Where do you eat your first night at WDW?

[Aubsmama]

I'm trying to plan our WDW trip with my daughter (age 4), my mom, and husband. My husband and I went to WDW about 5 years ago, but this will be my daughter's and mom's first trip! They are both so excited!!

So I am wondering, where would you eat the first night you are in WDW? (We will be on the DDP.)

 

[daisyduck123]

We usually have an ADR for dinner at the resort we are staying at. That way, we are not rushing around after getting into our room.

 

[si-am]

We drive down, and usually don't arrive until 2 or 3pm, so we don't go to the parks the first day.

Usually, we'll go to DTD and have dinner there, although sometimes we'll go to a resort restaurant. We ate at Cape May our first night of the last trip.

It really just depends on what you want to get out of that day: how tired you are, if you just want to relax around your resort, hassle with transportation, etc.

 

[wyoears]

We usually don't have a ticket to a park the day we get there, so we eat at DTD. There are many different resteraunts to choose from. It all depends on your schedule and how tired you are after a day of traveling.

 

[pixarmom]

How exciting to plan your daughter's first trip!

We have three boys, ages pre-school to pre-teen, and their favorite restaurant (and our arrival night tradition for well over 10 years) is the Garden Grill. Whether we're staying in the MK area or the Epcot resort area, we head to Epcot on arrival day. We really enjoy the food at Garden Grill and our kids meet Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale on the very first night. It's one of the most low key character meals at WDW (especially if you request a semi-circle booth on the lower level) and it's served family style, so you can sit, relax and not juggle plates for a buffet. If you haven't already seen the menu, here's a link: http://allears.net/menu/menu_gg.htm

We've always thought Garden Grill is a particularly good choice for first visits because the character interaction there is great, but if your little one doesn't warm up to them right away, they move along and you don't see them around the restaurant so much from the booths.

After dinner at GG, we do a few rides (Nemo, Spaceship Earth and the Mexico ride are on the top of our pre-schooler's list!) and then walk around World Showcase. Then we start the next day (our first full day at WDW) at MK bright and early with the opening show at rope drop!

Have a great trip and happy planning!

 

[Wishes]

We always eat at Chef Mickey's.

 

[Tinkerbell2B]

We usually stick to the resort for dinner the first night. This time we are at the Poly, so we are going to the Spirit of Aloha dinner show. We generally don't go to the parks on the first day we arrive knowing we have an week packed full of early rising and lots of fun!!

 

[MistressMerryweather]

Even though the food is not 5 star, we always do a character dinner the first day we are there to kick off our trip with loads of Disney-ness. We are going to 1900 Park Fare for the Cinderella dinner the day we arrive in February. I actually love the food there.

 

[CathieArms]

My personal preference is to kick off the trip with a character meal, but it just isn't going to work out for us to do that this time.

With a little girl, I might do Akershus at Epcot or maybe the Cinderella dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

 

[Colleen27]

We make an ADR we won't be heartbroken (or charged a no-show/cancellation fee) if we miss, just because of the possibility of flight delays and such.

Every time we start planning I think how nice it would be to start out with Cali Grill, because it is a family favorite, but then I think back and realize that 2 trips out of 4 we've ended up canceling our arrival-night reservation, either because our flight was late or because we were just plain too tired to go anywhere after a long travel day.

 

[kkgordon02]

I was having the same question and decided if my kids could pick, they would pick Chef Mickey's, so that's where I made a reservation. Plus we all love the Contemporary. It's fun to ride the monorail after for fun and to get psyched for the next morning. I like the other suggestions of having a tradition, too!

 

[Sweet Melissa]

We have certain habits about how we travel to Disney. We always take the earliest flight we can get, which usually means our plane touches down in Orlando before ten AM. I know some people like to relax at their resort the first day, but we feel that the best way to start a Disney vacation is by visiting the Magic Kingdom, so we grab lunch and get there as quickly as possible. However, we think that the Magic Kingdom's dinner offerings leave a lot to be desired, so we always have dinner at a monorail resort our first night. Our last trip it was California Grill, which is a fantastic way to begin a vacation.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

We always head to Chef Mickeys to start our trip off. I like to do that because after dinner it's fun to skip over to the MK for Wishes.

 

[L-Harper]

We are going on our first Disney vacation in September and our first night we're going to Chef Mickey's and then Wishes after. It sounds like that is what everyone does.

 

[Pixiedust34]

The answer to that question would depend upon how early you are arriving and where you plan to be (at the resort? in a park?) late afternoon and into the evening.

Unless we have a very early arrival, we will plan on a relaxing counter service for our 1st meal and then will schedule special meals later in the trip. Travel delays may cause you to miss an ADR if you're cutting it close. You'll have the whole rest of your trip for lots of good meals.

If you have an early (before noon, let's say) arrival, pick the park you will visit that afternoon and try to eat at a restaurant there or at a resort close to that park.

 

[Hopefully]

I think it depends on how tired you are from a day of travel. It can be very tiring.
This year we have the first flight to Orlando. We leave at 7 AM which means I will be up a little after 4 AM. But we are scheduled to arrive at 10:10, so we should be at the resort early.
We have taken this flight before and we stay at the BCV. So we are usually in Epcot for a CS lunch. We head back to the Villa around 5 to rest and receive a grocery delivery and then usually have an ADR in a WS restaurant about 7:30. This year I think it will be Rose & Crown. But we are all adults travelling.
But as others have said, flight delays can throw a wrench in the best laid plans. I would not schedule an ADR if you are going to have to stress about making it. Also, with little ones, an early night might be best.
Good Luck planning.

 

[mkleinbe]

For us, we always hit Epcot on our first day- which is our travel day. Our must do is Le Cellier for dinner. Without knowing what your travel plans are,I can't make any recommendations for you. Will you be going to a park or sticking to the resort? What time will you be in the World?

 

[2kids2luv]

We love to start at Chef Mickey's since we don't usually go to a park the first day. Take a bus to the MK so your DD can get a glimpse of the castle and go for a fun ride on the monorail. 1900 Park Fare would also be fun if you aren't doing another princess meal.

 

[NMW]

We do the same thing every year. We check into an Epcot resort early (10-11 AM) grab our tickets, grab a quick lunch at ESPN, go into Epcot and walk around the countries, come back for an early dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse. After dinner we walk into Epcot and see Illuminations. It's a perfect first night in WDW for our family.

 

[danielephant]

we are eating at the coral reef, because i think that even with all the excitement the fist tank will keep my daughter quiet for the entire meal! lol...i see that it has lots of really bad reviews but it was my hubby's fav. as a child and i have never been to any park but MK so i am excited...and we are on the dinning plan so if it is a zonk...live and learn