Help me pick the best dining!

[Samantha Smith]

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[Kimberly9701]

Hi all! This is my first post and I hope I do this all right. I am planning a trip for my husband, myself, my mother, and my son who will turn 2 during our trip. I would love to get input on my dining choices. We are visiting 09/01-09/09. So far I have Adr's at the following:
The Boathouse- lunch
San Angel Inn- lunch
Le Cellier- dinner
Chef Mickey's- breakfast
California Grill- dinner
Crystal Palace- breakfast
Cinderella's Royal- dinner
Chef's de Frace- lunch
Biergarten- dinner
Rose and Crown- lunch
Be Our Guest- dinner

Crystal Palace and Cinderella's are where we will dine on our son's birthday. If anyone has ever had a boy's birthday at Cinderella's and has any input that would be great! We also got free dining, and I'm considering upgrading at least one of us to the deluxe plan. I would love to know what you all think of these restaurants as I have never been to any of them. I am almost as excited about the restaurants as I am about the theme parks!! Thanks in advance for any input!

I would definitely say do not upgrade to the DXDP! I don't see the value there. I went for 9 nights in 2015 and did a lot of table service with the DDP, paid for some out of pocket, and paid for room service twice oop. That made more sense, when I looked at the numbers, than paying for DXDP. Really what I should have done was oop the entire time.lol

Are you doing Hollywood Studios? There is a Disney Junior meal at Hollywood and Vine that was soo much fun!
Also, what about Garden Grill instead of one of the other non character meals?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

While I don't particularly like the food at San Angel or Chefs, I think you have a nice variety of choices. Just a note, all guests on a resort package reservation must have the same package components, so if you are all in the same room you can't upgrade only 1 person to deluxe dining. You'd have to upgrade everyone.

 

[pa. dad]

Sounds like you have a god plan and are hitting many of the top places. I like a lot of these places.
One thing that I would consider replacing- I'm not a fan of the biergarten. Some do love it though. the 2 year old might like the coral reef and watching the aquarium while eating.

 

[Samantha Smith]

Thanks for that info! I hadn't realized that. Yeah I definitely would not upgrade all of us. That would be outrageously expensive!

 

[Samantha Smith]

I would definitely say do not upgrade to the DXDP! I don't see the value there. I went for 9 nights in 2015 and did a lot of table service with the DDP, paid for some out of pocket, and paid for room service twice oop. That made more sense, when I looked at the numbers, than paying for DXDP. Really what I should have done was oop the entire time.lol

Are you doing Hollywood Studios? There is a Disney Junior meal at Hollywood and Vine that was soo much fun!
Also, what about Garden Grill instead of one of the other non character meals?

I still have one day unplanned and was thinking of squeezing Ak and HS into that day. I have not heard about the Disney Junior meal but will definitely look into it now! Also will check out Garden Grill. Thanks!

 

[Samantha Smith]

Sounds like you have a god plan and are hitting many of the top places. I like a lot of these places.
One thing that I would consider replacing- I'm not a fan of the biergarten. Some do love it though. the 2 year old might like the coral reef and watching the aquarium while eating.

What didn't you like about Biergarten? Was it the food? The atmosphere? I heard it's communial seating so I am a little anxious about that.

 

[Kimberly9701]

I still have one day unplanned and was thinking of squeezing Ak and HS into that day. I have not heard about the Disney Junior meal but will definitely look into it now! Also will check out Garden Grill. Thanks!

It's the only park that has any of the Disney Junior characters that I know of, could be wrong though. But I think at least is only dining option with them for sure. They have sing alongs, and the characters dance, kids can get up and dance as well...each one come to your table. So cute

 

[_auroraborealis_]

You cannot upgrade one person in a room to DxDP. Everyone in a room has to have the same package, which means it's everyone on Deluxe, or no one.

 

[Samantha Smith]

You cannot upgrade one person in a room to DxDP. Everyone in a room has to have the same package, which means it's everyone on Deluxe, or no one.

Yeah just realized that! Thanks!

 

[kimyinpink]

We did Hollywood and Vine Disney Junior Character Dining last year and my 3 year old loved it. We went and saw the Disney Junior live show right before it and I think they made it that much cooler, like he was meeting everyone he just saw on stage Highly recommend!

P.S. Also I see you are staying 8 nights but have 11 ADR's some that take 2 TS credits. Is this just the preliminary list?

 

[Samantha Smith]

We did Hollywood and Vine Disney Junior Character Dining last year and my 3 year old loved it. We went and saw the Disney Junior live show right before it and I think they made it that much cooler, like he was meeting everyone he just saw on stage Highly recommend!

P.S. Also I see you are staying 8 nights but have 11 ADR's some that take 2 TS credits. Is this just the preliminary list?

Yeah I am stoked looking into the Disney Junior show! And yes we have more than our credits will cover so we are planning on paying out of pocket for a few of them and there is always the chance we won't make it to all of them, with a 2 year old in tow, ya just never know! I'm hoping if I HAVE to cancel any of them, I will be able to do so before the cancelation window closes, but if not we will just have to pay the per person fee. But if all goes well we hope to make all the ADR's

 

[Kimberly9701]

Yeah I am stoked looking into the Disney Junior show! And yes we have more than our credits will cover so we are planning on paying out of pocket for a few of them and there is always the chance we won't make it to all of them, with a 2 year old in tow, ya just never know! I'm hoping if I HAVE to cancel any of them, I will be able to do so before the cancelation window closes, but if not we will just have to pay the per person fee. But if all goes well we hope to make all the ADR's

Have you considered looking into a RO discount with that amount of dining? Depending on where you are staying, and with only 3 people on the DDP, you may come out ahead if paying out of pocket for some anyway.

 

[Samantha Smith]

Have you considered looking into a RO discount with that amount of dining? Depending on where you are staying, and with only 3 people on the DDP, you may come out ahead if paying out of pocket for some anyway.

Yeah I actually ran the numbers on a RO discount and it saved only about a third of the face value of the dining plan and even with paying out of pocket for a few places we still save almost half! I plan on paying OOP for the lesser of the meals and using credits on the more pricey ones. Also my mother won't dine with us at a few places so we will save that way too We also plan to skip most QS credits and combine them for a TS credit

 

[Kimberly9701]

Yeah I actually ran the numbers on a RO discount and it saved only about a third of the face value of the dining plan and even with paying out of pocket for a few places we still save almost half! I plan on paying OOP for the lesser of the meals and using credits on the more pricey ones. Also my mother won't dine with us at a few places so we will save that way too We also plan to skip most QS credits and combine them for a TS credit

Wow, I didn't know that you could combine them! I took the room discount last year, but then paid for the DDP. I made a HUGE mistake and didn't realize that I could use the DDP for H&V F! dinner...I learned it on here after I had already paid out of pocket lol.

If I were you I would actually do it the opposite though- I don't think Cali Grill is a good use of 2 credits, I think you come out ahead by saving them and paying OOP (I am doing this for the Candlelight Processional for that very reason), and as I said earlier, I definitely didn't use any credits for the 2 times that we ordered room service! That required 2 credits as well.

Good luck! It's so tough deciding on restaurants, and then deciding what to pay oop for or use a credit on!

 

[happymommy]

First of all, for a first visit, that is a lot of sit down meals. Personally, when my kids were little, we were more go with the flow type (but I know lots of folks aren't like us, but when my kids fell asleep in the stroller, which they did every day, we'd just chill for a bit and relax, and we never did any ADR's since we didn't know their mood, and they were always back getting ready for bed at fairly normal time so as to avoid next day meltdowns).

That being said, I've never eaten at Cindarella's Dinner - heard quite mixed reviews. And two TS meals in one day may be a bit much for a 2 year old? But that's just me.

Either way, you absolutely cannot convert QS to TS at all.

You have two reservations that require 2 TS credits also.

 

[Kimberly9701]

First of all, for a first visit, that is a lot of sit down meals. Personally, when my kids were little, we were more go with the flow type (but I know lots of folks aren't like us, but when my kids fell asleep in the stroller, which they did every day, we'd just chill for a bit and relax, and we never did any ADR's since we didn't know their mood, and they were always back getting ready for bed at fairly normal time so as to avoid next day meltdowns).

That being said, I've never eaten at Cindarella's Dinner - heard quite mixed reviews. And two TS meals in one day may be a bit much for a 2 year old? But that's just me.

Either way, you absolutely cannot convert QS to TS at all.

You have two reservations that require 2 TS credits also.

You just crushed my hope and dreams . After reading that I googled it maybe hoping to find out it was true..

I'll agree on the amount of meals.. I know that every family is different, but I think my son could have done with less dining options than I scheduled. My main motivation was to meet the characters without waiting in line or using a FP. I loved all of our character meals, but it did feel like dining was dictating our days..and made them more than a little hectic than they probably would have been otherwise.

I've cut back to 1 per day on our upcoming trip. Besides our DS day..when we will have a breakfast at 1900 park fare, and a (probably appetizer only) dinner at T-Rex.

 

[happymommy]

To me, even one TS meal a day would have been too much for us. Our first trip with kids they were 2 and 4, and we only did maybe a couple TS meals. It was just too much really.

All kids are different, but mine really weren't into meeting characters at all. My son went along with it and thought it was cute, but my DD was too shy and didn't want anything to do with them. So, we never went out of our way to meet them much at all.

 

[Samantha Smith]

First of all, for a first visit, that is a lot of sit down meals. Personally, when my kids were little, we were more go with the flow type (but I know lots of folks aren't like us, but when my kids fell asleep in the stroller, which they did every day, we'd just chill for a bit and relax, and we never did any ADR's since we didn't know their mood, and they were always back getting ready for bed at fairly normal time so as to avoid next day meltdowns).

That being said, I've never eaten at Cindarella's Dinner - heard quite mixed reviews. And two TS meals in one day may be a bit much for a 2 year old? But that's just me.

Either way, you absolutely cannot convert QS to TS at all.

You have two reservations that require 2 TS credits also.

We are a big dining out family so I'm not worried about my little guy too much on that front. We eat out several times a week. I definitely think it's important to keep him as close to his schedule as possible but he's super easy going and deviates well As for the credit conversion, it may not be the rule, and it may not work everywhere, but I know several people that did it in January at Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace so I guess we'll just take a hope and see approach

 

[Kimberly9701]

To me, even one TS meal a day would have been too much for us. Our first trip with kids they were 2 and 4, and we only did maybe a couple TS meals. It was just too much really.

All kids are different, but mine really weren't into meeting characters at all. My son went along with it and thought it was cute, but my DD was too shy and didn't want anything to do with them. So, we never went out of our way to meet them much at all.

My son was 5 and it was too much.
He turned 6 last week and like I said, I've scaled back, but we also have a little slower paced trip this time overall as well.

The reason I suddested the RO discount to the OP was this- so much dining that will be out of pocket, hoppers that may not be used with a 2 year old. Waterparks that probably won't be used with a 2 year old.

I think that package is a lot for the group that is going.

That being said, I know all kids are different and all families are different. Me and my son have a very go-go-go lifestyle..and there are plenty of things that we do that other people say probably would not. But OP, just take my past experience (and my own meltdown in the restroom on day 3 after my kid had a meltdown)..I discarded everyone's advice to NOT over plan. But I'm an over scheduled by nature, and of course I had our days mapped full from morning til (late) night. After my son's and then my meltdown, I slowed up a bit, and our WDW vacay became so much more enjoyable.