Just booked our FIRST DISNEY TRIP!!

[snbhamilton]

We are all so excited. We booked our first Disney trip for Sept 13-20. Lots of planning in the next 6 months. First, is dining. I have been reading some of the posts and love all the info I have gotten. Still need help with dining. We are not getting park hopper passes, plan on spending 1 day in AK, Epcot, and HS then the rest in MK and DD. We don't want to do character dining for every sit down meal. I was thinking 2-3 for our trip. So far I am thinking:
Rainforest Cafe in AK
Coral Reef in Epcot
Hoop Dee Doo
Chef Mickey
Not sure where else to eat. Any suggestions?

 

[sjs314]

I see you have a son (3), seems like all lil boys love dinosaurs , if yours does too T-Rex in DTD is great...have a wonderful first Disney vacation

 

[Adistar]

We loved ohana when we went in 06. Where are you staying? I always like to have one meal at our resorts restaurant. My son loved planet hollywood in DTD, and this year we are trying our crystal palace in MK.

 

[ateam79828592]

Congrats on booking your first trip!! We did our first one in September last year. We had said 5 yr until we go back...but we had such a great time, we ended up planning to go back this year!!

Our kids were DD4 and DS1 last year. We enjoyed the character meals a lot. Tusker House (breakfast) at AK was great. Good food & good character interaction. We liked Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace as well.

You will be eligible to book dining soon if you aren't already. You are also within the window of when free dining has been the last few years and people are guessing it will be this year.

 

[DaniB]

Where are you staying? Those dates are only off ours by 1 day!

We booked our first visit for Sept 14 to Sept 21st at POP, and might upgrade it to CSR.

Since our ADRs are on the 18th, I guess yours is the 17th.

I'm booking for breakfast:
- Crystal Palace or Ohana Lilo/Stitch
- Donald's Safari

Dinner:
- Spirit of Aloha
- T-Rex (not on dining plan)
- Coral Reef
- BOMA
- Ohana (dinner version)

 

[lillylynnb]

Wow i so remember our first trip in 2007. I planned it for 7 months Transportation, where to stay, what to eat, it was the best trip ever because we made a lot of memoirs and because of that we have gone back ever year. This year will be our four and it again will be another memorial one .

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Congrats on the first trip!!!

I would trade out TRex for your Rainforest ADR. Much better reviews.

I would rethink Hoop De Doo too. If you are doing the DDP, it's not really worth 2 Dining Credits...especially for younger kiddos who may be tired by that point and not too excited about dinners in general.

Check out the menu for Coral Reef. I suggest this because I have a picky eat and nothing on that menu thrills her.

Chef Mickey's will be great. Tusker House, O'Hana's, and Crystal Palace are also fun. Our favorite charaters meals are at 1900 Park Fare.

 

[DisneyClown]

I went to WDW for the first time for my Honeymoon in '07, and I remember the excitement of planning the perfect place to stay, and eat! We are going back with kids this summer, but there are a few places we went before that I think would be enjoyable for your whole family. Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge can be a fun place-they do stick horse parades around the restaurant, and there is an element of fun if you ask for ketchup or a large drink(don't want to give away the surprise if you haven't heard of it already), also 50's Primetime is fun for the kids when the servers pick on the parents for having their elbows on the table, and Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater is neat because you get to sit in small replicas of 50's cars and watch old movie clips on the big screen. Happy Planning!

 

[Rylee]

A few questions...

Are you staying at a Disney Hotel?
Will you have the Dining Plan? (DP)

*Free dining has been offered at that time for the last few years... watch for a code to come out and call and have it applied.

If you won't have Hoppers, (we don't purchase the Hopper option anymore) and don't plan to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours, (EMH) you should avoid the park offering EMH, as it will be more crowded.

You should check the park calendar and try to figure out which day you'll visit each park.

Try to book a restaurant in or near the park you plan to visit. Booking a resort restaurant prevents you from being tied to a certain park on a certain day, and is a great way to check out other resorts, but remember, traveling to and from takes time.

We try to do a little of everything, so we book some restaurants for the food, some for the fun, some for the atmosphere. We only do 1 or 2 character meals, and 1 or 2 buffets, each trip. I prefer to order off the menu.

Some of our favorites...

In or near MK -
Crystal Palace - buffet, breakfast.
Chef Mickey's - buffet, breakfast.
Kona @ the Poly.
California Grill @ Contemporary.
1900 Park Fare - buffet, breakfast, Cinderella's Royal Gala - buffet, dinner.
'Ohana - (Many people love this. We went for dinner... NOT one of our favorites.)

Epcot -
Teppan Edo in Japan.
Le Cellier in Canada.
Coral Reef.

DHS -
Mama Melrose - (if we can get the Fantasmic Dinner Package.)
Si-Fi Dine In - Sit in cars at drive-in movies, (couple of my kids request this.)
Cape May @ Beach Club - character breakfast or seafood dinner buffet. (A nice boat ride from DHS.)

In or near AK -
Boma @ AK Lodge, dinner buffet.
Yak & Yeti.
(Or we do a DTD restaurant on AK day.)

DTD -
Wolfgang Puck Express.
T-Rex (Trying this for the first time next month.)

Have fun planning!