Parking/Transportation Situation: General Resort Parking or Valet Parking available. Monorail service from The Polynesian, The Grand Floridian, The Transportation and Ticket Center, and The Magic Kingdom. Walkable from The Magic Kingdom. Boat service from The Magic Kingdom, The Wilderness Lodge, and Fort Wilderness. Bus service from Downtown Disney, Animal Kingdom and The Studios. (If using Disney Bus Transportation, allow 1-1.5 hours transportation time. If using monorail or boat, allow 30-45 minutes.)
Meals Served: B, L, D
Characters/Entertainment: No characters or entertainment.
Type of Cuisine: American with a focus on "healthful dishes" and "local" items
Type of Menu: Buffet offered for breakfast only, a la carte available for all meals
Atmosphere: Sleek, modern café
Dress Code: Theme park casual
Dress Code: Theme park casual
Guests Who Would Enjoy This The Most: Adults, Business Travelers
Level of Difficulty of Getting a Reservation: Easy
Level of Difficulty of Getting a Reservation: Easy
Fun Stuff for Kids: Nothing other than standard coloring pages
Rating of Appeal to Kid-Diners: Are we done yet?????
Rating of Appeal to Kid-Diners: Are we done yet?????
Stand out dishes: Buffet items: Sweet Potato Pancakes, Cheesy Bacon Grits, Cobbler
A la carte items: Smoked Salmon Omelet, Sweet Potato Hash
Best Use of Dining Plan Point: You can order a la carte or buffet, but the buffet is the best deal. All-you-care-to-eat always gives you the most "bang" for your buck.
A la carte items: Smoked Salmon Omelet, Sweet Potato Hash
Best Use of Dining Plan Point: You can order a la carte or buffet, but the buffet is the best deal. All-you-care-to-eat always gives you the most "bang" for your buck.
Experience: We did The Wave as another "fly by the seat of our pants" kind of reservation. We woke up on a Sunday morning, and decided that we would do a Disney breakfast. (Trust me, how awesome it is that we can do that is not lost on us!) The hubs and I had both been to The Wave once, back when it first opened, for lunch, and were not really into it. That's not to say it wasn't good, it just wasn't our kind of restaurant.
I think The Wave was designed with the fact that The Contemporary is a convention resort in mind. Conventioneers are frequently looking for healthier meals, since they are so often eating in hotels and on the go. The Wave was introduced in 2008 and it featured a lighter, healthier menu than most Disney restaurants, and also used a lot of organic and locally grown ingredients. The name may be a bit misleading, because it is not ocean-themed or a seafood restaurant. The décor does have the theme of a wave pattern, but I'd say it's more of a sleek, clean looking dining room than anything.
I had heard that the breakfast buffet was pretty good, and I knew they had Sweet Potato Pancakes, so I wanted to give it a try. I used to LOVE the Sweet Potato Pancakes from Boatwright's at Port Orleans Riverside, back when they served breakfast... which I believe was back when they were Dixie Landings. So we booked a 10:30 reservation, and left the house.
We arrived at 10:20, and were sat right away. The restaurant was almost empty, and we didn't see a buffet, so we were a little confused at first. The confusion only became compounded when the server brought us out a la carte menus. Turns out you can order a la carte, OR buffet here for breakfast, and the buffet was located just behind one of the main dining room's walls. When we made the server aware of K's egg allergy, he sent the chef out. She was super sweet and said he could eat whatever we were comfortable with off of the buffet, and she could make him egg-free Mickey Waffles, or pancakes. Since K rarely gets pancakes, we went with those. The chef asked K if he wanted any fruit on his plate and he said, "Yes, pees. Boo, pees." What can I say? The man knows what he wants. Pancakes and blueberries.
The rest of us went with the buffet option. I took D up and we filled her plate with fruit, scrambled eggs, a biscuit, and cereal, plus we brought K a bowl of cereal and some melon. The fruit had looked delicious, but most of it was pretty flavorless and bland. That just happens sometimes with fruit though. You never really know what you're getting. It was fine, though, since there were plenty of other good things to eat. Aside from the basics of bacon, sausages, eggs, breakfast potatoes, Mickey Waffles, oatmeal, yogurt and cereal, there were Cheesy Bacon Grits, Sweet Potato Pancakes, and Blueberry Muffin Cobbler. I had never tried grits before, so I'm not sure how they compared to others, but these were creamy and delicious. The hubs and I both loved the cobbler. It wasn't like a standard cobbler, with a crumbly topping. This had a baked, cakey crust, like a muffin, and blueberry compote on the bottom. It was really tasty and not too sugary, which is an instant turn-off for me. And the Sweet Potato Pancakes! Ahhhh.... heavenly! The hubs even liked them, and he's not usually a big pumpkin person. They tasted cinnamon-spiced and like a fall day. Yum, yum, yum.
Meanwhile, K was elbow-deep in pancakes and syrup and humming a contended "I-Love-Pancakes" type of song. D seemed to be in the mood for foods in bowls, because all she really wanted was cereal and yogurt, but she ate plenty of both, so that was fine.
The buffet was very clean, but since it was toward the end of the meal time, it was not stocked while we were there. The Mickey Waffles that were out were only lukewarm, and the bacon pan remained empty for our whole visit. When we called it to the server's attention, he did bring us out a plate of bacon, so that worked out ok.
Overall, we enjoyed the meal, and felt satisfied and full as we were wrapping up. There were plenty of both healthy options, and indulgent ones. Not really too different from any other Disney breakfast buffet. I did have to pretty much hose K off, since he was a sticky, syrupy mess, but he was pleased as punch with having fed himself for the whole meal, so we will take that as a win.
Tink's Tots Try It Out: According to D (6 yo girl) D, did you like The Wave? "Yeah." ..... Ok. Anything else? "I liked that chocolate thing you gave me to eat." Oh, that's right! I forgot all about those chocolate croissant-like pastry things. Those were really good. "Yeah, and I liked the like, waves when you came in the restaurant. That was pretty. And the Mickey Waffles.... wait... did I eat Mickey Waffles?" Yes. "Ok, yeah, I liked the Mickey Waffles and the yogurt with the strawberries. So, yeah. I liked it." Got it.
Tink's Tots Try It Out: According to K (2 yo boy) You had pancakes at The Wave, huh? "Yeah, I do. I eat pancakes." And what did you think? Pretty good? "I eat like dis..." (demonstrates eating his pancakes with a fork) Yes, I know. You did a good job. "An I do pee-pee on potty by ma-self." True. Not exactly relevant, but true.
I think The Wave was designed with the fact that The Contemporary is a convention resort in mind. Conventioneers are frequently looking for healthier meals, since they are so often eating in hotels and on the go. The Wave was introduced in 2008 and it featured a lighter, healthier menu than most Disney restaurants, and also used a lot of organic and locally grown ingredients. The name may be a bit misleading, because it is not ocean-themed or a seafood restaurant. The décor does have the theme of a wave pattern, but I'd say it's more of a sleek, clean looking dining room than anything.
I had heard that the breakfast buffet was pretty good, and I knew they had Sweet Potato Pancakes, so I wanted to give it a try. I used to LOVE the Sweet Potato Pancakes from Boatwright's at Port Orleans Riverside, back when they served breakfast... which I believe was back when they were Dixie Landings. So we booked a 10:30 reservation, and left the house.
We arrived at 10:20, and were sat right away. The restaurant was almost empty, and we didn't see a buffet, so we were a little confused at first. The confusion only became compounded when the server brought us out a la carte menus. Turns out you can order a la carte, OR buffet here for breakfast, and the buffet was located just behind one of the main dining room's walls. When we made the server aware of K's egg allergy, he sent the chef out. She was super sweet and said he could eat whatever we were comfortable with off of the buffet, and she could make him egg-free Mickey Waffles, or pancakes. Since K rarely gets pancakes, we went with those. The chef asked K if he wanted any fruit on his plate and he said, "Yes, pees. Boo, pees." What can I say? The man knows what he wants. Pancakes and blueberries.
The rest of us went with the buffet option. I took D up and we filled her plate with fruit, scrambled eggs, a biscuit, and cereal, plus we brought K a bowl of cereal and some melon. The fruit had looked delicious, but most of it was pretty flavorless and bland. That just happens sometimes with fruit though. You never really know what you're getting. It was fine, though, since there were plenty of other good things to eat. Aside from the basics of bacon, sausages, eggs, breakfast potatoes, Mickey Waffles, oatmeal, yogurt and cereal, there were Cheesy Bacon Grits, Sweet Potato Pancakes, and Blueberry Muffin Cobbler. I had never tried grits before, so I'm not sure how they compared to others, but these were creamy and delicious. The hubs and I both loved the cobbler. It wasn't like a standard cobbler, with a crumbly topping. This had a baked, cakey crust, like a muffin, and blueberry compote on the bottom. It was really tasty and not too sugary, which is an instant turn-off for me. And the Sweet Potato Pancakes! Ahhhh.... heavenly! The hubs even liked them, and he's not usually a big pumpkin person. They tasted cinnamon-spiced and like a fall day. Yum, yum, yum.
Meanwhile, K was elbow-deep in pancakes and syrup and humming a contended "I-Love-Pancakes" type of song. D seemed to be in the mood for foods in bowls, because all she really wanted was cereal and yogurt, but she ate plenty of both, so that was fine.
The buffet was very clean, but since it was toward the end of the meal time, it was not stocked while we were there. The Mickey Waffles that were out were only lukewarm, and the bacon pan remained empty for our whole visit. When we called it to the server's attention, he did bring us out a plate of bacon, so that worked out ok.
Overall, we enjoyed the meal, and felt satisfied and full as we were wrapping up. There were plenty of both healthy options, and indulgent ones. Not really too different from any other Disney breakfast buffet. I did have to pretty much hose K off, since he was a sticky, syrupy mess, but he was pleased as punch with having fed himself for the whole meal, so we will take that as a win.
Tink's Tots Try It Out: According to D (6 yo girl) D, did you like The Wave? "Yeah." ..... Ok. Anything else? "I liked that chocolate thing you gave me to eat." Oh, that's right! I forgot all about those chocolate croissant-like pastry things. Those were really good. "Yeah, and I liked the like, waves when you came in the restaurant. That was pretty. And the Mickey Waffles.... wait... did I eat Mickey Waffles?" Yes. "Ok, yeah, I liked the Mickey Waffles and the yogurt with the strawberries. So, yeah. I liked it." Got it.
Tink's Tots Try It Out: According to K (2 yo boy) You had pancakes at The Wave, huh? "Yeah, I do. I eat pancakes." And what did you think? Pretty good? "I eat like dis..." (demonstrates eating his pancakes with a fork) Yes, I know. You did a good job. "An I do pee-pee on potty by ma-self." True. Not exactly relevant, but true.
Will we be back: I wouldn't mind going back, and might even consider a special visit for the Sweet Potato Pancakes. But personally, I prefer Captain's Grille and Trail's End for a breakfast buffet.
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