Need some final touches PLEASE HELP

[jltdone]

OK here goes. Be honest and be true thats what I am looking for here. Things can always be changed so PLEASE be HONEST.
This is our 2nd trip to disney as a family and last one was almost 3 years ago.
This is our info.
2 Families....... 3 Adults and 2 kids. Kids are 7 and 8. This will be the 7 year olds first time ever going to disney. The 8 year old is ours and loves the character dining.
We will be using the DxDP and staying at the Grand.
I hope I have this right 9 nights 10 days equals 27 credits a person? I believe the number of credits is the number of ngihts.

Arrive
Dinner T- Rex

Day 1
Crystal Palace Breakfast
CRT - Dinner

Day 2
Chef Mickey- Breakfast
H.D.D. - Dinner

Day 3 ( no Park Day )
1900 Park Breakfast
Lunch Need Help
California Grill - Dinner ( tell me kids are allowed here for dinner)

Day 4
BOG - Breakfast
Narcoossee's - Dinner

Day 5
Hollywood and Vine- Breakfast
Hollywood Brown Derby Fantasmic- Dinner

Day 6 ( No Park Day)
Cape May- Breakfast
Lunch Need Help
Teppan Edo - Dinner

Day 7
Garden Grill - Breakfast
Dinner Need Help Looking for a signature resturant

Day 8
Crystal Palace- Breakfast
V&A - Dinner ( for 2 of us ) My wife needs somewhere to eat and will be bringing the 2 kids. Room Serivce maybe? not sure how that works.
Yes I know that V&A is not part of dining plan.

Day 9 ( leaving late at night)
1900 Park - Breakfast
Need a dinner spot close to the Grand.

Have fun dissecting this. I WANT HONESTY.
Im a big boy and can take it, I want to hear from the PROS.

 

[mjmgsssp]

For another signature restaurant, I recommend both Le Cellier (Canada pavillion at Epcot) or Yachtsman Steakhouse at the Yacht Club Resort.

For your wife's dinner with the kids, how about Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary?

For table service lunches on non park days, I'd suggest checking out Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club Resort, Kona Cafe at the Poly.

 

[jltdone]

For your wife's dinner with the kids, how about Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary?

For table service lunches on non park days, I'd suggest checking out Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club Resort.

Its funny after I typed this I thought of beaches. We stayed at BC last time. That may fit right in th schedule. Cape May breakfast and then hang around boardwalk maybe ride the bikes and then beaches for lunch then head to epcot for dinner.

Dinner at chef mickeys? forgot they did dinner there is it full character like breakfast?

 

[mjmgsssp]

Yes, Chef Mickeys is a character dinner.

 

[jltdone]

For your wife's dinner with the kids, how about Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary?

For table service lunches on non park days, I'd suggest checking out Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club Resort, .

I thought about beaches after i posted this. Last time we went we stayed at BC and that would fit in with our day. Thank you.
Do you know anything about California grill are kids allowed up there for dinner?

 

[Lisa F]

I thought about beaches after i posted this. Last time we went we stayed at BC and that would fit in with our day. Thank you.
Do you know anything about California grill are kids allowed up there for dinner?

kids are allowed at CA grill for sure. V&A is the only place they are not allowed. IMO CA Grill is the most kid friendly signature, I love to bring my son there and he loves to go there. We go right at opening, 5pm, watch the sunset (go in the off season when it's early) from a window table (easy to get if you check in at opening) and the restaurant isn't loud or crowded and service has not slowed down yet due to kitchen backups.

You're taking someone else to V&A while leaving your wife with the kids? Not judging but I hope you have something special planned in there for her too!

'Ohana is a great dinner and because it is family style and on the monorail it is not that hard to do (I am a single mom and certain things are harder than others). I had a bad meal at Narcoossees last time but it gets very good reviews and would be a good signature if you want to use 2 credits... then I'd do another signature on your narcoossees day. It is also pretty kid friendly with the views of the castle and it is right there at the resort, no traveling. There is also GF cafe if she wants to stick close to home and they do evening activities at the resort I think.

I am not a huge fan of room service unless you're in a villa or for breakfast. JMHO. There are good choices "out and about" at the resort and at other monorail resorts without too much hassle.

For your 2 credit meal on your epcot day I'd either do Le Cellier (some people complain it's not "worth it" but esp on DxDDP it is) or flying fish over at the boardwalk.

I'd not do 3 meals in a day even on no park days... just me though. 2 was plenty when I did DxDDP. But if you need a sit down I'd need more info about what you're planning to be, either resort or disney springs.

 

[cgh]

We really like Grand Floridian Cafe. I would suggest not doing 2 character meals on the same day if you could avoid it. They can be extra draining I find and tend to take a bit longer. If you could switch BOG with crystal palace, for instance. Teppen Edo is in Epcot, so you will need to use a park ticket that day. If you don't want to use a park ticket I'd do dinner at a resort.

I'd do a QS at wherever you are staying for the kids if you just need to feed the kids. It's the easiest, really.

Are you on a dining plan? Is that why you need all the TS?

 

[laughinplace199]

You have a lot of breakfasts planned, which may cut into your park time. Of course every family is different, but my family likes to be at the parks at rope drop to try to get lots of rides done before the parks get too crowded. Because of this, we don't do a TS breakfast every day - the kids just want to get to the rides! We typically do one or two TS breakfasts during the course of a week (CP and TH are our favorites).

 

[Lisa F]

I'd do a QS at wherever you are staying for the kids if you just need to feed the kids. It's the easiest, really.

I respectfully 100% disagree. I'm a single mom so it's always just me and the kiddo, it is MUCH MUCH MUCH harder to eat at a QS than a TS. Between waiting in line for food, finding a table, balancing trays... please someone just put me at a table and wait on me. Even buffets are easier (for 7 and 8 year olds can carry their own food) because you don't have to bus the table or deal with beverages. Dealing with QS without a second adult is very very difficult.

 

[10CJ]

It seems like you are either doing character meals or signature restaurants. Is that really how you want to eat or are you just trying to get the most for your money on the deluxe plan?

For me that would be way to many character meals. I definitely would. It want to do the same character meal twice in one trip.

You have Teppon zero on a non park day? That is inside Epcot.

Some restaurants I would consider adding....Skippers Canteen, Tiffins or Yak and Yeti, the Wave, Kona or Ohana

 

[jltdone]

We really like Grand Floridian Cafe. I would suggest not doing 2 character meals on the same day if you could avoid it. They can be extra draining I find and tend to take a bit longer. If you could switch BOG with crystal palace, for instance. Teppen Edo is in Epcot, so you will need to use a park ticket that day. If you don't want to use a park ticket I'd do dinner at a resort.

I'd do a QS at wherever you are staying for the kids if you just need to feed the kids. It's the easiest, really.

Are you on a dining plan? Is that why you need all the TS?

We are on a dining plan we are on DXDP. My son loves the character meals. The last time we went a few years ago we did a breakfast character everyday plus a few dinner ones as well.

 

[cgh]

My husband has had meetings multiple times while we have been at Disney so I've flown solo with 2 little boys who are now 3 and 8. Resort QS at deluxes usually don't have the same issues with tables that int he park does. We do TS but 3 table service a day would be extremely stressful (that's a bit too long for them to sit still) Plus, you can get it to go and just bring it back to your room. The QS was specifically for the meal that they were contemplating room service.

Grabbing food to go at a QS and going back to the room sounds so much more pleasant to me. However, the OP I'm sure has his/her own preferences.

 

[jltdone]

It seems like you are either doing character meals or signature restaurants. Is that really how you want to eat or are you just trying to get the most for your money on the deluxe plan?

For me that would be way to many character meals. I definitely would. It want to do the same character meal twice in one trip.

You have Teppon zero on a non park day? That is inside Epcot.

Some restaurants I would consider adding....Skippers Canteen, Tiffins or Yak and Yeti, the Wave, Kona or Ohana

My son loves the character dining, last time we went we loved crystal palace. and as for 1900 park we did enjoy it a lot as well, since we are staying there thought it would be easy for breakfast on check out day. Teppan edo is on a non park day we are aware that it is part of epcot and will need a ticket to get into which is fine just going to hang around the food part of epcot. just thought on that day do cape may hang around the boardwalk maybe ride the bike as a family and hit beaches for lunch walk around then head to food area of epcot for dinner. We really enjoyed teppan edo last time. Wife does not like Ohana at all I enjoyed but thought we would try something different since she doesnt like it.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

OK here goes. Be honest and be true thats what I am looking for here. Things can always be changed so PLEASE be HONEST.
This is our 2nd trip to disney as a family and last one was almost 3 years ago.
This is our info.
2 Families....... 3 Adults and 2 kids. Kids are 7 and 8. This will be the 7 year olds first time ever going to disney. The 8 year old is ours and loves the character dining.
We will be using the DxDP and staying at the Grand.
I hope I have this right 9 nights 10 days equals 27 credits a person? I believe the number of credits is the number of ngihts.

Arrive
Dinner T- Rex

Day 1
Crystal Palace Breakfast
CRT - Dinner

Day 2
Chef Mickey- Breakfast
H.D.D. - Dinner

Day 3 ( no Park Day )
1900 Park Breakfast
Lunch Need Help
California Grill - Dinner ( tell me kids are allowed here for dinner)

Day 4
BOG - Breakfast
Narcoossee's - Dinner

Day 5
Hollywood and Vine- Breakfast
Hollywood Brown Derby Fantasmic- Dinner

Day 6 ( No Park Day)
Cape May- Breakfast
Lunch Need Help
Teppan Edo - Dinner

Day 7
Garden Grill - Breakfast
Dinner Need Help Looking for a signature resturant

Day 8
Crystal Palace- Breakfast
V&A - Dinner ( for 2 of us ) My wife needs somewhere to eat and will be bringing the 2 kids. Room Serivce maybe? not sure how that works.
Yes I know that V&A is not part of dining plan.

Day 9 ( leaving late at night)
1900 Park - Breakfast
Need a dinner spot close to the Grand.

Have fun dissecting this. I WANT HONESTY.
Im a big boy and can take it, I want to hear from the PROS.

Day 1 - TRex is fine. It's really loud and the food is mediocre at best, but the dinosaurs are cool
Day 2 - both good choices. I like that your meals are spread out!
Day 3 - what do you plan on doing this day? You say it's no-park day. Does that mean you are hanging out at the Grand? If so, I would just eat at Gasparilla's or the pool grill. 1900 breakfast plus Cali Grill is a LOT of food. If you really want a TS, go to GF Cafe or head over to WL for Whispering Canyon (which is a TON of fun), you can also go over to Ft. W from there to play on the playground and see the horse stables if that interests you.
Day 4 - looks good
Day 5 - looks good
Day 6 - what time is your breakfast at Cape May? I think you will be hard pressed to find enough to do in the Boardwalk area in the morning to fill up the time between breakfast and lunch (perhaps with surrey bikes, boat rental and mini-golf?). Why not just go into EP early and eat lunch in there? There are SO many choices in EP.
Day 7 - I would recommend Yachtsman's Steakhouse for dinner and then taking a stroll on the Boardwalk afterward to see the entertainment, play the carnival games, etc.
Day 8 - while you're at V&A, your wife could take the kids to Chef Mickey's as others have suggester (though doing a buffet along with 2 kids doesn't sound all that great - I have trouble doing it with one!). Whispering Canyon at WL is a ton of fun and O'hana at Poly is fun, too. If you choose O'hana, I would recommend she take the kids to Trader Sam's when it opens at 4 pm for "mocktails" (they're $4.99) and to see the effects and antics and then go to O'hana for dinner. OR how about something super fun for them - Chef Mickey's plus the Pirates and Pals cruise out of CR?!
Day 9 - 1900 breakfast is great. If you haven't done it another night, go to O'hana or Whispering Canyon for dinner. If you want a signature, Artist Point at WL is outstanding.

Are you not going to AK at all?

 

[jltdone]

Day 1 - TRex is fine. It's really loud and the food is mediocre at best, but the dinosaurs are cool
Day 2 - both good choices. I like that your meals are spread out!
Day 3 - what do you plan on doing this day? You say it's no-park day. Does that mean you are hanging out at the Grand? If so, I would just eat at Gasparilla's or the pool grill. 1900 breakfast plus Cali Grill is a LOT of food. If you really want a TS, go to GF Cafe or head over to WL for Whispering Canyon (which is a TON of fun), you can also go over to Ft. W from there to play on the playground and see the horse stables if that interests you.
Day 4 - looks good
Day 5 - looks good
Day 6 - what time is your breakfast at Cape May? I think you will be hard pressed to find enough to do in the Boardwalk area in the morning to fill up the time between breakfast and lunch (perhaps with surrey bikes, boat rental and mini-golf?). Why not just go into EP early and eat lunch in there? There are SO many choices in EP.
Day 7 - I would recommend Yachtsman's Steakhouse for dinner and then taking a stroll on the Boardwalk afterward to see the entertainment, play the carnival games, etc.
Day 8 - while you're at V&A, your wife could take the kids to Chef Mickey's as others have suggester (though doing a buffet along with 2 kids doesn't sound all that great - I have trouble doing it with one!). Whispering Canyon at WL is a ton of fun and O'hana at Poly is fun, too. If you choose O'hana, I would recommend she take the kids to Trader Sam's when it opens at 4 pm for "mocktails" (they're $4.99) and to see the effects and antics and then go to O'hana for dinner. OR how about something super fun for them - Chef Mickey's plus the Pirates and Pals cruise out of CR?!
Day 9 - 1900 breakfast is great. If you haven't done it another night, go to O'hana or Whispering Canyon for dinner. If you want a signature, Artist Point at WL is outstanding.

Are you not going to AK at all?

FT.W. is something i am going to llok at for usre now thanks for that one.
Day 6.. cape may is 930. hang out there for a good 1.5 hours to eat and see all the characters. Then head over to boardwalk play some games bike ride lunch at 2pm dinner is at 830pm. after lunch walk over to epcot and check out the food area check out the street shows and then head to dinner. Maybe snack at beaches for ice cream then head for lunch in epcot I likem that idea. This is our kinda of like your sunday morning drive kinda of day. take our time enjoy the day.
Day 8 sounds great for chef mickeys totally forgot about dinner there. The kids are great and have no problem bringin both of them at the same time. My wife is not a fan of O'hana at all.
Animal Kingdom we might go not 100% sure, if we do go it will be about a half of day there. Son is not a big fan of it. I was thining that we would do that on Day 2. Chef mickeys breakfast since we will be a short monorail ride there and then bus from there to A.K. I dont think that is a full park day for our family.
Day 3 just hang out at the pool check things out breakfast is early 8am, we are a early morning family. dinner that night is late 8pm the kids will be fine ( are the allowed up in the cali grill) by the way.

 

[jltdone]

kids are allowed at CA grill for sure. V&A is the only place they are not allowed. IMO CA Grill is the most kid friendly signature, I love to bring my son there and he loves to go there. We go right at opening, 5pm, watch the sunset (go in the off season when it's early) from a window table (easy to get if you check in at opening) and the restaurant isn't loud or crowded and service has not slowed down yet due to kitchen backups.

You're taking someone else to V&A while leaving your wife with the kids? Not judging but I hope you have something special planned in there for her too!

'Ohana is a great dinner and because it is family style and on the monorail it is not that hard to do (I am a single mom and certain things are harder than others). I had a bad meal at Narcoossees last time but it gets very good reviews and would be a good signature if you want to use 2 credits... then I'd do another signature on your narcoossees day. It is also pretty kid friendly with the views of the castle and it is right there at the resort, no traveling. There is also GF cafe if she wants to stick close to home and they do evening activities at the resort I think.

I am not a huge fan of room service unless you're in a villa or for breakfast. JMHO. There are good choices "out and about" at the resort and at other monorail resorts without too much hassle.

For your 2 credit meal on your epcot day I'd either do Le Cellier (some people complain it's not "worth it" but esp on DxDDP it is) or flying fish over at the boardwalk.

I'd not do 3 meals in a day even on no park days... just me though. 2 was plenty when I did DxDDP. But if you need a sit down I'd need more info about what you're planning to be, either resort or disney springs.

I do not having planned speical for my wife. It is her best friend ok that sounds really wrong now but I am a FOOD JUNKIE I LOVE GREAT FOOD and my wife doesnt care and for the price of it my wife really doesnt care to go but she knows i want to go and her friend is a food junkie as well. so it will be a night out. As soon as I asked my wife she no you 2 can go have a fun.
Room Serivce we are staying in a villa but i really like the idea of chef mickey for dinner. She does not like O'hana at all.
G.F. cafe is another route she might want to go and hang out in the pool with the kids or just hang out in the villa and relax.
I jsut wanted to get some options for her.
Cape may for breakfast and then hang around the boardwalk play some games take a bike ride and then hit beaches for ice cream snack. Then someone else said go epcot for lunch and then dinner is at 830pm. teppan edo was awesome last time loved it just found it wasnt crazy food portions. So i figure we can do breakfast at 930 lunch around 2 and then dinner 830 get there probably sitting at 9pm. that will be the kids late night.

 

[disneyvoice]

If you want honesty . . .

We would explode if we ate that much on a WDW trip. We are foodies as well but there is no way at all we could eat that much and comfortably tour the parks and actually ride things. We don't do dining plans specifically because we simply cannot eat that much food. We usually schedule a few TS meals throughout the week but no more than one per day. We don't waste time on breakfast but do rope drop and then eat an early lunch around 11:00 - but usually something that we share or something small. Then we will usually do a TS for dinner. We try to limit our food as much as possible during the day (while still enjoying some more interesting options) so we never feel full at all. It is absolutely miserable to be full and walking around WDW.

That's my take on the amount of food you have scheduled.

As far as where you are eating, you have A LOT of character meals planned. While we also love character meals I think I would be poking my eyes out with pencils if I had characters interrupting my meals every day, and sometimes multiple times a day. We usually pick one or, at most, two character meals (but we don't even do character meals every trip) and then do more relaxing meals the rest of the trip. It also seems like way too many WDW buffets to me. I would think about which characters you really want to see the most and then look at menus for those restaurants and decide which ones sound the best to you (and which ones are convenient to the park you will be in that day). I think when you do that many character meals they lose some of the appeal and don't seem as "special."

 

[DisneyWishes14]

FT.W. is something i am going to llok at for usre now thanks for that one.
Day 6.. cape may is 930. hang out there for a good 1.5 hours to eat and see all the characters. Then head over to boardwalk play some games bike ride lunch at 2pm dinner is at 830pm. after lunch walk over to epcot and check out the food area check out the street shows and then head to dinner. Maybe snack at beaches for ice cream then head for lunch in epcot I likem that idea. This is our kinda of like your sunday morning drive kinda of day. take our time enjoy the day.
Day 8 sounds great for chef mickeys totally forgot about dinner there. The kids are great and have no problem bringin both of them at the same time. My wife is not a fan of O'hana at all.
Animal Kingdom we might go not 100% sure, if we do go it will be about a half of day there. Son is not a big fan of it. I was thining that we would do that on Day 2. Chef mickeys breakfast since we will be a short monorail ride there and then bus from there to A.K. I dont think that is a full park day for our family.
Day 3 just hang out at the pool check things out breakfast is early 8am, we are a early morning family. dinner that night is late 8pm the kids will be fine ( are the allowed up in the cali grill) by the way.

Just an FYI on the Boardwalk - the carnival games won't be open until the evening. Both BC and BWI have arcades, though, if that interests you (BC's is bigger). In addition to the surrey bikes at BWI, there are regular bikes at the YC dock, plus boat rentals and Fantasia mini-golf is a fairly short walk (just across from the Swan). If you have booked a package, you should have mini-golf vouchers, so, if you run out of things to do on the Boardwalk in the morning, you could go there. There's also a nice playground at the Swan and you can rent Swan boats over there which are kind of cool.

Also, if you end up JUST having ice cream in the Boardwalk area and have your lunch in EP, I HIGHLY recommend Ample Hills on the Boardwalk over Beach and Cream. Ample Hills ice cream beats B&C ice cream by a mile!!!

 

[jltdone]

If you want honesty . . .

We would explode if we ate that much on a WDW trip. We are foodies as well but there is no way at all we could eat that much and comfortably tour the parks and actually ride things. We don't do dining plans specifically because we simply cannot eat that much food. We usually schedule a few TS meals throughout the week but no more than one per day. We don't waste time on breakfast but do rope drop and then eat an early lunch around 11:00 - but usually something that we share or something small. Then we will usually do a TS for dinner. We try to limit our food as much as possible during the day (while still enjoying some more interesting options) so we never feel full at all. It is absolutely miserable to be full and walking around WDW.

That's my take on the amount of food you have scheduled.

As far as where you are eating, you have A LOT of character meals planned. While we also love character meals I think I would be poking my eyes out with pencils if I had characters interrupting my meals every day, and sometimes multiple times a day. We usually pick one or, at most, two character meals (but we don't even do character meals every trip) and then do more relaxing meals the rest of the trip. It also seems like way too many WDW buffets to me. I would think about which characters you really want to see the most and then look at menus for those restaurants and decide which ones sound the best to you (and which ones are convenient to the park you will be in that day). I think when you do that many character meals they lose some of the appeal and don't seem as "special."

Thats Honest... Thank you
I am looking for details on what people think which is good. We went in 2015 and had a DXDP as well, went with the same idea breakfast character every morning and my son loved it. He still talks about each and everyone that we did. For our times on park days we have breakfast before park open and then dinner isnt until 7pm. So we do go a long time in between meal thats where the snack credits are going to come in handy. On now park days it is a little more relaxed breakfast later in the morning, we have a late lunch and then a late dinner booked. My son loves the characters. I enjoyed them last time as well. I love sit down meals if it is a buffet at charcaters or sit down at a resturant. I am not a big fan of quick serve that is just me.
2 of the 10 days we have 3 meals scheduled which we will find out if that is to much. For lunch my wife is already excited about ordering a cobb salad or a chicken salad. I guess we will find out if the 3 meals is a lot in one day. I am still looking for ideas for lunch.