Help, does this plan look okay?

[fidoprincess]

We will be at GCH from 8/16-8/21. I don't like waiting in long lines for food so can someone look at my schedule and offer any tips or criticisms? I have not called to make the reservations yet and can change anything except our dates:

Monday 8/16 Arrive, not sure of time
Maybe lunch-Pizza Port
Dinner – Goofy’s Kitchen
Wil enter Disneyland but wanted to get the dreaded autographs out of the way.

Tuesday 8/17
Early Entry 7am
Breakfast- Carnation Cafe after fantasyland stuff
Lunch- Riverbell Terrace/Stage Door Cafe
Dinner- Café Orleans
Riverside Seating Fantasmic/fireworks

Wednesday 8/18
Must Do WOC fast passes
Enter CA from GCH at 8ish, not sure when to line up?
Get FP for WOC and go to TSMM
Breakfast at Pacific Wharf Cafe
Do Pier area see HSM, Alladin
Lunch at GCH Storytellers
maybe/pool break?
Dinner-Rain Forest Café 5:15
WOC check in at 7, show at 9 (is this right?) UGH-sitting for 2hrs with a FP.

Thursday 8/19 (Back up day for World of Color just in case)
DL Early Entry 7am
Breakfast Minnie’s Plaza Inn 9:30 after early entry stuff
Lunch Pizza Port?
Dinner- Carnation Café during Parade, what time?
See Fireworks in front of castle tonight?

Friday 8/20
Toontown Madness at 8
Breakfast Café Orleans. Do they even have breakfast anymore?
Lunch Round Up BBQ (Is this any good?)
Dinner-Blue Bayou

Saturday-8/21 home
Breakfast before we leave, where?

Thanks in advance for any tips! I know we can cancel any reservation at any time from our cell phones but I'd rather have them set up ahead of time. The only thing we can't cancel is the fantasmic seating.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Wednesday 8/18
Must Do WOC fast passes
Enter CA from GCH at 8ish, not sure when to line up?

DCA officially opens at 10 AM. The front gates open at 9:30 AM. The GCH entrance opens at 9 AM. I have heard that the line for the GCH entrance does get rather long these days, but do you really want to stand in that line from 8 AM? Wow.

Get FP for WOC and go to TSMM
Breakfast at Pacific Wharf Cafe
Do Pier area see HSM, Alladin
Lunch at GCH Storytellers
maybe/pool break?
Dinner-Rain Forest Café 5:15
WOC check in at 7, show at 9 (is this right?) UGH-sitting for 2hrs with a FP.

We really enjoy Pacific Wharf for breakfast. First Aladdin show isn't until 1:25 these days, so I'm thinking you're having a late lunch? Or go before Aladdin? You have a kind of early dinner planned if you're eating a late lunch. WOC fastpasses say return between 7:30 and 8:30, but the place is already filling up before then, so 7 PM is a better bet. You can sit for a while, but about 8:15 the night we went all of the CMs in the area insisted that people stand up and remain standing until the conclusion of the show.

Thursday 8/19 (Back up day for World of Color just in case)
DL Early Entry 7am
Breakfast Minnie’s Plaza Inn 9:30 after early entry stuff
Lunch Pizza Port?
Dinner- Carnation Café during Parade, what time?
See Fireworks in front of castle tonight?

Parade is usually at 6:30. You're not likely to really see it though from the Carnation Cafe if that is your intent. There are only a few tables near the sidewalk area; you're not guaranteed to get one. Even if you do get one, there will be lots of people standing on the sidewalk between you in the restaurant and the parade on Main Street. Everybody along the parade route must stand. You will have a hard time seeing much of anything.

Friday 8/20
Toontown Madness at 8
Breakfast Café Orleans. Do they even have breakfast anymore?
Lunch Round Up BBQ (Is this any good?)
Dinner-Blue Bayou

Cafe Orleans hasn't done breakfast for a while now.

IMHO, it does seem like a lot of meals and dining reservations. My family would never want to stop for so many potentially lengthy meals and devote so much park time to them, nor would we all be hungry enough to eat that much frankly, especially in the heat of August. We will save some time and money with breakfast in our room some mornings and by carrying along a lot of snacks for the munchies. We have acquaintances though who did the park closer to your suggested style, and they seemed to enjoy it, so to each their own. Have a good trip!

 

[23bw]

Wednesday 8/18
Must Do WOC fast passes
Enter CA from GCH at 8ish, not sure when to line up?
Get FP for WOC and go to TSMM
Breakfast at Pacific Wharf Cafe
Do Pier area see HSM, Alladin
Lunch at GCH Storytellers
maybe/pool break?
Dinner-Rain Forest Café 5:15
WOC check in at 7, show at 9 (is this right?) UGH-sitting for 2hrs with a FP.

I can share what I saw last week.
Just get there at 9am for your WOC FP. Should take no more than 5-10 min. The rest of CA is closed until 10am except for Soarin. Get on Soarin which is a walk-on. After that, line up at Paradise Pier for park opening at 10am. Go straight to TSMM. Everyone else will be doing the same.

The CMs won't let people into the WOC viewing area until 7:30pm even though the FPs might suggest you get there at a later time. Our FPs said to get there between 8:00 to 8:30pm.

Lunch Round Up BBQ (Is this any good?)

No. Lunch for 2 adults and 2 kids was $80 after tip. It's just kitchen cooked BBQ which wasn't that great. We won't be eating there again.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Thursday 8/19 (Back up day for World of Color just in case)
DL Early Entry 7am
Breakfast Minnie’s Plaza Inn 9:30 after early entry stuff
Lunch Pizza Port?
Dinner- Carnation Café during Parade, what time?
See Fireworks in front of castle tonight?

Really hard to see the parade from the dining area... but the view from the sidewalk in front of it is great... we have sat there a few times, one of the parade stops is just up from Carnation Cafe.

Friday 8/20
Toontown Madness at 8
Breakfast Café Orleans. Do they even have breakfast anymore?
Lunch Round Up BBQ (Is this any good?)
Dinner-Blue Bayou

We really liked the bbq, and I've read many positive reviews on here as well, so we are not alone!

We like to have PSs for all the major meals in advance... as you said you can always cancel, but it sucks to decide you want a sit-down meal and not have a PS and be stuck waiting for an hour for counter service (as happened to us one Friday night when we didn't have a PS made...)

 

[fidoprincess]

Thank you!!! I wasn't sure of the times for GCH and WOC stuff. So I don't need to be at the GCH gate until right around 9, get the FP and then go on Soaring and then head over to TSMM. Thanks so much, you just gave me an extra hour of sleep!

I am still trying to follow the WOC threads carefully. The menus for the dinners don't appeal to my kids and since they are 10 but "adults" it looks as though they can't order kid type food but we would be willing to pay for those and not have to do the FP since they really do get a much better spot for WOC, right? I don't know what they would order but there must be something they could find. But picnics get the same spots as FPs, right? I still can't decide about this yet.

Thanks so much for the bbq tip, we will skip that since there are 5 of us it will be >$100. I appreciate your help 23bw!

WOW, longtimelurker, thanks so much for taking the time to answer my many questions. Glad to hear pacific wharf is good for breakfast. We've never eaten there before. If we do the above plan, WOC FP, then Soarin, then MMTT, what time do you think we would finish breakfast? That would help me plan the lunch time better. I figured we would just be flexible with the shows since there are 4 Alladin ones and a bunch of HSM but now I know we can do a later dinner too.

I know you can't see great from Carnation Cafe but we have been there a few time and the kids just like the music and seeing the tops of the floats. That won't be our only viewing of the parade, just an extra. We have been lucky in the past and got the front table and for some reason I can't remember now, the CMs on the sidewalk made everyone move away from the front of the restaurant so we did have a great view.

Friday am I will switch to Riverbell, they have a good breakfast, pretty cheap and not too big of a line if we get there early.

Thanks again for all of your help. I know this seems like a lot of dining but if my kids skip a meal, they get cranky so it is worth it to plan ahead and change our minds at the last minute if needed. And they are picky eaters and don't like most of the walk up places like tomorrowland terrace, village haus or hungry bear so that makes it extra difficult. On top of that, Dh doesn't like to drag in a bunch of snacks around but I make each kid take a fanny pack(OMG!) and they have to carry their own water and a snack for waiting in line (plus any candy they buy!) I can't believe I just admitted that but at least dd's is a cute Pooh one.

 

[fidoprincess]

MommytoPrincessAbby, Can you tell me more about the bbq? Old posts say there were characters but I understand there are none now but there is a show. What is the show like? DD is a vegetarian so I am not sure she would like the alternative which I think is tofu grilled on a stick with veggies. If you didn't have ressies, could you have walked in pretty quickly?

I agree with you, not having ressies can really be a pain especially with kids in August. Can you tell me any other places that you like to eat and think are good?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

WOW, longtimelurker, thanks so much for taking the time to answer my many questions. Glad to hear pacific wharf is good for breakfast. We've never eaten there before. If we do the above plan, WOC FP, then Soarin, then MMTT, what time do you think we would finish breakfast? That would help me plan the lunch time better. I figured we would just be flexible with the shows since there are 4 Alladin ones and a bunch of HSM but now I know we can do a later dinner too.

Pacific Wharf doesn't have a lot of breakfast variety but we always enjoy it. Part of it is that I really like the setting, and part of it is that I like sourdough a lot. I always get the sourdough egg bowl with bacon. It's served with a handful of grapes and some orange slices too. DH likes the egg croissant sandwich. DS8 and DS10 get some sort of treat from the bakery case. You're in Disneyland so why not a cookie for breakfast? They have muffins and croissants and stuff too. Usually I end up sharing the bread with everybody since it's more than I can eat. Just ask at the counter, and they'll give you lots of butter. I believe they serve breakfast at Pacific Wharf until 11 AM.

We have in the past successfully ridden Soarin' and been waiting at rope drop by 10 AM. I'm not quite sure how the WoC fastpass and WoC fastpass crowds will affect this timing. I can tell you that on the morning we decided not to get fastpasses and just to head straight to TSMM, we waited at rope drop near the Little Mermaid building then walked with purpose to Toy Story. We were on the ride within 15 minutes of getting there. When we got off the ride, the posted wait time was already 40 minutes and to our eyes looked to truly be at least 30-35 minutes.

I know you can't see great from Carnation Cafe but we have been there a few time and the kids just like the music and seeing the tops of the floats. That won't be our only viewing of the parade, just an extra. We have been lucky in the past and got the front table and for some reason I can't remember now, the CMs on the sidewalk made everyone move away from the front of the restaurant so we did have a great view.

We have eaten at Carnation during the parade as well, not with the intent to see the parade, and enjoyed it in the way you described, listened to the music and saw the tops of the floats. I just wanted to be sure you weren't expecting a great view. That was nice about having the people on the sidewalk in front of you cleared away. Definitely did not happen during our visit.

 

[fidoprincess]

Yum, longtimeluker, that is just what I am going to get, the breadbowl with the eggs. I think it should work out just right. We'll do TSMM and then have breakfast there and then I made the lunch for 1 at Storytellers. If the crowds look bad and it takes long to get the WOC fastpass, I will just skip Soaring. We've done that a million times but never TSMM since it is new since our last trip. If it gets hot and crowded, the kids might want to take a rest pool break anyway after lunch. They want to have their suits on and go back and forth between the pool and GRR but since the WOC passes are using that FP machine, I doubt that will work.

I was trying to find out about the bar above Ariel's. Someone said they had great lobster tacos and when I looked at the menu, it seemed like the kids could find something they would like too. Have you ever been there to eat? Is it odd to take kids in there since it's a bar? That might be one of the walk in places for dinner depending on where we are in the park, if it is not mobbed!

If we eat lunch at 1 and have to line up for WOC at 7:30, we would probably keep dinner light and maybe take some snack into WOC while waiting for the show. I don't know that I want to go out of the park for dinner and then back in unless I have plenty of time to do everything we want.

Thanks too for looking out for us regarding Carnation. I think they were storing scooters and wheelchairs in front of our table out on the sidewalk along the railing and that was when we really had a great view.