ADR help needed - 1st time w/ Deluxe dining plan

[Nascia]

I need some opinions and advice for ADR's for our upcoming trip. We are a party of 7 (Me, DH, DS 12, DS 7, DS 4, DD 1 and my mom) and will meet with some local family members. We are also on the Deluxe Dining plan. There are some days that seem really cramped but am not sure what we can do to use our credits otherwise. I'm not sure when we will have time or room for snacks either.

Here is what we have:

9/18 Arrival Day -- 2:30 WCC
7:35 1900 Park Fare (hoping we will be done in time to watch wishes on the beach)

9/19 9:15 CRT (2)
2:00 Tony's
6:45 Tuttu Italia

9/20 8:00 Tusker House
1:00 Mama Melrose's
7:30 PTC

9/21 7:45 Cape May (water park til 2)
4:30 LTT (Looking for something else this night)

9/22 9:00 Ohana (another water park day)
5:30 LTT (MNSSHP night)

9/23 10:00 Boma (staying at resort until 12:30)
2:00 Le Cellier
8:00 Spirit of Aloha (2)

9/24 9:30 Crystal Palace (water park from 12-5)
7:00 Le Cellier

9/25 9:30 Princess Story Book Breakfast
2:00 San Angel
7:15 Hoop De Doo (2)

9/26 8:15 Chef Mickeys
Water park until departure

 

[gilsan]

We are doing the DxDP for the same days as you. Some of your days do look busy. We booked mainly Signature dining for dinner so we only have 2 days when we will be eating 3 times.

Sept 18 Artist Point 6:20

Sept 19 Boma (B) 7:30
Boma (D) 5:40

Sept 20 Akershus (B) 8:00
Les Chef de France (L) 12:00
Narcossee (D) 6:05

Sept 21 Chef Mickeys (B) 7:00
Restaurant Marrakesh (D) 4:45

Sept 22 Sci Fi (L) 11:45
Yachtsman (D) 6:10

Sept 23 CRT (B) 8:05
California Grill (D) 6:10 watch wishes @8:00pm

Sept 24 Tusker (B) 8:00
Tuskers (L) 1:10
Jiko (D) 6:20

Sept 25 Crystal Palace (B) 8:05
Kona (D) 5:05 MNSSHP

Sept 26 Cape May (B) 8:35

 

[Nascia]

We would do signatures, but the kids aren't crazy about dressing up especially while on vacation. We are generally a casual bunch, lots of Nike shorts and t-shirts. I figured the 2 shows and CRT would help since they use 2 credits too.

 

[Colleen27]

I need some opinions and advice for ADR's for our upcoming trip. We are a party of 7 (Me, DH, DS 12, DS 7, DS 4, DD 1 and my mom) and will meet with some local family members. We are also on the Deluxe Dining plan. There are some days that seem really cramped but am not sure what we can do to use our credits otherwise. I'm not sure when we will have time or room for snacks either.

Here is what we have:

9/18 Arrival Day -- 2:30 WCC
7:35 1900 Park Fare (hoping we will be done in time to watch wishes on the beach)

9/19 9:15 CRT (2)
2:00 Tony's
6:45 Tuttu Italia

9/20 8:00 Tusker House
1:00 Mama Melrose's
7:30 PTC

9/21 7:45 Cape May (water park til 2)
4:30 LTT (Looking for something else this night)

9/22 9:00 Ohana (another water park day)
5:30 LTT (MNSSHP night)

9/23 10:00 Boma (staying at resort until 12:30)
2:00 Le Cellier
8:00 Spirit of Aloha (2)

9/24 9:30 Crystal Palace (water park from 12-5)
7:00 Le Cellier

9/25 9:30 Princess Story Book Breakfast
2:00 San Angel
7:15 Hoop De Doo (2)

9/26 8:15 Chef Mickeys
Water park until departure

One thing I would suggest is to leave a couple of credits unplanned. Rather than planning 3 sitdown meals for so many days, leave lunch open so that you can have CS or snacks according to appetite rather than ADR. You don't have to use every credit for TS for the deluxe plan to be a good deal.

Second, I'd suggest leaving a couple credits for your last day to pick up sandwiches or other cold CS for the airport. Magical Express gets you to the airport so early that it is nice having something packed in your carry-on to eat rather than paying for overpriced airport fast-food.

Third, you have a lot of travel time and park hopping built into some of your days. That will make the days feel more cramped than they are. If you try to stick to eating in/near the park you'll be at for the day, rather than running around to meals, the days will flow much more smoothly.

In place of the LTT you're trying to replace, have you thought about a 2 credit meal that night? California Grill is pretty kid friendly, has a great view and awesome food, and would use 2 credits rather than one.

You don't mention where you're staying, but if it is a deluxe resort, room service is another nice way to use credits.

 

[Colleen27]

We would do signatures, but the kids aren't crazy about dressing up especially while on vacation. We are generally a casual bunch, lots of Nike shorts and t-shirts. I figured the 2 shows and CRT would help since they use 2 credits too.

The signature dress code isn't exactly dressy at Disney. Most people go in the same clothes they wear to the theme parks, particularly at the more kid/family friendly signatures like California Grill and Narcoosees. The only things prohibited by the dress code are cutoffs, tank tops, flip flops, swimsuits/cover-ups, etc. Even t-shirts are fine.

Another 2 credit meal without a dress code that you might want to try is Brown Derby at Hollywood Studios. We haven't been there yet so I can't comment as to the quality, but the menu looks good. We'll be trying it ourselves for the first time in Sept.

 

[janloz]

We did deluxe dining in Dec for 8 days and one thing I noticed was that some of your ADRs are only 4 hours apart. If you are eating a big breakfast, you will not want a big lunch about 2-3 hours after that especially since the Dlx comes with app, entree and dessert. it is A LOT of food. We found that we spent so much time running from ADR to ADR that we didn't get to see everything we wanted in the parks. I agree with PP that I wouldn't plan too many lunches and just do CS so you aren't too full and can take your time touring the parks. Also, don't forget everyone gets 2 snack credits per day. We ended up bringing home 35+ snacks (rice krispies treats, pretzels, etc) because we were never hungry. We are going back next Sept and are debating on whether or not to get Deluxe this time since we would only have to pay to upgrade from regular if they offer free dining. Still working out how much we would pay OOP.

9/19: I wouldn't do Tonys and Tutto on the same day, too much Italian. Plaza has lighter foods.

9/21: instead of LTT how about Tony's for dinner.

9/22: Have you been to one of the MVMHP or MVMCP before? Since you are spending $50+ on the ticket, do you want to spend 1.5-2 hours of that time at TS? I would suggest eating earlier at your hotel or another hotel before you head over to the park so you can just get into the party and enjoy. Even with eating CS at the park, we wasted a lot of time eating at the park and missed several of the shows and many of the CS places aren't open.

9/25: Try to get in Epcot before parking opening, we did in Dec for our 8:30am at Akerhaus and it was amazing to get pics without all the people there.

Good luck and have a great time.