Our 1st trip ADRs made for Jan.- opinions?

[emh1129]

Hi everyone!
We called this morning on our 180 day mark to made some dining reservations. I talked to the sweetest CM and she was SO helpful! She helped me figure out which day we would be at which park, based on the schedule and then helped me figure out which meals we would be able to get to the easiest
I wish I had gotten her name, I really should call Disney to tell them how impressed I was!

Anyway!
we booked:

Donald's Breakfast
1900 Park Faire (we have to see Mary Poppins )
LeCellier
CRT- breakfast
Mama Melrose's Fantasmic Package (might cancel this, though)
Chef Mickey's- dinner

We are there for 10 nights between Jan.2-12, 2007, and I'm thinking about making some changes, but I'm happy that we got CRT, LeCellier, and 1900- those were the ones we really wanted.

Any advice for some newbies? It will be me (25), DH (29), DS (4), DD (2).
We don't have the dining plan.
DH loves steak and Italian food, our son is pretty picky. DD and I are pretty go-with-the-flow.

thanks for any help

 

[kjs1976]

BUMP!
I'd like to hear how Park Fair is for breakfast too!

 

[roryc]

We were just in the World this past weekend for a last minute trip and my 4 yo DD was terribly disappointed that she didn't get to have breakfast at CRT, so congratulations on getting that one. Your kids will be delighted.

Just a word of caution if you haven't already thought of it. I assumed that I'd need early dinner reservations with two 4 yos and a 9 yo; actually late would have been better. But the fact is that there was no way in the world that either 4 yo was going to nap while in Disney, and boy did they ever need a nap/swim break. Of course, you might not want/need the swim in January, but the nap thing your children might need as well as you....don't necessarily plan on them taking one in the park. The 2 YO maybe, but at least my 4 yo was way too tuned in to wind down enough to nap in a park.

I'd recommend you get to the parks early when they open, as even during July 4th weekend, we could just about walk on anything up until about noon with little more than a 10 minute wait at the most. By 2PM, everyone was tired and ready for some rest; adults included.

That totally messed up my early dinner reservations. 4:15 one night at LTT and 5:00 one night at Park Fare. Luckily I was able to snag later ones; 9:40 one night was really better since they swam and then were wiped out so they slept until nearly 7PM and then we had a fireworks cruise planned.

All I'm saying is just think about it a bit and make sure that you plan enough downtime so that you're not changing ADRs at the last minute for every evening.

I would have never thought of making a late (8PM or 9PM ADR) for small children, but in my case they were actually much better.

FYI...The 4 Yos loved Hoop Dee Doo Revue, the new Hollywood and Vine Character Breakfast (Little Einsteins and JoJo and Goliath) and 50s Prime Time.

 

[emh1129]

Thanks for the advice! I booked all of our dinners at 6:00, except the MM Fantasmic Package is for 4:20 (I'm pretty sure I will cancel that one anyway, though). I hadn't really thought about needing to go back to the hotel to nap, but I'm sure we will have to. Our daughter still needs her nap desperately.. I wonder how that will play out. hmmm..

 

[emh1129]

roryc- did your little ones enjoy the fireworks cruise? That sounds like so much fun!

 

[roryc]

I wouldn't stress over the timing of ADRs, just something to consider. You know your children and whether they will need naps and how long they can endure without one. We were right next to the Poly at Shades of Green so we could be home from MK in like 30 minutes from the time we decided we needed to leave. But still by the time we got back to the room, napped for a couple hours, got ready, got back to the park, we were talking a lot more than just an hour or two...more like 3-4, at least for us. I wish my DD and nephew would have napped in the park, it would have been so much easier.

6:00 would have been better than early (again mine were 4:10 and 5PM). So I think you're fine. Just think about it if you're still at the park at 3:00, or later and that it might be cutting it close after all the logistics are considered.

Everyone loved the Fireworks cruise. This is the second time we've done one. The first was in 12/04 when my DD was about 2-1/2. The kids think it's so cool, as well as the adults. July 3 was when we went and they did the same fireworks that they did on July 4; a test run they called it There were 8 different locations that all did identical fireworks in MK; truly amazing. Some of the more expensive boats have sound piped in. Both times our guides just got close to the "sound" boats so we could hear everything. The guides are great and you really do learn a lot about the resorts and parks, as well as information on the Disney family. The snacks consisted of individual large bags (larger than the lunchbox size) of Doritos, Lays Chips, Popcorn, Pretzels, Water, Coke, Sprite, and Diet Coke.

They have boats that they say will seat 8, but my guide said really will comfortably seat 10 that start at $200 for an hour-long cruise. Our party of 3 adults and 3 children could have easily squeezed in 4-5 more people. The pontoon boats are fairly new; newer than when we went in 12/04. Then the prices go up from there for larger boats. There are threads on the DisBoards that you can try to share with another party if your party size is small and won't justify the cost. But it's definitely a must do for us every trip now. I'm going to book at the end of this month for our January trip

Have fun planning. That's almost as much fun for me as actually going on the trip!