Opinions on my ADRs?

[jbuckent]

This is our first trip since I was in 7th grade! A lot has changed! We have the free DDP with our 8 and 4 year olds. We will be there for 5 nights.

Bongos (not on DDP)
Tusker House (is Yak & Yeti the only other place at Animal Kingdom?)
Nine Dragons
Cinderella's Royal Table
Mama Melrose

 

[Belle5]

How exciting for you to finally make it back to WDW! I am thinking that if you have one or two daughters you might consider dining in the castle to be something you need to do...As far as Tusker House, are you going to breakfast when there are characters or are you trying to get the seats for Nemo by having lunch there? I can see why you would do that. Mama Melrose--do you have a Fantasmic package booked? Is that the reason you are dining there? I could understand that reasoning, as well. I am one of the few people who actually think Nine Dragons is pretty good. However, it would definitely NOT be the first place I would book for dinner in Epcot!!! Before I would ever book Nine Dragons I would try 80% of the other restaurants there. My first choice with kids the ages of yours would be lunch with Remy at Chefs...but I would pay OOP and not waste those dining plan credits. Other special dinners would be Coral Reef with the aquarium (not my favorite food but an "experience"), the Biergarten which has the live entertainment, Teppan Edo (if you don't have a hibachi restaurant near you), Via Napoli for pizza (again, don't waste your DDP credits).

Your list is pretty good, considering your family has never been to the world and there are just things you have to do while your kids are young. The only one I think you really should reconsider is Nine Dragons.

 

[jbuckent]

How exciting for you to finally make it back to WDW! I am thinking that if you have one or two daughters you might consider dining in the castle to be something you need to do...

Isn't that what CRT is? Because I do think we NEED to dine in the castle, LOL I have two princesses!

As far as Tusker House, are you going to breakfast when there are characters or are you trying to get the seats for Nemo by having lunch there? I can see why you would do that.

The reason I picked Tusker House for dinner is because it was that or Yak & Yeti, Yak & Yeti is Asian, and we choose a Chinese place at Epcot, leaving Tusker. Would you skip eating dinner at AK?

Mama Melrose--do you have a Fantasmic package booked? Is that the reason you are dining there? I could understand that reasoning, as well.

Here I just thought the menu looked good. Is Sci-Fi better? That was the other place I was considering. We are not going on a Fantasmic night hoping for a smaller crowd. We can see that another time when we return.

I am one of the few people who actually think Nine Dragons is pretty good. However, it would definitely NOT be the first place I would book for dinner in Epcot!!! Before I would ever book Nine Dragons I would try 80% of the other restaurants there.

We picked this as we, being very American, have a daughter who is going to a Chinese Immersion school and its always so much fun for her to talk in Chinese outside of school. She is conversational in Chinese at 7! I think we will be spending more time in China than any of the other countries. But if its bad I don't want to eat there.

My hubby also thought the restaurant in Mexico looked good.

[/QUOTE]


How difficult is it getting to other resorts for dinner if we skip dinner at AK? We are staying at POFQ.

 

[Belle5]

Whoa!!! Chinese immersion? That is AWESOME!!! You should definitely let your daughter hang out at the Chinese Kidcot station and talk with the sweet young Chinese gals who are working there. She could probably walk around the gift shops and talk with some CM's there, too! I think you would enjoy a meal there as long as you're not expecting something super exciting and different. Unlike your average Chinese restaurant at home, this one will be staffed with real Chinese servers...so in your case that's a huge difference.

Tusker for dinner...if you don't have a car, would you be opposed to a five minute bus ride over to AKL? I would much rather see you dine at Boma for a good use of your dining credit. First of all, AKL is a destination in itself! Secondly, Boma is the Tusker buffet but on steroids. The other AKL option (1 dining credit) is Sanaa--but it has more of an Indian influence as opposed to Boma's African inspiration.

Mama Melrose...well, we have been to all the DHS eateries many, many times and well, we just don't do them for the most part. But, we have a car, so that makes getting around a bit easier for us. If I had to eat in DHS, only wanted to use one dining credit and had children the ages of yours I would probably go to 50's Prime Time. It can be pretty fun and the food's pretty good. If you do have a car other popular spots with kids the ages of yours would be WCC in the WL. It's a wild west kind of cowboy dinner. For a more upscale experience we like the Wave at the CR. For some yummy Hawaiian tasting food we like to dine at Kona Cafe in the Poly.

Yes, CRT is in the castle. Yep...you need to go there!

 

[Quin]

What fun!

I agree with the prior poster to switch to Boma for dinner on your AK night. The Disney transportation system really does work pretty well; we never have a car and we go out of our way to eat at different resorts. From AK, take the AKL bus to Boma. After dinner you can EITHER take a bus from AKL to Downtown Disney, then take a bus (or boat) back to POR, or take a bus from AKL to any park that is still open and then take a bus back to POR. You don't have to go IN the park to use it as a bus transfer spot, and all the bus pickups are in the same general area.

CRT is well worth the 2 dining credits for your girls' first trip.

Nine Dragons does get good reviews for food, actually; I think we all tend to overlook it a bit because people think they can also get pretty good Chinese food closer to home. We use Epcot to try cuisines that we CAN'T get locally. But you have a wonderful incentive because of your DD's school

Mama Melrose......meh. If you have park hoppers and really want Italian, look hard at the menus for Tutto Italia, Tony's; heck, even Via Napoli and I'm not a big fan of them either. If you don't have hoppers, the Epcot-area resorts are a short boat ride from HS and you can go back to HS after dinner if you want. That gives you multiple choices at the Boardwalk and BC/YC. I personally like the (non-character) dinner buffet at Cape May, but there are a bunch of 1TS choices.

BUT- it's not about what any poster on the Dis likes; it's about what you like. If you like the Mama Melrose menu the best, go for it and I bet you'll enjoy it.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

There's a chance that every night will be a Fantasmic night.

 

[tinkgurl]

Tusker House: Breakfast at Tusker House is so good! Get an early ADR, then you can get FP's for the Safari since it's close!

Cinderella's Royal Table: CRT is a favorite of ours. We've only done dinner there, but it's always been good. Plus, it's always fun to say you're eating IN the Castle!

Mama Melrose: MM is another favorite of ours. Are you doing the Fantasmic dining package?

 

[nkereina]

This is our first trip since I was in 7th grade! A lot has changed! We have the free DDP with our 8 and 4 year olds. We will be there for 5 nights.

Bongos (not on DDP)
Tusker House (is Yak & Yeti the only other place at Animal Kingdom?)
Nine Dragons
Cinderella's Royal Table
Mama Melrose

Yak & Yeti is the only other TS. I have heard that if you are seated near a window during the parade you have a great view of it, which is an off time to eat so an ADR at this time shouldn't be hard to get. I think I would still pick Tusker House though.

Nine Dragons is not popular and I'm not sure why. I've never eaten there so I've never paid much attention to reviews to know if they are mostly bad or not. It may be because there are so many other restaurants in Ecpot that are so good. Definitely keep CRT. And Mama Melrose is good but if you are picky Italian eaters, you may not like it. For instance - my inlaws who are genuine Italians can not stand Olive Garden. But I like it! And I like Mama Melrose. So take that for what it's worth

 

[cajunprincess]

This is our first trip since I was in 7th grade! A lot has changed! We have the free DDP with our 8 and 4 year olds. We will be there for 5 nights.

Bongos (not on DDP)
Tusker House (is Yak & Yeti the only other place at Animal Kingdom?)
Nine Dragons
Cinderella's Royal Table
Mama Melrose

Yeay! How fun! You must be so excited!
I think you will really enjoy Tusker House and CRT! I'm not a big fan of Mama Melrose, but then again, I'm not a fan of an Hollywood Studios restaurants. That would be the only one I would reconsider, but if you are going there for the Fantasmic! package, then it's definitely worth it.

 

[ElizabethG]

We love CRT! My favorite character meal, however, is in Epcot. Garden Grill for dinner is so fun. The restaurant rotates and the character interaction is great (Mickey, Pluto, Chip, Dale). Personally, I would go for that and try to get the conversation practice in while exploring China.

I wanted to mention the Kim Possible missions. They have one that takes you through China. The missions are great for both kids and adults. You get to explore parts of the country that may otherwise go unnoticed.
If you haven't heard about these: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/attractions/kim-possible/

Also, they have some great shows in the China pavillion, so get a times guide to see what is available.