ADR Help!!!

[Native NYer]

I'm planning our August trip to the CR/Poly and have been placed in charge of all ADR as well! We have deluxe dining, so that means 3 table service meals a day. There are three places we definitely want to go to (CRT, Chef Mickey's, and the Luau), but not sure where else. We want to do CRT for breakfast (we've done lunch there twice) and Chef Mickey's for dinner. I'd love any input from DISers. Where would you make an ADR?

We'll be at the CR on 8/9, then at the Poly from 8/10-8/16 if that helps

Thanks a bunch.

 

[KatMark]

Here are some suggestions (and you will get many different opinions):

Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom for Character Breakfast (Pooh and friends)
Plaza Restaurant at Magic Kingdom for lunch or dinner
LeCellier at Epcot for Lunch or Dinner
Biergarten at Epcot for Lunch or Dinner
Mama Melrose at Hollywood Studios for Lunch or Dinner

We have never done a Table Service at Animal Kingdom.

Depending on age of your children (if you are taking children),
Cape May Cafe for Character Breakfast (we have never done but keep hearing wonderful things and will be trying this year).

Others we want to try this year that we have never done are: Raglan Road, Whispering Canyon and perhaps Boma

 

[mkycrzy1971]

Ohana
LeCellier
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Kona
50's Prime Time

 

[tlriv5]

O'hana character breakfast at Poly
O'hana dinner
Crystal Palace character meal, we did lunch but hear breakfast is great
We loved Whispering Canyon and Coral Reef
50's primetime cafe was fun

We are going to try Chef mickey's this year and Biergarten

 

[dreamer17555]

I'm planning our August trip to the CR/Poly and have been placed in charge of all ADR as well! We have deluxe dining, so that means 3 table service meals a day. There are three places we definitely want to go to (CRT, Chef Mickey's, and the Luau), but not sure where else. We want to do CRT for breakfast (we've done lunch there twice) and Chef Mickey's for dinner. I'd love any input from DISers. Where would you make an ADR?

We'll be at the CR on 8/9, then at the Poly from 8/10-8/16 if that helps

Thanks a bunch.

So do you have 7 nights on the DxDDP or 6? Anyway suggestions, saying that I don't know ages of your party are as follows:

Crystal Palace for Breakfast (shoot for an 8:05 seating before MK opens- also a good plan for CRT if you can nab it)
Le Cellier
A Fanstamic Dinner Package (Brown Derby is 2 TS so we are doing Mama Melrose which is 1TS)
California Grill (2ts and try to get an ADR an 1 1/2 hours before wishes)
Coral Reef
Hoop Dee Do Revue- Have yet to go but hear amazing things
Sci Fi- for lunch and the setting alone

There really are so many good places to eat! You are gonna have a blast planning this trip. We have DxDDP (if you want to see where we are eating click on my pretrip report link for some more ideas)

-Becca-

 

[Native NYer]

Thanks for all of your suggestions!!! I'm both stressed and excited about planning our ADRs. I get to call next Monday to make my ADRs!!!!!!

I'm noticing some restaurants are being suggested by everyone, like Le Cellier, Crystal Palace, and Whispering Canyon. I've been to the Crystal Palace for breakfast, but not to the other two. I'm really interested in the California Grill and the Fantasmic Dinner packages. What's the menu like at those places? Or better yet, where can I find up to date WDW menus?

Has anyone had experience with the Fantasmic Dinner Package? Are seats reserved for you? Or will I still have to line up super early?

Also, a little backgroud:
We have the deluxe dining plan for our 6 night Poly stay (8/10-8/16) and will be paying out of pocket on 8/9 when we're at the CR. I'm thinking Chef Mickey's for dinner may be easiest on 8/9 since we'll be at the CR and may be exhausted to go elsewhere after a morning of travel.

And our party consists of 3 adults and 1 child (my nephew - 4 years old).

Thanks so much!!!!!

 

[dreamer17555]

Thanks for all of your suggestions!!! I'm both stressed and excited about planning our ADRs. I get to call next Monday to make my ADRs!!!!!!

I'm noticing some restaurants are being suggested by everyone, like Le Cellier, Crystal Palace, and Whispering Canyon. I've been to the Crystal Palace for breakfast, but not to the other two. I'm really interested in the California Grill and the Fantasmic Dinner packages. What's the menu like at those places? Or better yet, where can I find up to date WDW menus?

Has anyone had experience with the Fantasmic Dinner Package? Are seats reserved for you? Or will I still have to line up super early?

Also, a little backgroud:
We have the deluxe dining plan for our 6 night Poly stay (8/10-8/16) and will be paying out of pocket on 8/9 when we're at the CR. I'm thinking Chef Mickey's for dinner may be easiest on 8/9 since we'll be at the CR and may be exhausted to go elsewhere after a morning of travel.

And our party consists of 3 adults and 1 child (my nephew - 4 years old).

Thanks so much!!!!!

You can find menu's at Allear dot net and on this site at wdwinfo dot com

The Fantasmic Dinner package means you still need to be there at LEAST 30 mins before show time, there is a whole section reserved but no assigned seats so I recommend coming earlier than that 45 mins to 60 mins- but it beats 90 mins to nab a seat elsewhere. There are three resturants that participate Mama Melrose, Hollywood and Vine, and the Brown Derby which is a 2TS meal. If you are gonna have dinner at DHS anyway the Fantasmic package is the way to go.

Whispering Canyon is loud- so be warned. Not a place for a quiet meal.

Hope that helps

-Becca-

 

[Hopefully]

I agree, I think Chef Mickey's on your arrival night is a good plan. We are always tired from our travel day and we like to get to bed fairly early so we can be full of energy the next morning.
I would recommend the Hoop Dee Doo Review as well. It is a dinner show set to a Western Theme. The show is full of singing, dancing, corny jokes and audience participation. The food is good "Down Home" cooking, not gourmet for sure. The meal is fried chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, salad and bread, with delicious strawberry shortcake for dessert and is all you care to eat. It also includes beer, wine and sangria. We think it is a blast for all ages and highly recommend it, if you like this kind of thing.
Kona Cafe is one of my favorites, but they have changed the menu since I was there last.
'OHana is good and will be fun for your nephew. If you time it right you can see Wishes from the windows. It is a wow.
We love Teppan Edo in Japan. The chef cooks and performs at the grill at your table. This should keep your nephew entertained, and the food is delicious. These are tables for 8 so you will have others seated with you.
We loved Jiko for an upscale dinner. The atmosphere is beautiful, the food delicious, the service great and they have an outstanding South Africian based wine list.
We ate at the 50's Prime Time in the Studios in October and we totally enjoyed ourselves. Again, this is "Down Home" cooking but it was really good and it is a fun atmosphere.
We love the International restaurants in Epcot especially Restaurant Marrakkesh in Morocco where a Belly Dancer entertains, Le Cellier, the Rose & Crown Pub - ask for a patio seat to see Illuminations if you are lucky, and this past trip we ate at the San Angel Inn in Mexico and it was very good.
Good Luck with your planning

 

[dvcdisney]

Here are our favourites:

Breakfast: (did not do too many breakfasts, others were not too good)
Captain's Grille

Lunch and Dinner:
Ohana's*
Kona Cafe
Tony's Town Square
Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package*
Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic Package*
Le Cellier*
Nine Dragons*
Spoodles*
Cape May Cafe*
Whispering Canyon (very loud at Dinner)
Chef Mickey
Princess Storybook Dining at Norway
Coral Reef*

(The ones with * are our must-do's for every vacation. )

There are others also that I have heard great reviews about and we will be trying them in March:

Boma
1900 Park Fare

 

[FormrCastMbr]

Raglan Road is our absolute favorite.

We also love California Grill and Le Cellier. I have been hearing rave reviews about Blue Zoo, which we are trying on out next trip.

 

[Native NYer]

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone! I can call to make ADRs on February 11th, so this is extremely helpful.

We've been considering the HDDR, but have read that transportation to the dinner show is a nightmare. Any suggestions on seating? Which category?

The Fantasmic dinner package is a MUST! Now to decide between the Hollywood Brown Derby and Mama Melrose's. We LOVE Italian food, but not sure how much we'll love it here. We've been to Italian restaurants in Orlando and hated them. I really think living in NYC causes people not to like pizza, bagels, or Italian food anywhere else! But I am open-minded.

Teppan Edo sounds like a lot of fun! And I've read nothing but good reviews on Raglan Road.

How is San Angel Inn?

Hmm maybe I need to start writing a pre-trip report!

 

[casper_jj11]

This is completely off topic but I'm hoping that's ok. I'm wondering if you're doing out of pockt at CR and on DDP at Poly how you're handling your park tickets. We're at Dolphin for two days and then AKL. I wanted DDP at AKL but was told I'd need the package which includes tickets. I want my tickets to start the day we arrive and not two days later and I don't want to pay for a set of two tickets than another set of tickets because of the huge price difference for the first few days... so, do you have park tickets for the days you're at CR and if so, did you book it with your CR booking or with your Poly booking? If not with Poly booking, how did you get DDP?

Thanks
Joanne

 

[ZoZo]

I'd suggest trolling this board for recommendations. I think there are also dining reviews on AllEarsNet. But take all dining recommendations with a grain of salt - what some like, others might hate, and vice versa. With so many table service restaurant ADRs to make, you can try lots of different things.

Don't let a couple of negative reviews scare you off - unless you find overwhelmingly bad reviews (Hollywood and Vine seems to be one that gets consistent bad reviews), give some of these restaurants a try.

That said, for TS I like:

California Grill
Le Cellier
Kona Cafe

(Many of my favorites are CS restaurants - they take much less time and money. Plus, we go during F&W Festival and eat our way through the food booths!)

The only TS I have ever tried that I didn't like was Raglan Road - had fish and chips there in October and they were cold and soggy.

 

[Toot Sweet]

Our must-do's:

Le Cellier
50's Prime Time
Liberty Tree Tavern character dinner

A new one for us that we really enjoyed on our last trip Coral Reef (lunch).

 

[Native NYer]

This is completely off topic but I'm hoping that's ok. I'm wondering if you're doing out of pockt at CR and on DDP at Poly how you're handling your park tickets. We're at Dolphin for two days and then AKL. I wanted DDP at AKL but was told I'd need the package which includes tickets. I want my tickets to start the day we arrive and not two days later and I don't want to pay for a set of two tickets than another set of tickets because of the huge price difference for the first few days... so, do you have park tickets for the days you're at CR and if so, did you book it with your CR booking or with your Poly booking? If not with Poly booking, how did you get DDP?

Thanks
Joanne

We are paying out of pocket at CR and have a package with DDP and tickets for our 6 night stay at the Poly. We're probably just going to buy one day base tickets for our day of arrival at the CR. We're just going to walk over to the MK, so we don't need park hoppers. I wish there was a way I could just add the tickets to our Poly package, but have them a day earlier. I'll probably just order the tickets online ahead of time.

 

[Native NYer]

I'd suggest trolling this board for recommendations. I think there are also dining reviews on AllEarsNet. But take all dining recommendations with a grain of salt - what some like, others might hate, and vice versa. With so many table service restaurant ADRs to make, you can try lots of different things.

Don't let a couple of negative reviews scare you off - unless you find overwhelmingly bad reviews (Hollywood and Vine seems to be one that gets consistent bad reviews), give some of these restaurants a try.

That said, for TS I like:

California Grill
Le Cellier
Kona Cafe

(Many of my favorites are CS restaurants - they take much less time and money. Plus, we go during F&W Festival and eat our way through the food booths!)

The only TS I have ever tried that I didn't like was Raglan Road - had fish and chips there in October and they were cold and soggy.

Great advice! Everyone definitely has different tastes. I really want to try California Grill, Le Cellier, and Kona (for dinner, we've had breakfast there and the Tonga Toast is to die for!).

I'd love to go for the F & W Festival. Would you recommend it? Or is it way to crowded? I'm thinking the F & W Festival might be a great adults-only trip.

 

[Native NYer]

Our must-do's:

Le Cellier
50's Prime Time
Liberty Tree Tavern character dinner

A new one for us that we really enjoyed on our last trip Coral Reef (lunch).

We're thinking Liberty Tree Tavern character dinner also. My nephew LOVES the character meals.

Sorry...I haven't figured out how to use multiple quotes in one post.

 

[A's Princess]

Getting to the HDDR was easy via boat from Magic Kingdom. The only glitch is getting back if the boats are not running which happened to us in Jan. The buses were all waiting just down from Pioneer Hall and we were back in our hotel within 20 min. HDDR is fun and very corny - the food is nothing to write home about IMHO.

Other suggestions:
Cape May Clambake at Beach Club - easy to get to from Epcot or MGM now Hollywood Studios
Boma
LeCellier

Have fun!

 

[casper_jj11]

Thanks Jennifer for the response. Sorry again to hijake your question. I was really hoping the CM I was speaking with was wrong and I'd be able to get my park tickets a few days early while at the Dolphin. To have the DDP at AKL but base tickets for our days before AKL we'd have to dish out over $400 for the extra tickets so we'll likely just not do the DDP and get the 10day pass which we'll start the first day we arrive. Thanks again!
Joanne

 

[Native NYer]

If we do choose HDDR, we'll just make sure to leave early. Cape May is a new suggestions, as is Boma. I'd love to see AKL and the BC, so these may be good choices to do a little resort hopping.

Now I'm torn between HDDR and Spirit of Aloha.

Casper: Is there any way to ge the tickets early and do the DDP?