ADR Help - 1st Time @ WDW

[kbbunny]

My husband, I and two kids (9 & 5) will be going to WDW in January, 2009. My 180 days are fast approaching. My youngest is very shy and we figured doing the character dinners to get autographs would be best rather than waiting in lines.

Here are my choices -- any input would help.


Day 2 Royal Cinderalla – lunch
Day 3 Chef Mickey – dinner
Day 4 Princess Dinner @ Epcot – lunch
Rose & Crown restaurant – dinner (hoping for patio to see fireworks from there)
Day 5 Crystal Palace – lunch

We are staying at AKL, if that helps.

Thanks.

kbbunny

 

[JimMIA]

First of all, Welcome to the DIS!

I like your choices of character meals. The only suggestion I would make is to try to move Chef Mickey's a little later in your stay. CM was our first-ever character meal, and it's very loud and boisterous. DD was only two at that time, and it was touch and go for a few minutes.

The first character she saw was Goofy, who is about 14 feet tall and rather, well...Goofy! He scared her to death -- not by anything he did, but just his size. That was before we actually went in to eat. She calmed down somewhat, and fortunately, the first characters to visit our table were Chip and Dale. They literally stole her heart. By the end, she was dancing in the aisles with Minnie like she'd been doing this all her life.

I think the easiest events for the little kids to adjust to are those which feature human "characters" -- in your case, CRT and the Norway princess meal. Once the get the character meal drill down, they'll be fine. All of the characters, both human and other, are very sensitive to the feelings of the little kids, and they will read your kids very well and behave accordingly.

As you approach your calling date, be sure to go to the restaurant board and look at the thread on getting ADR's for CRT. There is some absolutely essential info in that thread -- you need to read it and follow it.

Have a great trip!

 

[kbbunny]

Thanks for the info. We are staying at Conceirge level. I have heard that they make these reservations for me. I hope that is true.

 

[KatMark]

I like most of your choices. I would make one suggestion. Why not do breakfast at the Crystal Palace on Day 5? You could try to get an 8:05 ADR and that way you could be in the Magic Kingdom and walking down Main Street for pictures of the castle and your family with hardly anyone else there?

 

[septbaby]

Welcome to DIS!!!!

Please book at meal at Boma. Either breakfast or dinner, both are wonderful and it'll be nice to eat "at home" during your stay.

I think the placement of CM's is fine, even with a shy one.
- you'll have bitten the character bug at CRT and will likely have seen them in the park your first day
- Big bro/sis will be into it so that will give 'em the sign that its OK to go in the waters
- CM's is so lively with so many kids they'll find something to enjoy, even if its just the sundae bar.
- My 5yo nephew loves the mascot at our local NBA games ie. first thing he looks for at the games, but has been so afraid to get close to him over the years; well he was ALL about the characters at WDW and LOVES LOVES LOVES Chef Mickey's!

 

[danielle.st]

I think they look great. We are planning all of those places except Rose and Crown. I really wanted to eat there just to try the atmosphere, but there wasn't anything that struck my fancy on the menu.
Good Luck!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Welcome and your choices are fine. It looks like a lot of character meals but that's great. They are so much fun.

 

[JimMIA]

Thanks for the info. We are staying at Conceirge level. I have heard that they make these reservations for me. I hope that is true.

I don't know if that's true or not. I'd sure call AKL Concierge the week before your 180 day window opens and be sure. I'd hate to see you find out too late.

CRT, in particular, can be tough. All availability is often gone by 7:05 AM at exactly 180 days out.

Concierge may have an inside track, but I'd sure confirm that before I relied on it -- and I DON'T mean confirm it here on the DIS!

 

[dgagnon519]

I ate at those same places my first trip to Disney ,all except Rose and Crown. I would exchange rose and crown for Boma. Boma is excellent.
All of your choices are excellent. My kids loved them. My son was 3 at the time and my daughter was 6. my son is shy, but the characters changed that. My son got right into it. I agree that CRT will halp them be adjusted for CM. Plus they will see the characters in the park so they will not be scared by size when they meet them.
Doing character meals was the best decision I made. We only waited in line to see about 10 characters the rest we saw at meals. Have a great time!!!

 

[ToddyLu]

My DH and I ate at the Rose and Crown once and weren't particularly impressed with the choices. Of course this is our personal perference. To me Mexico has a much better atmosphere and the little boat ride there afterwards is a nice touch. You even have to walk through a small Mexican Market to check in at the restaurant. On a side note though, sitting next to us at Rose and Crown was a small family from the UK, their 6 year old ate every single thing on his plate. She said it was the first real meal he had eaten since they had been there, so evidently the fish and chips are good. I wanted to give him the rest of what I had on my plate...