Dining Plan Help Needed!

[adamtraci]

OK,, so we are planning our first vacation in 2010 and have 2 girls who will be 5 and 4 and a boy who will be 2.

We have no idea what restaurants we should go to.

My girls love girly stuff, princesses etc. Eating out is one of the things we all love to do.

I think we are going to add the DDP and will be there for 7 nights.

What would you recommend for us?

 

[KatMark]

OK,, so we are planning our first vacation in 2010 and have 2 girls who will be 5 and 4 and a boy who will be 2.

We have no idea what restaurants we should go to.

My girls love girly stuff, princesses etc. Eating out is one of the things we all love to do.

I think we are going to add the DDP and will be there for 7 nights.

What would you recommend for us?

For character meals, I would do the Princess Breakfast in Norway at Epcot, Cape May Cafe (Minnie, Donald and Goofy) for breakfast at the Beach Club and our favorite, Crystal Palace with Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet. Kids enjoy 50's Prime Time for the antics and they enjoy Sci Fi for the cars you sit in to eat. A lot of people rave about Whispering Canyon Cafe and the antics that go on there. Personally, we didn't care for it at all (we had bad service, bad food and none of the antics everyone talks about).

You might also want to try to get a meal in the castle. We've never done it as we have two boys and they would not have been caught dead eating in a castle with princesses when they were young.

 

[adamtraci]

thanks for your suggestions.

do you recommend that we get reservations for EVERY meal? i hear/read a lot about the need for booking early.

 

[squirrel]

We really liked Donald's Safari Breakfast in AK. 1900 Park Fare has Cinderella, Prince Charming, Step-Sisters and Step-Mother for dinner.

I would book all of your TS meals. You can always cancel some if needed.

 

[Ragrobyn]

Book as many character meals as possible. They are included on the dining plan and are great fun for kids. We filled up 3 autograph books by dining

Our favs were Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, Ohana, Liberty Tree, Akershus, Hollywood and Vine. This time we are trying 1900 Park Fare and Chef Mickeys.

 

[disneyfreak42]

MY DD(13 yo) loves 1900 Park Fare. We have to eat there everytime we go. She likes the stepsisters and the food!

 

[adamtraci]

Book as many character meals as possible. They are included on the dining plan and are great fun for kids. We filled up 3 autograph books by dining

Our favs were Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, Ohana, Liberty Tree, Akershus, Hollywood and Vine. This time we are trying 1900 Park Fare and Chef Mickeys.

Thanks! So for example - Akershus is in Epcot. That means we need to add on the park-hopper option? (even if we don't plan on going to Epcot for anything else but Akershus, right?).

 

[Ragrobyn]

^^ You don't need the hopper option. Just spend the day at Epcot. For young kids, I would recomend getting the Epcot Passport and look for Kidcot stops when you tour around the world. I did not think my son would go, but he really go into it. It was fun to meet the cast members from other countries and they would write in English and their own language in the passport. Another bonus was all the characters we we met at the different countries. We Started in Canada when World Showcase opened and ended in Mexico. That work out for us because we hit the timeing just right for all the characters. They would just be starting as we entered that country. Now there is the Kim Possible Adventure which is suppose to be tone of fun too. The Nemo ride is great and Timon and Pumba in the Land. So don't discount Epcot as a fun destination for kids!

The Princess dining at Akershus is a great alternative to Cinderellas Castle Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner. We Met Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Jasmine, Ariel, Snow White and Cinderella. We had met Sleeping Beauty, Belle,Jasmine and Mulan at the world showcase countries earlier that day. It was a great place for face characters!

 

[mickeyluvr004]

depending on when you go if you get free dining Cinderella's Royal Table is 2 credits but so worth it the food is good and the interaction is great my DD's loved it, they also loved the 1900 park fare with Cinderella and Prince, the stepsisters were great, The food at Asherkus was ok nothing great but the princesses were great but something I don't prefer to go back to, Chef Mickey's as you get alot of character interaction. we are doing alot of princess meals again this trip.

 

[lyndrajo3]

My girls LOVED Boatwrights Dining Hall at POR for breakfast--was their absolute favorite. But I read someplace on here that they will no longer serve breakfast.

All the kids (even teens) in our group liked Aloha Dinner Luau Show and also Ohana's at the Polynesian-plus they enjoyed watching the Wishes fireworks from the beach at the Poly after the 8pm Luau Show was over. If you plan it right you can even watch the light show on the lake afterwords too. Beer is included for the adults for the Luau too--that was a plus for the dads in our group.

I bet your gals would like the lunch or dinner with Cinderella too--you will even get a photo package for keepsakes. I also hear that Akershus with the Princesses (plural) is a good one too.

Crystal Palace with Pooh was another fav of my kiddos. And if you plan an early breakfast you will get in the park before the huge crouds. Don't forget to go to Tink's Treasures (be the first one there) at the drop of the rope into Fantasy land. Your gals can wake up Tinkerbell- my 6 year old was on cloud nine that day .


The dinner safari was also a fun fun time. The kids LOVED seeing all of the safari animals and dancing with the guides after dinner. Some very interesting fare at the restaraunt as well.

The teen boys in our group liked the Pizza Planet--it was the various video game machines available for them to play at a jacked up rate . My girls were not thrilled but we had to keep everyone in mind.

Our hubbys' favorite eat was the Biergarten in the gRemany Pavillion. Good food and the guys couldn;t just order a pint they had to order the "man sized" mug. OMG!! I had to help my usually non drinking hubby and our friend's wife also had to help him finish his man sized mug. Good thing we had a ride back to the resort

Those are afew that stood out for our trip. There are plenty of others to choose from. But I gave you mostly a perspective from a bunch a lil princesses. Don't forget your pirate though.

Oh and I suggest the Deluxe Dining. Our family of five never went hungry our 7 day stay. We even had lots of snacks left to get before we left for our trip home. With the deluxe dine you will have planty of credits to book some of the more kid exciting dinner shows etc... Don't forget the gratuities though. we easlily spent $200+ on gratuities for our trip. Glad we had the dining plan cuz that would have been way worse on our pocket book. We had a blast though. So much I am returning for the mommy trip in a couple of weeks.

 

[TDC Nala]

My girls LOVED Boatwrights Dining Hall at POR for breakfast--was their absolute favorite. But I read someplace on here that they will no longer serve breakfast.

You are correct - they stopped serving breakfast in February.

The dinner safari was also a fun fun time. The kids LOVED seeing all of the safari animals and dancing with the guides after dinner. Some very interesting fare at the restaraunt as well.

This sounds like the Grand Gathering Experience safari dinner, which can be booked only by a group of 8 or more registered as a grand gathering.

 

[lyndrajo3]

Yep there was a total of 9 of us for our trip. We were a grand gathering.

Tony's for breakfast was also fun for the kiddos. Got lots of pics with Mickey that day.