Food in Orlando?

[Aaron_of_London]

We're taking our first trip to WDW Nov.29th-Dec.9th and we're pretty much prepared. We've got our hotel reserved with a discount with all the amenities we were looking for, we've got a copy of Along Interstate 75, we've got our itineraries complete, and we're pretty much set now except for the packing and knowing where to eat while in Orlando.

Our breakfast (all-you-can-eat-buffet) is covered with the hotel, lunch will probably be little more than snacks while in the parks, however our dinners are uncertain.

We've tried the internet for restaurant info, but all we seem to get is expensive places ($20 US for an entree) and dinner shows. There will probably be a couple of nice dinners like that on our trip, but not every night.

We're going to have a kitchen in our hotel so trips to the grocery store will be a good cost saving measure. I expect that any stores near WDW will be more costly. Any advice on which grocery stores are cheap or at least reasonable is extremely valuable.

Being Canadian gives us the virtue of knowing Wendy's, Burger King, McDonald's, etc. but what about the fast-food places we've never heard about up here in Canada. Any advice on fast food that will cost us about the same as we'd expect at home would also be extremely valuable.

Please share your experiences as I'm sure others than ourselves will benefit.

 

[Scratch42]

try Sonic. It's a drive in type burger place that we tried and found reasonably priced and the burgers were good! They also servce breakfast.

There is also the usual standby of Ponderosa. We like Shoney's.

If you want to get an early start at Disney, why not try Trail's End Buffet at Fort Wilderness, cheap and good food!

Hope this helps somewhat.

Have a Magical Trip!

Scratch

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

I'm not sure about Orlando........but some of the chains that are good that I had never heard of until we moved here are:
- Sonic (as mentioned by Scratch) The kids like it. Think 50's drive in, like the old A&W's used to be like. Burgers, hotdogs, fries, rings, and great shakes! I think all are drive-in's (eat in your car) and they have outdoor tables, but no seating inside. This would be great to take away.
- Steak 'n Shake. Mine and DS favorite. Good burgers and fries (the little shoestring type). They also have other items such as spagetti, salads, etc. Again, great homemade shakes and floats are available. Good for breakfast too. Make sure you ask for a Steak 'n Shake hat...
- Chick fil eh (that's not how you spell it - sorry) It is very popular among the locals here. All chicken fast food. Sandwiches, wraps, nuggets, etc. It is not opened on Sundays.
- Golden Coral. Great inexpensive buffet food. I think you can go on their website and find the locations. The ones here in Georgia are very clean, however we ate at an older one in S.Carolina that was good, but not like the ones here. Everything you can image, hot foods, salads, cold selection and desserts. All you can eat!!! DH is following Aitkins type diet so we eat here often so he can get what he wants. This is good value for money if you are hungry!
Have fun!

 

[nepean]

Try Checker's. It is also a fifties style drive through. Amazing spicey fries.(Not too spicey), hot dogs, hamburgs etc. Really good food. There is one located at the front of Old Town on 192.

Also, Church's Chicken. We used to have them here in Ottawa at the Harvey's but no more. Fried chicken, mashed potates & Gravy and homemade honey biscuts. My daughter loves their hot sauce. They make KFC look really lame.

For a sit down dinner try Sonny's Barbeque on 192. They are a Florida chain that serves chicken, pork and barbecue that is pit barbecued. There are often coupons in the various free flyers in restaurants, motels and malls for a family meal for $20.00 approx.Well worth the price.

Enjoy

Nepean

 

[sammi]

We always make sure we do a couple of visits to the Cracker Barrel

http://www.crackerbarrel.com/

They have a lovely gift shop(especially at Christmas time) that you enter before heading into the dining area and outside there is a long wooden porch where you can sit and rock on..... every type of rocking chair you can imagine.

Their food is excellant as well....real home style cooking.

I think you'll find tons of restaurants that are very reasonable and you'll never run out of places to eat down there!

I hope you and your family have a wonderful time!

 

[dsneygirl]

Love the Cracker Barrel. A couple other of our faves
Johnny Rockets
Steak N Shake
Fudruckers
Chik-Fil-A
Olive Garden
Bahama Breeze

 

[jonglau]

because you have a kitchen in your room, may I suggest that you take as much of your non-perishable groceries as possible, because its doesn't take much time to prepare a rough grocery list/menu calculating so many eating outs as well, cause even though are dollar is good, it's still at least 30 - 35% more, I tend not to go to places like Macdonalds cause we have them here, go to places like Chili's, Crackerbarrels, Church's Chicken (but I found they were always out of the way and in the rougher neighbourhoods)

here is my list of foods for 2 kids and 2 adults

popcorn (2)
Kraft Dinner (4)
soup (2)
pokemon pasta (2)
spaghetti (1lb) & sauce (2 cans)
peanut butter
rubbermaid tub
Ice Tea mix
bag of rice
oatmeal
instant soups
Cereals
water in bottles (2 cases)

hope you have fun, I also shop at the Winn Dixie, the fact I go several times a year from Ottawa, you can apply for a Winn dixie "customer" card that will give you automatic savings if there are any from the manufacturer - just like cut out coupons.

enjoy it.

gj

 

[jersey shark]

Not sure what exactly you have there in Canada as far as casual family dining chains but our Orlando faves are as follows (most are chains...all have kids menus).

* Bahama Breeze
* Landry's Seafood (has a playground right out front!)
* Cheesecake Factory
* Olive Garden
* TGIFriday's
* Chili's
* Macaroni Frill
* Bennigan's

...for fast food, the places you might like are...

* Steak N Shake
* Chick-Fil-A
* Rally's
* Checkers

By the way, I think you'll be very happy with the food quality, quantity, and value served up in US restaurants....it's the American visitors to Canada who are often disappointed (especially with the steaks/prime ribs)....hate to report this but as a very frequent traveler to Canada I feel qualified.

Enjoy eating in Orlando!

 

[abbyndrewmom]

Just wanted to warn you all about Cracker Barrell food while it is very very very good it is full of fat!!!! My Dh was a manger for them for a number of years. Before he started working for them we would eat there once a week. We were living in Georgia at the time and would go after church on Sunday. Once he started working for them we quickly changed our eating habits. Everything including the vegetables are full of fat. butter is the number one ingredient in all the food. Both the biscuits and cornbread are made with bacon grease. So while nice for an occassional meal you might want to be careful about eating there to often .

 

[Cruisin]

Walmart 24 hour stores have groceries in them and are not too bad a place to shop price wise.
There is a big grocery store, set kind of back in, at the intersection of I192 and I4, don't know which one it is though, but we saw it there right when we were leaving and didn't actually go to it.
We enjoy the buffet places, such as, Golden Corral, Ponderosa, Sizzler, Ryan's (Not sure if there are any around Disney). With Buffets, the food is always ready and everybody can have what they want.

 

[DSNY FN]

Sizzlers is a great buffet and a great price. We eat there every visit to WDW it is just up the road from Crossroads plaza about a half mile there is also an Olive Garden there to. At Crossroads plaza you have Perkins TGI Fridays Taco Bell McDonalds and a few others just down the other direction you have Chik fil A we had never tried it until our last trip down it is actually quite good. Have a great trip

 

[Princess_Eeyore]

Just noticed we will be at WDW the same time as you, Aaron_of_London. One of the places, we are going to is CiCis Pizza & Sweet Tomatoes , haven't tried it yet but heard some great reviews from other Disers. Its very reasonably priced too!
See you There & Have Fun!

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

Princess Eeyore:
I can tell you about CiCi's and Sweet Tomatoes.....I forgot to mention them before.......
Cici's is a buffet pizza place. They have salad - garden for sure, and maybe ceaser, pasta and then all kinds of pizza.
For dessert they have two kinds of dessert pizza, and serve yourself drinks. It's all you can eat for once price. I actually had Cici's for lunch today (take out)
Sweet Tomatoes is also really good. It's basically a large salad bar when you walk in. You fill up your plate with salad, and then you pay. Find a seat, get your drinks. Then over the other side they have soups, sometimes chilli, baked potatoes, pizza, garlic bread, and pasta. You can either have the pasta that is prepared, or they will make it to order . Dessert is ice cream, fruit and jello.
Again all you can eat. Look for coupons, as they sometimes have them in the coupon section of the Sunday paper.
Both are really good value for money.
Happy noshing!!!