Thoughts on my dining line up

[afergvip]

So we haven't been to Disney in 8 years and have never used the dining plan. This year we are going for our daughter's 11th birthday celebration. We are going all out with the deluxe dining plan. I'm curious to know if we have made the best choices - I know that's all based on opinion - but I like to hear what others that have been there think. To make best use of the plan we have decided to use a snack credit for breakfast and eat dinner at the signature dining restaurants. Below is our plan:

Friday - Animal Kingdom - we are paying or these meals our dining plan doesn't start until the next day.

Yak and Yeti for lunch
Rain Forest Cafe for dinner - we have eaten here before - our kids just like the environment

Saturday - HS

Mama Melrose - lunch
Flying Fish - dinner

Sunday - Animal Kingdom

Tusker House - Lunch
Citricos - Dinner

Monday - Magic Kingdom

Be Our Guest - I know this isn't good use of the plan but the kids really want to go
Narcoosee's - dinner

I look forward to hearing your feed back - I have been trying to change out Flying Fish for California Grill since we are staying at the Contemporary but so far no availability. I have read very mixed reviews about Narcoosee's so I'm hoping we didn't make a big mistake with this one. Thanks for the feedback. We are very excited about our trip!

 

[JerseyJanice]

I think you chose very well.

I have never been to Narcoosee. When we took a Deluxe Plan trip, I had a hard time deciding between it and the California Grill. We chose CG, but I regretted it as soon as I saw the menu that evening. It just didn’t appeal to me; I struggled over what to order and didn’t care for what I got.

Now, I’m not sorry we went there. The overall experience and the view made me glad I got to eat there at least once.

The menu at Narcoosee was/is very appealing to me. It doesn’t change frequently like CG’s, and I imagine the view of Seven Seas Lagoon is really nice.

 

[dachsie]

Another signature you might consider is Artist Point in WL. Others have said Jiko was good but I haven't tried that yet

 

[Inklight]

You had me at Yak & Yeti. We haven't been to this restaurant in a few years, but loved it. Try the Fried Wontons for dessert ... pineapple, cream cheese and ice cream. Seriously delicious. Tusker House is a great one, too and the kids will probably love it. I enjoyed our interactions with Safari Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy. Oh, and the food is tasty, too.

We love the dining plan, having done both QSDP and DDP. I have long since stopped trying to make "good" use of the credits because for us the "worth" comes from the ease of being able to eat wherever and whatever we want without worrying about the money while on vacation. We've only had lunch at Be Our Guest, but I'm sure the new prix fixe dinner menu is as delicious. The atmosphere is great.

I'm adding Yak and Yeti to our upcoming December trip!

Hope you have a great time!

 

[gharter]

Based on your dinner choices, it looks like you don't plan to see the evening shows at the parks?
Otherwise, it looks like fun choices.
We enjoy both Flying Fish and California Grill, so I wouldn't feel bad about either, but we do prefer CG .

 

[deuceswild10]

Be our Guest is great! I love it! Your kids will too.

 

[armerida]

We celebrated our anniversary at Narcoossee's a few weeks back and it was wonderful! We had a 7:30 reservation and they sat us by the window so we got to watch the 9:00 fireworks and the electrical water pageant. My filet was cooked perfectly and my husband gushed about his butter poached lobster tail. We also had lunch at Mama Melrose and the steak with pancetta mac-n-cheese was delicious. Citricos is on our list for next time. Enjoy!

 

[afergvip]

Our lunches are at 11:30 and dinner at 5:30 so we do plan to go back to the parks after dinner and hopefully catch the night time shows and throw some additional rides in after dark. We are there Memorial Day Weekend (I know shoot me now!) so the parks are open late. We hate the heat of the day so if we leave the parks around 4 and return around 7 I think that's a good break for us.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Great restaurant line up that seems to make good use of your downtime and park locations.

Haven't eaten at any of the AK restaurants or Citricos yet but would certainly have a hard time choosing between FF and CG. Sounds like you need another trip.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

So we haven't been to Disney in 8 years and have never used the dining plan. This year we are going for our daughter's 11th birthday celebration. We are going all out with the deluxe dining plan. I'm curious to know if we have made the best choices - I know that's all based on opinion - but I like to hear what others that have been there think. To make best use of the plan we have decided to use a snack credit for breakfast and eat dinner at the signature dining restaurants. Below is our plan:

Friday - Animal Kingdom - we are paying or these meals our dining plan doesn't start until the next day.

Yak and Yeti for lunch
Rain Forest Cafe for dinner - we have eaten here before - our kids just like the environment

Saturday - HS

Mama Melrose - lunch
Flying Fish - dinner

Sunday - Animal Kingdom

Tusker House - Lunch
Citricos - Dinner

Monday - Magic Kingdom

Be Our Guest - I know this isn't good use of the plan but the kids really want to go
Narcoosee's - dinner

I look forward to hearing your feed back - I have been trying to change out Flying Fish for California Grill since we are staying at the Contemporary but so far no availability. I have read very mixed reviews about Narcoosee's so I'm hoping we didn't make a big mistake with this one. Thanks for the feedback. We are very excited about our trip!

Love your choices, BOG is great, we did breakfast there which is one of the worst meals in terms of maximizing your money but we loved it. I will say my least favorite of your choices is mama melrose, the food is just ok but sadly there aren't that many great dining choices at DHS. If it were me, I'd choose sci fi dine in over MM but I understand why you would choose that (using the deluxe dining plan) over a burger joint.

 

[Tksolomom]

I think your choices are great. You might want to get the Fantasmic dining package for Mama Melrose, but I'm not sure if the alcohol or appetizer is included if you use the DDP.

 

[afergvip]

Love your choices, BOG is great, we did breakfast there which is one of the worst meals in terms of maximizing your money but we loved it. I will say my least favorite of your choices is mama melrose, the food is just ok but sadly there aren't that many great dining choices at DHS. If it were me, I'd choose sci fi dine in over MM but I understand why you would choose that (using the deluxe dining plan) over a burger joint.

We really wanted Sci-Fi but it wasn't available so we went with Mama Melrose.

 

[Maus79]

We haven't purchased the deluxe dining plan in years, but followed your strategy of a 1 credit breakfast/lunch and 2 credit dinner. We were so stuffed from the food, we would purchase candied nuts or crispy treats with the snack credits as souvenirs. If you are able to get a reservation at California Grill, I would suggest trading out Citricos instead of Flying Fish. Flying Fish was lovely during our trips last fall/winter. Staff at Citricos were fabulous, but the food was underwhelming. I would also pay BOG out of pocket, and use the additional credit for a farewell breakfast at one of the resorts on the monorail loop my last morning.

 

[sanapp]

On one of my last dlxdp trips we enjoyed are Narcoosees dinner more than our CG dinner. I think you have great choices!

 

[LiveToTravelNicely]

I think your list has great selections!

BOG Breakfast is actually more expensive than lunch, if that menu looks good to you and you really want to maximize the credit's 'value.'