Getting organized with my reservations (re: toddlers)

[MommyofTwinks]

Someone posted a great suggestion to one of my posts about a schedule for the days.

Heading to the park early in the am and when naptime hit, to head back and hang out in the resort (we are doing the AKL) after naptime and 'maybe' head back later in the day.

I am trying to get organized for my Feb trip and although I can't make reservations yet, I would like to have my 'list' ready to go once I can do so.
I want to do some character breakfasts, lunches, whatever - whatever will make my kids smile and enjoy their meals.
Is there anything besides a character meal that I should make a reservation to? Would it be best to do an early dinner with the kids if I was hoping to go to a little bit of a nicer place?

 

[stitchlover]

How old are your children?

 

[2poohbears]

with toddlers, especially, i would do early dinners - make ADR's before 5:30 pm

have your children been around characters before? if not, be aware that they may be afraid. the characters are really good about keeping their distance if they see your child is afraid. (i remember buying the sing along songs magic kingdom dvd before we went on our first trip, so i could introduce my kids to the characters).

are you doing the dining plan? if you plan to do a lot of character meals, you might want to consider it.

our favorite character meals when our boys were toddlers:
Garden Grill at Epcot---food isn't the best, but the character interaction was GREAT, and the restaurant isn't as noisy/busy as the others.

Crystal Palace at MK---pooh and friends is always a favorite, and breakfast here is really good. i also like getting into MK early (before the park opens) because you can get nice pics in front of the castle with very few people around.

Tuskar House Breakfast at AK---one of the few places you see donald!

my least favorite was the Playhouse breakfast at DHS...really, really loud, and too much going on. will never do that one again!

favorite counter service: MK---Pecos Bill and Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe (the kids love the animated character that plays music there).

 

[sparty7798]

Hi,
Our son was 2 when we took him for the first time and we did the following:
-Crystal Palace for dinner (Pooh characters)
-Chef Mickeys for Breakfast (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy)
-Hoop De Due Revue (dinner show)
-Whispering Canyon (dinner-no characters)
-Boma (breakfast-no characters)

He did really well with all of these and especially like Crystal Palace and Chef Mickeys.

Good Luck!

 

[DrMomof3]

We have a 6, 4, and 2 and we're about to take our 5th trip to Disney. We find that the kids to great until about noon. Then we have lunch and head back for resort-time. We schedule early dinner ADRs (every night, actually). We might do one or two favorite rides either right before or right after dinner but find we're usually all exhausted by then. My 2 year old is still afraid of characters but they're good about focusing on the older kids when they realize that he's scared.

Amanda

 

[LilGMom]

If this is your first trip you might throw all of your plans out the window after your first day. What I mean is that you might find that going back to the resort for a mid-day break isn't the best thing for you and your family and that your child might be afraid of the characters so character meals might be a bad experience.

I say this because while my oldest DS (9 yrs. old now but 9 months on his first trip) did not do well with us trying to go back to the resort for a nap. He fell asleep in the stroller, slept in the car on the way back to the resort but as soon as he got put down in the PNP he was up and raring to go. Our oldest DS also always loved the characters whereas my youngest has only had one character interaction in all of the times we've been (he is now 5 and started going at 6 months). We were eating at LTT one time and as soon as he saw Pluto heading our way he slid under the table and then tried to hide behind DH or myself each time a character was within six feet of our table. He hid behind a napkin at CP and told Mickey "Shoo" at CM.

I would stick with either lunches or early dinners (go based on the time that you normally eat if in you live in a different time zone than WDW) and not during your child's normal nap time. If your child is a good napper finding an out of the way spot at the parks and letting him/her rest in the stroller might be all he/she needs. I would also not plan every meal as a character meal just in case your child doesn't like the characters. There are some restaurants where the CMs are character enough. Most, if not all, of the restaurants will have papers for the kids to color which can also help keep them entertained.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

We did 6:30-7:30pm ADR's when we were there, our then 20 mth old took a late nap usually from 3-5 or 4-6 so she would behave Taking a tired toddler to a restaurant is just pure torture for a parent!

 

[Anthony1971]

We do not go to the parks everyday it is every other day for a chance to rest and nap... which works well so we get some quite time.
we do stay in the park the whole day when we go and we will do a 2 or around TS lunch so everyone gets a break...
we have been going off peak so the parks are not open late.. so a whole day is maybe 9-7

 

[pixarmom]

I'll second LilGMom's comments - develop a plan, and then be ready to alter it! It depends on so many factors - your kids, their needs, the time of year, etc.

Our three boys have always been great stroller nappers. We knew of all the mid-day nap advice, and tried that for a couple days with our oldest (then 18 months, now a pre-teen) and it was a disaster for us. He didn't want to go to sleep in a hotel room in the middle of his day, and he would fall asleep on the bus on the way back to the resort and then never get back to sleep. Someone said, "beware the 10 minute nap" in another thread, and that's definitely true!

But everyone is different, so the in-room break/nap may be necessary for your kids and work very well. It's just hard to tell before you go (and may change from trip to trip.) For example, we never did the mid-day break in February and March - nice and cool outside (sometimes too cold to swim) and everyone was happy staying in the parks, having an early dinner and then head back to the resort shortly after dinner. The parks close earlier in February anyway, and we'd all get to sleep at a decent time and be ready for rope drop the next day. Our pre-schooler would fall asleep in his stroller mid-afternoon for about an hour and be very refreshed for the rest of the day.

For our July trip, it was too hot in the parks to stay all day, so we would get to rope drop each morning and then go back to the resort (Beach Club) to swim in the afternoon. Our pre-schooler was not interested in a nap then, but after swimming, he would fall asleep in his stroller and we would head out for a couple rides and dinner. After an hour or so nap in the stroller, he was ready to go again. We had some of the most wonderful dinners (with excellent behavior!) at Cali Grill and Brown Derby with this system. But again, it really depends on the kids.

Back to the original question about restaurants - definitely recommend Garden Grill. We were there two weeks ago, and while we have always loved it (it's our boys' favorite restaurant and our arrival night tradition!) we thought the food was particularly great this time. It's also great for kids who have not seen characters before - if you have a booth on the lower level, they cannot see the characters until the characters are actually at your table. If they don't like them, you can just tell your server and the characters will go right by and the kids can continue with dinner. If they do like them, we think Garden Grill is the best place to interact with characters -they really seem to take their time and you can see them multiple times per meal. That's nice with little ones in case they don't want to see Mickey the first time he comes around, but want another chance!

And I'll second the suggestion for early dinner reservations - we are comfortable just about anywhere at Disney with our kids for dinner - and we make ADRs for 5:30 or 6pm.

Have a great trip!!!

 

[sydneysmom]

With little ones that are still napping you might want to reconsider booking lunch ADR's. We're doing DxDpl and originally I made all character b'fast around 8 am, then lunch ressies at 2 and dinner at 7. The more I thought about it, I thought well, we'd have to leave the park pretty early in the morning to get back to the hotel, nap, get up in order to make 2:00 lunch.

So, I re-grouped and chucked our lunch ressies. ( My DH was THRILLED with that ! ) but I did this so that we could go back whenever my DD got tired...not at a set time. then I moved up our dinner reservations a little earlier. So if we're hungry at lunchtime, we'll just grab something at the GF Cafe when we get back to the hotel.

For us, it's too hard to plan lunch. I'd rather have a little freedom during the day. Once our DD gets a nap, she's good to go until 9 or 10 at night. But if she doesn't get a nap ..... So maybe leave some flexibility in your lunch schedule......

I would totally suggest doing a character breakfast each morning. What better way to start your Disney day than w/ characters !!! We love CM, Ohana (lelo and stich), CP, Tuskerhouse, CRT. We're trying this year, 1900 PF and Akershus also.

For different dinners, try Sci-Fi...it's fun to sit in the cars and watch cheesy sci fi movies!! It's a can't miss for us. Also, Coral Reef.....one whole wall is the aquarium and you can request a table next to the aquarium...it'll keep your kids busy the whole dinner !!

(sorry this came out so long !!!)

 

[MommyofTwinks]

With little ones that are still napping you might want to reconsider booking lunch ADR's. We're doing DxDpl and originally I made all character b'fast around 8 am, then lunch ressies at 2 and dinner at 7. The more I thought about it, I thought well, we'd have to leave the park pretty early in the morning to get back to the hotel, nap, get up in order to make 2:00 lunch.

So, I re-grouped and chucked our lunch ressies. ( My DH was THRILLED with that ! ) but I did this so that we could go back whenever my DD got tired...not at a set time. then I moved up our dinner reservations a little earlier. So if we're hungry at lunchtime, we'll just grab something at the GF Cafe when we get back to the hotel.

For us, it's too hard to plan lunch. I'd rather have a little freedom during the day. Once our DD gets a nap, she's good to go until 9 or 10 at night. But if she doesn't get a nap ..... So maybe leave some flexibility in your lunch schedule......

I would totally suggest doing a character breakfast each morning. What better way to start your Disney day than w/ characters !!! We love CM, Ohana (lelo and stich), CP, Tuskerhouse, CRT. We're trying this year, 1900 PF and Akershus also.

For different dinners, try Sci-Fi...it's fun to sit in the cars and watch cheesy sci fi movies!! It's a can't miss for us. Also, Coral Reef.....one whole wall is the aquarium and you can request a table next to the aquarium...it'll keep your kids busy the whole dinner !!

(sorry this came out so long !!!)

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!!!
we are doing exactly this!!!! One REAL meal (breakfast and dinner)

NOW - a question about plans.
should we do the Deluxe or the regular dining package.

We plan on going for a SIT DOWN breakfast (character one every morning) and a SIT DOWN DINNER every night.

the only reason i considered upgrading was bc how are my boys going to eat off mine and DH's plates? im afraid there wont be enough food, etc.

 

[sydneysmom]

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!!!
we are doing exactly this!!!! One REAL meal (breakfast and dinner)

NOW - a question about plans.
should we do the Deluxe or the regular dining package.

We plan on going for a SIT DOWN breakfast (character one every morning) and a SIT DOWN DINNER every night.

the only reason i considered upgrading was bc how are my boys going to eat off mine and DH's plates? im afraid there wont be enough food, etc.

I know alot of people will have different opinions on this, but this is what we're doing. We chose to do deluxe for a couple of reasons.
1. we knew we wanted a TS breakfast and TS dinner
2. we're doing CRT twice ( 2 TS each meal per person)
3. doing Narcoosees and Flying Fish ( also 2 TS meals)
4. I wanted a routine....we like to sit down at meals, not rush so I didn't want to do counter service or bring groceries to the room.
5. I liked the menus for the kids better at TS... they seemed like you have healthier options... I don't want her eating fried all week
6. Snack credits: if we want water / ice cream / whatever, we each get 2 credits each per day
7. refillable mugs: come w/ the DxDpl. if you know you'll be in your room at night or at the pool....free soda. for me, that's priceless. I'm not kidding... if I don't have diet coke in the morning...yeeesh.
8. The biggest reason of them all ? MY DH !! he put his foot down and said he didn't want to worry about paying out of pocket. He wants it as stress free as possible. Neither one of us wants to be in a restaurant and say "gee, SHOULD we order that". No, I want to get what I want.

Now, On the deluxe plan, it is alot of food ....if you choose to eat that much. We're planning on splitting desserts or getting very light apps....and portion control. so I'm not terribly worried about that.

If you know you want to have sit-down at least twice a day, I would consider the deluxe. We've got a separate envelope for tip money so we know it's all set aside. I would also consider peppering in some 2 TS meals....like HDDR or Flying Fish or Narcoosees.....treat yourselves !! You can see all the menus on www.allears.com so you can get an idea what they have. But you can eat at all these really terrific places and it's 2TS. How great is that ? So if you decide to just have a light snack for lunch ( using your snack credits) you get a fantastic meal at dinner.

It's nice to be able to not have to whip out your wallet every time you want something. and I have to agree w/ my DH on that one. I think it also kind of gives you more of a "vacation feel". and the point that my DH made, even if we "break even" it's still the same if we paid out of pocket....we're just pre-paying. less hassle. We kind of did all the math for all the places we chose and we're going to be saving about $600 on the DxDpl. So I'm really good with that.

whatever you choose you'll have a wonderful time.

 

[2poohbears]

if you are sure you want to do 2 TS each day, then you should probably upgrade. We never needed to do that...regular dining plan was always plenty enough for us (and dh is a BIG eater!)

At the buffet character meals and family style meals there is plenty of food for everyone. You can put whatever you want on the kids' plates there & their drinks are free! At most other TS restaurants, we were able to purchase 1 kids' meal and split it between them when they were that young. Most TS restaurants didn't charge us for the kids' milk, although you aren't guaranteed that.

for kids' meals at counter service restaurants---sometimes there are other options for sides/dessert that aren't listed on the overhead menu. if you don't like what they have listed, ask if there are any other options. we usually get grapes and carrots as sides & a cookie as their dessert.

a little tip: I always kept a few small ziplock bags with me so I could grab a few cookies or other treat from the dessert area at the buffets. They made nice snacks for later in the day.