Our First Dinner

[wdwcustar]

Hey all!

My parents and I are visiting WDW in the end of June and we will be staying at the WDW Swan Hotel with the Nurses rate. First, let me explain a bit of our situation so you can better help me. We just visited Walt Disney World this past summer and we stayed off site. This was my second WDW visit, but the first took place when I was 4 years old, so I was pretty much clueless as to what to expect when I got there. Now that I've returned, I've discovered a plethora of WDW websites and I think I'm starting to get the hang of things. We've decided to go back this June as sort of a last family fling, as I will be graduating from High School in 2004 and plan to spend the entire summer working at the Cedar Point Amusement Park/Resort, so this will most likely be our last big family vacation. However, since we just went this past year, and don't even have THAT trip paid off, we need to be quite frugal this time around. But we want to have some great Disney Dining experiences. That seems like kind of an Oxy-Moron to me.

I've been reading reviews and I've decided that Le Cellier is a "must" the day we spend at Epcot. Am I correct? I've just heard so much about this place, I think we have to try it.

I wanted to do a Character meal of some sorts, and I think I've decided that Donald's Breakfastosaurous would be our best bet. It's also possible that we may visit Cape May Cafe one morning for breakfast. The probelm with breakfast is that when we stayed off-site, we paid $69 a night for a HUGE suite and got a free breakfast every morning. My Dad doesn't want to be staying on property at all, and I really need to get breakfast every day for CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!!! My mother has just joined the Starwood Preferred Guest program and, although we will have no points on the card, we are crossing are fingers (and hoping for a little pixie dust) that we just might get a complementary upgrade to Club Level (it's a stretch, I know). Any suggestions for breakfast would be helpful.

I am also contemplating the H&V Fantasmic Dinner Package as we missed the show this past summer, and from what I gather, June is a pretty busy time at the WORLD. Again, any suggestions would be helpful.

HERE IS THE REAL REASON FOR THIS THREAD. The rest just spilled out when I started typing. (Sorry!) We are driving down and we will be arriving probably somewhere between 4-6pm. We'll most likely explore the Swan/Dolphin resort that first night, with a trip to the Grotto pool, even though I'm way fat and it'll be embarassing, we're gonna go anyway. WHERE ON EARTH SHOULD WE EAT DINNER THAT FIRST NIGHT?!? I don't want to blow my parents away with the price of a meal on the first night, but I don't want to eat peanut butter and jelly either. What should I do? I'd also like to keep it somewhere around the hotel since we will be spending the remainder of the evening there. I should mention that we are not getting UPH tickets, we are just getting regular 4/5 day park hoppers, so we will NOT have theme park access that night unless by some miracle, we can get into EPCOT without paying. (HA HA!) That would be the ideal situation: Dinner at Epcot. Oh well.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have!
Jeff Walker

P.S. Is there any truth to the rumor that they open the gates to Epcot just before Illuminations? Could we go over to Epcot to watch Illumations that first evening? It's my mom's favorite part of Disney. Thanks!

 

[Muffy]

Join Connections and get a few quick and casual vouchers for 11.00 ea. You can use them at Beaches and Cream. They are a terrific value at that restaurant!! You can split a double burger, fries, milk shake and a sunday, all for 11.00 (includes tax and tip). You can also cancel your memebership to Connections before the month is up and only get charged 1.00! Go to mousesavers.com for more info.

 

[AspiringCindy]

Try Chef Mickeys for breakfast for a good character breakfast!

 

[ozziewags]

Also, since your mom joined SPG, ask her if she will get an SPG American Express credit card. She can charge things that she gets every day, like groceries, gas, whatever. For every dollar she charges she accumulates SPG points. By June she should have enough for you to upgrade to club level, which will give you breakfasts and snacks throughout the day.
As for your first night, if you are going to be at the pool, why not get pizza from Tubbi's? I hear it is very good. Also, if you are a disney club member, all the restaurants at S/D give 20% discount.

 

[ahutton]

There is a neat Ice Cream Shop in the Dolphin, if walking from the Swan go around the fountain to the left and enter the building, it is on the 1st floor on the left. They have very reasonable prices for burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches, as well as some very good sandwiches. Also they have lots of good ice cream treats. The pizza from Tubbi's is also very good and a good price.

For inexpensive breakfasts, I would stop and pick up some muffins or something at a grocery store on the way in. You could also get some cereal bars or granola bars, and chips and such for snacks. Don't forget to bring some soda, water and such, as you can then get ice for cold drinks in your room. You might also want to bring a couple large plastic tumblers to take down to the pool so you can bring drinks with you there.

While you may not be able to get into EPCOT for Illuminations, you can see and hear it from the bridge between Swan and Boardwalk, or from many other places in that area. There is also a lot of free street entertainment on the Boardwalk, which is a lot of fun just to wander around. Unless you go into some of the clubs, there is no fee for visiting there. Same for the shopping area of Downtown Disney (Marketplace) where you can window shop and enjoy the scenery without having to pay admission. There actually is a lot to do without going into the parks...

 

[Carrieberry]

We always like to head to Downtown Disney on our first night. We do a little window shopping and get a great meal from Wolfgang Puck Express. A LOT cheaper than the regular Wolfgang's, with nice outdoor seating and great food. We also like to buy food from the little carts on the Boardwalk. They have a hot dog stand as well as a crepe on a stick stand which my husband loves (there is a yummy ham and cheese one). Also, I second Tubbies buffeteria at the Dolphin. It is open 24 hours and would be a good choice for dinner or for breakfast. The bakery window over on the Boardwalk also has coffee and pastries for breakfast at a decent price. There are many things you can do to cut costs and not feel like you are missing out on anything. We will be doing two of your other choices in a couple of weeks. We will be going to Donald's Breakfastasaurus and Le Cellier. If you would like to do character meals, stick to breakfasts, all the fun, less $$! We are also doing Le Cellier for lunch instead of dinner. The menu looks very good for lunch, and we really want to try the cheddar soup which they also have during lunch hours, but the entrees cost about 1/2 the price!

Hey! None of that talk about being fat and embarassed in your bathing suit now, no one at WDW cares! Mickey loves you no matter what you look like and so do we!

 

[Dana49]

Drive to Fort Wilderness and have dinner at the Trail's End Buffeteria. It's priced reasonably, the buffet is delicious, and there's something for everyone. Enjoy!

 

[Eilonwy]

This is what we're doing our first night--going to Fort Wilderness/Trail's End. We're staying at The Boardwalk. I think we're taking the bus to The Contemporary, though, to meet up with my cousin and her family, and then taking the boat over to Fort Wilderness.

I was going to mention the hotdog stand on The Boardwalk, although we haven't tried there yet. Since we will be getting in around lunch time, I figured I'd grab a hotdog while we're waiting for the room to be ready.

And there is entertainment on The Boardwalk at night. We didn't do enough of hanging around there our last trip and plan to do more of that this trip. There are also bikes to rent that you can ride around The Boardwalk. Haven't done that yet either.

At least one of our breakfasts will probably be pastries from the shop on The Boardwalk.

Everyone else had pretty good suggestions!