Where to eat first night?

[labdogs42]

We are going to be arriving in Disney on May 13 (a Saturday). Our flight will get in around 1pm. Our party is me, DH, and DS (15 months). I'm figuring we'll stop at the grocery store to pick up some snacks, etc, check in at the Beach Club and probably hang out around the hotel that afternoon and hope we can get DS to take a nap. Then I want to do dinner! Should we do dinner at the hotel or venture to a park? I want to make ADR's, but I need ideas. I made an ADR for Yachtsman for Sunday night, but maybe we should do that the first night when we don't have anything else planned? Thoughts?

 

[disneynutt1225]

It depends on your park pass situation. Do you have an AP? If so, you might want to head into the parks to eat. If you have a MYW ticket, you might not want to "waste" a day on the pass to spend an evening in the park. We enjoy eating at the Cape May Cafe our first (and sometimes last) nights there when we're staying at the Beach Club.

There's also a number of dining options on the Boardwalk, depending on what you're craving. You might want to switch your ADR for Yachtsman's Steakhouse to your arrival night - are you going into the park on Sunday?

You also mention that you want your son to take a nap. If you arrive at 1pm, that should put you into your hotel by 2:30. Then they might not have a room available for you, so you might have to hang out until 4pm. If that's the case, your son, depending on how long he sleeps might not be ready to go until after 6pm. By that point, I would probably just plan on eating in the hotel or on the boardwalk so that you're not worrying about how long it takes to get into one of the parks to eat.

That's just my $.02.

 

[surf2di4]

I AGREE with disneynutt1225 except that with WS a short walk away thats also a option. just my 2 cents..

surf2di4

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

A nice place to try would be Spoodles over at the Boardwalk. It is a nice walk around the lake from the BC.

I agree with the above poster .. unless you have APs, I would not go in a park.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Agreed, unless you have an AP, don't use up a day's admission just to eat if you weren't already planning on going into a park anyway and you need the day for another time.

If you have an AP or a day's admission you want to use for that night you could always head into World Showcase. Lot's of really good options, including Le Cellier and Chefs de France, among others. Plus you'd get to enjoy World Showcase for the evening, explore the countries, take in some entertainment.......and see Illuminations, nice way to start the vacation. On our last trip we arrived at the BC for check in around noon. Relaxed around the hotel for much of the afternoon, hit the pool, then headed over to Epcot in the early evening. It was nice......but easy for us to do since we have Annual Passes.

If you don't want to use an admission day that evening you have a couple of options.

You have a lot of nice places right at the hotel. Beaches and Cream is a fun place for burgers and sundaes. As you mentioned, you could go to the Yacht Club. As others have mentioned, there are good options on the Boardwalk, or at the Swan/Dolphin. If you aren't going into Epcot keep in mind that you can see a lot of the Illumonations fireworks from the bridge that leads over the canal to the Boardwalk. The fireworks are at 9:00 and you should catch some of that.

Another nice option would be to head over to a MK resort for dinner. One night on our last trip we had dinner at the GF (the dinner buffet at 1900 Park Fare is great) and caught the MK fireworks from the deck/dock at the GF. They pipe the music in and it's another nice way to start the vacation without using admission. You might even catch the Electrical Water Pageant. There are lots of other nice options at the monorail resorts as well. Of course to do any of this you'd have to get yourself over there. Without a car it might not be worth the effort, although you could take a bus from the BC to the MK and then enjoy the monorail ride to whichever resort you pick for dinner. The GF is a beautiful resort to see if you've never seen it.

 

[TerriBelle]

We usually don't go to the parks the 1st day so we make a reservation at a hotel that we want to visit. One year we had dinner at AKL. This worked great! We walked to MGM and took a bus from MGM to AKL. We ate and the kids loved watching the animals and checking out the playground. Another year we went to Chef Mickey's the 1st night to get in the mood! We rode the monorail and checked out the other resorts.

 

[KimR]

We like to eat at Downtown Disney our first night. Our favorite is Portobello Yacht Club, but there are other options as well. We usually have dinner, go shopping at World of Disney, then get a hot fudge sundae ag Ghiradelli's. It a great way to start out our vacation!

 

[Jennifer_Jayhawk]

How much time do you give to get from the airport to the hotel? I am in the same boat as far as wanting to make ADR for the first night. If our flight got in on time at 1:15 p.m. about what time do you think we would actually get to our hotel, POR?

 

[Kae]

Chef Mickey's. Then ride the Monorail.

Kae

 

[MariDisney]

I know you want a table service restaurant, so this doesn't answer your question....BUT...we ALWAYS eat our first dinner at the UK in EPCOT. We get the counter service fish and chips and find a nice spot to sit and people watch.

30 days and counting...

 

[labdogs42]

I don't have AP's, but we have 7 day Magic Your Way Park Hopper tickets for our 7 day trip, so I can use the day no problem. I was thinking we would probably go into Epcot for at least part of the evening.

I guess I should know this, but where is Chef Mickey's?

 

[surf2di4]

Cm's
Contemporary Hotel