Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios Dining

Never had the pleasure of eating at Prime Time Cafe (having a roommate who used to work at WDW and hates to eat in the parks, because $$$, makes it difficult, though he will allow us to eat at the Brown Derby now and then), but we've often enjoyed cocktails at Prime Time's bar. The decor is wonderful, the drinks are delightful.

I got a clean plate club sticker when I ate there. Mom insisted I eat everything on my plate.

Well, we're set, at least for table reservations.

Day 1: Coral Reef for lunch & Akershus for dinner

Day 2: Hollywood & Vine

Day 3: Be our Guest Dinner

Day 4: Tusker House for lunch and Yak & Yeti for dinner.

Thanks for your help. :)

Nice call with Coral Reef. I have a always had a good meal there and the atmosphere inside is really cool. One of my favorite restauruants at WDW and a pretty tough ADR to get.

If you like meat, try to sneak in Le Cellier meal. The mushroom filet was/is the best plate I have ever eaten. Lunch is easier to get an ADR, but it is the same menu as dinner, so you will be stuffed.

Yak & Yeti will be a good meal, a little pricy, but the food and service is always good. We always request and wait for a table on the second floor, against the windows; just a cool view.

"Scalp" your Be Our Guest dinner reservation....it will probably pay for 1/2 your trip... :)

I don't know that Le Cellier is worth it if you're not on the dining plan. It's really expensive, even if it is good. I might be biased... there is no dish there that I would be crazy about because I don't eat red meat or seafood.

By the way, the Indian-style chicken masala at Rose & Crown is amazing.

My wife and I are huge Indian food buffs...making a mental note there.

All these table services will fit in our dining plan, so we're not really paying "out of pocket" here...just looking for the best bang for our buck and a nice balance of character stuff for the kids and wonderful food for all of us. What I wasn't calculating is that your plan starts on the day you check in and ends on the day you check out. We plan on just relaxing at the hotel the first night, and spending 4 days in the parks, and then relaxing the last day as we get packed and ready to go. My brain just assumed our dining plan was tied with our park tickets (it's 1 table, 1 counter, and 1 snack per day)...but it's not, so we actually had 2 extra table services to play around with.

Seafood is a must. I've been slowly scouring the planet for the world's greatest calamari.

Have a magical day!

Ew! Ewww!
When we went to WDW in February we had our first meal of the trip at Coral Reef. I was excited for it as we had never been there, and it seemed like a unique dining experience I'd always wanted to try.
We pretty much thought it was awful, though. The room was really worn out and some of it was kinda filthy looking. The staff seemed less than enthused and the food was just so-so. It was a major disappointment for us, sad to say, as we love good seafood.
Plus the fish kinda stare at you...

Le Cellier's filet with mushroom risotto has been removed from the menu. It has been off the menu for quite sometime. Le Cellier started having more of a farm to table seasonal offering verse the standard menu they had for years.

Coral Reef is hit or miss. We have dinner here many times and had fantastic meals and others not so great. If you are looking for seafood, I would highly suggest The Flying Fish at the Boardwalk. It is a signature restaurant, thus two credits however the food is fabulous!

I have advice for Tusker house if you can get the last breakfast seating, you will have more of a brunch type option with breakfast food available and then the turn over to lunch. In addition, breakfast is a character meal with Mickey and Donald.

Be Our Guest for dinner is high on ambiance and the food is good. Make sure you visit all of the rooms as this is truly an experience. They put the Grey Stuff on the menu finally, so you can order it! I really enjoy the pork chop or the strip steak here. Again not outstanding but this is much more than food in my book to dine here. Disney magic at its best.

Not a fan of Hollywood and Vine unless you picked it to do a fantastmic package. As mentioned earlier in the thread 50's Prime time is an excellent choice!

Also mentioned earlier is Saana at the Animal Kingdom Lodge DVC. This is a hidden gem of Disney. If you have an early reservation ask to be sat by the windows. The widows over look the savanna with a variety of animals. The food is also outstanding.

Most import enjoy your trip to the world and happy eating!

At least someone found a job for those poor widows.

I'm sure the animals provide them with some sort of solace.

:)

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Coral Reef there RCMAC. Mickey has until March to get the place in order.

I'll just stare back at them.

I'm going to a wedding reception in Coral Reef in January. It might not be the standard restaurant menu, but I can't wait to see it. I've never actually been in there.

We've eaten there twice, both times for lunch. (When on the dining plan, I try to do two sit-downs per day at Epcot since the food's better there.)

We all liked the food both times, really liked the atmosphere with the huge tanks.

I'll back up part of what RCMAC said, though. The last time we were there it looked dated... the carpet needed to be replaced, there were tears in the booth fabric. Very un-magical. Part of the reason we didn't eat there on this past trip.

Never had a problem with the staff or the food, though. And if one of those fish stares at me too long, I just look at them while chewing on one of their pals. That'll put 'em in their place.

"Oh, hey, don't worry little buddy. I found your friend Nemo for you...

...and he went great with an '87 Dom Perrignon and a side of rice."