Please share with me your thoughts on my dining!

[BlondeAppetit]

We will be heading to WDW for Spring Break/Easter. We like to try new places and the kids enjoy character meals.

Our daughters are 2.5 and 6.

Sunday:
MK for evening
The Plaza dinner (oop/new)

Monday:
Blizzard Beach for day - maybe eat lunch there? (new)
Epcot for afternoon/evening
Garden Grill dinner (new)

Tuesday:
MK all day
BOG - currently have prepare opening breakfast but park times may change - possibly cancel (have done lunch and dinner before)
Columbia Harbour House lunch
Crystal Palace dinner (have done breakfast before)

Wednesday:
Typhoon Lagoon for day - maybe eat lunch there? (new)
Hollywood Studios for evening
Minnie's Seasonal Dine at H&V with Fantasmic (new)

Thursday:
MK all day
Gaston's Tavern breakfast (new)
Pinochhio Village Haus lunch (new)
Hoop Dee Doo Revue dinner

Friday:
AK all day
Tusker House prepark opening breakfast
Flame Tree BBQ lunch
Sanaa dinner (new)

Saturday:
EP all day
Akershus prepark opening breakfast (we have done lunch before)
Sunshine Seasons lunch for kids or something from World Showcase
Flower and Garden Festival dinner

Sunday:
Easter
Grand Floridian Cafe brunch

I have a lot of meals with Mickey....too many? I really want to try Garden Grill and the Minnie meal at Hollywood Studios. Should I try for Yaki and Yeti for an early lunch instead of Tusker House?

Any suggestions on Easter instead of Grand Floridian Cafe? There seems to be lot fun activities at many of the monorail resorts for Easter. I wish I could get a Cali Grill brunch.

 

[BlondeAppetit]

 

[BlondeAppetit]

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I think it looks great! I would still do Tusker House over Yak and Yeti. I like Yak and Yeti, but Tusker House is awesome.

I think Easter brunch at Grand Floridian Cafe will be lovely!

 

[Hopefully]

Patience!!! Original post is at 3:43. Next - looking for feedback - is at 4:22. Wow!!! Then the next bumping post is at 6:40. Holy Molly !!!
Good Luck

 

[chs27]

My son was 5 yr. old first time we visited Orlando. He pretty much quit after the second day. Schedule some down time to hang at your resort. Even now, at 15, I have left him napping and wandered around a park by myself.

 

[BlondeAppetit]

Patience!!! Original post is at 3:43. Next - looking for feedback - is at 4:22. Wow!!! Then the next bumping post is at 6:40. Holy Molly !!!
Good Luck

I know that you can given great advice but why the slightly rude undertone to your posts? I was having major formatting issues that first time and half the layout of the post of half bold and the spacing was all wonky. When I finally fixed the formatting from my original post, I made the smiley face to show that it is all okay. As you can see it took a while to correct the issue. I did the "hello" post with the muppets to be silly. I have been home with a sick kiddo all afternoon and had obsessed with finalizing and modifying my schedule. I post on the forum bc I greatly appreciate positive and helpful feedback. Especially when I have an active trip that I am booking.

 

[BlondeAppetit]

I think it looks great! I would still do Tusker House over Yak and Yeti. I like Yak and Yeti, but Tusker House is awesome.

I think Easter brunch at Grand Floridian Cafe will be lovely!

Thank you! I was worried there were too many character meals. I jokingly asked my daughter if she thought that she could eat with Mickey too much and her answer was NO! It is a surprise trip. I greatly appreciate your advice.

 

[BlondeAppetit]

My son was 5 yr. old first time we visited Orlando. He pretty much quit after the second day. Schedule some down time to hang at your resort. Even now, at 15, I have left him napping and wandered around a park by myself.

Very true. Thanks!

 

[ryanogs]

Looks like a fantastic list, Yak & Yeti is an awesome restaurant and one of my favourites so I would deffo try it if you can and haven't been before!

 

[suse66]

I think your plans look great! We really enjoyed the GF Cafe, I think it'll be a lovely spot for Easter brunch. It'll be fun to wander around the resort afterwards and maybe stroll across the beach to the Poly. Hope you have a magical trip!

 

[Lisa F]

We will be heading to WDW for Spring Break/Easter. We like to try new places and the kids enjoy character meals.

Our daughters are 2.5 and 6.

Sunday:
MK for evening
The Plaza dinner (oop/new)

Monday:
Blizzard Beach for day - maybe eat lunch there? (new)
Epcot for afternoon/evening
Garden Grill dinner (new)

Tuesday:
MK all day
BOG - currently have prepare opening breakfast but park times may change - possibly cancel (have done lunch and dinner before)
Columbia Harbour House lunch
Crystal Palace dinner (have done breakfast before)

Wednesday:
Typhoon Lagoon for day - maybe eat lunch there? (new)
Hollywood Studios for evening
Minnie's Seasonal Dine at H&V with Fantasmic (new)

Thursday:
MK all day
Gaston's Tavern breakfast (new)
Pinochhio Village Haus lunch (new)
Hoop Dee Doo Revue dinner

Friday:
AK all day
Tusker House prepark opening breakfast
Flame Tree BBQ lunch
Sanaa dinner (new)

Saturday:
EP all day
Akershus prepark opening breakfast (we have done lunch before)
Sunshine Seasons lunch for kids or something from World Showcase
Flower and Garden Festival dinner

Sunday:
Easter
Grand Floridian Cafe brunch

I have a lot of meals with Mickey....too many? I really want to try Garden Grill and the Minnie meal at Hollywood Studios. Should I try for Yaki and Yeti for an early lunch instead of Tusker House?

Any suggestions on Easter instead of Grand Floridian Cafe? There seems to be lot fun activities at many of the monorail resorts for Easter. I wish I could get a Cali Grill brunch.

Your character meal list is similar to mine and I don't think it's too much at all. I took my then 6 year old a year ago september and I booked Tusker House and Ohana breakfast in advance and ended up adding a last minute a CP middle of the afternoon either late lunch or early dinner, I forget which. The character meals were AWESOME with my kiddo, he has a hard time waiting and it was never appealing for him to wait to see characters - the only ones we waited to see were Buzz and Woody and it was tough distracting him while we waited so he wasn't miserable.

This time we are going in December and doing the dining plan since it is such a good value with the under 9 crowd and character buffets and loading up on the characters. Tusker House Lunch, Hollywood and Vine Holiday Dine for dinner with Fantasmic Package, Garden Grill Dinner, Crystal Palace Dinner and Ohana Breakfast.... so sounds the same as your list only swapping Stitch for the Princesses I think they are all great choices with Tusker House having the best food both for adventurous and picky eaters, Hollywood and Vine gets very mixed reviews but you get the seasonal menu and the christmas one looks quite good actually, Garden Grill is a nice relaxing sit-down where they bring you the food and it is very basic but looks good and gets good reviews and Crystal Palace has decent if not stellar food but it is a big, beautiful space and there is Pooh! I don't think it is too much Mickey - the only real overlap is Hollywood and Vine with Tusker House, which may have all the same characters... but both are themed. Mickey may be at Garden Grill too but there is also Pluto, Chip and Dale, none of which you get anywhere else. We also have Ohana which ALSO has Mickey and Pluto but you get Lilo and Stitch... Stitch is the main draw. Believe me, your kiddos will not be all "Mickey is old news." They will be "MICKEY WE JUST SAW YOU AT TUSKER HOUSE HOW WAS THE SAFARI!?!??" It's all good. My last trip was my first trip with my child since he was about 18 months old and I completely underestimated just how awesome character meals are with little kids in that age range... this time he has requested all of the ones we did last time and "maybe a couple of new ones, mom". Since it will be more than 2 years since we were there last and he is in those precious perfect years where he also qualifies as a kid for DDP I am going for it. The only non-character sit down meals we are doing are Ohana for dinner (my request), Sci Fi Dine in for lunch (his request, also did that last time and was his favorite meal of the trip) and we are doing one "grownup meal" like we did last time, which will be Coral Reef for candlelight processional paid OOP.

My only advice about Easter Brunch is to not put so much importance into one meal. It may not be the most standout meal of your whole vacation but you have a ton of great stuff planned! Where are you staying? Have you considered doing a room service for easter? We did a couple of room service meals at out last trip and having them show up with the white tablecloth and silver covered dishes really tickled my son. I think I will treat him to one surprise room service breakfast while we are at it even though it will be OOP.

OR have you considered the Wave at the Contemporary? it is their "less fancy" restaurant but the food there gets consistently good reviews. It is kind of a hidden gem. Not really themed but check the menu and you might like it more than the GF Cafe. Or how about Narcoossees? I have read they do an Easter Brunch there. I'd personally pick one of those over the GF cafe.

 

[BlondeAppetit]

Your character meal list is similar to mine and I don't think it's too much at all. I took my then 6 year old a year ago september and I booked Tusker House and Ohana breakfast in advance and ended up adding a last minute a CP middle of the afternoon either late lunch or early dinner, I forget which. The character meals were AWESOME with my kiddo, he has a hard time waiting and it was never appealing for him to wait to see characters - the only ones we waited to see were Buzz and Woody and it was tough distracting him while we waited so he wasn't miserable.

This time we are going in December and doing the dining plan since it is such a good value with the under 9 crowd and character buffets and loading up on the characters. Tusker House Lunch, Hollywood and Vine Holiday Dine for dinner with Fantasmic Package, Garden Grill Dinner, Crystal Palace Dinner and Ohana Breakfast.... so sounds the same as your list only swapping Stitch for the Princesses I think they are all great choices with Tusker House having the best food both for adventurous and picky eaters, Hollywood and Vine gets very mixed reviews but you get the seasonal menu and the christmas one looks quite good actually, Garden Grill is a nice relaxing sit-down where they bring you the food and it is very basic but looks good and gets good reviews and Crystal Palace has decent if not stellar food but it is a big, beautiful space and there is Pooh! I don't think it is too much Mickey - the only real overlap is Hollywood and Vine with Tusker House, which may have all the same characters... but both are themed. Mickey may be at Garden Grill too but there is also Pluto, Chip and Dale, none of which you get anywhere else. We also have Ohana which ALSO has Mickey and Pluto but you get Lilo and Stitch... Stitch is the main draw. Believe me, your kiddos will not be all "Mickey is old news." They will be "MICKEY WE JUST SAW YOU AT TUSKER HOUSE HOW WAS THE SAFARI!?!??" It's all good. My last trip was my first trip with my child since he was about 18 months old and I completely underestimated just how awesome character meals are with little kids in that age range... this time he has requested all of the ones we did last time and "maybe a couple of new ones, mom". Since it will be more than 2 years since we were there last and he is in those precious perfect years where he also qualifies as a kid for DDP I am going for it. The only non-character sit down meals we are doing are Ohana for dinner (my request), Sci Fi Dine in for lunch (his request, also did that last time and was his favorite meal of the trip) and we are doing one "grownup meal" like we did last time, which will be Coral Reef for candlelight processional paid OOP.

My only advice about Easter Brunch is to not put so much importance into one meal. It may not be the most standout meal of your whole vacation but you have a ton of great stuff planned! Where are you staying? Have you considered doing a room service for easter? We did a couple of room service meals at out last trip and having them show up with the white tablecloth and silver covered dishes really tickled my son. I think I will treat him to one surprise room service breakfast while we are at it even though it will be OOP.

OR have you considered the Wave at the Contemporary? it is their "less fancy" restaurant but the food there gets consistently good reviews. It is kind of a hidden gem. Not really themed but check the menu and you might like it more than the GF Cafe. Or how about Narcoossees? I have read they do an Easter Brunch there. I'd personally pick one of those over the GF cafe.

I love your advice! Thank you! I may try for Narcoossees! We have done dinner at The Wave before MNSSHP. Very good too. Decisions. Decisions.

We are staying at Pop this time and Easter is on our departure day so we will be driving to the resort. We love the Contemporary....have stayed there in the past. The Grand Floridian feels a little more "Easter-y" to me. They also have the sweet egg display at Easter.

I agree - the kids love character meals! Thanks again!

 

[brewhome]

I love your choices, the only question I would ask is... do you really want to do two TS meals in one day along with a lunch? When my kids were that age, they wouldn't have done well with that... too much sitting for them, and it also will make for a long day if you have a pre-park opening breakfast for 60-90 minutes and then a late dinner for another 60-90 minutes, with lots of other activity in between. I also found that my kids didn't want to eat three big meals a day... a light breakfast, QS lunch, and decent dinner worked for us, or a brunch (think Tusker House at around 10:30 am) and then a QS for a later dinner worked well, with a few snacks sprinkled in. If you're going back to the resort for a break before dinner, that may help. If your kids are great at sitting for meals, it may be a non-issue for you; I'm just throwing it out there as something to think about. I'd hate for you to spend all the money on three meals a day if the kids may be prone to the wiggles or melt downs, or not even eat what you bought because they are still full from a TS breakfast. But again, this may be a non-issue for you... whatever you do, have a wonderful trip!

 

[BlondeAppetit]

I love your choices, the only question I would ask is... do you really want to do two TS meals in one day along with a lunch? When my kids were that age, they wouldn't have done well with that... too much sitting for them, and it also will make for a long day if you have a pre-park opening breakfast for 60-90 minutes and then a late dinner for another 60-90 minutes, with lots of other activity in between. I also found that my kids didn't want to eat three big meals a day... a light breakfast, QS lunch, and decent dinner worked for us, or a brunch (think Tusker House at around 10:30 am) and then a QS for a later dinner worked well, with a few snacks sprinkled in. If you're going back to the resort for a break before dinner, that may help. If your kids are great at sitting for meals, it may be a non-issue for you; I'm just throwing it out there as something to think about. I'd hate for you to spend all the money on three meals a day if the kids may be prone to the wiggles or melt downs, or not even eat what you bought because they are still full from a TS breakfast. But again, this may be a non-issue for you... whatever you do, have a wonderful trip!

Thank you for your feedback. The more that I think about it, I may cancel the Tusker House breakfast. I added a reservation for Easter Brunch at Narcoossees. Our ressie at Sanaa is at 5pm (thought we would have a good chance of getting a seat by the window) and we really want to try it!

We can still get to AK early for our Safari FP. I also have the character meet and greet as a FP. I can bank that credit and use it for Narcoossees instead. I crunched the numbers and it is smarter to pay out of pocket for HDDR with gratuity and tax included in the price. I will also pay out of pocket for The Plaza. We have never been to Narcoossees and it will be a special splurge and a great way to celebrate Easter.

While other parents really love breakfast character meals, I have a hard time paying so much for eggs and such, plus my kids will just eat a muffin. I totally get that you are paying for the total experience. This slightly contradicts using two credits at Narcoossees. But it is about $70 for an adult and it some with a great variety plus a little alcohol (and $40 for child). Not the very best value on dining plan but not the worst either. They may even do something special for Easter Sunday?!

 

[Lisa F]

Thank you for your feedback. The more that I think about it, I may cancel the Tusker House breakfast. I added a reservation for Easter Brunch at Narcoossees. Our ressie at Sanaa is at 5pm (thought we would have a good chance of getting a seat by the window) and we really want to try it!

We can still get to AK early for our Safari FP. I also have the character meet and greet as a FP. I can bank that credit and use it for Narcoossees instead. I crunched the numbers and it is smarter to pay out of pocket for HDDR with gratuity and tax included in the price. I will also pay out of pocket for The Plaza. We have never been to Narcoossees and it will be a special splurge and a great way to celebrate Easter.

While other parents really love breakfast character meals, I have a hard time paying so much for eggs and such, plus my kids will just eat a muffin. I totally get that you are paying for the total experience. This slightly contradicts using two credits at Narcoossees. But it is about $70 for an adult and it some with a great variety plus a little alcohol (and $40 for child). Not the very best value on dining plan but not the worst either. They may even do something special for Easter Sunday?!

I would spend the 2TS on Narcoosees Brunch. It sounds like it is going to hit all the right spots for you guys - food more like california grill, at the GF and the atmosphere/location is just outright stunning beautiful. It is right on valuewise too, maybe a few $$ light for the adults but you're pretty much there for the kids on par with character meals that are about $20 (x2 for 2TS). I had this struggle too when figuring out my reservations for an upcoming trip and decided to do my CP meal out of pocket. I just couldn't justify burning the 2TS for $58.99 for lunch (though it will prob go up next year) but more importantly only $14.99 for the kiddo when I can have $40-50 worth of character buffets for the same credits. So it is one of the more pricey adult meals and not a great use of credits but the kid price killed it for me using the plan. It's ok because I have 7 other meals on the plan (including one character breakfast) and I'm looking forward to all of them! I booked the Ohana breakfast as it was one of the highlights. I love to be able to relax and have breakfast served to us and my kid will eat his weight in mickey waffles and bacon and I will eat his weight in fruit But one breakfast buffet for the week is plenty for us - I am doing the tusker house lunch and last time I booked an early ADR and it was still half breakfast and we ended up kind of picking at the meager lunch offerings until it all switched over. So I guess I am with you on most breakfast buffets but honestly did really enjoy Ohana. Also planning BoG breakfast because it is one of those "so pricey I'd never pay that OOP but now is a great time to experience it" things.

Since I have so long before I can even book I'm wondering if I should swap out some of my plans for a true signature. Right now the "best" i have is the CP at coral reef. I know the reviews are iffy here but it is an old favorite of mine honestly, first TS I ever did when I was on a HS trip with my best friend and never had a bad meal there. Hoping that an open time lunch ressie won't be a disappointment. But damn that lobster at Narcoossees looks so good to me! And I live in New England but lobster is mostly at tourist prices and no one breaks it open to that extent. But then I'm back to spending $8 for 2 kids TS. and I'd NEVER pay $70 for lobster OOP in a million years lol.

These are my plans right now and they sound pretty similar to yours:

Arrive sat afternoon, hoping to spend 2 nights at the new Poly DVC
Ohana dinner
MK for MSEP with FP+ viewing and fireworks

Sunday morning AK
Tusker house Lunch
MVMCP evening with Casey's for dinner

Monday morning back to MK for BoG breakfast
do a few things there then head over to Boardwalk for check in and new allottment of DDP credits, lunch at the bakery where I will get the lobster roll lol (see above, another thing I don't indulge on that often around here... esp not in the winter)
Epcot for afternoon/evening with Garden Grill dinner

Tuesday
downtown disney morning
Wolfgang Puck for early lunch
Minnie's Hollywood and Vine Holiday Dine with fantasmic packagef or dinner

Wednesday
early to HS for Jedi Training academy
lunch at Sci Fi Dine in
Dinner at CS either boardwalk bakery again or Epcot somewhere, haven't decided
maybe sunshine seasons, maybe liberty inn (I have a picky kid so a lot of the QS at epcot are tough with him). Benefit of having it at the boardwalk bakery is that I can swap my drink for a second real dessert for the kiddo even if he orders a kid meal. Also there is a lot he will eat - ham and cheese sandwich, turkey sandwich, mac and cheese. We will have the mugs there since staying at the resort so can easily swap out other things for the drink that comes with the meal. I can have another lobster roll! and maybe a soup.

Thursday
all day epcot
CP package at Coral reef (oop)
dinner after CP at Morocco. it's close to the american theater, it has food that I like to eat and chicken tenders on the kid menu. WOOHOO

Friday on our last day back to MK
BoG lunch as early in the day as possible
CP dinner

Saturday morning
back to the poly for Ohana breakfast to bookend our stay before going to the airport for an afternoon flight.

So I'm really not sure what I'd want to give up for a signature meal except maybe CP dinner for a signature dinner on our last night but the kiddo loves pooh and I admit I am kind of a pooh fan too. But our meal at California Grill was lovely and my kid had a great time at a grownup meal. So I don't know! Sorry to hijack your post but we seem like we are mostly in a similar place with similar tastes lol. The repeats for us are Tusker House, Ohana breakfast, CP (which are the only character meals we did last time) and Sci Fi Dine in, which was his fav. Last time we also did California Grill but that has been dropped along with Kona Cafe, which I swapped out for Ohana this time. I have also added Garden Grill, Coral Reef, and H&V, so 2 more character meals... truth be told the character meals were even better than I anticipated last time and the CP was added at the last minute to squeeze another one in. I think the ONLY repeat on CS is wolfgang, I am trying a bunch of new ones this time including two BoG meals.