Is this too much?

[butiflfeet]

I'm planning ADRs for my family for our trip in August. The problem is that I don't have kids of my own so I need some help from those of you who do about whether or not this is too much to pack in one day. The kids belong to my brothers and the ages are 5, 6, 7, and 9.

On our first full day in Disney World we have:
Cape May Cafe for breakfast
Chef Mickey's for lunch
Hoop Dee Doo Review for dinner (and this one is late, 9:30pm)

My question is should we change one of these to a restaurant that is more low-key? I'm thinking of trying to change the dinner to something earlier and less active because I'm worried the kids will be way too crazed and/or cranky by the end of the day and this is only our 1st full day in Disney World!

 

[tiggerbell]

That's a lot! Sounds like fun, but maybe a little too much for one day? Unless, maybe the next morning you planned nothing and let everyone recover...

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

I would be worried that maybe my kids would expect that much excitement everyday? I don't know what other restaurants you were thinking of visiting during your trip, but IMO, I would space out character/show meals. But no matter where you choose to eat, I'm sure that the kids will have a great first day at WDW! :]

 

[cslittle999]

I think it is too much. Especially for the first day at Disney. At that age our kids wouldn't have made it through the day let alone eat that much food. We try to limit one or two "event" meals in a day. When do the kids normally eat dinner? I would try to keep to that time as much as possible. If you're going to try for a late dinner then you need to plan some down time back at the hotel so the kids don't implode during dinner.

 

[Debbie-TN]

9:30 sounds really late for little ones to be starting to eat dinner. They're probably going to be tried by then and not enjoy the meal. You're looking at very, very late to finish and get back to your hotel. Can it be changed to earlier and just have Cape May for breakfast and a snack or light lunch? If not, I would see about doing it another day. Then have breakfast another day at Chef Mickey's. We love breakfast at Chef Mickey's.

 

[simplymama]

I'm planning ADRs for my family for our trip in August. The problem is that I don't have kids of my own so I need some help from those of you who do about whether or not this is too much to pack in one day. The kids belong to my brothers and the ages are 5, 6, 7, and 9.

On our first full day in Disney World we have:
Cape May Cafe for breakfast
Chef Mickey's for lunch
Hoop Dee Doo Review for dinner (and this one is late, 9:30pm)

My question is should we change one of these to a restaurant that is more low-key? I'm thinking of trying to change the dinner to something earlier and less active because I'm worried the kids will be way too crazed and/or cranky by the end of the day and this is only our 1st full day in Disney World!

I would try to push Chef Mickey's to dinner or a late lunch and forget the HDDR. That's just way way too late for kids that age to just be starting a dinner. I have 4,6,9 year old myself and know that would never fly for us. If you can move Chef Mickey's to another day great, but it's often a hard reservation to get, so you might want to try and change the Cape May to another day.

If you are new to this, you need to realize that every character meal takes between 1 -1.5 hours of sitting down, not to mention travel time to get there and waiting around to get your table. Sometimes you get right in and sometimes you wait 30 minutes to get in. So doing 3 Table service/sit down meals in one day, is probably going to eat up all your time for other things.

 

[TruBlu]

Are you actually planning to go to the parks on the first day? If so, you aren't going to have a lot of time for rides, and you may have some kids falling asleep at HDDR.

 

[disneynewbee]

I have 4 kids 15yo, 6yo, 3yo, and almost 1yo and I know for us that would be way too much time sitting and eating for them. Normally when we do sit down meals we only do two a day a late breakfast and early dinner and just snack in between if hungry. Usually we are not even hungry in between but if we are it gives us an opportunity to try all the lovely treats disney has or lets my 15yo get her beloved cheese fries LOL. With that schedule I see you spending almost the whole day eating or getting to where you need to be to eat which for kids is not that enjoyable.

 

[TinkerbellinLouisian]

Good Instincts in asking the question....because you are RIght! That is TOO MUCH!

Space them out!

One TS per day!

Hugs,

Have a magical visit,

Mary

 

[CathieArms]

I think that sounds like fun, but - honestly - you're likely to have little monsters with that much stimulation in one day. I think you should do all three, but I'd do them all on different days.

One day do the breakfast, CS for lunch, and then something fun but lower-key for dinner (Ohanna's maybe?).

On a 2nd day, I'd do a low-key breakfast and then do your big lunch with Chef Mickey, and then something relatively low-key for dinner.

And then on a 3rd day, you might do low key breakfast and lunch and then your HDDR for dinner.

OR, if you can only break it down into 2 days, then just do the breakfast, CS lunch and HDDR one day, and then the Mickey lunch on the 2nd day.

I wouldn't do all 3 on the same day, personally.

 

[TagsMissy]

I am an adult and the buffet lunch would be wasted by breakfast just a mere couple hours earlier then by the time dinner came i'd be bagged. That time for your dinner is far too late for a child. LOL don't expect an adult to be alert enough for that meal let alone a child.

1 table service per day maximum.. or if you REALLY need to get in 2 TS meals in one day do brekkie.. then snack at lunch then dinner.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

I have 5 boys and we did a lot in one day but even I wouldn't push for that last one HDDR. HDDR is a great show and you don't want to do it that late after a day like you just had. It's to much in my opinion. I would make HDDR for another day for the first show so they won't be tired and can enjoy it. Just my opinion.

 

[Cinderella2006]

I'm planning ADRs for my family for our trip in August. The problem is that I don't have kids of my own so I need some help from those of you who do about whether or not this is too much to pack in one day. The kids belong to my brothers and the ages are 5, 6, 7, and 9.

On our first full day in Disney World we have:
Cape May Cafe for breakfast
Chef Mickey's for lunch
Hoop Dee Doo Review for dinner (and this one is late, 9:30pm)

My question is should we change one of these to a restaurant that is more low-key? I'm thinking of trying to change the dinner to something earlier and less active because I'm worried the kids will be way too crazed and/or cranky by the end of the day and this is only our 1st full day in Disney World!

I have three boys aged 1, 5 and 10 ... They would not be able to cope with such a long day.
They are all great places to eat but personally i would stretch it out.
Could you maybe do cape may cafe for breakfast, cs for lunch and an earlier showing of Hoop Dee Doo, maybe the 7pm show? Could save Chef Mickeys for another day

What ever you plan i am sure the children will have a great time

 

[Alesia]

I definitely wouldn't do more than 1 TS meal per day. You can easily plan on a TS breakfast taking 1 1/2 hours and lunch and dinner taking 2 hours each, minimum. That is a lot of time spent sitting at a table. Even as an adult, I wouldn't want to do that.

 

[butiflfeet]

Thanks for the replies! Unfortunately it's too late to get anything else at Chef Mickey's or HDDR for the whole week we are there so they're just not going to do one of those this time. It's tough because it's the first trip ever for all the kids and my brothers haven't been in 23 years so they are hearing things from people who have been telling them what they must do while there because they don't know when they can go back. So I was given a list of the restaurants they think they need to get and we're only there for 5 days!

 

[CathieArms]

Don't cancel anything yet. Just keep calling back every couple of days and see if something opens up on different days. Seriously. I finally was able to modify a couple of my ADRs after trying *forever* it seemed.

 

[Colleen27]

I have kids in that age range (11 & 7 now, but we've been going to Disney annually sine 2005) and we do multiple sit down meals each day, but that would still be too much for my crew for a couple of reasons.

First and foremost, the kids want to hit the parks on the first full day! Most days, they're fine with spending time on nice meals, but on that first day they need to get their ride fix first.

Second, HDDR is way too late. Keep in mind that Disney dinner shows tend to be about 2 hours long. By the time you add in travel time back to your resort, you're looking at having those kids up past midnight. Not only is that likely to be a problem at the time, when they're tired and cranky, but it is also going to put a damper on the next day's plans too.

I rarely plan 3 meal days at Disney. Two meals is about the most we (kids and adults alike) want, in terms of time spent at restaurants. We had two 3 meal days on our first deluxe dining trip and it really was too much for all of us.

Would the rest of your plans allow for either rescheduling HDDR for a different night or rebooking it earlier and rescheduling Chef Mickey for a different day?

 

[disneynewbee]

If they really want those restaurants I would keep HDDR since that would be harder to get last minute. For chef mickey I would try during the wk to get a last minute booking. Are you all trying to sit at one table? If you are willing to split up your party they may be able to fit you in. When I went with my 2 sisters and their families (one sister with her family of 5 the other with just her and her daughter) we had to sit apart at a few restaurants to get in and sometimes the times had to be 10-15 minutes apart. Like I had a 10am and my other sister had a 10:15am. It worked out fine though. You could try that if necessary.