In full on panic mode HELP!~!

[redheadjamie32]

Background: we are a family of 6 - 2 adults, 4 kids: 11, 7,6, and 2. The 11 and 7 year old have birthdays close on the calendar so we are celebrating their birthdays with our family's first trip to Disney World this year.

I booked the standard dining plan for us.

We are staying at The Beach Club

I have booked the following restaurants, but I can't get my head out of the "terrible" reviews section of trip advisor and the terrible reviews are REALLY terrible. Please share your experiences with what I've booked and help me relax and know I've made the right choices.

We have Boma on the night of arrival.

Cape May Breakfast for our first day - which is Epcot. I chose this over Chef Mickey's based solely on 3 bad reviews of CM in the last month on Trip Advisor.

Coral Reef for an early dinner: 4:25pm - this one I'm pretty sure about because my husband was like "oh I want that sustainable catch dish"

Disney Jr. Play & Dine @ Hollywood & Vine - this one is for my son, he's 6 and Jake is his fave!~!

Sci Fi Diner - again at the request of my husband he thinks it's going to be awesome but he's not a Sci Fi guy....o...k....LOL

AND the 1900 Park Fare dinner where the girls will be presented with their birthday cakes.

Input? Best advice, things to avoid? I understand everyone has an individual experience and I am smart enough to know that hey I booked a character meal, I am paying for the character experience not 5 star food and I laugh off the bad reviews that say "you're paying for a character dinner" REALLY? I totally thought I booked Victoria and Albert but hey thanks for the tip!

Any MUST do dinner shows??? I am totally on the fence about ALL of them.

Thank you for your help and maybe I'm crazy thinking we can do this all in 4 days but my plan is for this to be the big expensive trip and we just may Motel 6 it and eat Taco Bell the next time - who knows LOL.

TIA,
Jamie

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

I have never gone to any of those places for those meals you list. I have been to Cape May for dinner and it was very good.

But I just wanted to chime in about the dinner show. Hoop Dee Doo was a great show and the family loved the food. They have fried Chicken, Ribs, Potatoes, salad, corn, cornbread and Strawberry Shortcake.

They perform the show and then take breaks in the show to give you time to eat some before starting the show back up. We had the dining plan and it was 2 credits but if you paying out of pocket it is pretty expensive.

I started to book the Luau but read so many bad reviews where ppl said the show sucked and the food was bad.

And if you ever decide to "Motel 6" it...for a family your size you can stay off property at the Quality Suites Lake Buena Vista in a 2 bedroom suite with a living room and kitchen and free breakfast for around $150 a night. The 2 bedroom sleeps up to 8 ppl.

We will be staying there in less than a month just DH and I in a 1 bedroom suite and we got a rate of $71 a night. You just have to join CHoice Priv program which is free and it is their loyalty program but they give you the best available rate if you are a member.

It is a really nice property in a decent area near a lot of stores and restaurants and is half way between Disney and Universal. Since we go to both parks it is a good location for us.

When we take the kids we stay on property but when it is just DH and I we stay off property.

It looks like you have some good meals booked.

The only thing I can say about the places you picked is, we started to eat at Coral Reef last time we went but I read TONS of bad reviews on it that said service was very slow and the food was horrible. I read too many bad ones for it to be a fluke I think. But usually I will give a place a chance just to see for myself. I just decided against that one.

 

[rlovew]

We have Boma on the night of arrival. - We have found this to be an excellent place with high quality food and good service. I am sure you are aware the food will not be American styled for the most part.

Cape May Breakfast for our first day - which is Epcot. I chose this over Chef Mickey's based solely on 3 bad reviews of CM in the last month on Trip Advisor. I have only eaten breakfast here once and the food was excellent and the character interaction was about the top we have had.

Coral Reef for an early dinner: 4:25pm - this one I'm pretty sure about because my husband was like "oh I want that sustainable catch dish"We have had both okay and good meals here

Disney Jr. Play & Dine @ Hollywood & Vine - this one is for my son, he's 6 and Jake is his fave!~! I have eaten a dinner here before it was play and dine and did not care for it and I had breakfast here afgter it was play and dine. While the food did not impress me at all the character interaction was fantastic for young kids they were able to not only see the characters visit the table but played games with them throughout the meal- of course the children we were with basically didn't eat so they got hungry again very quickly.

Sci Fi Diner - again at the request of my husband he thinks it's going to be awesome but he's not a Sci Fi guy....o...k....LOLThe atmosphere is really different and our food was fine

AND the 1900 Park Fare dinner where the girls will be presented with their birthday cakes. My husband who is not into character meals at all enjoyed the food here and thought about choosing it out himself.


I will also have to say that the best advise I can give you is to go with the flow and don't let any one experience define your time- all of us have good and not as good experiences a lot of it depends on your attitude. I have found that even when starting with a not super cheerful server a kind word and smile can change the tone of our meal.

 

[redheadjamie32]

Thank you guys SO MUCH for taking the time to reply to me and ease my stress a little.

I booked NOTHING at AK because we're doing Boma on the night of arrival and their quick service stuff looks and sounds amazing. I may decide that I just can't stand it and hop into Rainforest at AK just because I've never been!~!


Again, thank you so much!~!
Jamei

 

[disneybliss2]

First off, don't let the reviews scare you to death. Yes, I look into them myself, but I've also learned that you have to try something yourself to form your own opinion. Hopefully, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Here's our experience with these restaurants:

Boma: love it! It's one of my DH's favorite restaurants at WDW. There's a huge variety and lots of interesting options you don't typically find at other restaurants. There's plenty of your standard fare too though to please even picky eaters. Neat setting here too. Tip: show up for your reservation a little early and take time to see the animals at the various looking areas (I recommend the one just outside of the lobby). It will add to your dining experience. You could also view the animals after your meal instead. It's so neat to see all the African animals and the CMs are wonderful to visit with.

Coral Reef: neat set up, food was okay, not horrible, but not outstanding. We ordered the steak and it was very tough and lacked flavor. I would choose the fish instead as I've heard others say it was far better. Wish I had tried it as I'm sure that's what they specialize in. I have a friend who loves eating here. The dessert was very yummy.

Sci Fi: fun atmosphere. My kids love eating in the cars; it's like eating at a drive in movie theatre. The food is your standard burgers/fries. My husband and girls loved their shakes. We enjoyed the lunch here.

1900 PF: a must do for us! We love it here! The first time I booked this restaurant, I almost cancelled the reservation. I got very nervous based on the shaky reviews and was tempted to ditch it. Fortunately, I posted a post similar to yours and had others reassure me and convinced me to keep it. I'm so glad I did. We really enjoy the food here. There's a large variety, it's very fresh and tasty, and the character interaction is the absolute best on property. The stepsisters are a riot! Great place to celebrate a birthday!

Cape May & Hollywood & Vine: never eaten at either

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[natebenma]

Background: we are a family of 6 - 2 adults, 4 kids: 11, 7,6, and 2. The 11 and 7 year old have birthdays close on the calendar so we are celebrating their birthdays with our family's first trip to Disney World this year.

I booked the standard dining plan for us.

We are staying at The Beach Club

I have booked the following restaurants, but I can't get my head out of the "terrible" reviews section of trip advisor and the terrible reviews are REALLY terrible. Please share your experiences with what I've booked and help me relax and know I've made the right choices.

We have Boma on the night of arrival.

Cape May Breakfast for our first day - which is Epcot. I chose this over Chef Mickey's based solely on 3 bad reviews of CM in the last month on Trip Advisor.

Coral Reef for an early dinner: 4:25pm - this one I'm pretty sure about because my husband was like "oh I want that sustainable catch dish"

Disney Jr. Play & Dine @ Hollywood & Vine - this one is for my son, he's 6 and Jake is his fave!~!

Sci Fi Diner - again at the request of my husband he thinks it's going to be awesome but he's not a Sci Fi guy....o...k....LOL

AND the 1900 Park Fare dinner where the girls will be presented with their birthday cakes.

Input? Best advice, things to avoid? I understand everyone has an individual experience and I am smart enough to know that hey I booked a character meal, I am paying for the character experience not 5 star food and I laugh off the bad reviews that say "you're paying for a character dinner" REALLY? I totally thought I booked Victoria and Albert but hey thanks for the tip!

Any MUST do dinner shows??? I am totally on the fence about ALL of them.

Thank you for your help and maybe I'm crazy thinking we can do this all in 4 days but my plan is for this to be the big expensive trip and we just may Motel 6 it and eat Taco Bell the next time - who knows LOL.

TIA,
Jamie

You have some great meals planned!

Boma is my family's favorite restaurant at the World! Even my super finicky oldest son likes it.

Cape May is my favorite character meal. The beachy attire on the characters is soooooo cute, food is great and the convenience since you are staying at BC and going to EP that day- no brainer!

We love the food and atmosphere at the Coral Reef. Our only complaint here is the service has been slow. Not bad, just long meals.

Sci Fi is the one meal (lunch) my family requested for our upcoming trip in July. I wouldn't venture too far from the burgers or sandwiches. I had the shrimp pasta there once and it was nasty. Why did I get shrimp at a burger place? No idea? The ice cream sundaes are awesome, too.

Haven't been to the Park Faire or Dine and Play.

Enjoy!!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We've eaten at Cape May for breakfast and it has always been very good. We tried Coral Reef and 1900 Park Fare for dinner last month and both meals were very good. My Mahi Mahi at the Coral Reef was absolutely delicious. And the food the night we were at 1900 Park Fare was very good, too.

I would say that you made some great choices.

As far as fun things to do - we had a great time at Hoop Dee Doo. We've never done it before and were surprised how fun it was.

 

[Iamthequeen]

The only restaurant on your list that we've been to is Coral Reef - we thought it was very good. The aquarium is awesome!

We love the Hoop de do Revue - we've been there twice and it would be my first choice for a dinner show. In addition to the food, they have sangria and beer as well as sodas and iced tea and coffee. Very fun show!

 

[SteveMouse]

My observations: If you are using Disney transportation, the best way to get from the Beach Club to Boma would be to walk or boat to the entrance to Hollywood Studios and bus to AKL.

A HUGE advantage to Cape May over CMs if you're staying at the BC and then going to Epcot for the day is transportation! You won't need to get on a bus or car at all- just use the International Gateway from the Epcot resort area into Epcot.