CRT, Mickey's, or Other on arrival night?

[NOLAmom]

Hey,
2nd guessing my already made ADR's so thought I ask for some 2nd opinions here.
Arriving at noon on Monday after Non stop SW flight/taking Magical Express from 12-2 pm to Contemporary. Have 4 and 2.5 yr old with us. Have 5: 00 pm ADR at Chef Mickey's arrival night.

2nd guessing Chef Mickey's ADR as thinking we may want to head to MK in late afternoon (MK does have a 7 pm parade that night). We don't have CRT booked at all this trip. Would you book CRT for an early dinner on arrival night?

I want to have something really special to start out the trip but on the other hand I don't want to pack too much into arrival day.
Any suggestions?

 

[FairydustyPrincesses]

It's Just my preference but when flying in I prefer to remain without any appointments. I find myself worrying about not being able to contol our time if arrival. Also with small kids you never know what the mood will be after a travel day and your arrival time doesn't leave a whole lot of lee way. Mk is special enough and the kids may not want to stop for a big long meal - even with Mickey once the excitement hits. Try to see it through their eyes.

IMO cm or CRT will be much more appreciated a following day after the kids have had some park exploring out of their systems. I suggest just cs meals so you can play it based on kids demeanors.

 

[herb102211]

We usually don't book any ADR's on arrival day, unless we are arriving in the morning and then we will book ADR's for dinner only. Like the PP, we don't like booking ADR's if we're coming on a later flight in case the flight was delayed, plus transportation on ME to the resort and then time to get to the parks, makes for a hectic day to have to worry about making an ADR on time, too.

I would just grab a QS meal for dinner and save your ADR's for the next day after you're well rested

 

[NOLAmom]

Thanks. You are both probably right that a big character meal is probably too ambitious on arrivaly day especially one like CRT that I can't cancel if a kid is having a melt down.

However, I have free dining so I'm pretty sure I get a free TS on arrival day so I feel like I should try and use that if I can. I could always eat at the Wave in our hotel or monorail to Kona cafe where we probably wouldn't need a reservation hopefully.

 

[sk!mom]

We love Chef Mickeys for arrival night. I would probably try and make a later dinner ressie so that you could go to the park and then come back for dinner at maybe 7:00 or 7:30.

A 5:00 ressie would make it hard to go the park either before or after. Unless we were up really early for a flight, my family is excited to arrive and ready to start the fun. We would get checked in, relax for a bit and then head to MK from maybe 3-6. Head back for dinner and still get to bed early.

 

[WantToGoNow]

We have an ADR at Chef Mickey's for our arrival day at 5:50 p.m. Our flight is supposed to arrive at 9:10 a.m. so even if there are delays, I think we will be fine. Once we arrive and check in, we will be heading to AK and will then catch a bus directly from AK to the CR.

 

[akhenaten]

We had a CRT meal on our arrival day this past month. (dinner at 8:40 PM )

WE had been in FT Myers the week before and were driving up... I have to say we did have a tiny meltdown and some tension about getting up there and getting to the room, getting DD9 dressed (she wanted to dress as a princess) getting to the park and then getting down main street before the parade!!

we made it and it was a special night .. including EMH'S...

My DD knew about the special dinner and would have been upset if we missed it and we would have been out the $$$ too!!

Maybe book a meal somewhere were you won't be out $$ if you get delayed.. and keep it as a surprise for kids so they are not dissappointed if something happens...

 

[hannahdrewmom]

You do get a ts meal for each night that you are staying... so if you are staying 6 nights you get 6 meals.... but you can use them on whatever day you want. So you can totally use 2 meals another day!

 

[akhenaten]

You do get a ts meal for each night that you are staying... so if you are staying 6 nights you get 6 meals.... but you can use them on whatever day you want. So you can totally use 2 meals another day!

Don't forget that some restaurants use 2 TS meals including CRT...

 

[NOLAmom]

THANKS for the replies. Didn't know you could save your TS and use on another day...good to know. Decided against CRT on arrival night. Just too risky with flight delays, nap or no nap, and whatever else arrival day may throw at us. May put in CRT on our 2nd MK day for lunch since it's still available at 1145 that day.

Still debating on Chef Mickey's. I'm nervous to let that be my husband's intro to WDW...he's not a buffet fan but it wouldn't be about the food and more about knocking out the 5 characters before we even hit a park. If I did CM's that night, then we would just explore the resort that day, and watch fireworks from club lounge that night and not do park.

I booked Chef Mickey's at 500, thinking the food would be the hottest and best at opening time and that wait times would be minimal since that's the opening hour and first seating. Is this not the case?

If I do park, then we would cancel Chef Mickey's. Going to think about it some more.