DxDDP with my 2 year old & bday celebration. CRT, 'OHANA, GG, CAPE MAY, SANAA & more!

[emmebear]

Originally, I booked the AP room plus dining package from 8/31-9/3 for my daughter & myself. I work as a nurse and my time with my daughter is so limited during the week. I lucked out as my resort was included in the late summer sale and saved about $105 on my room. We are staying 4 days & 3 nights. I decided to use that $105 and upgrade to the DxDDP, after thinking really hard about upgrading. I thought it would be a great way to see the characters for my daughter (it's too hot to stand in the lines & wait for the characters imo), get a break from the heat and to also try new places.

my daughter & I.

We will be returning to Disney in October, November & December and be on the Plus dining plan and I think this upcoming trip will give me ideas where to eat on our upcoming trips. This is our first time on a dining plan. Other trips, I paid OOP for small meals in the parks. We have eaten at Chef Mickey's & Tusker House before & paid OOP.

My daughter is 2 (30 months) which is also a bonus as she will be eating from my plate. The majority of our ADR's are character buffets & she can have her own plate and have a great time with the characters. She still babbles about meeting Mickey & Minnie at Chef Mickey's.

I will be writing a review with pics of our Labor day/birthday weekend trip & hopefully it can be helpful to others. I've gotten some great tips while on this site.

We were just in Disney in April and rode everything suitable for her age about 3 times each so I'm in no rush to stand in epic lines while dealing with meltdowns.


Friday (drive in from Jacksonville in the morning)
12:05 Crystal Palace lunch
7:30 'Ohana dinner
-MK day


Saturday
8:10 CRT breakfast
3:30 Mama Melrose dinner F! package
(use a snack credit if we're hungry before Fantasmic)
-DHS day after breakfast at CRT in MK.


Sunday
9:50 Cape May Cafe breakfast (our only time to see Minnie)
6:00 The Garden Grill dinner
(use snack credits if we're hungry afterwards)
-Epcot day then off to MK for electrical parade + wishes & EMH.


Monday
10:15 Tusker House breakfast
2:30 Sanaa lunch
-spending our last hours @ AK.

Thanks for reading!

 

[mommys3]

Joining in You and your daughter are beautiful! I love eating at WDW and hope to do DxDDP one day

 

[jabead]

Count me in!

Oh, and I'll add your link to my list.

 

[emmebear]

thank you!

i have a high end dslr & will be taking a lot of pictures. given, most of my ADR's are character buffets (minus crt, sanaa, mama melrose & 'ohana) but i'm hoping it will be helpful.

20 days & counting!!!

 

[nutz2notz]

Joining in. Looking forward to your report.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Your daughter is such a cutie pie!

I think she will love your meal choices. You are very smart to chose buffets too. She will get a variety plus you don't have to wait on the food to come!

Looking forward to reading your reviews. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[emmebear]

debating if i should change our o'hana reservation to:

a. kouzzina (1 TS...then head to epcot for emh after exploring the boardwalk)

b. a signature meal (which means i would have to either drop a 1 TS meal or pay OOP for it. looks like cape may breakfast would be the cheapest).

never been to o'hana but i have been to brazillian steak houses before. this seems to be the same premise but with a "polynesian" flair.

it is my birthday trip...so i'm considering the change.

decisions, decisions!

btw, my daughter is so ready to see minnie!

 

[emmebear]

10 days left until my birthday celebration at disney with my daughter!

checked in online and I am so terribly excited.

so ready to stuff my face!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Yay that your trip is only 10 days away! You have lots of fun meals planned, and I think you've done a great job picking places that should be fun and also have enjoyable food.

 

[emmebear]

thank you!

8 more days!!

 

[emmebear]

my best friend will be joining us on this trip.

he purchased the 4 day military park hopper pass and will be paying for all of his meals OOP during our trip. this will give me great cost analysis in terms of being on a dining plan or paying OOP.

5 more sleeps.....sooooo excited !

 

[DsnyMama]

I'm in! You'll be dining at some of our favs! Have a great trip!

 

[jmm476]

Joining in! You have some great places on your list.

 

[jabead]

Hope you have a great trip, emmebear!

Oh, and...


​

 

[franluvsbubba]

10 days left until my birthday celebration at disney with my daughter!

checked in online and I am so terribly excited.

so ready to stuff my face!

ROFL!!!! Happy Birthday in advance!!! Yes, we LOVE stuffing our faces and mainly gt the DP for this reason. Whatever we can't finish, we just save for l8r. Ur trip sounds gr8. We've been to all those places & had an awesome time. Hollywood and Vine for Playhouse Disney us another good one at HW Studios. 14 days and counting for us

 

[emmebear]

Thanks for the birthday wishes! We are having an awesome trip so far. No rain & only sunshine.

Can't wait to share some pictures of our experience when we return home.

 

[jabead]

Glad to hear that you are having a great trip! Can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[emmebear]

we are finally home & settled from our disney trip. i survived disney with my 2 year old & insane heat & humidity (but very happy with no rain)

we had a fantastic time full of wonderful memories.

i'll be doing dining reviews & including other pictures of our 4 days & 3 nights at disney. i will be creating online galleries of my pictures & if anyone is interested, i can include a link.

up first: arrival @ all stars movies resort, lunch @ CRYSTAL PALACE & a few hours at magic kingdom!

we arrived from our early morning drive to the all stars movies resort & i received my request in the toy story section (hooray!) despite originally having a room in the fantasia section. i felt the pixie dust already. for $66 a night (summer AP rate), it was a great bargain & my daughter absolutely could not get enough of this area. i was very happy with my choice as we literally slept & showered and were on the go all day/night.

the shampoo was so cute!

we unpacked quickly and then headed over to the magic kingdom for our lunch at CRYSTAL PALACE but not before a photo op with buzz lightyear.

my daughter was a bit disoriented with the drive & fell asleep on the ride over to magic kindgom. we finally arrived to CRYSTAL PALACE & was quickly seated despite being 30 minutes late for our adr. the weather was grotesquely hot & i was so happy to be inside air conditioning. the place was jam packed & the characters were already descending upon my area.

i will admit, my food pictures are very minimal during lunch. the characters were coming quickly, i had to feed a groggy 2 year old & take pictures with characters, and our table was against the wall but along the main aisle. it was very busy & awkward especially when trying to get pictures as people were headed to & from the buffet.

my first plate of food.

the collards were delicious & the meat w/ horseradish cream was a little too overcooked for my tastes. the mediterranean inspired chicken was decent & the basmati rice was perfectly cooked.

my daughter had an amazing meal of rice & ice cream. she did eat some broccoli, chicken & more icecream.

my second plate consisted of ham (very good), cold couscous salad (ok), macaroni & cheese (ridiculously good even with the nuclear orange color..ha ha), mashed potatoes (very yummy) & yes, more collards (i'm a southern girl).

the characters seemed to always take a break right before they reached our table. my daughter would get very excited & then get sad when the characters walked away. it's tough to explain that to a 2 year old but she finally "got it" after the second time & patiently waited as best as she could.

piglet time!
customized shirt created by ann. check out her etsy page!

my favorite eeyore & an uninterested emme (he walked away prior to our table for a break]

she's almost forgiven tigger for taking a break before reaching her.

our cm jamie was very attentive & one of the best we had during our trip. 4/8 places acknowledged my birthday celebration & it was nice to get the cupcake w/sprinkles & cute signed card. i also had an orange streamer on the table as well.

i am forever 21!

the buffet at CRYSTAL PALACE had a great variety & tons of food. even though i didn't like everything, i was satisfied. the air conditioning was a blessed relief from the heat and it was a nice start to our hectic morning. the characters were very cute even though i felt like tigger & pooh were having a rough day. as mentioned prior, my table was right by the walkway to the buffet & it became awkward to maneuver around especially for pictures.

i think i would give this place another shot. it was not my favorite of the trip but it was definitely not terrible. my daughter got to see the characters, eat lots of ice cream & the location was great.

my friend was not on the dining plan and his lunch was about $28.00 with tax.

...now onwards to a few hours in magic kingdom...

cinderella's castle reflection.

perfect timing for the show!

the waiting area was super fun!

dumbo flying both directions...we rode both sides.

i loved seeing the halloween decorations!

we headed back to our hotel after a few more hours in fantasyland. i needed a little break & a cold beer before our much anticipated dinner at 'ohana.

next up, dinner @ 'OHANA!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Great pics of Crystal Palace, MK's Halloween decorations, the refurbished Dumbo, and the shampoo. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[TheNewMrsB]

Your daughter is just too precious! I love the sorta side-eye look she was giving in the pic with Eeyore.

Can't wait to read your 'Ohana review! Still trying to get in for dinner during our trip. Fingers crossed! I'll just live vicariously through you for now.