Good evening, everyone. There is a WDW special on the Travel Channel, and I have been inspired to begin my pre-trip dining report. Can you explode from anticipation? I suppose anything is possible, but I think a more appropriate question for me to ask is this, "Will we explode from all the food available to us on the deluxe dining plan?"
Our adventure is set to begin in less than 17 days, and I've planned and shuffled and rearranged and booked and rebooked until I believe I have memorized every menu for every restaurant we plan to visit. I am *almost* tired of thinking about what we're going to eat, but then I think about all the new places we're going to visit on this trip, and my heart fills with joy once again.
Your diners on this June/July adventure:
lissawynn - teacher and trip planner/arm twister - Would my family like to go somewhere else on vacation? I don't really know because the only other option with which they've been presented is OCNJ, and we have already been once this season and will go again before school begins at the end of August. They go where Mom goes because I plan and pay for our adventures with my summer school earnings. Also, deep down they LOVE the world, but they don't *love* it quite as much as I do just yet.
DH or "He whose arm has been twisted once again this summer"/pipeline engineer/most patient husband on the planet - My husband is a good man who didn't really understand what was in store for him once I booked our honeymoon eight years ago. He has visited (been forced to go) WDW three times since our Disneymoon and will continue to do so until he finds sweet relief in the afterlife. Just kidding. When the kids are a little older he and DS can go off and do man things every other year when a family trip to WDW is not in the works(but we know there is always a WDW trip in the works, don't we?)
DS5 - Recent preschool graduate who is heading off to Kindergarten in the fall. Has been to Disney every year but one in his young life. His first trip was in the womb, so it's in his blood.
DD3 - Our little spitfire has also been to WDW every year but one in her three years. Her first trip was also in my tummy, and I fear I may have passed the obsessive gene to her. Everytime we start up a Disney dvd and she sees the castle, she says, "So cute! We're going there! Are there alligators in that water?" She's a clip, I tell ya.
We have used the DDP on every trip we've taken since 2006. It works for us because I like to have the majority of our food paid for in advance. It's so nice not to have to carry the cash or charge all of our food purchases. Our first dining plan adventure included everything but the tax, if I remember correctly. Since that trip we've stuck to the regular DDP, which has worked out well for us. However, this time I wanted to try more sit-down restaurants than we'd done in the past, and because we are appetizer people, the deluxe dining plan seemed like a logical choice for us.
The challenge on this trip was to narrow down the list of places I wanted to try to something manageable over the course of seven days. There are days when I have made multiple ADRS, but before any flames fly, I will be certain to cancel those we do not plan to use well in advance so some other hungry party of four can find some respite from the Florida heat and enjoy some yummy vittles.
Here's the plan as it stands now. I haven't changed anything in the last month or so, so this is pretty much what I'm banking on for our trip.
June 27
Our arrival day will bring us to the VWL! I can almost see it now...
I have two ADRS scheduled for dinner - Whispering Canyon Cafe or Grand Floridian Cafe.
Depending on how the kids do after our wonderful car ride from PA (This is my sarcastic voice. It sounds *just* like my regular voice, but it's my sarcastic voice.) will depend on where we have our dinner. If they aren't too tired and grouchy, we'll venture away from our home base. If they are miserable and in no mood to leave the WL, we'll try WCC. Heck, we might be hitting Roarin' Forks if things are really ugly.
June 28
MK Day 1
The first day is always a MK day, and for our family that means a trip to Crystal Palace for the earliest breakfast we can book.
Dinner time will take us to one of my favorites - Kona Cafe. I've been there twice for dinner and loved it both times. I am hoping for another wonderful meal.
June 29
Epcot Day 1 - UPDATE! I fugured out where we're eating...almost.
Our day will begin with a breakfast fit for our princess - the princess breakfast in Norway. It's late, and I'm not going to attempt to spell the name of the restaurant nor will I try to pronounce it until I hear it said correctly by some lovely Nordic cast member.
Dinner is when the day gets tricky. There are SO many places in Epcot that I want to try. We've done Le Cellier to death and have always had great meals here. Even DH, who doesn't really say boo about planning the trip, asked that we try some new places this time around. That being said, on my trip last summer with my sister and our kids, we ate at Tutto Italia; we loved it. Our service was fantastic, and the food was very good. So I booked a lunch at Tutto. Then I thought that lunch might be too much after our food fest with the princesses, so I changed it to dinner. Then I got to thinking about all the other places in the WS that I wanted to try. This led to ADRs for Chefs de France, Teppan Edo, and San Angel Inn. I am probably going to cancel Teppan and San Angel this week. I know DH will go for Tutto or Chefs more so than the others. I would love for the kids to have dinner with Remy, but I am concerned about lackluster food and service at Chefs. I know that we could have horrible service and lousy food at Tutto, but since I've already been there, I wanted to keep it as a back up. Whatever we decide to do, I will cancel the other ADR well in advance of our meal time.
I just cancelled our ADRs for Teppan Edo and San Angel. I still haven't decided on Chefs or Tutto for our dinner. DH sort of read over the menus yesterday, but he said either choice was ok for him. We'll see what happens.
June 30
Epcot Day 2
Until I switched us to the DxDP, I had scheduled our anniversary dinner at Blue Zoo. My husband loves fresh fish. He also loves fishing for fresh fish. Since he won't be fishing for fresh fish on this trip, I figured he'd really enjoy tasting some fresh fish at Blue Zoo. When I looked at our dining plans and decided the deluxe plan made more sense, I switched our anniversary meal to Flying Fish Cafe. I'm a little nervous because I am not a sauce person at all. However, I know I will find something wonderful to eat and will probably have to stop myself from licking my plate.
July 1
DHS Day
Lunch today will take us to Sci-Fi Dine In. The kids and I ate lunch here last summer and thoroughly enjoyed our experience. Our server was amazing and went out of her way to make the kids as happy as they could be. We've done Mama Melrose to death, and DH was not a fan of the antics at Prime Time (I think he would drop Cousin Mark if he saw him again. This CM is *really* into his job.) So Sci-Fi it is!
Dinner, sweet dinner, will be at Narcoossee. I have been dreaming about the almond crusted cheesecake for close to a year now. It is my favorite dessert on all of WDW property. I am going to be a glutton and have DH get this for his dessert, too (He's not really a dessert guy), so I can eat his and mine. I will have to pay for this in some way, shape, or form, but I don't care.
July 2
Our last park day - MK and maybe some hopping along the way
Kona Cafe will be our breakfast stop this morning. I've eaten breakfast here once and relished each morsel of Tonga Toast that passed my lips. This time around I have my eye on the macadamia pancakes.
Since we always spend our last night at MK, I wanted to make sure we had some place to take a break and eat a decent dinner. We'll be trying The Plaza for the first time, and I can't wait to sink my spoon into a banana split after dinner.
In addition to these ADRs, I know we'll be making a trip to Beaches-n-Cream for at least a vanilla Coke and banana split. I'm also hoping to try some new counter service places, too.
I can't wait for our trip to begin and report back on all the delicious food we ate!
Our adventure is set to begin in less than 17 days, and I've planned and shuffled and rearranged and booked and rebooked until I believe I have memorized every menu for every restaurant we plan to visit. I am *almost* tired of thinking about what we're going to eat, but then I think about all the new places we're going to visit on this trip, and my heart fills with joy once again.
Your diners on this June/July adventure:
lissawynn - teacher and trip planner/arm twister - Would my family like to go somewhere else on vacation? I don't really know because the only other option with which they've been presented is OCNJ, and we have already been once this season and will go again before school begins at the end of August. They go where Mom goes because I plan and pay for our adventures with my summer school earnings. Also, deep down they LOVE the world, but they don't *love* it quite as much as I do just yet.
DH or "He whose arm has been twisted once again this summer"/pipeline engineer/most patient husband on the planet - My husband is a good man who didn't really understand what was in store for him once I booked our honeymoon eight years ago. He has visited (been forced to go) WDW three times since our Disneymoon and will continue to do so until he finds sweet relief in the afterlife. Just kidding. When the kids are a little older he and DS can go off and do man things every other year when a family trip to WDW is not in the works(but we know there is always a WDW trip in the works, don't we?)
DS5 - Recent preschool graduate who is heading off to Kindergarten in the fall. Has been to Disney every year but one in his young life. His first trip was in the womb, so it's in his blood.
DD3 - Our little spitfire has also been to WDW every year but one in her three years. Her first trip was also in my tummy, and I fear I may have passed the obsessive gene to her. Everytime we start up a Disney dvd and she sees the castle, she says, "So cute! We're going there! Are there alligators in that water?" She's a clip, I tell ya.
We have used the DDP on every trip we've taken since 2006. It works for us because I like to have the majority of our food paid for in advance. It's so nice not to have to carry the cash or charge all of our food purchases. Our first dining plan adventure included everything but the tax, if I remember correctly. Since that trip we've stuck to the regular DDP, which has worked out well for us. However, this time I wanted to try more sit-down restaurants than we'd done in the past, and because we are appetizer people, the deluxe dining plan seemed like a logical choice for us.
The challenge on this trip was to narrow down the list of places I wanted to try to something manageable over the course of seven days. There are days when I have made multiple ADRS, but before any flames fly, I will be certain to cancel those we do not plan to use well in advance so some other hungry party of four can find some respite from the Florida heat and enjoy some yummy vittles.
Here's the plan as it stands now. I haven't changed anything in the last month or so, so this is pretty much what I'm banking on for our trip.
June 27
Our arrival day will bring us to the VWL! I can almost see it now...
I have two ADRS scheduled for dinner - Whispering Canyon Cafe or Grand Floridian Cafe.
Depending on how the kids do after our wonderful car ride from PA (This is my sarcastic voice. It sounds *just* like my regular voice, but it's my sarcastic voice.) will depend on where we have our dinner. If they aren't too tired and grouchy, we'll venture away from our home base. If they are miserable and in no mood to leave the WL, we'll try WCC. Heck, we might be hitting Roarin' Forks if things are really ugly.
June 28
MK Day 1
The first day is always a MK day, and for our family that means a trip to Crystal Palace for the earliest breakfast we can book.
Dinner time will take us to one of my favorites - Kona Cafe. I've been there twice for dinner and loved it both times. I am hoping for another wonderful meal.
June 29
Epcot Day 1 - UPDATE! I fugured out where we're eating...almost.
Our day will begin with a breakfast fit for our princess - the princess breakfast in Norway. It's late, and I'm not going to attempt to spell the name of the restaurant nor will I try to pronounce it until I hear it said correctly by some lovely Nordic cast member.
Dinner is when the day gets tricky. There are SO many places in Epcot that I want to try. We've done Le Cellier to death and have always had great meals here. Even DH, who doesn't really say boo about planning the trip, asked that we try some new places this time around. That being said, on my trip last summer with my sister and our kids, we ate at Tutto Italia; we loved it. Our service was fantastic, and the food was very good. So I booked a lunch at Tutto. Then I thought that lunch might be too much after our food fest with the princesses, so I changed it to dinner. Then I got to thinking about all the other places in the WS that I wanted to try. This led to ADRs for Chefs de France, Teppan Edo, and San Angel Inn. I am probably going to cancel Teppan and San Angel this week. I know DH will go for Tutto or Chefs more so than the others. I would love for the kids to have dinner with Remy, but I am concerned about lackluster food and service at Chefs. I know that we could have horrible service and lousy food at Tutto, but since I've already been there, I wanted to keep it as a back up. Whatever we decide to do, I will cancel the other ADR well in advance of our meal time.
I just cancelled our ADRs for Teppan Edo and San Angel. I still haven't decided on Chefs or Tutto for our dinner. DH sort of read over the menus yesterday, but he said either choice was ok for him. We'll see what happens.
June 30
Epcot Day 2
Until I switched us to the DxDP, I had scheduled our anniversary dinner at Blue Zoo. My husband loves fresh fish. He also loves fishing for fresh fish. Since he won't be fishing for fresh fish on this trip, I figured he'd really enjoy tasting some fresh fish at Blue Zoo. When I looked at our dining plans and decided the deluxe plan made more sense, I switched our anniversary meal to Flying Fish Cafe. I'm a little nervous because I am not a sauce person at all. However, I know I will find something wonderful to eat and will probably have to stop myself from licking my plate.
July 1
DHS Day
Lunch today will take us to Sci-Fi Dine In. The kids and I ate lunch here last summer and thoroughly enjoyed our experience. Our server was amazing and went out of her way to make the kids as happy as they could be. We've done Mama Melrose to death, and DH was not a fan of the antics at Prime Time (I think he would drop Cousin Mark if he saw him again. This CM is *really* into his job.) So Sci-Fi it is!
Dinner, sweet dinner, will be at Narcoossee. I have been dreaming about the almond crusted cheesecake for close to a year now. It is my favorite dessert on all of WDW property. I am going to be a glutton and have DH get this for his dessert, too (He's not really a dessert guy), so I can eat his and mine. I will have to pay for this in some way, shape, or form, but I don't care.
July 2
Our last park day - MK and maybe some hopping along the way
Kona Cafe will be our breakfast stop this morning. I've eaten breakfast here once and relished each morsel of Tonga Toast that passed my lips. This time around I have my eye on the macadamia pancakes.
Since we always spend our last night at MK, I wanted to make sure we had some place to take a break and eat a decent dinner. We'll be trying The Plaza for the first time, and I can't wait to sink my spoon into a banana split after dinner.
In addition to these ADRs, I know we'll be making a trip to Beaches-n-Cream for at least a vanilla Coke and banana split. I'm also hoping to try some new counter service places, too.
I can't wait for our trip to begin and report back on all the delicious food we ate!
Not only is the weather cold and ugly here, but my sister just called. She's on Magical Express as I type, making her way to the WL to begin her vacation. 
Looking forward to reading about your sister's dining adventures, too!
