Arrival day - change in tradition

[OhanaMomma]

Hi all! We are AP holders, family of four, 2 girls ages 8 and 10 are taking an early morning (6am) flight into Orlando, and should be at our resort (The Villas at Grand Floridian) in the morning. Usually, we head over to Chef Mickey's for an early dinner, then head back to the resort to relax and walk around. We would like to try something fun and different than CM.
I'm torn between Whispering Canyon cafe for dinner, or heading straight to MK and getting dinner at Crystal Palace. I know 11/12 is a Christmas Party night, so not sure if MK dinner is a good choice???
I don't even know if either of those are good options...my brain hurts from trying to decide! I have family meeting us in Florida who want to join us for dinner, so the pressure is on me to choose something that would appeal to everyone.

I guess I am looking for someone to share their arrival day dining traditions with me. I'm honestly at a loss, which is SO unlike me!!!

Thanks!

 

[wdwthanksgiving]

Whispering Canyon is fun and the food is good (not great but good ) --it is a loud restaurant with a lot of activity --they do have a couple of round tables that would fit 10...easy to take the monorail form GF to Contemporary and from there take the boat to WL...makes a nice "adventure". I would share your concern about the parks being packed with the Christmas Party crowds. My vote is WC!

 

[OhanaMomma]

Thanks for the input!

Whispering Canyon is fun and the food is good (not great but good ) --it is a loud restaurant with a lot of activity --they do have a couple of round tables that would fit 10...easy to take the monorail form GF to Contemporary and from there take the boat to WL...makes a nice "adventure". I would share your concern about the parks being packed with the Christmas Party crowds. My vote is WC!

 

[gmboy95]

I am on team Whispering Canyon....what a fun restaurant that will kick of your trip the right way....we Stay usually at Old Key West and usually start our trip off with dinner at Olivias and some pool, because we are usually all tired from travel. But you are traveling in November, so weather could be hit or miss

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Hi all! We are AP holders, family of four, 2 girls ages 8 and 10 are taking an early morning (6am) flight into Orlando, and should be at our resort (The Villas at Grand Floridian) in the morning. Usually, we head over to Chef Mickey's for an early dinner, then head back to the resort to relax and walk around. We would like to try something fun and different than CM.
I'm torn between Whispering Canyon cafe for dinner, or heading straight to MK and getting dinner at Crystal Palace. I know 11/12 is a Christmas Party night, so not sure if MK dinner is a good choice???
I don't even know if either of those are good options...my brain hurts from trying to decide! I have family meeting us in Florida who want to join us for dinner, so the pressure is on me to choose something that would appeal to everyone.

I guess I am looking for someone to share their arrival day dining traditions with me. I'm honestly at a loss, which is SO unlike me!!!

Thanks!

Whispering Canyon gives me a headache, LOL! Personally, I would keep it local and have dinner at 1900 Park Fare or go to the Poly and have dinner at O'hana. They are both special meals IMHO!

 

[Acrosthec]

Last trip we wanted to try something different on arrival day, so we went to Trail's End for dinner then went to the campfire singalong with s'mores. It was awesome! At the singalong you also get to meet Chip and Dale if the kids are into character meets. The only charge was for s'more ingredients, but you can either buy them there or bring your own, and no one cares which you do. The food at Trail's End was great for a buffet, there's a playground nearby for kids to play on while you wait, and it was really reasonably priced.

 

[DisneyAnytime]

Since you will be arriving so early (comparatively), I would have a hard time resisting the urge to go straight to MK. Crystal Palace might not be my first choice but being a buffet you might have more success appealing to the various tastes in you group. We really enjoy the comfort food at Liberty Tree Tavern (served family style) after traveling. Skipper Canteen also looks yummy to me but the menu might not appeal to everyone; there are a couple in our group who would turn up their nose at this menu hence the reason we do not have the ADR for our upcoming trip.

Happy Planning! You really can't go wrong!

 

[Disneypapa]

To complicate the discussion, how about going over to Disney Springs? I like the House of Blues or Ragland Road. Since you are at the GF, someone's recommendation to do O'hana at the Poly, makes perfect sense. Whispering Canyon is also a good option, just requires more effort to get to from GF.

 

[Farro]

We usually stay at Beach Club so our first day/dinner is at Epcot.

This time we are staying at Polynesian and we will possibly go to Disney Springs for a few hours during the day, but we are eating at Skipper Canteen at 6 and then will enjoy a few rides at Magic Kingdom. We think it will be a fun way to start the trip!

 

[eastendlights]

Liberty Tree is our arrival night tradition. We take mid-morning flights so we arrive early afternoon, check in and then head straight to MK. We generally skip lunch and have a snack and then have a fairly early (for us, anyway) 6:30 dinner at LTT.

 

[steg]

Ours is Fulton's/Paddlefish

 

[Vickie1016]

Since we drive, we always arrive on property by noon as well. We usually spend the day at the resort (WL again this year!!!) to swim, rent a pontoon boat & cruise by MK! Then dinner at Artist Point the past 2 years. DD (now 11) loves the first day as a resort day. Another year we did the Hoop-Dee-Do on arrival night.

 

[ArtieRyder]

I would just caution to check the menu at Whispering Canyon for dinner. Its all pretty hearty options. We were planning to go to whispering canyon for dinner on arrival day, but when we looked at the menu we realized that several people in our party would not have been happy with the choices.

We did go to whispering canyon for breakfast on our last day and absolutely loved it. It will definitely be a new tradition, just not dinner.

I'd second the Disney Springs idea. Or disney's Boardwalk.

 

[OhanaMomma]

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions - I really enjoyed reading everyone's arrival day routines. So cool how different they all are...yet every one of them sounds great!

That being said, due to some family members departing the next day (the rest are stayin) - we will ALL only be together on our arrival day- so after we check in and get some rest, we are meeting at AK Tusker House for dinner and hopefully by then the ROL dining package will open. Going to be a long day, but I think we can swing it if we lay low in the first half of the day...we shall see. Thanks again, everyone!