****Official August 2014 Thread****

[Nurse_Mommy4]

I don't believe I ever introduced myself....

My name is Tasha. I was a member of Team August 2012 and 2013. My children and I have been visiting WDW the last two weeks of August since 2007. Our favorite resort is Port Orleans.

This year we have several extended family members joining us the first week of our trip. We have 17 people ranging from ages 60 down to 7. 6 rooms at Port Orleans (2 at riverside and 3 at FQ). Our dates are tentatively 8/18-9/2. I will have more concrete dates once I purchase airfare.

I am sooo excited as many of my extended family are 1st timers and willing to let me do most of the planning. We have had two family meetings so far and have set down some ground rules. Everyone understands that even though we want to enjoy some time together, we realize that we will have to seperate at times. We will have a daily ADR together (most days) and we will most likely be in the same parks each day. Other then that, each family will be free to do as they please. One concern I have is FP+, since the newbies have no idea what to pick and are leaning on my experience, I am curious to see how that will play out.
Maybe at the next meeting (which is before the 60 day window) I can get an idea of some must do's so that I can at least help steer them in the right direction.

 

[jaz0308]

What is everyone's favorite character meal?

Ooohh...hard to choose! We love character meals! Our favorites are: Chef Mickey - we get to meet the fab 5 and DH and I kind of like the buffet!
Akershus breakfast - again we meet many Princesses and I LOVE the cheesy potatoes!

We have also enjoyed O'Hana breakfast (food and service has been so so but Stitch is awesome), Hollywood and Vine (just ok but my little ones love the Disney Jr. characters...excited to see Sofia and Doc this time), Crystal Palace breakfast (we had the unfortunate experience of being there with BTG so our character interaction was not great...BUT we are trying again this year)

We are also trying a new one...1900 Park Fare for dinner and I am excited to see how it goes!

 

[disneygrl704]

We are also trying a new one...1900 Park Fare for dinner and I am excited to see how it goes!

The step sisters are great! Try the strawberry soup too it doesn't sound good but it's fantastic!

 

[Disneylover99]

What is everyone's favorite character meal?


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We love Tusker House and Crystal Palace for lunch and Chef Mickey's and Garden Grill for dinner. Our least favourite character meal is CRT for lunch/dinner. We just don't find the menu appealing at all. Maybe the breakfast is good, but we just aren't breakfast people.

 

[anjalee6]

What is everyone's favorite character meal?

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We have done every character meal at least once. We prefer Tusker House for the atmosphere. It is one of our favorite.

 

[anjalee6]

The step sisters are great! Try the strawberry soup too it doesn't sound good but it's fantastic!

Yum! I love the strawberry soup.

 

[sktjcox]

What is everyone's favorite character meal? We've only done Chef Mickey and Hollywood & Vine (before Dr. McStuffins And/or Soohia changeover) breakfasts. We much preferred Chef Mickey's - the kids were just in a better mood that day and I love how you can watch the monorail travel through CR. Food seemed better too but I didn't even walk through the buffet at H & V (that is how rotten the behavior was!) We will definitely do Chef Mickey again and would also like to try Garden Grill because we like Chip and Dale. I wanted CRT too but for budget reasons and lack of appeal for the whole family (DS not interested in princesses) we might have to skip. Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

We love Garden Grill - so relaxing, great characters who spend a lot of time and very decent foos

 

[huggiebear23]

Crystal palace before the park opens is magical.. I always feel so special walking in.. 1900 park faire is always yummy and the characters are super funny.. More adult humor.. Chef mickeys we did once didn't care for the food.

 

[Mrs. M. Mouse]

What is everyone's favorite character meal? We've only done Chef Mickey and Hollywood & Vine (before Dr. McStuffins And/or Soohia changeover) breakfasts. We much preferred Chef Mickey's - the kids were just in a better mood that day and I love how you can watch the monorail travel through CR. Food seemed better too but I didn't even walk through the buffet at H & V (that is how rotten the behavior was!) We will definitely do Chef Mickey again and would also like to try Garden Grill because we like Chip and Dale. I wanted CRT too but for budget reasons and lack of appeal for the whole family (DS not interested in princesses) we might have to skip. Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

1900 park faire dinner with Cinderella and the step sisters was so much fun! Lots of character interaction. We also love Ohana at the poly!

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[letthewookiewin]

Crystal palace before the park opens is magical.. I always feel so special walking in.. 1900 park faire is always yummy and the characters are super funny.. More adult humor.. Chef mickeys we did once didn't care for the food.

I want to try and snag an 8 AM ADR for Crystal Palace on our trip. How early, before your ADR, do they let you into the park if the park isn't open yet? If we get an 8 AM, will they wait until 7:45 to let us in, or can we get in a little earlier?

 

[DisMom1981]

I don't believe I ever introduced myself.... My name is Tasha. I was a member of Team August 2012 and 2013. My children and I have been visiting WDW the last two weeks of August since 2007. Our favorite resort is Port Orleans. This year we have several extended family members joining us the first week of our trip. We have 17 people ranging from ages 60 down to 7. 6 rooms at Port Orleans (2 at riverside and 3 at FQ). Our dates are tentatively 8/18-9/2. I will have more concrete dates once I purchase airfare. I am sooo excited as many of my extended family are 1st timers and willing to let me do most of the planning. We have had two family meetings so far and have set down some ground rules. Everyone understands that even though we want to enjoy some time together, we realize that we will have to seperate at times. We will have a daily ADR together (most days) and we will most likely be in the same parks each day. Other then that, each family will be free to do as they please. One concern I have is FP+, since the newbies have no idea what to pick and are leaning on my experience, I am curious to see how that will play out. Maybe at the next meeting (which is before the 60 day window) I can get an idea of some must do's so that I can at least help steer them in the right direction.

Hi Tasha!

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[DisMom1981]

I love reading all of your character dining experiences!

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[Ngwira]

I love free dining where are you going to eat??

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Boma, Ohana, Le Cellier, the wave, beaches and cream, via Napoli, la hacienda in Mexico, 1900 park fare, be our guest, grand Floridian cafe, Wolfgang puck.

 

[eangel12]

Quick question that I hope someone can answer. When we went to DW before, we always had early morning breakfast reservations for the park. Each time we arrived at MK for our 8:00am reservations, we were ushered into a LONG line to the far left after you go through the bag check and turntiles. We would stand and wait until 8:10-8:15am and finally they would let the LONG line through and we were ALWAYS late to our reservation. It stressed me out.

Is that the right place to be?? Did anyone else experience this? How do I avoid that when we go in August??

 

[KSL]

What is everyone's favorite character meal?

Ohmygoodness, it is so hard to pick! We have been lucky to have tried many of the character meals. We all love the Tusker House Breakfast but my favorite is 1900 Park Fare, because of some special Pixie Dust. Here's the story:

[Sidebar, preface: we took each of my 3 DDs by themselves for their first visit, the summer before 1st grade. This way we could focus on them and follow their lead, without making the oldest wait until the youngest was old enough, and avoiding arguments among the siblings. Plus this way DH and I got to go three times instead of just one first visit for all, LOL!]

The year we took my middle DD by herself (she was five) we had a reservation for the very first dinner time at Park Fare. I can't remember why we wanted that time, but that's how it worked out. The doors to the dining room weren't even open yet, so we had checked in and were waiting in that little "lobby" where they meet the Fairy Godmother (do they still do this?) and get photos taken. The manager was greeting the guests as we waited for the restaurant to open, and she chose my DD to do a little ceremony thing to officially open the dining room for the evening ("introducing Princess Rebecca of the Kingdom of New York, here on a royal mission to visit Cinderella...."). They open the French doors and there are two loooooong lines of the waiters and waitresses, down which path she was led to our table, hand in hand with Cinderella and Prince Charming! It was amazing. She was crying because she was so nervous and surprised. What a special moment for her, and she got SO much attention from everyone during the meal. It was fantastic.

After the trip we of course told my other girls about it, and my youngest decided she wanted to do the same thing when we took her for her trip. So over the next two years she would sometimes mention this and DH and I would tell her that the chances of this being repeated were unbelievably remote, things at the restaurant could have changed, they might not do this every day, etc. You know where I'm going with this, right?!

Fast forward two years and we are on the trip with my youngest DD and had made an ADR at 1900 PF for the earliest dinner time, and would you believe it but she gets picked for the same thing!? I was amazed. Now SHE was fully prepared for this and there were no tears -- she just waltzed right on in there with Cindy and Charming like she had been anticipating this for years (as she had!). I am still in awe that that happened twice. I guess maybe not that big a deal, but for our family it was just amazing. Even now, my eldest (now 13) will sometimes wistfully mention that she didn't get to do this on her trip (we ate there, but not right when it was opening - who knew!?)! So this is a tip for any of you out there with little girls who might like to see if they could get a chance for this special honor. We loved it!

PS - I think I am going to add Ohana Breakfast to our list for this year, after reading everyone's posts! Sounds so great!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

The year we took my middle DD by herself (she was five) we had a reservation for the very first dinner time at Park Fare. I can't remember why we wanted that time, but that's how it worked out. The doors to the dining room weren't even open yet, so we had checked in and were waiting in that little "lobby" where they meet the Fairy Godmother (do they still do this?) and get photos taken. The manager was greeting the guests as we waited for the restaurant to open, and she chose my DD to do a little ceremony thing to officially open the dining room for the evening ("introducing Princess Rebecca of the Kingdom of New York, here on a royal mission to visit Cinderella...."). They open the French doors and there are two loooooong lines of the waiters and waitresses, down which path she was led to our table, hand in hand with Cinderella and Prince Charming! It was amazing. She was crying because she was so nervous and surprised. What a special moment for her, and she got SO much attention from everyone during the meal. It was fantastic.

Fast forward two years and we are on the trip with my youngest DD and had made an ADR at 1900 PF for the earliest dinner time, and would you believe it but she gets picked for the same thing!? I was amazed.

How awesome! What amazing memories!!

 

[disneygrl704]

QOTD What are your 3 picks for Fastpass +?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

No picks for us as we are not doing Disney parks this trip!

Our itinerary includes SeaWorld, Aquatica, and Discovery Cove .

 

[disneygrl704]

oops!

We drive straight through from North Carolina. We live close to Charlotte so it takes us about 12 hours.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We drive straight through from North Carolina. We live close to Charlotte so it takes us about 12 hours.

lol, we posted at the same time. So I deleted mine and will repost it again another day!