Overkill?

[kboo]

First off - we like to eat, and generally pick TS over QS because with 2 little kids, it is just easier. We got online early and made a bunch of reservations, and then by using Touring Plans' reservation finder booked most of our family's favorites. Is there anything you'd take off the list or add on/substitute? Also, any recommendations for the "NEW to us" places?

Breakfast/brunch:
H&V (+ Fantasmic) (NEW)
Tusker House
Cape May Cafe (NEW)
Crystal Palace
Chef Mickey's

Dinner:
Coral Reef (NEW to us)
50s Prime Time (NEW)
Akershus
BOG
Tiffins (NEW)
Skipper Canteen
Cali Grill
Cinderella's Royal Table

-------------------------------------
I'm not a huge fan of Chef Mickey's, but we are staying at BLT and it's been a few years, so I'm willing to give it a chance...

 

[oceanmarina]

Everything looks great. I know what you mean about Chef Mickeys, I count on great pictures & character interactions more than I count on a great meal. The only thing is that cape may is a bit of a shlep from BLT if you are taking Disney transportation.

 

[kboo]

Everything looks great. I know what you mean about Chef Mickeys, I count on great pictures & character interactions more than I count on a great meal. The only thing is that cape may is a bit of a shlep from BLT if you are taking Disney transportation.

Yeah, we are staying at the Dolphin for the first 3 days - I've wanted to try Cape May for breakfast thanks to its reviews, but never managed to fit it in until now.

 

[Lisa F]

Another TS fan here, I travel solo with my son. It's a nice relaxing break in the day. I like all of your choices, I'd keep them. We tend to do 2TS a day ourselves

 

[JZCubed]

First off - we like to eat, and generally pick TS over QS because with 2 little kids, it is just easier. We got online early and made a bunch of reservations, and then by using Touring Plans' reservation finder booked most of our family's favorites. Is there anything you'd take off the list or add on/substitute? Also, any recommendations for the "NEW to us" places?

Breakfast/brunch:
H&V (+ Fantasmic) (NEW)
Tusker House
Cape May Cafe (NEW)
Crystal Palace
Chef Mickey's

Dinner:
Coral Reef (NEW to us)
50s Prime Time (NEW)
Akershus
BOG
Tiffins (NEW)
Skipper Canteen
Cali Grill
Cinderella's Royal Table

-------------------------------------
I'm not a huge fan of Chef Mickey's, but we are staying at BLT and it's been a few years, so I'm willing to give it a chance...

Your breakfast & brunch list:
We would not be doing that many Character meals or buffets, but, "Different strokes," as they say.
-- H&V - you get something for the F! package. However, Hollywood Studios is not a full-day of activities right now. You might need a plan that includes leaving & then returning to HS.
-- Cape May - like 1900 Park Fare, one of the 'better' buffets at Disney. My kid loves Alice, and the Tigger photos at the end of the meal were most amusing.

Dinner:
-- We've had better luck with the food at Coral Reef than the typical Dis'ser. The view of the aquarium is certainly 'uniquely Disney'. But given my experience at Disboards, you're not likely to find many other fans (because of food quality). FWIW, the trout with beans & greens is my go-to dish.
-- 50's Prime Time - if the folks in your party ever experienced black & white TV (that had knobs), then the nostalgia is fun. Otherwise, I find the theming is lost on children who have no such experience. Also, the folks in your party need to have a sense of humor, or the 'antics' may annoy them. Good food value for the Americana fare of pot roast, meatloaf, fried chicken. - served with mashed potatoes.
-- Tiffins is worth a try, but we've decided never again. We have had too many kitchen problems to return. Most recently, we had a lovely time at Nomad Lounge, which included trying a $10 side dish of cauliflower. When we returned to Tiffins a few days later for the River of Lights package, we asked if we could substitute for the $10 cauliflower (a lower price than any of appetizers on the prix fixe package) and were declined. I was appalled. Tiffins clearly has a problem filling seats (otherwise, they'd be able to charge a price premium for the River of Lights package), so I'm not sure why they were the least accommodating kitchen we've ever encountered at Disney. That bad taste continued into very overcooked fried fish. This was not the first time we had a bad experience with food at Tiffins - short ribs were served ice cold to us on another occasion. If we enjoyed River of Lights more, maybe we'd go back for the package, but we didn't, so we won't. But I'd still recommend you try the place if you've never been. Nomad Lounge remains a hidden gem.

FWIW, you list looks like my own.

 

[Barbydoll8]

SInce you are staying at BLT, why not try The Wave. They have a great menu and a breakfast buffet. Not a character meal but also a bit cheaper.
Also, if you want some good meals and don't mind the schlepping, the resorts around you have much better food. Trails End for breakfast/brunch (non-character) but super good and the campground in general is fun. There is a playground right by the restaurant.
Whispering Canyon at Wilderness Lodge has lot of fun for the kiddos and it's good food.
Ohana for breakfast has characters and is family style so you don't have to get up to get more.

Just some thoughts.

 

[kboo]

Your breakfast & brunch list:
We would not be doing that many Character meals or buffets, but, "Different strokes," as they say.
-- H&V - you get something for the F! package. However, Hollywood Studios is not a full-day of activities right now. You might need a plan that includes leaving & then returning to HS.
-- Cape May - like 1900 Park Fare, one of the 'better' buffets at Disney. My kid loves Alice, and the Tigger photos at the end of the meal were most amusing.

Dinner:
-- We've had better luck with the food at Coral Reef than the typical Dis'ser. The view of the aquarium is certainly 'uniquely Disney'. But given my experience at Disboards, you're not likely to find many other fans (because of food quality). FWIW, the trout with beans & greens is my go-to dish.
-- 50's Prime Time - if the folks in your party ever experienced black & white TV (that had knobs), then the nostalgia is fun. Otherwise, I find the theming is lost on children who have no such experience. Also, the folks in your party need to have a sense of humor, or the 'antics' may annoy them. Good food value for the Americana fare of pot roast, meatloaf, fried chicken. - served with mashed potatoes.
-- Tiffins is worth a try, but we've decided never again. We have had too many kitchen problems to return. Most recently, we had a lovely time at Nomad Lounge, which included trying a $10 side dish of cauliflower. When we returned to Tiffins a few days later for the River of Lights package, we asked if we could substitute for the $10 cauliflower (a lower price than any of appetizers on the prix fixe package) and were declined. I was appalled. Tiffins clearly has a problem filling seats (otherwise, they'd be able to charge a price premium for the River of Lights package), so I'm not sure why they were the least accommodating kitchen we've ever encountered at Disney. That bad taste continued into very overcooked fried fish. This was not the first time we had a bad experience with food at Tiffins - short ribs were served ice cold to us on another occasion. If we enjoyed River of Lights more, maybe we'd go back for the package, but we didn't, so we won't. But I'd still recommend you try the place if you've never been. Nomad Lounge remains a hidden gem.

FWIW, you list looks like my own.

For the first 3 days, we'll be at the Dolphin. I also was somewhat nervous about spending a whole day "at" HS - but our kids are young (2 and 6) and we take a midday break and nap, so the return for Fantasmic may be only for dinner, Fantasmic and fireworks and then a quick push home in the stroller.

Re: food at HS. I keep hoping that I'm just being unfair to HS by not trying any TS meals there, so this is the first time we are doing it. Kids are young, so they'll like the characters at H&V.

Thanks for the tip on the trout at Coral Reef - I've heard lots of negatives about the food at Coral Reef, which is why we've never tried it before.

That's too bad about Tiffins - we had booked it last trip and then decided to stay closer to BCV and went to the new Flying Fish, which we really enjoyed a lot. We are looking forward to checking out Tiffins and ROL on this trip.

SInce you are staying at BLT, why not try The Wave. They have a great menu and a breakfast buffet. Not a character meal but also a bit cheaper.
Also, if you want some good meals and don't mind the schlepping, the resorts around you have much better food. Trails End for breakfast/brunch (non-character) but super good and the campground in general is fun. There is a playground right by the restaurant.
Whispering Canyon at Wilderness Lodge has lot of fun for the kiddos and it's good food.
Ohana for breakfast has characters and is family style so you don't have to get up to get more.

Just some thoughts.

Thanks! We tried The Wave for dinner on a previous trip, and although it was fine, the lack of windows and natural light really bummed me out. If the 2yo is not into characters, or we all decide we want a break from characters, we'll cancel Chef Mickey's and do the Wave or Kona Cafe for breakfast. We tried Ohana breakfast last year, and it was fun with the characters, but the food was probably the worst of the character meals at the MK resorts (I think I've done them all now??)

We are new DVC owners, so on future trips I think we will pare down our meals out and eat more in our condo. As it is, everybody in our family of foodies has at least one request - DH: California Grill, Me: something new and good (?) or Cali Grill or one of the GF restaurants, DD1 (6yo): something in a castle, DD2 (2yo): something with lots of bacon, or POG juice.

 

[GillianP1301]

Big TS fan here as well, we do 2 - 3 a day on our trips (myself and 9yo son). You have a lot of our favourites on your list. H&V is the only one I would not bother with because the food was pretty yuck. Unless you have kids into the Disney Jr. characters, then I wouldn't recommend it.

Cape May is a really nice breakfast buffet. Much quieter than most of the other character breakfasts.

 

[KenHutch]

I like all of your selections except Hollywood & Vine. I have been told that the character interaction is great but don't go there for the food or the service. My family is doing a fantasmic package as well but we are going with lunch at Mama Melroses.

 

[kaytieeldr]

When we returned to Tiffins a few days later for the River of Lights package, we asked if we could substitute for the $10 cauliflower (a lower price than any of appetizers on the prix fixe package) and were declined. I was appalled.

Appalled is a pretty strong negative reaction to any restaurant declining to substitute an item from one part of the menu for another. The package doesn't include a side.

 

[Aela]

If you haven’t gone yet, you should consider Jiko’s. We did that and Tiffins as well as Cali Grill this trip. Jiko’s blew both of them out of the water, it wasn’t even close.

 

[ThePrincess&TheJohn]

If you have any interest in an EPCOT morning, I HIGHLY recommend Garden Grill, especially for a PPO. I love their food, there is never a crowd, the characters are fun, and I mean, I just can't say anything bad about it!

 

[goofyintoronto]

I agree with @JZCubed , I too said never again to Tiffins. I was just underwhelmed. Portions were really tiny and frankly there was nothing amazing about it. I'd much sooner eat at Satuli Canteen over Tiffins. My meal there was truly outstanding.

Cali Grill has gone downhill since the refurbishment. Been there three times since then and frankly all of my meals were disappointing.

Everything else looks good thou!

 

[disneyAndi14]

When we went to Tiffins RoL package we could order anything off the menu, has that changed now? It was a really decent deal with the whole menu to choose from. We did in August 2017. We loved Tiffins and I think OP choices all look great. We have done all of them except California Grill. We didn’t care much for dinner at Chef Mickey’s, we have not had breakfast there.

 

[KelNChrisKYDis]

We tried Ohana breakfast last year, and it was fun with the characters, but the food was probably the worst of the character meals at the MK resorts (I think I've done them all now??)

If 'Ohana breakfast was the worst food you've had at a character meal, Chef Mickey's is going to ask you to hold their beer... we ate there in 2015 and it was without a doubt the absolute worst meal I've ever had at Disney. We found 'Ohana to be "good", if overpriced, but the atmosphere (in 2015) was exceptional. Chef Mickey's was a loud, chaotic disaster for us.

 

[kboo]

If 'Ohana breakfast was the worst food you've had at a character meal, Chef Mickey's is going to ask you to hold their beer... we ate there in 2015 and it was without a doubt the absolute worst meal I've ever had at Disney. We found 'Ohana to be "good", if overpriced, but the atmosphere (in 2015) was exceptional. Chef Mickey's was a loud, chaotic disaster for us.

HAHAHA! Now that you mention it... we were at Chef Mickey's for breakfast in 2014 and it was pretty awful. Maybe I blocked out my memories of it. My view of the buffets is, they're never going to win prizes for "best" food (well, ok except for Boma and TH), but there's usually SOMETHING that is decently edible. We got to Ohana in 2016 and maybe I just had higher expectations. But your description is ... maybe ringing some bells with me. I will give them one.more.chance. on this next trip, since it will be the easiest character meal for us as BLT owners.

 

[DisneyCAL]

Yeah, we are staying at the Dolphin for the first 3 days - I've wanted to try Cape May for breakfast thanks to its reviews, but never managed to fit it in until now.

We loved Cape May Cafe on our last trip. The bananas foster over pancakes was amazing and the goat cheese scramble, yum! Kids loved the characters and I got a good laugh in with Donald as his big butt was blocking my way back to the table. On a side note, their seafood dinner is also wonderful but no characters.