Please help with my ADRs (opinions on existing and suggestions for a couple more)

[mill4023]

We got in on free dining and booked for 9/22 - 9/30. Me, DW, my mom, DS12, DD9, DD7, DD3 staying at Pop Century.

Here's what I'm planning and the ADR's I've made so far:

EDIT: Updated plan is below in post #7
Saturday, 9/22 - Arrive around noon, MK, Hoop De Doo @ 5:00 pm
Sunday, 9/23 - Epcot, Coral Reef @ 11:40 am
Monday, 9/24 - REST DAY
Tuesday, 9/25 - AK
Wednesday, 9/26 - MK, Chef Mickey's @ 6:50 pm
Thursday, 9/27 - REST DAY
Friday, 9/28 - MGM, Mama Melrose @ 3:30 pm w/ FDP
Saturday, 9/29 - MK
Sunday, 9/30 - Drive home

I'm also planning a dinner ADR for 9/29 at MK. Probably Crystal Palace.

HDDR and CM are must-do's. Everything else, I'm open to changing. I may try to see if there is an earlier time at CM so we could return to the park after dinner.

If I make another ADR for 9/29, that will leave us with 2 more TS credits left. DW would prefer not to have anything scheduled on our rest days, but she also said whatever I want to do is fine. I'm thinking it makes sense to use 1 TS credit for dinner on our AK day. Either Boma (which I love, but have been to twice) or maybe something in the Boardwalk area since we've still never been there. Any suggestions there?

For the last TS credit, there are a couple of options. We could go ahead and schedule something on one of our rest days. We could schedule 2 TS meals on our Epcot day. We could switch one of our other meals to a signature restaurant, but I'm really not sure which would be a good choice with 4 kids.
I tend to agree with DW that it would be nice to have our rest days completely open and not have to be anywhere at a particular time. On the other hand, I'm not sure any of the signature restaurants are a good choice and I'm not sure if having 2 reservations on our Epcot day is too much.

Any thoughts ?

Thanks

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Personally, I think if you can't agree on a 2TS restaurant that suits you - then you should definately book 1TS restaurants on your days off - the worst you can do is cancel them, or you could even call to change. It's better than being left with extra TS credits at the end of the holiday

 

[mill4023]

I'm kind of leaning towards making 2 ADRs on the same day at Epcot. We'll only be there 1 day and there are several places I've wanted to try but never have. I'm thinking Coral Reef for lunch since we'll be in Future World in the morning, then Le Cellier or Les Chefs for dinner. I know that might mean a lot of time spent sitting, but with a full opening to closing day at Epcot, I'm sure we could use the rest.

Since I'm looking to try new places, here are the places we've already tried on past trips: Akershus (breakfast and lunch), San Angel, Nine Dragons, Biergarten, Marrakesh.

 

[mill4023]

Personally, I think if you can't agree on a 2TS restaurant that suits you - then you should definately book 1TS restaurants on your days off - the worst you can do is cancel them, or you could even call to change. It's better than being left with extra TS credits at the end of the holiday

Yeah, I definitely don't want to be left with wasted credits.
But the more I think about it, the more I think DW is right and it would be nice to have a couple of days where we don't have anything scheduled. On some of our previous trips, we've overdone the scheduling and we wished we had some time to just relax and do whatever we felt like without having to be anywhere at any particular time.

 

[dbowles]

If I had my choice of any restaurant in MGM it would definitely be 50's Prime Time. The food is excellent and the atmosphere makes the entire meal an adventure. My choice in Epcot would be Rose and Crown Pub. If you are up for a late dinner, you can check into eating outside on the back patio and watching Illuinations as you eat. Wish I were there now!

 

[3PRINCESSMOM]

but I would never eat at Mama Melrose again! As a pp stated, 50s PT is so much fun! Given your group, go there!

Also, I would go with using one TS for a "rest day." Go to WPC in DTD. Great value on DDP, and funky, fun and upscale atmosphere. My kids loved it!

Lastly, since you mention trying the Boardwalk area, go to Spoodles. On our last two trips we had the BEST dining experiences there. Food and service can't be beat! NOTE: even if you opt for 2 TS meals on your Epcot day, you could go over to the BW area on that day for one of those meals since it is walking distance from the Int. gateway in Epcot.

 

[mill4023]

I did some rearranging of ADR's and here's what I've got now:
Saturday, 9/22 - Arrive around noon, MK, Hoop De Doo @ 5:00 pm
Sunday, 9/23 - Epcot, Coral Reef @ 11:40 am, Les Chefs De France @ 6:00 pm
Monday, 9/24 - REST DAY
Tuesday, 9/25 - AK
Wednesday, 9/26 - MK, Chef Mickey's @ 5:20 pm
Thursday, 9/27 - REST DAY
Friday, 9/28 - MGM, Hollywood and Vine @ 4:40 pm
Saturday, 9/29 - MK, Crystal Palace @ 5:35 pm
Sunday, 9/30 - Drive home

I decided to go ahead and book 2 TS's at Epcot since we'll need the rest and both are places I wanted to try. I made Chef Mickey's earlier so we'll have time to go back to the park afterwards. I switched from Mama Melrose to H&V. We've actually been to both of these and enjoyed them both, but the H&V times worked better. I don't think I want to use 2 TS meals for Brown Derby. I am still thinking about 50's Prime Time, but I'm not sure if it's really our kind of place. We thought Sci-Fi was pretty cool, but we'll be a party of 7, so I thought the seating arrangements might not be the best.

I've still got one more TS credit and I'm thinking of either Boma or Spoodles on our AK evening. I love Boma, but I know Spoodles is supposed to be great and we've never tried it. We've also never made it to the Boardwalk area, so I thought it would be cool to check that out. I can't decide if I'd rather do this on our AK evening or on one of the rest days. We'll have a car, so transportation will be easy, whichever we choose.