Somebody tell me my ADRs are okay!

[Wendy31]

Well be returning to WDW in June! Hip! Hip! Hooray! (We were unable to go last summer, so I'm practically dancing in anticipation!)

We're staying at the WL (8 nights/9 days) & have 9-day park hopper MYW tickets w/ the basic dining plan (couldn't get DH to go for the deluxe plan! )

Anyway, our ADRs haven been set since December, but I feel a little like I'm missing the "wow" factor...

Here's our plan:

Arrival Day - Day 1/Night 1

Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner - this is our traditional "first night" dinner; however, at first, I thought about doing Chef Mickey's for our 1st night or even Ohana... I wasn't thrilled w/ the food the last time we were there, and, honestly, the only reason I scheduled it is because it's "tradition" & the place where DD fell in love w/ Minnie... and, since we'll be in the MK (& it's our first day), we wouldn't have to leave the park for dinner, so anyway...

Day 2/Night 2

Garden Grill for lunch - we liked it last time; we also like a sit-down lunch in the middle of the day - it's a nice "break" in the heat when the parks are getting crowded which leaves the cooler evening hours for park touring... but Biergarten looks good too as does Beaches & Cream...

Day 3/Night 3

Crystal Palace for lunch - again, we like the lunch break, but this is one I could take or leave... I'm just not a huge fan of buffets. However, DH loves this restaurant, and the food is good... not sure where else I would go for lunch in MK anyway... maybe the Plaza or Tony's...

Day 4/Night 4

Mama Melrose's for dinner (FDP) - I'm okay w/ this one, although I'd prefer to try to Sci-Fi; however, we like having a FDP in June.

Day 5/Night 5

Chef Mickey's for breakfast - this is one of my "must do" meals and one where DH is "meh", so I guess he compromises on this one, and I compromise on Crystal Palace! I much prefer doing Chef Mickey's on our departure day, but DH hates feeling rushed on our last morning, so I'm compromising & scheduling it on our "off" morning... except now I'm sad because we won't be eating Mickey waffles w/ Mickey & Minnie our last morning...

Le Cellier for dinner - super-excited about this one! Hope it's as good as the hype!

Day 6/Night 6

CRT for lunch - this one's fine too - although, next year, I think I want to try CRT for dinner... DD is more into HSM now than princesses.

Day 7/Night 7

Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner - I'm okay w/ this one too - except I almost scheduled this one for 1st night... this is after our AK day. And I'd love to fit Boma into our schedule. However, we can't not eat at WCC - the kids loved it 2 years ago

Day 8/Night 8

Coral Reef for lunch - this & Le Cellier are the only new restaurants we're trying this year, so I'm excited about this one too... thought about scheduling it in place of Garden Grill...

Ohana for dinner - thought this would be a nice "last night" meal

Departure Day - Day 9

Nothing! I *hate* not having a fun breakfast scheduled for our departure morning... thought about going ahead & surprising DH w/ Chef Mickey's, but decided against... thought about scheduling GF Cafe or Kona Cafe. On our last morning, we like to go into MK one more time, so I thought GF or Kona Cafe might be nice... or, we could just leave....

I think what I'm stressing about is that there are some restaurants I really want to try - Spoodles & Kona Cafe & Boma breakfast/dinner - that I can't fit into our schedule - instead, we're eating at the restaurants we always eat at - which, I suppose, there is something to be said for familiarity. But, we liked dinner at Boma 3 years ago, and the breakfast buffet looks wonderful! I almost thought about eating at Kona instead of Ohana... We're already paying OOP for CRT & one more of our meals, and I don't like having so many ADRs that I feel like we're just rushing from 1 ADR to the next.

And, by this time, I'm not even sure I could switch/add ADRs even I wanted to.

So, convince me my ADRs are marvelous! Would you try to fit in a breakfast on your last day? If so, Kona or Boma?

Thanks!!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I know what you mean about traditions. We use to always eat at Chef Mickey's the first night and Ohana the last night until we realized the food had gone down the drain and we weren't enjoying it anymore. I think it's important to create *new* favorites and new traditions! It seems like you guys are eating a lot of the same types of food. To me LTT, CRT, Chef Mickeys, Garden Grill, and Crystal Palace are almost all the same plain old American types of food. Do you like dining in the world showcase? I would recommend Nine Dragons in China or Teppen Edo in Japan to sort of spice up your week a little bit.

I definitely like your choices of Mama Melrose, Le Cellier, and Coral Reef. Those are all on our list. And Whispering Canyon is on our list this time too, even though we have had mixed feelings about it. Other favorites for us are... Kona Cafe, Cape May, San Angel Inn, Sci-fi, 50's Prime Time, Boma... oh, also we are trying Yak and Yeti, since it's new for us this trip.

As for your last question... I would definitely try Kona Cafe! It is one of my personal favorites and I've never had a bad meal there.

 

[cindy_k]

Your restaurant selection seems to reflect that of catering to the kids.
(Not that this is Bad)
You have 5 character meals. Which is great for the kids.

I certainly was guilty of this when my son was under 8.
He's 15 now with a fine taste for food. So now we go to restaurants like Boma, Yak & Yeti, and Teppan Edo.

If you are looking to spice it up a bit switch out the Garden Grill (which is great restaurant that I still very much enjoy, and so does my son) with one in the world showcase. Try San Angel Inn in Mexico or Rose and Crown in England or as you suggested the Beirgarten in Germany.

Its hard, there is a lot of choices at WDW, and NEVER enough time to do them all.
Enjoy your trip!

 

[KatMark]

Day 3 Day/Night -- I would suggest Plaza. It is a change of pace from all the "big meals" at your sit down restaurants. The sandwiches are large and very good, the shakes are good and the sundaes are heavenly. We have not done Crystal Palace for anything for breakfast (can't miss the puffed french toast), but I recall reading some reviews lately that it was really rushed and crowded at lunch and dinner at the buffet line (we have never had that problem at breakfast)

 

[Amy&Dan]

I would also suggest you try Kona Cafe, I think its one of the hidden gems of WDW, it gets so overshadowed by O'Hana but the food is really amazing there. I think your ADR's look great but I think it would also be great (not greater but rather for a change) if you did try some new places. I agree with Erica that a lot of your meals sort of have the same type of food. We love some of the themed meals at Disney like Sci Fi and Prime Time for the experience and the food. They are great for us now that our kids are getting older. I have sort of sworn off the buffets, I really hate the way they are charging holiday prices at the buffets, (we don't generally do the DDO) and I refuse to pay well over $100 for mediocre food now that my kids are both paying adults (11 and 13). So we have branched out and have enjoyed that very much but still fit in at least one character meal per trip. I have really enjoyed trying some new places the last trip or two but also find myself wanting to return to my old standby's.

I would maybe trade one of those character meals for something in the World Showcase. I love San Angel and Marrakesh.

And I also know what you mean about traditions. We HAVE to go to Sci Fi early in our trip each time. In ten trips we have not missed it and now we never can!

 

[Wendy31]

Thanks so much for the advice!!

I suppose we are kind of catering to our 2 children, which is okay. They're only young once... However, I don't want to be bored w/ our meals either - "Oh, look! It's another piece of flank steak served by Chip!" The meals at Liberty Tree Tavern and Garden Grill are very, very similiar.

Sci-Fi is on my list of places to try, & I think our kids would love it even now. But, we always end up scheduling a FDP instead. I seriously thought about not scheduling a FDP & making an ADR for Sci-Fi Dine-In instead this year. But, w/ that said, we did really like Mama Melrose's 2 years ago... But, in June, Fantasmic is so crowded, that, even w/ our FDP, we almost couldn't find a seat & that was w/ getting there 30 minutes prior to the show starting - so it's almost not even worth getting a FDP in June because you still have to get there pretty early for good seats.

When DH got home from work last night, I asked him if he thought our ADRs were sexy enough. His words - "What are you talking about?" I explained, "We're only trying 2 new places - Coral Reef & Le Cellier, and we've got 5 character meals that serve basically the same food." His response, "Well, I wouldn't get rid of Crystal Palace."

Like I said earlier, I'd get rid of Crystal Palace, and he would get rid of Chef Mickey's.

I reminded him of Boma. Yes, he liked the food, but he didn't like standing in line at the buffet. Which, as you all know, is the exact same thing you do at Crystal Palace! I think I stood longer in the salad bar line at Crystal Palace than I did in line at Dumbo! And, since I didn't want the kids to miss any of the characters at Crystal Palace, I left them sitting at the table w/ DH & I ended up standing in line at the buffet 5 times - once to get both kids' plates, once to get my salad, once to get my other food, once to get the kids' desserts, and once to get my dessert. But I digress.

I showed DH pics of the breakfast buffet at Boma and Tonga Toast at Kona. Food porn doesn't do for him what it does for me. His response to the pics of Boma: "It looks like scrambled eggs." "Doesn't that biscuit casserole look scrumptious?" "I guess." "Ooh, what about this Tonga Toast! That looks yummy, doesn't it?" "Sure."

I suggested maybe scheduling another WS restaurant instead of Garden Grill - maybe Marakesh w/ the belly dancer or Biergarten w/ the band. I even showed him pics of the Biergarten buffet. His response: "But the kids wouldn't eat anything there, and we liked Garden Grill."

Believe it or not, he is actually more of an adventurous eater than I am - he's just a creature of habit while I am a creature of tradition - which is why I can't get rid of our ADRs at Liberty Tree Tavern and Chef Mickey's, and he wants to return to Crystal Palace and Garden Grill.

We actually do try a new WS restaurant each year. We've eaten at Akershus and San Angel Inn, and, this year, we're trying Le Cellier. Next year, it's Biergarten or Marrakesh. (The Japanese restaurant looks good, but MSG in Asian food gives me major migraines.)

So, anyway, I think I'm gonna schedule an ADR for Kona Cafe on our last morning. Or maybe even try to get an ADR for Chef Mickey's on our last morning (which is when I like to do Chef Mickey's) and do Kona Cafe on the morning I had Chef Mickey's scheduled.

Sorry to ramble so much! Spring Break is this week (I'm a teacher), and I have a little too much time on my hands and have started over analyzing our ADRs - which is way more fun than spring-cleaning!

 

[Chloe'sMom]

I think they look great!
~Amanda

 

[Wendy31]

Thank you!

I was all set to make an ADR at Kona for our last morning - they have Mickey pancakes. Then I saw pics of Grand Floridian Cafe, and I was reminded that I've always wanted to eat there. Since we'll have been to Ohana the previous night, I'm now thinking GF Cafe for our last morning.

I've posted a poll in another thread, so please vote!