Advice needed for ADR Addict

[buzz1121]

My husband and I are taking our children to WDW for the first time. My children are ages 5 and 2. We will be at WDW from Sept 29-Oct 9. I have been working on our ADRs since we were first able to book at 180 days.

My husband and I would like the trip to be amazing for the kids, but we are celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary as well so we would like to go to as many of the signature dining locations for dinner. We have elected deluxe dining. We would like to eat at all signature dining locations other than The HollyWood Brown Derby.

We have MNSSHP scheduled for Thursday, September 30th and we plan to visit SeaWorld on Saturday, October 2nd.

This is the list of my current ADRs. Would some of you guys make recommendations as to where I can fit in or arrange Flying Fish? It may be a simple matter of rearranging the schedule, but I could definitely use some advice. My brain seems locked in the ADR maze.

Wednesday, September 29th

L - 50's Prime Time Cafe
D - Les Chefs de France(hope to see Illuminations after dinner)

Thursday, September 30th

B - Tusker House
L- Yak and Yeti
D- The Plaza(MNSSHP night)

Friday, October 1st

L - Sci-Fi Dine In
D- Yachtsman

Saturday, October 2nd(SeaWorld Day)

D - Kona Cafe

Sunday, October 3rd

B - Kona Cafe
L - Tutto Italia
D - California Grill

Monday, October 4th

B - Ohana's
L - Le Cellier
D - Citrico's

Tuesday, October 5th

L- Liberty Tree Tavern
D - Artist Point

Wednesday, October 6th

B - Crystal Palace
L - Via Napoli(Hopefully!)
D - Narcoossee's

Thursday, October 7th

B - Boma
L - Whispering Canyon Cafe
D - Jiko

Friday, October 8th

L - Le Cellier
D - Ohana

Saturday, October 9th

B - Kona Cafe
L - Liberty Tree Tavern

Are there any suggestions as to rearranging this schedule that will allow us to try Flying Fish as well? We plan to leave for home after lunch on October 9th as it is a 7 hour drive. I am open to any and all suggestions.

Thank you so much!

 

[su_A_ve]

With all the breakfast, lunch and dinner, and 5 and 2 year olds, you'll have NO time at all for the parks.

Plan on 2 hours per restaurant, betweeen, getting there, time to get seated and dinner itself.

And nap time for the 2 yr old? Seriously... This is your first time for the kids to WDW. Enjoy the parks first, then worry about dining...

I would suggest one sit down per day, at a park to maximize time.

My .02...

 

[Jubilee]

My husband and I are restaurant obsessed foodies and we have a 5 and a 2 year old and when our 5 year old was 3 and 2 year old was 7 mos, we did deluxe dining and they were angels but we were still in restaurants too much.

I would still do deluxe dining if I could afford it, but really take advantage of the 2 credit dining locations, rather than trying to get in 3 or even 2 table service meals in 1 day. Cinderella's Royal Table, Mickey's Backyard BBQ

I know it's hard to cut things out (trust me, I know!) I can't believe I've been going to Disney my whole life and am an addict, and now once again, a Florida resident, and only just on my last visit did I go to Hoop Dee Doo for the first time EVER (in the "worst" seat in the house) and it turns out to be my all time favorite place to eat and we even loved our "worst" table!

My kids have always been flexible with naps so maybe you're lucky too and your kids will sleep as needed in strollers or even at the meal table after they eat, but I found that usually when we would sit in a restaurant, they would actually get energy because we'd be in a cold restaurant out of the hot sun, and all they wanted to do was run around if they could.

Another thing, pertaining to character meals, is that you may want to just do a few. You just cannot know until you get there, even if your kids have been there before.... is how each child will react on each separate trip to Disney! When my DD1 was 16 mos. old we took her for the first time and she loved the characters and couldn't get enough! And when she was 2, she was scared and we dealt with some melt downs, and when she was 3, she loved them again... and when she was 3.5 she was nervous again, etc. My 2 year old said "me scared" and isn't in any pictures!

Furthermore, even though I can't account for other people's children, mine won't eat when characters are around if they are nervous of the characters or overly excited (as the characters are approaching our table.) So there we are at a buffet costing a million dollars with a kid that will want a hot dog and fries in an hour. Not good! At 'Ohana, I was literally choking down as much pineapple bread as humanly possible, and my kids touched nothing more than a few grapes and juice.

In terms of your actual locations, I can only give my opinions, but everyone is different

Wednesday, September 29th

L - 50's Prime Time Cafe (We loved this meal, but we were with a large group with many adults and we egged on our waitress.)
D - Les Chefs de France(hope to see Illuminations after dinner) (We loved this meal as a family but when we went Remy from Ratatouille was there. The food quality itself was better for us during a lunch visit rather than a dinner visit)

Thursday, September 30th

B - Tusker House (We had a lot of fun. The characters are great, but everyone is rushing to get out of there and get to rides. It's kind of clausterphobic in there to me, but I definitely want to go back because of some of the delicious and unique foods that were there at the time!)
L- Yak and Yeti (I would skip it. Was it the worst meal ever? No, I haven't had a horrible meal at any Disney restaurant, but it was barely memorable)
D- The Plaza(MNSSHP night) (I wouldn't take away from MNSSHP to go here if you can help it. The food here was just OK when we dined.)

Friday, October 1st

L - Sci-Fi Dine In (This is a really fun place but not the most filling meal...the food quality is that of a counter service to me.)
D- Yachtsman (We had a delicious meal here, but had we not been in the deluxe plan, I would've never paid those prices to go there with 2 young children! We went early and only a couple people were in there but I still felt like it was stuffy and quiet and I was praying that crayons would work for the kids while trying to chew my bites of steak more than twice each before shushing the kids. If you can wait on this or get a sitter, you would probably enjoy it a lot more! We were there 2.5 hours and were semi-hurrying)

Saturday, October 2nd(SeaWorld Day)

D - Kona Cafe (I really love it here, but I have had better experiences than others. I have had excellent food and mediocre food, excellent service and bad service)

Sunday, October 3rd

B - Kona Cafe (Instead of Kona for breakfast again, I would probably go to Captain Cook's where you can still get Tonga Toast.)
L - Tutto Italia (I haven't been here and though I want to go, I can imagine this would be one of the most filling meals possible)
D - California Grill (You will still be full from dinner, for sure!) What time is your ressie? If it's early, the view is gorgeous and if it's later, you can watch fireworks. I wouldn't miss this, but it's still a tough one with kids and I feel your table can make or break it!)

Monday, October 4th

B - Ohana's (Favorite breakfast, hands down. Juice. Coffee. Pineapple bread. Favorite characters.... )
L - Le Cellier (This would be OK if you eat breakfast at like 730AM and lunch at 230PM, otherwise, I don't know if you could be hungry again. This is my husband's favorite restaurant, but even lunch is an ordeal here. We had lunch once at 2:30 which is when the restaurant is probably least busy and it still took 2 hours. For dinner, we could barely eat around the world.. we were full all night!
D - Citrico's (Never been but can't imagine you could eat)

Tuesday, October 5th

L- Liberty Tree Tavern (We ate here when there were characters and the food was decent. It was a positive experience overall but try and eat early as more of a brunch if you can.)
D - Artist Point (Never been but it seems like one of the more adult restaurants to me. I don't know why...)

Wednesday, October 6th

B - Crystal Palace (Have had some great meals here, but for breakfast, it's basically just the staples. Even though it's a buffet, try and eat light maybe?)
L - Via Napoli(Hopefully!)
D - Narcoossee's (Delicious food, but another adult oriented meal to me so I'd try and do it early)

Thursday, October 7th

B - Boma (I'd skip this.... dinner here was fab. but I don't think you'll have time to go to any parks today if you eat 3 meals at resorts)
L - Whispering Canyon Cafe (Haven't been but it looks like the food is delicious and so fun for kids! I wouldn't skip this.)
D - Jiko (Food looks good to me here but again, not sure about 3 meals in a day.)

Friday, October 8th

L - Le Cellier (I wouldn't miss Le Cellier but I wouldn't go twice. Get rid of the other one if you can and make this one for 11am?)
D - Ohana (Fun dinner with kids activities, but better for older kids, but I really prefer 'Ohana for breakfast)

Saturday, October 9th

B - Kona Cafe (I'd skip it and grab something quick at the food court or bakery on main street.)
L - Liberty Tree Tavern (Definitely not twice. Try to get Cinderella's Royal Table for lunch or maybe put The Plaza here instead?)


GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[buzz1121]

Wow! Thanks so much for the detailed responses on each location. We are staying at the Poly so Ohana, Kona, and Captain Cook's are all really appealing to us. My children are both up at the crack of dawn so being at the parks early shouldn't be too much of any issue for us.

My current dinner reservations are all after 7, with the exception of Citricos. My thought was to be in the parks early, sit down for lunch and take a break, have my DD back at room for a nap around 3 on most days. There are numerous rides that my children will either be too scared to ride or simply not tall enough for. With ten days in WDW, we should have roughly 2 days in each park, with a day left to go and do what we would like, not counting our day in SeaWorld. I don't think we will get to everything, but then we if we did, we wouldn't feel the need to come back soon!

Having said that, are there any opinions as to the best signature dining restaurants in my list? Any I can cut out? I know I am probably opening a can of worms but I would like to hear feedback I think based on the recommendations so far, I am going to cance.l most of the breakfast ADRs.

By the way, The Plaza reservations we have are at 4:50, well in advance of the MNSSHP.