1st visit, 5nights, Son14, Avoiding DDP stress..

[wdwmoxie]

We are 2 adults with our Son 14. This will be our 1st visit.

5 nights 8/31/09
Dis Pop Century
Free DDP
6 day hopper pass


We see that there is a ton of obsession on the boards over the meal plans and the restaurants -- so much that it can become stressful -- even as we are still 90 days away from the trip. And you know what 90 days means!!

Does this have to be? Can we be confident of an enjoyable trip without stressing over this? While some of the restaurants sound wonderful as do some of the special character meals and the dinner shows -- isn't there enough to do in Disney without going nuts over this?

We don't mind the counter service type of meals plus an occassional nice sit down meal as well.

What would you do as a 1st timer with only 5 nights? What counter service or non-signature restaurants would my son 14 enjoy where we don't need to use Dinner Reservations that require booking 90 days out?

We plan on visiting:
MK
Epcot
DHS
Disney Quest (?)
Blizzard Beach - maybe....

Thanks for your help....

 

[sohappy]

Honeslty, with free dining, if you don't make reservations, you won't be able to get in. I think that you are reading obsession as stress. I am obsessed over our reservations, but I don't feel any stress from it. There are soooooo many great options, if I don't get what I want, I'll just pick somewhere else.

Here are some places that I LOVE:

LeCellier- soooo good
Crystal Palace breakfast- get into park before it opens
Tusker House Breakfast- ditto above
Yak and Yeti- super yummy!
Kona Cafe- worth the trip to the Poly for sure
Chef Mickeys

That is all that I can think of off the top of my head. Good luck, no matter what happens, you are in Disneyworld! Have a great trip.

 

[EthansMom]

Yes, people get stressed... even I got stressed when it was 90 days out. But, I found that the way I did things worked pretty well. What I did was made a list of places we wanted to eat and then I made a list of alternate restaurants to eat. Also, I was willing to take late lunch reservations when/if dinner was not available.

I had looked up which parks were having evening shows (Fantasmic and Spectromagic were two we'd like to see) so I knew we'd probably want reservations on those days that would mesh with being in those parks (we aren't getting hoppers).

Basically, I was very flexible. And the CM was able to work with me to get us every reservation we wanted, although a couple had to be late lunch instead of dinner.

The best thing to do is look through the menus and see what sounds good to you: http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-dining-plan.htm.

Every family has their favorites.

We like Chef Mickeys, where we get to see characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy. Chef Mickeys is just a Monorail ride away from MK so is good for dinner on a day when you're going to be at MK. Chef Mickeys can be hard to get into for dinner on a Spectromagic night, but I was able to get a late lunch with no problems.

We went to Hoop De Doo for the first time last year and had a great time.
HDD takes 2 TS credits but everyone from my young daughter through my 60 year-old Stepdad had a blast. The show is funny in a corny kind of way and the food was delish.

There are lots of good Table Service locations in Epcot. We'll be trying Le Cellier (steak) for the first time this visit. We've also eaten a good meal at Coral Reef (seafood), though. We travel with some picky eaters so haven't tried Teppen Edo or Tutto Italia.

At Downtown Disney, your son might like Planet Hollywood. I'm not sure whether you make your reservations for PH through WDW or if you have to call Planet Hollywood separately.

At DHS, we'll be eating for the first time at Sci-Fi Dine In, but the 50s Cafe also looks pretty good.

Another restaurant you might want to look into is Whispering Canyon.

Now for counter service:

We like eating at Columbia Harbour House in MK;
Cantina de San Angel or Sunshine Seasons in Epcot; and the Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney.

Good Luck!

 

[zoemurr]

I'd call and make reservations for 5 places.. or you may not get any sit downs at all.

I would do Chef Mickey's. Ask for lunch if dinner is full. (They only have lunch during free dining, so person on phone may not know it's there, but ask them to check, 'cause it it... I booked it.)
Biergarden in Epcot would be fun, and a ton of food.

Le Cellier is our favorite, but very hard to get into (although you probably still could for lunch). I've also heard great things about Japan and France.

For DHS your son might like Sci Fi, but don't order much more than burgers as the food is not great.

For MK we love Crystal Palace breakfast. It is with Pooh though, so your son might not be amused. If you can get an 8am seating you can walk up Main Street before the park opens.

Our only "must do" CS is Sunshine Seasons in Epcot. Lots of different kinds of food (Asian, subs, etc.) served cafeteria style. Amazing desserts too.

You have 5 free nice meals, and I would book them. You will not be able to "walk up" anywhere very easily during free dining, and it may be impossible.

Call today and book something.. you can always change it later.

We'll be there the same time.. have fun!

We love the sit down meals (especially for free) so having ones we would enjoy are important to us. I wouldn't waste the credits by not booking something.. check out www.allears.net for lists of places and menus.

 

[PatsMom]

We don't stress over meals. With free dining, you will almost definitely need to make ADRs. But unless you are dead set on getting into the most popular restaurants at prime dinner time, you will be able to enjoy some good meals. One alternative that can work quite well is to leave a park to eat. For example, if you can't get an ADR at Crystal Palace, Tony's or Liberty Tree Tavern in the MK, consider taking the monorail to the Poly and eating at Kona. Or the Grand Floridian to eat at the GF Cafe or 1900 Park Fare.

When you call for ADR's have your list of restaurants and have back ups already listed. Be ready to do a late lunch instead of dinner if that is what is available where you want to eat.

With a 14 year old, the water park might be tons of fun but I'd think about giving up a park day for it on such a short trip. Depending on where you are staying the pool might be just as much fun for him. Five park days really isn't all that much - on a short trip like that we devote one day to each park and then divide the fifth between the two where we still have the most to do. Or sometimes just devote the whole extra day to Epcot since that is DD and DH's favorite.

 

[Kae]

I totally agree look over the menus. Try to space out your ADRs. If you are not going to use a 2 credit place then you have 1 sit down a day. My kids are great late breakfast eaters, DD doesn't like to eat when she gets up. But we found for us big lunches worked great for us, nice little break & then we did CS for dinner.

We have also had great meals at place we have never picked because we couldn't get what we wanted- GF cafe for dinner & breakfast , Artist Point, & Cape May for Breakfast which is now our must do.

Kae

 

[Nancyg56]

I think that there is a difference between planning and stressing. If you spend some time planning your park days and making some dinner reservations you will alleviate dining stress. Even when there is no free dining the TS restaurants are busy and it is not always possible to get a reservation during the time frame that you want to eat.

I would check out the menus and then make ADR's at the restaurants that my family would enjoy. You do not need to keep them but knowing that you will have a good meal is really a comfort. Scurrying around looking for a restaurant that has an opening is really stressful.