Help! newbie feeling very overwhelmed at making ADRs... no clue what to do?

[nbsmjs]

We are likely going in May with our son who will be 20 months old at the time...

i'm a vegetarian, but eat fish (just not shell fish).. my husband eats everything except any kind of pig product or any kind of fish... and my son right now eats virtually nothing (he's really picky and his tastes change by the day.. almost by the hour! ha!)

given our ridiculous eating challenges, i'm really overwhelmed by having to make ADRs for every dinner in advance....any advice on which restaurants would be good for us?

do i need to make ADRs for lunch too or are there places to grab a quick bite without having to book it in advance? (my guess is that we'll have to eat an early lunch and then go back to the hotel for my son to nap... it's so hard to predict his schedule though... right now he eats lunch at 11am and then naps, but who knows what it will be like in May!!)

thanks for any advice you can offer...

 

[Desnik]

Here is a link to the menus on allearsnet:
http://allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

Almost all restaurants offer a vegetarian dish as well as some type of fish, and meat dishes. You should be fine. We are a family of picky eaters and we all find something we like. There are counter service places to eat a quick bite for lunch or dinner. You do not need ADR's for those. Maybe a buffet would be a good choice, like Chef Mickey's or Crystal Palace.

 

[kirbydog48]

The way I usually do it is make my itinerary first. I make a schedule for which park to visit on which day. Then, I make a plan for each day. Are you staying onsite? That will make it easier with a little one. The way I've planned my upcoming trip in April is to arrive at that day's park at opening, stay until a little after lunch (you can get counter service meals at any park...like fast food but with more variety), go back to my resort for pool/nap time, then go to a different park for the evening (we get the park-hopper) and eat table service there, or go have dinner at a resort. All the buffets have great options for vegetarians, especially since you eat seafood. Boma has lots of great healthly choices. You can check each table and counter service menu if you click on "dining" toward the top of the page on this website. If you have any questions, fire away. I know it can seem a litle overwhelming getting started.

 

[Steffiesunshine]

Don't let making ADR's stress you out. I have been to Disney four times before my trip next month, and I have never made ADRs. This is my first trip in which I am making meal plans.

You can get plenty of "quick bites" around the parks...plenty of counter service places for you to go.

The best advice is to look at the menu link provided in the post above and make reservations at a restaurant that has a good veg. choice for you. Don't overwhelm yourself. I don't think anyone at Disney has ever gone hungry!

Enjoy your trip!

 

[aviva5675]

I agree with figuring out what days you will be at which park- then you can make ADRs from that. If you think you will be doing whole days at the parks, including staying for dinner, definitely make an ADR for inside that park. Don't try to race from a park to another just to eat. With a little one and first time out you might want to do the -go early leave in the afternoon to rest- route and then you can make a dinner ADR anywhere (except in a park you weren't at that day ). If you think it will be too much to park hop don't spend the extra money.

It is important to make ADRs if you can, as early out as you can. Again, with a little one you might really want to have an early dinner time and they can be hard to come by.

 

[Luv2Roam]

You might want to look at the buffets over some regular table service meals too. You may find a larger selection.
However overall WDW restaurants are very accomodating for dietary requirements.

 

[crisi]

Every table service restaurant will have a veg dish and a fish dish (vegan is a little harder and worth calling ahead about). Disney chefs work with a large variety of diets and dietary restrictions. Counter service is a little more directed, there are great counter service choices, but you may have to make more than one stop to feed everyone - since they each have a fairly limited selection.

We usually go through the restaurants (I'd suggest using both descriptions from a guidebook and the menus) and making a list of what we'd like to try and where it is. We then make our itenerary, and match where we will be to what is on the restaurant list. For instance our 2008 restaurant list is:

Sci Fi
Artist's Point
California Grill
Rose and Crown
Teppanyaki
Spoodles
Crystal Palace
Chef's d France
Biergarten
Le Cellier
Shula
Yachtsman

We won't make it to all these places - but we will let where we will be narrow our choices down.

With young kids, we always took the early counter service lunch. We never had a lot of luck with naps, but we made downtime mid-day. Then we did a 5:00 dinner - never Signature Dining (Disney is fine with brining small kids to fancy restaurants, they are everywhere, I am not happy leaving my own $50 plate because of a screaming toddler that needs to be removed from the restaurant). We found ADRs to be MORE important with small kids, since it added structure (and a chance to sit down and RELAX) to the day. Also, running around the park looking for somewhere to eat with hungry children was no fun at all.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Don't stress out! Check out the menus from the link above and decide which places you think will work out best for your family. Almost all restaurants have something for vegetarians and there are quite a few places that serve fish! Just pick a place that you'll be near that day. For instance if you'll be in the Magic Kingdom on Monday, You may want to eat at the Crystal Palace which is located inside the Magic Kingdom or maybe a restaurant at a nearby resort.

Either way, you'll need to make ADR's immediately. Many places may already be booked up for May, but you should do your best to pick within the next day or two and make those ADR's. You'll need ADR's for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Good luck.

 

[Jordan2007]

No worries. All restaurants are pretty accomodating. I would recommend eating at The Garden Grill in Epcot and the Coral Reef in Epcot also. There is a counter service place in the Pavilion at Epcot that has a great variety. It's called Sunshine Seasons.

For the MK, I would say book a buffet like Crystal Palace.

At MGM, the only place I've ever had a sit-down was the Sci-Fi and I don't recommend it.

For AK, try Yak and Yeti. It's the new restaurant. They seem to have a good variety of things.

Good luck!

 

[Micca]

My suggestion is to take a look at the menus, then make some educated guesses. There is no rule that says you have to stick with the ADR's you make (although it's a courtesy to call & cancel if your plans change). With your varied dietary requirements the advance planning will reduce stress when you arrive.

 

[nbsmjs]

thank you all so much.... my husband and i stayed up late last night reading everything and this morning i called and made my ADRs...

i feel much better knowing that at least we will have places to eat and that we can always try to change them when we get there if need be....

thanks for your help!