Restaurant Critique request-1st time using ADR

[disneycrazymama]

This not our first time to Disney but our first where we are actually planning meals ahead to avoid disappointment! Please let me know what you think particularly whether the locations vs. where we will be make logical sense given travel time logistics etc. (eg. going to dinner at Poly and then coming back to MK for Spectromagic or Wishes. We will be at Disney in July, 4 adults and 4 kids 2-5.
Friday
PARK: MAGIC KINGDOM
Arrival
Lunch: Cosmic Rays or Casey’s corner
Dinner: Ohana-Polynesian


Sat
PARK: Animal Kingdom
Bonald’s Safari Breakfast?
L: Mara
3:45: Jammin’ Jungle Parade
D: Boma??
Downtown Disney

Sunday
PARK: EPCOT
B: counter service
L:teppan EDO or cantina del san angel-mexico counter if full
D:Le Cellier
9pm Illuminations

Monday
PARK: Hollywood Studios **planning to line up for Jedi training
B:Hollywood and Vine –Little Einstein jojo circus Breakfast or lunch??
L: sci fi dine in
D: FANTASMIC Package (Mama Melrose) 1
**9pm show show up at least 45-1hr before

Tuesday
PARK: MAGIC KINGDOM 8am EMH
B: Ohana’s Lilo and stitch-polynesian
L:Counter service
D:California Grill

Wednesday
PARK: Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach
B:counter service
L:whispering canyon café?
D: Hoop-Dee-Do??

Thursday
PARK: Free morning Epcot or Downtown Disney
B: Chef Mickey's
Lunch: counter service AKL?
Leaving



Too many character meals?
Where can we sensibly fit in the flying fish cafe and Hoop-Dee-Doo?
THANKS!

 

[Pakey]

This is a lot of planned meals. Also, do you not take afternoon breaks at the resort for your children to recharge, especially in the July heat? Except for one morning at Typhoon Lagoon, you have no time spent at pools? The plan also pretty much forces you to stay at the park from opening until after dinner; something we've hardly ever managed to do.

Personally, I don't think there is such a thing as too many character meals.

You already have Hoop De Doo scheduled in. Personally, I would skip Le Cellier if you want to do Flying Fish. FF is not logistically easy to get to unless you are at Epcot or staying at an Epcot resort.

 

[wolf29]

I'd completely agree that some break time needs to be included with kids in the summer heat. Without getting back to your resort ( not sure where you are staying) for some rest, you'll most likely have kids melting down by Illumionations/Fantasmic, etc. Also be aware that even with your own car, leaving a Park for a meal takes up a considerable amount of time. If you do decide to stay this course, I'd certainly try and eat in the Parks ( Sat & Weds) . Agree as well that there is no such thing as too many Character Meals.

 

[vicki_c]

Overall, you have too many planned meals, IMO. Some are going to end up possibly being close together time-wise, unless you are planning on eating a late lunch and a late dinner. Then trying to do rope drop again the next day-- that's a recipe for problems.

And I agree with the PP about breaks / heat / etc.

You also don't mention where you are staying or if you have a car of your own or will be relying on Disney transportation - that can add huge amounts of transportation time.

Just a few things that caught my eye -
AK day - breakfast in the park, lunch at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (must take a bus or drive here), return to the park, dinner at Animal Kingdom Lodge, then Downtown Disney. Wow that's quite a day, I think. (I just realized that maybe you are staying at AKL based on a later day's info so that might not be as bad as I originally thought).

And then you have Epcot counter service bfast the next day. When are you planning on doing that and where? There isn't much CS breakfast at Epcot that I recall. The park doesn't open until 9. So are you going to eat or tour? Then a bigger sit-down lunch, then a big sit-down dinner and another late night. Same with your studios day - you have 3 sit down meals. Fantasmic packages are scheduled early - in the 3 to 5 PM time frame - so you're not going to want 3 table service meals that day.

Water park day - water park then lunch at Wilderness Lodge, then dinner at Fort Wilderness. I just don't get that, but perhaps you aren't providing enough details about what you're doing in the middle. And I definitely wouldn't do Whispering Canyon and Hoop on the same trip not to mention on the same day -- I found them to be pretty similar and was sorry we did both on one trip.

I think generally you might try to plan some breakfasts in your room, late breakfast/early lunches in the parks, break, earlier dinners, etc. And I think you need to cut, not add.

 

[jlk806]

Your TS choices:
Ohana - LOVE
Donald's Safari Breakfast - LOVE
Boma - we werent fond of, esp. my husband who is not an adventerous eater
Teppen Edo - we are not into Japanese food, so have never been
Le Cellier - ok, but we are not huge steak eaters
Hollywood & Vine - the lunch was cute, sure breakfast is just as good
Sci - Fi - food is ok, fun place to eat though
Mama Melrose - have never been but want to try on this trip
Ohana - have never done the breakfast, love the dinner
California Grill - good
Whispering Canyon - LOVE, one of our favs
Hoop De Doo - never been
Chef Mickey's - LOVE

 

[disneycrazymama]

We are staying at AKL, and this was a rudimentary swing at the planned eating. Totally agree, we have to cut, and since we just ate wherever we found ourselves last time, I guess i didn't factor in the time getting to all the different resorts and back. I think we have to cut and leave some for the next trip! Thanks!

 

[katieam1]

Another suggestion if you don't want to go back to your resort for breaks is the baby care center. We went there a lot with our kids for the trips we have taken with them. January was cooler so the need to get out of the heat wasn't so much but in August we needed to escape it. It was great to take them to the baby care center where it was cool they could play with some toys and just watch a disney movie where it is quiet.

 

[disneycrazymama]

Thanks Katiem1! Great idea!

 

[katieam1]

Thanks Katiem1! Great idea!

Sure no problem. We found it took a lot of time going back and forth to the resort to take breaks, it was nice to go some where quiet where the kids could take the break they needed. For us the baby care center was wonderful and so useful. We found all the baby care centers before starting our trip that way we knew where to go. The other good thing is generally the care center is not that far of a walk from things, they are easy to travel to quick we found. Another plus is that with a toddler who maybe at the age to go potty there is usually not many people in there so there is a no wait to get into the potty. Very important for us.

We did spend a lot of time at our resort pool too but it was more either before heading to the park or after getting back. I hope you have a great trip and my other advice is to go with the flow especially with little ones, find what works best for your family and just enjoy because trips seem to always fly by!

 

[deerhart]

realize that with the fantasmic package, you will be eating dinner at like 3:30 in the afternoon.

I would agree that you have too many meals. You can expect each ts type meal to last 1-2 hours (even more if you have to wait some).

I also would not take 4 kids between 2 and 5 to a signature restaurant (California grill, Flying Fish etc), but that is just my preference. These tend to be much more upscale and expensive, and the kids prices are pretty steep ($9.00 for a grilled chicken breast at Cali Grill, $9 for chicken or $11 for fish sticks at Flying fish)

Many days you have 3 sit down meals and your gong to spend most of your day eating versus hitting the parks.

 

[drmommy]

Are you on the Deluxe DP? If that's the case, it makes sense that you have this many TS meals. We also do the DDP and for the most part, do 2-3 sit down meals a day. We have 2 children who were 5 and almost 1 on our last trip, so it's doable. We found that the meals were our way to take a rest. Some meals were more pleasant than others, but that's just the way it goes

A few recommendations:
Sat AK day - will be difficult to go back the AKL for lunch at Mara. Why not Yak & Yeti or Flame Tree BBQ (CS)? both at AK.

We take our kids to Signature restaurants and CG is great!

Thurs Epcot Vs DDT day - will probably take longer than you think to go to Chef Mickey's then to a park and get back to AKL by lunch time. How about Princess Storybook at Akershus for breakfast? I've heard the breakfast at Wolfgang Puck Express is quite good.

Love, love, love the baby care centers!

Have a great trip!

 

[katieam1]

Are you on the Deluxe DP? If that's the case, it makes sense that you have this many TS meals. We also do the DDP and for the most part, do 2-3 sit down meals a day. We have 2 children who were 5 and almost 1 on our last trip, so it's doable. We found that the meals were our way to take a rest. Some meals were more pleasant than others, but that's just the way it goes

A few recommendations:
Sat AK day - will be difficult to go back the AKL for lunch at Mara. Why not Yak & Yeti or Flame Tree BBQ (CS)? both at AK.

We take our kids to Signature restaurants and CG is great!

Thurs Epcot Vs DDT day - will probably take longer than you think to go to Chef Mickey's then to a park and get back to AKL by lunch time. How about Princess Storybook at Akershus for breakfast? I've heard the breakfast at Wolfgang Puck Express is quite good.

Love, love, love the baby care centers!

Have a great trip!

I agree for us (who uses the DXDDP) with two kids it is a nice break to go to 2 or 3 ts meals a day, they eat 3 times a day at home so for us we eat that on vacation, we just use our meals for fun as well like characters meals, coral reef, fun entertaining places that also make it special. You will find most think it is too much but for us it works well. I find the best vacation is the one that works best for your family, if you find DXDDP is too much that's ok but if it works that's ok too.

 

[cnorth]

This not our first time to Disney but our first where we are actually planning meals ahead to avoid disappointment! Please let me know what you think particularly whether the locations vs. where we will be make logical sense given travel time logistics etc. (eg. going to dinner at Poly and then coming back to MK for Spectromagic or Wishes. We will be at Disney in July, 4 adults and 4 kids 2-5.
Friday
PARK: MAGIC KINGDOM--Good
Arrival
Lunch: Cosmic Rays or Casey’s corner
Dinner: Ohana-Polynesian


Sat
PARK: Animal Kingdom
Bonald’s Safari Breakfast? Sounds good
L: MaraWhat about yak and yeti, or counter service? Then back to the room for a break, and dinner at boma?
3:45: Jammin’ Jungle Parade
D: Boma??
Downtown DisneyI think you might be way too tired for this.

Sunday
PARK: EPCOT
B: counter service You could do Mara or Boma breakfast.
L:teppan EDO or cantina del san angel-mexico counter if fullTry to make sure you go back to the room in the afternoon for a rest, if you want to make it to Illuminations.
D:Le Cellier
9pm Illuminations

Monday
PARK: Hollywood Studios **planning to line up for Jedi training
B:Hollywood and Vine –Little Einstein jojo circus Breakfast or lunch??If you are trying to line up for jedi training, I would just grab something at starring rolls for breakfast.
L: sci fi dine inSkip the lunch. You won't want to eat dinner. If you guys are still hungry after fantasmic, you can go to Mara for a snack.
D: FANTASMIC Package (Mama Melrose) 1
**9pm show show up at least 45-1hr before
I would definately take a midday break. You have two completely full days planned.
Tuesday
PARK: MAGIC KINGDOM 8am EMH
B: Ohana’s Lilo and stitch-polynesian
L:Counter serviceYou can probably skip this, and just get a snack to tide you over til an early dinner.
D:California Grill

Wednesday
PARK: Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach
B:counter serviceHow about visit Mara for breakfast? The water park counter service places are definately lacking...
L:whispering canyon café?
D: Hoop-Dee-Do??This is sort of our plan for water park days. Later breakfast at the resort, water park, then early dinner at the resort or HDDR.

Thursday
PARK: Free morning Epcot or Downtown Disney
B: Chef Mickey'sTry Cape May, if you are going to epcot. Then you would be in walking distance of the park.
Lunch: counter service AKL?I would just eat at epcot, if you are going there. Biergarten is really good, as is Tutto Italia.
Leaving



Too many character meals? Not at all. A great way to see the characters out of the heat.
Where can we sensibly fit in the flying fish cafe and Hoop-Dee-Doo?I have no problem with kids at Signature Dining restaurants. I've always taken mine to nice places. Just know what your family can handle. Cali Grill is easily a 1.5-2 hour meal.
THANKS!

Have fun! I know it's hard, but you can't fit everything into one trip. You would all end up miserable trying to. Decide on a couple of rides or things you want to do in a day, and as long as those get done everything else can wait til next time!