Help us plan our ADR's- family of 6

[MatthewsFamily6]

Hi!! Love the board and love planning, so I thought maybe you experts could help us
We are a family of six..kids 14s,10d,10d,6d
We will be on DDX dining plan. We know the pros and cons of it and like the no stress of it. We love trying new foods and like to pretend we are amateur foodies.
We will be staying 8 nights at AoA, so we should have 24 credits per person.
We will have park hopper
3rd trip overall for our family

Day 1- we arrive the night before and will magic express over early in the morning
(haven't decided on primary park yet)
Breakfast- Bon Voyage Breakfast 10:25
Lunch- not planned yet
Dinner- Cinderella's happily ever after at 1900 Park Fare- 8:45pm

Day 2- MK
Breakfast- Crystal Palace 8:05pm
Lunch- not sure
Dinner- not sure

Day 3- MK morning then AK
Breakfast- none booked
Lunch- Cinderella's Royal Table 2:40pm
Dinner- Tusker House 7pm (had this before we got Cinderella's)

Day 4 Epcot then MK
Breakfast- None
Lunch- Coral Reef 11:10
Dinner- Be our Guest- 7:50

Day 5- HS then AK
Breakfast- none
Lunch- not booked
Dinner- Flying Fish 6:55pm

Day 6 MK
Breakfast- none
Lunch- Jungle Canteen 1:00pm
Dinner- none booked

Day 7 Epcot
Breakfast- none
Lunch- none
Dinner- Jiko 7:25pm

Day 8 MK
Breakfast- None
Lunch- Whispering Canyon- 1:15
Dinner- none

Day 9 Epcot
Breakfast- Kona Café 9:30
Lunch- none
Dinner- Akershus 8:00pm

by my count that's 16 credits that we have booked so far

 

[ThePrincess&TheJohn]

Day 7: I would highly recommend Garden Grill breakfast (go early and get in line for Soarin right after )
Day 2: Ohana is a must do and can easily be done on a MK day
Day 5: Breakfast is awful for choices in HS so do the earliest possible lunch (Brown Derby = 2 credits, good value imo) or do Yak and Yeti in AK
Day 8: I prefer WCC for dinner and I'd do an in park lunch or go to Kona Café at the Poly, truly yummy

 

[hakepb]

I would definitely want more countries in Epcot.

 

[melanielll]

I would work at changing Day 3. It will be around 4 when you leave CRT (which is a sizable meal). You then have a buffet scheduled 3 hours after that.

I would seriously consider adding California Grill at fireworks time.

 

[NicoleLarson]

You need more signatures, DxDDP is a TON of food. Forget trying to book 3 meals a day. A) it will feel like all you are doing is eating and running to your next reservation. B) the portions at WDW are huge, and to add an appetizer and dessert on top of that, is simply too much, 3 times per day. Or eating 3 buffets, it will really wear on you after a couple of days. Like day 3, there's no way you will be hungry for a 7pm dinner buffet when you just ate 4 hours before that. Also a 930 kona breakfast on an Epcot day makes no sense, espically on the DxDDP (horrendous value) and staying at AoA, complete waste of time. So your best bet is to do a breakfast or early lunch, then a 2 credit dinner. If you get hungry in between, remember you'll have a TON of snack credits to use. You should also think about adding Hoop de doo, it's a really fun family evening! Also think about the logistics of your meals. You have an 845pm 1900 park fare, if taking disney transportation, you'll be lucky to get back to your hotel before 1130, then you have an 8am breakfast at mk the next morning. Which means you'll be getting up around 6am. That does not sound like a fun morning.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

The only thing I would add is that if you guys are adventurous eaters and want to play "amateur foodie", I would look at more Epcot country restaurants.

In Epcot, you have Coral Reef and Akershus -- I would personally skip CR, and wouldn't have Akershus in our top 10. Just a thought.

We LOVE Jiko!!

 

[GillianP1301]

Day 2: I would boat over to WL and eat at WCC. It's a fun & good meal. I would probably do a QS on this day with the large breakfast and dinner. Don't worry about losing value on the DxDP with the odd QS meal. We do the deluxe plan and it still works out in our favour with a few QS thrown in. We like Casey's and Pinocchio Village Haus at MK.

Day 3: Chef Mickey for breakfast may work here as it's nice and close to MK. I would either try to move up the CRT lunch time (not easy) or move the Tusker House to later. You likely won't eat a ton at Tusker House that night, but it is a great character meal and still worth doing, IMO.

Day 4: Garden Grill at Epcot is our very favourite character meal in all WDW, definitely try to get that one. I would go for a slightly later time at Coral Reef.

Day 5: If you are at HS for lunch, then I recommend Sci-Fi. Great overall experience and one of the quietest and coolest places in WDW, it's super relaxing.

Day 6: If you don't do CP on Day 3, then I would still recommend it and do it here instead. The other option would be a MK resort area for breakfast. Ohana does a great family style breakfast with Stitch & friends. Depending on what your evening plans are, this may be a good spot to fit in a nice signature meal at a monorail resort like Cali Grill, Narcoossee's or Citricos.

Day 7: On our Epcot days for breakfast we like to do Cape May becomes of he proximity to the park and it's a nice breakfast. For lunch, we really enjoy Biergarten at Epcot.

Day 8: Ditto to day 6, a good spot to add a signature meal.

 

[MatthewsFamily6]

Agree- we aren't in love with day 3, but it was when we have found ADR for CRT. We do actually have one more CRT made but it conflicts with our BOG dinner so we are working to find more of either of those. Seems tough with party of 6. We have touring plans searching for us.

Epcot- We have eaten at several of the countries on our past trips (England, Canada, Japan, Italy, Japan, Mexico) I would like to add Germany but not sure kids will go for it. Not super in love with food at Akershus but DD's love the princess dining experience.

In past we have done California Grill (love it), Citircos (good), Narcoosee's (LOVED it first time, last time though CG blew it away
JIKO is our favorite

Will try and book some of these. Thanks for help. Continued help appreciated

 

[Pumbaa_]

Three meals a day is a lot of food and time! 3 ts meals a day will be 3-5 hours a day in restaurants. Or more if you are traveling and waiting


The few times we did dxdp we had signature dining planned. Would grab something early, snack credit, eat early lunch 11ish then signature dinner 7ish

How about hddr or the luau? Throw room service pizza at the kids and head out for signature date night?
Cg would be lovely and not too stuffy

 

[jriveiro724]

I highly suggest 'Ohana, The Garden Grill, and Jiko!

 

[buddyjo143]

Just got back yesterday (7/7). We loved The Wave at the Contemporary. Thanks to these boards we had read the poor reviews on Chef Mickey.

We talked with our waitress who said they are different kitchens, thus the different quality in food.

We had the DDxP plan, but even if we didn't, the price is $23 pp. DH said we would gladly pay out of pocket. We did the O'hana breakfast on Monday. The food was good and plentiful, but choices are limited. For example, O'hana had a fruit plate with watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, and grapes. The Wave had individual choices of all those including strawberries and a berry mix with raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. O'hana had scrambled eggs. The Wave had scrambled eggs, eggs Benedict, individual egg white frittata, and the most delicious hard boiled egg with a Boursin (I think) cheese on top.

The only reason we went to O'hana was for Lilo and Stitch. That was worth it to me.

 

[MatthewsFamily6]

ok..we have updated some our ADR's and will continue as you all help us! Will have to check out the Wave. Sounds interesting


here's where we are now

Day 1- Park TBD
Breakfast- Bon Voyage (late)
Lunch- snacks
Dinner Park Fare 1900

Day 2- Park MK
Breakfast- probably skip
Lunch - TBD
Dinner- Crystal Palace

Day 3- HS/AK
Breakfast- Skip
Lunch- Minnie and Friends H &V or Sci-FI
Dinner - Tusker House

Day 4
Breakfast- skip
Lunch - Coral Reef
Dinner- Be our Guest

Day 5
Breakfast- skip
Lunch - Tiffin's
Dinner- Flying Fish

DAy 6
Breakfast- skip
Lunch- tbd
Dinner- Jiko

Day 7
Breakfast- skip
Lumch- Jungle Navigation
Dinner- Whispering Canyon

Day 8
Breakfast - Kona
Lunch- a
We also plan to use most of our snacks at food and wine booths