Dinner on arrival day

ShannyMcB

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Hello all! My fam of 5 (kids range 3-9) arrives in wdw mid-August. Arrival day I want to dedicate to resort exploration (CBR) and maybe the photo studio at Disney spring (side bar, is it worth the time investment?).
What do you do for dinner? I want to keep it low key and EARLY so if some combo of the kids is tired one adult can take them to the room while the other does the pool with whomever is hyped up.
We are arriving late afternoon....figuring resort arrival time should be between 2 and 3. Should I try for an ADR at springs? Go with Grubhub? Mobile order/quick service from CBR/Riveria/Pop/AoA?
What is your arrival day plan?
 
D-lux burger is very low key and easy. Great burgers, no fuss no need for reservations.

Its up to you with the photo studio. Are you already paying for photo pass?
 
Hello all! My fam of 5 (kids range 3-9) arrives in wdw mid-August. Arrival day I want to dedicate to resort exploration (CBR) and maybe the photo studio at Disney spring (side bar, is it worth the time investment?).
What do you do for dinner? I want to keep it low key and EARLY so if some combo of the kids is tired one adult can take them to the room while the other does the pool with whomever is hyped up.
We are arriving late afternoon....figuring resort arrival time should be between 2 and 3. Should I try for an ADR at springs? Go with Grubhub? Mobile order/quick service from CBR/Riveria/Pop/AoA?
What is your arrival day plan?
assuming you are flying I would not make any ressie for dinner that would have you charged for no show. flight delays do happen and when they do it is usually to cancel without charge. mid August is a great time for weather delays because of thunder storms. would go with either Grubhub or mobile order when you know you will be there in time. same thing with the photos at Disney Springs for same reason
 
We will be there in August, too, staying at the BC for the first part of our trip. We are flying and should get to the BC around 4:00. Our plan is to head to Disney Springs and eat at somewhere that doesn’t require a reservation. We are thinking either Earl of Sandwich, Chicken Guy, Blaze, or D-Lux Burger. I never make ADRs on arrival day in case we experience travel delays.
 
Its up to you with the photo studio. Are you already paying for photo pass?
I do have memory maker....I want to attempt a decent picture of the kids and was thinking (hoping) this might accomplish it without too much distraction
 
We drive and I have made ADR's at Fort Wilderness (buffet) and Cape May Cafe (all before Covid). If I thought we'd be arriving at WDW at 4pm, I'd make the ADR for 6:30 or 7. Time to get to room, unpack, and unwind. Once we went to our ADR early, ran out of stuff to do and were starving. They were able to take us early. We are usually traveling on a Friday or Saturday so we steer clear of Disney Springs because it's usually so crowded. A hotel reservation is easier.
 
Hoping that everything goes smoothly, meaning no delays with flights and such..

My vote would be for the easy route, let them burn off some steam and energy, with pool time, Dinner QS for sure.. and early to bed... Plus this gives you some time to get settled, and get things arranged for the first full day... Plus mom and dad are due a pool side adult beverage for sure!!!
 


We made an ADR at Disney Springs once on arrival day and I said never again. We had to get up fairly early to make our flight and by the time we got to the hotel, probably 3:00 or so we were all tired. The kids just wanted to swim, but we didn’t really have time before we had to trek over to dinner. And then by the time we got back it was too late, considering we wanted to hit the ground running the next day. So now, we always just plan to swim and eat quick service or order into the hotel. Everyone is much happier this way!
 
Personally, we just eat at the resort on arrival day. Disney Springs is wild - not relaxing or chill at all, IMO.
 
What is your arrival time? We did Topolino's at Riviera on our arrival day in March. Riding the skyliner over was a great way to kick off our trip and the food is delicious. But I would only make an ADR if your flight is pretty early, otherwise if you have any travel delays you could end up with a no show fee. Otherwise I would just do QS at either CBR or Riviera.
 
We got to Disney Springs right after we drop off luggage and have dinner there. We usually arrive at around 3 PM as well and our kids are that age as well. We will be doing the same in November - arrive at hotel, hit up DS for dinner - shops - pictures, and then back at resort. Only day we have for DS so no other option for us really. We really enjoy it. Kids love Ragland Road and we made a reservation via opentable. Easy and free. Doing the same in November.
 
Our arrival days are spent by the pool with dinner in or very close to the resort we are staying at. Last trip I packed the bathing suits in a carry on and right after checkin we went to the pool while we waited for the room to be ready. My kids were happy to be in the pool and we were able to relax. Once the room was ready we had an hour or so before our reservation in the room and then we walked over to dinner.
 
We've done ADR's on our arrival day twice, and both times it was very stressful because we made it to our reservation JUST in time. On our second time we were supposed to arrive at Disney much earlier, so I thought we'd have plenty of time to get there, but then our flight was delayed by a few hours. From now on I'm planning pool time and quick service for arrival day.
 
Hello all! My fam of 5 (kids range 3-9) arrives in wdw mid-August. Arrival day I want to dedicate to resort exploration (CBR) and maybe the photo studio at Disney spring (side bar, is it worth the time investment?).
What do you do for dinner? I want to keep it low key and EARLY so if some combo of the kids is tired one adult can take them to the room while the other does the pool with whomever is hyped up.
We are arriving late afternoon....figuring resort arrival time should be between 2 and 3. Should I try for an ADR at springs? Go with Grubhub? Mobile order/quick service from CBR/Riveria/Pop/AoA?
What is your arrival day plan?

We drive in and rarely do arrival day ADRs because we sometimes hit traffic or decide we don't feel like doing much of anything. If you start your day early, you may just want to keep it low key and by not having an ADR, you're flexible to either order food in, eat the CBR marketplace, grab it to go and take it to the pool, walk/skyliner over to Riviera and get food at the Primo Piatto, you can bus to springs, lots of options.

I would just play it by ear and see how you all feel. As far a the photo shoot at DS, I would not go out of my way to do it unless you are already there and are trying to commemorate a special celebration/event/someone is dressed up, etc. Think you can still just drop in. We've never done it, have almost done it but it felt like taking my kids to sears or pennys for a photo shoot. I much prefer the photos inside the theme parks/special venues than at the studio. We did BBB at DS a few years back and since they capture all the photos at BBB, there was no need to go to the photo studio. Also, your kids ages, photo studio sessions is probably what you want but not what they want to do when they're at WDW. I get it #momlife, but seriously the second I tell my kids we have a photo shoot scheduled, it's quickly followed by groaning. Just walking around CBR from the bus depot to your room and back to the lobby and pool will take up a good bit of time.
 
Hello all! My fam of 5 (kids range 3-9) arrives in wdw mid-August. Arrival day I want to dedicate to resort exploration (CBR) and maybe the photo studio at Disney spring (side bar, is it worth the time investment?).
What do you do for dinner? I want to keep it low key and EARLY so if some combo of the kids is tired one adult can take them to the room while the other does the pool with whomever is hyped up.
We are arriving late afternoon....figuring resort arrival time should be between 2 and 3. Should I try for an ADR at springs? Go with Grubhub? Mobile order/quick service from CBR/Riveria/Pop/AoA?
What is your arrival day plan?
Would suggest quick service at a nearby resort. Or if you can swing disney springs - time wise- would reserve a spot there. I think you can reserve some dining via Open table vs just the MDE. We did Raglan Road the night we got arrive the last time and it was great.
 
We always go to Disney Springs on arrival day and grab lunch/dinner there. We never make reservations because airlines and highway travel can be so unpredictable. We like Chicken Guy, Polite Pig, Earl of Sandwich. From reviews it looks like the food trucks are a big hit as well. We went to D Luxe burger once and swore we would never return. Our burger was extremely greasy, to the point that I had to get another bun.

My second choice would be to get something at CBR or maybe the pool bar.
 
I’d skip Disney Springs and just enjoy time at the resort. On our arrival day we usually grab an ice cream bar, explore the resort, go for a swim, and have a quick service dinner at the resort.
 
We went to Disney Springs on arrival day and found it overwhelming and busy, would recommend something low key or even at resort to let you get settled
 
We made an ADR at Disney Springs once on arrival day and I said never again. We had to get up fairly early to make our flight and by the time we got to the hotel, probably 3:00 or so we were all tired. The kids just wanted to swim, but we didn’t really have time before we had to trek over to dinner. And then by the time we got back it was too late, considering we wanted to hit the ground running the next day. So now, we always just plan to swim and eat quick service or order into the hotel. Everyone is much happier this way!
Great advice!!!
 

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