When we booked our holiday, we had a free Half Board plan in place, so it was only around an extra £150 to make it full board for the rest of the time we were there. As we were staying in the New York Hotel, it meant we were on the plus plan – there’s a standard plan for the lower class hotels (like the Hotel Santa Fe) or the Premium plan for the Disneyland Hotel (which includes things like the Character Breakfasts etc.).
It says on the meal vouchers you get on arrival, where you can eat. But you should, if you can, call ahead to make meal reservations via the dining reservation line (available on the website/through your booking agent – I won’t put it here in case it changes).
Breakfast voucher
Breakfast
As we had free half board we had a quick service breakfast (it stated that it was only available in Restaurant En Coulisse in the Studios, but actually the New York Deli in the Disney Village accepted the voucher for much the same breakfast). In En Coulisse, there was the option for sweet or savoury – they had the same skeleton setup, each person had a voucher entitling them to:
A tea, coffee or hot chocolate; a pastry – choice of pain au chocolat or croissant; a cold drink – orange juice, apple juice or water and then their sweet or savoury option.
The New York Deli could only offer the sweet option – which was bascially bread and jam, and the savoury was described as an “omlette burger” but was actually an omlette with some ham and cheese, with what I can only presume was mayonaise, in a roll.
For us, it was preferable to use the New York Deli for breakfast – we weren’t fussed on having a hot breakfast item and as we weren’t necessarily wanting to be in the Studios first thing, it made sense to not have to go there.
Lunch/Dinner
On the half board plus voucher, lunch and dinner had the same menu. For the plus whilst we stayed we were allowed to eat at:
Captain Jacks Restaurant – Adventureland, Disneyland Park
Silver Spur Steakhouse – Frontierland, Disneyland Park
Bistrot Chez Remy – Walt Disney Studios
Annette’s Diner – Disney Village
The Steakhouse – Disney Village
Cafe Mickey – Disney Village
Parkside Diner – Hotel New York
Cape Cod – Hotel Newport Bay
The voucher entitled us to a 3 course set menu at al la carte restaurants, or all you can eat at buffet restaurants, plus a drink such as fizzy pop, bottle of water or a minute maid juice. The children had a decent variety of choice available too, and often the starter would be brought out with the main for them to eat as desired.
For people who don’t eat meat, but can’t eat dairy – this is gonna be a tough thing to comply with – I have heard they have “free from” menus, but we hadn’t done much prep, it was all quite last minute, so I didn’t get to know about these in time.
We ate at The Steakhouse, the Silver Spur Steakhouse, Bistrot Chez Remy, Cafe Mickey, Annette’s Diner and the Parkside Diner. So, as to make this not too long – I will write a few words about each and gallery the food below.
The Steakhouse – Disney Village
We ate here on our first night, it was the only place available at the time we wanted to eat, else it probably wouldn’t have happened, but by a happy turn of events it did. All of the food was lovely. There was a bit of a delay from the kitchen, but in all honesty we were in no rush, so it didn’t matter. Fantastic waiter.
Silver Spur Steakhouse – Frontierland, Disneyland Park
Having eaten at the Steakhouse in the village and having a similar steak available (which was thoroughly enjoyable), we were looking forward to this one. And instead felt let down, it wasn’t as nice. Also, at some point a Caitlin’s toddler carrier had been knocked off my chair, and instead of approaching us nicely a waiter came over and started shouting at me about tripping people up. Wouldn’t go back here if you paid me.
Bistrot Chez Remy – Walt Disney Studios
Fantastic experience. From the decoration, right through to the food. It’s not a meal, it’s an experience and was magical for the children. We had a window seat next to everyone coming off the ratatouille ride too. So really felt like the rats on show eating our food. It was an fantastic meal that will remain an amazing family memory.
Annette’s Diner – Disney Village
The children were in awe that our waiter was on skates. They loved it. We went at lunch time. You cannot pre-book at Annettes, and it gets busy in the evening so if you can spare the time to have lunch there, do so. The food was promptly served, the staff were fantastic. It was average, american grill type food, but the portions were huge, we were stuffed, and struggled to finish.
Cafe Mickey – Disney Village
A med/italian feel menu, with a 90’s feel restaurant interior. Quite the combination. Our waiter was attentive – awkward moment when our wonderful daughter told the waiter it was my birthday – candle in my tiramisu and he sang “happy birthday” to me, by himself, whilst everyone around watched me cringe. Couldn’t fault the service or the food though.
Parkside Diner – Hotel New York
A buffet resaturant in the hotel itself. Food wasn’t top notch, but can it wasn’t pitful either. But thene again you can’t expect mass produced buffet food to be “all that” really. Plenty of variety, attentive and friendly staff… can’t really say much else. Don’t have photos of the buffet, but Caitlin made this for desert so…
