I love that! And I love the necklace. Great picture of the two of you... as always :goodvibes

Aw thank you!

You sure about that? ;) :laughing:

Not after looking at that picture :rotfl:

Looking forward to it! I'd be curious to hear about the theming and ambiance between the two - does one generally have better theming throughout its restaurants? Or generally better ambiance? How did the crowds compare between the two? And any difference in expense? (probably not?)

Ooo good ones!

Love your best burger quest!! We are huge burger fans. Our fav in LA was the Burger Lounge near Santa Monica Pier. Also fried pickles... yum.

Ooo yum, Burger Lounge was actually one we cut from our list I think there’s one in San Diego I was looking at. We’ll have to go there if we go back sometime!

Goofy looks adorable, as do all the other characters but this is the 2nd mediocre review I've seen of Goofy's Kitchen.
Good to know.

Yeah, I read mostly mediocre reviews too before I went. I thought the food selection looked the most varied and unique though so I picked it based on that, but the food was disappointing. I’m glad we added Storyteller’s in at the last minute though because that one had good food and cute characters.

I love corndogs so I was a big fan of Disneyland's version but WDW doesn't wow me.

Yeah, I’ve heard the ones at WDW aren’t that great. I’ve only had the corndog nuggets there.
 
I had picked Storyteller's Cafe for our DCA day because you can walk right into the Grand Californian from the park. I loved how the hotel was basically in the park. It kind of felt like it was just an extension of that section of the park which was cool. I liked how they blended together, and the hotel was beautiful.

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I also loved how Grizzly River Run felt like part of the area. I would have loved to stayed at Grand California but it was waaaayyy to pricey!

Corn Arepas
seared Corn Cakes topped with Pulled Pork, Guacamole, Cilantro, and Red Onion

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This looks amazing to me. Has Josh had the Arepas at Skipper Canteen?

So one of my "must do" restaurants for Disneyland was Cafe Orleans. I knew I wanted to try the pomme frites and beignets for sure, and I love the theming in New Orleans square.
I wish we had done this when we were there.

yum

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It was cheesy but not a super creamy kind of cheese, like it says in the description it was a cheesey sauce. It was delicious though, and I wished I could've eaten more of it.
sauce says extra creamy to me, for sure.
 
I also loved how Grizzly River Run felt like part of the area. I would have loved to stayed at Grand California but it was waaaayyy to pricey!

Agreed, it looks so cool, but it's sooo expensive!

This looks amazing to me. Has Josh had the Arepas at Skipper Canteen?

No, we've never been! But that's what the description reminded me of.

sauce says extra creamy to me, for sure.

It wasn't like a thick creamy sauce, but it was very cheesy and delicious!
 


Comparisons Between DL and WDW Dining

*Note: We've eaten a lot of places at WDW, but obviously haven't been to most places in DL so this could change in the future but it's what I observed on the first trip.*

Anaheim vs Orlando

So for the surrounding area it's definitely closer in Anaheim to get to outside food places, but I'd overall say Orlando definitely has more food places/more variety to it. I'd have to give the edge to Orlando in this case.

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In Park Restaurants

All the parks in WDW and the ones in DL have in park restaurants. I wouldn't say one has more in park restaurants than the other (I'm guessing Epcot probably has the most). But I will say it felt like in DL there were more good choices inside the parks, where at WDW I feel like a lot of the best choices (not all but a lot of them) are in the resorts or in DS. However at WDW I feel that more varies by park so I'd say they’re about tied on this one.

Hotel/Downtown Disney Dining Vs Hotel/Disney Springs Dining

Downtown Disney is still a work in progress and has some good choices. We also enjoyed some of our resort meals a lot at DL. But there's no contest here of course WDW has way more choices in DS and the resorts and there's a lot of amazing restaurants.

Character Meals

Storyteller's Cafe was one of the most fun character meals I've done in a long time, but I'd say WDW and DL are about tied in the character meal situation because they each have good ones and ones that are a little overrated. I think it just depends on which one you choose to do and how the food and character interaction is that day.


Upscale Restaurants

We only tried Steakhouse 55, and I think that compares to some of the best WDW has on property. For instance I thought it was better than Yachtsman (I actually wish WDW had a Steakhouse 55), but not as good as Shula's (which while on WDW property is not owned by WDW).



QS

I've always heard DL QS is better than WDW QS. However I didn't really find that to be the case. We're not big QS people, and I wasn't crazy about anything I had. I think for both it's just a matter of where you go because there's both good and bad. I'm guessing DL may have more good places in the parks, but WDW has stepped up the QS in some locations like in DS and certain resorts so I'd say it's about even.



TS

With WDW having a wider variety and many more restaurants I'd give them the lead here.

Snacks

Since each have different snacks and they’re all good I'd also say they’re about even on this aspect as well.



Price

@Tracy161 asked me about any price differences and I didn't notice any. Even the third party restaurants are owned by the same people or are mostly the same restaurants as the ones in WDW. Overall I felt our budget was lower because we spent a good deal of the trip not dining in theme parks, but it was still on par with our regular food budget because we tend to do mostly sit down meals.

Crowds

The crowds were bigger than anticipated but didn't impact our dining experience. We still didn't have to wait more than 10 mins to get in anywhere, but we also had made ADR's in advance, and typically seem to eat at non peak times (like later in the afternoon/evening). I felt like overall DL was more crowded than WDW was the last time I went, but I'm used to crowds at WDW and prefer the FP system there, and think at that time of year WDW was probably equally crowded. (It's hard to judge because I'm pretty good at navigating the crowds at WDW. I do think they've increased at certain time of the year since we started going, but usually I'm not trying to get everything done there so it's not as noticeable).

Service

We had pretty rushed service at both the in park restaurants, but had mostly good service outside the parks. But have had good and bad experiences with service at both DL and WDW so I'd say that's about even.


Ambience/Theming

@Tracy161 also asked about this. I did not feel like any of the ones we ate at in the parks were hugely themed or had that "Disney" feel, but there are a lot of themed restaurants in the park. Compared to say a highly themed place like Be Our Guest, (Carnation Cafe and Cafe Orleans) weren't like that. However I did think Steakhouse 55 had more theming in it than a lot of the steakhouses at WDW and felt both upscale and very Disney. I also felt like both character buffets had fun feel, and prominent theming with Storyteller's Cafe being the coolest. So for both I think it just depends on which restaurants you go to.



Handling of Josh's Allergy

As Disney is known for they handled Josh's allergy pretty well. The only place we had any problem with was Uva Bar which is a Patina Group restaurant. I'd say their about even because every trip we usually have one little issue like that (like a restaurant making a mistake or not having certain things available for Josh). Overall they handled the allergy just as well as WDW does.


ADRs

I like to plan ahead so for me personally I prefer that WDW's open far in advance, but after going so many times I'm usually not trying to secure the ones that go the fastest so for either it doesn't really matter to me when I make ADR's. Lately, I've been making/changing them often closer to the trip, and for both the closer you get the more availability there always is. There was really no difference in the ADR system, and we were able to get the restaurants we wanted with no issue.

Tomorrow I plan to wrap this up with one last post about our favorites/least favorites on this trip, and then I'll be posting a link to my new TR which will be for a short trip I just took to WDW. It was only a couple days so there won't be a separate dining report, but I'll include dining reviews in it since we did a lot of dining and snack sampling!
 
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I've really enjoyed following along with this, even if I haven't been a very good commenter! Your comparisons between WDW and DL are super interesting and helpful! I'm looking forward to reading your wrap-up to get another view of the highs and the lows from this trip.
 
Awesome report Raeven!!! Especially love the comparison at the end. You've got my so excited for Disneyland next year Its like you've done the scouting trip for us. I'll just remember to steer clear of pickles!
 


Enjoyed the dining reviews and comparisons. It sounds like a fun trip with a good variety of parks and other attractions!
 
I've really enjoyed following along with this, even if I haven't been a very good commenter! Your comparisons between WDW and DL are super interesting and helpful! I'm looking forward to reading your wrap-up to get another view of the highs and the lows from this trip.

Awesome report Raeven!!! Especially love the comparison at the end. You've got my so excited for Disneyland next year Its like you've done the scouting trip for us. I'll just remember to steer clear of pickles!

Enjoyed the dining reviews and comparisons. It sounds like a fun trip with a good variety of parks and other attractions!

Thank you!
 
Wrap Up aka The Best & Worst Food of Our Trip

We'll start with...

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The Best Meal of the Trip Overall

:rainbow:

A 3 way tie!

Stacked

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Steakhouse 55

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& Storyteller's Cafe

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We had amazing burgers at Stacked and there were so many GF options for Josh. Steakhouse 55 and Storyteller's were my favorite meals at DL. Steakhouse 55 had amazing steak and sides and Storyteller's had unique food for a buffet and great character interaction.


Best Fries: Stacked & Cafe Orleans


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Best QS: Sauced Up

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This was such good poutine, I wish I got to eat more of it!
Best Appetizer: Carnation Cafe


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We basically only had appetizers at Carnation Cafe. Between Walt's Chili, the Baked Potato Soup, and the Fried Pickles we sampled most of them, and they were all delicious.

Best Burger: Stacked

Best Dessert: Churros at Blind Burro, Mickey beignets at Cafe Orleans, and cookie at Milk Jar Cookies


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Best DL Snack: Matterhorn Macaroon from Jolly Holiday Bakery

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Best Snack from the Seaworld Food Booths: I loved almost everything I had, but my favorites were the Loco Moco, and pretzel bites. As well as the chocolate mousse and panna cotta/cannoli duet.


Worst Snack from the Seaworld Food Booths: The cheese trio was disappointing, but the one booth where Josh had the taco and I had the chile queso pupusa probably had the worst food.
Best Service: Steakhouse 55

Worst Service: Cafe Orleans

Best Mac and Cheese: Steakhouse 55,
(Although Josh would say the Stacked mac and cheese since that was the only one he could have too).
Coolest Restaurant: Storyteller's Cafe

This restaurant definitely had the best theming.

Best Breakfast/Brunch: Farmer's Table & Storyteller's Cafe



Most disappointing: Goofy's Kitchen, Bencotto

From the reviews I read I expected the food at Goofy's Kitchen to be better, and I didn't find that to be the case. Bencotto also had a really good menu, and there was nothing bad about our food there but there was nothing really good about it either. It was just a mediocre Italian place.


Most surprising (in a good way): Storyteller's Cafe, Stacked

I wasn't sure what to expect from Storyteller's, but it ended up being one of our favorite meals. Stacked, I just figured would be a typical burger place, and almost got cut from our list, but it also ended up being one of our favorite meals.
So that wraps up this DTR!
I enjoyed our first trip to California, and it was cool to eat at entirely new places on a trip. I'm not sure when we'll be back in Cali (we'll definitely go back again in the future), but we're headed back to WDW in less than 3 months so I'm sure I'll be writing a DTR for that trip! I plan to try lots of Food and Wine snacks and new restaurants then. You can follow along with planning for that trip in my PTR:

A 2019 Double PTR: California & HHN 29 Trips

And I'm currently writing a TR for a short trip I took to WDW last week which you can follow here:


"We Live Here!", After Hours Events, BDay Celebrations, & Sampling All the Snacks (Girl's Trip, June 2019)
 
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Finally caught up- just in time for you to be done!

Thanks for the reports. I especially appreciated the wrap-up and the comparison of WDW/DL. We're planning a Disneyland trip next fall and it's so overwhelming since it's all new!
 
Finally caught up- just in time for you to be done!

Thanks for the reports. I especially appreciated the wrap-up and the comparison of WDW/DL. We're planning a Disneyland trip next fall and it's so overwhelming since it's all new!

Aw thanks for reading! It was overwhelming looking at all the new stuff. Especially in other areas too. I felt like I had a decent idea of what to do in DL, but felt a little lost when I started looking at San Diego and LA even though that involves less overall planning. If you have any more questions let me know and I’ll try to answer them the best I can!
 
Great report! We are also WDW vets and made our first DL visit a few weeks after you. We shared many of your sentiments.

I felt kind of silly taking a Lyft just to go to a fast food restaurant that was a few miles away, but honestly I don't think we're the only ones to have done that. The place was PACKED even at 9pm and the drive thru was wrapped around the area.

We visited In-n-Out in LA and had the exact same experience! The inside line was wrapped around the restaurant and I had to stalk people for a table. I wasn't expecting this because I thought it was just a fixture in California, but apparently its just as popular with locals as it is with tourists!

We also were a little underwhelmed by the QS at DL, but we are also not QS people. And because we felt there were fewer TS options than WDW, we struggled to decide where to eat or where to get snacks at times. We enjoyed Cafe Orleans the most - that was outstanding for us!

Was Black Tap in Downtown Disney open when you were there? As a fellow burger and dessert lover, this was a must-do for me. I thought it was a tad overhyped, but still very good and was glad I tried it! Shakes were better here than at Toothsome, but Toothsome's food would win for me (for comparison).
 
Great report! We are also WDW vets and made our first DL visit a few weeks after you. We shared many of your sentiments.

Thank you!

We visited In-n-Out in LA and had the exact same experience! The inside line was wrapped around the restaurant and I had to stalk people for a table. I wasn't expecting this because I thought it was just a fixture in California, but apparently its just as popular with locals as it is with tourists!

I don’t get it at all every one we saw was like that :confused3 Even the popular fast food places we have locally don't ever get like that. Especially because we didn’t think it was anything more than basic fast food I couldn’t understand why it seemed so popular with everyone who lives in Cali.

We also were a little underwhelmed by the QS at DL, but we are also not QS people. And because we felt there were fewer TS options than WDW, we struggled to decide where to eat or where to get snacks at times. We enjoyed Cafe Orleans the most - that was outstanding for us!

Yeah we aren’t either. I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to eat, but we were sometimes limited by our tickets (non hoppers so couldn’t really try all we wanted in DCA), and some of the things planned in Downtown Disney we skipped because we didn’t want to leave the park when we had just got there.

Was Black Tap in Downtown Disney open when you were there? As a fellow burger and dessert lover, this was a must-do for me. I thought it was a tad overhyped, but still very good and was glad I tried it! Shakes were better here than at Toothsome, but Toothsome's food would win for me (for comparison).

It had just started soft opening when we went, and it was something I wanted to try but we didn’t want to wait in the line, and we already had our meals planned, but I wish we got to try it. Definitely next time!
 

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