Acckkk Last Minute Oct Trip

[perpetua]

First time trip to disney (MIL, SIL, me, and DD's 6 and 4). We are adventurous diners and the kiddos do well in nice restaurants. Well...MIL is paying for the regular dining plan and I would hate to look a gift horse in the mouth...here are the ADRS I have now. We are staying at the GF.

Wed- 5:30 Dinner at Grand Floridian Cafe or Narcoossee's or Citrcos, Spectro at 8
Thurs- Epcot, Lunch Tepen Edo at 12:20, 7:15 Citrcos at GF
Fri- DHS, Lunch 50's prime time cafe at 11:10, Block party (if we make it at 3:00), 5:30 the Wave at the Contemp
Sat - AK, Lunch Yeti yeti at 11:00, Dinner?
Sun- MK, 11:55 Liberty Tree Tavern, Dinner 6:50 Kona at Poly, Wishes at 9 (is this doable?)
Mon- relax in the morning? then more Epcot, Lunch 12:00 Coral Reef, Princess Storybook Dining at 5:15 or 6:55 OR with Illuminations at 9:00
Tues- MK or DS in the morning or just relax at the resort until our 3:30 flight or 10:25 Crystal Palace Character Dinner

So I am thinking maybe...since we are paying for the dining plan...it is smarter to do TS dinners and CS lunches (we are not huge breakfast people). We could do TS dinners at GF or Poly or Contemporary (on the monorail) and just grab something at any park we are at for the day...
Hmmmm...or grab a taxi and go to DTD or something?
Or, we could just pay out of pocket for our TS lunches (as my girls would rather eat off of an adult menu anyway) and use our CS credits for breakfast.
What do you think....we do have park hoppers but I don't know if we are going to end up using them.
Are any of these Must Do's? And when do people go to Downtown Disney...is this a must do?
Thanks so much!

[cnorth]

Have you thought about upgrading to the Deluxe plan? It seems like you might benefit from that. You would get 3 dining credits per night. That way you could eat at Narcossee's, Citricos, Cali Grill, Jiko- all REALLY good. They take 2 TS credits each. Plus you would get an appetizer at meals. This way the girls could share with you some (since it's so much food), and you could use their credits to share light CS breakfasts...

[dogodisney]

If you are staying on property, you can use the buses so do not have to take a taxi to get to DTD. I personally like going to DTD. I love the Christmas store and the World of Disney store. There are other stores your DDs would like.

For us we use a majority of TS for dinner and use the CS for lunches. We do a character breakfast one morning and a TS one TS meal for lunch. It is all based on oour itinerary for each day. I also bring things to eat for breakfast in our room which makes it easier too.

[perpetua]

Have you thought about upgrading to the Deluxe plan? It seems like you might benefit from that. You would get 3 dining credits per night. That way you could eat at Narcossee's, Citricos, Cali Grill, Jiko- all REALLY good. They take 2 TS credits each. Plus you would get an appetizer at meals. This way the girls could share with you some (since it's so much food), and you could use their credits to share light CS breakfasts...

I was thinking about that but I am having a hard time getting adrs for cali grill, jiko and other nearby popular restaurants...

[perpetua]

If you are staying on property, you can use the buses so do not have to take a taxi to get to DTD. I personally like going to DTD. I love the Christmas store and the World of Disney store. There are other stores your DDs would like.

For us we use a majority of TS for dinner and use the CS for lunches. We do a character breakfast one morning and a TS one TS meal for lunch. It is all based on oour itinerary for each day. I also bring things to eat for breakfast in our room which makes it easier too.

So, you don't think it would be too much to take the bus to DTD for dinner after spending a day (until about 3) at the parks?

[dogodisney]

No, I don't think it would be too much. But then again we are the type that go , go , go when at Disney. :goodvibes

[Jeanieblue114]

We found that the TS lunches were soooo much better than the Dinners. They were less crowded, better service, quieter, nice to get out of the heat of the day.

We had dinner at the GF cafe and Kona. Both were terrible. Long waits, mediocre food that tasted like it was under heat lamps. very loud. In the GF Cafe, we had to scream to talk, it was dirty too. 2 bread plates were dirty, there was catalope that a child threw across the room sitting on the floor next to me for 2 hours (yes..entrees and desserts took over 2 hours) later some ice cubes joined it, the marshmallow from my fondue had hair on it.
I mentioned the hair to the waiter...he just asked if I wanted another marshmallow...NO THANKS.
I wanted to like the Cafe', we used to eat there all the time when I was younger.

If i ever went to either place again, I would go for lunch.
If I saw the cleanliness issues again, I would have a manager there immediately.
It seems that by 7pm, the kids at the restaurants are having lots of major meltdowns.

A nice place for dinner that wasn't hectic and actually had FRESH made food was the Captain's Grille at the Yacht club.

Btw, don't try to max out your plan, you will end up eating stuff you hate. The most expensive thing is always the steak and the Disney steaks seem to be so-so quality...pretty much what you would get at Hoss's.

DTD is very nice. I love it there.
It is a must do for me.
Wolfgang Puck Express is delicious for dinner or lunch and is a CS credit.
You can have a blast with your snack credits at Goofy's candy company.
The shops are so much fun.