Want to help me reduce my TS list?

[Mykal Bent]

My 180 days is this Friday so trying to finalize some plans, but there are just too many places we want to eat. I am travelling for 10 days with my husband and our 2.5yo, who we think will be more entertained by characters, but this feels a bit character heavy. We will NOT have a dining plan. I'd love to get this list down to 8-9 options. If I picked a place for a meal but you think it's better at a different time of day, let me know!

Dinners:
*T-Rex (as a way to spend an evening in Disney Springs)
Via Napoli
*Be Our Guest
Crystal Palace
*Tusker House
Boma (or breakfast?!)

Breakfasts:
Hollywood & Vine
Cinderellas Castle
Garden Grill
Chef Mickeys
Ohana (or dinner?!)

*we've eaten at these places previously- T-Rex just my husband and I for lunch, and I've done BOG for lunch and Tusker dinner before it was character dining

Thanks!

 

[Calee]

Personally 7 character meals would feel like too much. We did 3 last time and it was 1 too many. It's a lot of similar foods.

For a trip of that length I would, again personally, cut it down to 3 or 4 character meals. I would also probably skip trex and do Wolfgang puck express.

Ohana isn't character at dinner, so if you want stitch go at breakfast. We love Crystal palace for breakfast but not dinner. I would maybe skip Tusker house since you've been there before and use your character meals on new places.

 

[Chrelaine]

I would keep H&V for a 2.5 yr old. Our DD loved that meal with the Disney Jr. characters. Chef Mickey's and Tusker House have mostly the same characters, that may be a place to cut. My other cut would be Garden Grill or Crystal Palace. Personally I would keep Crystal Palace but I would base it on which characters your child likes more.

 

[michelepa]

Since many of your choices are popular i would make ressies at your 180 days, getting your ideal times.

Then when your trip gets closer and you've had time to review your itinerary, pocket book and needs then cancel those ressies you dont want.

I love character meals but my kids were just meh about them and they are expensive so we didnt go to as many as i would have liked If your 2.5 year old likes them then your choices are perfect.

In fact I Love all your choices except Via Napoli- too loud, crowded and rushed (not a relaxing sit down meal at all) and pizza was just ok at best. Not sure where people live that they give this pizza high praise.

 

[riddlemethis]

My 180 days is this Friday so trying to finalize some plans, but there are just too many places we want to eat. I am travelling for 10 days with my husband and our 2.5yo, who we think will be more entertained by characters, but this feels a bit character heavy. We will NOT have a dining plan. I'd love to get this list down to 8-9 options. If I picked a place for a meal but you think it's better at a different time of day, let me know!

Dinners:
*T-Rex (as a way to spend an evening in Disney Springs)
Via Napoli
*Be Our Guest
Crystal Palace
*Tusker House
Boma (or breakfast?!)

Breakfasts:
Hollywood & Vine
Cinderellas Castle
Garden Grill
Chef Mickeys
Ohana (or dinner?!)

*we've eaten at these places previously- T-Rex just my husband and I for lunch, and I've done BOG for lunch and Tusker dinner before it was character dining

Thanks!

How is your food budget? Right not you're probably looking at around $2000 just for food. Personally, I would cut out Ohana, BoG, Crystal Palace, and Chef Mickey's to save money. Tusker House is great and you can get the RoL dining package with that one. Boma seems much better for a dinner option than breakfast.

 

[bumbershoot]

I would not take a 2 year old to trex.
And we found Via Napoli to have vile food (and dh had just been to Italy!), uncaring service, and an incredibly loud atmosphere.

Do you and dh want to eat all that food at all those character meals? Say the baby is scared or sleepy or just doesn't enjoy it like you imagine; will you still be pleased to have spent that money on the food at those places?

You might consider a dining plan if possible, if you're keeping them.

 

[TwoMisfits]

My 180 days is this Friday so trying to finalize some plans, but there are just too many places we want to eat. I am travelling for 10 days with my husband and our 2.5yo, who we think will be more entertained by characters, but this feels a bit character heavy. We will NOT have a dining plan. I'd love to get this list down to 8-9 options. If I picked a place for a meal but you think it's better at a different time of day, let me know!

Dinners:
*T-Rex (as a way to spend an evening in Disney Springs)
Via Napoli
*Be Our Guest
Crystal Palace
*Tusker House
Boma (or breakfast?!)

Breakfasts:
Hollywood & Vine
Cinderellas Castle
Garden Grill
Chef Mickeys
Ohana (or dinner?!)

*we've eaten at these places previously- T-Rex just my husband and I for lunch, and I've done BOG for lunch and Tusker dinner before it was character dining

Thanks!

I've had 2.5 year olds FREAK out at characters...so I'd drop pretty much every meal with characters but 1 and then see how my kid does...

Easy drops of T-Rex and Tusker House b/c you've been there. I'd also drop Hollywood and Vine, Cinderella's Castle, Chef Mickey's, and Garden Grill b/c they are all characters. I'd keep Crystal Palace b/c it's MK (and you'll be there a lot) and it's the least intimidating characters. I'd keep Boma b/c it's the best buffet on property. I'd keep Via Napoli b/c it's cheap and in EPCOT. And Ohana's, I'd take or leave, but I'd probably book it b/c it might be hard to get later...so my list for you would be...

Crystal Palace
Via Napoli
Boma
Ohana's (?)

A good amount of TS's to try with a 2.5 year old who also may not want to actually sit for these and eat...so fewer might be better (not just for costs and freakout possibilities)...

 

[emilyindisney]

You've got a lot of great choices on there! Lots of characters too as some other people mentioned but honestly I enjoy the food at a lot of those places too! A couple switches I could suggest based on my experience:

Swap Garden Grill breakfast for dinner. Both have characters though the food/interaction for lackluster in the morning compared to the awesome dinner we had.

Swap Ohana breakfast for dinner. The breakfast is average but the dinner food is to die for (plus this will help thin out your character meals.)

Drop Chef Mickey's- the food is average and you've got plenty of other character options on there to deal with that mad house.

Drop Be Our Guest- you already got to experience this one and in my book, one visit is enough. Too busy and I hate how close the tables are.

 

[BaseballMoM2007]

My child LOVES Characters meals and we did a trip with them at basically every meal and it just about got to us (adults and we were sick of buffets). I would Eliminate the similar meals I would just pick one of Garden Grill, Chef Mickeys, or Tusker house. If you have to pick one of the Ohana meals I would lean towards Dinner for the Food (although Breakfast is great two and I am planning both on my upcoming trip). I would also get rid of T-Rex it is VERY loud and Overwhelming. My son loved it at 2.5 BUT I about had nervous breakdown in there it is that overwhelming. I literally had to get up and go outside for a few minutes. There are a lot of better options at Disney Springs. I hear Boma Food is amazing but your plan is very buffet heavy which got to us almost as much as to many character meals. So my reccommendations...
Dinners:
Via Napoli
*Be Our Guest
Crystal Palace
Ohana
Disney Springs any other Dinner Maybe Art Smith's Homecoming

Breakfasts:
Hollywood & Vine
Cinderellas Castle
Garden Grill
Ohana ( if you want 9 meals)

 

[disneyvoice]

We love character meals! Personally I don't think you can overdo character meals, especially since you have a little one. The only thing I would question is if you really want to do THAT many breakfast, regardless of whether they are character meals or not. We aren't really breakfast eaters and if we do eat breakfast we eat something small. I found on some past trips that I got so excited about all the restaurant options at WDW that I was making all these ADRs for breakfast when we aren't used to eating that much so early in the day and we were literally getting stuffed first thing in the morning which made the morning and afternoon miserable for us as we walked around the parks, like seriously uncomfortable. Now we only schedule maybe one breakfast at Crystal Palace and that's it. If we are hungry for breakfast we just grab something at our resort counter service, or more commonly find something small at a counter service in the park that we can carry around. It's so easy for me to overeat at a breakfast ADR and I would just really rather save me calories for something beside breakfast food. TS breakfast places at WDW are also so expensive compared to what most people actually spend on a small breakfast outside of WDW - I would also rather spend that extra money on a lunch or dinner at a restaurant that has something more exciting than breakfast foods. But, that's just me - some people are all about breakfast even when they aren't on vacation.

Looking at your list we prefer Chef Mickey's and Garden Grill for breakfast (although we haven't been to GG since they did away with my fish!!) and we like Crystal Palace better for breakfast (not sure why but CP just always seems like a breakfast place to me, which is why it is the one place we usually do breakfast.) On our next trip we are staying at AKL for the first time so we have decided to try breakfast at Boma since we hear a lot of good things about it but we also have our usual dinner ADR there as well. Boma is a must do for dinner for us but I think I could live without the breakfast just based upon the menu so we will see.

I agree with the PP that one thing to think about is the similarity of food at the various character meals. That is one thing I really think about and another reason we don't do many breakfasts. This is one reason we don't do Tusker House anymore - I think it is too similar to Boma but I think Boma is much better with a larger variety of items. I also don't do Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace during the same trip for the same meal but doing one for breakfast and one for dinner would be fine.

 

[Lisa F]

I've had 2.5 year olds FREAK out at characters...so I'd drop pretty much every meal with characters but 1 and then see how my kid does...

I disagree with this. Once you drop a popular character meal your chances of getting it back while on vacation are slim. I'd keep the ones you want but if your little one hates the characters be prepared to drop them at that point.

 

[Lisa F]

My child LOVES Characters meals and we did a trip with them at basically every meal and it just about got to us (adults and we were sick of buffets). I would Eliminate the similar meals I would just pick one of Garden Grill, Chef Mickeys, or Tusker house. If you have to pick one of the Ohana meals I would lean towards Dinner for the Food (although Breakfast is great two and I am planning both on my upcoming trip). I would also get rid of T-Rex it is VERY loud and Overwhelming. My son loved it at 2.5 BUT I about had nervous breakdown in there it is that overwhelming. I literally had to get up and go outside for a few minutes. There are a lot of better options at Disney Springs. I hear Boma Food is amazing but your plan is very buffet heavy which got to us almost as much as to many character meals. So my reccommendations...
Dinners:
Via Napoli
*Be Our Guest
Crystal Palace
Ohana
Disney Springs any other Dinner Maybe Art Smith's Homecoming

Breakfasts:
Hollywood & Vine
Cinderellas Castle
Garden Grill
Ohana ( if you want 9 meals)

I agree with this but I'd shift CP from dinner to breakfast and not do 'Ohana. 'Ohana is very similar to GG except with Stitch instead of Chip and Dale. we did both by request by my 8 year old but we did like 5 character meals in our 8 day trip (and it was not too much). The menus are very similar but we slightly preferred GG. I would not do both unless you want to see Chip and Dale AND Lilo and Stitch or were not limiting the number of meals you were doing (we did like 16TS meals in our trip, 2 a day, but if I had to cut it to half that I would not do both). Crystal Palace has a great breakfast and a mediocre dinner.

I'd also make CRT dinner instead of breakfast. Their breakfast menu is pretty uninspired and feels much more overpriced than dinner to me. Something so elegant about eating dinner in the castle. Wish my son would tolerate the princesses

And for the 9th I'd keep TH any meal with RoL package.

 

[Mykal Bent]

Thank you all so much for your help. I do think she will love the characters- she has had a few "knock-off character" experiences that have been really positive (and they even creeped me out!!), but I was definitely overwhelmed by the number of TS that we would be slaves too. It was easy when I could just haul DH around without much fear of a tantrum, but this is a new kind of trip! Haha
Anyway! Here is what I've decided:
Breakfasts:
-Crystal Palace (Pooh is her favourite, and hopefully we can get an early enough Res to have some empty Main Street pictures)
-Chef Mickeys (just to say we've done it, and to get some classic character dining in)
-Hollywood & Vine (because Sofia and Doc are a must for her as well)

Dinners:
-Be Our Guest (Belle is the favourite princess in this house, so being in her castle will be pretty cool and though I've eaten QS there (and loved it) my DH and DD have not. I also ate there the day of a nighttime RunDisney event so I know I didn't maximize the possibilities.)
-Boma (we felt the dinner menu seemed more adventurous than breakfast, and I think she (and we!) will really enjoy exploring the resort to see the animals)
-Via Napoli (although I see the reviews here aren't stellar, we've heard great of things. My husbands two picks were trying this place (he loves pizza) and revisiting TRex (which was an easy one for me to cut). So we opted to try something new.

We will also pop into the Wolfgang Puck Express while in Disney Springs. Thanks for this suggestion, Calee. I also forgot about Earle of Sandwich, so maybe that's dessert
That's it for now..but there's still three days of me changing me mind to come.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Lisa F]

Thank you all so much for your help. I do think she will love the characters- she has had a few "knock-off character" experiences that have been really positive (and they even creeped me out!!), but I was definitely overwhelmed by the number of TS that we would be slaves too. It was easy when I could just haul DH around without much fear of a tantrum, but this is a new kind of trip! Haha
Anyway! Here is what I've decided:
Breakfasts:
-Crystal Palace (Pooh is her favourite, and hopefully we can get an early enough Res to have some empty Main Street pictures)
-Chef Mickeys (just to say we've done it, and to get some classic character dining in)
-Hollywood & Vine (because Sofia and Doc are a must for her as well)

Dinners:
-Be Our Guest (Belle is the favourite princess in this house, so being in her castle will be pretty cool and though I've eaten QS there (and loved it) my DH and DD have not. I also ate there the day of a nighttime RunDisney event so I know I didn't maximize the possibilities.)
-Boma (we felt the dinner menu seemed more adventurous than breakfast, and I think she (and we!) will really enjoy exploring the resort to see the animals)
-Via Napoli (although I see the reviews here aren't stellar, we've heard great of things. My husbands two picks were trying this place (he loves pizza) and revisiting TRex (which was an easy one for me to cut). So we opted to try something new.

We will also pop into the Wolfgang Puck Express while in Disney Springs. Thanks for this suggestion, Calee. I also forgot about Earle of Sandwich, so maybe that's dessert
That's it for now..but there's still three days of me changing me mind to come.

Thanks everyone!

sounds like you've got it all settled! have a great trip!