Help needed for planning meals!

[Scooley01]

Howdy all! We just rebooked our May trip to the end of July, and ended up with a free dining plan because of the reschedule. We're staying at Pop! We've picked out a few places we might want to go, but I wanted to get the DIS advice as well. We're on the DDP for a total of 8 nights, so that's 8 TS credits and 8 QS credits each, plus 16 snacks each. Here's what we've worked up so far:

Tuesday (Arrival day)

• No reservations

Wednesday (Magic Kingdom)

• 8:00am - Keys to the Kingdom Tour (Includes lunch at Pecos Bill, I believe)
• 4:05pm - Dinner at Jungle Navigation Co. (1TS/ea)
• 7:45pm - Dessert Fireworks Party

Thursday (Hollywood Studios)

• 3:15pm - Late lunch at Mama Melrose's (Fantasmic! Dining package) (1TS/ea)

Friday (Magic Kingdom pt2)

• 4:15pm - Dinner at Be Our Guest (2 TS/ea)
• Villains After Hours (Includes desserts and things, so I listed it )

Saturday (Flex day, we have park hoppers and tickets but can do anything.)

• 11:45am - Lunch at Morimoto Asia (1 TS/ea)

Sunday (Flex day, we have park hoppers and tickets but can do anything.)

• 6:15pm - Dinner at Takumi-Tei (not on dining plan, but it's our belated honeymoon/anniversary, so we figured we'd splurge on one fancy meal!)

Monday (Animal Kingdom)

• 4:00pm - Dinner at Tiffins (ROL Dining package) (2 TS/ea)

Tuesday (EPCOT)

• Nothing booked at the moment...fingers crossed for Space 220 to be open (even if it's not on the dining plan!!)

Wednesday (Departure Day)

• Nothing planned yet, but our flight doesn't leave until 5:30pm, so there's time for a decent lunch somewhere!

What are y'all's thoughts? What are we missing? We've got 7 of our 8 TS credits used here. We're thinking of doing something like Kona for dinner on Saturday for our other TS credit. Also, we have none of our QS credits thought out yet. Not sure if we should make plans for those or just wing it once we're in the park.

 

[Scubadaddy32]

I wouldn't do much different personally, you selected some of our favorites in each park. (We have always had good meals BOG at night, we love Tiffins (The surf and turf was the best meal we had in Sept.) and Mama Melrose was the surprise of our trip in Sept. (Steak and Mac were great) We feel ya, as we are planning on eating at Takumi-Tei during our upcoming Sept. trip as well.

Space2020 isn't' happening by then so you may want to check out Chefs de France, Garden Grill or one of the other 1TS in EPCOT or maybe even jump on the Skyliner and eat at Sebastian's at Caribbean Beach Resort and shoot back for the Fireworks.

Sanaa is a great place to eat lunch on departure day as the food is really good and you get to overlook the Savanna as you dine.

When we attend AH we usually eat as late as possible knowing that we are going til 1am at MK and midnight at the other parks. Unless the Fireworks are a priority, I'd make that BOG ADR for about 2 hours before Villians starts. I think Casey's and Starlight are open during AH, neither are our favorites. We typically pick up a grab and go sandwich at the resorts QS with some fruit and stick it in the fridge so we have something decent to eat when we get back from the AH events. By the time you land back at the resort, it's usually close to 2. Just some things to think about. We've been to a lot of AH events over the years. Ha

 

[Disneypapa]

Just a few of my favorites to offer as suggestions (in no particular order. Does your plans include a visit to Disney Springs?

O'Hana
Whispering Canyon
Raglan Road
House of Blues
Boma
Columbia House

 

[hedberg1661]

I wouldn't change much. One thing I would change is the BOG dinner. Dump that (not worth two credits). If you are looking for a two credit meal somewhere...go to Cali Grill or Citiricos if you want to stay in the MK area. If you want to break it in to two-one TS meals I would do the Wave at CR.

Also, on your arrival day I would say you should go to DS and eat wherever you can but Art Smith's is an absolute favorite of mine. If you don't get the fried chicken you are really missing out.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Citricos had a planned closing for a retool May 17th so take that off your list.

 

[Scooley01]

I know lots of folks have told us BOG isn't worth it for dinner, but it was one of Husband's few requests. He wants to meet Beast, so we're making that happen

 

[Erica Ladd]

There are great QS options at DS so I also recommend going there at least once if not 2 or 3 times.
Polite Pig
D-Luxe Burger
Wolfgang Puck Express

you can even get one meal from one place and one from another... or get some great snack credit usage
Blaze Pizza
4R Cantina Barbacoa Food Truck
Aristocrepes

 

[KenHutch]

If you get it Kona is fantastic, I really like your choices and do no let this stop you from going but after our latest trip in 2018 the girls have banned BoG from out 2021 trip but if you have not been go at least once.

 

[Scooley01]

If you get it Kona is fantastic, I really like your choices and do no let this stop you from going but after our latest trip in 2018 the girls have banned BoG from out 2021 trip but if you have not been go at least once.

This is our first wdw trip. I'm worried that BOG is going to be awful as many people are telling us not to go :/

 

[nwoodard]

Just have BOG for lunch. You still make a reservation but use app to order. It's pretty in there and worth seeing.

 

[Erica Ladd]

Love BOG breakfast too!

 

[Scooley01]

We decided to look into doing Brunch at Homecomin', but it's all booked up. Any idea if we would be able to do a walkup and just wait or sit at the bar? Would the wait be crazy long? I went ahead and put in an alert on TouringPlans for brunch that weekend just in case something opens up...

 

[KenHutch]

This is our first wdw trip. I'm worried that BOG is going to be awful as many people are telling us not to go :/

Well 1st off the place is beautiful and a friend who did not like the dinner there went back for a lunch and his family really enjoyed it, My complaint was I ordered the lamb and got exactly 3 forkfuls of meat. When we went it took 2.5 hours and by the time we got back to AKL I ended up taking the family to eat a 2nd dinner at The Mara.

 

[Elephantay]

Is the full dining plan offered for Pop? Not quick service?

 

[Scooley01]

Is the full dining plan offered for Pop? Not quick service?

They give the quick service for free, but you're able to pay the difference to upgrade to the other plans if you choose. We were already going to get the standard plan, so it made sense to pay for the upgrade for us.

 

[rosiebean]

This is our first wdw trip. I'm worried that BOG is going to be awful as many people are telling us not to go :/

Our BOG dinner was far from awful...it’s not California Grill but it’s not horrible at all! Lol. Far from it! It might not be the best monetary deal on the DDP, but there are so many things that determine value for individuals,

Meeting the Beast is worth a lot to some, and if it’s worth that much to your DH, go for it! I’ve taken my kids to some meals (‘Ohana breakfast, Sci-Fi, lunch in Cinderella’s castle, to name a few) that many here don’t value for a variety of reasons, but our experiences were priceless for us. We have gone into those meals for the characters and/or atmosphere mainly and had reasonable expectations for food...and have been very pleasantly surprised. And we’ve gone into a few meals for the quality of food or character interaction based on advice from this board (Kona, Garden Grill, for example) and have been dismally let down.

So, to sum it up, do your research but also don’t stress too much about what others think and keep in mind that people are different. Look at characters, atmosphere, menus, etc. and choose what appeals to you and your family. There’s no one size fits all.

 

[rosiebean]

I will follow up my previous post with this: I've taken advice on this board to heart, but more to manage my expectations than to decide where to eat. Some of my favorite memories are of meals at places not deemed a great value on this board.

Case in point, our lunch at CRT (an extended family lunch with my sister, nieces, my parents, and my kids). We went in knowing our main value was in having a meal in the castle and meeting princesses. We went in knowing so many people said it was a 'one and done.' We knew that food, based on a ton of input from this board, was going to be secondary. And we were ok with that. Note: my nieces are in their 20s and my kids (boys) are not into princesses, but we LOVED meeting them. And...we all really enjoyed our meal (but would never pay that much per person just for the meal alone). The atmosphere and was great and the experience is one of our favorite memories, especially because my parents...in all their years going to WDW...had never eaten inside the castle. Would we go back every trip? No. (My boys want to go back their next trip because the thought it was so special...I've asked them to look at other options and they're really liking the idea of California Grill/fireworks). Was it worth it? YES. Even if I wouldn't want to go back every trip, that one meal was extremely special.

It was similar with our BOG dinner. We had a smaller party, but went to the meal basically wanting to meet the Beast and see the castle at a less hectic time than lunch (and lunch...which I thought was a great meal...is HECTIC). Our dinner was pretty good. Some items better than others. Service was fantastic. The atmosphere was much more relaxed than it was during lunch, and the Beast was so much fun. The best part of our meal was the fact that we ate at a late seating...so the restaurant was mostly empty when we met the Beast, and we were able to take great pics inside the castle after. And leaving MK that late meant it was empty...and so magical. Similar to our meal at CRT, we would not necessarily go again (or at least, not go back anytime soon simply because there are so many other places we'd like to experience), but it was very much worth it for us personally to have that one meal there.

 

[savemycamera]

We decided to look into doing Brunch at Homecomin', but it's all booked up. Any idea if we would be able to do a walkup and just wait or sit at the bar? Would the wait be crazy long? I went ahead and put in an alert on TouringPlans for brunch that weekend just in case something opens up...

I think it depends on the day. We went on some random Tuesday planning for lunch. We got there around 11:30 and there was NO ONE there. They had reservations obviously, but could fit in 2 people no problem.

 

[Elephantay]

Our BOG dinner was far from awful...it’s not California Grill but it’s not horrible at all! Lol. Far from it! It might not be the best monetary deal on the DDP, but there are so many things that determine value for individuals,

Meeting the Beast is worth a lot to some, and if it’s worth that much to your DH, go for it! I’ve taken my kids to some meals (‘Ohana breakfast, Sci-Fi, lunch in Cinderella’s castle, to name a few) that many here don’t value for a variety of reasons, but our experiences were priceless for us. We have gone into those meals for the characters and/or atmosphere mainly and had reasonable expectations for food...and have been very pleasantly surprised. And we’ve gone into a few meals for the quality of food or character interaction based on advice from this board (Kona, Garden Grill, for example) and have been dismally let down.

So, to sum it up, do your research but also don’t stress too much about what others think and keep in mind that people are different. Look at characters, atmosphere, menus, etc. and choose what appeals to you and your family. There’s no one size fits all.

And the castle is beautiful!