Polynesian booked! Our first trip with 5 year old

[Bookgirlinchicago]

We are SO excited! My husband has never been to MK and I haven't been since I was little. We're going for 5 nights in November and staying at the Polynesian. Our daughter is going to be through the moon. I can't wait to see Disney through her eyes.

We book dining this week (doing dining plan) and I have a few questions. She loooves Moana so would the Polynesian Luau be fun? Is it an authentic luau or kind of commercial/modern? I ask because we did the polar express train ride in Chicago two years ago and rather than it being cool and magical, Santa was dancing up and down the train aisle to Gangnam style lol. She loved it but the nostalgic traditionslist in me was annoyed. Haha. I saw some pics of the luau and got a "Gangnam style" vibe so I want to check before spending two credits on it.

How many character meals do people usually do?

This is the plan so far:
5 nights, 3 days for MK, resort break day in between.

Day 1: resort day. Dinner at Chef Mickeys (Mickey is there at dinner right?)

Day 2: MK day. No idea about food yet

Day 3: MK day. Cinderellas castle for lunch

Day 4: resort/rest day at poly. Ohana for breakfast, luau for dinner.

Day 5: MK day. Bon voyage breakfast at boardwalk. I figured since this is the third MK day, we don't have to get there when it opens.

Other things we'd like to do:
1. See the rope drop (i don't even really know what this means yet lol) it's a show with the characters to open the park right?

2. See the fireworks and parade

3. Ride the monorail

4. Dd's favorite princesses are Moana, Mulan, Jasmine, Belle and Ariel so it'd be great to meet most of them if possible.

Did I plan too many character meals?

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

The Luau doesn't have any Moana references and in my opinion, isn't worth it. It's cheesy and the food isn't all that great. As far as character meals, that really depends on if you think your DD will like them, and which ones you specifically want to do.

Mickey is at Chef Mickey's dinner. I don't think you planned too many character meals. I'd look into Akershus at Epcot or Crystal Palace as well, two very good character meals. Akershus has a lot of the princesses as well.

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

We'd have to buy tickets for Epcot to eat at Akershus right? We're only doing a 3 day pass and only doing MK.

That was my fear with the luau. Not having a moana reference is fine, but it looked too modern/not authentic.

 

[kranzaldua]

Aloha! I was just going to suggest booking a dinner at Be Our Guest restaurant in MK, if you're able to get one. We've had dinner there twice and have been pleased with both the food and overall experience. Tons of cool theming and you get a picture with the Beast after dinner. I've also done breakfast and lunch there, and while the food was ok, the free-for-all seating was way too chaotic for me. I did not enjoy scavenging for somewhere to sit. At dinner they seat you, so it's a more relaxed atmosphere. We just got back from the Poly. You're going to love it!!

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

Aloha! I was just going to suggest booking a dinner at Be Our Guest restaurant in MK, if you're able to get one. We've had dinner there twice and have been pleased with both the food and overall experience. Tons of cool theming and you get a picture with the Beast after dinner. I've also done breakfast and lunch there, and while the food was ok, the free-for-all seating was way too chaotic for me. I did not enjoy scavenging for somewhere to sit. At dinner they seat you, so it's a more relaxed atmosphere. We just got back from the Poly. You're going to love it!!

Thanks! I added BOG for dinner. Our 5 yo would love to meet the Beast!

Ok this is our new plan. I'm not 100% sold on breakfast at bon Voyage though. We'll have to pay for that one out of pocket. Is it worth it? Our daughter loves Ariel and would really like seeing the princes.

Arrival Day-resort. Dinner at chef mickeys

Day 2-MK. Dinner at Be Our Guest

Day 3-MK. Lunch (or dinner)at Cinderella's

Day 4-resort. Breakfast at Ohana.

Day 5-MK. Breakfast at Bon Voyage (boardwalk) maybe.

Departure Day-resort. Breakfast by pool.

 

[southjerseymom]

When my guys were little Chef Mickey's was our favorite dinner spot. The Fab Five are there. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Pluto and Daisy. It was our time to have a bottle of wine and enjoy time together while our kids were entertained. One thing you might want to consider is doing room service at the Poly. We always did the Deluxes when our guys were little. We would put them down. Crack open a bottle of wine we sent to the resort and enjoy the balcony while our babies slept. I have been reading from folks that you can order the Ohana dinner room service and everyone comments 1 dinner is more then enought for 2. Nice way to end the day. Be Our Guest is awesome. We were able to get my DD a Bippidy Boppidy Boo appointment before lunch at the Castle and it was magical. As far as quick service at Magic Kingdom Columbia House or Pecos Bills have always been our go to spots. Enjoy. Every single day I have spent in Disney with my now teen Disney babies has been magical.

 

[kranzaldua]

I don't know if you're flying or driving- but if you don't have a car then getting to the Boardwalk is inconvenient from the Polynesian. You could always call a cab though. I don't know how your child feels about Winnie the Pooh, but we enjoyed the Crystal Palace breakfast in Magic Kingdom. It has Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, & Piglet. As far as paying OOP, I would go to allears.net and look up the menus and the prices to determine which one to pay OOP for. I know for sure that it's not cost effective to pay outright for the buffets- especially for kids. Be Our Guest may be your best bet for the children OOP meal since the cost range is $10-$13 per entree (and that includes their drink & dessert). As far as paying for the adult meals OOP- look at the menus and determine what looks good to you, and then decide the cheapest option to be the one for your OOP meal. Good luck!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thanks! I added BOG for dinner. Our 5 yo would love to meet the Beast!

Ok this is our new plan. I'm not 100% sold on breakfast at bon Voyage though. We'll have to pay for that one out of pocket. Is it worth it? Our daughter loves Ariel and would really like seeing the princes.

Arrival Day-resort. Dinner at chef mickeys

Day 2-MK. Dinner at Be Our Guest

Day 3-MK. Lunch (or dinner)at Cinderella's

Day 4-resort. Breakfast at Ohana.

Day 5-MK. Breakfast at Bon Voyage (boardwalk) maybe.

Departure Day-resort. Breakfast by pool.

Personally, I would drop Bon Voyage. You will be getting the ultimate princess meal experience at CRT and, unless you use uber, it's quite a trek to get from Poly to BWI using Disney transportation.

I would also consider trading O'hana breakfast for O'hana dinner. There is live Hawaiian music at dinner, plus coconut races for the children and the limbo. It gives a bit of the Hawaiian cultural experience without spending the time and money on the luau as O'hana dinner is only 1 TS credit.

 

[shawnh199]

We love character meal/breakfasts!! You can never have too many. We save sooo much time not having to wait for those characters in really long lines elsewhere. At a character breakfast, they come right to your table (in the air conditioning!!)

We love character breakfasts at Ohana, the Princess Breakfast at Akershus (Epcot), Tusker House (lunch too), Crystal Palace (if you need to meet Pooh and friends), and Chef Mickey's. We have done CRT once, but for the food/price, once was good for us and we have checked that off our Disney bucket list. We always try to schedule these for pre-park opening (as early as possible) and to the park we are going to. This minimizes the amount of time you miss in the park. Be Our Guest was beautiful and the food is good too. Meeting Beast was really cool too and with little wait (the line was way too long to meet him at Epcot). One of our favorite character meals if 1900 Park Fare for dinner. The food is OK, but we love watching the Step Sisters and Lady Tremaine. The character interaction there is incredible. Garden Grill was just OK for us and we did that just once. However, the characters there were really good too.

Enjoy your trip! Your 5 year old will have a blast with what you have planned.

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

We love character meal/breakfasts!! You can never have too many. We save sooo much time not having to wait for those characters in really long lines elsewhere. At a character breakfast, they come right to your table (in the air conditioning!!)

We love character breakfasts at Ohana, the Princess Breakfast at Akershus (Epcot), Tusker House (lunch too), Crystal Palace (if you need to meet Pooh and friends), and Chef Mickey's. We have done CRT once, but for the food/price, once was good for us and we have checked that off our Disney bucket list. We always try to schedule these for pre-park opening (as early as possible) and to the park we are going to. This minimizes the amount of time you miss in the park. Be Our Guest was beautiful and the food is good too. Meeting Beast was really cool too and with little wait (the line was way too long to meet him at Epcot). One of our favorite character meals if 1900 Park Fare for dinner. The food is OK, but we love watching the Step Sisters and Lady Tremaine. The character interaction there is incredible. Garden Grill was just OK for us and we did that just once. However, the characters there were really good too.

Enjoy your trip! Your 5 year old will have a blast with what you have planned.

This is such great info and advice! Thank you so much!!

 

[Surgie2]

For us, we can have "too many" character meals since they take away from precious park time. Our four grandkids will be 1-5 at the time of our 8-day trip next year and we are also staying at the Poly. We are planning two character breakfasts (CRT and Tusker House) and possibly 1900 Park Fare for dinner on our arrival day. That's it for 8 days and that's plenty for us. We plan to order 'Ohana as room service (and just get 4 meals for 6 adults, saving a bit of money over dining in) and either eat in the room or by the pool if we have reserved a poolside patio that day. We like lots of days with nothing scheduled except our Fast Passes and just plan QS meals in the park and something simple back at the resort like pizza delivery. That said, it does ease the situation since we are staying club level. We will do some character meet and greets in the parks rather than at meals - hopefully Moana is back by the time of our visit! Have fun planning!

 

[Acrosthec]

How many character meals do people usually do?

We do a ton of character meals. It really helps our park days move faster, because we do not have to wait in line to meet characters. Our daughter will be 4 on our next trip, and the characters are her favorite thing.

This is the plan so far:
5 nights, 3 days for MK, resort break day in between.

Day 1: resort day. Dinner at Chef Mickeys (Mickey is there at dinner right?)

Day 2: MK day. No idea about food yet

Day 3: MK day. Cinderellas castle for lunch

Day 4: resort/rest day at poly. Ohana for breakfast, luau for dinner.

Day 5: MK day. Bon voyage breakfast at boardwalk. I figured since this is the third MK day, we don't have to get there when it opens.

Other things we'd like to do:
1. See the rope drop (i don't even really know what this means yet lol) it's a show with the characters to open the park right?

2. See the fireworks and parade

3. Ride the monorail

4. Dd's favorite princesses are Moana, Mulan, Jasmine, Belle and Ariel so it'd be great to meet most of them if possible.

Mickey is at dinner, along with Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy.

Cinderella's castle is an experience that is amazing. The food is hit or miss, but there's just something about eating in the castle.

I'm trying the Bon Voyage Breakfast on our upcoming June trip, but I like the menu and my DD loves Rapunzel and Ariel (and Flynn Rider!) so it's worth it to us. You can meet Ariel and Rapunzel inside MK, so if she's not big into meeting the princes and the food isn't especially interesting to you, I'd probably drop it rather than deal with the hassle of traveling there from Poly. Belle also meets in the MK. Moana had a meet at Hollywood Studios at one point, but I'm not sure it's still going on. Mulan is in China at Epcot.


Last bit of unsolicited advice: I'd aim for Be Our Guest on the last day of your trip, but make it the FIRST reservation you try to get. This restaurant is difficult to secure a reservation for, especially dinner. People are having problems finding availability even at 180 days out. Because you're on property, you can book at 180 and book restaurants for your entire stay, so you'll have a higher chance of getting this reservation the later in your trip you try to make it. Good luck!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

5 nights in November and staying at the Polynesian. Our daughter is going to be through the moon. I can't wait to see Disney through her eyes.

OFF-TOPIC (maybe):
1) The Poly is GREAT for you, but for the kid ????
2) Kids that young probably do not understand the significance of "The POLY".
3) They want characters, not palm trees.
4) When I am asked by guests at my counter, I usually recommend All Starts or POP, it is little-child-centered.
5) We do Hawaii every-other-year and take the extended family. and took kids at 5-6 years old,
. . . they liked the Christmas weather
. . . they thought it was Florida.
6) My idea for kiddies is to eat at Ohana for Stitch, but stay at a more Disney-character-centric resort.
. . . POP
. . . All Stars
. . . Fort Wilderness (for the camping)
7) Basically, is the choice of the resort for the kid or for the adults?

 

[Canesfan3234]

get a sitter for one night and go with your husband to trader sams. Most fun adult bar in the entire resort

 

[Nancyg56]

I think there is no such thing as too many character meals.

For you 5 YO I would book Chef Mickey on arrival day, just as you did. Make time to use the monorail, take the Epcot loop and enjoy the ride.

Day 2 MK day: I would book Crystal Palace for one meal. It is Pooh and friends and will give you and your child a great way to meet them all.

Day Three: CRT

Day 4: 'Ohana for breakfast and ditch the Luau. I would explore at dinnertime. Maybe go to Animal Kingdom Lodge and see the animals, have CS dinner at Mara or go to Boma, or maybe head over to Kidani Village and have an early dinner at Sanaa. you can see animals on the Savannah there as well.
If not, this may be a good time to head over to the Boardwalk for dinner. THere are a lot of restaurants. My favorite 1 credit is Tratorria Al Forno, And then enjoy the evening entertainers that come out at night. Use a snack credit for an ice cream at AMple Hills or Beaches and Cream.

Day 5 I would try to book BOG for dinner. If not, maybe for lunch. You will not meet Beast at lunch but you can get in to see the Castle.

If you book 'Ohana for breakfast, pay this one OOP. It will likely be one of the least expensive if you go over your credits.

If for some reason you decide to skip CRT, I would try to get 1900 PF for dinner. The stepsisters are pretty awesome, and I think Cindy is still there.

I woudl also consider 2 days at the MK and add Epcot on. If you did that you could skip the Castle. Have an early breakfast at Akershus, and have a fabulous experience with the Princesses. My DGD loved Epcot at your DD age. SHe loved all of the attractions in The Land, enjoyed Turtle Talk with Crush and Finding Nemo in The Living Seas. In teh WOrld Showcase there are a few attractions that kids really enjoy, Frozen Ever after in Norway, and The Grand Fiesta Tour in Mexico.

Because you planned plenty of resort time in your trip you could easily take a break on your MK days, but get= there early, relax in the afternoon, and then back til you are tired at night. WIth some careful planning you could see quite a bit there and still take her to Epcot for the day.

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

We do a ton of character meals. It really helps our park days move faster, because we do not have to wait in line to meet characters. Our daughter will be 4 on our next trip, and the characters are her favorite thing.



Mickey is at dinner, along with Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy.

Cinderella's castle is an experience that is amazing. The food is hit or miss, but there's just something about eating in the castle.

I'm trying the Bon Voyage Breakfast on our upcoming June trip, but I like the menu and my DD loves Rapunzel and Ariel (and Flynn Rider!) so it's worth it to us. You can meet Ariel and Rapunzel inside MK, so if she's not big into meeting the princes and the food isn't especially interesting to you, I'd probably drop it rather than deal with the hassle of traveling there from Poly. Belle also meets in the MK. Moana had a meet at Hollywood Studios at one point, but I'm not sure it's still going on. Mulan is in China at Epcot.


Last bit of unsolicited advice: I'd aim for Be Our Guest on the last day of your trip, but make it the FIRST reservation you try to get. This restaurant is difficult to secure a reservation for, especially dinner. People are having problems finding availability even at 180 days out. Because you're on property, you can book at 180 and book restaurants for your entire stay, so you'll have a higher chance of getting this reservation the later in your trip you try to make it. Good luck!

This is seriously such great advice. Thank you SO much!!

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

OFF-TOPIC (maybe):
1) The Poly is GREAT for you, but for the kid ????
2) Kids that young probably do not understand the significance of "The POLY".
3) They want characters, not palm trees.
4) When I am asked by guests at my counter, I usually recommend All Starts or POP, it is little-child-centered.
5) We do Hawaii every-other-year and take the extended family. and took kids at 5-6 years old,
. . . they liked the Christmas weather
. . . they thought it was Florida.
6) My idea for kiddies is to eat at Ohana for Stitch, but stay at a more Disney-character-centric resort.
. . . POP
. . . All Stars
. . . Fort Wilderness (for the camping)
7) Basically, is the choice of the resort for the kid or for the adults?

The whole trip is for our daughter. If I was being selfish, we'd go to France or Turks and Caicos. I want to experience Disney with her, as a family and we can't wait. When I say I can't wait to see Disney through her eyes, I mean all of it but especially Magic Kingdom. She's going to love the trip and so will we. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to stay in a nice hotel. I personally don't like motels at all and I refuse to spend hard earned money on a special trip to stay in a motel. Maybe I'm being oversensitive but your reply sounds like you think I'm being selfish by choosing poly over art or pop. If that's true, I don't appreciate that at all. I give 500% to my daughter every hour of every day. If the poly is a little bit more for me, there's nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

get a sitter for one night and go with your husband to trader sams. Most fun adult bar in the entire resort

I've heard such great things about TS! Thanks!

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

I think there is no such thing as too many character meals.

For you 5 YO I would book Chef Mickey on arrival day, just as you did. Make time to use the monorail, take the Epcot loop and enjoy the ride.

Day 2 MK day: I would book Crystal Palace for one meal. It is Pooh and friends and will give you and your child a great way to meet them all.

Day Three: CRT

Day 4: 'Ohana for breakfast and ditch the Luau. I would explore at dinnertime. Maybe go to Animal Kingdom Lodge and see the animals, have CS dinner at Mara or go to Boma, or maybe head over to Kidani Village and have an early dinner at Sanaa. you can see animals on the Savannah there as well.
If not, this may be a good time to head over to the Boardwalk for dinner. THere are a lot of restaurants. My favorite 1 credit is Tratorria Al Forno, And then enjoy the evening entertainers that come out at night. Use a snack credit for an ice cream at AMple Hills or Beaches and Cream.

Day 5 I would try to book BOG for dinner. If not, maybe for lunch. You will not meet Beast at lunch but you can get in to see the Castle.

If you book 'Ohana for breakfast, pay this one OOP. It will likely be one of the least expensive if you go over your credits.

If for some reason you decide to skip CRT, I would try to get 1900 PF for dinner. The stepsisters are pretty awesome, and I think Cindy is still there.

I woudl also consider 2 days at the MK and add Epcot on. If you did that you could skip the Castle. Have an early breakfast at Akershus, and have a fabulous experience with the Princesses. My DGD loved Epcot at your DD age. SHe loved all of the attractions in The Land, enjoyed Turtle Talk with Crush and Finding Nemo in The Living Seas. In teh WOrld Showcase there are a few attractions that kids really enjoy, Frozen Ever after in Norway, and The Grand Fiesta Tour in Mexico.

Because you planned plenty of resort time in your trip you could easily take a break on your MK days, but get= there early, relax in the afternoon, and then back til you are tired at night. WIth some careful planning you could see quite a bit there and still take her to Epcot for the day.

I love all of these ideas so much! Thank you!!

 

[Nancyg56]

I love all of these ideas so much! Thank you!!

My pleasure! I am a character junkie myself, so the character meals are no sacrifice for me! WE booked a slew of them when we took the little girls on our street. I was glad we had them because we had torrential storms for much of our trip, and it was brutally hot an humid. The meals were a good way for the kids to meet their favorite characters but avoid the lines, both in the sun and in the rain.