The Great ADR Struggle

[tabrizia]

Our last trip in 2016 we did 7 character meals. My kids were 4 1/2, 6 1/2, and 8 1/2. They had a blast. I was fairly character mealed out. That being said doing a lot once is fun and works well. That being said they also loved Sanaa, it has a good variety of kid friendly meals for less adventerous eaters and the food was really good. It is on my list to go back to next trip (not the trip in 6 week, but the following one). We also loved T-Rex, it is lots of fun, my kids all adore it. We will be doing it again this upcoming trip.

Our next trip in 6 weeks we're only doing 1 character meal. We are all happy with it, but that is partually because they are all older and partually because we have done most of the character meals already. I am still trying to get a Castle meal for my daughter, but the boys aren't interested in one at this point. They are all looking forward to T-Rex again. They all loved it last time and it has been mentioned as somewhere we need to eat again.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

The food at character meals is typically not as good. It’s okay, but some of the other restaurants are much better. The characters also distracted my older daughter from eating so she was hungry later.

Animal Kingdom Lodge is absolutely worth exploring. We also like eating at a Magic Kingdom area resort so we can watch wishes afterwards.

 

[ThePrincess&TheJohn]

Personally, I'm a huge fan of character meals. I prefer the food at breakfast for Garden Grill so I'd find a way to swap that if I could. I would also suggest based on your family descriptions that you guys might really like Whispering Canyon Cafe (no characters) at the Wilderness Lodge, which could be built into a Magic Kingdom or a more restful day.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Hey all! As a Disney first timer I am OH so indecisive on the topic of ADRs and where we want to go! With our trip around the corner (literally) I want to make sure our selections are up to snuff. My husband is the only one who’s been to Disney prior and it was years ago - our children are 4 and 2.

Our list currently consists of -

Hollywood and Vine Breakfast
Askershus Princess Breakfast
Garden Grill Dinner
BOG Breakfast
Mickeys BBQ Dinner
Bon Voyage Breakfast

My husband is a seafood/steak and potatoes kind of man, and my little people aren’t particularly adventurous eaters. I’ve been drawn to the views of Sanaa (and our youngest is a major animal lover!) - but the menu may be a stretch and I wouldn’t know what to drop to compensate.

Any and all experiences are most appreciated! If it weren’t for a lot of discussion board ‘creeping’ I’d have been entirely blind on the planning.

You have a totally valid point as well! I had a few on our list, and then I thought the DDP and getting the most ‘bang for our buck’ equaled a character meal a day.

My husband is very much a non planner and likes to go with the flow - and we aren’t necessarily huge eaters (which is what now has me wondering if we should scrap the DDP all together).

IMHO, that's a lot of character meals and a lot of buffets. I found buffets to be really difficult with young children who can't navigate the buffet on their own or hold their own plate. It becomes work for the parents and not a relaxing meal. If you don't want to be tied down to a schedule and a lot of ADR's, I would drop some of the meals with redundant characters. Personally, I would drop H&V (food is terrible) and consider dropping Mickey's BBQ. Akershus, GG and Bon Voyage are all sit-down character meals and you'll see a nice variety of characters between the three. Plus the food is good and you can sit and relax.

I, personally, would drop the DDP so you don't feel pressured to get your money's worth. If it's too late to drop it at this point, there are some other fun "meat and potato" type places that don't involve characters, but are still unique to WDW - 50's Prime Time, WCC at WL. Or splurge and do a 2 TS signature - it's sounds like your DH would appreciate Yachtsman Steakhouse or Narcoosee's.

 

[crabbygal902]

Hollywood and Vine Breakfast - The food is not good at all. If the experience of your children meeting the characters is worth it, then keep this. Otherwise, I'd replace it with Cape May Breakfast Buffet at the Beach Club which is in the same general area. The food is better quality, the characters are great.

Askershus Princess Breakfast - We did the dinner here with my 2 sons and really enjoyed it. I think having pretty princesses stop by the table was fun for them.

BOG Breakfast - This is a great CS value on the DDP! The castle is beautiful. The food, eh.

Mickeys BBQ Dinner - I have no experience with this, but reviews are pretty terrible. I would not use it for 2 of my dining credits. I would replace it with 'Ohana dinner and Chef Mickey's, or perhaps put Sanaa in one of those slots. Boma breakfast and dinner are terrific and not 'weird.' There are some pretty basic items at Sanaa, the grilled meats trio comes to mind. Another fun choice would be Whispering Canyon.

Take this for what it is worth, what works for me doesn't necessarily work for you. Happy planning!

 

[smsmsw]

IMHO, that's a lot of character meals and a lot of buffets. I found buffets to be really difficult with young children who can't navigate the buffet on their own or hold their own plate. It becomes work for the parents and not a relaxing meal.

I totally agree with this and forgot to mention it. Much more relaxing to have food brought to you rather than having to navigate buffet when you have young kids!

 

[pigletgirl]

Do them all! Your kids are the perfect ages to really enjoy it.

If you can fit Sanaa in, do it as well. Great food and drinks!

 

[LMA712014]

Apologies for the delay in response everyone! I’m just getting around to reading these and am bulk replying for that reason (so I don’t drive everyone insane with twenty separate replies!)

I did switch up our plan for a whole lot of reasons! Food matters a lot more to my husband than it does me personally (I’m a way more easy going eater, where he likes pricier options) - and though we’re going with the kids as focus I wanted him to have a little something in there too!

I ended up cancelling Mickeys BBQ for a few reasons (we’ll be spending a lot of time there since we are staying at the Fort, no signatures, and reviews of majorly eh food). Which was cool because alleviating those credits gave us more options!

We will be there for 6 days (5 park days) so I’ve done some shifting and spreading - and managed to add T Rex (which I know my son will LOVE) and a Coral Reef dinner reservation (also super cool, great food AND my husband can have his big ‘ol steak )

I contemplated dropping Hollywood and Vine as well, but our daughter loves Doc and Sofia SO we can handle a meh breakfast for the character interaction. I think we’re going to drop into Sanaa for breakfast a free morning (that loaded waffle is calling my name )

We are on the DDP and I did contemplate dropping it because we don’t necessarily NEED that many TS meals - but after we crunched some numbers I think it only would’ve (likely) saved us a few hundred dollars and we would’ve been subject to the $200 cancellation fee.

Our kids are pretty in love with characters so I’m not too worried on the anti character front! They’re not particularly shy/standoffish so I think they’ll be golden (and as others said! We can cancel if we learn that they’re less in love than I think they will be)

Small novel over thank you all SO much for the feedback! It honestly helped a lot.

 

[Lisa F]

I'm going to weigh in on the "too many character meals" thing too. My son is older than yours but on the spectrum and waiting for characters is very hard for him. Those lines are tight, confined, boring, and then when you almost get there and the character takes a break? VERY VERY hard. I would imagine with a 2 and 4 year old it would be a similar issue and I'd be booking all of the character meals I could.

Second, about the food getting repetitive... 3 of 4 of your character meals are breakfast, and they all have very varied menus. My son could eat waffles or pancakes and bacon every single day (will also eat biscuits and gravy if they have it) and would be eating that characters or not. For the adults you have Akershus, which in addition to the basic eggs and bacon (which I could eat every day too and not think twice about) you have the norwegian cold buffet if you're itching for something a little different. Then you have H&V which is a typical buffet, but a decent amount of variety. Then La Trattoria, which has really interesting breakfast selections and is nothing at all like the other two. So in your 3 choices I see as much variety as anyone could want, with safe choices as well.

Garden Grill is a great character meal in that it is so relaxing. I LOVE the family style character meals, you just get to sit and everything comes to you. But you do have a repeat of characters with mickey and chip and dale between that and the backyard bbq, so that may matter to you. It wouldn't matter to me, I love the garden grill and it's pretty accessible in Epcot. If you were to drop it, I would drop it for something else cool in Epcot and not Sanaa. Sanaa is a great off dining plan value but not so great on. My son loved the bread service there (you'd have to pay a la carte... and pro tip? you can ask for extra naan instead of some of the other options so you have enough for the kids because if they are not adventurous that is what they will like). The kid meals are accessible there. If you go at lunch, it will be light out enough to see the animals, uncrowded enough you should easily get a window seat, and they have the burger and bbq pork sandwiches, both of which are accessible to meat and potatoes people. My son had the grilled chicken and they subbed a side of the mac and cheese for him with no issue. But I would probably not sub out a character meal while you're doing the dining plan for it.

The only other repeat is Ariel at both princess breakfasts (but that is the ONLY princess repeat, and you get such good food at bon voyage!).

We do lots of character meals, I think I did 5 on our last 8 day trip... we did crystal palace, garden grill breakfast, ohana breakfast (one right after the other, lol, which was bad planning because you can't get more similar but honestly it did not matter one bit), tusker house breakfast and H&V dinner with F! package. My son was in heaven, I had no issues with the food and it was fine. We do 2 TS a day because we enjoy the break.

 

[beck00]

I think you've got some great choices there! We've done them all except Bon Voyage and it's on our list for November. Character meals are GREAT way to meet characters, get off your feet a little for a break, and maximize the dining plan. We've always had either discounted dining (Play, Stay & Dine) or free dining so we load up on character meals for our girls and will continue to do so until they are older or just don't want to anymore. We don't feel like we lose too much time in the parks since we're rope-droppers. In face, we feel like it gives us the break we need to recharge. The characters are a huge part of our Disney experience!!

Our girls also loved Hollywood & Vine (Christmas theme), Crystal Palace is one of their faves even though they had no interest in Pooh and friends as of our first trip, 1900 Park Fare, & Tusker House.

 

[beck00]

Just seeing your response to other posters. I forgot all about T-Rex! Glad to see you added it! We loved it!

 

[jacknsally19]

I contemplated dropping Hollywood and Vine as well, but our daughter loves Doc and Sofia SO we can handle a meh breakfast for the character interaction. I think we’re going to drop into Sanaa for breakfast a free morning (that loaded waffle is calling my name )
.

I was one of the advocates for less character meals.... H & V is mediocre food but SO WORTH IT if your kid is a Disney Jr fan. My DD loved it when she was in her peak Doc and Jake phase. The interaction with characters is really great at that place.

 

[LMA712014]

I was one of the advocates for less character meals.... H & V is mediocre food but SO WORTH IT if your kid is a Disney Jr fan. My DD loved it when she was in her peak Doc and Jake phase. The interaction with characters is really great at that place.

I figure breakfast is relatively easy for our picky little people and the character interaction will be worth it!

I was really excited that the T-Rex dinner reservation was open! I worried it’d be slim pickings this close so we lucked out.

 

[HLShone]

we did 5 character meals, CRT, BOG, H & V, tusker house and 1900 and we also ate at T-rex, ohana and boatwrights, on a 9 night trip-my kids were 2 and 4 at the time-loved every single one of them and the only meet and greets we did was anna/elsa and tinkerbell, so no waiting in line during park time for characters!! Next time we do the meal plan though I would prob do more breakfasts and lunches-most of ours were dinners and harder on the kids-they would have been much less cranky in the am, I was going for "bang for you buck" though w/dinner over breakfast-hard not too!!

 

[GillianP1301]

Here's my input based on personal experience:

Hollywood and Vine Breakfast - my least favourite breakfast buffet at WDW. Unless you are specifically going for the Disney Jr. characters (possible considering your kids' ages), then I would skip this one.
Askershus Princess Breakfast - I have an anti-princess boy so we've never tried this one, but I would definitely say go for this if you have some Princess lovers.
Garden Grill Dinner - This is our favourite character meal on property. I prefer the breakfast by the slightest margin, dinner is also fantastic.
BOG Breakfast - This one was really underwhelming for me. Food was just okay, but atmosphere is amazing.
Mickeys BBQ Dinner - We did this when my son was 4 and it stressed me out a bit trying to keep track of him while he danced with the characters because it's quite crowded/busy. For that reason, I really did not get to sit and enjoy my meal that much. The food was pretty decent BBQ though. For a dinner show, we have always preferred Hoop De Doo and the food there is equally as good, in fact it may actually be some of the exact same food given they are beside each other.
Bon Voyage Breakfast - Have not tried this one yet, but read all sorts of good reviews on it & it's a tough to get ADR, so I would stick with that one.

 

[GillianP1301]

In all honesty that would be too many character meals for me. Our first trip my kids were 4, 6 and 8. We did 3 character meals and could have done just 2 and been happy. The food get repetitive.

I agree that the food can get a bit repetitive, especially breakfast, but I disagree with too many character meals. We usually do 6 or 7 in a 9 night trip and love them and I think they are so ideal for families with young kids because the entertainment is rolled into your meal. Being able to meet characters while you're eating (which you have to do anyway) can be a real time saver from having to line up for characters in the parks.