Maxing DDP value trip ?'s Overwhelmed!

[Chavaleh]

I'm planning my first trip to WDW in almost 20 years for myself, my husband, my 10 year old, 8 year old and a one year old. We are going the last week in March and using the DDP. The park has changed SO much since I was last there and I am overwhelmed with the options. I'm sure I need to be making my ADRs as soon as possible so what are some good rec's for places we shouldn't miss?

I'm thinking the kids would really enjoy the Sci-Fi Diner and they love Japanese food, so one of the places there in Epcot would probably be good. What about the Fantasmic Dinner Package? Is that a don't miss sort of thing? So so so many options!!! I really need to narrow things down quickly. I'm reading your amazing backlog of threads as fast as I can.

 

[bouncycat]

I'm planning our first real vacation, we usually go for just a day since we live so close, but I'm surprising my mom for her birthday...what I'm doing, is planning park days....and the planning the food around that. We'll have hoppers if we wanted to leave after dinner, but I'm in it for the experience for my mother this time. There are 2 parks she hasn't gone to, and I want her to have the whole disney experience. Anyways, that's where I started from, and I'm using Dreams Unlimited and they have been awesome!! Good luck, and I have been all over on the boards here as well, it's been fun! Enjoy!!

 

[CruisingCamper]

I'm planning my first trip to WDW in almost 20 years for myself, my husband, my 10 year old, 8 year old and a one year old. We are going the last week in March and using the DDP. The park has changed SO much since I was last there and I am overwhelmed with the options. I'm sure I need to be making my ADRs as soon as possible so what are some good rec's for places we shouldn't miss?

I'm thinking the kids would really enjoy the Sci-Fi Diner and they love Japanese food, so one of the places there in Epcot would probably be good. What about the Fantasmic Dinner Package? Is that a don't miss sort of thing? So so so many options!!! I really need to narrow things down quickly. I'm reading your amazing backlog of threads as fast as I can.

Coral Reef & Chef Mickey's are great for kids too! They will like Sci-Fi too, my DS2 isn't ready for that one yet.

We will be there at the same time. You really need to make your Reservations soon. I made mine last week and a few more yesterday and still got everything I wanted to get for the times I wanted, so that's good news for you. I still need to call today for one more.

 

[DaveStroem]

No time to lose. Make your ADRs today.

Even if you need to change something later you will have a back up plan. I made mine over a month ago and got everything that I wanted but not always at the time I wanted.

 

[Disney*Dreamer]

I suggest Whispering Canyon, loads of fun! Also Boma, great trying the African fair, and I second Sci-Fi, it is wonderful!

 

[TxRabbit]

I'm planning my first trip to WDW in almost 20 years for myself, my husband, my 10 year old, 8 year old and a one year old. We are going the last week in March and using the DDP. The park has changed SO much since I was last there and I am overwhelmed with the options. I'm sure I need to be making my ADRs as soon as possible so what are some good rec's for places we shouldn't miss?

I'm thinking the kids would really enjoy the Sci-Fi Diner and they love Japanese food, so one of the places there in Epcot would probably be good. What about the Fantasmic Dinner Package? Is that a don't miss sort of thing? So so so many options!!! I really need to narrow things down quickly. I'm reading your amazing backlog of threads as fast as I can.

Breathe. Deep breathe. Reeee-lax. Ahhhh. It's going to be okay.

Your family is going to be way WAY excited about this trip. ANYTHING will be good. Eating in ANY of the restaurants will be fun. Remember, so many people on these boards have been to WDW numerous times. They can make comparisons between restaurants and think one is better than another. They can even compare the same restaurant to previous trips, even the same food to previous chefs.

It's all new to you. It will ALL be good.

I would recommend that you start with the character meals. What characters do you want to see? What resort are you staying at? They are really fun, and at least one is a must do for our family. Another place to start is to pick a must do character meal and see what day/time they have available for your trip.

I planned a trip with less than 45 to go for our first trip. CRT was a must do for me. I wanted to eat in the castle. So did DS then 6. I called to see what my options were for my entire trip. Then I started to plan around that.

Then, depending on which character meals and where, you know what other park days you need meals for. Really. Think ease of transportation and convenience as well.

And yes. You need to be making your ADRs as soon as possible.

So seriously. Where are you staying?

 

[Chavaleh]

We're staying at Pop Century.

We got reservations for Sci-Fi, Coral Reef, Biergarten and Tokyo Dining. Cinderella's Castle is apparently all booked up for the entire length of our trip and my attempt to get the Fantasmic package at Mama Melrose's was apparently a no-go as well (we're working with an agent at SmallWorld). So we have 3 TS meals to parse out still.

My 10 year old is a 16 year old goth in a 10 year old's body. She won't be impressed with Princesses. My 8 year old LOVES Tinkerbell and would enjoy Princess characters.

We will have our car and park hopper passes so I sort of figured we'd plan our evenings around where we ended up wanting to eat. Yeah, I'm the kinda gal who plans vacations around food. hehe

 

[DaveStroem]

Yeah, I'm the kinda gal who plans vacations around food. hehe

So am I, well not the gal part

I here good things about the following

Le Cellier (tough to get ADR for)
Tutto Italia
Teppen Edo
Ohana
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Boma
Chef de France

We are eating at many of these on our late March trip.

 

[Chavaleh]

Does going to another resort to have meal end up taking a big chunk out of your park time? I'm a little concerned that it might take too long to get around and we'll already be dealing with the shortened touring capacity of a one year old. Would it be wiser to try to plan all of our meals at places in the parks?

 

[TxRabbit]

Does going to another resort to have meal end up taking a big chunk out of your park time? I'm a little concerned that it might take too long to get around and we'll already be dealing with the shortened touring capacity of a one year old. Would it be wiser to try to plan all of our meals at places in the parks?

The deal with going to a resort to eat is just this. If you are relying on Disney transporation, you have to know that there is NO, I repeat, NO direct resort to resort transportation. So let's say you take an afternoon break at your resort and you decide to go to AKL for dinner. You hear great things about Boma, you want to see the resort also. Whatever. You will have to take a bus to one of the theme parks or DTD and then transfer to the AKL bus. This is what is time consuming about going to eat at a resort.

If you want Boma, following my example, you'd be better off tacking your resort dining to your AK day. Then you still have to do the bus switch to get home, or just keep going commando and hit another park. Oof. But I say that because AK closes so early.

You understand the difficulty in resort dining though, yes?

It isn't insurmountable, just something you need to PLAN.

 

[Chavaleh]

Yes, I can see how it might get a bit complicated which is why I'm leaning towards keeping things a bit simpler even if that means sacrificing a few excellent options.

 

[3boymthr]

I see that you will have a car so your travel between resorts is much shorter than if you had to take buses.

If your kids know about the trip - get their input. I was shocked by how my kids were determined that we were going to eat at Chef Mickey's - even though they've never been and I've never mentioned it to them. This is a tough ADR to get but you might get lucky and someone will cancel. For example yesterday I switched from breakfast to dinner and while I could only get an ADR for 8:05PM, my switch freed up a breakfast ADR for someone else.

My oldest (also 13) was also very opinionated about the other places we were going to eat - he wants desperately to try french food (there are no french restaurants near where we live). He also felt very strongly that we had to have Italian at least once - he didn't care where but the fancier the better. So to keep him happy (and really I don't mind because the food looks good) we're going to Chefs de France and Tutto Italia.

 

[catne]

When we were headed to Magic Kingdom and wanted a table service restaurant that was not in the Magic Kingdom, we found it really easy to drive to the monorail resort, valet park the car (cost you about $15 with the tip) Then eat at the restaurant, & hop the monorail to park. When you're ready to leave, take the monorail back to the hotel, get your car & you're on your way with no hassle, and no long lines of cars in the parking lot all trying to leave at the same time. You do have to valet-park though, because if you're just going to self-park, they will only give you a 3 hour parking pass (and they've been known to tow cars from all three monorail car lots) With the valet parking, you're paying for the space so they'll let you stay...we were told we could leave the car until 6:00 a.m. the next day if we wanted, but then they'd charge for another day of valet parking!

That gives you a lot more restaurant choices: for one table service each, The Wave & Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary, Ohana' or Kona Cafe at the Polynesian, and 1900 Park Fare and The Grand Floridian Cafe at the Grand Floridian resort. For sit-down, more adult type dinners (but kids are welcome) go for The Wave, Kona Cafe or Grand Floridian. You probably will be able to get reservations for those easily.

For very kid-oriented/family with characters or entertainment, go for Chef Mickey's, Ohana' or 1900 Park Fare. These places may be booked up.

In Epcot, we also liked Chefs de France. Or you can hike from the World Showcase over to the Beach Club for Cape May Cafe (seafood buffet)

 

[Chavaleh]

The kids don't have any clue we are going to WDW. We're keeping it a secret until we pull in. They also don't know anything about Disney dining so I doubt they'd have strong preferences. I suspect the various countries at Epcot are going to be a big hit with both of the girls.

The valet tip was a good one. That might work out nicely. Thanks.

 

[zarvgirl]

Breathe. Deep breathe. Reeee-lax. Ahhhh. It's going to be okay.

Your family is going to be way WAY excited about this trip. ANYTHING will be good. Eating in ANY of the restaurants will be fun. Remember, so many people on these boards have been to WDW numerous times. They can make comparisons between restaurants and think one is better than another. They can even compare the same restaurant to previous trips, even the same food to previous chefs.

It's all new to you. It will ALL be good.


Excellent advice.....I too am planning our families first WDW trip, and am slightly overwhelmed with all the decisions to be made.....Thanks for bringing reality back into the picture!!!

 

[Chavaleh]

I got some delightfully sweet help on the phone this morning from WDW Dining reservations and was able to snag a seating at Cinderella's Table after all. So now we have these dinner reservations:

Crystal Palace
Tokyo Dining
Biergarten
Prime Time Cafe
Sci-Fi Diner
CRT
Coral Reef

I think the kids will really love all of them. Very excited!!! Practically bouncing around the house all day. It's going to be very hard to keep this a secret from them.

 

[TxRabbit]

I got some delightfully sweet help on the phone this morning from WDW Dining reservations and was able to snag a seating at Cinderella's Table after all. So now we have these dinner reservations:

Crystal Palace
Tokyo Dining
Biergarten
Prime Time Cafe
Sci-Fi Diner
CRT
Coral Reef

I think the kids will really love all of them. Very excited!!! Practically bouncing around the house all day. It's going to be very hard to keep this a secret from them.

It sounds like you have a wonderful line-up of dining in store! Yay!

Warning: Don't second guess yourself!!! I hope you have a wonderful trip!