how's this line up of meals for a family of newbies?

[gigi1313]

we are disney veterans, have done the dining plan a half dozen times and really loved the deluxe plan...

but!

we are going for a quick 5 day trip w/friends who are disney newbies and want to show them a good cross-section of what disney has to offer, including the restaurants...

here's our line up... lemme know what you think...

thursday, arrival day, arrive in the early morning, head to AK, have CS lunch (at nearest CS, not crossing the park for CS!)... park closes at 6pm, only in-park ADR i could get would be for 4pm, so we're going to head back to our resort (CSR) and have dinner at Maya Grill...

friday, Epcot day... hold-over b'fast on the fly (pop tarts and whatever)... lunch at sunshine seasons... late dinner at Nine Dragons... or, possibly skip lunch and go have a kitchen sink at the BC in lieu of lunch...

saturday, DHS day... early b'fast at Pepper Market... late dinner (1/2 hour before park closes) at H&V...

sunday, MK day... snacky b'fast at Main Street Bakery... lunch at Plaza... dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe (7pm, park is EHM 'til midnight that night so we'll go back)...

monday, departure day... b'fast at either Maya Grill or Pepper Market or maybe, time permitting, WPE at DTD if we need to do any shopping...

thoughts?

 

[KatMark]

we are disney veterans, have done the dining plan a half dozen times and really loved the deluxe plan...

but!

we are going for a quick 5 day trip w/friends who are disney newbies and want to show them a good cross-section of what disney has to offer, including the restaurants...

here's our line up... lemme know what you think...

thursday, arrival day, arrive in the early morning, head to AK, have CS lunch (at nearest CS, not crossing the park for CS!)... park closes at 6pm, only in-park ADR i could get would be for 4pm, so we're going to head back to our resort (CSR) and have dinner at Maya Grill...We stay at the CSR all the time; unfortunately, we've never had dinner, only breakfast; but we've read some good reviews lately

friday, Epcot day... hold-over b'fast on the fly (pop tarts and whatever)... lunch at sunshine seasons... late dinner at Nine Dragons... or, possibly skip lunch and go have a kitchen sink at the BC in lieu of lunch...never done Nine Dragons

saturday, DHS day... early b'fast at Pepper Market... late dinner (1/2 hour before park closes) at H&V... sorry...one of three Disney restaurants we will NEVER go to again

sunday, MK day... snacky b'fast at Main Street Bakery... lunch at Plaza... dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe (7pm, park is EHM 'til midnight that night so we'll go back)...did not care for this in September and will only go back if we try breakfast

monday, departure day... b'fast at either Maya Grill or Pepper Market or maybe, time permitting, WPE at DTD if we need to do any shopping...

thoughts?

I would do departure day breakfast at possibly Boma--supposed to be a great buffet. The breakfast at Maya Grill is a buffet--and fair (no better than any of the others and service can be slow).

 

[ShannonMB]

Any kids? If so, I'd say you need at least 1 character meal! I would have no problem skipping H&V for a character meal!

 

[septbaby]

I would try for a post AK ADR at Boma. That worked really well for us. I've read lots of good reports for Flame Tree, so I would try to plan to be in that area for lunch. Yak & Yeti seems to also have DIS fans. Honestly, we did a resort CS breakfast, ice cream treats at AK and then dinner at Boma.

We liked H&V, not a "wow" but a good and I'm full.

If you like Sunshine Seasons, cool, but if I'm in Epcot I'd rather select something at the World Showcase.

I had to laugh at "quick 5 day trip". I wish I could get 5 days at WDW.

 

[gigi1313]

NO BOMA!! (ds has severe nut allergies and last time we ate at boma they misled us and told him something was safe, and it wasn't... he had a bad (thankfully not anaphylactic) reacation... plus transport to boma could be a nightmare (no car rental)...

we considered characters but i was outvoted... the kids are 14, 12, 12, 10 and 10mos... my kids (14, 12, 10mos) are character'd out and the other kids said "no thanks" (i was disappointed)... plus we are going in 3 weeks and i had a little bit of a hard time getting adrs... tried for chef mickey, 1900 and crystal palace...

oh, and we do not have park hoppers...

 

[septbaby]

Transport from AK to AKL is as easy at it gets though I understand your aversion to returning there.

 

[Eastern]

Instead of Nine Dragons on your Epcot day, what about Teppan Edo or Coral Reef? I think they would be more fun than ND.

 

[JennSaint]

I probably would do Prime Time over H&V. But that's my preference.

 

[gigi1313]

re: transport to AKL... yes, getting there is no problem... getting back to CSR, no easy task (esp when we will have been at the airport by 4:30am!)

our family did a GG and had dinner at 50s PT... it was not good... we were very disappointed... plus, i wanted one buffet in the weekend...

tried to get ADRs for teppan edo (first choice), coral reef (2nd choice), lecellier (3rd choice), garden grill (4th choice) and finally was able to get 9D (which was dh's first choice ironically)...

 

[JennSaint]

re: transport to AKL... yes, getting there is no problem... getting back to CSR, no easy task (esp when we will have been at the airport by 4:30am!)

our family did a GG and had dinner at 50s PT... it was not good... we were very disappointed... plus, i wanted one buffet in the weekend...

tried to get ADRs for teppan edo (first choice), coral reef (2nd choice), lecellier (3rd choice), garden grill (4th choice) and finally was able to get 9D (which was dh's first choice ironically)...

If you really want one buffet does it have to be at HS? I just think out of all the buffets this is one of the least favorites.

 

[tiggerx3]

I too would do 50's Prime Time instead of H and V.

I would also switch out Whispering Canyon for O'hana.

 

[gigi1313]

hmmm... that's a good question... we've always enjoyed it... not the best but not the worst... and we don't find many choices at DHS... we're not fans of sci-fi or 50s... dh/i love MM but kids hate it... BD is 2 credits... unless we go to DTD or b'walk that night?

 

[gigi1313]

can't do 'ohana w/ds' peanut allergy... too risky...

 

[summersalt]

I wouldn't do H&V. How about walking over to one of the Epcot resort and eating there if you can't get an ADR to 50's Prime time.

 

[idatwilight]

I would choose Teppan Edo at Japan over Nine Dragons in a heartbeat. I believe it's one of those restaurants where they cook the food for you at the table. The kids would probably enjoy that.

 

[ekatiel]

Sorry to hijack your thread, but can you tell me more about why you can't do 'Ohana with a peanut allergy? My DS has a severe peanut allergy and it is currently on my list of ADR's that I'd like to get. I know they have a peanut sauce, but I figured our table would just forgo on that one. Is there anything esle I should be worried about? 'Ohana just sounded like such a fun place to eat, but if DS's safety would be compromised, then of course, we won't go there. --Katie

 

[MPHARJ]

We always loved H&V until our last trip in Sept. We had one of the last ADR's of the night they place was empty, our service was great, refills etc... but the food was horrrible this time. They didn't replace anything or put any fresh food out we were left with whatever was left. I was very disappointed, we never had that problem before than again we never ate there that late before. Even my kids didn't want to go there on our next trip.

 

[gigi1313]

we don't have park hoppers (and adding them for eight people is costly!) so walking to epcot is out...

teppan edo was unavailable... it was our first choice... we *loved* it last time! i'm hoping to keep trying for it!

 

[gigi1313]

we skip 'ohana dinner (have done the b'fast) because the peanut sauce is everywhere... i was told by a chef when i called that *he* would stay away from it! because it's so freely offered, and on every table, it would likely be dripped on a chair here, a table edge where the server didn't wipe off there, on their tray, maybe on the bottom of your plate, etc... it's just too "everywhere" is what i was told... and the risk of cross contamination, even if they are trying to be cautious is too great...

i'm not a risk taker... we have friends who's dd has the same allergy and they eat m&ms (not peanut) and other things processed in a facility... we don't... that's how careful we are...

hope that helps!

 

[Shleedogg]

we are disney veterans, have done the dining plan a half dozen times and really loved the deluxe plan...

but!

we are going for a quick 5 day trip w/friends who are disney newbies and want to show them a good cross-section of what disney has to offer, including the restaurants...

here's our line up... lemme know what you think...

thursday, arrival day, arrive in the early morning, head to AK, have CS lunch (at nearest CS, not crossing the park for CS!)... park closes at 6pm, only in-park ADR i could get would be for 4pm, so we're going to head back to our resort (CSR) and have dinner at Maya Grill...

friday, Epcot day... hold-over b'fast on the fly (pop tarts and whatever)... lunch at sunshine seasons... late dinner at Nine Dragons... or, possibly skip lunch and go have a kitchen sink at the BC in lieu of lunch...

saturday, DHS day... early b'fast at Pepper Market... late dinner (1/2 hour before park closes) at H&V...

sunday, MK day... snacky b'fast at Main Street Bakery... lunch at Plaza... dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe (7pm, park is EHM 'til midnight that night so we'll go back)...

monday, departure day... b'fast at either Maya Grill or Pepper Market or maybe, time permitting, WPE at DTD if we need to do any shopping...

thoughts?

Have you thought about Chefs de France at Epcot? I don't do French food, neither does DH or the ILs. I read so many good reviews before we left that I decided to book it in place of the Coral Reef ADR I already had. It was by far the best meal of the trip, everyone agreed (even better than Le Cellier). We had a late ADR, 7:50pm, but it worked out perfectly. We got our dessert just as Illuminations was starting. It was such a great ending to the day to be able to watch it while enjoying our dessert.

I haven't been to H&V in 18 yrs, but I have read so many negative reviews that I would skip it. I think DTD that night is a great idea. There are a lot of great places to eat that I'm sure you'd enjoy. Plus then you can get some shopping in and go to Goofy's....can't miss that one