Does anyone else hate they keep going back to the same restaurants?

We cycle - and our kids are now adults and more menu adventurous. Kona was a family staple, we ate there twice 12 years ago. But the menu changed, and we have not eaten there in years. Sanaa - my youngest hated it as a young teen, and now he liked it more.

Morimoto's is the one we have kept coming back. This trip we skipped Ohana's for breakfast. Last time in 2020 it was pretty blah...
 
Everything is new on our upcoming trip, but we’ve only been once before :)

I’m planning to do the food booths in Epcot and an early dinner at Chefs de France. I’ve seen reviews haven’t been great lately but the menu appeals to everyone and the atmosphere looks nice.

I’ve got a snack list started, too…definitely want to try the caramel popcorn.

At Hollywood studios, we have a lunch reservation for 50’s Prime Time Cafe.

I think we’ll try Woody’s lunchbox, a Ronto wrap and blue milk in the morning. And Docking Bay 7 in the evening.

Maybe the carrot cake cookie on the way out. (Do they typically sell out before end of day?)
 
Crescent_Lake said:
When we want to avoid choosing familiar restaurants, we simply don't make advanced dining reservations. A couple of hours before we're ready to eat we get on the app and see what has availability and choose from that. It's a lot of fun. Obviously don't do this if you're going to be disappointed about missing a favorite.
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This is how we have always done it. I think the only ADR I've ever made further in advance than day of was V&A's and even that was only a week out. We used to like to go to GS in whatever park we were in and ask them to find us something and either give them a time frame or a park or some parameter to follow. If it wasn't busy they would even get in competitions to see who could find us something the fastest. Now, we just hop on MDE and scroll around and see what's available and let the time decide where we go. Even that is up for grabs since sometimes it doesn't matter and sometimes we are hungry right now. We have eaten at some of the same places a few times, HBD Lounge, Nomad Lounge, Spice Road Tables are usually every trip but those are small plates and still leave room for a meal elsewhere. If we go somewhere and it too bad for words, we just know not to go there again if we land on it. If we go somewhere we really enjoy, we will keep that in mind if we land on it again on another trip for a maybe. If we go somewhere and we are pretty sure they were having an off night, we might try it again if we land on it. It helps that we have no picky eaters (except my adult son is not a huge fan of pizza) and only recently added a child to mix so time matters with her. Thankfully, she is like her daddy and not picky, child was eating black eyed peas and turnip greens before she turned 1.
 
wabbott said:
Our 60 day window opened this morning, and we were fortunate to get everything we wanted. The new restaurant for us will be the Roundup Rodeo BBQ. The reviews haven't been very flattering, but we going anyway.

We have 3 ressies that are new/old: 'Ohana, Le Cellier, and Garden Grill. We've not been to those places since the early 80s.
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I tried it during the first month it opened and it was so freaking good, and this is coming from someone that lives in Texas. My only complain would be the bbq sauces, they were too watery
 


Yes, we have made a conscious effort to go to new places.

We found many places we liked and would just repeat them over and over again.

Since we have been doing this for a couple years, now if we go back to the old faves they will probably be like new again with new menus, remodels, etc.
 
We like to mix it up with a blend of old favorites and new places as a nice compromise. I find the resort drives where we tend to eat at and vice-versa, because we love not having to worry about transportation and getting somewhere on time. On site dining is a huge factor in where we stay. We pay these rates for these resorts, we want to take advantage of it. Especially for signature dining. On our last trip, we split YC and Poly. It was so nice getting ready and just having to walk down to Yachtsman from our room as opposed to having to time everything with rideshares from somewhere. It was also fun finally getting to eat at 'Ohana proper after doing nothing but the room service on our stays (RIP Twilight Feast). Also tried Space 220 lounge (it was ok, but don't need to run back), Roundup Rodeo (loved it!) and 50s Primetime. But we also had a lot of old favorites like Wine Bar George and CRT.

On our next trip we don't actually plan to do a ton of TS because it's a shorter, pre-cruise trip and we'll be doing so much of it on the ship, but we are looking to try Steakhouse 71 for real after we loved the lounge so much on our last trip and since we are staying at CR. A dinner, or possibly a breakfast. I do want to try a late breakfast ADR at Topalino for our HS day if we can manage it. But I think we will mostly do lounges and QS.
 
sparrow10_ said:
I'm planning a trip for April and while jotting down the places I want to eat, I came to realize it's the exact ones I had for my last trip!

Boma, Sebastian's, Boathouse, Ohana, etc..

I keep wanting to try new places but have had such good experiences with these ones that I want something I know I will enjoy.

Anyone else feels that it happens to them?
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I used to feel bad when that happened and realized if I am lucky enough to get to WDW 1-2x a year, that's only 1-2 a year I get to go to some of my favorite restaurants and that's really not repetitive at all. That being said I do try to make sure a new restaurant is added into the rotation, so it isn't exactly the same each time.
 


sparrow10_ said:
I tried it during the first month it opened and it was so freaking good, and this is coming from someone that lives in Texas. My only complain would be the bbq sauces, they were too watery
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I would so love to try it, but flying solo it would be just way too much food for me. I would feel bad wasting it all.
 
This topic applies every day. You drop a ton to dine out, whether at home or on vacation. You may as well go somewhere tried and true that you really enjoy rather than take a chance.
 
I was feeling a little bad about having no new restaurants for my next trip but then decided to add breakfast at Trattoria Al Forno and today I find out 1900 Park Fare is going to be open the week of my trip! Even though I just booked all my ADRs I found a spot for that once ADRs open. We were supposed to eat there on our canceled May 2020 trip so happy to maybe get a chance finally to go!
 
I am trying to limit it to (2) prior sit down restaurant's per visit now, until you can't help but go to the same again
 
If we didn't branch out from our regular TS like R&C, San Angel, HBD, Coral Reef, and 50s Prime Time, we wouldn't have discovered other terrific restaurants. Don't get me wrong for the most part we had very good experiences at the former ones, in particular, some wonderful dinners by fireworks at R&C, but we also found some great experiences over the years at Jungle Skipper Canteen, Toledo, Sanaa, Jock Lindseys, Raglan Road, Geyser Point, Three Bridges which we wouldn't have if we didn't venture out a bit.
 
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I've only been to WDW once, so i can't say how i will act next time, but a couple places i would definitely look forward to going back to are:
Sanaa
Brown Derby
Skipper Canteen
Geyser Point
Steakhouse 71
 
Hot take, but the food at WDW is generally pretty bad outside of Epcot.

We only visit during the food festival at this point and every year I leave angry at how bad the food is at AK.
 
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