Not Pleased W/ My ADRs - Help Me Plan Our Saturday

[tarheelmjfan]

We plan to spend the day @ AK w/ an 8:05 breakfast @ Tusker House. We're usually finished w/ AK midday. We'll then return to the hotel (Dolphin) for a little rest. I'm happy with this part of the plan.

Unfortunately, our plan goes downhill from there. As of now, we have a 7:25 ADR at Tony's Town Square hoping to see Spectro @ 8 pm & Wishes @ 9:00. I'm just not happy with this.

The problem is, we put a high premium on family dinners, while on vacation. As my DS told his girlfriend, "It's what we do!" We also have an ADR @ LTT for our last full day, & 2 so-so dinners in a row just aren't doing it for me. A nice meal is more important to us than the parade & fireworks. It would be nice to see them though, since it's our only night to do that. How would you plan the evening in our situation?

This is a short trip, so our meals are already limited. Here's what we have so far:

Arrival Day Dinner - Les Chefs de France (DS's fav. WDW restaurant)
Day 2 Lunch - Sci-fi (for atmosphere - 1st visit)
Day 2 Dinner - Hollywood Brown Derby
Day 3 Breakfast - Tusker House (to get into the park early - 1st visit)
Day 3 Dinner - (need help)
Day 4 Breakfast -Crystal Palace (to get into the park early)
Day 4 Dinner - LTT (before MNSSHP)
Day 5 - (partial day - F & W booths & ???)

 

[Disney Princess]

You sound like our family - we enjoy eating together on vacation! I am no expert, but here are my immediate thoughts. I would suggest that you either eat around your resort area after your afternoon break (I know YC/BC/BW and S/D have great eateries depending on your style), OR if you are heading to the MK, you can also pick a restaurant in one of the monorail resorts before heading into the park for Spectro and Wishes. Contemporary, GF, and the Poly all have great restaurants - expensive and not as expensive. I've eaten at California Grill and Ohana - loved them both. I've heard good things about Narcoosee's too, but don't have experience there. I know each resort also has a "less expensive" option if money is an issue. I believe GF even has a character dinner option - but don't quote me on that. Someone here will have more info.

You could either eat at one of these resorts and then head into the park, or you could plan to watch Wishes from the restaurant viewing areas or the beach at the Poly. That doesn't get you Spectro, but 1/2 isn't bad - not to mention GREAT food!

I hope this makes a bit of sense and opens the door for more opinions. Enjoy the special time with your family.

 

[Dizneydaz]

How about having dinner at Kona Cafe? Get an ADR early enough to get you to MK before 8. It's just a short monorail ride from Poly to MK. Then you can see both Specro and Wishes AND have a good meal. We love Kona.

Yes, Narcoossee's at GF is good. A meal here will take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. You can see Wishes from Narcoossee's and they pipe in the music. Also, Park Fare at GF is a good character meal. Food is very good. Characters are now Cindy and Prince, and Stepmother and 2 Stepsisters.

 

[charlielinda]

I don't think you'll have time for dinner at 7:25 and watch the parade at 8:00. As another poster said you could have dinner before you get to MK or we enjoy The Plaza Restaurant - wonderful sandwiches, salads and desserts. Spectro is ususally very crowded and I would think you should have your spot staked out by 7:30 for an 8:00 parade. You'd have plenty of time if you had dinner at 6:30 at The Plaza and then could relax and see the parade and fireworks. Whatever you decide have a magical trip!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Thanks for the suggestions. You guys have got me thinking.

Now, I'm throwing around the idea of watching Spectro, then heading to one of the monorail resorts for a late dinner. Watching Wishes from the beach would be nice, but I'm not sure how we'd fit that in with dinner.

We've eaten at The Plaza & really like it. I'm just not sure we want to have a meal of sandwiches, considering we'll be eating a subpar meal the next night. The Plaza is usually a lunch location for us. Regardless of the quality, I do want to keep LTT for the Halloween atmosphere.

I made the 7:25 ADR @ Tony's hoping to be seated outside to watch the parade from our table. I just don't want to be disappointed in the meal, since we have such a short stay.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Along the lines of eating after Spectro & possibly Wishes, what time would you make an ADR for? Still tossing around ideas......

 

[Daisy21015]

What about an early dinner at CG or a later one after Spectro?

 

[marvin12]

How about a nice dinner at Narcoossee's, were you can watch the fireworks from there.

 

[LiteBrite]

I'm going to second the suggestion of eating at the Kona Cafe - you could either try for a slightly earlier ADR and then go to the MK, or see the parade and then have a late dinner, like you said. Kona is an easy monorail ride from the MK, so either plan could easily work, and it's really wonderful food!

 

[mrzrich]

I noticed you are staying at the Dolphin and have no meals planned there. The S/D have some great eateries that go over looked by the masses at WDW. Todd English's Blue Zoo comes to mind. Also definately have breakfast at Fresh at least once during your stay.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

What about an early dinner at CG or a later one after Spectro?

How about a nice dinner at Narcoossee's, were you can watch the fireworks from there.

I'm going to second the suggestion of eating at the Kona Cafe - you could either try for a slightly earlier ADR and then go to the MK, or see the parade and then have a late dinner, like you said. Kona is an easy monorail ride from the MK, so either plan could easily work, and it's really wonderful food!

Thanks for the suggestions. Kona's menu looks great! The noise level concerns me though. I've read that it's very loud. (We avoid CG for the same reason.) Nice, dinner conversation is important to us. We try to avoid loud restaurants like the plague. Sooooooooo, how loud is it? Also, Narcoosees has made the short list.

I noticed you are staying at the Dolphin and have no meals planned there. The S/D have some great eateries that go over looked by the masses at WDW. Todd English's Blue Zoo comes to mind. Also definately have breakfast at Fresh at least once during your stay.

I would love to have more time to enjoy the S/D restaurants. We're taking a first timer with us, so we're trying to fit in as much park time as possible. I'm sure she'll want to see all the nighttime entertainment. I do plan to have lunch at Fresh one day, even if it's just DH & I. I want to try the dessert buffet, thanks to your review. We can take a midday break & let the kiddos keep on riding. We'll probably have breakfast there on our check-out day too.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I think I've narrowed it down to Kona & Narcoossee's. Kona's menu looks better to me, but conventional wisdom tells me Narcoossee's food should be better. I think I'll let my guys decide.

How about a nice dinner at Narcoossee's, were you can watch the fireworks from there.

How would this work? If we do this, we'd watch Spectro, then make it to Narcoossee's between 8:30 to 8:45 ADR. Would we be able to make an ADR for 8:45, or would we need to make it for after the fireworks? Thanks for your help.

 

[FormrCastMbr]

I noticed you are staying at the Dolphin and have no meals planned there. The S/D have some great eateries that go over looked by the masses at WDW. Todd English's Blue Zoo comes to mind. Also definately have breakfast at Fresh at least once during your stay.

I agree. BZ is supposed to be amazing as well as Shula's. I have gone to Shula's in Key West and that was awesome.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

I haven't been to Narcoossee's but really enjoy Kona. We didn't find it loud at all the night we were there. And it was the best meal of our last trip foodwise.

Just wanted to add that we have eaten at Tony's outside to watch Spectro and it was nice not fighting the crowds on the street. Agreed that the food at Kona is definitely better than our meal at Tony's but our meal wasn't bad.

Spectro is one thing that I have to see at least once every trip. If I only had one day to see it, I would definitely work the food around it. Maybe an 8:45 at Narcoossees would work so you could see Wishes from there.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

What's the atmosphere like at Narcoossee's around fireworks time? Thanks again for everyone's help.