Am I nuts? Is 2 or 3 sit downs a day too many? I could use some guidance please

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

I am going reservation crazy. I have most days booked with 2 or 3 sit downs a day (for 6 days). I have multiple character meals booked. I cannot decide which ones if any to eliminate! It is my child's first time to Disney. The character meals I have booked are CRT, Tusker House, CP, Chef Mickeys, Ohana, and Akershus. I am not worried about the cost of this, I am more concerned about losing too much time eating. However, any rides my child is not able to ride we would be passing up (under 40") but not sure if that's alot gained even still. Anyone have any insight? There is little left to reserve, so I hate to get rid of any,when I am unsure of which ones we would "miss". Here's the run down...

CRT is a must.
Akershus...eh, not sure about this one since I am doing CRT.
Ohana is our fly home day meal, so that one stays.
CP....this is a toss up for me. DD isn't a big fan of Pooh in general, but I read some people's comments that CP is a must do (I have never done). And that if you get it when park opens (I got a 850 on a 900 opening day), that it's really nice view.
Tusker House...I only booked these so my DD can see Daisy and Donald (TH). Otherwise, I would pass on Tusker House.
Chef Mickeys - I have a dinner and a bkfst booked, why? Only to be sure to see Minnie and not sure which one to get rid of!

So please tell me what you think. I have various other places booked...some I can cancel and no penalty. Others I need to do it in advance.

I have Rose and Crown, 50 PT diner (love the food), Kona Cafe, Ohana dinner, Spirit of Aloha, Tonys Town Square, and the Plaza booked. I must be nuts but not sure with a child, if we really might want to sit down and relax with table service vs running around in a QS setting.

So any any advice or thoughts appreciated!!!

 

[mara61]

Hi,

I'm sure someone with more dining know how will jump in but I do think you have way to many sit downs. How old is your child and when are you going? Has your child ever been around costumed characters? Some kids don't like them.

Why is CRT a must? You can see the princess's at Askerhaus. I have only eaten at Askerhaus between the two and really enjoyed it.

We have done Crystal Palace, Tusker House and Chef Mickeys. Out of the three, we would not do Chef Mickey's again. But if she is real big Minnie Mouse fan, then perhaps drop the CP (our personal favorite but my DH and kids love Winnie the Pooh) and drop one of the CM. As for the 8:50 time slot, you are going to be eating when the park opens at CP, so you will be behind touring wise. Personally I would cap it at 3 character meals, so decide how much time you really are going to have on your departure day and is a big sit down breakfast the best use of your time. We enjoyed Tusker House, but it's not a must for us.

Even if she's under 40" there is still plenty for her to do and she may prefer unwinding by playing or swimming vs. sitting down to another sit down meal that is going to take 1-1 1/2 hours.

Good luck in your decisions, you have some great ts booked. We love the Plaza!

I never find CS rushed. Aside from making sure my DH knows whats on a menu, I go with a plan (it is flexible, but it's a plan). Being able to sit, relax and eat is enough rest for us. We've been taking the kids since they were 18 months old, the max we did on the character meals per trip was 2. And we limited it to 1 ts/day.

 

[disneybliss2]

For me, it's too many meals. It's all a personal decision though. I wouldn't want valuable park time taken up by a table service meal two times a day, and for sure not for three times a day. There will be many that are on the deluxe dining plan that do sit down for three meals a day and will chime in that they love it, so that's why I say it's a personal decision. I love having one table service meal a day. It's a nice, relaxing treat that we look forward to each day for dinner. Occasionally, we'll have two a day (breakfast and dinner). We always eat QS for lunch. Yes, it's a little more of a hustle, bustle setting, but it's still nice just to sit down and eat and not be trapped for the length of time you would be for a TS meal. I think you need to look at all you want to accomplish seeing and doing, how much your family will eat, and go from there.
As far as your dining choices go, I would definitely choose Chef Mickeys breakfast over dinner. We've eaten both and there's a huge difference. HUGE! We love breakfast, but the dinner was not good at all. We also love Akershus for dinner. My girls actually prefer it to CRT. The dinner there is great and it's way less expensive than CRT. Definitely keep O'hana--our favorite meal! Since I was doing O'hana, I would skip Spirit of Aloha; it doesn't get near as good of reviews as O'hana. For me, I would pass on Tony's--not worth it at all. Overpriced Ragu in my opinion. I would keep Crystal Palace breakfast and Tusker House.
Good luck with all your decisions. Either way you choose, your daughter will love going to WDW for the first time.

 

[carrie6466]

IMO, Akershus breakfast was much better than CRT. My dd was happy at both. If the castle is what you want, then that's that, but if it's princesses you want to see, Akershus will work

I have skipped Chef Mickey's the last few trips, because the last 2xs we ate there it was horrible. If it's a must do, breakfast was slightly better than dinner. Having said that, my dd asked to go there this trip. UGH lol.

CP is a buffet, not horribe not great. We love the Pooh characters, so we've gone a few times. I'd also skip Spirit of Aloha. Food is way better at 'Ohana or Kona.

We've done deluxe dining twice. We usually went with the breakfast and dinner plan. Breakfast between 7:30 and 9, dinner around 6/7. We were so full all the time that most of our snacks got saved and came home with us or used for bottles of water. That's one of the reasons we're not going to do dining plan this time. In the heat it's too much. We didn't find the same problem when we went in Dec. 2010 and it was cold.

 

[GirlDreamer]

I have to agree with the two posters saying Akershus is better than CRT. I used to work there and I had plenty of guests tell me they were so much happier with Akershus. I tried CRT myself as me and some friends decided to celebrate our birthday there and I can't tell you enough how disappointed I was. Didn't like the food and it was very pricey.

If the princesses is what's more important than eating in a castle then definitely go for Akershus. At CRT you'll only meet Cinderella before you're seated and then there's no more princesses. At Akershus you'll meet Belle in her yellow dress before you're seated and have your picture with here. Then while you're eating four more princesses will come see you at your table. Now there's no guarantee which princesses this will be, but Cinderella is as good as guaranteed. Other princesses is usually Ariel, Jasmine and Aurora. Sometimes it's Mary Popins, Mulan, Alice (in wonderland), Jane (Tarzan) and I even saw Pocahontas there a couple of times, even thought that is very rare. If you're lucky Cinderella brings her prince as well (also really rare).

 

[aripantaloon]

Even for us, that sounds like too many character meals and TS meals. We stick to a max of 2/day and even then, we try and space it with breakfast and dinner, unless we can't avoid doing lunch.

Since your DD is under 40", I'm assuming that she's fairly young. It's pretty doubtful that she's going to actually sit for 3 TS meals a day. You might regret your dining decisions.

 

[Albytaps]

If you want to go on any rides at all I'd limit it to 1 sit down meal per day. The counter services are nice and quick and you don't have to plan your day around them. We went to WDW with a family that did 2 or 3 TS meals a day and we hardly saw them because they were always heading to their next reservation... not the way I'd choose to spend my trip.

If you are not doing a dining plan, then you have the freedom to eat wherever you want. I would do:

CRT - I never been but it should be really cool to eat in the castle with the princesses.

Chef Mickey's - A great character meal. You will see Donald there, Daisy doesn't make it.

Tusker House - Never been but I think the character meal is during breakfast.

I would skip Crystal Palace. It's nice but I wouldn't say it's a must do if your kid doesn't like Pooh.

If you want to make a TS ADR every day, I'd recommend Beirgarten and Sci-Fi Drive in Theater for fun atmospheres. However, it sounds like your ADR's are all going to be for breakfast? If so, my suggestions could be tossed.

 

[stitch34]

I'd say to ditch Spirit of Aloha... Chef Mickeys, just do breakfast. You will see Donald there, so could skip Tusker House. Crystal Palace we enjoy, but isn't a must do.

2 a day I think is fine... three may be a bit much.
We love sit down meals.... a nice break out of the heat for us and do 2-3 every day and no counter service at all. BUT, it is a bit much and does take time when figure in waiting for your table, the time it takes for the meal...I think you may be better with 2 at most per day.

 

[summermac]

We are a one TS meal per day kind of family, if that. We are going for 6 days in May and have 4 reservations, one on our arrival night.

But if you're at least getting regular DDP, you do want to have 1 TS per day to get your money's worth.

How old is your daughter? We went my son was 5 and my daughter was 2 and had the following meals. I think it was a nice mix.

Tusker House breakfast (won't do again)
Crystal Palace breakfast (doing again this trip)
50s PTC dinner
Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner (fun and good food)
Kona dinner (best overall food on the trip)
1900 Park Fare dinner (Cinderella is here too by the way)
LeCellier dinner (which is now 2 credits)

In your plans character-wise, I would keep:
Akershus instead of CRT, unless the castle is really really important enough to blow 2 credits on.
Ohana (since you said this one is a must keep)
Crystal Palace (and maybe try to get an even earlier ADR. I say that b/c we had an 8:45 when AK opened at 9:00 and it screwed our whole day up)

Then I'd keep:
Kona
50s PTC (b/c DHS generally has bad CS so you want a TS there)


I would consider cancelling Plaza. We haaaaated it there on our first trip and will never ever eat there again.

 

[DisneyFamily123]

I like 2 TS meals a day and have done 3 on some days. For DS at age 4, 5, and 6... the sit down meals were a nice break from all the walking and park excitement. Here's a few ideas from my past trips...

The deluxe dining plan might result in more cost savings than the regular plan... just have to compare. We found that if we did the regular plan and paid out of pocket for some meals... it equaled the cost of just going deluxe (which gives appetizers too). But, on a trip where we were at the waterparks, it was easier to do the regular plan since we didn't have time during the day for a restaurant meal.

We used up meal credits by having lunch and dinner on our arrival day (we arrive early) and possibly a sit down breakfast or lunch on our last day. Also some 2 credit dinners at signature meals.

Timing -- If 3 meals, it was an early character breakfast at 8am, late lunch 1pm or so, and late dinner 7pm or so. Usually it was 2 meals... either character breakfast and early dinner... or early lunch (11am or 11:30am) and dinner.

Sit Down Meals as a Break -- I liked sitting down and resting our feet... but this worked best at the fun/themed restaurants. During the day, it was all exciting to be in the parks so to walk away from that and sit in a boring restaurant could be a problem.. but to have lunch at Coral Reef, Biergarten, Crystal Palace, SciFi Diner, etc... was perfect for everyone.

Character meals -- DS loved these at age 4 and 5, less so at age 6. A great way to have fun, meet characters and get photos and autographs without waiting in lines.

CRT - must do, I agree. If you are looking at Akershus, I'm guessing you have girl(s). It might be a repeat of the CRT characters. I suggest 1900 Park Fare Dinner (Cinderella, but Prince Charming too).. but the joy is meeting Lady Tremaine and the Stepsisters. Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare has Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, and the Mad Hatter. I like that one too!

Crystal Palace -- doesn't really have a view of much... but the food is great. I prefer lunch and dinner unless you can get a breakfast that is 1 hour before park opening. The 1st couple hours in the park is the best time to do rides without waits, not eat. Other restaurants in Magic Kingdom are boring for kids with all the rides competing for their attention... but DS could always sit down at Crystal Palace for a break.

Chef Mickeys -- popular place but I think it's not worth going -- food quality not great. Minnie and Mickey are more fun to meet in Magic Kingdom (nicer background for photos than tables and other diners)... the other characters you can meet at other character meals with better food. For good character meal food --- our tops are Crystal Palace, Tusker House, and Garden Grill (Chip and Dale there too!).

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

I am going reservation crazy. I have most days booked with 2 or 3 sit downs a day (for 6 days). I have multiple character meals booked. I cannot decide which ones if any to eliminate! It is my child's first time to Disney. The character meals I have booked are CRT, Tusker House, CP, Chef Mickeys, Ohana, and Akershus. I am not worried about the cost of this, I am more concerned about losing too much time eating. However, any rides my child is not able to ride we would be passing up (under 40") but not sure if that's alot gained even still. Anyone have any insight? There is little left to reserve, so I hate to get rid of any,when I am unsure of which ones we would "miss". Here's the run down...

CRT is a must. --> I would definitely do this one. My daughters enjoyed it so much.
Akershus...eh, not sure about this one since I am doing CRT. --> If this is for breakfast, I'd skip it. We didn't not enjoy the breakfast selection at all. It is definitely one of those I won't return places for our family.
Ohana is our fly home day meal, so that one stays. --> Yep Keep. This one is great. Food and All.
CP....this is a toss up for me. DD isn't a big fan of Pooh in general, but I read some people's comments that CP is a must do (I have never done). And that if you get it when park opens (I got a 850 on a 900 opening day), that it's really nice view. ---> Definitely try to get before the park opens. It is a great site seeing main street without so many people on it. Great photo op. My girls didn't care much for pooh either, but the food and selection here is good.
Tusker House...I only booked these so my DD can see Daisy and Donald (TH). Otherwise, I would pass on Tusker House.--> Haven't been here yet.
Chef Mickeys - I have a dinner and a bkfst booked, why? Only to be sure to see Minnie and not sure which one to get rid of! -->> Get rid of one or the other. 1 Chef Mickeys is fine. Some would say it is too many. This was a toss up with us. We did it and we can say we did it. Would we return, eh, maybe...maybe not.

So please tell me what you think. I have various other places booked...some I can cancel and no penalty. Others I need to do it in advance.

I have Rose and Crown, 50 PT diner (love the food), Kona Cafe, Ohana dinner, Spirit of Aloha, Tonys Town Square, and the Plaza booked. I must be nuts but not sure with a child, if we really might want to sit down and relax with table service vs running around in a QS setting.

So any any advice or thoughts appreciated!!!

Response in bold.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

Hi,

How old is your child and when are you going? Has your child ever been around costumed characters? Some kids don't like them.

Why is CRT a must? You can see the princess's at Askerhaus. I have only eaten at Askerhaus between the two and really enjoyed it.

DD is 3+, loves princesses and Cinderella (and castles). So I just can't part with that, plus I have never gone to that so I want to finally do it (CRT). My DD honestly has never been a fan of costumed characters but she has only seen them maybe 2 times up close (not Disney characters though). I know her well and think the more we see, the more she will warm up to them. But who knows? Only time will tell on that one!

Some posters said that Donald is at Chef Mickey's. I was not aware of that. Is it true?

Ok so I will cancel some. I guess it is just too much time sitting down to eat. But I will leave 2 a day, as I can see that being something we prefer. My child is pretty good in restaurants, so I imagine if there was a view or entertainment or she wanted to rest if she was tired, she might be even better.

I greatly appreciate everyone's insight!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Donald has always been at CM when we were there. But we prefer Tusker House to CM. And if you can get a pre-park opening ADR, you can be one of the first on the Safari!

I agree that 2 TS meals a day is probably enough. We are a bit different from the other posters as we are not big breakfast eaters so we eat an early lunch and a later dinner.

As for the characters meals, I really don't think you can have too many! The food may not be the best, but that isn't really why you are there!

 

[Albytaps]

Chef Mickey's has the 5 main iconic Disney characters: Mickey (in chef's outfit) , Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Minnie

 

[Anal Annie]

DS is no longer into the characters so we don't usually book character meals any more but we always did them for breakfasts when we did do them. I guess the one at Tusker House is the one we always liked (it used to be someplace else at AK way back when). It was the "Fab 4" and it was always good. We did Chef Mickey's ONCE and what a disappointment. It was too big...too many tables and it took FOREVER for them (Mickey & Minnie) to make their way to our table. We were seated near the windows & the other people who were seated closer to the entrance just didn't seem to let them go. It felt like they were hogging all the time and by the time they got to us it was a WHIRLWIND. They were DONE and wanted OUT of there. I would not recommend that one. We were there long after our meal was done waiting for our turn.

Personally, we don't like to be tied to toooo many ADR's and will only plan about 4 for a whole week. Not only are they expensive but we find them time consuming and they really determine how, when and where you spend your whole day because you may have to park hop or resort hop and you eat up a lot of time just getting there. We are not there to spend 6 hours a day eating. But we would do more TS meals if we could just walk in and get a table with a short wait. We are not fans of the whole ADR system and like to "wing it" most of the time. Now that they're going to start enforcing the fast pass times next week I think they're really going to be more of a pain to keep than before. I can see us choosing to cancel an ADR in Epcot at the last minute because by the time we got a FP return time for Splash Mountain it would interfere with getting there.

 

[maggiew]

Why don't you post your schedule (which park, which meals and times)? For me that would be easier to help tell which ones to keep and which ones to get rid of.

Maggie

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We are usually good with two TS meals per day as long as they are spaced out well. i.e. an early breakfast and a well timed dinner. We try to avoid TS lunch b/c it seems to mess with our days too much. I think the only time when we welcomed a TS lunch was last trip when we had Le Cellier for lunch. It wasn't really the food- which was good but not spectacular- it was just a very warm day and the a/c and sitting was good for us. So, if it were me- I'd look at some of your lunches and touring plans and see if there's anything you're willing to cut.

As for the character meals...I think CRT is a must for any princess loving kid. The atmosphere can't be beat; however, we actually like Akershus better in terms of repeat visits. I couldn't decide on our girls' first trip- so we just did both of them. DD5 (who was 4 at the time) had a priceless Cinderella moment at Akershus, but it was also a lunch and it made our day a disaster beyond the meals. We also love CP breakfast, DD5 had an amazing birthday breakfast at Chef Mickey's back in Aug, but Tusker House was a dud for us. We picked it solely to meet Daisy and everything with the meal, service, characters, etc. was bad. I know lots of people love Tusker- but it was bad for us. All in all- sounds like you have a lot of great choices and sounds like an amazing first trip for your kids.

 

[CrabbyPatty]

Our last trip to WD we upgraded free DDP to the deluxe plan so it seemed like we were eating or racing to get to our next ADR most of the time! And we did three 2 TS meals (CRT, Spirit of Aloha and Hoop-De-Doo) to "eat" up some of those credits or else we would have been eating almost non-stop!

I was glad to have tried it out, but just found it was too much to plan that many sit-down meals a day. And we missed out on some simple pleasures like sitting in the shade with a Dole Whip float (too stuffed from our last meal) and ended up cancelling a few because we just wanted to go back to the hotel and sit around the pool.

Just a few comments on some of your ADRS:

We have done Akershus twice, and after having eating at CRT for lunch last time, I prefer Akershus. I mean, it was nice to have eaten in the castle, but I felt the princess experience was just as good at Akershus. But it definitely was nice to have at least eaten in the castle once!

Crystal Palace was pretty neutral for us - okay breakfast menu and good characters, but I could take it or leave it.

We liked Tusker House and have done it twice. I liked the menu and the characters were fun - with the dance around and the safari costumes, it's something a little bit different - we enjoyed it. I also liked the way the characters "work" the room - it's all very visible and you can easily plan when to go to the buffet so you won't miss seeing the characters.

We liked Ohana, but the Spirit of Aloha food was similar, and last time, the 9-yr-old DD was bored to tears waiting around to get into the luau. You have to show up by a certain time, then you stand around for quite a while, then you finally get seated, and the food is good, but the first part of the show is NOT engaging at all, and then FINALLY ...... you see the amazing dancing and flame-tossing, which is great, but at that point, it's at the end of a fairly long evening.

LOVE 50's diner!

We did the buffet at the Cape May (Beach Club) last year and thought it was very nice. The setting is very relaxing, open and airy, you see the characters in their beach clothes, and the food was good. Just a thought.

 

[TandLMommy28]

It's your child's first trip, right? I really think that 3 sit down meals a day is overkill for a child who has never been to Disney before. What happens when he sees a character he loves only to be told, "Nope, gotta run to lunch" and then the same thing happens EVERY time he sees something he finds interesting--no time, gotta run to the next reservation! Can't get in line for Dumbo, we'll miss dinner! Can't meet Buzz, we'll be late to lunch! No time to stop for the parade, we have to catch the monorail to our next meal! I think you may all find yourselves really, really frustrated. In general, it seems that the people who do 2-3 TS a day for the whole week are Disney vets, who go so often that they CAN have a trip focused on food because they've done the attractions over and over and over again.

I don't think there's anything rushed about CS. QUite the opposite, in all honesty! The TS places want you IN and OUT so they can bring in the next group. Sometimes at TS, I felt like we'd just be starting our dessert and they are almost tapping their feet, waiting for you to sign the check and get out. At CS, no one is rushing you out. You get your food without a long wait and you can sit as long as you want without being pushed out the door.

We generally do one TS a day. We do it one of three ways--breakfast before the park opens (because I LOVE getting to go into the parks when they are closed); late breakfast on an EMH morning so we can be in the park before the lines and then sit down for a late breakfast once the park starts to fill up; early dinner after we've left the park for the afternoon, before jumping back into the action (typically at a monorail resort before heading into MK). I find doing it this way works great for our kids--the meal never really interupts the flow of our day this way and is enjoyable rather than a chore or a deadline we have to meet. I know everyone is different and some people don't feel pressured by reservations, but I think I would...

Good luck making a decision, whatever it is! I hope your trip is magical!

 

[Wendy31]

Why don't you post your schedule (which park, which meals and times)? For me that would be easier to help tell which ones to keep and which ones to get rid of.

Maggie

I agree!

That said, our "must do" character meals are CRT, CP, & Chef Mickey's.

I would not do both breakfast & dinner at Chef Mickey's. The same characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, & Pluto) show up for both meals. We prefer breakfast to the dinner.

We've done both Akershus & CRT, & we prefer CRT - there's just something about eating in the castle, especially on your 1st trip!

After several times, I could skip CP - not because it's bad, I'd just be willing to swap it w/ something else - however, funnily enough, it's DH's favorite. And, now that our younger DS is at the "perfect time to meet the characters" age, I expect we'll be there for the foreseeable future!

However, at 8:50 am, you're really not going to be getting into the park that much earlier than the 9:00 am park opening guests. In other words, you're really not going to have that empty Main Street view.

3 TS meals/day is going to be a bit much. We've done the deluxe dining for our past 2 trips, & I noticed a huge difference in the table turnover time on our last trip. Some of our meals seemed to take FOREVER & take up some valuable touring time. At the most, I would only do 2 TS meals/day.

For our upcoming trip, we're only going w/ the basic dining plan & plan to pay OOP for some meals & some appetizers. For our 10 day trip, I plan to make ADRs for Whispering Canyon Cafe (dinner), CRT (dinner), Le Cellier (lunch), Mama Melrose's (dinner for the Fantasmic Dinner Package), Crystal Palace (lunch), Tony's (dinner), Yak & Yeti (dinner), Sci-Fi (lunch), Chef Mickey's (breakfast), Teppan Edo (dinner), T-Rex (dinner), Ohana (dinner), & Liberty Tree Tavern (lunch).

By contrast, last trip, I had all the above plus GF Cafe (breakfast), Kona Cafe (dinner), Boma (dinner), Garden Grill (dinner), Coral Reef (lunch), & the Plaza (dinner). It was too much and some of the meals just took too long! Of these, I'm probably only going to miss Garden Grill & maybe Boma. Coral Reef has a cool atmosphere w/ the aquarium, but we weren't really impressed w/ the food this last time.

I would not do both 'Ohana & the Spirit of Aloha show. I would probably choose 'Ohana over the show - especially since you're only going to be there for 6 days. Instead of taking the time for the show (which can be lengthy), I'd rather be having fun in the parks.

Kona Cafe is great! However, this time, I'm leaving it out, because there's really nothing "special" about it, if that makes sense. The food is a good, but it's just a restaurant. And, while we're in Disney, I want to go to the kinds of restaurants that I can't enjoy at home.

We were not impressed AT ALL w/ the Plaza on our last trip. Bad service, crowded restaurant, lackluster food...