May ADR's - Opinions, Thoughts?

[CindyBeth]

We are a family of four, with 3 adults going and a almost 3 year old dd. I'm worried about having 3 early morning Character Meals in a row, what do you think? Also, I usually have just one sit down a day but a couple of days I have two sit downs, am worried about dd sitting for all that. I could really use some opinions and suggestions, as I'm unsure about this dining plan!

Saturday, May 19th - arriving in mid afternoon - Epcot at night
Dinner - Teppan Edo

Sunday, May 20th - Water park during day - DD at night
Breakfast - Room
Lunch - Water Park
Dinner - Raglan Road

Monday, May 21st - Epcot
Breakfast - Room
Lunch - Le Cellier
Dinner - Counter at Epcot

Tuesday, May 22nd - MK
Breakfast - Room
Lunch - CP
Dinner - Counter at MK

Wednesday, May 23rd - MK
Breakfast - Cindy's
Lunch - Counter at MK
Dinner - Plaza Restaurant

Thursday, May 24th - HS
Breakfast - H&V
Lunch - Counter at HS
Dinner - SciFI

Friday, May 25th - AK
Breakfast - Tusker House
Lunch - Counter at AK
Dinner - Boma

Saturday, May 26th - Leaving in late afternoon
Breakfast - Cape May Cafe

What does everyone think? Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice!!

 

[jlk806]

Well for us, that would be horrible, we are a later sleeping family. My 3 year old doesnt get up until 8-9 every day, and we are right there with him... But if your family is naturally an early rising family who likes to get going right away, then the early morning breakfasts could be fine for you. If your family prefers to not get up at crack of dawn on vacation, rushing everyone will only lead to everyone being cranky and tired, not how we want to spend our vacation!

 

[CindyBeth]

I know! Our little one gets up around 7 - 7:30am and so making a 8am breakfast would mean waking her up. And she doesn't take naps anymore, so won't be making sleep up then. I guess I'm almost talking myself out of three days in a row, but I love the idea of being in the parks before they open! Maybe I will change H&V to a lunch and drop Scifi. How is my plan overall?

 

[k3chantal]

I agree with jlk806, that would not work for us either. Too many character / breakfast reservations.

I have a 12, 8, and 2 year old and I usually schedule only one TS reservation a day. For breakfast, we eat in our room but we usually have a full kitchen. My TS reservation is usually an early dinner; 5 ish because I want to catch my kids before they are tired, over hungry and cranky.

We also have found that when we go to an character breakfast; it's far too much food to start the day and we are anxious to start the day. Your situation may be very different. With three adults, leisurely enjoying a coffee and a full meal may work.

We have been on a Disney cruise, Disneyland and Disney World several times. My boys, who liked the characters when they were 5 and up, did not like characters at age 3. Even my very gregarious, not afraid of anything, two year old daughter, threw a cream puff at a character and screamed. (This was not funny at the time; but when I retell the full story, we do find it humorous.) We were only there because the meal was free with the package we bought. But it reminded me why I avoided situations like that when they were super young.

The other thing I would consider for your trip is taking a day off in the middle from the parks. Hopefully, you are staying at a disney resort. My family has found that if we take a day to enjoy the pool and other amenities, we appreciate the parks more.

Disney World is grueling, fun but grueling. You are going to have a very tired, very cranky three year old if you plan and force the pace of your vacation.

We are going in May as a party of nine. Four adults and five kids ranging in age from 2 to 12. I have repeated several times to my friend that when she or her family has had enough, not to try to keep up with us. Our hope is that we can divide and conquer, meeting everyone's needs by not having to stay with each other all the time. For instance, I have no interest in taking my two year old to the water parks but my husband will be taking our boys. I don't know who are friends will go with that day;they may decide to go off by themselves. They have expressed interest in the water park but they too have a three year old and the pool at the resort may be enough. I plan to go to MK that day and focus on the 'kid rides'.

Be flexible and absolutely know that you can't do or see everything in one visit. Physically impossible.. believe me, there have been trips where I have tried! Your schedule may work really well for you....but being able to change it and redesign what your day looks like will be important. I always carry the Disney Dining number with me so I can cancel a reservation if I need to.

Have fun! If you go the speed of your toddler, you will be fine.

 

[CindyBeth]

Thanks for the advice! I am so excited to plan and want to do the parks early that I do forget I have a toddler to think about. I think I will move most of my breakfast's to lunches, leaving only Cindy's for Breakfast. And will cancel any second TS as I think more than one sit down a day is too much for my dd.

 

[rafiki14]

If you're still worried about sitting down too often, here's an option.

You could do a dinner at a signature restaurant and use 2 of your TS credits.

Not sure if that interests you, but we are doing that on our trip to avoid 2 TS ADR's a day. We only like to do one.

Just a thought You've gotten great advice already. Have a wonderful trip!

 

[ccgirl]

I know! Our little one gets up around 7 - 7:30am and so making a 8am breakfast would mean waking her up. And she doesn't take naps anymore, so won't be making sleep up then. I guess I'm almost talking myself out of three days in a row, but I love the idea of being in the parks before they open! Maybe I will change H&V to a lunch and drop Scifi. How is my plan overall?

Bolded mine. I learned the hard way that spells disaster for my family. I no longer wake the kids up in the morning. For us, if we are doing a breakfast it is not before 10am. Do you have your own rental car or are you relying on the bus transportation?

We tended to do buffets when my children were little as some sit down meals would take upward of two hours from start to finish. You will love Boma. Crystal Palace at MK is one of our favorites. We also much prefer Akershus over CRT. YMMV.

Have fun!

 

[CindyBeth]

Thanks for all the advice! You're right about waking kids up! I do think we would have problems with my little one. And another thing in the favor of moving the breakfast's, is that we are staying at BCV, so we will have a kitchen and can do breakfast's in the room and save on money that way.