Opinions Please!

[slenkey]

We went on our first trip to Disney last January. Unfotunately three of us contracted food posioning and ended up in the hospital. Now I fear that I am overplanning and overbooking our trip in November (which I have started calling our first official Disney trip again). What do you guys think? Have I overbooked and given us too much to eat? Do I have a good mix of venues and characters? Are the ressie times going to interfere with park fun? Will these ressies make me gain 10 pounds in seven days? Any other suggestions that we don't have and what would you get rid of?

Important info.

-We'll have the DDP.
-My 22mo. DS eats as much, if not more, than my 3yo DS, so we were trying to get as many buffets and family syle meals as possible to insure we had enough food for the kids.
-Staying @ GF for seven days.
-We're staying off site the night before with the hope of checking in to get our park passes early and hitting the park. (also got better air fare that way)

Sunday 11/9 -Dinner @ Grand Floridian Cafe, 6:10pm

Monday 11/10 Breakfast @The Crystal Palace, 8:20am
Lunch @Tony's Town Square, 12:30pm
Dinner @ 1900 Park Fare, 6:45pm

Tuesday 11/11 Breakfast @1900 Park Fare, 8:25am
Dinner @Planet Hollywood, 6:45pm

Wednesday 11/12 Breakfast @Chef Mickey's, 7:40am
Dinner @Akershus Royal PSD, 6:30pm

Thursday 11/13 Breakfast @Hollywood & Vine, 10:00am
Dinner @ Hollywood Brown Derby, 3:35pm (Fantasmic pkg)

Friday 11/14 Breakfast @ 1900 Park Fare, 8:35am
Lunch @ The Crystal Palace, 12:50pm
Dinner @ Grand Floridian Cafe, 6:40pm

Saturday 11/15 Breakfast @ Donald's Safari Breakfast, 8:00am

We're checking out Sat.
Not sure if our DDP is still good all day Sat.?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

[daleswife]

Your dining plan is good until midnight of the day you check out.

 

[kim_d]

Sunday 11/9 -Dinner @ Grand Floridian Cafe, 6:10pm

Monday 11/10 Breakfast @The Crystal Palace, 8:20am
Lunch @Tony's Town Square, 12:30pm
Dinner @ 1900 Park Fare, 6:45pm

Tuesday 11/11 Breakfast @1900 Park Fare, 8:25am
Dinner @Planet Hollywood, 6:45pm

Wednesday 11/12 Breakfast @Chef Mickey's, 7:40am
Dinner @Akershus Royal PSD, 6:30pm

Thursday 11/13 Breakfast @Hollywood & Vine, 10:00am
Dinner @ Hollywood Brown Derby, 3:35pm (Fantasmic pkg)

Friday 11/14 Breakfast @ 1900 Park Fare, 8:35am
Lunch @ The Crystal Palace, 12:50pm
Dinner @ Grand Floridian Cafe, 6:40pm

Saturday 11/15 Breakfast @ Donald's Safari Breakfast, 8:00am

Are you on the regular or deluxe dining? With 6 nights on the regular DDP you have 6 TS credits. And 14 sit down meals scheduled. You will be paying out of pocket for a good portion of your meals.

Your dining is similar to ours, we typically like more than one sit down a day, but the deluxe might be too much since our children are young and prefer the cheaper buffets. That being said, we are trying the deluxe for our next trip.

 

[slenkey]

Thanks for the info. everyone.

We are on the Deluxe Dining Plan. We just figured that more TS would allow us to have some down time with the kids while still having time around characters. I just didn't know if too many character dining experiences would either dim the magic or be too overwhelming...

 

[daisy112878]

Personally I wouldn't do CP twice since its the same characters at each meal. I would change Monday's breakfast to O'hana. They have a great breakfast with stitch, lilo, pluto, and mickey. It's all you can eat family style with pineapple bread, cinnamon rolls, eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits, mickey waffles. And you don't have to worry about getting up to get your food so for us it's a little more relaxing.

Another thing I personally wouldn't do the same restaurant twice. There are so many good restaurants on property. Boma is a good breakfast place for whatever morning you're doing AK. They have a huge breakfast buffet that has so many good things. I would do another dinner in one of the countries in Epcot too. We like Tutto Italia and they have huge portions. You could definitely be able to feed both kids a lot there.

 

[butiflfeet]

Sunday 11/9 -Dinner @ Grand Floridian Cafe, 6:10pm

Monday 11/10 Breakfast @The Crystal Palace, 8:20am
Lunch @Tony's Town Square, 12:30pm
Dinner @ 1900 Park Fare, 6:45pm

Tuesday 11/11 Breakfast @1900 Park Fare, 8:25am
Dinner @Planet Hollywood, 6:45pm

Wednesday 11/12 Breakfast @Chef Mickey's, 7:40am
Dinner @Akershus Royal PSD, 6:30pm

Thursday 11/13 Breakfast @Hollywood & Vine, 10:00am
Dinner @ Hollywood Brown Derby, 3:35pm (Fantasmic pkg)

Friday 11/14 Breakfast @ 1900 Park Fare, 8:35am
Lunch @ The Crystal Palace, 12:50pm
Dinner @ Grand Floridian Cafe, 6:40pm

Saturday 11/15 Breakfast @ Donald's Safari Breakfast, 8:00am

Sounds like a good plan to me!

I've been waiting to try GF Cafe, there have been some pretty good reviews of it lately!

1900 Park Faire and Crystal palace are classics that we usually go to every trip. My suggestion would be to keep the breakfast ADRs you have for these because as far as breakfast options go you will have tons more food at the buffets than any table service available. The characters at these are going to be the same each meal so check out the review board here and menus at http://www.allears.net to see what other places you could go to for dinners.

If you're staying at the GF you have the Poly close by too so I second the suggestion to switch up one of your meals and have breakfast at Ohana in place of one of the 1900 breakfast ADRs to get a few more characters in. Lilo and Stitch are there along with Goofy and some others too. It's set up as a family-style buffet so you have dishes to pass at your table.

Kona Cafe in the Poly is also a great option for a lunch or dinner (no characters here though). And at the Contemporary there is a new restaurant called the Wave which has gotten some good reviews too. I'm not sure how kid-friendly it is as I've never been there but most places are pretty good with kids (it is Disney after all!)

Good luck and happy planning

 

[gigi1313]

the only thing i might consider is switching up one of your 1900PF breakfasts for 'ohana b'fast...

 

[jhaig]

I'd replace both of your return trips to the CP and the GF for a dinner at Jiko. You won't regret it! Don't be scared. It's different, but worth it.

 

[slenkey]

Usually we are not so conservative with our food picks. Both my DH and I like to try new stuff and encourage my boys to try it too. I was not brought up in a house that did this and think it's a great option for kids!

However, you are right. I am scared to try new foods on vacation after last Jan. when we got sick. I guess I thought if we went with Character meals that had traditional food it would be busier and the food would be more fresh. Crazy, right?

That said, I think I am going to switch up a few of our repeats for Jiko and O'Hana. They sound more popular than I thought!

Also... I recently read a few really bad reviews on Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney. Should I avoid this and switch it for something else, perhaps in the Worlds?