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Tag Archives: disney world restaurants
Top 5 Reasons to Visit Les Chefs de France
Epcot’s World Showcase is my favorite place to visit at WDW when my stomach begins to rumble, but it can be so hard to choose which restaurant to visit due to the seemingly endless list of choices, menus, and cuisine!
While I have only put a dent in the list of all the dining opportunities available at the World Showcase, some of the restaurants I have visited are now on my favorites list and one of those is Les Chefs de France!
Here are my top 5 reasons why you should visit Les Chefs de France on your next trip!
5. Service-As with most of my World Showcase experiences, the service here was excellent! On my most recent visit to Les Chefs de France, I had one of the best waiters that I have ever had. I think World Showcase servers work twice as hard as they are not only there to deliver Disney quality service, but also to strive to represent their respective nations. Therefore, I highly recommend this restaurant for high quality service which will have you spoiled!
4. Setting-Les Chefs de France is situated on a corner of the France pavilion and looks as if it belongs on a vintage post card! If you can get a table in one of the atriums, you can get a great view of the picturesque France pavilion and Showcase lagoon. This is especially pretty at night! If you don’t get a table with a view, you can still enjoy the elegant interior and French ambiance.
Top 10 Disney World Restaurants for Teens
Taking teens to Disney can be a little intimidating; but it doesn’t have to be! There is plenty for teens to see and do at Walt Disney World, and there are some great dining experiences that teens are sure to enjoy as well.
10. Beaches & Cream – A teen is sure to enjoy this retro 50s themed diner located by the Beach Club’s famous Stormalong Bay pool! The menu here consists of burgers, fries, milkshakes, a variety of ice cream treats to sample. Think your teen will never get full? We bet they will with this dining spot’s iconic Kitchen Sink dessert!
9. Teppan Edo - Located at the World Showcase’s Japan pavilion, Teppan Edo offers something different: a cultural meal and entertainment! At this restaurant, you get to watch your food being prepared in a fun and interesting way by a hibachi chef! This spot definitely shouldn’t be a disappointment for a teen who likes this type of menu and who is looking for a good time.
Surprise! New Experiences on our Disney World Vacation
We have returned from a wonderful vacation at Walt Disney World over the New Year’s holiday. We had a great time ringing in 2011 at the best possible place! Was it crowded? At times, sure it was, but having gone at this week before, we knew what to expect. There were also times when it wasn’t crowded at all too! And one of the neat things about this trip was that, despite our many past Disney trips, we were still able to learn and experience new things. That is, of course, one of the great things about Disney parks: the ability for guests to feel that each trip is magical, no matter how often you go.
With that in mind, here are five things that were new…and yes, magical….for us this time:
- We deliberately looked for “non-obvious” places for fireworks and parades. I have heard this recommended before but somehow we never actually did it. On this trip we did. We watched the Christmas parade over in Frontierland, right in front of Pecos Bill’s (having just finished lunch there) and had no problem finding a front row space to watch…even on the day before New Year’s Eve. Likewise, we watched Holiday Wishes on one of the pathways that lead to the Tomorrowland bridge….it winds down below The Plaza Restaurant and there was literally no one there. We had a great view, and Tinkerbell flew right over us.
- We went to Epcot for New Year’s Eve prepared to stay the entire day…which we did. While we might have been able to leave for a break and then return, based on the perfect weather and corresponding crowds, we decided not to chance it. We knew what to expect and took it very easy, keeping things low key and relaxed. It was the perfect time to experience some things that we are normally too “busy” to try, so our daughter decided to try out the Kim Possible Adventure phones and had a blast! This was a fun activity for all of us, as we explored some of the countries in World Showcase in more detail, and we all learned more than a few things that we never knew before. We understand that Disney plans to expand this experiential technology in other parks as well, and I think when they do, it will be a big hit.
- We started New Year’s Day with a late breakfast at Cape May buffet and then DD and I enjoyed a VERY special belated Christmas present from Santa: we went to the Grand Floridian spa. If you ever have the chance to splurge on one thing for yourself….do this. You deserve it and I promise that you won’t regret it at all…except when it’s over.
- Planning for this trip entailed a lot of changes along the way, and even while there, I ended up changing an ADR again….literally at the last minute! We spent Sunday afternoon at the ESPN Zone cheering on our Steelers, and I could see that we were going to be time-challenged getting back to Hollywood Studios for the Osborne Lights in the evening. So I decided to change dinner to the Captain’s Grill at Yacht Club since it was nearby, and I’m so glad that I did….it was amazing, in fact probably my favorite dinner! So being spontaneous….not something we planners do a lot of…..ended up being a good thing. Who knew?
- On our last day, we returned to our favorite park, Epcot, and took the “Undiscovered Future World” tour. I cannot recommend this tour enough! Interesting, and fun, we were able to see some “behind the scenes” places, and ride Soarin’ again…with some background commentary which was pretty cool. And we learned a lot of fascinating details, not the least of which was to always “remember to look up and look down” because there are a lot of cool things to see that most of us normally miss because we’re so busy running to the next ride/attraction.
There were, of course, many other great aspects to our trip and you will be hearing about some of them in the coming weeks. But these were a few of the highlights…and some of them were surprises. I think one of the things I will remember the most about this trip is those surprises, the things that I didn’t plan for, and how the most unexpected things are sometimes the most magical of all.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I have given up planning our Disney trips. Planning is, of course, half the fun! So the big question then is:
“When are we going back?”
Nancy, her husband and college-age daughter live in the Baltimore MD area, but consider Walt Disney World their second “home”. She started her site, The Affordable Mouse, as a way to share ideas about how to plan affordable Disney vacations. Her favorite things at Disney World (in no particular order) are Soarin’, most of the food in World Showcase, Illuminations…and that special brand of Disney magic that you can’t find anywhere else.
To ADR or not ADR, That is the Question
I was trying to explain to a non-Disney friend the other day, about why I had been up at 6 a.m. for 4 straight days trying to book our dining reservations for our Disney World vacation at the end of December. She kind of thought I was nuts. In fact I believe the comment was “Disney has made you lose your mind.” :)
I had to chuckle, as I completely understand why someone who is not Disney-obsessed would think it odd to be planning where our family was going to be eating on a vacation that would not be happening for over 6 months. But it got me to thinking too, that even among those who do visit Disney World regularly the question of whether to book Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs) is a common discussion on many Disney message boards.
Should you or shouldn’t you? Many folks like to be “spontaneous” on vacation, and the idea of trying to decide what park you want to visit and where/when to eat at this park 6 months ahead of time just makes their head hurt. I do understand that, because really, how can you know what you are going to be in the mood to eat that far in advance? For many, planning dinners 6 months before takes the “fun” out of it.
However, since I am clearly in the “you should” camp, let me explain why I think it is important, in this case, for planning to take precedence over spontaneity.
- Booking your ADRs in advance will save you time…and time is money. If you start trying to decide where you want to eat dinner at World Showcase one night at 6, and walk up to your restaurant of choice, only to be turned away because they are full…and then repeat this process several times before you find an available spot, you may very well have spent several hours of valuable vacation time trying to find a place for dinner. Time that could have been spend on a ride or attraction.
- Booking ADRs may just flat out save you money. If you are traveling during a Free Dining period at Disney World, you will find that most places are booked well in advance, so you run the risk of not being able to eat dinner at any of the table service restaurants if you do not do the same. Free Dining is clearly not a good value if you can’t use it. This holds true, to be honest, for paying for the Dining Plan during any high traffic season: if you can’t find a place to eat dinner, then your Dining Plan table service credits are pretty worthless.
- While planning so far in advance seems to take the fun out it, in our experience, it is actually the opposite. Researching the restaurants and discussing our choices adds fun to Disney vacation planning and gives everyone something to look forward to. Even little ones get into the act, especially if there is a special meal (Princess meal anyone?) that they really want to attend.
- Which leads me to my last reason for booking ADRs: Who wants to deal with the disappointment of really wanting to do something and not being able to? Taking the time to make your reservation to dine with Cinderella…and then seeing your child’s face light up during the meal…is worth it. Really for any age though, we all have preferences and hopes of what we want to see, do…and yes eat at Disney World. For many dining experiences, and at many times of the year, the only way to insure that it happens is to reserve it far in advance.
So should you or shouldn’t you? You know where I stand. What have been your experiences in booking ADRs? Have you visited without doing so? How did it work out?
Nancy, her husband and college-age daughter live in the Baltimore MD area, but consider Walt Disney World their second “home”. She started her site, The Affordable Mouse, as a way to share ideas about how to plan affordable Disney vacations.
