Too many ADRs?

[jodi16s]

Can you have TOO many ADRs?? I am planning our first ever WDW trip for the second week of May, 2008. It is a year away, but I have started planning early!

Here are our dining plans thus far... please give me your thoughts! Ds will be 5 and Dd will be 2.... Any thoughts/opinions/advice would be appreciated. Does this seem to structured???

Sat 5/3 – arrive

Dinner at Chef Mickey’s Fun Time Buffet (4th Floor Contemporary Resort)


Sun 5/4

Magic Kingdom

BF: Crystal Palace
L: Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café – COUNTER SERVICE
D: Cinderella’s Royal Table 125.00



Mon 5/5

MGM

BF: Hollywood & Vine
L: Toy Story Pizza Planet - COUNTER SERVICE
D: 50’s Prime Time


Tues 5/6

Animal Kingdom

BF: Donald’s Breakfast-o-saurus in Dino-Land
L: Whispering Canyon @ The Wilderness Lodge
D: Mickey’s Backyard BBQ



Wed 5/7

Lounge at the pool all day / maybe visit Downtown Disney
Lunch: ????
Dinner: Hoop Dee Doo @ Ft. Wilderness Campground & Resort



Thurs 5/8

Magic Kingdom

BF: ???
L: Plaza Restaurant
D: Alfredo’s???



Fri 5/9

MGM

BF:
L: Sci-Fi Drive-In Dining
D: Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano

Sat 5/10 - DEPART

 

[Scornelius]

Hi Jodi, welcome to the DIS! You're smart to be planning before your first trip, you'll be able to avoid a bunch of the mistakes first timers can make. Don't worry about planning a year in advance- there are a whole lot of us here who do that!

In regards to your dining itinerary, it sure looks like you're going to have a good time, and be stuffed! Are you thinking about using the DDP (Disney dining plan)? With all the TS (table service meals) that you're doing, I think it might be something to look at. Maybe even a premium plan, as they cover more meals per day.

Animal Kingdom

BF: Donald’s Breakfast-o-saurus in Dino-Land
L: Whispering Canyon @ The Wilderness Lodge
D: Mickey’s Backyard BBQ


MGM

BF:
L: Sci-Fi Drive-In Dining
D: Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano

If you go for a DDP, and order everything you're entitled to, you might find 2 or 3 TS a day to be just too much. They give you so much food! But if you're paying OOP (out of pocket) or only getting the food you want, you should be fine. And still happily stuffed.

Have fun planning!

 

[jodi16s]

Thanks so much for the reply!! You say we will be stuffed.. do you recommend only one TS per day?

I hadn't planned on doing the DDP, but maybe I will look more into it. I probably don't know enough about the DDP.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[dcgrumpy]

For me, that would be way too much food. We never eat 3 full meals a day. We'll usually have a light snack in the morning, CS lunch and sit down dinner or big breakfast, snack midday and sit down dinner

 

[Christine]

If I did a breakfast buffet and then an evening dinner, I really wouldn't need much of a lunch.

It does seem like you have a lot of things planned. There's nothing wrong with that but do remember that each thing you have planned takes time away from the parks. Your breakfast might slow you down in the morning (some of the best "touring" time). You may want to do only one or two breakfasts and do in-room stuff (cereal) or quick danishes/donuts on the other days.

 

[jodi16s]

Thanks so much everyone for your replies.

Being that this is our first trip to WDW, I hadn't really thought about the time the TS meals would take away from the day. I think I will stick to one TS meal per day... I may throw in one character breakfast. We aren't big eaters so thanks for the heads up!

If you could chose 6 of the best TS for young kids, what would you pick? The trip is for our kids so I don't mind skipping on the best adult dinners!

 

[The Sweetness]

1 TS meal per day (b, l, or d) may be best. However, many ppl have 2 or even 3 TS daily, and fit in a few attractions in between. My personal choice, is to do quick service breakfasts and lunches, and a sit down at our regular dinner time (5ish) ADRs arent exactly reservations, they just put you in front of the line, so to speak, for the next available table. Have a great time, whatever you choose. And dont sweat it, if you dont see EVERYTHINg. Its a good excuse to plan a second trip for the next year

BTW~ are the kiddos used to spending an hour or 2, more than once a day, seated in restaurants? I know I'll have my hands full at every meal. So the quicker the better, with those quick service meals. (my DD2 is antsy, and lives on chocolate milk, she has very little interest in food (even desserts) )

 

[becka]

Welcome to the DIS!!!

I agree that you have too many sit down meals. We have always tried to do one sit down each day and then just counter service/snacks for our other meals. Especially with little ones the sit downs take quite a bit of time and I find that they are anxious to get out of the restaurants unless it is a character meal.

That being said my kids both love the characters so we usually have 2-3 character meals per trip. It works well for us but there are some kids who are really scared of the characters and being that close to them is a big problem. Some of our favorite character meals have been 'Ohana breakfast, Garden Grill dinner, 1900 Park Fare dinner and the Liberty Tree Tavern dinner.

Our next trip is in November and my kids will also be 5 and 2 and we are wanting to try some new places so far we have the following planned: Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner, Akershus (Norway) Princess character lunch, Crystal Palace character lunch, Hollywood & Vine Playhouse Disney character lunch and Boma dinner. I am also considering either Coral Reef or Kona Cafe for another meal.

 

[jodi16s]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. You have no idea how much this first-time appreciates it! I now plan on doing quick/easy BF and L and then doing a sit down dinner.

Ds does great in restaurants and always has. Dd will be a month short of two when we go to Disney, so I am not so sure about her! I am sure we will go with flow... and be okay with skipping the sit-down if need be.

 

[Karnak]

It all looks OK to me, with one exception. I'd recommend NOT eating at the Si-Fi spot at the Studios. Warmed over hamburger, limp fries, and very poor service both times I tried the place. No longer on my list of acceptable places to eat at WDW.

Hope y'all have a great trip.

 

[Aurora63]

I also think one ADR is plenty each day. But maybe reconsider and do lunches...you often save money that way

Also, just my 2 cents, but I liked the Sci-Fi..back last June, we had good sevice, and the atmosphere can't be beat (if your looking for a kitschy type place.) The food was by no means gourmet, but it was good, and fresh. I'd go again.

 

[thelionqueen]

My first bit of advice would be to DEFINITELY get the Disney Dining plan, it will save you tons of $$ and the convenience is SUPER!!

Then I would say that one TS per day is PLENTY as others have stated, in fact even one every day to me is too much.

I would like to say to try Sci-fi and see for yourself. We LOVE the atmosphere, and the food is just standard burgers but worth a try. Enjoy!!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Since this is your first trip, and your not big eaters, I wouldn't do three meals a day. I would definatly do a character meal or two, my top choice would be Crystal Palace. My other recommendation for kid friendly restaurants, (though this is Disney, so every restaurant is kid friendly,) would be Prime Time and Ohana. I also love CRT, so I'd keep that in your plans, though you may want to consider breakfast or lunch over dinner.

My other favorites, (though not as much kid-atmosphere,) are Le Cellier, Boma, Brown Derby, and Wolfgang Puck.

 

[labdogs42]

If you could chose 6 of the best TS for young kids, what would you pick? The trip is for our kids so I don't mind skipping on the best adult dinners!

I like to do the family style and buffet meals with young kids (we've taken DS twice, at 15 and 18 months and we're headed back with him in May and Sept this year). I like the fact that these meals get food on the table FAST, which is important to a two year old! Here are some of my favorites:

Ohana
Chef Mickey's
Liberty Tree Tavern
Garden Grill
Cape May Cafe
Crystal Palace

We haven't tried H&V or Donald's Breakfastsaurus yet, but I'll let you know about those after our next two trips! We haven't done any princess meals either, since we only have a boy! Good luck and have fun planning!