Help me finalize choices please :)

[Njmama2threegirls]

Trying to finalize my picks for reservations and having a hard time based on mixed reviews. We are not doing a dining plan so I do not plan on booking all of these restaurants, but if anyone has an opinion as to a must do or must avoid on my list, please help
so for breakfast, I have ashkurus, 1900 park fare, bon voyage breakfast. For dinner, be our guest and Minnie's seasonal dine @hollywood and vine. Also, have gone back and forth on ohana for breakfast

 

[pinkxray]

How many days will you be in Disney? Are you traveling with kids-ages? Personally I think your line up looks great. I haven't done Park Fark or Bon Voyage yet but they are on the top of my list for next trip. We have done most character meals and I love them when traveling with kids. Don't let the bad reviews scare you. You can find a bad review of every restaurant in Disney.

 

[srauseo]

I thought breakfast at Akershus was great. The food was very good, it's all you care to eat, and it's a good mix of standards and some more unique options. Kids loved it, too. The atmosphere is nice and you get to meet several princesses. Our family also really enjoyed Dinner at Be Our Guest. We had great food and a great server there. Plus, meeting the Beast after dinner was very cool! I haven't done the others but have an ADR for Bon Voyage on our upcoming trip!

 

[Njmama2threegirls]

Oh yeah, kids ages would've made sense! 3 girls, 17, 12, 5. Staying 8 days and it's our 1st time

 

[cruisin5]

Although it's hard, ignore the reviews. Crystal Palace is another place to consider. I suggest you plan dining around your plans for the day - dining can take up a large chunk time especially when considering travel.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

If you're paying cash I would avoid all buffets, as they are extremely over priced. I'd just get a snack for breakfast or eat in your room if you have a fridge.

For that age range, i'd do Sci-fi or 50s Prime Time, Beaches and Cream, 'Ohanas ($$$$), Kona Cafe, Trail's End or a hotel restaurant like Olivia's for dinners.

 

[quandrea]

If you're paying cash I would avoid all buffets, as they are extremely over priced. I'd just get a snack for breakfast or eat in your room if you have a fridge.

For that age range, i'd do Sci-fi or 50s Prime Time, Beaches and Cream, 'Ohanas ($$$$), Kona Cafe, Trail's End or a hotel restaurant like Olivia's for dinners.

These are great ideas. I think your choices are too buffe/character heavy. It will be old really quick. I'd add that you should take a look at The Plaza (mk) and Yak and Yeti (AK).

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

These are great ideas. I think your choices are too buffe/character heavy. It will be old really quick. I'd add that you should take a look at The Plaza (mk) and Yak and Yeti (AK).

If you even suggested Hollywood and Vine to my teenagers they would gag in horror.

 

[quandrea]

If you even suggested Hollywood and Vine to my teenagers they would gag in horror.

Agreed. Terrible food and so expensive. Not to mention the characters. Sci Fi we do every trip.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

This is an older article, but it's still has great suggestions.

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2011/...nts-in-disney-world-a-tip-from-the-dfb-guide/

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Trying to finalize my picks for reservations and having a hard time based on mixed reviews. We are not doing a dining plan so I do not plan on booking all of these restaurants, but if anyone has an opinion as to a must do or must avoid on my list, please help
so for breakfast, I have ashkurus, 1900 park fare, bon voyage breakfast. For dinner, be our guest and Minnie's seasonal dine @hollywood and vine. Also, have gone back and forth on ohana for breakfast

You don't mention how many ADR's you want to make, but I'll give my opinion on the ones you've chosen. We really like Akershus and 1900 Park Fare. Akershus is the better of the princess meals IMHO (and the least expensive compared to CRT) and 1900 has unique characters and good food. Haven't done Bon Voyage, but have heard good things. Be Our Guest for dinner is very nice. The castle is beautiful, food is good and it's fun to see the Beast. H&V is really, really awful. Bad food and it gets really messy and chaotic. If you want a Mickey/Minnie character meal, I would suggest Tusker House instead. Much better food and better character interaction. If you want to pare this down to, say, one princess meal, one Mickey meal and one non-character, I would probably go Akershus, Tusker House (lunch or dinner), BOG (dinner).

 

[livyy]

If your girls love princesses and princes, Bon Voyage Breakfast is perfect! My mother and I did it for my 21st birthday and absolutely loved it. It is very slow-paced and relaxed; no rushing at all. The princes/princesses take their time around each table and have great interactions with each guest. The food was very delicious with big portion sizes. One of my favorite breakfast meals on property.

 

[rg35]

If you want to do princess dining, Akershus is a solid choice.

1900 Park Fare is worth it just for getting to interact with the Mad Hatter, who IMO, is the best character on property.

We did the Bon Voyage breakfast about a month ago, and it was very enjoyable. The characters spend a good amount of time interacting and the food was very good.

I would avoid Hollywood and Vine. The buffet isn't great, and the Disney Jr. characters probably won't appeal to much of your party. Your older and middle child are probably too old, and your youngest is too young. Obviously, if your family all loves Disney Jr. then you'd need to consider it. At DHS I would pick 50's Primetime for a fun dinner, or Hollywood Brown Derby if you're looking for something a little nicer. Mama Melrose was a lot better than I expected. If you're going to do Fantasmic!, you could book a dining package at either of the latter two which gives you access to better seating without having to wait in line to enter the theater. The dining packages are price fix and each person gets to choose an appetizer, entree and dessert.

Out of your 8 days, I don't know how many park days you have, but that should influence your choices to some degree. I find breakfast ADRs to be kind of crummy because you're generally eating during times when the park is emptiest and it's the best time to experience the most popular rides and attractions. For your first time, you probably should dedicate more time to park touring and less time to meals. For instance, if you're going to do 1900 Park Fare or Bon Voyage breakfast, I would do one of them on a non-park day. I wouldn't go to breakfast and then have to rush to a park. I would consider Akershus for lunch instead of breakfast, etc. Everyone is different, but after five years in a row at Disney I've formulated my opinions on what seems to work well and what leads to stress and annoyance.

 

[Njmama2threegirls]

Thank you everyone!!

 

[shellyj]

Trying to finalize my picks for reservations and having a hard time based on mixed reviews. We are not doing a dining plan so I do not plan on booking all of these restaurants, but if anyone has an opinion as to a must do or must avoid on my list, please help
so for breakfast, I have ashkurus, 1900 park fare, bon voyage breakfast. For dinner, be our guest and Minnie's seasonal dine @hollywood and vine. Also, have gone back and forth on ohana for breakfast

Take all reviews with a grain of salt. People tend to love them or hate them, so do what you think your family will enjoy.
Here's my 2 cents, fwiw

Places we wouldn't do again:
Askershus - the breakfast food was VERY good but very pricey. Only worth it if the kids really want to see the princesses.
BOG - the inside is very cool but the food was kind of meh for us
Hollywood & Vine was a bad experience for us. The food was pretty bad and the characters took a really long time to make the rounds. Two times the manager asked us to leave before the characters got to us. She was really unhappy that we insisted on staying until we met them all, even though we offered to leave the tables and just stand where they did the dancing until it was our turn.

Other suggestions:
Sci Fi is fun, none of us loved our meals on the first visit so now we do apps and shakes instead.
Liberty Tree Tavern is a common one for us. The Thanksgiving style menu might not sound exciting, but it's delicious and it's a cool place.

Our very favorite in the whole world is Boma at AKL, closing followed by Tusker House in AK - Similar buffet menus, Tusker House has fewer offerings but it's a fun character meal with GREAT character interactions. Tusker House has been the most fun character meal for us.

 

[JerseyJanice]

FYI, the breakfast food at 1900 Park Fare is about 900 times better than Ohana. However, the reverse is true if we're talking about dinner.