Advice about ADRs?

[limpy]

My husband and I, with our kids (4.7 years and 18 months) will be staying off site for 5 nights Sun-Fri in February 2015. We have resort day Mon and three days in the parks Tu-Wed-Thu, leave Fri. I want to avoid too many TS meals (maybe 3) b/c the youngest is too squirmy to last very long. BUT my almost 5 year old is a princess fanatic.

I was originally thinking Epcot - super early Akershus princess breakfast and Rose and Crown dinner during the fireworks - and MK - BOG dinner. No TS at AK.

Now I am considering 1900 PF dinner on our resort day b/c it seems like so much fun. I could potentially then skip Akershus (it's pricey anyway) that way. Advice for one over the other? Both? If I keep Akershus, we'd arrive early and take a break at the hotel in the afternoon and come back for dinner.

Then I thought, we are facing holiday crowds, so should I book an early breakfast at AK so we can get into the park early. Ugh. I am probably overthinking this and need to keep it simple.

 

[MandiC]

Which princesses are your daughter's favorite?
1900PF is a great dinner if you have a Cinderella fan, but Cinderella is the only princess at that mean (you also get the prince, evil stepmother/stepsisters). Whereas Akershus has many princesses (when we were there we saw Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Aurora and Cinderella but the princesses are subject to change)
When in February will you be there? We went the first week and crowds were very low. I'm guessing President's day weekend since you mentioned holiday crowds? It shouldn't be bad all week.

 

[caselaw3]

we didn't do Askerhaus yet - we are doing it when we go in FEB!!! but we did do 1900 Park and I don't know that I would want to go back there - it was just boring and we went because we heard the evil stepsister interaction was fantastic but they weren't even there....we were told they were at piano lessons.....the food wasn't that great either - standard buffet food....

 

[limpy]

We are going during President's Day week, right in the middle tues-thurs. My daughter loves all the princesses, including Cinderalla, so maybe we will just stick with Akershus, since apparently there is a chance that 1900 PF won't be as entertaining as I thought.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Here are my thoughts: Holiday week, hours will be long and crowds heavy. Staying off site, it will be hard to return to the resort for a break. TS meals make GREAT mid-day breaks. Getting to a before park ADR, works well for some folks, but assuming an 8:00 ADR, you are going to be getting up and leaving the resort, quite early. If you think you may want to do some nighttime shows as well,that is a very long day for little ones. Maybe look for Mid-day or late afternoon meals. Try to avoid parks that have EMH as they will be more crowded. Remember to be aware of your FP times when you plan ADRs and remember that resorts close to the MK or Epcot can make a great quick escape from the parks for a mid-day recharge.

 

[limpy]

That is good advice. Since we are only doing the parks for 3 days, I anticipate just sucking up the early mornings because my kids are really at their best in the morning. We are usually up by 630 anyway.

We plan to get to AK early, stay until they get tired, and then go back to the resort for the rest of the day. For MK, we will do the rope drop, and stay through until an early-ish dinner reservation, and head back to the resort around 7. Epcot is really the only day we are taking a midday break - hopefully Akershus around 8am and doing the park until early afternoon. Then we'll go back to the resort for a few hours and return just for a late-ish dinner/fireworks.

We'll have a double stroller and a car, and WBC is not too far away, as far as offsite goes. fingers crossed

 

[ElizabethG]

I personally prefer 1900 Park Fare. It is possible for a character to be missing from any restaurant. It is pretty uncommon for the step family to be gone. caselaw3, you should try it again!

My kids picked 1900 Park Fare over Chef Mickey for our upcoming trip. I also had to cancel our Akershus meal because they were disapointed that I didn't book Coral Reef. So, it really depends on the child. I must also note that my DD likes the princesses alright, but goes crazy for Chip and Dale. So, humorus antics are important to her.

 

[cvjw]

Character interaction at 1900 Park Fare is fantastic if you are the family that the step-sisters decide to interact with. We went in April with our 4 year old niece and 2 teen boys. The step sisters stayed with my sons literally our whole meal. Everyone else in the restaurant just got to watch them. As far as Cinderella and Prince Charming, they did the normal stop at each table for photos/autographs.

Also ate at Norway in the same trip for the 4 year old. Lots of princesses, but only a minute with each for a photo/autograph. There was a princess parade.

I much preferred the 1900 Park Fare. The food was delicious and the step sisters were hilarious. They wanted to marry my teen sons and flirted, kissed and took so many pictures with my boys. They even brought their mother over to give my sons a lecture on how to be good husbands. My boys are 14 and 18 and were great sports during the whole embarrassing meal!

 

[limpy]

Haha - thanks! Now I think I'll have to add it back in. It might be nice to do an early 1900 PF dinner on President's Day, when we will be avoiding the parks and hanging out at the resort. I could always cancel Akershus if we have a great time at 1900 Park and don't feel the need for a princess meal.