Crystal Palace....gastric bypass

[Lisa F]

Oh for sure about the buffet OP was wondering about. I was more going off of the other posts re: the reducing price issue. Those buffets you mention are my best friend since I can order more specifically for my needs! I do hope OP and their family have a wonderful time. In my experience, Disney is absolutely fantastic with any needed accommodations and will really go out of their way to make sure you have a great dining experience. Disney has never once made me feel like an annoyance for having needed accommodations and it just makes the trip even more relaxing! I think I just got off on a tangent because dietary topics are a daily thing for me!

my son is pretty picky and they have always been great about accommodating making things plain, swapping sides etc. because he's picky I'm not that interested in sharing his food. I made my ADRs for my upcoming february trip and it's a mix of character meals, places where the kids meals are very appealing to both of us (LTT), places where I can order an appetizer that fits my eating plan and where the kid can eat something he loves (like via Napoli) and places where I have decided I will order what I want and eat what is appropriate and discard the rest (or maybe bring it back to the room since I have to eat frequently)... ie CA Grill and others. That's basically all you can do. I left plenty of food behind before my surgery too

 

[OhhBother]

I'm having gastric bypass surgery next month. I don't expect to receive any accommodations because of my decision to have a surgery that limits my ability to eat. Having this surgery is about quality of life for me -- and I know that paying for food I can no longer eat at some restaurants is just part of the deal.

Interestingly enough, we are at Disney now, and DH and I ate at Crystal Palace this morning. I wasn't especially hungry, so I ate one sausage link, a tablespoon of eggs, a small bowl of cereal and a piece of toast. Did I get my money's worth? Of course. My husband and I had a lovely breakfast at a place we enjoy, and we got great photos with characters without standing in line.

 

[Lisa F]

I'm having gastric bypass surgery next month. I don't expect to receive any accommodations because of my decision to have a surgery that limits my ability to eat. Having this surgery is about quality of life for me -- and I know that paying for food I can no longer eat at some restaurants is just part of the deal.

Interestingly enough, we are at Disney now, and DH and I ate at Crystal Palace this morning. I wasn't especially hungry, so I ate one sausage link, a tablespoon of eggs, a small bowl of cereal and a piece of toast. Did I get my money's worth? Of course. My husband and I had a lovely breakfast at a place we enjoy, and we got great photos with characters without standing in line.

Good luck! It is a wild ride at first but now at 9 weeks out I am feeling pretty good. It can be a little hard to see how life will ever feel normal again but now it finally does! It was kind of a bummer trying to plan my ADRs during the worst of it but I think my trip is going to be great and I will enjoy my meals Just wish I hadn't started exercising and hit this heinous stall but I think that is also part of it

 

[DisneyWishes14]

OP, if you would like to do a character meal where you have the option of doing a buffet OR ordering a la carte, I would recommend the Garden Grove weekend character breakfast at the Swan. The character interaction isn't as great as at a WDW meal (they typically only have two or three characters - Goofy, Chip and Dale and Pluto), but the food is very good and it's actually cheaper than the other character meals at WDW (if you have a AAA card, it's even 20% off).

Honestly, we've never gotten our money's worth in food at any character meal and now that DS will be 10 on our next trip I'm being very cautious about the AYCTE and special events that I book (no ROL/Tiffin's dining package for us!). We pay OOP, so we will still be ordering kids meals for him and we aren't doing any buffets. Disney has set their prices and you simply have to choose whether the experience of the character meal is worth the cost, for you, knowing practically NO ONE will actually eat their money's worth there!

So, I've actually witnessed three people NOT having to pay at an AYCTE - Biergarten. Two of those people were me and DS9 and one was the dad of the girl sitting next to DS who was raising such a ruckus because she didn't want to be at Biergarten and, so, made herself throw up on DS's chair. After the vomit incident, the family kept insisting dad didn't eat anything and shouldn't have to pay. I think the server just wanted to get them out of the restaurant as quickly as possible. I didn't eat (really couldn't after that) and DS ate a chocolate chip cookie at a table that wasn't covered in vomit. I really don't recommend this method of getting out of paying full price at an AYCTE.

 

[Lisa F]

So, I've actually witnessed three people NOT having to pay at an AYCTE - Biergarten. Two of those people were me and DS9 and one was the dad of the girl sitting next to DS who was raising such a ruckus because she didn't want to be at Biergarten and, so, made herself throw up on DS's chair. After the vomit incident, the family kept insisting dad didn't eat anything and shouldn't have to pay. I think the server just wanted to get them out of the restaurant as quickly as possible. I didn't eat (really couldn't after that) and DS ate a chocolate chip cookie at a table that wasn't covered in vomit. I really don't recommend this method of getting out of paying full price at an AYCTE.

yeah, that is pretty extreme!

of course when my son was a toddler, he threw up on the table at CA Grill. Darnit, I made no attempt to get out of paying the bill. Missed my chance. Was so grateful that someone came and cleaned it up and re-set the table so we could finish our meal that we left a huge tip in fact. He threw up because he insisted on trying a piece of fondant from his dad's birthday cake and it set off his gag reflex (it was before we knew that he had sensory issues)... not because anything was actually wrong with the food. Disney handled it so efficiently I'm not sure anyone around us even noticed to be honest! He had been packing away the goldfish crackers like it was no one's business (they used to bring them there) and right before hurling the contents of his stomach on the table he looked at me and said "goldfish!" We all use the term "goldfish" for hurling now.