Emily's Dream Factory Dream trip! We're all newbies!

[Menfusse]

Sorry for serial posting!

Can you guys tell me a bit about character dinging? Specifically b-fast? Emily is not a princess girl at all and would be more interested in other characters, but specifically requested to meet both Buzz Lightyear and Pluto. I don't think Buzz does any dining stuff, but Pluto does from what I gather? I'm not sure we would even be able to book any this close, but I thought I'd try anyway. Just don't know what I'm looking for.


ETA: And by dinging...I clearly mean dining, lol.

 

[sissy_ib]

Sorry for serial posting!

Can you guys tell me a bit about character dinging? Specifically b-fast? Emily is not a princess girl at all and would be more interested in other characters, but specifically requested to meet both Buzz Lightyear and Pluto. I don't think Buzz does any dining stuff, but Pluto does from what I gather? I'm not sure we would even be able to book any this close, but I thought I'd try anyway. Just don't know what I'm looking for.


ETA: And by dinging...I clearly mean dining, lol.

You're correct that Buzz does not do a character meal. Pluto is at Chef Mickeys at the Contemporary. It is late to be booking a character meal but that does not mean it wont happen. Just look online everyday and you could get lucky. Even if you do not get a character meal there are plenty of opportunities to meet the characters. Good luck

 

[Menfusse]

Talk to me about eating in the parks in general. We may look at eating in one table service restaurant, but for the most part just planned to grab something from some place with counter service. Do we need to figure out which table service one we want, and make reservations? Do we need to worry about eating at grab and go places for like a burger or whatever? Or should we look at reservations across the board?

 

[jenb1023]

I can help with character dining and dining in general!

Pluto is a Chef Mickey's breakfast but that is a tough reservation to get. It wouldn't hurt to try though.

I would highly recommend dinner at the Garden Grill at Epcot for character dining. It is Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale. You can almost always get a reservation there and the characters often come around twice and spend a lot of quality time with you. Chef Mickeys and some of the other character meals are much more rushed. If you can get a time close to opening, even better!

Meeting Buzz Lightyear is easy - as far as I know he meets every day in Tomorrowland near the Carousel of Progress. He also meets at Hollywood Studios with Woody near Toy Story Mania but that tends to be a lot more crazy/crowded.

As for dining in general, you will need reservations for any sit-down meals (Table Service) that you would like to do. It is very hard to get a walk-up without a reservation this time of year.

However, the counter service options at WDW are great! It is not burgers and chicken fingers at every meal like some amusement parks. If you go to the All Ears website, they have menus for every restaurant in WDW.
Our favorite counter service restaurants are:
MK - Columbia Harbor House, Cosmic Rays
Epcot - Sunshine Seasons
AK - Pizzafari
DHS - don't really have a favorite here

Hope this helps!!!!

 

[brown1442]

Melissa... I don't know how on earth I missed that she was granted a trip!!! AWESOME!!! I am so pumped for you guys!!!!

We've been to Disney twice and I tell you what they are AMAZING with SN kids!! We had nothing but positive experience all the way around... from the parks, rides, restaurants, travel, hotels... you names it!!

Our favorite restaurants are mostly outside of the parks to be honest. It just depends on what you are looking for. The character meals are fun (if you are kids aren't afraid of characters... lol... like one of mine is) but the food is usually mediocre at best. Still we do enjoy breakfast at Chef Mickeys even with eh-quality food cause the characters dancing all around is so much fun. We did 1900 park fare for breakfast last trip and the food was fine but we were not impressed by the characters to be honest. We LOVE both Ohana and Kona (we stay at the Poly so they are right there). Ohana has characters and a lot of fun dancing and games for the kids too. Food-wise we LOVE Cali-grill and watching the fireworks while eating.

As for inside the parks... We've never eaten in MK... always do resort meals (well other than counter service... in which case my kids like Caseys and Cosmic Rays). My older son enjoyed the music at the german restaurant in Epcot... Biergarten. Both kids also enjoyed eating next to the giant aquarium at Coral Reef!! We did Mama Melrose as part of the Fantasmic package at DHS and it was fine.

When we got in March I'm hoping to try either Mickey's Backyard BBQ or Hoop-dee-do Review as I've heard both are loads of fun.

 

[katieb4]

Just had to come back and say dates are now officially confirmed!!! We leave Aug. 19th and come back on the 25th! So, we have a month to plan and I don't even know where to start!!!!

Your days of the week are very similar to ours! We leave on a Friday in October, and come back on a Thursday. I've made a more detailed list on my PTR, but I'll jot down a little bit of what we are doing. We HAVE to get to the beach here too. My kiddos have never scene the ocean and as they are all waterbugs...we gotta go! My wish girl, well, all three girls, are big princess people so ignore those parts

Friday: Arrive GKTW and enjoy it! Attend Pirates and Princess party. I've read that they often have afternoon orientation that will fill in a lot of gaps if you don't get a chance to read enough here. I plan to send my hubby to it, so he can catch up to what I've learned on the Dis!

Saturday: Epcot (my favorite park) Take girls to get pearls in Japan....stay for light show.....my kids love fireworks.....We are going to eat at the garden grill....the restaurant rotates.....should be a blast....it was not hard to make reservations for

Sunday: SeaWorld.....my guess is if your DD is excited for AK she would love the animals at Sea World too. We plan to get back to GKTW that night for Mayor Clayton BDay party...and eat dinner there as well.

Monday: This happens to be my non wish kids bday....and she has been an Ariel fan since she could talk....sooo we are going to hollywood studios to see the Little Mermaid show for sure....we are having lunch at the the place that has Disney Jr characters Hollywood and Vine. After lunch I want to head over to Animal Kingdom

Tuesday: after all that...we might need a break.....BEACH DAY!! We are hoping to get to Siesta Keys with the white sand beaches

Wednesday is the big princess day for us. Magic Kingdom here we come, we plan to be there from open to close! There is a Wish Lounge that wish families can use to take a break. Our MAW chapter has planned a lunch for us at Cinderellas Castle and the girls have BBB appt.

Thur: Enjoy GKTW in the AM, then we must leave!

 

[Menfusse]

Your days of the week are very similar to ours! We leave on a Friday in October, and come back on a Thursday. I've made a more detailed list on my PTR, but I'll jot down a little bit of what we are doing. We HAVE to get to the beach here too. My kiddos have never scene the ocean and as they are all waterbugs...we gotta go! My wish girl, well, all three girls, are big princess people so ignore those parts

Friday: Arrive GKTW and enjoy it! Attend Pirates and Princess party. I've read that they often have afternoon orientation that will fill in a lot of gaps if you don't get a chance to read enough here. I plan to send my hubby to it, so he can catch up to what I've learned on the Dis!

Saturday: Epcot (my favorite park) Take girls to get pearls in Japan....stay for light show.....my kids love fireworks.....We are going to eat at the garden grill....the restaurant rotates.....should be a blast....it was not hard to make reservations for

Sunday: SeaWorld.....my guess is if your DD is excited for AK she would love the animals at Sea World too. We plan to get back to GKTW that night for Mayor Clayton BDay party...and eat dinner there as well.

Monday: This happens to be my non wish kids bday....and she has been an Ariel fan since she could talk....sooo we are going to hollywood studios to see the Little Mermaid show for sure....we are having lunch at the the place that has Disney Jr characters Hollywood and Vine. After lunch I want to head over to Animal Kingdom

Tuesday: after all that...we might need a break.....BEACH DAY!! We are hoping to get to Siesta Keys with the white sand beaches

Wednesday is the big princess day for us. Magic Kingdom here we come, we plan to be there from open to close! There is a Wish Lounge that wish families can use to take a break. Our MAW chapter has planned a lunch for us at Cinderellas Castle and the girls have BBB appt.

Thur: Enjoy GKTW in the AM, then we must leave!

I'm liking your plan! Yes, we are definitely going to Sea World. Emily insists on that. From what I read, we could probably pull off AK in a half day, and from looking at Epcot and knowing my girls, I think we could probably spend the other half there and be satisfied.

We are doing a beach day too!

We aren't going to do Universal. I just don't think either of my kids would really enjoy it as much as Disney or Sea World. I haven't decided on how much time to devote to Hollywood Studios. I know Emily will love GKTW as much as any of the theme parks and we'll want to spend time there.

Magic Kingdom is what they are both most looking forward to though. We've watched videos and videos and they can't get enough.

We leave in less than tree weeks!!!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!