Advice for first time to Disney

[Eliserose]

We are planning our first trip to Disney next year. Our children will be 6, 7 and 1yo. Any suggestions for must do dining experiences? Hoping to stay at CR if that matters.
Also, when and how do I make dining reservations? Any other tips?
Thanks so much!

 

[lilys.mom]

You can start making reservations 180 days out. You can do it on disneys website.

On our first trip our DD was 2 and we did..

Crystal Palace- in MK for breakfast charecters are Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore

Chef Mickey's- at Contemporary Resort we did breakfast here also..it is Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald

This time we are going in March 2011 she will be four and we are doing:

Tusker House- in AK this is the only meal that features Daisy

Akershus- in Epcot...princess meal (you didnt mention if you had boys or girls)

Hollywood and Vine- in DHS this features June and Leo from Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and Agent Oso!!!!!

We also have other meals planned that arent charecter meals.

On our first trip we really enjoyed both Chef Mickey and Crystal Palace...these are buffet style meals so that is why we did breakfast we figured you cant really mess up breakfast and at home we are already big breakfast eaters.

Hope this has helped some.

 

[lilys.mom]

Also allears.net is a good place to see all the resturants and menus, where they are located and which charecters are there if it is a chareceter meal.

 

[Eliserose]

Thanks! My 6 and 7yo are girls and would love the princess meals. I'll check our all your suggestions.

 

[lilys.mom]

No problem let me know if you have any other questions! Happy Planning!

 

[AirGoofy]

I have two dds (8,6) and they always love the princess dining. Akershus at Epcot and Cinderella's castle at MK. In my opinion, most of the character breakfasts are comparable with quality and price, but the best two character breakfasts are Cape May at Beach Club and Ohana at Poly. Garden Grill is a nice, family style dinner served at Epcot. Also, will you be using one of the dining plans? Some love them and are convinced they save money. Others don't think so highly of them.

My advice is to not try and do everything. It has been 10 trips for us, and we still have not done everything. As such, select your dining choices by your location and theme park day. Disney transportation is great; however, you don't want to spend hours each day transporting to different locations. Thus, if I am in MK, then I don't want to walk to exit the park, get on a bus, go to another resort or park to eat, and then transport back. When in MK, eat in MK. Also, plan a day during the middle of your stay to spend time at the resort. That way, the children can swim in the pool, play games (there are lots of activities), and the parents can rest and recharge a bit.

 

[DopeyDame]

We just got back from my 1.5 year old's first trip, and by far the biggest hit of the whole trip was Mickey's Backyard BBQ. There are a lot of mixed reviews, but we loved it. All of the bad reviews are correct - it's crowded, chaotic, and there should be toppings for the burgers. BUT - it was so much fun, and all of the kids and parents seemed to be having a blast.

 

[ses1230]

We are planning our first trip to Disney next year. Our children will be 6, 7 and 1yo. Any suggestions for must do dining experiences? Hoping to stay at CR if that matters.
Also, when and how do I make dining reservations? Any other tips?
Thanks so much!

You can make dining reservations 180 days in advance. If you are staying on-site, you take take advantage of "180+10", which means that at 180 days in advance, you can make up to 10 days of reservations.

Use this calculator to determine your 180 day mark.

You can make reservations online (you need your reservation # to use 180+10) or you can call: 1-407-wdw-dine.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Your kids are young and most of it will be lost on them. I'd pick one character meal for them to experience and make the rest as simple as possible.

See what they respond to and go from there. Hopefully their time with you will be more important than the time with any artificial Disney character.

 

[MissionMouse]

Thanks! My 6 and 7yo are girls and would love the princess meals. I'll check our all your suggestions.

Book your ADRs when you are first allowed. 180 days out from your 1st day. You can make 10 days worth of reservations at that time. I found on-line to be very easy and the process remains in your control, even if staying club. CMs are under a lot of performance measures and are forced to hurry, so there is an associated error factor too, even with the club IPO.

In regard to dining suggestions:

You might also consider the Garden View Tea Room at the GF. Little girls get to play big girls here with Mom. Children can select al la carte or Mrs. Potts Tea - For the younger "tea lover" in your party, we offer a variety of tea sandwiches, tuna salad, ham and cheese and peanut butter and jelly on white bread. We serve our magical dark tea (chocolate milk) followed with a choice of 2 pastries. http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningdetail.cfm?Restaurant.ID=305

Another option for a special girls event could include the Wonderland Tea Party. No adults allowed as your kids party with Alice and the Mad Hatter. http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningdetail.cfm?Restaurant.ID=227

 

[Sharkbyte]

For breakfast, Chef Mickeys at contemporary; Vittoria is extremely upscale but worth it! I love the seafood restaurant in Disney's Sea exhibit!

 

[zima-cheryl]

We are planning our first trip to Disney next year. Our children will be 6, 7 and 1yo. Any suggestions for must do dining experiences? Hoping to stay at CR if that matters.
Also, when and how do I make dining reservations? Any other tips?
Thanks so much!

If you haven't booked yet use one of the WDW specific TAs (travel agents) and they will handle that for you. (Even if you have booked your trip I think you can switch over to using a travel agent but call & ask to be sure.)

We personally use the Magic for Less, but there are numerous reputable companies out there.
About a week before the day we can make ADR's I get a spreadsheet from our TA with park hours, EMH (Extra Magic Hours) etc. From that I let her know the ADR's we want. She can also book extras too (like the special tours, hard ticket events/parties, F&W events, etc).
Then bright & early the day for our ADR's I'm snug in bed snoozing away while she handles it all.

I know some folks prefer to handle their own reservations, but we've never had problems & always got what we wanted. And I despise having to get out of bed 1 second earlier than I have to.

 

[crostorfer]

On our trip last month we did nearly every character meal that you can do in 6 days. Our top pick for a character breakfast was Tusker House in the Animal Kingdom. A close second was Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club. Lunch at Crystal Palace was wonderful and you can pig out at the buffet so if you book a late lunch reservation it would more than tide you over for dinner as well if you are trying to be economical.

Our least favorite meal was dinner at Chef Mickey's. We very much enjoyed the food at Ohana for breakfast, especially the juice, and we both love Stitch, but it was really, really crowded in there, it's a very hot ticket.

I'm of the opinion that everyone needs to eat in the castle, just once. Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table was amazing, ambiance wise, but the food wasn't anything special. Akershus was also great for breakfast, but the place was mass chaos. I said in my dining report that Akershus must be Nordic for "Zoo".

On our next trip we will be trying 1900 Park Fare, as it's one of the few we missed the first time, and having breakfast with Mary Poppins and Alice in Wonderland. Two signatures that alluded us the first time in my daughter's autograph book.

P.S. For your older children, character meals will be a blessing. Getting autographs in a contained environment like that is so much nicer than having to stand in a hot line restlessly for 30 to 45 minutes at a time to let your kids meet them.