Q: What are the best quick-service restaurants in the Disney Parks?
A: I'm glad you asked because I love food and, by default, also love to talk about food. I'm going to break down my food recommendations by park - it's more organized that way. As a disclaimer, the following is only my opinion. And I could mention more than I do below, but I don't want to overwhelm.
Animal Kingdom:
Flame Tree BBQ (we ate there; it was typical BBQ - not Kansas City, but good)
Picnic in the Park (not done it, but will this next trip. I hear you get a good amount of food for the $$. Here's a link on that: http://allears.net/din/akpicnic.htm You order your "picnic" food when you get to the AK park and then pick up at lunch and can enjoy the food anywhere in the park. It seems fun.)
Hollywood Studios:
Starring Rolls Cafe: (Great sandwiches and yummy desserts. It's only open for lunch.)
Epcot:
Sunshine Seasons (they use fresh food from the green houses in "The Land". Great food)
Boulangerie Patisserie (in France. I've not eaten here yet either, but heard they have good croissants, good pastries, etc...)
Magic Kingdom:
Pecos Bill Cafe (good food for a decent price. Definitely better than a just a burger joint)
Main Street Bakery (great cinnamon rolls. Good snack place or breakfast place)
Casey's Corner (we liked this place. A good hotdog can't be beat. It's expensive though, for hot dogs)
Downtown Disney:
Earl of Sandwich (great food for decent prices, We both really liked this restaurant. I had the All-american sandwich and it was awesome!)
Like I said, there are more I could list, but these are my favs or the ones that people seem to rate the highest. You can count on good food (most of the time) from these places.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Disney's Photopass
Q: Is the Photo pass worth it?
A: Photo pass – In a nutshell, my opinion is that it isn’t worth the money. I can’t remember how much per photo you spend when ordering pictures off your photo pass, but I think it was at least over a $1/picture. When you can get prints from Snapfish.com or Walgreens at 10-20 cents/picture, it’s hard to justify the cost.
I will say that the biggest argument for it, is that many times you would like the entire family to be in the picture and photo pass allows someone else to take the picture for you. But this is what I do: I get a photo pass card and have the picture people take my picture and then when they are finished, I politely ask them if they would take a picture with my camera, too. They will happily do this for you (in my experience). You still have the photo pass card as back-up in case your camera didn’t take a good shot, but chances are, you won’t need many (if any) of those pictures.
But that’s just my opinion. We like to spend our extra $$ on food (I love to eat) and shopping. Plus my camera is small and not hard to carry with me.
A: Photo pass – In a nutshell, my opinion is that it isn’t worth the money. I can’t remember how much per photo you spend when ordering pictures off your photo pass, but I think it was at least over a $1/picture. When you can get prints from Snapfish.com or Walgreens at 10-20 cents/picture, it’s hard to justify the cost.
I will say that the biggest argument for it, is that many times you would like the entire family to be in the picture and photo pass allows someone else to take the picture for you. But this is what I do: I get a photo pass card and have the picture people take my picture and then when they are finished, I politely ask them if they would take a picture with my camera, too. They will happily do this for you (in my experience). You still have the photo pass card as back-up in case your camera didn’t take a good shot, but chances are, you won’t need many (if any) of those pictures.
But that’s just my opinion. We like to spend our extra $$ on food (I love to eat) and shopping. Plus my camera is small and not hard to carry with me.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Avoiding crowds without a rigid schedule
Q: Without using a scheduled touring plan, what's the best way to avoid crowds in the Magic Kingdom?
A: Great question! Many of us aren’t type A personalities or don’t want to schedule our vacations down to the last bathroom break, so touring plans aren’t appealing or helpful. Vacation is meant for sleeping in after all!
I’m a touring plan follower myself – I love beating the crowds and planning out my days right down to the restaurants we'll eat at. But I have a husband who is quite the opposite of me, so I’ve toured Disney World without a plan and had great luck. Specifically thinking of the Magic Kingdom, here are a couple tips I would pass onto you:
1. Try to visit the Magic Kingdom sometime during the week. Avoid weekends. I typically tour MK on Tuesday and have had no problems with crazy crowds.
2. Tour in the morning, as early as you can get up comfortably, and then take an afternoon break at your hotel, returning in the evening. We’ve also had great success with that strategy. The heaviest time for Magic Kingdom seems to be about noon to 4pm. We like being in the MK at night time, too.
3. When you arrive at the MK, start your touring from left to right. People naturally want to veer right first (most are right-handed) and Walt planned for this in that Tomorrowland's pathway is much larger than the pathway to Adventureland. If you go against the flow and veer left, you miss some of the crowds.
4. Utilize the fastpass system! Fastpasses are the best thing since sliced bread. Grab your ticket, tour some other less-crowded attractions, and then go back to the fastpass attraction with fastpass in hand to tour it without much wait time.
5. Go to the parks at non-peak times of the year, if possible. Fall, Jan-Feb, and spring (avoiding spring break/Easter) are all good times to go.
A: Great question! Many of us aren’t type A personalities or don’t want to schedule our vacations down to the last bathroom break, so touring plans aren’t appealing or helpful. Vacation is meant for sleeping in after all!
I’m a touring plan follower myself – I love beating the crowds and planning out my days right down to the restaurants we'll eat at. But I have a husband who is quite the opposite of me, so I’ve toured Disney World without a plan and had great luck. Specifically thinking of the Magic Kingdom, here are a couple tips I would pass onto you:
1. Try to visit the Magic Kingdom sometime during the week. Avoid weekends. I typically tour MK on Tuesday and have had no problems with crazy crowds.
2. Tour in the morning, as early as you can get up comfortably, and then take an afternoon break at your hotel, returning in the evening. We’ve also had great success with that strategy. The heaviest time for Magic Kingdom seems to be about noon to 4pm. We like being in the MK at night time, too.
3. When you arrive at the MK, start your touring from left to right. People naturally want to veer right first (most are right-handed) and Walt planned for this in that Tomorrowland's pathway is much larger than the pathway to Adventureland. If you go against the flow and veer left, you miss some of the crowds.
4. Utilize the fastpass system! Fastpasses are the best thing since sliced bread. Grab your ticket, tour some other less-crowded attractions, and then go back to the fastpass attraction with fastpass in hand to tour it without much wait time.
5. Go to the parks at non-peak times of the year, if possible. Fall, Jan-Feb, and spring (avoiding spring break/Easter) are all good times to go.
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