Dining reservations thoughts? Any changes recommended?

[Rice is nice]

Two kids ( 3 and 7 months) and 4 adults
Going August 2019 ( first week)
Staying at Boardwalk
3 year old loves characters but doesn’t like rides so we won’t be doing many rides (adults may split up and do rides)
Going to parks on all days except for Friday when we leave and we have season passes

Saturday:
Dinner- Cinderella’s Royal Table
Sunday:
Breakfast -Garden Grill
Dinner- Via Napoli
Monday:
Breakfast -Hollywood and Vine
Dinner- Artist Point, story book dining ( heard food is not good, is it worth it just for the characters?)
Tuesday:
Breakfast- Cape May Cafe
Dinner- Tiffins
Wednesday:
Breakfast - Ohana
Dinner- Be Our Guest
Thursday:
Breakfast - Chef Mickey
Dinner- Ohana
Friday:
Breakfast - Trattoria al Forno

 

[uccats97]

It’s personal preference for your family, but character meals every day for breakfast may be a bit too much. They can be a little hectic and take up a decent amount of time. You may not be concerned with how breakfast impacts your park time, but the first few hours parks are open are the best times to experience rides with the shortest lines. Character meals are fun and my family enjoys them, just not every day. Again, they may be exactly how your family wants to start your mornings, I’m just offering feedback from a different perspective.

 

[Rice is nice]

Thank you so much for that feedback. Yeah it may be too much. Any other breakfast or lunch places you suggest instead?

 

[JKMastalski]

I agree with above poster, again it's totally your own family's preference, but trying to get to Character breakfasts every day may be challenging. You may want to swap out a couple of them for lunch in the park. Sometimes (especially in August!) its nice to go inside somewhere and relax and cool off and get some lunch!
Just my opinion - I'm not a huge fan of Hollywood and Vine, so that would be one that I would probably eliminate if need be. Maybe you could do somewhere fun for an early lunch in HS like Sci Fi Drive In or 50's prime time? I think my other elimination would be Ohana for Breakfast, unless your kids really love Lilo and Stitch!
Either way, have a great time!

 

[holden]

Two sit down meals a day would be too much for my family. Each meal can take 1 to 2 hours. That's a lot of sitting still for little ones.

 

[uccats97]

We honestly rarely eat breakfast out. We are light morning eaters and usually eat protein bars, fruit, pop tarts, muffins, etc. in our room before heading out. When we do grab breakfast in the parks it’s often at Magic Kingdom. We like the Nutella waffles from Sleepy Hallow and the giant cinnamon rolls from Gaston’s Tavern. The breakfast wrap from Kusafuri at Animal Kingdom is good too. All are quick service locations.

For lunches, again all quick service:
MK- Pecos Bill, Columbia Harbor House
Epcot- Sunshine Seasons
Hollywood Studios- Backlot Express
Animal Kingdom- Satuli Canteen, Flame Tree BBQ, Restaurantasarus

Non character table service meals we enjoy include: Teppan Edo, Whispering Canyon Cafe & Boma

From what you already have booked, we love CRT and Garden Grill.

Now I’m hungry!

 

[CraigInPA]

2 children under 3 aren't going to recognize many of the characters in the character meals. I'd keep Chef Mickey (or Garden Grill) and Hollywood and Vine, and change out the other character meals (unless you and your spouse really, really want to see characters at every meal).

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Two kids under 3 and 4 adults
Going August 2019 ( first week)

Saturday:
Dinner- Cinderella’s Royal Table
Sunday:
Breakfast -Garden Grill
Dinner- Via Napoli
Monday:
Breakfast -Hollywood and Vine
Dinner- Artist Point, story book dining ( heard food is not good, is it worth it just for the characters?)
Tuesday:
Breakfast- Cape May Cafe
Dinner- Tiffins
Wednesday:
Breakfast - Ohana
Dinner- Be Our Guest
Thursday:
Breakfast - Chef Mickey
Dinner- Ohana
Friday:
Breakfast - Trattoria al Forno

Are the adults really that interested in seeing all of those characters? If not, I would pick two - one princess meal and one Mickey meal - and call it a day with the character meals. Also, buffets with little ones can be quite a chore, though you have 4 adults so perhaps it won't be that bad. I would probably keep CRT and GG and that would be it for character dining. You also don't mention where you are staying, but, unless you are staying at a resort within close proximity, getting to resort breakfasts in the morning can be a real hassle. I would actually consider ditching all of the breakfasts and just keeping your dinners, except, perhaps, breakfast on your last day. Will the kids be napping during the day? If so, just another reason to ditch a sit-down breakfast as you will take up a ton of your morning sitting and eating and lose park time. If you want to keep GG, I would try to move that to lunch or or dinner and cancel Via Napoli. Again, with adults, are you really interested in seeing the characters at Artist Point? If you are looking for something fun, consider Whispering Canyon or even HDDR instead. Or head to the Boardwalk, have dinner at one of the EP resorts and then enjoy the free entertainment they host there each evening.

 

[Calee]

I agree with the others. Morning is the best time for touring the parks, and I would think especially with such little ones. It is least crowded, and the least HOT time of day. From rope drop until about 10:30/11:00 is ideal for riding rides. We usually do 1 or 2 pre-park opening breakfasts, but definitely not one every day. Often we will eat something in our room, and then have lunch when it is starting to get really hot and crowded! It is a nice break. Also, the character meals could get redundant. Most every breakfast buffet/family style meal will have very similar food. On our first trip when my kids were 4, 6 and 8 and very into characters we did 3 character meals in 5 days, and that was kind of 1 too many. The character meals are a GREAT use a credit on the dining plan, but other wise very expensive.

 

[Nancyg56]

Two kids under 3 and 4 adults
Going August 2019 ( first week)

Saturday:
Dinner- Cinderella’s Royal Table
Sunday:
Breakfast -Garden Grill
Dinner- Via Napoli
Monday:
Breakfast -Hollywood and Vine
Dinner- Artist Point, story book dining ( heard food is not good, is it worth it just for the characters?)
Tuesday:
Breakfast- Cape May Cafe
Dinner- Tiffins
Wednesday:
Breakfast - Ohana
Dinner- Be Our Guest
Thursday:
Breakfast - Chef Mickey
Dinner- Ohana
Friday:
Breakfast - Trattoria al Forno

I would make several changes, and to be honest the changes are because August is freakin hot so I would not waste cooler mornings eating at character meals. We get back to the resort after the sun is high and do not go back out until dinner.

I would skip CRT. I think it is a nice meal, but unless the adults want dinner in the Castle I would skip it.

Sunday breakfast Garden Grill: This is one of my favorites. You do not say what the time is but I would prefer PPO or late morning. Lunch and dinner is also nice.

Monday: If breakfast is not PPO I would ditch it. My family enjoyed Storybook Dining and personally, the family might enjoy a character meal that is not buffet. I would keep this one. WL is a nice resort to visit, the cocktails are good (We needed them by dinner! LOL!) and the food was good.

Tuesday: No way would I travel for breakfast and then go to a park. DAK gets very hot in the summer and there is not a lot of shade. I would get to the park at Rope Drop, hit the attractions in the morning, save the shows and trails for afternoon leading to dinner. Tiffins is very good.

Wednesday: I love 'Ohana breakfast.

Thursday: I would cut CM breakfast and try to get dinner on Saturday. 'Ohana is hit or miss lately, and is a miss for my family for now. There still is a lot of positive feedback so I would keep it.
There are some decent character meals the kids and adults might like that you can work into your plans that do not entail traveling to breakfast before parks. We like:

1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridan.

Dinner in the parks character meal? How about Crystal Palace for a late lunch or a dinner on Saturday? Pooh and friends are really cute.

I think it is hard to help because I don't know what your schedule really is or where you are staying.

 

[rg35]

We tend to do our character breakfasts only on non-park days at non-park restaurants. On park days we have breakfast in our room (but we are DVC so the rooms have a full kitchen, which makes that easier).

I personally don't think 'Ohana is that good. Maybe it's convenient if you're staying at Poly and you chose it for that reason, but as an AYCTE meal it's pricey and not worth it for what you get.

Are your breakfast ADRs PPO? (pre park opening - meaning early mornings). With early mornings to get to breakfasts and dinner ADRs in the same park, do you plan on staying in the park all day? Will you be taking mid-day breaks for naps/pool time? Spending the entire day at the parks with two three year olds might become a less than enjoyable experience.

 

[Rice is nice]

Thanks for the feedback. Dining reservations are later in the am bc the kids aren’t early risers.

 

[Rice is nice]

Thank you, yeah I heard terrible things about Hollywood and slime lol, but they have fancy Nancy and Vampirina and my daughter loves them. Do they have meet and greets anywhere?

 

[Rice is nice]

Thanks so much for the detailed response. It helped put things into perspective.
The thing I am struggling with is that I like breakfast food, whereas I am not as impressed with the lunches at these places.

 

[KenHutch]

Well I like 90%+ of your plan. We tend to eat deluxe and have eaten 3 times in a day all character meals. I go for my girls and they still love character meals. I would give you a clean 100% approval rating but your eating at BoG. I understand that if you haven't you really need to check it out once but after our last trip my girls have put the place on the permanent never again list. In our case it was almost 3 hours for dinner and we got so little I had to feed everyone at The Mara before we went to bed. But have fun and a great trip.

 

[Rice is nice]

Well I like 90%+ of your plan. We tend to eat deluxe and have eaten 3 times in a day all character meals. I go for my girls and they still love character meals. I would give you a clean 100% approval rating but your eating at BoG. I understand that if you haven't you really need to check it out once but after our last trip my girls have put the place on the permanent never again list. In our case it was almost 3 hours for dinner and we got so little I had to feed everyone at The Mara before we went to bed. But have fun and a great trip.

Lol Thank you. I have never eaten at BOG and my daughter loves the Beast
and it looks like a cool place. I couldn’t resist. Was the food good or was both the service and food bad? My reservations are at 9pm, not sure if that is better or worse.

 

[KenHutch]

Lol Thank you. I have never eaten at BOG and my daughter loves the Beast
and it looks like a cool place. I couldn’t resist. Was the food good or was both the service and food bad? My reservations are at 9pm, not sure if that is better or worse.

Now take this with a grain of salt because friends have told me it has gotten better but I ordered the lamb chops and got exactly 3 forkfuls of food from it but like you we had never gone and I tell people they have to see it at least once and the girls wanted to meet The Beast (that was pretty cool). I just warn people because dinner is a 2 credit charge. If the girls ever relent and we go back it will be OOP or lunch.

 

[Nancyg56]

Lol Thank you. I have never eaten at BOG and my daughter loves the Beast
and it looks like a cool place. I couldn’t resist. Was the food good or was both the service and food bad? My reservations are at 9pm, not sure if that is better or worse.

WOW! That is a late night. My family can eat late, but even we cringe if I book dinner after 8PM.

We have never gone for breakfast at H&V, however we enjoyed Minnie's Seasonal Dine for dinner. I honestly believe that the character meals are all about the characters though, and eating is secondary. The little one will love the characters at your breakfast.

 

[2boysmommy]

Thank you, yeah I heard terrible things about Hollywood and slime lol, but they have fancy Nancy and Vampirina and my daughter loves them. Do they have meet and greets anywhere?

Yes - and I would definitely skip H&V for a meal!!

Fancy Nancy just started meeting at HS, replacing Sofia:
"Everyone’s favorite fancy six-year-old will be greeting guests in front of her backyard playhouse in an all-new character location at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Animation Courtyard. Fancy Nancy will also be joining Vampirina, Doc McStuffins, and Roadster Racer Goofy for breakfast at Disney Junior Play ‘n’ Dine at Hollywood & Vine beginning April 30, 2019."

 

[lovethesun12]

I'm guessing you have the deluxe plan? Personally it looks pretty intense but if I were on the deluxe plan I'd give it a try too The mornings are definitely WAY better for touring but if you aren't doing the "big" rides you can make it work with FP's (especially grabbing more FP+ when your 3 are used).

FWIW my daughter was 2 last year when we went and she LOVED the characters. Really, really loved them. My favourite part of the trip was definitely watching her meet Minnie, Mickey and the princesses. We did CRT and Chef Mickey's only and since we were on the DDP I did sort of wish I had done a few more.

This year I have 4 character meals planned as well as some meet & greets and really looking forward to it I also have H&V planned. We ate there before and it was great. Truthfully I've never had what I would call a bad meal at Disney.