All You Care to Enjoy Family Style or Classic Buffet: Which Way Should You Chow Down at Walt Disney World?

When planning a Walt Disney World vacation, some of the most important decisions guests make revolve around dining. Where and when to make reservations, if the Disney Dining Plan is worth it for their party, and what (if any) character meals to take part in are just some of the biggest questions guests have to tackle.

Chef Mickeys Entrance Sign
Chef Mickey’s 

Today we’ll be looking at a different question though: buffet or all-you-care-to-enjoy family style? Which is the best way for you and your party to chow down at the Vacation Kingdom? Well, there are several factors, but before we get into them, let’s just run-through the differences between the two, just in case anyone is unfamiliar.

Buffet Dining Defined

Buffet style eating is likely the more familiar of the two for many guests. Simply, guests pay one price to be seated at a restaurant where they have access to a large, all-you-can-eat buffet. Guests are free to take as many portions as they like. Some of the best known traditional buffet style eateries at Walt Disney World include the Magic Kingdom’s Crystal Palace, Hollywood Studios’ Hollywood & Vine, and the Contemporary Resort’s Chef Mickey’s.

Crystal Palace

All-You-Care-to-Enjoy Family Style Dining Defined

Family style eating is similar to buffet in concept, specifically the all-you-can-eat nature. However, there’s one major difference: when eating family style, guests do not to leave their table to head to a buffet and fill their own plates. Instead servers deliver large shared plates of various foods to their table. Guests are free to request as much of the foods they enjoyed as they need to feel full. Some of the more notable family style restaurants at Disney world include Liberty Tree Tavern at the Magic Kingdom, Epcot’s Garden Grill, and the Polynesian Village Resort’s ‘Ohana.

Which dining style is right for you?

So, which experience is best for you? Well, it depends on what type of party you’re traveling with. If you or someone in your group is a picky eater, you may be better off going with a traditional buffet experience which generally provides more varied options than family style. For example, let’s look at the character breakfasts offered at two of our aforementioned examples: Chef Mickey’s and ‘Ohana.

The former offers a fully stocked American-style breakfast buffet including fruit, ham, bacon, eggs, biscuits, omelettes, yogurt, desserts, and a make your own waffle bar.

On the other hand, ‘Ohana offers the comparatively smaller menu of Hua Paka (scrambled eggs), Uala Kahiki (fried potatoes), pork breakfast sausage links, Hawaiian-style ham topped with pineapple compote, Mickey-shaped waffles, and pineapple-coconut breakfast bread.

While the latter is certainly a delicious meal, it’s definitely a more acquired taste, and less likely to please the younger – or pickier – guests.

‘Ohana breakfast

However, these two character breakfast examples can also be used to exhibit an advantage of family style. The environment at Chef Mickey’s can be a bit harried, with family members scrambling – no pun intended – to bring back their foods from the buffet while at the same time trying to ensure that they don’t miss a visit to their table from Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, or Pluto. Meanwhile, guests at Ohana can simply sit back with the hefty plates of food their servers are delivering, all the while relaxing and waiting to be visited by Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, or Stitch. That’s to say, there’s more family time built into the family style model.

Stitch greeting guests at Ohana

The choice of whether to go buffet or go family style is a personal one, and with prices for table service and buffet dining comprising a major part of guests’ budgets, it’s worth really considering the pros and cons of each before making your choice.

Which do you prefer when dining at Walt Disney World: Buffet or family style? Have any favorite spots on property to do so? Let us know in the comments below.

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3 Replies to “All You Care to Enjoy Family Style or Classic Buffet: Which Way Should You Chow Down at Walt Disney World?”

  1. Before the recent influx of price increases on top of price increases, I would advise anyone who asked my advice to not waste precious park hours waiting in line for character meet and greets. I would, instead, encourage them to go to places such as Chef Mickey’s to meet the major characters. My thinking was, park tickets were expensive which made park hours better spent on rides and you “have to eat somewhere” so put an extra $10-$15 per person on a normal sit down meal and get the characters thrown in to get the “meet and greet” experience and a very memorable meal. I don’t know that this is a better plan anymore with the price increases and reduced offerings at the buffet. My kids still remember the visits when Chef Mickey’s dessert buffet was filled with cupcakes and containers of sprinkles galore. I’ll always remember the adult sized slices of cheese cake. Sadly all of that is gone and the prices keep on increasing. Walt stated that he built Disneyland as a reminder of the old days he remembered and miss. Just like Walt, this father misses the “old days” when WDW was a much more fun and memorable place to visit. I hate that my grandkids will never know Disney the way it was build and meant to be.

    1. Apparently you don’t remember the good “older days” when all of the characters roamed the parks and met with visitors and took pics. Not uncommon to meet several dozen characters in a day while walking from one code to another. Talk about tome well spent! No meet and greets were necessary. That’s what Disney was meant to be and what your grand kids need to be sad about. This is what I mean when I keep saying that most people don’t even know what they are missing as Disney declines.

  2. Honestly, the prices of the buffets are now far too high! At $50+ for adults and $35+ for 3-9 yr olds for most of them, it’s just not worth it any more. Even with the characters, it’s gotten just too expensive. We used to do at least 1 per trip, not anymore!!!!!