critique my ADRS...or my whole itinerary!

[lauren75]

We are first timers & staying at WL on the meal plan. Any suggestions would be great! We want to eat well (as well as we can with 2 kids 2 & 5) ...are there too many buffets? Are we "running" too much? I guess that is what Disney is all about!

day 1- booked Boma dinner & hope to see some animals since we don't have a day at Animal Kingdom, but we can certainly do to Boardwalk or Downtown Disney and change to a restaurant there...

day 2- Magic Kingdom. Todd English bluezoo dinner.

day 3- Hollywood Studios- Dinner at Chef Mickey's.

day 4- Epcot- breakfast at Akershus and dinner at Chefs de Paris

day 5- Magic Kingdom- dinner at Ohana

 

[lovin'fl]

First, I think Animal Kingdom would be better for your kids ages than Hollywood Studios. I've been to Boma, Ohana and Chef Mickey's and like them all. Bluezoo is not on the dining plan, I don't think. Is that in the Swan or Dolphin? I'd do Chef Mickey's on a MK day...but if you'll be going back to your resort before dinner, then it doesn't really matter. And are you doing Bistro de Paris or Chefs de France? Cause Bistro de Paris is not on the dining plan either

 

[NLD]

Hi,

Okay, a few thoughts...

day 1- booked Boma dinner & hope to see some animals since we don't have a day at Animal Kingdom, but we can certainly do to Boardwalk or Downtown Disney and change to a restaurant there...

Will you have a car or are you relying on Disney transportation? Getting to AKL from WL can be a pain with Disney transportation. Will eat up (no pun intended! ) a lot of time.

day 2- Magic Kingdom. Todd English bluezoo dinner.

day 3- Hollywood Studios- Dinner at Chef Mickey's.

Bluezoo isn't on the dining plan, I don't think. Maybe you're planning to pay out of pocket, in which case, no big deal. If you were planning to use a meal credit though, double check on this.

Also, I'd switch these if possible. Chef Mickey's is close to MK. Bluezoo is closer to Epcot and DHS. Makes a whole lot more sense to go to Chef Mickey's on a MK day and Bluezoo on a DHS day.

day 4- Epcot- breakfast at Akershus and dinner at Chefs de Paris

day 5- Magic Kingdom- dinner at Ohana

Okay, sounds good.

 

[2Epcot]

Your first two responses were right on.

Nicole was right about your choices and rearranging the Bluezoo/Chef Mickey's reservations. Also, although we don't have kids our friends with two kids close to your kids' age went last year and agreed that HS isn't really good for young kids, but AK is great for them. The rest of the stuff sounds spot on, assuming that CdF is on DDP. We're DVC members and don't do DDP, but are pretty sure that BZ is not included, but hear it's worth the money, even if you have to pay out of pocket. You can always add a sit down early lunch/breakfast somewhere else. Have fun! (As if you have any other choice.)

 

[lauren75]

Thanks, I knew I would be steered in the right direction here!

Chefs de France is the one I meant. I understood that Todd English is not on the meal plan and we were going to pay OOP.

Speaking of OOP, I think that I have exceeded my "meal allotment" with this plan anyway...which should I also opt to pay for out of pocket?

I am definitely going to swap the BlueZoo and Chef Mickey and may also opt for the Boardwalk Disney since a long travel time may be annoying especially the day we are flying in...

 

[OhThePain]

As it stands, bluezoo is the only restaurant you will have to pay for OOP. By my count, assuming you are staying 5 nights, you have used 5 credits. Also, getting to the Boardwalk is no different then getting to AKL. It will take the same amount of time and transportation transfers to get to either. Your easiest way will be to take a boat over to MK and then jump on either the AKL or BWI bus to get to either destination. I would personally stick with Boma and visit AKL. The resort is beautiful and there are some activities your family could take part in while you are there (maybe listen to an African tale around the fire pit or watching the savannahs with night vision goggles). Besides, you can visit the Boardwalk when you go to bluezoo. The Dolphin is right next door to BWI and the Boardwalk itself is a 5 minute walk from the restaurant.

I agree with the other posters that said that DHS does not have a whole lot to do for the little ones and you might be better off spending the day at AK.

 

[lauren75]

OK, last question now that I have swapped BlueZoo for Chef Mickey....

Chef Mickey or Crystal Palace for dinner? Based on another posting on this board, it sounds like CP is better food...I think my kiddies will probably prefer the characters at CM.

 

[OhThePain]

OK, last question now that I have swapped BlueZoo for Chef Mickey....

Chef Mickey or Crystal Palace for dinner? Based on another posting on this board, it sounds like CP is better food...I think my kiddies will probably prefer the characters at CM.

IMO, none of the character dinners offer good food. We have personally had worse experiences with CP dinner than CM dinner. The last time we had CP for dinner the service was awful, the characters were all over the place and constantly had to be told by their handlers to go back to tables, the food was bland and tasteless and it seemed that many of the "hot" dishes were being served at room temperature or were just cold. This was at 6:15, right in the heart of dinner time. We never had these issues at CM, while food quality isn't better, at least it wasn't served at the wrong temperature.

The only dinner buffets that are somewhat decent, again IMO, are Biergarten, Cape May and Boma. I would skip all the others if it was just about the food. Long story short, I would base any character meals you go to purely on what characters you would rather see because if you base it on the food you're far more likely to leave disappointed.

 

[333disneymom]

I would definitely choose CM over CP. The character interaction, from our experience, was better. CP can get quite loud too. We have eaten dinner at CP twice and both times, the service was disappointing compared to other Disney restaurants. Maybe just our bad luck, but we skipped CP on our last trip and no one missed it.