Please help...review my dining plans and a few ???'s

[IBLarsen]

Ok, I have put so much thought into dining for our trip, that I'm tired of thinking about it! I have made some ADR's, but still need to get a few figured out. It is very hard for me to think about planning my day around food, then on the other hand I want to try every restaurant

I will lay out our current plans: Our trip is 4/9-4/16. We are going to be there for our two childrens bdays. DD turning 6 on trip and DS turning 8 on trip.

Sat - arrival day - Dinner at 1900 Park Fare at 6:00pm, really want to start with a character meal for our arrival day, as we won't be in the parks. Is this a good choice, or any other recs? Again we have DS and DD.

Sun - MK day - Dinner at Whispering Canyon at 6:00pm (We are staying at the WL)

***Mon - Epcot day - NO dining plans yet -???????, we are doing the Pirates and Pals fireworks cruise at 8:30 this evening. Need a TS ADR for this day. My thoughts are either something at Epcot for Lunch, or Dinner at Ohana? If we do Dinner at Ohanas, we will just do a QS for lunch at Epcot.

Tues - AK day - Breakfast at Tusker House at 8:25am.

Wed - MK day, Sons BDAY, we will have his bday dinner at Trex in DTD at 5:00pm. Trying to think of something he will enjoy, he loves rainforest cafe, but we have one here in Texas. Is this a good choice???

Thurs - HS day - Lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe at 11:00. Is this a good choice? I think the atmosphere looks fun, is the food ok? Is this the best choice with our kids?

Fri - MK day - Daughters BDAY - Breakfast at CRT 10:10am. (non negotiable)

Saturday - Leave - will have 1/2 day in parks, not planning any ADR's. Will use this day to re visit whichever park we decide after having seen each of them.



OK - Now that you have seen my preliminary plans. I try not to do sit down breakfasts because it wastes precious park time for the early hours. I do have 2 scheduled that I'm ok with, but really don't want to add more. We have only been to DLR never to WDW before. I'm trying to work in a break each day. so trying to schedule either Lunch, then take a break, or take a break then be ready in time for dinner adr's. Trying to plan 1 TS meal each day, as we are on the DP. we will then do one QS meal each day, so if you have any suggestions on where/when to use our QS meals, I would love to hear!

Overall, any thoughts about these plans? Any reason to change things around? And I'm really torn on our Epcot day, about doing a TS meal there or going to Ohanas???? What to do??!!!

Thanks for any thoughts/help!

 

[bluejasmine]

I think your ADRs sound amazing! May I suggest maybe a TS for lunch your first epcot day since you have a cruise that night? Id do any of the TS in WS.. Then you can get dinner at a CS either at WL or at Ep later depending on where you are or maybe even at the resort your meeting the cruise at?

CS meal suggestions-MK Pecos Bills and Cosmic Rays
EP-Sunshine Seasons, New Mexican Cantina, Lotus Blossum
HS-Pizza Planet
AK-Flame Tree BBq

 

[Maus]

I like your choices. Dinner at your MK day sounds early, you would have to leave the park at 4pm to get there in time. Why not having a later dinner if you stay there anyway or are you planing on going back to the park after?
I allways try to make my adr's at the park we are visiting that day, or at a resort very close by, don't want to waste to much park time.

 

[IBLarsen]

I like your choices. Dinner at your MK day sounds early, you would have to leave the park at 4pm to get there in time. Why not having a later dinner if you stay there anyway or are you planing on going back to the park after?
I allways try to make my adr's at the park we are visiting that day, or at a resort very close by, don't want to waste to much park time.

Are you referring to dinner at Trex at 5:00? If so, my thinking is that we would plan an afternoon break at our hotel and then go to dinner at trex and then likely go back to MK after dinner. I was trying to allow enough time after dinner to be able to go back to MK. Does this sound feasible with travel time? I'm open to moving ADR's if I can, that's why I'm looking for help here

I'm having a hard time figuring out transportation times! How long would it take for us to get from the WL to Trex?

(We are using Disney Transportation, fyi)

 

[Colleen27]

Epcot is where the best one credit dining plan restaurants are, so I wouldn't plan for Ohana on an EP day. I'd plan a late lunch or early dinner in the park. I'd suggest Teppan Edo at Epcot if you don't have a similar style restaurant near your home. My older kids love hibachi stlye dining as much for the show as the food; they were 9 & 6 the first time we ate there and it has been a must-do ever since.

If your son loves Rainforest, T-Rex is probably a good pick. Keep in mind that they don't accept the dining plan, but since CRT takes two credits you're still using all your credits. You'll just have to pay OOP for T-rex. I'd allow an hour for getting to T-Rex from WL, because if you just miss a bus you might have a bit of a wait for the next one and there's a short walk from the bus stop to T-Rex. The ride itself is about 25min, if I recall correctly.

I think your plans look really good, lots of fun themed and character dining that the kids will love!

 

[tlriv5]

I will have to say that making your dining plans is the most stressful part of planning your trip and if you are like me I overthink it, but it usually all works out.

Sat - arrival day - Dinner at 1900 Park Fare at 6:00pm, really want to start with a character meal for our arrival day, as we won't be in the parks. Is this a good choice, or any other recs? Again we have DS and DD. We enjoyed 1900, the food was good and it will be close to your resort. Or if you were wanting to do Ohana on your trip this is the day I would choose to do it.

Sun - MK day - Dinner at Whispering Canyon at 6:00pm (We are staying at the WL) WCC is one of my families favorite places to eat, for the food and the fun! Great choice! You could move your time a little bit later if you wanted more time at the park.

***Mon - Epcot day - NO dining plans yet -???????, we are doing the Pirates and Pals fireworks cruise at 8:30 this evening. Need a TS ADR for this day. My thoughts are either something at Epcot for Lunch, or Dinner at Ohana? If we do Dinner at Ohanas, we will just do a QS for lunch at Epcot. I would eat at TS at Epcot. Maybe an early dinner. Your kids would enjoy Coral Reef for the aquarium, very cool. My family also enjoyed Beirgarten for the fun atmosphere. But I would check the menu to see if it has food they would like. It is a buffet. We have also wanted to try Teppan Edo, but it just seemed to much like a place we frequent at home. My favorite restaurant there is Tutto Italia. Yummy!

Tues - AK day - Breakfast at Tusker House at 8:25am.

Wed - MK day, Sons BDAY, we will have his bday dinner at Trex in DTD at 5:00pm. Trying to think of something he will enjoy, he loves rainforest cafe, but we have one here in Texas. Is this a good choice??? I would definitely try Trex since you have Rainforest so close to home.

Thurs - HS day - Lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe at 11:00. Is this a good choice? I think the atmosphere looks fun, is the food ok? Is this the best choice with our kids?We like 50's, they have the absolute best fried chicken. It can be fun if you have a good waiter. My kids loved Sci Fi too and the food isn't that bad. I would probably make my lunch a little later unless you like to eat this early. It is a lot of food.

Fri - MK day - Daughters BDAY - Breakfast at CRT 10:10am. (non negotiable) This should be exciting! My girls would have loved to have gone here when they were 8!

Counter service favorites:

Enjoy your trip!!

 

[IBLarsen]

I will have to say that making your dining plans is the most stressful part of planning your trip and if you are like me I overthink it, but it usually all works out.

Sat - arrival day - Dinner at 1900 Park Fare at 6:00pm, really want to start with a character meal for our arrival day, as we won't be in the parks. Is this a good choice, or any other recs? Again we have DS and DD. We enjoyed 1900, the food was good and it will be close to your resort. Or if you were wanting to do Ohana on your trip this is the day I would choose to do it.

Sun - MK day - Dinner at Whispering Canyon at 6:00pm (We are staying at the WL) WCC is one of my families favorite places to eat, for the food and the fun! Great choice! You could move your time a little bit later if you wanted more time at the park.



***Mon - Epcot day - NO dining plans yet -???????, we are doing the Pirates and Pals fireworks cruise at 8:30 this evening. Need a TS ADR for this day. My thoughts are either something at Epcot for Lunch, or Dinner at Ohana? If we do Dinner at Ohanas, we will just do a QS for lunch at Epcot. I would eat at TS at Epcot. Maybe an early dinner. Your kids would enjoy Coral Reef for the aquarium, very cool. My family also enjoyed Beirgarten for the fun atmosphere. But I would check the menu to see if it has food they would like. It is a buffet. We have also wanted to try Teppan Edo, but it just seemed to much like a place we frequent at home. My favorite restaurant there is Tutto Italia. Yummy!

Tues - AK day - Breakfast at Tusker House at 8:25am.

Wed - MK day, Sons BDAY, we will have his bday dinner at Trex in DTD at 5:00pm. Trying to think of something he will enjoy, he loves rainforest cafe, but we have one here in Texas. Is this a good choice??? I would definitely try Trex since you have Rainforest so close to home.

Thurs - HS day - Lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe at 11:00. Is this a good choice? I think the atmosphere looks fun, is the food ok? Is this the best choice with our kids?We like 50's, they have the absolute best fried chicken. It can be fun if you have a good waiter. My kids loved Sci Fi too and the food isn't that bad. I would probably make my lunch a little later unless you like to eat this early. It is a lot of food.

Fri - MK day - Daughters BDAY - Breakfast at CRT 10:10am. (non negotiable) This should be exciting! My girls would have loved to have gone here when they were 8!

Counter service favorites:

Enjoy your trip!!

Thanks so much for the detailed response. I think I will stick to epcot for a TS meal for our Epcot day. I'll start looking into that. We also thought about doing a later dinner at Chef Mickey's because we have to go to the contemp resort for the Pirates and Pals cruise leaving at 8:30. But it seems silly not to take advantage of all the food in Epcot.

I really wanted to fit Ohana in somewhere, but we really want to try 1900 Park Fare as well, not sure where we can fit Ohana in...

My reasoning for the 11:00 lunch at 50's is because we will just have a light snack in the hotel for breakfast, so I thought we would be ready for an early lunch, then that should last us until a later dinner somewhere.

I may see if we can move our Whispering Canyon ADR back a little. I suppose one we are back at our hotel, we will just call it a day after dinner. Thanks for the suggestion. How long should I plan for it to take to get from the MK by boat back to WL for a dinner ADR??

 

[tlriv5]

hmmm, I would give it at least 30 minutes for the boat ride. It has been a few years since we have done it. The boat ride take about 10 minutes, but you may have to wait for a boat to take you over.

I would choose 1900 over Ohana. I just added that if it was high on your list. Ohana is good, but I want all my food at the same time especially with kids. This meal was our longest meal ever!

And Chef Mickey's is fun if you decide to put that in there, it's a buffet so it's nothing special if your kids are already going to be eating with Mickey another day I would stick with an Epcot restaurant.