As a part of the 25-year celebrations when I booked our room, Harry and I also received free half board meal plans. I will admit that after booking this, I had become slightly apprehensive because I had read several bad reviews, however our experience wasn’t that bad. While it is true that there is a limited list of places that accept it as the full value and have a specific menu for it, but we found it to be more than satisfactory.
The way the half board meal plan works is that when you check in or hand your bags over at the Disney Express counter (like we did) you are handed a specific amount of coupons. These coupons will have either breakfast or half board plan across the top and the location(s) that they could be used at along the bottom.
Breakfast was slightly irritating our first day. This was because our coupon stated that it could only be used in Cafe Hyperion, so we made our way to Discovery Land where we knew it to be but were told that it wasn’t them and could be found in the Walt Disney Studio Park. When we got there the restaurant didn’t have the same name, but after some confusion we were able to get it sorted out.
There we were given two menu options for breakfast: the sweet or savoury menus. I’d personally recommend the former, I can’t say that I was a fan of the breakfast omelette burger (there was too much mayonnaise with the egg, and it was all I could taste) that was offered on the savoury menu. Breakfast included: one hot drink, one bottle of juice or water and either a pain au chocolat or a croissant for both menus, then the breakfast omelette burger for the savoury menu or a bread roll with jam for the sweet menu.
Our first night in Disney we chose to use our vouchers at Annette’s Diner, an old-fashioned American diner complete with waiters and waitresses on roller skates. It was a brilliant choice as we had a very large selection to use for our set menu. You could choose one item from the list of starters, one main from all but one or two sections of the menu and then a dessert or a deluxe milkshake as well as a glass of juice or water. If you ever visit the restaurant, I would definitely recommend the milkshakes; I had the strawberry and banana, which was made with real fruit and was absolutely delicious.
The other restaurant that we used our coupons at was the Silver Spur Steakhouse in Frontier Land. Now, I am not the biggest fan of steaks, but my boyfriend is, and this place was lovely. With the meal plan vouchers you get a three-course meal (Vegetarian options available) and a soft drink. Harry was slightly put off by the cow skin patterned seats, but was quickly won over by the wall decorations, good quality food and free breadbasket. I would particularly recommend the sweetcorn soup, the soup of the week while we were there, I know it sounds wired, but I promise you, we found it absolutely lovely. *Note – this restaurant closes at four pm, so it is best to go for lunch*
We also were pleasantly surprised by the lunch meal deal offers. When people find out you are going to Disneyland, they will warn you about how expensive the food is, but the meal deals are good value. During our stay we bought lunch meal deals from both Cafe Hyperion and Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost. At the pizzeria you received a large drink (500ml), a fairly large pizza, salad or garlic bread and either an ice cream or fruit salad for 14,99€. While for the same price at Cafe Hyperion you get a large 500ml drink, a burger, fries and dessert. Both meals were very filling and well worth the money we spent on them.
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