ADRs

[DisneyPrincess1984]

Our ADR date is coming up. I've never planned a Disney trip this far out so we've never taken advantage of ADRs. My husband likes our trip to be flexible, and we're not much for sit-down meals when on vacation - so he doesn't want me to make a ton of reservations. However, I do want to make a couple. My question is: what are your must-see or must-do restaurants? We've never done Be Our Guest so I thought I'd try that for lunch. We'd love to experience the new Space restaurant but unsure when it will be open and how hard it will be to reserve a spot.

We're planning on a Disney Springs night on our day of arrival. But now I'm wondering if we should skip that to go check out the new Coronado Tower and eat there instead if possible?

Help a girl out! We'll be a party of six - four adults, two kids - upper elementary age.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We're planning on a Disney Springs night on our day of arrival. But now I'm wondering if we should skip that to go check out the new Coronado Tower and eat there instead if possible?

Disney Springs has a ton of restaurants, so you'll definitely be able to find something there. We've been to Raglan Road and Maria & Enzo's lately, and liked both. They also have a T-Rex and a Rainforest Cafe, if the kids would love the theming. (If you do either of those, you can get a Landry's card in advance, and then I don't think you even need an ADR??)

As for picking just a couple of restaurants for the trip, it's so hard without knowing what your group likes and dislikes! I would check out some of the menus and photos on line:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/

Some our favorites over the years have been:
Garden Grill - for character interaction when DS was younger
Crystal Palace - for pre-park-opening breakfast (to get great castle pics)
Skipper Canteen - favorite from our most recent trip (especially the Kungaloosh dessert!)
Sanaa at AKL - two words: bread service!!

 

[CynBeth]

I would do BOG for dinner we really enjoy it and you see The Beast.

 

[jolynne28]

For us, the words 'flexible' and 'Disney' don't go together anymore. Even if you don't have ADR's, you have to schedule your FP's 60 days out to ride all the popular rides, so you are already committing to what park you are going to be each day of your trip.

Agree with PP, there are soooo many choices, so you need to narrow it down for us to make good recommendations. Do you want buffet? Characters? What's your budget? Do you want them to be in parks or are you willing to travel to resorts?

BOG is fun, but I think dinner is very pricey. I haven't done it since it become a signature. Lunch is quicker and you get the same experience, minus meeting the Beast. We do at least one BOG per trip for lunch b/c it's technically quick service and it's the only one you can make an ADR for.

 

[DisneyPrincess1984]

For us, the words 'flexible' and 'Disney' don't go together anymore. Even if you don't have ADR's, you have to schedule your FP's 60 days out to ride all the popular rides, so you are already committing to what park you are going to be each day of your trip.

Agree with PP, there are soooo many choices, so you need to narrow it down for us to make good recommendations. Do you want buffet? Characters? What's your budget? Do you want them to be in parks or are you willing to travel to resorts?

BOG is fun, but I think dinner is very pricey. I haven't done it since it become a signature. Lunch is quicker and you get the same experience, minus meeting the Beast. We do at least one BOG per trip for lunch b/c it's technically quick service and it's the only one you can make an ADR for.

We prefer to eat IN the parks. Although I would love to eat at Coronado but we aren't staying there. Staying at POP. So.. trying to decide if we skip our Disney Springs night to do that or not. Not concerned with characters. Would prefer less expensive dining options.

This is hard for me since I don't know what parks we are going to be in each day yet. Last trip we did Sci-fi, T-Rex, Rainforest in AK and the Coral Reef place at Epcot.

 

[jolynne28]

We prefer to eat IN the parks. Although I would love to eat at Coronado but we aren't staying there. Staying at POP. So.. trying to decide if we skip our Disney Springs night to do that or not. Not concerned with characters. Would prefer less expensive dining options.

This is hard for me since I don't know what parks we are going to be in each day yet. Last trip we did Sci-fi, T-Rex, Rainforest in AK and the Coral Reef place at Epcot.

I know, it's tough knowing you are making ADRs 6 mo out and need to figure out where to be. But I will say that you shouldn't have any problem during your trip making ADR changes if you use Touring Plans. So don't stress too much about it.

I still think BOG lunch is a good option. If you haven't done the Hoop Dee Doo review before, it is truly a lot of fun.

 

[gharter]

We generally do the afternoon we arrive at DS. There are many really good dining options, both QS and TS.
Raglan, Homecomin', Polite Pig are a few that come to mind.
We enjoyed our dinner at BoG. Didn't feel it was overpriced for what you got. Fun to meet the beast.
EPCOT and AK have many really good QS dining options. MK and HS, not so much.
EPCOT - katsura Grill, Sunshine Grill
AK- Flame Tree BBQ and Satu'li Canteen
MK - Columbia Harbour House, Pecos Bills
The TS in the parks are very good, but since your husband doesn't want to do them, I left them off.