Having 2nd thoughts about our dining plans

[myxdvz]

Hi everyone!! 3 more days and we'd be in DLR... w00t!

OK, I finally dropped our USH hotel and just moved to DLR. VGC was full for DVC points or member cash, so I ended up just booking a room at one of the hotels on Monday, in this case Paradise Pier - before moving to VGC for the rest of the week.

I have made dining reservations for most of our days, but am now looking at menus and am having 2nd thoughts. My kids are very picky, i.e., they eat very casual/fast foody type food and are not really into gourmet meals

Kids: hot dogs, chicken tenders, pizza, spaghetti, grilled cheese sandwhich, mac n cheese, rice

So as I was looking at the menus, I figure we won't like the food much, and would be paying $$$ for something they won't enjoy much - do we still do it?

• M - Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue, Lunch (our Family would love this)
• T - Character Dining @ PCH Grill, Breakfast (worried about kids buffet here, didn't really see anything they would eat except maybe fruits)
• W - Character Dining @ Ariel's Grotto, Lunch (they'll eat the chicken)
• Th - Goofy's Kitchen, Dinner (hotdogs?)
• F - Character Dining @ Storyteller's Cafe, Breakfast (fruits and nuggets)
• F - WoC dining package at Ariel's Grotto (they'll eat the chicken)

The rest would be Counter Service/Quick Meals

I would have loved to eat at BB - but am concerned again about kids. Hubby and I can prob do the steak...

 

[sonnyjane]

Not quite sure what you're looking for?? As far as PPH's breakfast buffet, they have the usual Mickey waffles, pancakes, cereal, bacon... Will your kids not eat any of that stuff? Only you know your comfort level with spending $20 or so for chicken nuggets. I think the buffets are all pretty good of having kid-pleasers, but only you know just how picky they are.

 

[CrazyDuck]

Thats a lot of character meals... Storytellers is not good character interaction, besides chip and dale everyone else is pretty rare... It's not cheap either. Although you can order off menu rather than buffet. Do you need to see the princesses for lunch? Will everyone enjoy that? Btw I like breakfast at Ariel's better than lunch. Character meals are expensive... Even more so if your kids don't eat!

 

[skiingfast]

Character meals are expensive... Even more so if your kids don't eat!

I do agree. If they are so picky that it's hard to enjoy the food, eat something else, and go to Character Meet and Greets.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Goofys kitchen dinner has just about everything you listed that they'll eat.

What do they eat for breakfast besides fruit?

 

[myxdvz]

For breakfast, they would also eat bagel, bacon, rice, pancake, cheerios/cereal...

We are in a 1 BR at VGC and the parks open late(r) so I was thinking most of our breakfast starting Wed would be in the room, and maybe just do lunch/late lunch in the park, but there are fewer character lunches. The days we are there too we have TTMM on W, and MM on Th, so I don't want to waste our time on a sit down breakfast.

I was trying to avoid lining up for characters - and was used to doing 1 Character meal a day at WDW (but we normally have a DDP). Our previous trips, the kids are too small for rides, so most of what we did were chase after characters This is the first year that most will go for rides

They've met pretty much all the regular characters at WDW or DCL, so I actually like the idea of Storyteller's cafe. There are certain characters we haven't met, and from a character POV, we'll probably go after them first.

They've met all the princesses (from WDW, DCL) except Rapunzel. For Fairies, we'd like to see the others as they've only seen Tink and Iridessa. Minor characters are good as long as they're recognizable (Fairy Godmother, Cindy's Mouse), we haven't actually watched brother bear so I don't think my kids know Kenai...

How do DL reservations work? When do we need to tell them if we'd like to cancel? They haven't really asked for a CC.

Also, M (arrival day) and T (USH day) are not full park days so I was thinking doing character meals instead. Looks like we should keep PCH Grill breakfast and Goofy's Kitchen Dinner - both buffet, and maybe cancel the rest or see how we do with character M&Gs then decide?

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

We like our character meals, and usually do 3 in a 6 day trip... and love Storytellers. There will be waffles or pancakes at each meal--but like at Storytellers you have to ask the server for the waffles. There is cold cereal too. My dd isn't a big eater, and we still do character meals & the buffets offer enough of a variety, so I can make sure she gets all her food groups

Usually for breakfast she gets a mickey waffle, some fruit, sausage, milk and maybe oj--or at Surf's Up Mickey she gets their smoothie. Is it worth the $ we spend on the meal, no... but she loves her characters! And we hate waiting in line for them, so I figure I am paying for the characters.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

BTW, have you checked out the height restrictions at USH? We haven't done it yet, because dd is not real tall, and from everything I have read it isn't geared to little kids--yours being 6, 5 and 2, I wonder if that is a great use of your time?

 

[myxdvz]

BTW, have you checked out the height restrictions at USH? We haven't done it yet, because dd is not real tall, and from everything I have read it isn't geared to little kids--yours being 6, 5 and 2, I wonder if that is a great use of your time?

I have been asked this before - I don't really think we're doing the rides much - but was planning to chase some characters (Curious George, Shrek, Woody, etc) for some photo ops. Part of the reason we're visiting USH was because we missed it last year in Florida due to rains - we were only able to visit IoA because we prioritized it for WWoHP and the Dr. Seuss land.

We only have a 4 day park hopper - and it being off season and the cancellation of WoC on T, W, Th, kinda threw a wrench in the plans.

I also already have the USH tickets I was able to cancel 2 of them because they were part of the hotel package - but the other 2 I used points for, and I don't think are cancellable. If I can cancel/return them - maybe I will just cancel USH.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

BTW, have you checked out the height restrictions at USH? We haven't done it yet, because dd is not real tall, and from everything I have read it isn't geared to little kids--yours being 6, 5 and 2, I wonder if that is a great use of your time?

I completely agree with this. We did US Orlando in September and there were only a handful of things my youngest 3 could ride (ages 6,4 and 2) because a good portion of the rides you need to be 48" or 42"(my 6yr old could ride but the other 2 couldn't). Of course we went so my oldest could do Harry Potter because it may be our only chance to head to Orlando.....of course now they're opening WWoHP in USH....

 

[myxdvz]

I just checked and there are really only 3 rides that have min. height requirements:

You must be at least 40" tall to ride The Simpsons Ride
You must be at least 42" tall to ride Jurassic Park® — The Ride
You must be at least 48" tall to ride Revenge of the MummySM — The Ride

So my 2 yr old (37.5") will sit these out, though he's going to be bummed he'll miss the dinosaurs. My 5 yr old (43") will miss 1 ride but my 6 yr old should be ok.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I just checked and there are really only 3 rides that have min. height requirements:

You must be at least 40" tall to ride The Simpsons Ride
You must be at least 42" tall to ride Jurassic Park® — The Ride
You must be at least 48" tall to ride Revenge of the MummySM — The Ride

So my 2 yr old (37.5") will sit these out, though he's going to be bummed he'll miss the dinosaurs. My 5 yr old (43") will miss 1 ride but my 6 yr old should be ok.

Good. My 6 yr old was a half inch from 48" which put a huge damper on her trip....though I'm not sure she'd actually enjoy some of the bigger rides.

 

[mydisneymoney]

Goofy's Kitchen has everything, both breakfast food and lunch foods at the same time. From Pizza and chicken nuggets to eggs and hashbrowns. Tons of food options. We also did Minnie and Friends and it was only breakfast type food. We really enjoyed Goofy's Kitchen better.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Goofy's Kitchen has everything, both breakfast food and lunch foods at the same time. From Pizza and chicken nuggets to eggs and hashbrowns. Tons of food options. We also did Minnie and Friends and it was only breakfast type food. We really enjoyed Goofy's Kitchen better.

My kids (and DH ) love the PB&J pizza. We actually prefer Goofys brunch on a weekend because they serve until 1pm so we can get an early lunch around 11:30 after mornings in the park. I think they serve until 11 or 12 during the week, so I'd look into that if you are looking for a character "lunch". It's as close as they have.