Newbie Needs Help with Dining Plan - Advice??

[doubledutchtracy]

This is our first time going to Disney with the regular meal plan. We are trying to get a schedule together so we are not wasting time wondering where we should go or what we should do. Here's what we have so far. If any of you experts could help us with any suggestions - I would be so grateful!!!

1) Should we be doing our sit down meals in the park we will be visiting? Or is it just as easy to take Disney Transportation where we want to go?

2) My kids would LOVE Character meals...but we tried to plan around what park we would be in (if possible) and some of them don't have character dinners. Any Suggestions?

3) How do we know where we are allowed to get snacks? And are there any places that have better snacks than others? can you get something "different" in world showcase, or is that not included??
WHERE ARE THE BEST SNACKS INCLUDED IN THE PARKS???

As you can see - I am very confused...

Here's our itinerary so far!


Friday Night - arrive 7pm Counter service meal in Port Orleans Riverside

Saturday - Going to Epcot - going to Ohanas for 8:15 meal

Sunday - Magic Kingdom - Going to the Crystal Palace for dinner

Monday - Disney Hollywood Studios - Going to Hollywood N vine for dinner

Tuesday - Animal Kingdom - Going to the Cape May Cafe for Dinner

Weds - Not sure what park yet - going to 1900 Park Fare for Dinner

Thurs - Not sure what park yet - going to Chef Mickeys for Dinner

Friday - Going to the Beach Club Buffet Character Breakfast (gotta be back at the airport by 2!)


Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!!

 

[dominicsplace]

First off you have some great selections!

We go to Crystal Palace EVERY year for dinner! My DS is 8 and though he is outgrowing the characters he still likes going because it is in the park and has great food!

Where are you staying?

We usually plan our trips so that we are at the park for evening EMH and plan our dinner at that park. That said though I think AK is the exception since we don't really like any of the TS restaurants there and that park closes early so we usually eat somewhere else. Oh we have done Donalds Breakfast at Tusker House there which was not bad and is charcter meal.

If you are at MK for the day any of the monorail restaurants are easy to get to and from in case you want to get eat and the get back for Wishes or EMH.

When going from any of the parks other than MK to 1900 Park Fare or Chef Mickeys I would give myself 45 minutes - an hour to make sure you get there on time.

Great snacks all over the place, you can even use them for breakfast items at the hotel cafeterias. We used up some snacks in MK in Main Street Bakery for breakfast which was great. Epcot probably has the best variety especially if you go during the food and wine festival in Oct/Nov. We saved up our snack credits and ate our way around World Showcase!

 

[dominicsplace]

First off you have some great selections!

We go to Crystal Palace EVERY year for dinner! My DS is 8 and though he is outgrowing the characters he still likes going because it is in the park and has great food!

Where are you staying?

We usually plan our trips so that we are at the park for evening EMH and plan our dinner at that park. That said though I think AK is the exception since we don't really like any of the TS restaurants there and that park closes early so we usually eat somewhere else. Oh we have done Donalds Breakfast at Tusker House there which was not bad and is charcter meal.

If you are at MK for the day any of the monorail restaurants are easy to get to and from in case you want to get eat and the get back for Wishes or EMH.

When going from any of the parks other than MK to 1900 Park Fare or Chef Mickeys I would give myself 45 minutes - an hour to make sure you get there on time.

Great snacks all over the place, you can even use them for breakfast items at the hotel cafeterias. All the snack vendors and counter service places will have a little symbol next to the items on the menu to indicate if it is available as a snack. All the ice cream carts, popcorns (small size not souvenir size), water sodas are all snacks. We used up some snacks in MK in Main Street Bakery for breakfast which was great. Epcot probably has the best variety especially if you go during the food and wine festival in Oct/Nov. We saved up our snack credits and ate our way around World Showcase!



Oh yeah and in the gift shops the Mickey Rice Krispie treats were available as snack items too! We took a few of those home with our left over snack credits once.

 

[dominicsplace]

This is our first time going to Disney with the regular meal plan. We are trying to get a schedule together so we are not wasting time wondering where we should go or what we should do. Here's what we have so far. If any of you experts could help us with any suggestions - I would be so grateful!!!

1) Should we be doing our sit down meals in the park we will be visiting? Or is it just as easy to take Disney Transportation where we want to go?

2) My kids would LOVE Character meals...but we tried to plan around what park we would be in (if possible) and some of them don't have character dinners. Any Suggestions?

3) How do we know where we are allowed to get snacks? And are there any places that have better snacks than others? can you get something "different" in world showcase, or is that not included??
WHERE ARE THE BEST SNACKS INCLUDED IN THE PARKS???

As you can see - I am very confused...

Here's our itinerary so far!


Friday Night - arrive 7pm Counter service meal in Port Orleans Riverside

Saturday - Going to Epcot - going to Ohanas for 8:15 meal

Sunday - Magic Kingdom - Going to the Crystal Palace for dinner

Monday - Disney Hollywood Studios - Going to Hollywood N vine for dinner

Tuesday - Animal Kingdom - Going to the Cape May Cafe for Dinner

Weds - Not sure what park yet - going to 1900 Park Fare for Dinner

Thurs - Not sure what park yet - going to Chef Mickeys for Dinner

Friday - Going to the Beach Club Buffet Character Breakfast (gotta be back at the airport by 2!)


Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!!

First off you have some great selections! We go to Crystal Palace EVERY year for dinner! My DS is 8 and though he is outgrowing the characters he still likes going because it is in the park and has great food!

Where are you staying?

We usually plan our trips so that we are at the park for evening EMH and plan our dinner at that park. That said though I think AK is the exception since we don't really like any of the TS restaurants there and that park closes early so we usually eat somewhere else. Oh we have done Donalds Breakfast at Tusker House there which was not bad and is charcter meal.

If you are at MK for the day any of the monorail restaurants are easy to get to and from in case you want to get eat and the get back for Wishes or EMH.

When going from any of the parks other than MK to 1900 Park Fare or Chef Mickeys I would give myself 45 minutes - an hour to make sure you get there on time.

Great snacks all over the place, you can even use them for breakfast items at the hotel cafeterias. We used up some snacks in MK in Main Street Bakery for breakfast which was great. Epcot probably has the best variety especially if you go during the food and wine festival in Oct/Nov. We saved up our snack credits and ate our way around World Showcase!

 

[ShannonMB]

I think it sounds like you did a great job picking your restaurants, and I think it will make your trip so enjoyable to have those to go to.

It is nice to have reservations in the park you will be at that day, or ones on the monorail, definitely! There are so many good places to go at other resorts that are worth traveling for, too, though. What we tried to do is make those later in the evenings, so that we don't have to leave the park we are in too early. Most of the time we wouldn't plan to go back to the park after the meal. That will depend on how old your kids are and how late of days you are planning.

The day we went to AK, for example, we took the bus after the park closed for a res at Boma at 7:20. It was a quick bus ride, then after the meal, we just took a cab back to All Star Movies (cost $6), because we didn't want to bother taking a bus back to the park, then another to our resort. (There are no busses from resort to resort).

The big thing is, the first time you go (which it sounded like from your post), you will be overwhelmed about all the great places to try, knowing you can only book a few. You did wonderful, and I really think you'll enjoy! Then you'll want to keep going back to try all the others!! After the first trip you'll have a much better idea of what's going on.

Have a GREAT time!

 

[ShannonMB]

2) My kids would LOVE Character meals...but we tried to plan around what park we would be in (if possible) and some of them don't have character dinners. Any Suggestions?

I read a post from a lady who said her DH does not want to go back to WDW because he thinks all there is to eat is character buffets! So I don't think you'll find that you MUST do every dinner a character one!!!

Also, for one of the "not sure which park" days, I would recommend returning to MK for a full day. Preferably the last park day, because no doubt it will be your kids' favorite, and my DD was much happier in the other parks knowing we WOULD for sure be returning to MK before going home!!

 

[septbaby]

If you have booked the Fantasmic pkg at Hollywood and Vine keep it, but if not the Breakfast and Lunch are character meals that if your kids are young could be fun.

I would not leave Epcot for a meal. Epcot has the greatest selection of great restaurants at Disney. Take a look at Coral Reef. We had great meals, good service and really like the entertainment of the full wall aquarium.

If you still want 'Ohana go there instead of Cape May for dinner. You will at least get to try Cape May for breakfast.

Finally, if you are using Disney's Magical Express to get to the airport they will schedule you to leave about 3hrs before your flight. Be sure to give yourself time to get back to your resort after breakfast.

 

[beroh2253]

Friday Night - arrive 7pm Counter service meal in Port Orleans Riverside- Riverside is our favorite resort, this resort is large and really spread out, I don't know what time of year you are getting there hopefully Spring or Summer so it is still light out and easier to find your way around at first. This is a great resort just to walk around. There are 2 different type of resort buildings the Arcadia are more rustic and the surroundings more in the woods and the beds in the room are real neat are made if the tree branchs we prefer these resort buildings. There is also the Mansions which are beautiful.

Saturday - Going to Epcot - going to Ohanas for 8:15 meal This is very lively and lots of activities for the kids, lots of singing and danceing around, but also lots to eat, and a real lot of meat.

Sunday - Magic Kingdom - Going to the Crystal Palace for dinner- We have been to the Crystal Palace breakfast and this is our favorite buffet breakfast. We do have to try dinner there sometime.

Monday - Disney Hollywood Studios - Going to Hollywood N vine for dinner- I would prefer Mama Melrose, this also has the Fantismic Package.

Tuesday - Animal Kingdom - Going to the Cape May Cafe for Dinner-Try The Flame Tree BBQ for a CS while in the Animal Kingdon, we have never been to Ape May Cafe andther place we have to try.

Weds - Not sure what park yet - going to 1900 Park Fare for Dinner. If you have hopper passes you nmay want to hop around to all the parks just to redo your favorite rides, Never been to 1900 PArk FAre another place we have to try

Thurs - Not sure what park yet - going to Chef Mickeys for Dinner. Maybe try Typhoon Lagoon get there early to get a better beach and shady spot gets crowded later in the day. Chef Mickeys great for the kids very lively

Friday - Going to the Beach Club Buffet Character Breakfast (gotta be back at the airport by 2!) Another place we have to try


We seem to stick mostly to the EPCOT restaurants, there are so many great places to eat, we never miss Le Cellier or Coral Reef, and like to get to Rose and Crown about 7:30 so we are there about desert time for Illuminations. For a late night after getting back to Riverside fro the parks try a icecrream sundae for a snack credit.

 

[Mich123]

We took our kids to Disney for the first time two years ago, when they were 7 and 10 and we did a last minute character lunch at the Garden Grill at Epcot. It was so much fun! The food was great, served family style, with all the choices on a single plate. The restaurant rotates so that you see different views of The Living with the Land ride.

The characters were Mickey, Pluto, and Chip 'n Dale. The characters strolled around the round, rotating restaurant and stopped by our table twice. It was a very calm lunch that happened to have characters--perfect for the adults! It's my understanding that Garden Grill now only serves dinner. We've already made our reservations for a visit next month--it was the only restaurant my kids requested for our upcoming trip.

Your plans look terrific! Hope you have a great trip!