Please help with ADR changes

[Shoshana]

My daughter and I will be staying at the Coronado Springs from Dec 16 (arrive 1:30 pm) to Dec 23. She will have just turned 3 years old.

If anyone this I should cross-post this to the Theme Park section, let me know, okay? I'm pretty clueless, as you'll see...

My plans for the trip were to focus on the Magic Kingdom. I thought maybe we could visit Animal Kingdom one day, but I think she'd enjoy MK the most. I didn't buy the park hopper but just the regular pass plus the dining plan.

When I called to make the ADRs, I told the CSR that we only wanted to visit MK. I asked primarily for dinner reservations around 5 o'clock, thinking we could head to the park either early morning, return for a nap, then go back for dinner, or hang out at the resort until early to mid afternoon. I've already called back once to get the Castle reservation. The list below has one MGM and one Animal Kingdom which I'm not thrilled with. Here's the list of our reservations.

12/16 - arrival date: 5:40 pm, 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella (can attend MK parade after). (Grand Floridian on the monorail route). This one is good.

12/17 - 6 pm, Chef Mickey with Mickey & Minnie. I don't know what time the MK is open until that evening. (@ the CR). This one is good.

12/18 - 5:00 pm, Sci Fi @ MGM. Sounds like a fun restaurant, but I don't want to take my 3-yr-old to MGM. Change to what in the MK?

12/19 - 4:20 pm, Liberty Tree Tavern with Minnie & Goofy. Park closes at 7 pm. This one is good.

12/20 - 12:10 pm, Cinderella's Castle. This one is good!

12/21 - 5:20 pm, Captain Jacks @ Downtown Disney. This is "mama's night" for seafood and shopping (I hope!). If you don't think it's a good choice, let me know?!

12/22 - 5:00 pm, Whispering Canyon Cafe in Animal Kingdom. The CSR said MK would be too crowded that night (something to do with the last or first night of the hard ticket parade which we're not attending). I think I'm okay with this reservation - do you think a 3 yr old will like Animal Kingdom?

So what do you think? Call back and change MGM only? or MGM and AK? And change to what?

Thank you so much! I've been reading posts for days now and I'm amazed at how much you all know!

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

I'd change out MGM, and to what? Well, you don't have Tony's at MK on your list?

I don't like Captain Jack's at DTD so I'm not one to ask about that particular restaurant. I far prefer HOB, or even Puck's Cafe (both on the West Side).

Animal Kingdom has the Tusker House which is my favorite counter service there. I find they have the best selection and perhaps the healthiest.

I can't imagine why a three year old wouldn't LOVE AK!

OH! If you don't want to do Tony's at MK, you could do Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club Resort. Granted, it's no where near the MK, but well worth the effor to go there. A three year old would be right at home there too! But you can't make ADRs for it. You have to show up and wait your turn (if there is a wait).

 

[sunny_stace]

first off, Whispering Canyon Cafe is not in Animal Kingdom, it's way over at WL which will take you a while to get to! You could always try Donald's Breakfastosaurus in AK if you want an ADR for that park.

I also think your daughter may not enjoy the sci-fi at MGM. It's quite dark and she may be creeped out by the monster clips on the screen. If I were you I would do the Playhouse Disney breakfast at MGM if you do decide to go there. If you are set about not going there, I would try the Pooh Corner characters at the Crystal palace in MK instead.

Are you planning to take her to Epcot at all?

 

[disneyde]

First thing I see in your ADR's is that you've been told that Whispering Canyon Cafe is in AK and it's not. It is at the Wilderness Lodge which is not a monorail resort but is closest to MK can go there by boat from MK. Second, I wonder what makes you shy away from MGM with a 3 year old? There is Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney, The Great Movie Ride (with the Wizard of Oz and Dorthy and munchins included) and not to mention Beauty and the Beast's 30 minute mini musical, The muppet 3-D movie, lots of great character opportunities except the princesses, the honey I shrunk the kids playset and one of the best parades at disney.....I took my daughter at 2 and 3 and had a hard time getting to everything that she would enjoy in one day and she loved it all.........AK if she likes animals is great too....best Disney memory is Emily age 3 being part of the preformance in the WONDERFUL festival of the Lion King....and again a great parade ....EPCOT.....only place to meet Mulan (in China), you can see Snow White and Darves in Germany, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and dance with Beast (like Emily did again at age 3) in France, and see Jasmine and Aladdin the Morroco Pavlian......in China they have the most amazing Chinese troupe of accrobats I've ever seen in my life and they are children.......in Japan a fantastic woman who makes beautiful scultpures of animals and birds for children out of super heated sugar with her fingers and a few tool in just minutes.....she is amazing......EPOCT also has turtle talk with Crush and the whole living seas pavillion and Soarin if she's not afraid of feeling like she's flying (like tinkerbell).....also one of the best character meals on property in terms of having a laid back atmosphere and character time which is the Garden Grill at the land..... The number of days you're planning for Disney I think you might get your fill of MK and find you need to diversify your plan.

 

[Shoshana]

I'm SO glad I posted this!

SciFi will have to be cancelled! The CSR just told me about the cars that you dine in! Monsters? That would have been a nightmare!

No, I wasn't planning on visiting Epcot with her.

I'll also cancel Whispering Canyon (trying to keep traveling to a minimum) and we could eat at Tuskers when we're at AK instead (I'm out of TS by the last evening anyway because of the Castle).

 

[blueangel]

By the way, if you're looking for an MK alternative, why not try the Crystal Palace? It's a buffet, but features Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger. Or, there is O'hana at the Polynesian. In the morning it's a Lilo and Stitch character breakfast and at night it is an all you can eat family style restaurant.

And I wouldn't really "prep" your daughter too hard for Minnie at Chef Mickey's. We usually stay at the CR, and I've never seen Minnie when I've eaten there. Mickey, Pluto, Donald, Chip, and Dale are almost always there. Minnie I've seen, but not as consistently.

Tusker House is good at AK if you go, but while there is no Disney TS in the park there is a Rainforest Cafe at the gate. You'll be out of credits anyway, and if you need a bit of a break it's there, consistent if not fabulous food-wise, and the atmosohere will keep the kiddie entertained (unless she hates rainstorms).

 

[Shoshana]

Thanks so much for your responses. I'm just amazed at how much you all know about Disney! I'm also reading the Ultimate Guide and thinking someone should develop a Disney 101 course for college credit!

I dropped SciFi -- monsters would have lead to a meltdown! I also dropped Captain Jacks. I added Spirit of Aloha. I'm a little worried about her reaction to the characters and since we already have a few dinners, I thought she'd love the dancing at Spirit of Aloha.

Now I'll have two nights with no TS -- maybe we can share a couple of lunches -- maybe I'll just have to fork over more $$!

Thanks again!

 

[disneyde]

Thanks so much for your responses. I'm just amazed at how much you all know about Disney! I'm also reading the Ultimate Guide and thinking someone should develop a Disney 101 course for college credit!

I dropped SciFi -- monsters would have lead to a meltdown! I also dropped Captain Jacks. I added Spirit of Aloha. I'm a little worried about her reaction to the characters and since we already have a few dinners, I thought she'd love the dancing at Spirit of Aloha.

Now I'll have two nights with no TS -- maybe we can share a couple of lunches -- maybe I'll just have to fork over more $$!

Thanks again!

A good way to measure her reaction to characters is take her to some place like chuckie cheese and see how she does and even if she doesn't want to be the center of attention by characters she may still enjoy watching them from afar. Also the characters are really good at allowing the kids to come to them or backing off if in a character meal. My youngest was 18 months and is shy by nature, the last time we went 2 years ago and it took her a while to feel comfortable with characters. She actually made a CM's day at one of the restaurants by wanting to have her picture taken with her rather than with disney characters. The young woman ended up spending a long time with us and gave both our girls lanyard pins she was so sweet. Audrey seemed taken with many of the young women in the park who wore pretty costumes. She really liked Jasmine in Epcot and allowed us to take a picture with her too.

Your best use of credits with the dining plan is to pay out of pocket for character meals because in they are usually less money than a sit down dinner. But, especially character breakfasts are not a good value for use of dining plan credits. Your Cindrella's table lunch is around 24.00 dollars for you and includes your drink. If you used this TS credit for dinner your meals cost would be something like 20.00 for entree, 8.00 for appitizer, 5.00 for dessert and 1.50 for drink.....I'm estimiating here but it's probably pretty close...anyway this added up to 34.50 charge which is all free with the use of one table service credit.........24.00 versus 34.50 utitilzation of the same TS credit. Character meals are great but not great use of TS credits. Use it for a nice meal at Kona Cafe, O'hana, Concourse Steak house, Reglan Road or Spoodles instead.

 

[Skroops]

Our DS is almost 3 too! We've already been to WDW with him (I'm the addict) and you will have so much fun watching your 3 yr old!

My advice, use buffets as much as possible. It is a total life-saver to get your pre-schooler eating asap, instead of waiting on table service. They get rather over stimulated and it's hard for them to sit and wait for the meal. We aren't eating the buffets because we are big eaters, just to get in and out fast! Otherwise we grab counter service.

Good move to cancel Sci-Fi. We like Hollywood & Vine (for the Fantasmic dinner package usually). MGM has a couple of things that are really fun for little kids, one is the Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the other is Bears' Big Blue House right accross from each other. They usually close earlier than the park.

Crystal Palace is our favorite at MK. The kids get to be involved in a little parade around the restaurante, and it's loud enough that you don't have to continuously say "shhh"! (Well we sometimes have to anyway!! )

Our DS loves AK too. The Boneyard is fun, the Safari is great, and the Lion King show is the best show on property! We also like Donalds Breakfastasaurus!
Good luck planning! Have an awesome time!!

 

[labdogs42]

No, I wasn't planning on visiting Epcot with her.

Any reason? We took our DS at 15 months and he loved EPCOT. We're taking him back next week (he'll be 19 months) and we plan to spend at least 1.5 days at EPCOT. MGM has great stuff for little ones, too. I'd sure do the Playhouse Disney meal there for one day. I wanted to try that this trip, but I've used up all my TS credits already!! Good luck with whatever you decide, but I wouldn't limit yourself to Magic Kingdom for a whole week -- that's my two cents!

 

[Shoshana]

No reason other than my perhaps ill-informed perception that Epcot was primarily geared towards adults and that there weren't many activities/attractions for 3-yr-olds!

I'm still in the learning process here -- and certainly open to changing my mind. (um, how many times have I done that already?)

Thanks for your input!

 

[disneyde]

No reason other than my perhaps ill-informed perception that Epcot was primarily geared towards adults and that there weren't many activities/attractions for 3-yr-olds!

I'm still in the learning process here -- and certainly open to changing my mind. (um, how many times have I done that already?)

Thanks for your input!

The two attractions I would avoid both at AK and EPCOT would be the 3-D movies in these two parks......the larger than life snake in the honey I srunk the kids 3-d movie is too much for little ones and in AK it's tough to be a bug has spiders that come down and it feels like a something is sticking you in the back when the giant misqutoes are buzzing REALLY freaked my 2 year old out and I jumped too..........won't do that one again until both my girls are much older....keep reading your unofficial guide it's a great resource and can really help you narrow down what you want to do......but I really have to say a again that EPCOT is really my favorite park for a relaxing day what's wonderful about this park is that a lot of people can be there and it still doesn't feel crowded it has a good mix of rides, characters, shows and walk through attractions so you and your child are BOTH kept interested......I think at one time EPCOT was more geared towards adults but DISNEY has made it more kid friendly....I just read in my mouse for less newsletter that they are starting a new thing in the England pavillion where they are doing a knighting of young lords and maidens the kids get sworen in and then they recieve a magical moment certificate......be sure we'll be stopping in to do this when we go.

 

[disneyde]

Also I really HIGHLY recommend Tour Guide Mike his recommendations on which days to go to different parks are really on the money and he has a questionaire that when you submit will tell you which attractions you'll want to see......he recommends only the best of the best so you don't go crazy trying to see everything.

 

[deany]

I agree with Crystal Palace at MK. Most 3yr olds love Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. Plus it is a buffet style and she will be able to eat whatever she wants. Have a great trip.