Double Double Disney Trouble - Two Moms of Multiples Makin' Magical Memories

[Kaykool101]

Exactly. This was our problem. I knew going in the food costs would be higher at DW, but it was still sticker shock for us. And we LOVE to eat out. It is a treat for us, but the cost made is soooo less enjoyable, and we even skipped a few meals and went off property to offset the cost. But by doing that we missed out on the great character meal experiences. So, as I said, lesson learned.

That's a good way to describe it. We did the dining plan on our first trip and it was an amazing experience and we never grumped or grumbled over a penny of the "package price." But if we had been looking at meal prices, one at a time, day after day, for ten days, I know it would have gotten to us. And we would have ended up sharing meals or skipping apps we wanted to try or desserts for the kids, just so it wouldn't feel so painful. When it's one lump sum, paid for in advance, it just didn't feel that painful. Then we could enjoy our food, guilt free.
On our second trip, we didn't feel like we could budget for that over a two week trip with four Disney adults, so we paid OOP, and did exactly what I predicted. Nickle and dimed ourselves. It wasn't a bad time, but it just wasn't the same as that first trip.

It is so nice to hear some positive things about the Dining Plan. Sometimes super fans can be annoyed by the Dining Plan. And I do understand the plan is not without its pitfalls, but for my vacation it is way better than a gift card.

In my next post, I am going to go into my OoP Experiences, and as you will see, these cause me the most stress. Trying to budget for them, figure out how much we are likely to spend, what we will order, and make sure we go down with that money in hand or on a gift card is an added stress of a different kind. I will be shocked if we actually make all of them.

 

[Kaykool101]

FOOD: THE OoP EXPERIENCES

First up is Jiko. When I cancelled all the Signature Dining, my husband had a fit. Jiko was his favorite, we have to do it, etc. So I put it back on. My plan is for us to share an appetizer, we will each get an entrée, and share a dessert. I felt like it was better just to come out of pocket for this than to use 4 TS credits. My mother and sister were not interested in going, so it is just going to be Aaron and I. My mom has offered to watch the boys. I scheduled it for a late dinner, so we will put the babies down for bed before we leave. It should be an easy babysitting job for my mom. *fingers crossed.

The next OoP experience is Olivia’s Café. This restaurant just seemed charming to me. One of my favorite ways to try a restaurant on the cheap (and fit it into our crazy schedule), is to eat there for breakfast. So that is the plan. We will have breakfast at Olivia’s. We might share 2 or 3 entrees to keep costs down rather than everyone getting something.

The next OoP experience was one that I struggled with. Frankly, I hate the food. But the 4 year olds will love it. Oh, who am I kidding, I love it too. We can’t not go, so we are going for dessert only. Where, you ask? T-Rex. I love dinosaurs. My favorite ride in all the parks? Dinosaur. My favorite land in all the parks? DinoLand USA. I just love seeing Dinosaurs. So, in early planning, I showed the boys pictures and youtube videos of T-Rex and they thought it was “too cool!” So we really need to go. But the food really isn’t worth the price, especially paying out of pocket. I tried to get it in for a credit, but my love for Tony’s Town Square kind of beat it out. So that was when I came up with going just for dessert. The chocolate extinction is the coolest thing on the menu anyways. $15 for the 8 of us to go sit and eat dessert with the dinos seems fair.

Next up, Kona Café for breakfast. This one got added because I heard about the Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes. My mother flipped when I read about them to her. But at 10.50, they weren’t worth a TS credit. So we decided just to pay OoP for them.

The next one is a combo, Sci Fi Dine In and Dine with an Imagineer. I will start with Dine with an Imagineer. I am a Disney fan, and so I figure this is an experience for a Disney fan. No one else is a Disney fan. No one else wanted to go with me. That is fine…I will go by myself. Well, not entirely alone. Since I am going to Aaron’s Jiko reservation with him, he is going to come do this experience with me. Or at least that is the plan right now. I have the reservation. But if I don’t get some breathing room in this budget, this experience might be tabled for a future trip.

While we are at Dine with an Imagineer, the rest of the crew has an ADR for Sci Fi Dine in. This is another restaurant like T-Rex where the restaurant itself is way cooler than the food. So the 4 year olds are going to split 1 child’s meal for 1 childs TS credit (they will share at Tony’s Town Square too). And Nana and Keara are going to split a Ruben and pay OoP. And there is talk about sharing a ‘Space Monkey’ too, but I think Keara just likes saying ‘Space Monkey’. I can’t see her spending $10.75 on a drink. But then again, I didn’t imagine she would ever drag me into the incredibly expensive world of Pin Trading and she did, so she might surprise me.

Next, Kouzzina’s breakfast. We ate dinner at Kouzzina’s on our last trip. And it ranked as one of our least favorite meals. Way down there with Coral Reef. One person ordered the pork and it was good. The rest of us, the food was poorly cooked, bordering on inedible. This was one of the bad servers too. That being said, the ‘exotic’ breakfast menu just jumped out at me. It isn’t just meat and eggs, there is real variety to it. However, this has not been an easy sell to the rest of the group. Luckily it isn’t credit card guaranteed. So while I have a reservation for 8, it might end up just being a party of 1

Last, but certainly not least… La Hacenda de San Angel. So, I picked this restaurant because I dislike Illuminations. From my time in the Disney fan community, it seems I am utterly and completely alone in this. But I just don’t get it. The stupid world tv ball thing has the worst definition. Everything on it is fuzzy and pixilated. I am sure it was awesome for when it debuted, but people have High Rez flat panel screens in their homes now, fuzzy just doesn’t cut it. The fireworks and music aren’t anywhere as good as Wishes and the pyro technics aren’t as good as Fantasmic. So in order to get through this experience, I have decided to do it in as pleasant of a location as possible. Originally, I was just going to use a TS credit. And truthfully, the menu looks fine. But when I passed around the menu to see what people were interested in, we all voted for a margarita and cheese dip. Since neither is included in the dining plan, why use a credit. So, we are going to split a cheese dip and margarita and hopefully find a new appreciation for my least favorite “kiss good night."

That's it for the OoP experiences. I could easily see us missing a few. The only credit card guaranteed one is Dine with an Imagineer, and I should know in advance whether there is enough money for that or not. Oh and Jiko, but there isn't any chance in the world Aaron will let me cancel Jiko.

Way back when I started planning for a trip in 2012 (didn't happen because I was super pregnant with twins - the boys were born 1 week after my planned 2012 trip dates), I made a list of all the restaurants we had tried in 2011 and asked people what they wanted to go back to. When we talked about Coral Reef, we all got mad all over again (Bad Food + Bad Service). So I went to go rant about my experience on every review site I could think of in an attempt to save other people from a similar fate. However, when I thought about it, I realized my ranting would do no good. I, too, had read horrible reviews prior to going and still made the ADR anyways. So I decided it would be better to complain to the mouse himself, and hopefully they would fix the issues and thereby save innocent vacationers from a similar fate.

I sat down and wrote a very nice email, detailing our experience at Coral Reef and other restaurants and illustrating how there was a need for upper management to intervene at that restaurant, etc. A few days later I got a phone call from a cast member. They were concerned by my email and wanted more information. I answered his questions and was very nice. I never attacked them and I told them we were satisfied with our vacation as a whole, but that I had written out of concern for Disney more than for my family. At the end of the call, he said he wanted to give me a dining gift card. So a few days later, I got a $100.00 dining gift card in the mail. So that is how I am planning on paying for most of Jiko.

 

[Kaykool101]

THE QUICK SERVICE MEALS

Now on to the Quick Service Meals

Landscape of Flavors – Since we are staying at AoA, I figured we should try the food court. I have read good things and it is convenient. Mom and Aaron are both coffee people, if they have coffee in the morning they are good to go and will not worry about food until noon. Keara and and I are breakfast people. We wake up hungry and need to eat or our moods just get worse and worse. So I imagine we will also find ourselves paying OoP for some breakfasts here as well.

Sunshine Seasons – So this one is interesting. I have heard tons of good things about Sunshine Seasons, and I figure that is saying something since it has to compete with all the other QS in World Showcase.

FlameTree BBQ – This is another place that I hear overwhelmingly positive things about. I have to admit, we love Yak and Yeti TS and would probably be doing Yak and Yeti QS, but I just hear so many good things about Flame Tree, I figure we need to try it.

Be Our Guest Lunch – This was a “duh” when I didn’t get dinner reservations. I didn’t try too hard, because I knew I could fall back on lunch and I just don’t get dinner. Frankly, the entrees don’t appeal to me. The dessert at lunch and dinner is the same. And the only appetizers I would eat are the soups and they are also offered at lunch. The only thing I am worried about is that the experience will suffer at lunch.

Pepper’s Market – So I read stuff that said this was a good counter service. And I know it is bit weird to resort hop for counter service food, but the menu really appealed to our group. We all thought it sounded good. Also, since we have cars, going to other resorts for dinner isn’t too hard. I like looking at the other resorts anyways.

Tangerine Café – DH loves Mediterranean, Indian, Moroccan, Middle Eastern food. Basically anything influenced by those cuisines, he just raves about. We eat Persian, Indian, and Mediterranean regularly at home to. So when looking at all the World Showcase QS this just seemed like the place to start. This is the CS that we cancelled Biergarten to try. And I know it isn’t fair to compare a TS to a QS. I also got Tony’s Town Square out of the deal.

Pizza Planet – So I told the boys I was working on a plan to get us to Disney World, where Mickey Mouse lives. There, they can meet Woody and Buzz. Would you like to meet Woody and Buzz? Their response, “Can we go to Pizza Planet?” At the time, I didn’t even know if there was a Pizza Planet at Disney World. So the 4 year olds picked this place. The answer ended up being, “yes.” They are super excited.

I just hope they aren’t disappointed, because I am not impressed with the pictures at all. It looks nothing like the movie. I don’t understand why it looks so cheap. If I were Disney, I would make it look just like the movie, make it a sit down, have the Toy Story characters visit tables. You could even do a toppings bar where people go down the line and make their own pizza. Then drop it off to be cooked and the server brings it back to your table. They could charge people 50.00/person for pizza. And you know what? People would pay it. I get that they have the Princess experiences churning out money for them, but they just don’t capitalize on their properties that appeal to boys. If we had a girl, I wouldn’t be breaking the budget for a Cars room it would be for CRT and Akershus and 1900 Park Fare. But where are the Pixar character dining experiences? Just saying. If I couldn’t eat at the real Pizza Planet, Andy’s room would be fun too. Oops, sorry got off topic. The food looks bad. The place looks cheaper than a chuck e cheese, but we are going because they put Pizza Planet on the sign out front.

Pecos Bills/Columbia Harbor House/Wolfgang Puck Express – Right now our final credit is up in the air. These are the current contenders. I think Columbia Harbor House is in the lead. Mostly because we are going to be in Magic Kingdom one day and generally near Columbia Harbor House and I think we will need to eat about that time. My personal vote is for Wolfgang Puck Express, but when I showed Keara the menu she was unimpressed. We will see how it plays out. The beauty of QS is that you don’t have to have it planned out completely.

I will also say this, we are not sure how much the boys (4 year olds) are going to eat. They are very picky, so we might pick up some credits for breakfast, other meals, or extravagant snacks (i.e. turkey leg, mmmm). Further, we might share. It is in our best interest to, of course, order the most expensive items. For example, the Chicken and Ribs platter at Flame Tree, however, that is more than one person can eat. So we might just share it and save a credit for later.

I really want to give Wolfgang Puck express a try. But we will see if we can get over to Downtown Disney. Our schedule is very busy!

 

[Mommy2BnB]

Again, great review of past dining experiences. I'm glad you wrote the email about Coral Reef, hopefully the issues there will get fixed so that other families don't have bad experiences there.

 

[Kaykool101]

Again, great review of past dining experiences. I'm glad you wrote the email about Coral Reef, hopefully the issues there will get fixed so that other families don't have bad experiences there.

Thank you so much. I love the feedback!

I know I get long winded so I appreciate you for sticking with me.

 

[Kaykool101]

JAKE UPDATE

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, to Pirates League we go.

So a couple days ago, I saw on the Disboards that they had added a Jake Makeover to Pirates League. Now, for a family that does not have any little girls, I spend a ton of time talking about Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. In fact, I am trying very very hard to get my best friend to come in 2015 and bring her daughter, just so we have a girl for all the princess stuff. If that doesn’t work, then I am going to have to just keep having kids until I get a girl.

Because I like the dress up thing so much, and because we have boys, I had talked to Keara about Pirates League previously, but ultimately we decided the boys just aren’t into pirates yet. Which is true. They like Buzz and Woody dress up. Or Marvel super hero dress up, or Ninja Turtles dress up way more. They have dressed up like Captain Hook and Peter Pan before, but that was more about the specific characters rather than being a ‘pirate’

Adam (left) is Peter Pan and holding Alex, Ben (right) is Hook and holding Bryan

That is why we got so excited when I found out they were now doing Jake makeovers. I emailed Keara and she told me that it was a must do. So last week, I called and booked the reservation!!!

We are super excited and now looking for a good deal on a Jake costume.

Later, I found out they also offer Izzy and Cubbie. So maybe one will be Cubbie? I forget, but one of them is crazy about Cubbie. Keara wants the experience to be a surprise, so she is trying to decide if it is better to have them do the same thing or be different.

Incidentally, the reservation specialist talked me into a reservation for Nana. Lol. I don’t know if we are going to do that or not. But I need to decide in the next day or so, so that I can let the reservation go to someone else if she doesn’t want to do it.

Any adults here ever try the pirates’ league?

I wonder if they will do her up like Izzie, that would be cute, then we would have all three.

 

[Imagineer5]

Hi! I love your PTR!! What a beautiful extended family! Your boys and nephews are adorable.

I have a 17m old DD and sound JUST LIKE YOU haha! I am excited to hear all the stuff for boys, and can't wait for her to be 3 to do the BBB! She has been 4 times and we go again in a few weeks. We went when she was 8m, 10m, 13m and 16m - so if you have any questions feel free to ask! She still naps 2 times per day, and we were able to get that in the stroller by placing a A+A muslin blanket over and tying it down. She did nap much better in the room, though, but it was nice to be able to be out and about.

3 hours for leaving the park, 2 hour nap, and going back to the park is going to be tight. Esp if you are planning to use disney transportation. And you never know how long they will actually nap for - they may be too wired and take a long time to sleep, or they may fall right asleep and want to sleep for 3 hours. If you are simply going back for a nap, I'd try stroller naps. Oh, she also did not nap that well in her umbrella Maclaren, but loves her fully-reclinable city select! Maybe a baby jogger city mini double for the boys? I don't think you've said what stroller you have?

Also not sure if you nurse the boys but I had to deal with all of that too. DHS baby care center is useless; the others are great. And to save $$, use the BCC's to fill up the group's water bottles for free.

 

[Mommy2BnB]

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, to Pirates League we go.

Pirates League with a Jake theme sounds cute. And all I can say about that pic is AAAWWWWW!!!! I love baby feet, too cute!

 

[Kaykool101]

Hi! I love your PTR!! What a beautiful extended family! Your boys and nephews are adorable.

I have a 17m old DD and sound JUST LIKE YOU haha! I am excited to hear all the stuff for boys, and can't wait for her to be 3 to do the BBB! She has been 4 times and we go again in a few weeks. We went when she was 8m, 10m, 13m and 16m - so if you have any questions feel free to ask! She still naps 2 times per day, and we were able to get that in the stroller by placing a A+A muslin blanket over and tying it down. She did nap much better in the room, though, but it was nice to be able to be out and about.

3 hours for leaving the park, 2 hour nap, and going back to the park is going to be tight. Esp if you are planning to use disney transportation. And you never know how long they will actually nap for - they may be too wired and take a long time to sleep, or they may fall right asleep and want to sleep for 3 hours. If you are simply going back for a nap, I'd try stroller naps. Oh, she also did not nap that well in her umbrella Maclaren, but loves her fully-reclinable city select! Maybe a baby jogger city mini double for the boys? I don't think you've said what stroller you have?

Also not sure if you nurse the boys but I had to deal with all of that too. DHS baby care center is useless; the others are great. And to save $$, use the BCC's to fill up the group's water bottles for free.

Thank you so much for all the advice. I love to hear from other moms who have braved the world with babies in tow. I am not familiar with the blanket you mentioned, do you have a link or picture? I think tying a blanket down may be the best thing to do, I love that advice. Bryan is my particular child (he likes his bed), but I think if we can block out everything and turn on a sound machine (I have a couple of portable ones right now), then he will nap in the stroller.

We are going to rent one, so any advice on what or where to rent is very much needed.

Pirates League with a Jake theme sounds cute. And all I can say about that pic is AAAWWWWW!!!! I love baby feet, too cute!

Thank you! It is a cute pic. Especially considering the boys were only a few weeks old and I was freaking out about the three year olds holding them. But they did really well...that time. When we went to do Christmas pics at the portrait studio, Adam got tired of holding the baby and stood up abruptly, luckily, Nana saw it coming and caught the baby. Scariest millisecond of my life.

 

[Kaykool101]

DISNEY STORE SHOPPING UPDATE

So despite being a week out from my paycheck and on a shoe string budget, I somehow found myself back at the Disney Store this past weekend.

How did that happen? I blame vinylmation. We took my nephews to the Disney Store to trade a few of the vinylmations that I had bought previously.

It started off simple enough. We waited in line at the counter, asked if we could trade. I let each boy give the CM a vinylmation and pick a number. One got the 3 little pigs from the nursery rhyme collection, the other got Chuckles from the Pixar collect. I also traded and got the Queen of Hearts from the villains series.

All-in-all it was a good trip. We should have left there. But then there was the sale section in the back of the store. We had to check it out. And since the trading had gone so well, I had to see if there were any $3 vinylmations left.

Yeah, $160.00 later…

Not really, we had a Disney debit card, so we got 10% off. And that was Keara’s, Nana’s, and my purchases all together. So I didn’t spend “that” much (if I keep telling myself that it will make it true).
So what did we get?

A lot of vinylmation. My sister bought 10 at 3 dollars each so she could start her own collection. I bought 2 of the 3 dollar ones to replace the 2 I gave my nephews. Here are the two I got:

I also bought a Monster’s University Pin. I had seen it the previous night and they had just dropped the price to $5. How could I pass up on that? Also, since we were getting 10% off, it was really only $4.50. They were out of OK and PNK, so I went for ROR. I want an OK pin so bad now I can’t stand it.

I bought the dalmatian disney baby outfit. It is longed sleeved, so I don't know if it will work in the parks, but it should be really cute next fall and they were only 5.99 ea. How could I say no?

My husband’s birthday is coming up. So I bought him a couple of T-shirts.

However, since he rarely wears t-shirts, I think I am going to take the Mickey one back. (I would love to think I am taking it back and getting a refund, but I will probably spend it on vinylmation if there are any left.)

I also got myself 2 t-shirts.

They are cute, but I might take the pooh one back. We went by the Goodwill a few days later and I was able to pick up 2 Winnie-the-pooh t-shirts. (Only got a picture of 1)

How many do I really need for the vacation? And the goodwill shirts were much cheaper. Also, I got my husband a Mickey t-shirt at the Goodwill. All the more reason to take the other one back.

 

[momminnie]

Enjoying reading about you plans. I too am a Disney nut. Planning is one of my favorite things about our trips.

 

[Kaykool101]

Enjoying reading about you plans. I too am a Disney nut. Planning is one of my favorite things about our trips.

And thanks for joining in.

 

[Kaykool101]

I have been trying to get a snack post up forever, but I keep having other things come up to post about.

So yesterday, I changed my Biergarten reservation to Via Napoli. I was just going to cancel it as we (and by "we", I mean "I") decided to do Tony's Town Square instead. Also, cancelling allows us to eat lunch at the Tangerine Cafe, but I keep reading and hearing great reviews of Via Napoli.

So now I have to decide if we want to give up another TS? or pay OoP? or give it up altogether?

When you do pizza at Via Napoli on the dining plan they don't allow you to share. For example, if we go in and order a large pizza and nothing else, they will subtract 4 table service credits because there are 4 adults. If we ordered the large, however, it only requires two table service, so two people could order entrees, so as to get a better value, but they are basically forced to do so.

Now lets look at the cost. If we ordered the Mezzo sized pizza it is a $40.00 pizza, but requires 4 credits. That is only $10.00/credit.

Credits are worth about $30.00/ea. When eating at an ala cart location you want $20 to $25 entrees, the drinks, dessert, and tax make up the rest. So at $10.00, the Mezzo is way off.

You can get closer to an acceptable value when you order a large pizza and two entrees but the entrees people rave about are the mixed seafood pasta and no one in our group likes mixed seafood.

So then we would be ordering things like the chicken parmesan and spaghetti and meatballs, which I am sure are very good but...

It still isn't a good dining plan value and when I consider having to give up something else (most likely Tony's or Mama Melrose because we don't need that much Italian in one trip...) plus Tangerine Cafe (we would spend the QS elsewhere, just can't do that QS).

I am starting to see why despite good reviews, I was able to snag a reservation for 8, only 70 days out. It really doesn't work with the dining plan.

I know there are plenty of people out there screaming "Give up Tony's or Mama Melrose, because Via Napoli is so much better." But I will say this. I like Tonys for the ambiance and do not want to give it up. And Mama Melrose is filling a need that day in Hollywood Studios in addition to being a good value for the dining plan with the Fantasmic dinner package.

So then Nana suggested paying OoP. hmmm. Out of pocket we don't have silly ordering restrictions. We could get a single pizza and water. We split the pizza and end up at only $40.00 to $50.00 for the meal. Actually the bill will be closer to $60.00 because I really want to try the arancini appetizer.

The problem is we have alot of OoP already.

In my mind, the OoP expense is really starting to add up and we haven't even finished paying for the trip yet.

There is the gas, stroller rental, OoP restaurants, gratuities, souvenirs (I am going to want to buy some more pins), autograph books for the boys, photopass CD, photopass book, etc. And that is just off the top of my head. Not to mention I want to budget $200.00 for the deposit on the bounce back. I would like the option of coming back next year.

So I think I will keep it for now. But that might change...

My Dine with an Imagineer is really on the chopping block now. I just don't see how I will be able to keep it. But I will know more once the trip is paid in full at the end of this month. *fingers crossed

 

[Kaykool101]

It’s “SNACK TIME!!!”

So now that I have talked about Table Service and Quick Service and Out of Pocket Experiences, it is time to start spending those snack credits.

I think snack credits are one of my favorite parts of the Disney Dining Plan. My family was always tight with a penny, so when I was little we didn’t get treats at amusement parks really. If we did, we all shared it. Mostly, I think we got the occasional funnel cake or caramel apple. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like park food. I love it. I think the obvious favorites are Cotton Candy, Funnel Cake, and Caramel Apples. I don’t remember Disney specific snack so much, because we didn’t do them a lot. So I remember more of the carnival, fair, and amusement park fare.

But now there is so much more. And instead of picking just one, we get a whole bunch!!!

There are 8 of us going, but since my boys are almost 1 year old, we only have 6 dining plans. So that is a total of 48 snack credits! Those really add up. I am glad we have the kids this year.

So what are we going to do with all those credits? That is where I need your help. Please feel free to respond with suggestions and ideas!

To start off with, some portion of those will go for drinks and frozen lemonades to keep cool. For those of you freaking out that drinks are not the best use of a credit, I would say a large drink is $3.00, which isn’t a bad use of a credit either. Let’s face it, we can’t spend all the credits on 5 or 6 dollar items, there aren’t enough. And I would rather not come out of pocket at 3.00 ea. just so we can get another snack. We really probably won’t need it. That being said, we will mostly do ice water. We carry bottled water with us and at the locations that give you tap water (some will give you filtered out of the coke machine), we will just get ice. But every now and then the heat and energy expense gets to you and you need a real pick me up. We found the frozen lemonades to be life savers last time.

Next is my list of the special treats we want to try:

Cotton Candy during Fantasmic for sure, but possibly somewhere else too

Funnel Cake at Sleepy Hollow and probably again in AK

Mammoth Pecan Pattie (these were amazing last time, they had them at most of the parks and they were just fantastic, so we want to do a few of these again)

Sea Salted Caramel dipped in Chocolate at the Caramel shop

Creme Brulee at the French bakery

Roule au Fromage at the French bakery

Hot Candied Pecans in AK or Adventure Land

LeFou's Brew at Gaston’s Tavern

Churros in Mexico

Soup at Be Our Guest (Poato Leek & French Onion)

Ice Cream Sandwich at Dino Bites

Pina Colada cupcake at Gasparilla Island Grill (it doesn’t look like it is available for a snack credit though, so we might skip this one).

Butterfinger Cupcake

Mickey Cupcake at the Art of Animation

Strawberry and Banana Smoothie at Art of Animation

Anything I forgot?

 

[Mommy2BnB]

MMMMmmmmm, everyone of your snacks look wonderful!!! I would just add Mickey Ice Cream bar and a rice crispy Mickey head. Sorry, no good advice on Via Napoli vs. Tony's.

 

[Magic2000]

We'll be there those days too!!! My DH and I are joining my DD (Amy), DSIL (Tim), and Cady, our 2 yr old DGD, staying at All Star Movies - Cady loves 101 Dalmations. She LOVES the commercial "Wipe, Wipe, Wipe Your Paws"!!! She also loves Sofia, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Doc McStuffins, Little Einsteins (and Barney)!

DH, Cady and I are flying in on Sept 13. DD & DSIL are driving in Sept 14. We're staying til Sept 21.

Maybe we'll see yall around!!!! Oh, my oldest daughter's name is Kristin!

 

[Magic2000]

If you like coconut (LOVE IT!), you have to try the School bread in Norway!!! Also, when we were there in Nov/Dec, we spent a lot of our snack credits in the Big Top Circus building in Magic Kingdom (by Mickey and Minnie's house). We got Cady a Mickey cookie, and I brought back quite a few of the cake pops. (My girls love to get cake pops from Starbucks)

There are all kinds of snack foods there - you will go crazy!!! I mean, the kids will go crazy!! haha

We have ADRs for many of the same restaurants - Ohana (dinner), Garden Grill, Hollywood & Vine (lunch), Crystal Palace, Chefs de France!! With the list of restaurants that we (I) love at Disney, plus trying to fit in some new restaurants, plus all the snacks - we'd have to be eating every 3 hours!! lol

 

[Magic2000]

One more post - we are renting a jogging stroller from A Baby's Best Friend. They are talked about a lot on the disboards, and so I googled it and really liked that they steam clean the strollers in between uses. They do have double strollers too. My daughter didn't want to bring her big, bulky stroller down and have to fight with it on the buses, and I bought the stroller that is sold in the Disney gift shops on our last trip, but it doesn't recline. Although she really does sleep good in it, when I saw the stroller on ABBF, I talked Amy in to renting one.

On our last trip, I brought in one of her baby blankets, and when she fell asleep in the stroller, I draped the blanket over the sun viser part so it blocked even more sun. I used a clothes pin to clip it to the viser so it wouldn't blow off.

She is also renting a baby bed from them (she's bringing her own sheets though). Even though Cady is 2, she still sleeps in her baby bed and sleeps really good. On her previous two visits to Disney, she shared a bed with me or her mom and she's a kicker and moves all over, so the adult doesn't get much sleep. (and when her mommy doesn't sleep, she's very cranky! true story - lol) Cady does NOT sleep well in a pack and play.

You may want to check out abbf.com.

 

[PetersLittleFairy]

Snacks are always good ! I love the school bread! But you should definitely try zebra domes and dole whips !

 

[indimom]

Those snacks look wonderful!!! And I completely agree with you about the frozen lemonades. They are a great snack when it's hot out. Super cold, tasty, and don't melt as fast as ice cream. You can enjoy those for quite a while as you wander around a park. We are big fans of those.

I may have to take a couple notes from your list. Epcot is going to be our snack around the world day, and you've got some yummy-looking items on your list! Mmmmm, salted caramel....