our favorites that are always go-to's.

 

[Lord Starwalker]

So restaurant food quality is key and the theme is also a big deal. This makes sense to me, as one of our favorites is Sanaa, which totally nails both quality and theme.

 

[Weather_Lady]

We want: (1) quality food, which doesn't necessarily mean "signature" or Disney-expensive; and (2) something we can't get at home, whether that's a unique location (e.g., Sanaa), unique theme/entertainment (e.g., Biergarten), or unique food (e.g., Boma, Jiko, Yak & Yeti, or Tiffins).

Price is also a consideration, and this has caused us to start avoiding "all you care to enjoy" and character meals. For example, we always loved 'Ohana and it used to be a "tradition" to have our final dinner there each trip, but when the cost went up by 1/3 (making dinner and gratuity for our family of four a $300 proposition) and the food quality simultaneously went down, we axed it from our itinerary.

 

[DfromATX]

I voted for theme, but really I choose the best theme depending on the location of where we’ll be that day.

 

[DfromATX]

We want: (1) quality food, which doesn't necessarily mean "signature" or Disney-expensive; and (2) something we can't get at home, whether that's a unique location (e.g., Sanaa), unique theme/entertainment (e.g., Biergarten), or unique food (e.g., Boma, Jiko, Yak & Yeti, or Tiffins).

Price is also a consideration, and this has caused us to start avoiding "all you care to enjoy" and character meals. For example, we always loved 'Ohana and it used to be a "tradition" to have our final dinner there each trip, but when the cost went up by 1/3 (making dinner and gratuity for our family of four a $300 proposition) and the food quality simultaneously went down, we axed it from our itinerary.

‘Ohana used to be one of our traditions as well. It was the only place we ate at every trip and we went there on our MK day. For our last trip in June 2018, we decided to skip it because the time before that, we ate there and it wasn’t as good, but then we all missed it! So who knows, maybe next time we’ll go again.

 

[UNCgolf]

I voted for theme, but that's not entirely true. I really want a combination of theme and quality at WDW. Even if it had the best theming ever I wouldn't eat there if the food was terrible -- as an example, the Simpsons area at Universal is incredibly well done but after eating there once I would never ever eat there again. It was horrendous. And I will likely eat at Flying Fish every time I go to Disney despite it not really having a theme, because the food is legitimately excellent there.

It shouldn't be that hard to have a well-themed environment that also serves good food.

 

[Sandersfeld]

Some place and some thing i havent tried before...

 

[britdaw]

There are a lot of things I look at when choosing restaurants. The first thing I look at is the menu to check and see if my picky kids are gonna eat anything they serve, and then I look at prices 'cause I am a single mom of 3 and I have to make sure I ain't gonna spend my children's souvenier allowance on a meal. LOL J/K...kinda... It also depends on what park we're going to be in for the day, and whether or not I want to do something a little more "special", like a character dining experience, or if I want to be able to relax and just enjoy the food.

 

[KikoKea]

First is theme- I can get good food where I live, so I'm looking for a fun place to eat or one that is interesting.

 

[correcaminos]

Good quality food for us. Probably why we don't do that many meals at the parks.

 

[John park hopper]

Food quality followed by service then theme. Have no kids at home so character meals are something we don't do usually over priced and food quality is poor

 

[King Racoon 77]

When I can get something resembling pre-2005 food quality at something resembling pre-2031 prices

So you eat off property most days then ...

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So you eat off property most days then ...

Close...I don’t eat much. It’s a shame too because that was a lot of the foundation of the appeal for me.

Loved walking out of a restaurant in the 90’s and casually discussing how that was way better than I thought it would be...miss it.

Lunches at Olivia’s were a particular highlight too. I miss those days.


I do like a couple of the places at springs. Which makes complete sense because they’re outsourced.

Particularly Homecoming and Jaleo