Best Places to Eat at Disney World That Are Safer from Covid?

[AnthonyAllShore]

Im not sure if my title really explains what I am looking for...

My family (mom, dad, 10 year old and 1 year old) are going to Disney World Oct 9th for 10 days. Its almost time to select restaurants. JFYI we are staying a couple of days at the Yacht Club, Poly and the Grand Floridian. We split it up because we thought that if we were not comfortable going as much to the parks we could still have a great time at the resorts. Plus, it is a splurge because we have not gone on a vacation in about a year and a half. Also, JFYI both myself and my wife and vaccinated.
With that said, lets say I am a little nervous about Covid... I figure these are good places to eat:
1. Food and Wine Festival. (Its alot of people, but we dont have to go at the most crowded times if we dont want too and it is all outdoors.
2. Eating at the quick service places at the resorts because again you can usually find a place to eat outside.

Any other ideas I should be focusing on? I dont know if I should only be focusing on indoor and outdoor options or should I take into account hours of operation (trying to be at lunch first) or the size of the dining locations? Bigger locations could just mean more people?

Thanks in advance,

 

[DCLPrincess]

When I went in September I didn't feel comfortable eating inside because I wasn't vaccinated so I only did quick service and sat outside. After I was vaccinated I did a few indoor sit down restaurants but I still eat outside for quick service. The Disney Springs restaurants tend to be more crowded but Disney owned restaurants have lower capacity and either tables spaced or plexi. I felt comfortable with the restaurants I did but it depends on your comfort level. I will say I walked by Beaches and Cream and it looked too crowded for my liking.

 

[Happyjen27]

California Grille had decent spacing. Skipper Canteen not so much. Grand Floridian cafe has outdoor tables.
5 guys from Uber to our room was a safe choice, as well as take out from resort quick service.
We ate inside at Docking bay 7 and immediately felt that was a mistake. They had outdoor seating we should have done.
Satu’li canteen has an outdoor seating area.
Those are my only first hand experiences. I hope you can collect a bunch more recent data, as things change weekly here it seems.

 

[Turksmom]

With the exception of Sci-Fi, we only ate outdoors on our September trip. HS and AK seem like the easiest parks to find outdoor seating. Make sure to check the lounge menus!
I'm not a fan of most of the MK food, so we just ate snacks or took the boat to Geyser Point
Epcot we generally eat at the festival booths. The fish and chips in the UK area and the QS in Mexico and Morocco are the go-to places when festivals aren't occurring
At Disney Springs we ate at City Works, Boathouse, and Cookes of Dublin. I know there are a lot more, so hopefully someone else will add to this list
It wasn't open in September, but I've eaten outdoors at Big River Grille on the Boardwalk

 

[flipflop]

We liked spice road table in epcot - outside - when we went in February.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

Im not sure if my title really explains what I am looking for...

My family (mom, dad, 10 year old and 1 year old) are going to Disney World Oct 9th for 10 days. Its almost time to select restaurants. JFYI we are staying a couple of days at the Yacht Club, Poly and the Grand Floridian. We split it up because we thought that if we were not comfortable going as much to the parks we could still have a great time at the resorts. Plus, it is a splurge because we have not gone on a vacation in about a year and a half. Also, JFYI both myself and my wife and vaccinated.
With that said, lets say I am a little nervous about Covid... I figure these are good places to eat:
1. Food and Wine Festival. (Its alot of people, but we dont have to go at the most crowded times if we dont want too and it is all outdoors.
2. Eating at the quick service places at the resorts because again you can usually find a place to eat outside.

Any other ideas I should be focusing on? I dont know if I should only be focusing on indoor and outdoor options or should I take into account hours of operation (trying to be at lunch first) or the size of the dining locations? Bigger locations could just mean more people?

Thanks in advance,

Thank you for asking. Our trip is in a week and a half and I am looking to swap out most of our indoor dining (keeping Liberty Tree Tavern and Topolino's) for outdoor dining.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Agree that F&W kiosks and quick service restaurants with outdoor seating are a good plan of attack. Eating at off hours is also a good tactic. For example, Yak & Yeti in the Animal Kingdom is an indoor restaurant but they actually open at 10:30am for lunch. We were able to do a walk-up (with our Landry's card) the Sunday before last, were seated within 10 min, and were done with our meal before it started getting too crowded for our taste.

Restaurants I was most comfortable at in terms of table spacing: Topolino's Terrace, Brown Derby, Tiffins, Docking Bay 7, Satuli Canteen

A couple of recent threads that may be of interest and have additional information:

Planning ADRs - Outdoor Dining Options?​

​

Which restaurants are more spacious / less crowded feeling?​

 

[Scalemaster34]

Most of us that went earlier in the year (May)... didn't have the crowd levels that Disney currently has or the cut backs on spacing.

We ate in the Castle, and even that seemed manageable as I'm sure they had removed tables.... and even then it wasn't full. did Satuli Canteen as well as was almost no one in there... maybe six other parties - was an hour after park closing.

 

[DaisyNY]

Geyser Point at WL is a great outdoor/covered patio option and easy boat ride from MK...Il Mulino didn't seem crowded when we were there and Biergarten only seats your party at a table and is very spread out. Probably a good idea to eat off hours to avoid most crowds.

 

[focusondisney]

Many of the resort table service restaurants have mobile to go ordering. We did that at Ale & Compass in the YC a few times. You can take the food back to your room or outdoor seating around the resort. That might be an option, especially if you’re back at the resort anyway. This is table service food but “to go”. Time slots do get filled up, especially if the weather turns rainy & everyone is back at the resort, so you do need to plan ahead. But it allows you to get a TS meal without the crowded dining rooms.

Also, GF is the only resort that has room service right now. So that’s an option while you’re there.

 

[EpcotPhoenician]

Here's a list of outdoor locations. This is the list I stuck to in May, and I felt safe at all times.

If you make a reservation, I suggest doing so at off hours (e.g., dinner at 4 PM) so that you have a greater choice of tables to choose from, and an increased likelihood of less people.

 

[Jennasis]

Homecomin' is by far our favorite and has outdoor seating.

House of Blues has copious outdoor seating and was surprisingly great food.

I hear good things about City Works too. Also has outdoor seating.

 

[Katieveggie]

Can anyone report on how crowded Cinderella’s Royal Table and Garden Grill are? These are our only 2 reservations, 2 vaccinated adults and 3 young kids. Debating on if we should keep them or cancel.

 

[EpcotPhoenician]

Can anyone report on how crowded Cinderella’s Royal Table and Garden Grill are? These are our only 2 reservations, 2 vaccinated adults and 3 young kids. Debating on if we should keep them or cancel.

Garden Grill is not bad. Ate there not long ago. They closed off the top section of the restaurant, so all seating is in the lower-level booths.

 

[Kimrlav]

Many of the resort table service restaurants have mobile to go ordering. We did that at Ale & Compass in the YC a few times. You can take the food back to your room or outdoor seating around the resort. That might be an option, especially if you’re back at the resort anyway. This is table service food but “to go”. Time slots do get filled up, especially if the weather turns rainy & everyone is back at the resort, so you do need to plan ahead. But it allows you to get a TS meal without the crowded dining rooms.

Also, GF is the only resort that has room service right now. So that’s an option while you’re there.

I want to echo the information in this post. I did table-service to go with mobile order from Ale & Compass (both lunch and dinner) and Trattoria al Forno on a recent visit. Both were very good options - food was well-prepared and good quality - it allowed my family table service quality with the ability to eat outside or bring back to the room to eat on the patio. The burger from Ale & Compass was delicious and nice to eat by the leisure pool, plus not much more expensive than a quick service burger with the annual pass discount.

 

[jimmymc]

Last time I was there, the safest dining locations were Docking Bay 7, Ronto Roasters, and Satuli Canteen. They all have indoor and outdoor seating, and you're not allowed into the seating area unless you have a mobile order, so you don't have people constantly walking past the table.

It's not outside, but Jungle Skipper Canteen is a large open room and had a good amount of space between tables.

The restaurants at the Swan and Dolphin (Shula's, Il Mulino, Bluezoo) are usually not full, so you can probably get a more secluded table.

 

[Pumbaa_]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/policy-on-covid-related-discussions.3840396/