Here's my list of "must do" dining.. any advice?

[DisneyCruiser2008]

So we (myself, DH, DS(7) and DD(4)) are going to WDW in June... And I am trying to plan ahead, since the 180 day mark is actually not too far away. We are not planning on doing the DDP... I am hoping for a good room only discount. We are going to be staying 10 nights, so we definitely want to have some fun dining experiences, but we also don't want to book ourselves so full so that dining dictates our schedule each and every day... We are staying the first 5 nights at Pop (unless some fabulous Pin comes my way, then we might upgrade) and the last 5 nights at AKL CL.

This is kind of what I am thinking....

- Breakfast at CRT one morning (hopefully an 8 am ressie so we can get to MK early and see the glorious castle before the park opens). DD (4) LOVES princesses.

- Dinner at the Garden Grill at Epcot. I figured this would be a fun way to break up our Epcot day.

- TRex Cafe for lunch on our DTD day... Planning a low key day.. may or may not go to the parks this day.

- AK Sunrise Safari and breakast on the Sunday it is available to AKL guests.

- Dinner at Boma one night.

- Contemplating the Fantasmic Dinner Show at Hollywood and Vine... mostly to get the priority seating.

So -- we have room for a few more meals. Does anyone have any other "must do" dining suggestions, especially ones the kids would love? Thanks for taking the time to look!

ETA -- Also wouldn't mind going to another resort or two to dine... Especially if there would be something interesting/fun for the kids to see or do at the resort while we are there... Our kids are ok in restaurants, but it's hard to get them excited about eating when there are much more "fun" things to do (i.e. go on rides, etc.).

 

[KatMark]

So we (myself, DH, DS(7) and DD(4)) are going to WDW in June... And I am trying to plan ahead, since the 180 day mark is actually not too far away. We are not planning on doing the DDP... I am hoping for a good room only discount. We are going to be staying 10 nights, so we definitely want to have some fun dining experiences, but we also don't want to book ourselves so full so that dining dictates our schedule each and every day... We are staying the first 5 nights at Pop (unless some fabulous Pin comes my way, then we might upgrade) and the last 5 nights at AKL CL.

This is kind of what I am thinking....

- Breakfast at CRT one morning (hopefully an 8 am ressie so we can get to MK early and see the glorious castle before the park opens). DD (4) LOVES princesses.

- Dinner at the Garden Grill at Epcot. I figured this would be a fun way to break up our Epcot day.

- TRex Cafe for lunch on our DTD day... Planning a low key day.. may or may not go to the parks this day.

- AK Sunrise Safari and breakast on the Sunday it is available to AKL guests.

- Dinner at Boma one night.

- Contemplating the Fantasmic Dinner Show at Hollywood and Vine... mostly to get the reserved seating.

So -- we have room for a few more meals. Does anyone have any other "must do" dining suggestions, especially ones the kids would love? Thanks for taking the time to look!

Can't comment on the ones you have already picked as we've only done two--Garden Grill--years ago and it gets "iffy" reviews lately and Hollywood & Vine which you could not pay us to eat at. For kids, Crystal Palace for breakfast (8:05 a.m. ADR would be perfect for another "empty Main Street)--great puffed french toast and great character interaction with Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet; kids love sitting in the cars at Sci Fi; and for the "princesses" the breakfast in Norway at Epcot gets really good reviews too.

 

[cslittle999]

You might think about Hoop-Dee-Doo. The food is kid friendly and the show is great.

 

[engle]

Here's another vote for Hoop Dee Doo!! Also, you may want to rethink Garden Grill and think Teppan Edo or Biergarten. Your kids would love either and is more "epcoty" if that's a word!!!

 

[weschmom]

First off....have I missed something? I thought we could only make ADR's NINETY DAYS out, not 180. Did this change recently????

A few comments, as my kids are the same ages as yours:

--CRT -- you said you are not on the DDP. This meal will cost big bucks and gets not so great reveiws. Yes, you are in the castle. But, you only meet Cinderella! Why not try for Akershus in Norway and meet FIVE princesses, AND get a much better meal?!

--Garden Grill -- we ate there last month. The food was "OK" -- I didn't think it was outstanding. Kids loved seeing the characters, and the moving floor was unique. If you go here, PLEASE ask to be seated in the outer circle. I felt sorry for folks sitting on the inside, as their view never changed, and frankly it looked pretty drab. We enjoyed Teppan Edo more than Garden Grill. The kids really liked the entertainment at TE, and they ate VERY WELL here.

--You might consider 50s Prime Time at DHS. My kids both loved this, as did DH and I. The peanut butter & jelly milkshake was awesome, as was the pot roast and s'mores dessert. We always hit this restaurant -- my absolute favorite and has been for years.

Enjoy your trip, and someone please let me know about the 180 vs 90 days!!

 

[DisneyCruiser2008]

Thanks for the feedback.

Effective October 27th, the ADR window is being moved to 180 days.

 

[LadyDi13]

First off....have I missed something? I thought we could only make ADR's NINETY DAYS out, not 180. Did this change recently????

A few comments, as my kids are the same ages as yours:

--CRT -- you said you are not on the DDP. This meal will cost big bucks and gets not so great reveiws. Yes, you are in the castle. But, you only meet Cinderella! Why not try for Akershus in Norway and meet FIVE princesses, AND get a much better meal?!

--Garden Grill -- we ate there last month. The food was "OK" -- I didn't think it was outstanding. Kids loved seeing the characters, and the moving floor was unique. If you go here, PLEASE ask to be seated in the outer circle. I felt sorry for folks sitting on the inside, as their view never changed, and frankly it looked pretty drab. We enjoyed Teppan Edo more than Garden Grill. The kids really liked the entertainment at TE, and they ate VERY WELL here.

--You might consider 50s Prime Time at DHS. My kids both loved this, as did DH and I. The peanut butter & jelly milkshake was awesome, as was the pot roast and s'mores dessert. We always hit this restaurant -- my absolute favorite and has been for years.

Enjoy your trip, and someone please let me know about the 180 vs 90 days!!

Yes Disney has returned to the 180 day mark for ADRs...I think they announced it a month or 2 ago. It goes into affect October 27.

 

[weschmom]

Well thanks for letting me know! I was living in the dark, since we just returned from our trip last month. I have to say, though, since we usually don't plan our trips 180 days out, I liked the 90-day ADR's better. With 180 days, I'm always feeling like others have already beaten me to the punch, so to speak.

 

[mermaid&cinderella]

I think CRT is a must do for little princesses and definately an early adr to get in to MK early..............truly magical.

I just finished reviewing T-Rex in my recent dining review, it is a must do once fo rkids. My DD loved all there is to see there. Its a fun place and the food was good too.

Here is my review:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2304924

Some others that DD really enjoys is Coral Reef because she loves fish (well animals) and the huge aquarium is a great entertainment for her and the food is also good there.

A new one we did this trip was Teppan Edo (you can see that review also in my above post) and DD really enjoyed watching the chef cook at our table and make the volcano but unfortunately she did not like thefood....she doesn't like rice!

Crystal Palace is also a great meal, we like breakfast there and you get the Pooh gang of your DD likes them.

Your princesses may also liek 1900 Park Fare for dinner. There is Cinderella, Prince Charming, the step mother and step sisters and they are hilarious.

Have fun planning!

 

[Jeanieblue114]

Captain's Grille at the Yacht Club was delicious and the food was actually fresh instead of under a heatlamp like we had at other places.
The kids next to us had the kid's dessert kabob..it has a rice krispy treat and fruit and other stuff...was a big high stack on a stick. They had fun with it.

 

[squirrel]

At MK-Crystal Palace or CRT. I would rather hit one of the other resort places on the monorail than do CRT again. 'Ohana and 1900 Park Fare are good as is Chef Mickey's.

DHS-50's Prime Time, Sci-Fi and Mama Melrose were all good.

Epcot-Akershus and Coral Reef (we had a bad server, others have had great ones)

AK-Tusker House for breakfast to see the characters. Food is good here at anytime but the characters are only arround for breakfast which ends about 10:30am for ADR's.

 

[natalielongstaff]

im another one who would skip H&V

 

[ShannonMB]

Just wanted to clarify -- at CRT (breakfast and lunch), you also get 5 princesses. Cindy plus whichever other 4 she invites for the day!

 

[itchin2go]

Just wanted to clarify -- at CRT (breakfast and lunch), you also get 5 princesses. Cindy plus whichever other 4 she invites for the day!

Yep. We have done both CRT and Akershus. We preferred Akershus, but for a 4 year old first-timer, I would have to go with CRT. Just know you're not going for the food, be prepared for a cattle call, and you'll be fine.

One of our best character breakfast experiences was at Cape May Cafe which is in the Beach Club resort. It is easy to walk or take a boat from there to Epcot or DHS. It is laid back, the food is plentiful and the character interaction is great.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

AKERSHUS!!! We did it last year and was one of the two best meals of the trip. We did the Princess Breakfast!

The other best meal of the trip.....O'Hana's! Dinner reservations and then down to the beach to watch Wishes from the Poly. FANTASTIC!!!

Another one my kids loved was Pizza Planet. Totally not for the food, though. My son LOVES Toy Story. Before our first trip to Disney he would ask me every day when we left the house if we were going to Pizza Planet. I can't tell you how great it was that day when we left our villa at OKW and he said "Mommy, are we going to Pizza Planet?" and I could say YES SON, TODAY IS THE DAY!

 

[eventamy]

- Breakfast at CRT one morning (hopefully an 8 am ressie so we can get to MK early and see the glorious castle before the park opens). DD (4) LOVES princesses. I would also go with CRT, we've done lunch and dinner so far and have really enjoyed it. We also pay OOP too and while it is expensive we have really enjoyed the food and the experience.

- Dinner at the Garden Grill at Epcot. I figured this would be a fun way to break up our Epcot day.

- TRex Cafe for lunch on our DTD day... Planning a low key day.. may or may not go to the parks this day. We loved T-Rex when we ate there in February, just be aware that the portions are humongous! Try to get a seat in the back of the restaurant, it's so super loud in the front that it's difficult to talk or even think! The Triasic Tuna Appy is AWESOME!

- AK Sunrise Safari and breakast on the Sunday it is available to AKL guests.
This is something I would LOVE to do someday!

- Dinner at Boma one night. I loved dinner here! So many yummy things to try. My DH and Mom weren't all that impressed, but I loved it and my girls liked it too. They had beautiful fruit and lots of things for them.


- Contemplating the Fantasmic Dinner Show at Hollywood and Vine... mostly to get the priority seating.

So -- we have room for a few more meals. Does anyone have any other "must do" dining suggestions, especially ones the kids would love? Thanks for taking the time to look!

We LOVE Sci-Fi at DHS, my girls had a blast and with the ages of your kids I think they will too. I didn't like Coral Reef at all, but if you go make sure you ask for a table near the tank. We didn't and didn't have a good seat, my kids couldn't see at all.

ETA -- Also wouldn't mind going to another resort or two to dine... Especially if there would be something interesting/fun for the kids to see or do at the resort while we are there... Our kids are ok in restaurants, but it's hard to get them excited about eating when there are much more "fun" things to do (i.e. go on rides, etc.).
There are really great restaurants on the Boardwalk, and it's fun to walk around there too. We're doing Flying Fish this time. Last time we did Spoodles and will miss it greatly now that it's gone.
The Polynesian is beautiful, maybe O'hanas? We haven't tried it yet, and won't this trip either, but plan on doing it eventually. We like Konas but haven't taken the kids yet, but I would go back in a heartbeat for the Tuna Oscar! Enjoy your trip!

 

[nicki.momof3]

So we (myself, DH, DS(7) and DD(4)) are going to WDW in June... And I am trying to plan ahead, since the 180 day mark is actually not too far away. We are not planning on doing the DDP... I am hoping for a good room only discount. We are going to be staying 10 nights, so we definitely want to have some fun dining experiences, but we also don't want to book ourselves so full so that dining dictates our schedule each and every day... We are staying the first 5 nights at Pop (unless some fabulous Pin comes my way, then we might upgrade) and the last 5 nights at AKL CL.

This is kind of what I am thinking....

- Breakfast at CRT one morning (hopefully an 8 am ressie so we can get to MK early and see the glorious castle before the park opens). DD (4) LOVES princesses. We personally like the lunch much better. much better food and we do a late lunch and it fills us up like dinner. I agree CRT is a MUST DO for little princesses.

- Dinner at the Garden Grill at Epcot. I figured this would be a fun way to break up our Epcot day.I think this resturant has some of the most borign food at WDW and the seating is the worst. Even if you get an outside seat the booths leave no room. I will never return here. There are much better places to eat with kids at Epcot - dinner in Germany is fun

- TRex Cafe for lunch on our DTD day... Planning a low key day.. may or may not go to the parks this day.Fun environment - food is standard - go if you have never boon. Kids will like it.

- AK Sunrise Safari and breakast on the Sunday it is available to AKL guests.Never done sounds very cool

- Dinner at Boma one night.

- Contemplating the Fantasmic Dinner Show at Hollywood and Vine... mostly to get the priority seating.I would skip it - Sci Fi is so much more fun for the kids

So -- we have room for a few more meals. Does anyone have any other "must do" dining suggestions, especially ones the kids would love? Thanks for taking the time to look!

ETA -- Also wouldn't mind going to another resort or two to dine... Especially if there would be something interesting/fun for the kids to see or do at the resort while we are there... Our kids are ok in restaurants, but it's hard to get them excited about eating when there are much more "fun" things to do (i.e. go on rides, etc.).

Have fun