Arrival Nights

[lovemy2girls4eva]

Where do your usually dine at your arrival night? Do you have a tradition of going somewhere special?

TIA!

 

[vicb]

We don't usually make an ADR for arrival night as we fly in and that makes things more fluid. Last trip we had planned to hit a couple of late afternoon hours at AK and walk into Yak and Yeti, then on to eve emh at HS. Well our flight was delayed two hours so that blew that plan up. Instead we dined at the pool bar at the Dolphin (where we were staying) then on to HS for emh. It all worked out and we weren't stressed about missing an ADR and being charged.

 

[nkereina]

Last couple trips we have gone to Disney Springs on arrival night and usually end up eating at Wolfgang Puck Express. Like the PP, we fly in so don't want to make an ADR.

 

[lovemy2girls4eva]

I really want to pick a fun character dining for my arrival night..so was thinking of Chef Mickey's..but that may be really hard to get.

 

[vicb]

Where is your family staying? And what is your expected arrival time? I have read that many people choose Chef Mickey's as their arrival night dinner, to get everyone in the Disney mood. Honestly CM was probably my least fav character meal... ever! Too chaotic, too loud, we had a crappy table location and the food was not good. When my kids were little we had much better experiences at Cape May breakfast, Garden Grill and Chrystal Palace. That said, let us know where you are staying and that will help us get a better idea of places to recommend that might be fun for your family.

 

[lovemy2girls4eva]

Where is your family staying? And what is your expected arrival time? I have read that many people choose Chef Mickey's as their arrival night dinner, to get everyone in the Disney mood. Honestly CM was probably my least fav character meal... ever! Too chaotic, too loud, we had a crappy table location and the food was not good. When my kids were little we had much better experiences at Cape May breakfast, Garden Grill and Chrystal Palace. That said, let us know where you are staying and that will help us get a better idea of places to recommend that might be fun for your family.

We are staying at AoA. We haven't booked flights yet as it's still early BUT based on our last trip, we arrived around noon. My kids want to hit MK right away and so we were thinking to go to CM since it's fairly close to MK, we can even walk it. Just not sure how hard it is to get on our arrival night.

 

[vicb]

My kids always liked to hit MK on our arrival day or first full day too when they were little (now young adults). Well my dislike aside( laughing) CM would work... so would Whispering Canyon Cafe which could be fun as well as the restaurants in MK like CP or BOG. If you had park hoppers you could ride the monorail to Epcot (which is fun to do as it loops through the park) and have dinner at Garden Grill with characters. I am not as up on the character dining as we have completely moved away from that dining at WDW.

 

[loves to dive]

We drive down and usually arrive between 2 and 3, after we get settled in our room, we decide what park to go to. After we get to the park we usually walk around a little then decide where to eat. Most of the time we hop on MDE and grab an ADR in that park for later but sometimes we hop over to another one. When I was solo in Sept. I went to AK after I settled in and rode a few rides and still couldn't decide where I wanted to eat, was walking by where Tiffins is and there was a guy kind of out front at a podium. I asked if he had a menu for the lounge (can't remember the name) it looked interesting so I got a small plate of sliders and a drink from there. No traditions for us.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We don't make ADR's for our arrival day as possible flight delays, fatigue, etc. can really throw a wrench on the best laid plans. If your kids want to go to MK right away, I would do something in the park. We would just do QS and go with the flow. Especially if you are flying, going to AoA and THEN going to MK. I, personally, wouldn't want to keep traveling that day even to go to an ADR.

 

[crabbygal902]

We are staying at AoA. We haven't booked flights yet as it's still early BUT based on our last trip, we arrived around noon. My kids want to hit MK right away and so we were thinking to go to CM since it's fairly close to MK, we can even walk it. Just not sure how hard it is to get on our arrival night.

When my kids were younger, Chef Mickey's was our go-to arrival meal. We loved it! It really does get you into the vacation spirit.

Now that they are older and DS16 can supervise DS11 some, we do a monorail crawl of apps and beverages: stopping at the Tiki Terrace, Cali Grill lounge, and Narcoossee's for Wishes on the verandah. My family is a go-go-go group and do not do well at a long sit-down meal.

 

[richkaryn]

'Ohana is usually our arrival night meal.....last week we put it off one night though because we arrived on Saturday but Sunday was my birthday so we ate at 'Ohana for my birthday.

 

[buzznina]

Not much open at 1AM, so unpack and hit the pillows

 

[Marissa227]

We were going to do the Pirates and Pals voyage until my 4 year old watched a few videos and decided he wasn't interested (we were mainly doing it for him) so we decided to do the Wishes Dessert Party with Plaza Garden viewing instead. We will arrive mid-day, take our time getting settled and then just head to the park for the evening.

 

[Micharlotte]

We do 1900 Park Fare. We love it!

 

[DisneyAnytime]

We were going to do the Pirates and Pals voyage until my 4 year old watched a few videos and decided he wasn't interested (we were mainly doing it for him) so we decided to do the Wishes Dessert Party with Plaza Garden viewing instead. We will arrive mid-day, take our time getting settled and then just head to the park for the evening.

We did the Pirates and Pals on our last trip when DD was 12 and DS was 14 and we all LOVED it. It is really something to be experienced as a video would be hard to do justice to the whole atmosphere. It's worth giving a try at least once, IMHO!

 

[Marissa227]

We did the Pirates and Pals on our last trip when DD was 12 and DS was 14 and we all LOVED it. It is really something to be experienced as a video would be hard to do justice to the whole atmosphere. It's worth giving a try at least once, IMHO!

It does look great. The youngest ones are only 2 and 4 right now. We'll be sure to do it on our next trip when they're a little older.

 

[Faldred]

For our two on-site stays...

First one was at POR and we elected to make a Boatwright's ADR. Second trip was at AS Sports, and the plan was to go to DTD and find somewhere fun to use a CS credit at, but we were just too tired from the drive and elected to use the resort's food court instead.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Our tradition is Spirit of Aloha dinner show. Because we get up at the crack of dawn for our flight, its nice to eat and be entertained, getting into the Disney Spirit! No park tix needed either, so we usually check in, unpack, if we have time to swim we do, then get dressed and head over to the Poly (if we arent staying there already!) This reduces a slight cost, one day, on our park tix.

 

[aubmickey90]

I traditionally drive down and get there very early (usually by 7am). Normally, after a brief rest from a long drive, I hop on the next bus to MK then boat or bus over to the Wilderness lodge for my ADR at Whispering Canyon. This year, however, I will be trying Trails End at FW. Had to change it up a bit! Rest of the day will be spent at Disney Springs and an ADR at The Boathouse (in the past, it has been Raglan Road). After enjoying a relaxing evening at POR watching Yeehaa Bob's show in the River Roost lounge, I will call it a night and get some much needed sleep and start day 2 off fresh!

 

[Harambe]

We fly out early morning and get there by 11am-ish. So we go to our resort, and if the room isn't ready, we leave our bags at bell services, check that our groceries have arrived, and grab lunch at the resort. We are not great flyers and need to eat a pretty normal lunch to calm the tummies down. Then it is onto MK and we just play the afternoon/evening by ear. Lots of times we are just too tired and an ADR seems more like a chore than a fun option!