Chapter 9-ADRs
Prior to booking the trip I knew there were some restaurants I wanted to try and a couple I wouldn't mind going back to. Since I have had 1 trip to WDW under my belt and Mom and David haven't been there before I wanted to help guide them through the ADR process (although if I said ADR to either one of them I would probably get a look something like this --->
)
One night we sat in our computer room, my brother and I were each on our laptops and my mother on the desktop. We looked through the menus on Allears, and individually wrote down 5 or 6 we'd like to do, then we combined our efforts, ran through them again, and decided what we were going with.
Here was our criteria:
At least one sit down meal in each park
As many new restaurants (for me) as possible
My brother requested that we keep the character meals to a minimum (LOL-we ended up with 3)
The restaurants that had 3 votes were must haves, 2 were should have’s, etc.
Tried to make sure that if someone was really set on a certain restaurant, even if they were the only vote-try to fit it in.
So here is what we finally came up with (with a tinnnny bit of tweaking after the initial reservations:
Tusker House (Lunch)
I ate at Tusker House during my 2009 trip, only we did breakfast that time. We chose Tusker House because we wanted to eat 1 sit down meal in each of the 4 parks, and this was the only one any of us had in Animal Kingdom. We looked at the menu and it seems pretty safe for my semi-picky eater brother. I am looking forward to not being rushed out of this restaurant as I only got to see Donald and Daisy last time, because my ex wanted us to get out and do park stuff rather than wait a few more minutes for Mickey.
Mama Melrose (Lunch)
I’m not sure what I will think of this restaurant but I’m willing to give it a try. This was a “must have” in the way that all 3 of us had it on our lists. Now I’m not saying that it’s going to be a 5-star restaurant, but we like Italian food so we should be pleased. If not, we’ll just pick somewhere else next time!
1900 Park Fare (Breakfast)
I’ve read reviews on 1900 Park Fare that go either way, but I’m going here for (a) strawberry soup and (b) the more unique characters this character meal comes with. This, for me, was a must have, although it only got one vote (mine) but they’re playing along with me on this one. I am the type of person that takes everything with a grain of salt and will appreciate everyone’s review but want to try it for myself. I’m so excited to see the Mad Hatter-I think my brother will give him a run for his money! On top of that, if Mary Poppins is there, it will be a 100 % WIN for David because this is one of his all time favorite movies!
Le Cellier (Lunch)
I wanted to do Le Cellier last time but couldn’t get a reservation so I made sure that I called and got this one immediately. This also got 3 votes! We are doing lunch to avoid having to use 2 TS on this one, and the menu seems a lot similar (although dinner has more of a selection-we’re willing to skip that). This is one of the days we are doing 2 sit down meals so when I called I asked for the “earliest lunch available” and it was around 11:30 or so. I was interested to learn that Le Cellier is going to be Signature for Lunch as well starting in 2013.
Via Napoli (Dinner)
We are doing Via Napoli the same day as Le Cellier so have a late dinner reservation (7pm or so). Our family (like most I’m sure) loves pizza and I’m really curious to see how good it is. I think we’ll be awe-struck by the pizza ovens and décor here. I believe this one got 2 votes.
50s Prime Time (Dinner)
This will be my second repeat but this one was a MUST! I absolutely loved the atmosphere and food here (Aunt Liz’s Fried Chicken-YUM!) and know my family will love to play along. My brother, by trade, is an actor, so I’m hoping we have a really fun server that we can play along with. This is also the only meal that we are booking for 5 (me, mom, brother, Wendy and Johnny!) so I’m super pumped about this meal for lots of good reasons!
Rose & Crown (Lunch)
This was the one my mother was really stuck on eating at… and we had originally picked Coral Reef (which would have been a 5th*repeat if we stuck with it) but I wasn’t stuck on Coral Reef and I want to try something new. We originally looked at Dinner but we were worried that there wouldn’t be much for me and my brother (both not lovers of seafood) are pretty safe with Chicken and the Lunch menu looks more appetizing for both of us, so we’re going to do that. I don't think anything really tickles my fancy on the menu but I'll try something! Mom was pretty pleased when we suggested we add in Rose & Crown for her as she was the only one who voted for it. Gotta make momma happy!
Crystal Palace (Lunch)
This is the third of four repeats for me. I think the food here will please everyone in my group. I think my family will really appreciate the look of this restaurant and I found the food there to be delicious. Eeyore is one of my favorites (my original favorite Disney character) so I wanna see the Pooh gang again. My brother was kind of against it because it's another character meal-but he liked the look of the menu so he agreed to do it!
Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue
I have read about this and thought about it but considering it's a 2-swipe one I wasn't sure since we already had to pay for 1 meal out of pocket. One day my mother came home from her sister's (teekathepony's mom) and she started going on about this “dinner theatre that Wendy and Johnny are going to” and how much she would love to do it. We discussed it a bit but kind of let it go for a while. A few weeks later I was at Wendy's taking a painting lesson and we were of course discussing Disney. Hoop Dee Doo came up and we talked about the day she was going... looked at my reservations that included Liberty Tree Tavern. After hearing Wendy's rendition of her experience at Liberty Tree I decided I had to get it the hell off our list... which is not an easy feat seeing as whenever I suggested a change my brother went ape s*** on me. So Wendy and I discussed how we could change my reservations to make it fit, and turn it around so David and mom would agree with little to no whining. When I got home, and after a lot of discussion, we decided to call and attempt to book Hoop Dee Doo... the only thing I was worried about was the fact that it was in the 70-ish day range and it may be booked up. Sure enough we were able to secure Category 1 seating 9:30 p.m. Show the same night that Wendy and Johnny are going. They will be in Category 2 but still-the fact that we can experience it together is awesome. I just hope that they pick my brother for something (I hear there's audience participation near the end) because my brother works dinner theatres and in the theatre all the time. SO PUMPED for this!
Boma (Breakfast)
Originally I had Chef Mickey’s in here, for breakfast on our last morning. The reason I wanted to do this restaurant was to see, well, Mickey! After realizing that we will see him at Tusker House, and knowing it would have been 5 character meals out of 10 (too many!) I chose to get rid of it. This one was my choice only, so I didn’t think it would be a big deal to change it but I got flack for it. ANNNNYYYYWAYYY I changed it to Boma. I did Boma breakfast when I was there in 2009 and boy-is this one worth going back to (for me anyway). We are huge breakfast eaters, and to take the last day where we currently don’t have a park planned, take a leisurely walk through AK Lodge and enjoy our final morning… I couldn’t think of a better way to end this trip of a lifetime. Even my semi-picky eater of a brother should be able to find lots to fill his plate, and my mother and I, the more adventurous ones will be able to try something new and different.
Taking into account that we are staying 9 nights and have chosen 10 TS meals, which includes one with 2 swipes; we will be paying for 2 of them and are completely comfortable with that. I think we have it narrowed down to Mama Melrose and Via Napoli as the ones we will be paying for according to the menus and prices. Possibly Rose & Crown? Not sure yet!
He was carrying over his anger of me canceling one of our original reservations at Chef Mickeys-which wasnt even a restaurant that he or mother wanted to do, for Boma!
to my PTR!
That's arrival night may be too tired... 
hrmmmmmm
cheer2:, the three in my party, Teeka, her husband and phantom baby, who will unfortunately be cranky or sick or something 
that night and back in the room with a phantom babysitter. Excellent. 
