My restaurant plan

[blackwo1]

Jan 2018 will be our first trip to Disney staying on property with DDP. Staying at POR for 6 nights and planning 3 park days with girls 4 & 8. This is a rough plan at how we may spend our days and the ADRs I will work on. Please let me know any changes/tweaks you would make! Also, is it a smart use of our DDP credits? Any restaurants you would add/remove?

Sunday: Travel Day, arrive 3:05pm (Dinner suggestions? Evening in Disney Springs or elsewhere? Kick off kids trip with Chef Mickey dinner?)

Monday: MK (Food suggestions?)

Tuesday: Pool Day and/or Disney Springs (Dinner suggestions?)

Wednesday: Epcot- Akershus breakfast, Via Napoli or Coral Reef Dinner

Thursday: Pool Day and/or Disney Springs, Ohana dinner

Friday: MK- BOG Lunch (dinner suggestions or quick service?)

Saturday: Travel Day

If everything stays the same, we will have one table service credit left for use on Monday or Friday. We definitely want to do the princess breakfast at Epcot and would be open to other character meals. Also may want to try Cape May- not sure where/when to put it.

 

[ncc1701]

I would suggest CP or CM breakfast for Monday. You didn't say if you are flying or driving. I don't make arrival day ADRS flying in due to possible delays/cancellations . The boat ride to DS from the Port Orleans resorts is great . Wolfgang Puck Express in DS is one of the best uses of a QS credit. It is usually our arrival day lunch or dinner.​

 

[heather913]

With only doing 3 park days, I don't think I'd spend the time doing sit down meals on those days. Or if you are going to do sit down meals on those days, maybe do breakfast before the park opens.

We did Disney for the first time last month with kids similar ages (7, 5 & 2). We found Disney Springs to be a waste of time. It took SO long to get there on the bus, there wasn't much to do there that the kids were interested in, and it was unbelievably crowded. I think it may be worth your family trying out, but we were disappointed.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

Sunday: Travel Day, arrive 3:05pm (Dinner suggestions? Evening in Disney Springs or elsewhere? Kick off kids trip with Chef Mickey dinner?)

Monday: MK (Food suggestions?)

Tuesday: Pool Day and/or Disney Springs (Dinner suggestions?)

Wednesday: Epcot- Akershus breakfast, Via Napoli or Coral Reef Dinner

Thursday: Pool Day and/or Disney Springs, Ohana dinner

Friday: MK- BOG Lunch (dinner suggestions or quick service?)

If everything stays the same, we will have one table service credit left for use on Monday or Friday. We definitely want to do the princess breakfast at Epcot and would be open to other character meals. Also may want to try Cape May- not sure where/when to put it.

I agree with the PP - we would never do 2 days at Disney Springs. We have teenagers now so they love to go to shop but usually for a few hours and that is it.

We love Akershus but have not done breakfast - I would definitely keep that. We do love Ohana dinner - when our kids were little they loved the coconut races.

For another meal I would pick one at AKL - either Sanaa or Boma - at Sanaa if you book a table when it opens for that meal it is easy to request a window seat and then you can see the animals while you eat. We do this at Sanaa. We also go see the animals before and after. We do love Boma - such great food - but you don't get to watch the animals while you eat.

You can also do 1900 Park Fare - we love the dinner characters. The step sisters are so funny.

For MK - we enjoy Liberty Tree but you have to like the food served there is no choice. We also like the characters at Crystal Palace - we love the Winnie the Pooh characters. The skipper Canteen is fun also. We enjoy the Plaza - but it is not that expensive and not a good value for your dining plan.

I hope that helps.

 

[VAfamily1998]

Jan 2018 will be our first trip to Disney staying on property with DDP. Staying at POR for 6 nights and planning 3 park days with girls 4 & 8. This is a rough plan at how we may spend our days and the ADRs I will work on. Please let me know any changes/tweaks you would make! Also, is it a smart use of our DDP credits? Any restaurants you would add/remove?

Sunday: Travel Day, arrive 3:05pm (Dinner suggestions? Evening in Disney Springs or elsewhere? Kick off kids trip with Chef Mickey dinner?)

Monday: MK (Food suggestions?)

Tuesday: Pool Day and/or Disney Springs (Dinner suggestions?)

Wednesday: Epcot- Akershus breakfast, Via Napoli or Coral Reef Dinner

Thursday: Pool Day and/or Disney Springs, Ohana dinner

Friday: MK- BOG Lunch (dinner suggestions or quick service?)

If everything stays the same, we will have one table service credit left for use on Monday or Friday. We definitely want to do the princess breakfast at Epcot and would be open to other character meals. Also may want to try Cape May- not sure where/when to put it.

I think starting off your stay with a character meal is a great idea!

For Disney Springs, I would suggest Raglan Road--check the schedule for when the dancers perform. It is really an entertaining show, and they bring kids up on stage to teach them to dance. I bet your girls will love it!

Another idea would be the Hoop de Doo Review. This is at the Fort Wilderness Campground, so it could possibly fit in with your Friday plans, or in place of the character meal on Sunday or Raglan Road at Disney Springs.

 

[sharonabe]

I agree with PP about Disney Springs. Is there a reason you want two days there? We rarely spend more than just a few hours, and probably won't even do that on our next trip.

I would either add a park day or two, go explore Ft Wilderness, or just spend some time at your resort pool.

 

[blackwo1]

I didn't mean two days at DS, just that we'd go either Tuesday or Thursday depending on what else we have going on. Or we can go on our first night. Definitely only need one trip there though.

 

[pangyal]

Are your two DS days planned for quick service? I am counting already four table service meals if you end up doing CM on your first night, leaving you with only one table service credit for either Monday, Tuesday, or Friday. You are staying five nights, correct? If so, just double checking that you are counting on having five table service credits per person and not six

 

[wedowdw17]

My kids absolutely love characters (and let's face it, so do I!). If your kids do too, on the days that you're not in the parks and can't meet characters there, I would make table service reservations at a resort that offered a character meal. Chef Mickeys, Ohana (breakfast), and 1900 Park Fare are great options those days. Then you're using less time on your actual park days to meet characters - though I would definitely keep Akershus because that was my favorite character interaction at an in-park restaurant.

 

[buddyjo143]

Are you definite on Epcot with your children? We traveled for years as an extended family of 9. When the nieces and nephew were that young, they preferred Animal Kingdom over Epcot.

 

[GillianP1301]

For arrival day, I'm not a big fan of Disney Springs and it would be more relaxing to just have a resort meal and I love starting off with a character meal to get everybody in the mood and CM is a great choice because you have the Fab 5 there to really start your vacation off great. Build in a little bit of buffer time from your planned arrival just in case you are running late

For the Monday, we love CP breakfast, it's one of our favourites and it's also a fun character meal. With 2 young girls, you may want to consider CRT for dinner, although you are doing Princess dining at Akershus, so not a huge miss if you choose not to. Worth noting that CRT is 2 credits, so that may factor into your decision.

Tuesday - if you are doing Disney Springs here then my earlier view on not doing it on arrival day definitely stands. There are a ton of great dining options at Disney Springs though and I would recommend checking out menus to see what suits your likes. My son has always enjoyed T-Rex and Raglan Road is a popular choice on these boards.

Wednesday - My personal preference for the dinner is Coral Reef over Via Napoli. Kids tend to love the atmosphere of Coral Reef with being able to watch the marine life in the giant aquariums while they eat. I'm not a fan of Via Napoli at all, but my opinion on that is in the minority. Also worth considering is that Via Napoli isn't the best value for your dining plan credit so if you do dine there and you need to find a meal to pay OOP, then this is a good one because you can share a family size pizza quite affordably.

Thursday - Ohana dinner is a great choice and one of the better values for your dining plan credit.

Friday - BOG for me is just meh, it's good but has never wowed me. That being said, if you've never been then I do think it's worth experiencing once because the atmosphere is great. For dinner, if you want to stay in MK then I recommend Skipper's Canteen. If you want to venture out of the park than 1900PF has a great character dinner with Lady Tremaine and the Step Sisters that is always a great time and any character meal is always going to give you the better bang for your dining plan buck.

 

[GillianP1301]

Are you definite on Epcot with your children? We traveled for years as an extended family of 9. When the nieces and nephew were that young, they preferred Animal Kingdom over Epcot.

Although my family's experience is the opposite of this and EP was always the more preferred park over AK (every family is different), I would still make a suggestion to do one more park day, if you can swing it. Two full rest days is not necessary on a shorter trip like yours and adding a 4th park day and being able to experience AK would not disappoint.

 

[Miffy]

Another vote here for Animal Kingdom. If your kids like animals--and especially if they love animals--Animal Kingdom is just amazing.

 

[blackwo1]

Thanks all for the great advice! We have been to Disney once before and did do a day at AK. We are not huge animal fans and the visit was ok but not something I need to do again. If we add another park day, which I am considering now thanks to your suggestions, I would add HS.

Oops, thanks pangyal, edited OP to add Saturday to my itinerary. This would make six nights and six table service credits I believe.