Review my dining please!

[Atrain13]

So we are getting close to our 180 day mark and trying to finalize our plans. I would love some feed back here. We have the deluxe dining plan and 6 nights. 2 young kids, 5,2

1st day
HS: Lunch at 50s. Dinner at Morimoto Asia

2nd day
MK: Lunch at the Plaza. Dinner at CRT

3rd day
Epcot: Lunch at Biergarten. For dinner we are going to the Christmas party so we will eat/snack there

4th day
AK: Lunch at tusker house. Dinner at Hoop Dee Do

5th day
HS: lunch at Sci fi. Dinner at HBD

6th day
MK: Lunch ? But probably Casey's because we like it. Dinner at California Grill

7th day
Maybe Epcot, but depends on time. Thinking 1900 for Breakfast


Any help would be great, also we will take any Star Wars reservations we can get.

Thank you!

 

[Quellman]

Deluxe dining plan with 2 young kids? Wow! Brave.
Just a note, that at SciFi you'll likely be in a car where you seat back to front. Meaning two people will be in one row and two in the row behind them, just like a real car. Don't know if that would be an issue with your family. We really enjoy meal time together.

 

[TheInvernessie]

I like these plans! Hoop Dee Doo is a blast. They'll LOVE it. Food is fantastic too. Free flowing sangria always helps. Since I see that you're at AK that day, I would definitely think about when your dinner is, and when you want to leave the park (unless you're at your resort). I highly recommend taking a Minnie Van from the resort or park because getting to Fort Wilderness can be a hike from the far reaches of WDW.

Even if you don't do Casey's for the 6th day, I really enjoy Liberty Tree as a mid-day break, or Be Our Guest's lunch. Yes its QS but it gives the full experience.
Otherwise its a great looking list!

 

[goofyintoronto]

SciFi is so much fun! Your kids (hopefully) will love it. Its nice to be able to sit quietly and watch clips. And it is pretty quiet there. If you would rather be seated at a regular table, they do have it. You just have to ask upon check in. But i think the kids will get a kick out of sitting in a car.

I love all of your dining choices btw. The only change I would make is Garden Grill breakfast on your epcot day (instead of 1900 PF). I find the food much better at GG than at 1900. That's IF you go to Epcot. If you want to eat at a resort restaurant, then either Cape May for characters (bfast only), or Boma bfast at AKL.

 

[AuntJamelle]

Your lists look great!

As far as your last day goes - if you do go to Epcot there is also a killer breakfast buffet at the Yacht Club hotel - so within walking distance of the IG entrance to Epcot. Ale and Compass is the place - just a thought! Not a character breakfast though! Garden Grill would be a great choice like mentioned above.

 

[Atrain13]

Deluxe dining plan with 2 young kids? Wow! Brave.
Just a note, that at SciFi you'll likely be in a car where you seat back to front. Meaning two people will be in one row and two in the row behind them, just like a real car. Don't know if that would be an issue with your family. We really enjoy meal time together.

Well we aren't really sure how itll end up but we are hoping for the best. Our youngest is a pig sometimes and our oldest is starting to eat more. So we hope they share and then can share with us as well.
I am a little worries about how they act at Morimoto and California.

As far as sci fi, our oldest has been before and loved it. She also got to be their junior chef for the day, which she loved. So we will put 1 kid with each adult and hope the seating goes well!

 

[lorilclevelandrn]

First off, ur hitting all the locations my family loves. I do agree w/ AuntJamelle on Ale & Compass. We really enjoy their breakfast/dinner and now on our must do list each visit. Additionally, I’m not sure what time u have reservations for Tusker House, but we try to visit around 1030 to take advantage of Bfast/Lunch menu.

 

[Atrain13]

First off, ur hitting all the locations my family loves. I do agree w/ AuntJamelle on Ale & Compass. We really enjoy their breakfast/dinner and now on our must do list each visit. Additionally, I’m not sure what time u have reservations for Tusker House, but we try to visit around 1030 to take advantage of Bfast/Lunch menu.

Luckily we don't have reservations yet, that's just our plans/ideas.

I just don't want to plan too early in the day because we likely will plan a break after lunch.

 

[gharter]

I think it looks like a good mix of different type of restaurants.
Looks fun.
Personally, not a fan of Caseys and I would do Pecos Bill or Columbia House instead.

Enjoy.

 

[supitscarrie]

Lots of good choices, but also a lot of big, heavy meals. Hopefully you're shooting for earlier lunches and later dinners... I'm always stuffed after a trip to really any table service so I almost never do more than one a day (or if I do end up doing two, one is breakfast and the other is dinner)

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I’d try for CRT and Sci-fi first. They’re the hardest to get on your list. On my last trip I could only get CRT (and only a lunch was available) on my 10th day. TH does a ROL package but I assume you’re not doing that with the evening HDDR.

 

[nkereina]

I think your choices are good, but would agree with PP to space your meals very far apart. With each person getting their own app, entrée, and dessert, its A LOT of food. We needed more time to digest and be hungry again than we may at home. When we did DxDP, our biggest mistake was booking 12pm lunches and 6pm dinners, like when we'd eat at home. We just weren't hungry for dinner. In retrospect, an 11am lunch and 7-8pm dinner may have been better for us. This is also why many people do TS breakfast and TS dinner on the DxDP, so they don't have to worry as much about timing.

 

[SG131]

The restaurants look like a good mix, though I'd be a little worried about kids that young at Cali. But you know your kids best. I love 1900 Park Fare breakfast, it's a lot of fun. But if you're on the boardwalk I would do Trattoria al Forno. You're already spending a ton of park time eating plus if you want to do afternoon breaks, that's a lot of lost time already I wouldn't waste more going back and forth unless your hotel is on the monorail loop.

Trattoria is GREAT for little kids. You get to meet eric, ariel, rapunzel and flynn. The kids also get to dance around the restaurant with the characters and wave their napkins. It's a lot of fun and a great use of a dining plan credit because it's a tad pricey if you pay OOP. I think the more fun meals you can fit in there there better cause you're doing a LOT of sit down meals during the week.

 

[kniquy]

We have the deluxe dining plan and 6 nights. 2 young kids, 5,2

You have some great pics for restaurants! Cali Grill is AMAZING!! My only concern is the number of TS meals you have and with 2 younger kids - sitting for 2 hours at a time (so 4 hours a day) might be a little tough on them. But you know your kids best. If they can handle it and the times don't conflict with their usual nap times then it should work out.

Snag your CRT and Cali grill reservations first (better be on at 6am).


I would reconsider the deluxe plan -- even the regular dining plan is a ton of food. This can be decided once you get your ADR's and see what you will actually keep.

I think the only concerns would be the amount of time you will spend in restaurants. Kids only last so long each day maybe 7am to 7pm so 12 hours and you want to spend min 4 hours each day in restaurants? I'm just bringing that up for something to think about. You can certainly book what you want/can at 180d and then as you get closer you can always cancel reservations and change the type of dining plan you have.

What helps with all the planning is to actually put it in writing. I use spreadsheets to help visualize the actual time it takes for each part of our day from transportation to QS meals, FP and TS meals. When you see it in black and white (I actually like to color code each activity) then you will come to realize that all these meals coupled with limited time each day due to the young ones really leaves you little time to relax and actually enjoy the parks. In planning you are better off over estimating travel time and meal times.

I know you have HBD for one of you meals (excellent choice). We booked an early dinner at 4 and we didn't get out of there until 6pm. We were seated promptly but service was a little on the slower side and we had a wonder CM who loved sharing his stories from the 20 years he had worked for WDW.

 

[holden]

You will be spending a lot of time sitting in a restaurant and eating. Just wanted to make you aware in case that's something you hadn't considered.

We usually book one TS meal a day max. Two TS meals a day would be way too much food for us, plus it takes up time we could be riding attractions, swimming, etc.

 

[Hopefully]

So we are getting close to our 180 day mark and trying to finalize our plans. I would love some feed back here. We have the deluxe dining plan and 6 nights. 2 young kids, 5,2

1st day
HS: Lunch at 50s. Dinner at Morimoto Asia

2nd day
MK: Lunch at the Plaza. Dinner at CRT

3rd day
Epcot: Lunch at Biergarten. For dinner we are going to the Christmas party so we will eat/snack there

4th day
AK: Lunch at tusker house. Dinner at Hoop Dee Do

5th day
HS: lunch at Sci fi. Dinner at HBD

6th day
MK: Lunch ? But probably Casey's because we like it. Dinner at California Grill

7th day
Maybe Epcot, but depends on time. Thinking 1900 for Breakfast


Any help would be great, also we will take any Star Wars reservations we can get.

Thank you!

I wouldn’t even consider this lineup with a 2 and 5 yo. Way too much IMHO.

 

[tbre1982]

Which resort are you staying at? Will u have a car?

 

[Mrtommorrow1987]

I wouldn’t even consider this lineup with a 2 and 5 yo. Way too much IMHO.

The last time my wife and I did the deluxe dining plan we ate an early lunch and a signature dinner every night. I never felt hungry on the trip and we were in restaurants wayyyyy to much time. This was before we had kids.


Now we have two littles. On our last trip with them we booked a dinner every night and that even felt like too much. We ended up cancelling dinner 2 nights on the trip and grabbing Quick Serivice to avoid the dinner melt down.

 

[Atrain13]

Ugh you guys are killing my plans. We were thinking lunch 11ish and then 7ish for dinner. That's a solid 8 hours between meals and would think that should be decent........I think.

 

[nkereina]

Ugh you guys are killing my plans. We were thinking lunch 11ish and then 7ish for dinner. That's a solid 8 hours between meals and would think that should be decent........I think.

I think this timing would be ok, as long as you don't care about maximizing the value of the DxDP. In other words, being ok with possibly just wanting to eat half an appetizer or take a couple bites of dessert. Or getting dessert to go. Things like this. You don't want to stuff yourself, but you don't want to lose money on the plan either. You just have to strike the right balance.

What time of year will you be there? I've found that in the heat, the last thing we wanted to do was eat heavy meals. We also drink a lot more water in the heat, which made us feel fuller between meals. In months when the weather is cooler, it was easier to enjoy some of the heavier meals.