***February 2023 Official Thread****

[francisca2022]

Those are some littles Do they like princesses or classic characters?

If you like classic characters, I'd recommend Tusker House breakfast at AK. It's pretty regular food (with some fancier/different tasting options), but littles will find something to eat. And it has all the classic characters you would want to meet without waiting in lines. And I'd aim for 10-11am for this if you like the idea so you have a nice sit down break planned. Crystal Palace has Pooh and friends if you like those characters and is the same idea, but then you have to find Minnie and the others somewhere else.

Most Disney restaurants are aware that the littles are coming as part of the package and are very nice. Exceptions being grown up places like California Grill or Victoria and Alberts. If you like Tgiving dinner, Liberty Tree Tavern is cute and has a lot of food that kids will eat. You could check out the menu.

If you eat at Sautu'li Canteen in AK, it's just a big open air dining area where I regularly see Papa's and Gma's watching littles while their parents ride Flight of Passage *ROFL* Such good grandparents. We never had those in our family. The food is good and it's easy to eat while the kids play.

I LOVE Skipper Canteen but I know lots of people think the food is too exotic for small children. My girls are good eaters, but again you have to think about your girls.

But the truly important question at MK for my crew is....Cinnamon Roll (Gaston's) or Nutella Waffle (Sleepy Hollow). We can't eat both, so it's a big debate as to which we want more on any trip.

Only you know your kids, but mine wouldn't survive fireworks at that point and have a good day the next day. We were religiously awake at 7am regardless of what time we went to bed. In fact, we have still never seen fireworks. Bedtime is still 8:30. We might try to do the Halloween party this year.

I'm sorry your husband is unwell. Hope he gets out soon and you guys have a spectacular time!

Thanks so much for the recommendations!!!! We are travelling with grandparents so hopefully it won't be too crazy
I'll have to look for the cinnamon rolls and waffles!!

I think you are right about the fireworks -- I don't think we will make it till 8 or 9pm so probably no need to worry about dining reservations.

 

[LadybugsMum]

Are we going on the same vacation? My ADR is also 12/2! Should we meet up at Sebastian's?

I have a 4:45 dinner on 2/2 if you want to join us.

 

[Letting It Go!]

Today my ADR window opened. I was only looking to book a handful, but to my disappointment I couldn't get Garden Grill on my planned Epcot day (60+6).

I was able to get it later on my trip, but of course that messes with my park plans.

Is it likely that they haven't released all the reservations yet? I know there aren't a lot of character meals, but I didn't think Garden Grill was such a hot ticket! At any rate I'll wait a bit before I mess with my park reservations to see if it pops up on my planned Epcot day.

Set up an alert with mouse dining. I had the same thing happen with Akershus on Tuesday when my window opened. There was nothing even for 2 people 60 + 7 days out. I was seeing really hard places to get like Space 220 but no Akershus. Yesterday I got a mouse dining alert around 11:30am that reservations were available (saw them all days of my stay). They went fast (because now under 60 days), but I was able to snag one. Keep trying! My guess is they haven't dropped yet.

 

[Griffin11]

Set up an alert with mouse dining. I had the same thing happen with Akershus on Tuesday when my window opened. There was nothing even for 2 people 60 + 7 days out. I was seeing really hard places to get like Space 220 but no Akershus. Yesterday I got a mouse dining alert around 11:30am that reservations were available (saw them all days of my stay). They went fast (because now under 60 days), but I was able to snag one. Keep trying! My guess is they haven't dropped yet.

Thank you for the ray of hope, I will set up an alert and keep trying! My dining reservations are a mess right now because I'm not sure what parks we will be at on which days until I can get Garden Grill settled, it's the biggest dining priority for our family.

 

[Megan138]

Did you get Space?!

I didn't There are 5 of us and it was for a Friday so I wasn't surprised. I'm going to set up an alert and look closer to our arrival date. I really want to try it. I hope you have a wonderful experience there!

 

[Megan138]

OK Everybody, I think I got the guest list updated. If I missed you, will you please let me know
For some reason, I stopped getting alerts on this and we know how glitchy the world can be, so I suddenly had like 20 new messages on here I hadn't seen!

Hi! Can you please add me. I'm traveling with my husband and 3 of my kids to see my 4th perform with her high school chorus. We'll be at Contemporary 2/1 - 2/5.

 

[Barbanellie]

So, we woke up at 5:45 this morning for our ADRs (2 adults, no kids). I got an error message until  exactly 6am. We got Topolino breakfast, Space 220 Lounge, Tusker House breakfast (though not on the day I wanted), Jiko and Storybook Dining. Very pleased, and it is fun to have these reserved. We'll wing the rest of our meals, those were the ones I really wanted, and that I knew wouldn't be easy.

 

[Ecomommy09]

Hi! Can you please add me. I'm traveling with my husband and 3 of my kids to see my 4th perform with her high school chorus. We'll be at Contemporary 2/1 - 2/5.I

Hi! Can you please add me. I'm traveling with my husband and 3 of my kids to see my 4th perform with her high school chorus. We'll be at Contemporary 2/1 - 2/5.

Gotcha! I love the Contemporary. I LOVE the mural. It’s one f my favorite Disney memories. I am hoping to stay there in October with my youngster

 

[Jelkat]

I didn't There are 5 of us and it was for a Friday so I wasn't surprised. I'm going to set up an alert and look closer to our arrival date. I really want to try it. I hope you have a wonderful experience there!

Did you say earlier you were wanting to book the lounge? As far as I know they only do tables up to 4 so you'd need a table of 2 and 3 and even with that can't guarantee they'll be next to each other.

 

[Megan138]

Gotcha! I love the Contemporary. I LOVE the mural. It’s one f my favorite Disney memories. I am hoping to stay there in October with my youngster

This is the first time I'm staying there with my family. I had stayed there years ago for a work training but wanted to stay there during the 50th anniversary celebration in the updated rooms.

 

[Megan138]

Did you say earlier you were wanting to book the lounge? As far as I know they only do tables up to 4 so you'd need a table of 2 and 3 and even with that can't guarantee they'll be next to each other.

Thank you so much for letting me know that! I had no idea. At least now when I'm checking the lounge I'll put in the smaller size group.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Today was our ADR day and I was able to get everything I wanted except Boathouse on Sunday. But I was able to get it on Monday, though. It will be a new restaurant for us. I looked for Space 220 Lounge, but it wasn't available. It also wasn't that important to us.

The dining reservation window opens at 6am Eastern time which is 5am here. That is early but luckily, I woke up in time.

 

[hlrubin507]

Disney friends, count me in for this thread!

Us: Me, DH, DD (11), DD (8). I'm a West Coaster but have been to WDW maybe 15-20 times over my lifetime; last longer WDW trip was 12/2020 and dropped by AK for a day 11/2021, but we visit DL more frequently (closer, cheaper).

This trip is Feb 24-28.; we disembark our Disney Cruise on the 24th and meeting up with our close friends from Idaho flying out for their (supposedly ) one-and-done for their 11YO DD.

4 days to show this dear family what makes WDW so magical -- no pressure!!!

We are staying at SSR in a 2-bd.

I am planning on pacing things with one park per day, and either doing early entry RD to lunch, break at the resort, and back around dinner time, OR, doing the thing people seem to do a lot of now which is stacking lightning lanes all day and then arriving quite late and staying through close. Because it is SO TEMPTING to try to "do it all" in 4 days but when the energy starts draining by the 3rd day, it's not so fun.

Fri 24th: Check in, dinner in DS
Sat 25th: MK
Sun 26th: HS
Mon 27th: EP (for extended evening hours)
Tues 28th: AK (we fly out that night; they leave early the next morning)

Dining: Very TBD, I need to make some decisions for sure. Hoping to get Toppolino's for breakfast one day, maybe Steakhouse 71 or Skipper Canteen on MK day, and I'll try for Space 220 Lounge but don't have my hopes up. I'd love your suggestions for our party of 7 (4 adults who like GOOD food + 3 kids who don't care except for dessert).

Other: MAYBE a MK fireworks party but MAN they are pricey and have gotten some bad reviews lately. The jury is out on this one. Not a lot of time for much else!

I cannot WAIT!

 

[Griffin11]

Finally got my coveted Garden Grill reservation for the day I wanted

I had been checking regularly, it seems like they just released the Garden Grill reservations for Feb 5 and 6 this morning, even though the dates before and after had been available. Glad it worked out, but the quirks in the ADR system are definitely frustrating.

 

[Ecomommy09]

Disney friends, count me in for this thread!

Us: Me, DH, DD (11), DD (8). I'm a West Coaster but have been to WDW maybe 15-20 times over my lifetime; last longer WDW trip was 12/2020 and dropped by AK for a day 11/2021, but we visit DL more frequently (closer, cheaper).

This trip is Feb 24-28.; we disembark our Disney Cruise on the 24th and meeting up with our close friends from Idaho flying out for their (supposedly ) one-and-done for their 11YO DD.

4 days to show this dear family what makes WDW so magical -- no pressure!!!

We are staying at SSR in a 2-bd.

I am planning on pacing things with one park per day, and either doing early entry RD to lunch, break at the resort, and back around dinner time, OR, doing the thing people seem to do a lot of now which is stacking lightning lanes all day and then arriving quite late and staying through close. Because it is SO TEMPTING to try to "do it all" in 4 days but when the energy starts draining by the 3rd day, it's not so fun.

Fri 24th: Check in, dinner in DS
Sat 25th: MK
Sun 26th: HS
Mon 27th: EP (for extended evening hours)
Tues 28th: AK (we fly out that night; they leave early the next morning)

Dining: Very TBD, I need to make some decisions for sure. Hoping to get Toppolino's for breakfast one day, maybe Steakhouse 71 or Skipper Canteen on MK day, and I'll try for Space 220 Lounge but don't have my hopes up. I'd love your suggestions for our party of 7 (4 adults who like GOOD food + 3 kids who don't care except for dessert).

Other: MAYBE a MK fireworks party but MAN they are pricey and have gotten some bad reviews lately. The jury is out on this one. Not a lot of time for much else!

I cannot WAIT!

11 is going to LOVE WDW and they will be there every year until they turn 15 and it’s not cool anymore.

 

[Megan138]

The Fantasmic dining packages are released through February 8th if anyone is interested. I wasn’t able to get SciFi but everything else was available for February 2

 

[Wood Nymph]

The Fantasmic dining packages are released through February 8th if anyone is interested. I wasn’t able to get SciFi but everything else was available for February 2

Thanks for the heads up. I checked the available dates and restaurants for our dates - Feb 5-8 but SciFi wasn't available, and the other restaurants didn't appeal to us. I decided to skip the Fantasmic packages and just take our chances with the standby line.

 

[Ecomommy09]

I booked Yak and Yeti for my AK day. I’ve never eaten there. I always say I’m going to and then cancel.

I didn’t see a time for anything I wanted at Mk! The Skipper res were all too early for me. There was Cinderella’s and Beast’s but I don’t want that big of a lunch. I guess I’ll snack my way over to Epcot on waffles AND cinnamon rolls. The DECADENCE

 

[Jelkat]

Yak & yeti is one of our favourites. Always good food, we love it and never miss it

 

[Tattylou]

I’m curious about booking Fantasmic dining packages. My ADR day is Dec 21 and I’m an old pro at booking dining - but I’m not sure if Fantasmic packages will be released for our travel dates by then (Feb 19-25) or how it works for booking packages. Anyone know how booking the dining packages works? We only have one HS day and there’s seven of us so I need to make it a priority to try to get it when we can- thanks!