My Dining Lineup

[useakiss]

I'm going back to WDW in a month--the last time I went was 35 years ago! I'm really looking forward to all of it, but in particular some of the signature restaurants I've been hearing so much about. I'd originally signed up for the Dining Plan, but since January I've had a couple of setbacks and have decided to drop it and just wing it, ordering what I want to eat as opposed to what I feel I need to order to get my money's worth.
Here's my line up as of right now. My Thursday will be a lot of eating.

Narcoossee's: Monday at 5:45 pm
Tiffins: Tuesday at 2:10 pm
Kona Cafe: Wed at 8:15 am
Supercalifragilistic at 1900 Park Fare: Thurs at 8:25 am
Be Our Guest: Thurs at 1:30 pm
California Grill: Thurs at 9:30 pm
Flying Fish: Fri at 5:45 pm
What do you think? Any tips or recommendations?

 

[FelisLachesis]

How many days are you going to be in the parks? I just ask because this is your first trip in a long while, so I'm presuming you want to spend a lot of time in the parks. On the flip side, you only have two table service meals inside the parks: Tiffin's and BOG.

Everything else but Flying Fish is on the Monorail, so if you're at The Magic Kingdom, they won't be too hard to get to. If you're elsewhere, that's going to eat a lot of time to get to the restaurant and get back to what you were doing.

 

[NuJoy]

()

 

[useakiss]

How many days are you going to be in the parks?

I'm going for 8 nights, arriving on Saturday and leaving on Sunday. I'm staying at PO:FQ. I'm getting the park hopper pass, too. I'll admit that this isn't exactly how I would have planned it, I had an agent handle things. Next time I'll probably do it myself. I would have built in that rest day in the middle of the week rather than my first full day.
Monday, September 4, 2017 - Magic Kingdom Park
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 - Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park
Wednesday, September 6, 2017 - Epcot
Thursday, September 7, 2017 - Magic Kingdom Park (Halloween Party Night, park closes at 7pm, California Grill will have view of party fireworks)
Friday, September 8, 2017 - Disney's Hollywood Studios
Saturday, September 9, 2017 - Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park AM EMH Hours at AK, FP+ made for AM safari

Your restaurant choices all look great to me. However, if you are looking forward to enjoying the dining, I think you will regret you planned 3 restaurants on Thursday. Unless you are really careful about how much you eat, it is a lot of Disney food for one day. I find it hard to not indulge at a buffet so would probably not want to eat again at 1:30 and I'd want to be fully ready to enjoy California Grill that evening.

Yeah, I get your concern. An agent booked all of them for me, including duplicates, and the way they fell together--particularly the fireworks meal--meant either skipping the character breakfast entirely or sucking it up. I rarely do buffets because I'm unable to eat large portions--I never get my money's worth. It means eating smaller meals and getting hungry again sooner than most. It was another reason why I was on the fence with the Dining Plan to start with--because I probably will stick with appetizers and soups unless I absolutely MUST try an entree. The only reason I picked this breakfast buffet was for the character meet--I figured I should do at least one while I'm there. But I'll be honest, I may still cancel it as the day gets closer.

 

[JZCubed]

I'm going back to WDW in a month--the last time I went was 35 years ago! I'm really looking forward to all of it, but in particular some of the signature restaurants I've been hearing so much about. I'd originally signed up for the Dining Plan, but since January I've had a couple of setbacks and have decided to drop it and just wing it, ordering what I want to eat as opposed to what I feel I need to order to get my money's worth.
Here's my line up as of right now. My Thursday will be a lot of eating.

Narcoossee's: Monday at 5:45 pm
Tiffins: Tuesday at 2:10 pm
Kona Cafe: Wed at 8:15 am
Supercalifragilistic at 1900 Park Fare: Thurs at 8:25 am
Be Our Guest: Thurs at 1:30 pm
California Grill: Thurs at 9:30 pm
Flying Fish: Fri at 5:45 pm
What do you think? Any tips or recommendations?

We go to all these places.

Narcoossee's - we enjoy the fairly straight-up New England'y seafood-centric menu. The Fried Calamari is something outstanding if you enjoy spicy-hot peppers (like we do). The lobster is pricey, so I enjoy when they serve a whole fried fish. I think a better view of fireworks than CA Grill (because you are closer to Main Street, as it were). And we enjoy the 'bonus' of the charm from the GFloridian itself; mostly the live band which plays in the late afternoon/early evening....with a cocktail from Mizner's Lounge.

Tiffins - taste of African curries at a lovely themed place at the entrance to the newest Disney creation - Pandora: World of Avatar. If you have River of Lights package, that'd be good too.

Kona Cafe - their breakfast is my favorite of the Monorail Loop (that is not CA Grill brunch). Coffee-press is the standout at any Disney property (not named Victoria & Albert).

1900 Park - Characters at one of the 'better' resort buffets (like Cape May). Pssst, no actual lobster with the Lobster Benedict. We'll be here Christmas morning.

Be Our Guest - we prefer dinner to meet The Beast, but going for any meal service will give you an opportunity to enjoy the magnificent space. We'll be here Christmas Eve.

CA Grill - I have a love/hate relationship with my hotel dining room (we vacation here every year). It's not as 'fancy' as the advertising (there will be people in Park clothing and children acting like, well, children). Depending on the time of the fireworks, try to check-in early and grab/stand at the bar area to enjoy fireworks. We eat here often, mostly for salad & sushi (because too many of their entrees are mostly 'rich' & 'heavy'). We have scheduled a Sunday brunch for our upcoming vacation.

Flying Fish - we stay at nearby Dolphin and prefer the seafood at BlueZoo, but we have not been back to FFish since remodel and menu changes. We presently have an ADR for Christmas dinner. A 'raving' (in so many ways) review here:
http://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/flying-fish-review-at-disneys-boardwalk/

What you might look to add or simply check-out for another vacation:
--50's Prime Time - a 'different' meal experience of American standards like pot roast & fried chicken.
--Sci-Fi Dine-In - food, meh. But the room is a true experience.
--Coral Reef - too many folks say food is also - meh; we seem to fare-better. Fun room if you have a toddler.
--Most anything in Disney Springs - the snack places (for chocolates, donuts), the Qwik Serve (Deluxe is best burger at Disney), Ice Cream (Ghirardelli, Vivoli il Gelato), the Table Service (Homecoming, Boathouse, Paddlefish) - all offer a temporary diversion during a lengthy stay....and you can shop at THE BIGGEST DISNEY STORE ANYWHERE!

Welcome back.

Enjoy!

 

[useakiss]

We go to all these places....Welcome back.
Enjoy!

Wow, thanks for the awesome write up! I was really aiming to try a little bit of everything but yet stick with menus that interested me. Because of my eating restriction, I expect to do a lot of snacking/tasting throughout the day as I wander around. I'm going alone and so will have the freedom to just stop if it intrigues me. And part of why I chose the PO:FQ was because of the boat ride to Disney Springs.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Going from 7 to 8 days on a park hopper is about $10 or $15 more, and 6 days to 7 is about $20 more. I'd maybe add a park day so you can go on Sunday and then build in rest time on partial days throughout.

I'd also try to move one of the meals on Thursday to a different day. 3 ADRs in one day is a lot. If you could move that lunch, you could do a no-park day on that Thursday, when you'll be ready for it.

 

[useakiss]

Going from 7 to 8 days on a park hopper is about $10 or $15 more, and 6 days to 7 is about $20 more. I'd maybe add a park day so you can go on Sunday and then build in rest time on partial days throughout.
I'd also try to move one of the meals on Thursday to a different day. 3 ADRs in one day is a lot. If you could move that lunch, you could do a no-park day on that Thursday, when you'll be ready for it.

Oh, good point! I need to ask my agent if I'm actually paying for a park day on that first Sunday since she didn't book anything for it.
Also, how hard would it be to rebook a BOG lunch only 30 days out? I'd hate to miss out on it, or pay for a park day just for that if I'll barely be there.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Oh, good point! I need to ask my agent if I'm actually paying for a park day on that first Sunday since she didn't book anything for it.
Also, how hard would it be to rebook a BOG lunch only 30 days out? I'd hate to miss out on it, or pay for a park day just for that if I'll barely be there.

Since it's BOG, it could be very challenging. Or, it could be randomly easy. You'd just have to plug in the time to the reservations page on My Disney Experience.

It took me several days to get my BOG lunch booked, but then I've seen the same one sitting available for a couple days now!