~All about the Kids~ pre-trip planning

[brokenlola]

Welcome to my pre-trip dining report!
We're down to single digits... 9 days left!!!

The setting:
We are taking our very first family WDW vacation in 15 short days. We are staying 7 night at the POP Century with the 4/3 deal and have added the DDP.


The cast:
Me aka Mommy (28), the planner. Have been to WDW twice as a child, don't remember much except tid bits. I hate to cook and love to eat out!

DH aka worlds best husband and father (29), going with the flow. Has been to WDW once as a child, also doesn't remember it much. Love to eat and eats a lot, but is somewhat picky.

ODS (6.5) The Boss (of the kids) recovering from a tonsilectomy, usually a good eater.

YDS (5) The funny guy, actually won't be 5 until the end of March, my slow eater.

DD (2 3/4) The Princess, will be 3 two weeks after we return, eats very little of her own food, but will eat DH or I's entire plate, doesn't behave well in restaurants!


The plan:
Since DD is still free and we are arriving late on our first night, we have 28TS, 28CS (14ad and 14kid) and 28snacks to use in 6 days.

Day1 AK~ Donalds Safari Breakfast (late, almost lunch)

Day2 MK~ Tony's dinner (would love to get 'Ohana's)

Day3 MK~ Crystal Palace dinner

Day4 DHS~ Play'nDine @ Hollywood & Vine lunch

Day5 EP~ Princess Breakfast @ Akershaus and Coral Reef dinner

Day6 ?~ Chef Mickeys very late breakfast OR 1900 Park Fare dinner

 

[mommymeg]

Just curious to see if you already have ADR's for all of these?
If not I think it might be hard to get Chef Mickey's this late in the game..
I can't comment on them since I've never been though.. I have picked quite a few of the same TS places for our trip in May and can't wait to try them out! Good luck!

 

[brokenlola]

Yes, I have ADR's for all of them. The reason I have the 'OR' in there is so we can play it by ear that day since I don't know what park we'll do or if we'll just hang out at the resort.

 

[brokenlola]

Ok, so where should we have our CS meals?

AK~ Flame Tree, Yak & Yeti's or Pizzafari? I'm thinking this may be a split decision... DH and I get Y&Y for some variety and ribs from FLB for the boys?

MK~ Is Pecos Bills still close for refurb? This is one I definetly wanted to try! Maybe Cosmic Rays and Casey's? We have 2 days here.

DHS~ hmmm I've heard bad things about ABC and good things about the burgers at Rosies. Or maybe TSP since we haven't had pizza yet. Well unless the kids can get it at Tony's or CP buffet.

EP~ I've heard so many good things about Sunshine Seasons, but I think that we have to try things from around the world. I'd be disappointed with myself if I ended up with a burger when I could try something from Morocco or Japan! We may have to split up kids and adult food this day too. Maybe even different countries for DH and I. Wonder how hard that would be coordinate... ETA: We're doing 2 TS this day, breakfast and dinner, so I doubt we will be hungry enough to eat a CS lunch too!

DTD~ I'd also like to make it to DTD at least once to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express and Goofy's. Maybe we'll do that the last day or in the evening of our DHS day.

 

[brymolmom]

Hi - How exciting 15 days!!!! I have 2 kids similar ages and we have done almost all of your restaurants in the past. My kids are ds6.5 and dd5. We LOVE Chef Mickey's, Plan n Dine, Akershaus, Tony's and CP. For our trip in Sept we will be doing Tony's and CP (again) and I am considering Akershaus again - currently have Donald's Safari Breakfast penciled in on itnerary INSTEAD of Akershaus, but this one keeps going back and forth in my mind. We, too are doing late - almost lunch Donalds...but with AK we tend not to stay the whole day - if you're having trouble deciding on CS at AK - you could skip the CS meal there. That's what we'll do. We'll do Donald's breakfast late and then do a mid-afternoon snack (ice cream since it's so hot at AK). Then we'll wait till we leave the park to do our CS dinner. Of course, if we decide to do Akershaus intead of Donalds....we'll neeed a CS for lunch. So I will be interested in hearing where you end up for CS in AK and read intently for ideas for our trip.

 

[Uncle Remus]

WPE has
Chocolate Chip Waffles - Chocolate chip waffles. - $8.95
Crispy Cornflake French Toast - Served with fresh seasonal fruit. - $8.95

 

[brymolmom]

Oh yeah - forgot to mention that we try to do the adults eating around the world at EPCOT almost every time and very rarely accomplish it. Since WS oepns so late - we try to do all of our Future World stuff first...by the time we're done with FW it is getting to be lunchtime - so for the kids we either end up eating at Sunshine Seasons or E. Umbrella because they're getting very hungry and cranky by now - or we end up hurrying through a bunch of countries to make it to the American Pavilion for them to eat there. Logistically, it ends up being, for us at least. too much to have 3 different sets of people in the family wait in 3 different lines and then eat 3 times. So - make sure you think about how you want to do that if it is important to you - for us, at least, it does not just happen naturally. And make sure to mental note where the countries are that you want to eat - it can take a while to get to some of the ones farther away unless you bypass countries in between.

 

[brokenlola]

Hi - How exciting 15 days!!!! I have 2 kids similar ages and we have done almost all of your restaurants in the past. My kids are ds6.5 and dd5. We LOVE Chef Mickey's, Plan n Dine, Akershaus, Tony's and CP. For our trip in Sept we will be doing Tony's and CP (again) and I am considering Akershaus again - currently have Donald's Safari Breakfast penciled in on itnerary INSTEAD of Akershaus, but this one keeps going back and forth in my mind. We, too are doing late - almost lunch Donalds...but with AK we tend not to stay the whole day - if you're having trouble deciding on CS at AK - you could skip the CS meal there. That's what we'll do. We'll do Donald's breakfast late and then do a mid-afternoon snack (ice cream since it's so hot at AK). Then we'll wait till we leave the park to do our CS dinner. Of course, if we decide to do Akershaus intead of Donalds....we'll neeed a CS for lunch. So I will be interested in hearing where you end up for CS in AK and read intently for ideas for our trip.

I am really looking forward to Donalds. Since Chef Mickey's was a last minute add, and one we might not do when the time comes, Donalds was the only meal we'll actually see Mickey and gang. ODS is bummed that we are doing 2 'princess' meals with Akershaus and 1900 Park Fare. So, depending on plans for the last day we'll play it by ear with CM or 1900.

Oh yeah - forgot to mention that we try to do the adults eating around the world at EPCOT almost every time and very rarely accomplish it. Since WS oepns so late - we try to do all of our Future World stuff first...by the time we're done with FW it is getting to be lunchtime - so for the kids we either end up eating at Sunshine Seasons or E. Umbrella because they're getting very hungry and cranky by now - or we end up hurrying through a bunch of countries to make it to the American Pavilion for them to eat there. Logistically, it ends up being, for us at least. too much to have 3 different sets of people in the family wait in 3 different lines and then eat 3 times. So - make sure you think about how you want to do that if it is important to you - for us, at least, it does not just happen naturally. And make sure to mental note where the countries are that you want to eat - it can take a while to get to some of the ones farther away unless you bypass countries in between.

I need to go edit that section, b/c I forgot that we're probably not going to do a CS on our EP day. We've got Akershaus at 8am and Coral Reef at 5pm. We'll most likely just snack in the middle of the day, which will probably be better for trying different countries, right?

 

[natalielongstaff]

you have made some great choices

 

[aprilmommy]

We'll be there about the same time at CBR! We have an almost 5 year old and an almost 3 year old too! Have fun!

 

[brokenlola]

you have made some great choices

Thanks! I really think the kids are going to love these places!

We'll be there about the same time at CBR! We have an almost 5 year old and an almost 3 year old too! Have fun!

Is this their first trip too? I hope you all have a blast!