First DVC trip - any tips?

[JaneSparrow]

We joined DVC in October 2010 and our home resort is BLT. We are going to VGC on 2/14 to 2/17 in 1BR. We have a 2yr old boy who loves MM Clubhouse and Little Einsteins and he is not scared of the characters.

What should we expect? Do you have any tips for first-timers on the following:
-Discounts at the resort and parks? Like the gallery CD I read somewhere here
-Character dining (are they all breakfast?)
-What not to miss at the hotel/park?
-Best quick service meal
-Best casual dining restaurant

________________________________________________
"Looking forward to a lifetime of first"
11/1996 - First time in US and Disneyland (day trip only)
07/1998 - First time in WDW - offsite
07/2010 - First family trip to WDW - Pop Century
10/2010 - First joined DVC
02/2011 - First family trip to Disneyland resort, first time at any DVC resort - VGC 1BR

 

[nexttripdisney]

Welcome Neighbor!

Character dining times vary depending on the restaurant. We don't do breakfasts (usually) since we place an order with Garden Grocer and save the time and $$ by eating "in." I do like lunches better than dinner because it cost less. You may want to consider Chef Mickeys for breakfast since it's at the Contemporary and you can walk right over.

You need to get a book like "The Unofficial Guide to WDW" and do some research to find what attractions suit your family--there are so many!!

You have many, many trips to WDW ahead of you (lucky you!) and planning is half the fun. Good luck!

 

[mdsd8700]

You sound a little bit like us. We bought BLT last June but our first DVC trip was to VGC in a 1 Bdrm as well! You are going to absolutely love the VGC. Although requests are never guaranteed, I would at least ask for high floor, theme park view. If you are lucky to get it as we were it will completely enhance your experience. Don't worry about the sounds of DCA being loud, once those doors are shut the outside noise doesn't come it. We were not bothered by it all. We acutally left the doors open pretty late because we liked the sites and sounds but our kids are in their teens so that wasn't an issue.

We have only been to DLR 4 so definately not experts. You should check out the DLR portion of the boards. You can get a lot of great tips and ideas there.

I would say not to miss WOC. It was amazing! Our family loved it. We went in July when it was crowded and it had not been open that long so we did the dinner package with the better seating and it worked out great. I am sure we would do the same again.

As far as Character Meals, I think Goofy's Kitchen the best. Similar to Chef Mickey's in WDW. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and I do think most of the other character locations do as well.

Not sure if I have a favorite casual/quick service location to eat. I am sure others will chime in with their thoughts.

Enjoy! We absoultely love DLR and hope you have a wonderful vacation.

 

[JaneSparrow]

Welcome Neighbor!

Character dining times vary depending on the restaurant. We don't do breakfasts (usually) since we place an order with Garden Grocer and save the time and $$ by eating "in." I do like lunches better than dinner because it cost less. You may want to consider Chef Mickeys for breakfast since it's at the Contemporary and you can walk right over.

You need to get a book like "The Unofficial Guide to WDW" and do some research to find what attractions suit your family--there are so many!!

You have many, many trips to WDW ahead of you (lucky you!) and planning is half the fun. Good luck!

Thanks! I will lookup the book and keep these in mind for our BLT trip in October.

 

[JaneSparrow]

You sound a little bit like us. We bought BLT last June but our first DVC trip was to VGC in a 1 Bdrm as well! You are going to absolutely love the VGC. Although requests are never guaranteed, I would at least ask for high floor, theme park view. If you are lucky to get it as we were it will completely enhance your experience. Don't worry about the sounds of DCA being loud, once those doors are shut the outside noise doesn't come it. We were not bothered by it all. We acutally left the doors open pretty late because we liked the sites and sounds but our kids are in their teens so that wasn't an issue.

We have only been to DLR 4 so definately not experts. You should check out the DLR portion of the boards. You can get a lot of great tips and ideas there.

I would say not to miss WOC. It was amazing! Our family loved it. We went in July when it was crowded and it had not been open that long so we did the dinner package with the better seating and it worked out great. I am sure we would do the same again.

As far as Character Meals, I think Goofy's Kitchen the best. Similar to Chef Mickey's in WDW. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and I do think most of the other character locations do as well.

Not sure if I have a favorite casual/quick service location to eat. I am sure others will chime in with their thoughts.

Enjoy! We absoultely love DLR and hope you have a wonderful vacation.

Thanks for the tips. I am calling MS now to request that theme park view. We will do WOC but with the picnic meal. We had dining plan in our last WDW trip and I didnt really enjoy the service meals because my baby wont sit still so I think we will go with quick service this time and eat mostly in our room. But we want to do 1 character dining - Goofy's kitchen is the default if all other character dining are at breakfast time. Thanks again!

 

[Disneypirate85]

The most important one I can give you is RELAX. If you miss something don't worry you'll be back...Have a Magical time. Shawn

 

[JaneSparrow]

The most important one I can give you is RELAX. If you miss something don't worry you'll be back...Have a Magical time. Shawn

Nice one - thanks!

 

[AnnaS]

The most important one I can give you is RELAX. If you miss something don't worry you'll be back...Have a Magical time. Shawn

I was just going to say the same thing

Just relax, enjoy, observe and absorb. No reason to try to squeeze it all in. You will be back!!!!!!!!!!

 

[harpetj]

We have stayed 3 times now at VGC with our kids, 3 and 2. It is so wonderful to walk to the parks without transportation! We got a one bedroom last fall with a front-row view of WOC and it was amazing. We didn't have to drag our toddlers down to wait with the masses, we just watched from our balcony in our pjs! Our favorite CS is at California Adventure at Taste Pilots Grill. It has burgers, chicken sandwiches, etc with a toppings bar for all the fixings. Easy to access from the Villas through the resort entrance to the park. We also love to eat at Storytellers for lunch. It is usually so quiet because everyone is in the parks. We always come back for naps and just stop in for lunch and head up to the villa. The only character meal we have done is Goofy's kitchen. We love the mix of characters there. You some of the fab 5, princesses, and others. This is great for us because we have a boy and girl to accomodate. The food is pretty good as well. We usually plan for a late breakfast, early lunch after a couple of hours in the parks.
IMHO, Disneyland with kids 5 and under is so much more relaxing than WDW. Staying at the villas is so convenient and most toddlers are only interested in the Fantasyland type rides and character interactions. We always do the extra mornings at the parks for the Fantasyland rides, hit a few more and head out of the park for lunch/naps/swimming.
Have a great time and enjoy DL and VGC!

 

[pinner33]

we are in a 1br villa with a pier view right now for our first stay after buying here last april and love it.Great view of the park and world of colour went down and braved the crowds last night with the kids but thought it was better with young kids from the villas.Our villa is close enough that you can feel the heat from the fire.We have been here several times but we brought the inlaws and have been taking it slow on them.As far as character brekfasts we have only done storytellers in the grand it was ok good food little pricey because we usually have breakfast in the room and have a late lunch or supper out

 

[cseca]

If you don't have a car consider getting some groceries delivered.
Especially with a 2yo, you might not want to pack diapers and wipes. Plus you could get bottled water for a quarter of the park's price.

DL's food options are not as great as WDW. As to my favorite places, I like Boudin's soup in a bread bowl at DCA, taste pilot's pretty good too.
At DL I don't really have a favorite. Although I really really like the pomme frites at Cafe orleans. Unfortunately that's the only thing we like from the restaurant.
If the food places get really crowded at the park, head over to Whitewater snacks at GC. The place is almost always empty. And the food can feed 2 people easily.

Anyways, have a ball. GC is wonderful!

 

[Minnichok]

Don't plan on staying at the parks all day with a 2 year old! We learned our lesson the hard way.

 

[JaneSparrow]

We had a blast! My 2yr old son said "wow" when we entered our 1BR villa. We watched WOC both at the park then in our room. Our room is on the right side & 2nd floor so we don't have a good view but we can still see parts of it. We did Goofy's kitchen and didn't really spend a lot of time at the parks. It's definitely relaxing there in terms of proximity to the parks. We went to WDW last summer and the walk to Pop bus stop is longer than walk to VGC, i think! The only issue is no direct flight from RI to LA