1st Night Help Needed

[Terk-1]

As my flight does not land until close to noon, which would not get me to the resort until after 1:30pm, I decided to do a room only, then have my package start the next day. My plans were to wander around the resort (never been to AoA before), then either go to Downtown Disney or one of the resorts for dinner. This is a solo trip and I'm kinda a picky eater. I have an ADR for Hoop for my last full day at the parks, but am wondering if I should change it to OOO and do that on my arrival day. Read alot of trip advisor reviews of the restaurants at DTD and not as many positive reviews as I thought there would be. It won't be a late night, as it will have been a long day of traveling and I have an early ADR the next morning.

What restaurant would be a good one to start a WDW trip with?

 

[jennylyn_b]

Don't put too much thinking into trip advisor reviews. I have eaten at several DTD restaurants and have had excellent meals and service to ok meals and bad service. Is there one you were interested in?
You said you are picky but what do you like to eat? It will be easier to make suggestions knowing this.

 

[tzeitel]

We are landing at 12:30 and I was just trying to figure out our first day plans

Figured an hour to an hour and a half to the resort (AoA and we have never been there before either), explore and swim for a couple of hours and then dinner. Since we already have a DtD booked for later in the week I booked Kona for 6:50 and then maybe watch Wishes from the beach.

We have done several DtD restaurants before and have had great meals. We have been to Ragland Road, Wolgang Puck's Café (both the CS and the TS), TRex (loud but DD loved it), Paradiso 37 and Bongo's. Maybe we have been lucky, but every meal has been good and no problems with service either. It really depends on what you like but I would recommend any of the ones I listed. If you just want something light then how about Earl of Sandwich? I would go there over pretty much any TS if given a choice - but I am a sucker for a good sandwich

Hoop is great but transportation is always a hassle (to me anyway) and takes a bit of time to get back to the hotel.

 

[FireDancer]

If I were you I'd head over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and eat at either Jiko, Boma or Sanaa. All three are great restaurants and the AKL has a lot to see. They have a cultural presentation every evening off of the lobby, the animals to see off the back of the lobby, a gift shop with unique offerings, and a lot to see just around the resort.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

We've really enjoyed our meals at Portobello and Ragland Road in DTD.

 

[mmackeymouse]

If you are heading to downtown Disney, there are a lot of great options! It's hard to pick just one.

Earl of Sandwich is very popular, and usually involves waiting in a (quickly moving) line. But, the sandwiches are great, and the price is maybe the best deal on property.

Wolfgang Puck-Marketplace is also a really great place, because they have a ton of options, and a wide variety of food. They have pizzas, flatbread, sandwiches, pasta, meatloaf, etc etc. So, no matter what you are in the mood for, chances are, they will have something you like. I've been there alone before, and I never felt out of place or anything.

I would also definitely recommend Cooke's of Dublin, depending on the mood you are in. It is counter service, but they have some tables inside. Again, it really depends on your mood, as Cooke's has fried food and very rich food.

Those are my picks. However, I have heard that AOA has a fantastic food court. So, you may be just as well just hanging out by the pool and relaxing.

 

[Terk-1]

Don't put too much thinking into trip advisor reviews. I have eaten at several DTD restaurants and have had excellent meals and service to ok meals and bad service. Is there one you were interested in?
You said you are picky but what do you like to eat? It will be easier to make suggestions knowing this.

Sorry about that. I'm a pretty basic eater. Steak (plain), limited veggies (corn, carrots, green beans, potatoes), pasta (no eggplant or veal), chicken/turkey (plain), stuff like that.

 

[mom2cgj]

You could consider just staying at AoA and relaxing. There is plenty to explore and lots of fun photo opportunities. The food court (Landscapes) is really good. You mentioned you like plain food, so you would probably do fine with the create your own pasta or salad stations. We stayed there back in January and actually wished we had spent more time exploring and hanging out by the pool (especially the Cars pool - it was nice and quiet!). Have a great stay!

 

[Terk-1]

As my arrival day is the day after Thanksgiving, I am wondering how crowded DTD will be.

 

[Terk-1]

I have an ADR for Hoop on the DxDDP for my last day, but am wondering if I should do this my arrival day and pay OOO. It looks like a fun way to start the trip.

 

[jennylyn_b]

I have an ADR for Hoop on the DxDDP for my last day, but am wondering if I should do this my arrival day and pay OOO. It looks like a fun way to start the trip.

If you can do OOP for Hoop it would be a great start to your vacation! We absolutely love this show and do it every other trip (we go every6 months). Really puts us in vacation mode.

 

[thorphin]

I think it would make a lot of sense to move your Hoop Dee Doo reservation to arrival night. I think you could have a real relaxing evening at Fort Wilderness. An exploration of one of WDW's original resorts might be a great way to get into the Disney spirit.

You might want to bus over to MK for AoA and take a boat over to Fort Wilderness as well.

Don't know if you're looking too closely at maximizing the dollar value of your dining plan, but Hoop Dee Doo is not a great way to spend credits, so paying OOP would not be a terrible idea either.

 

[NHKristy76]

We have recently started a tradition of doing Hoop on our arrival night. We think its a great way to kick off our trip and really enjoy hopping on a boat and visiting Wilderness Lodge afterwards.

 

[nkereina]

On our first day, our flight lands at 3:15 so our plan is to head to DTD and eat at WPE. We've been wanting to try the pizza. We really wanted to do Raglan Road but are hesitant to make an ADR in case we run into any travel issues, or don't feel like it after a day of traveling.