Which dining combo would you choose?

[PlutoIsHerFav]

I have all of my ADRs booked for our 8 night August trip. However, I'm still tweaking plans, which could continue to change until we have FP! However, right now, which would you choose:

• 1900 PF dinner and H&V Minnie's Seasonal Dine F! package OR
• Chef Mickey dinner (or breakfast) and Mama Melrose F! package?

Some background: kids are Minnie (& friends) obsessed and my 6 yo's only dining request is CM (we did breakfast last year). I think she'd be fine with H&V, though, since essentially the same characters. We'll be staying in the Contemporary for the first half of the trip so she'll see CM and be reminded! We have not done any of the other three restaurants. We are doing CRT, but I planned on 1900 for the step sisters and an excuse to check out the GF. My kids love Italian and Mama Melrose gives us a non buffet, but one less character meal! We're doing a split stay with CR and YC so when we use the credits matter. I had planned on 50's PT for our HS day but want to see Fantasmic! and was advised the dining package was the best bet without using up FP.

Current lineup (will drop 3):
CRT dinner
CM breakfast (may drop or change to dinner)
Garden Grill ppo breakfast
Ohana dinner
Storybook Dining (with reviews I'm pretty sure I'll drop it and keep Ohana)
1900 PF dinner (could drop)
H&V Minnie's Seasonal Dine lunch Fantasmic! package
Teppan Edo dinner
Trattoria al Forno dinner
Cape May breakfast

 

[SG131]

1900 Park Fare is really nice, so I would probably go that route. Just so you know, the fantasmic arena is pretty big, you really don’t NEED the dining package. I walked into the show 10 min late because I had to ride TOT at night and I still got a spot. So if you really prefer the food at 50s prime time go for it.

 

[PlutoIsHerFav]

1900 Park Fare is really nice, so I would probably go that route. Just so you know, the fantasmic arena is pretty big, you really don’t NEED the dining package. I walked into the show 10 min late because I had to ride TOT at night and I still got a spot. So if you really prefer the food at 50s prime time go for it.

Thank you! We didn't go to HS last summer, so I'm really not sure what to expect. 50's PT just seemed fun. We'll be doing EMM that morning and it's our resort switch day, so a mid-afternoon nap will be required! We'll have breakfast with EMM around 9:45, so I currently have a 2 pm H&V ADR, but I think my kids may be toast before then...

 

[SG131]

Thank you! We didn't go to HS last summer, so I'm really not sure what to expect. 50's PT just seemed fun. We'll be doing EMM that morning and it's our resort switch day, so a mid-afternoon nap will be required! We'll have breakfast with EMM around 9:45, so I currently have a 2 pm H&V ADR, but I think my kids may be toast before then...

In my opinion 50s has the best food of the choices at HS. However, I understand not wanting to lose a character meal. Character meals are a lot easier than standing in a long line waiting for meet and greets! Maybe Chef Mickey and 50s Prime Time would be your best combo especially since you're staying in the contemporary. I could see that being hard for your daughter to pass by and not go to.

 

[DISNEY1975]

I would do as many character meals as possible. Your kids can eat Italian at home. They cant have dinner with Mickey

 

[KenHutch]

Well ever since the step-sisters fought over me as a single dad and argued over what school my daughter was going to be sent to 1900 Park Fare has been a sentimental favorite. Never had to get tickets to see Fantasmic so that never been an issue for us. Now my 18 year old loves the chocolate peanut butter cake at 50's so much it is on the schedule of meals for 2 and possibly 3 times (we do deluxe).

 

[PlutoIsHerFav]

Thank you all! I think you're right - characters trump food every time, at least while my girls are young!

Is 50's PT worth paying out of pocket for? Our last day is currently "open". I figure since we'll be at YC we'll either use it for Epcot or HS (or both), but if the girls really want more time at MK or AK we can do that too. It'll also depend on how the FP situation plays out. Right now I have a Teppan Edo or Trattoria ADR scheduled for our last day, but I could change it to or just add 50's PT, or technically another character meal. We've done Bon Voyage and Akershus, but could repeat or do H&V (& keep Chef Mickey earlier in our trip). So many (all good) choices!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I wouldn't plan your trip around the Fantasmic package. My family of 5 was able to pick up FPs in the evening no problem. Just refresh each person one at a time and it really only took maybe max 4 refreshes per person for that FP to show up. At that point, Olaf, Star Tours, Mickie and Minnie greet were all walk-on so you could do plenty without FP while waiting to use it at Fantasmic.

We went character heavy, too, because 5 year olds. Some of my girls' favorite greets were the step sisters (in-park) and the queen and dwarfs at Storybook Dining. 1900 PF and Artist Point are definitely worth it for those characters.

You've got quite a bit of character overlap between Cape May bfast, CM, H&V lunch/dinner, and GG PPO. I'd probably knock out 1-2 of those if you're trying to narrow down.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Do you have a Beaches and Cream reservation? My kids loved it there when they were younger..actually still do today

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Do you have a Beaches and Cream reservation? My kids loved it there when they were younger..actually still do today

They're going under refurb early August through the fall.

 

[PlutoIsHerFav]

Do you have a Beaches and Cream reservation? My kids loved it there when they were younger..actually still do today

Unfortunately, B&C closes down for refurb during our stay but before our move to YC. We did it several years ago and had planned to do it again for our pool day.

 

[PlutoIsHerFav]

I wouldn't plan your trip around the Fantasmic package. My family of 5 was able to pick up FPs in the evening no problem. Just refresh each person one at a time and it really only took maybe max 4 refreshes per person for that FP to show up. At that point, Olaf, Star Tours, Mickie and Minnie greet were all walk-on so you could do plenty without FP while waiting to use it at Fantasmic.

We went character heavy, too, because 5 year olds. Some of my girls' favorite greets were the step sisters (in-park) and the queen and dwarfs at Storybook Dining. 1900 PF and Artist Point are definitely worth it for those characters.

You've got quite a bit of character overlap between Cape May bfast, CM, H&V lunch/dinner, and GG PPO. I'd probably knock out 1-2 of those if you're trying to narrow down.

Great points! Maybe we need to just not worry about the F! package unless we're going to do H&V regardless. It seems like the consensus is that it's not hard to get in with FP or not.

There is definitely a ton of character overlap!! We haven't told our girls that we're definitely going yet. I feel like I need to so I can get input, at least from my older (will be 7 yo), but am not ready for to be asked daily when we're leaving! They are definitely both huge Minnie fangirls - it's intense. LOL! My youngest also loves Pluto. My oldest is done with princesses (but will still be excited for pictures and hugs) and my youngest is just getting into them. However, all she wants to see is Jack Jack...I'm hoping Mr Incredible and Elastigirl will do, lol.

So your girls loved Storybook Dining? I think it'd have to be that OR 1900. I picked Ohana for my husband. I could drop it since I do all the planning, but... UGH! I love the planning, but it's hard to make certain decisions!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Great points! Maybe we need to just not worry about the F! package unless we're going to do H&V regardless. It seems like the consensus is that it's not hard to get in with FP or not.

There is definitely a ton of character overlap!! We haven't told our girls that we're definitely going yet. I feel like I need to so I can get input, at least from my older (will be 7 yo), but am not ready for to be asked daily when we're leaving! They are definitely both huge Minnie fangirls - it's intense. LOL! My youngest also loves Pluto. My oldest is done with princesses (but will still be excited for pictures and hugs) and my youngest is just getting into them. However, all she wants to see is Jack Jack...I'm hoping Mr Incredible and Elastigirl will do, lol.

So your girls loved Storybook Dining? I think it'd have to be that OR 1900. I picked Ohana for my husband. I could drop it since I do all the planning, but... UGH! I love the planning, but it's hard to make certain decisions!

I waited quite a while to tell my girls to avoid the daily questions, too.

We originally had 'Ohana in there as well, but dropped it. Hubby loved the prime rib at Storybook, so he was fine with the substitution. My girls had gotten really into the dwarfs just before our trip, they walked around singing Heigh Ho daily, so we fit this in. I've heard that a lot of the fun stuff for kids at ohana has been really scaled back, and we weren't sure they'd enjoy it. No matter how good the food is, meals are no fun when the kids aren't having it.

We also have a Brazilian steakhouse here that's free for kids 6 and under. So, our family of 5 can have a similar experience to ohana, with a larger meat selection and better cuts, for half the price. We decided to focus on things that we couldn't get anywhere else, thus the character meal heavy trip.

 

[epcotobsessed]

H&V was by far our worst dining experience at Disney. The food is below school cafeteria quality. I would recommend literally any restaurant over it, including quick service places.

 

[PlutoIsHerFav]

I waited quite a while to tell my girls to avoid the daily questions, too.

We originally had 'Ohana in there as well, but dropped it. Hubby loved the prime rib at Storybook, so he was fine with the substitution. My girls had gotten really into the dwarfs just before our trip, they walked around singing Heigh Ho daily, so we fit this in. I've heard that a lot of the fun stuff for kids at ohana has been really scaled back, and we weren't sure they'd enjoy it. No matter how good the food is, meals are no fun when the kids aren't having it.

We also have a Brazilian steakhouse here that's free for kids 6 and under. So, our family of 5 can have a similar experience to ohana, with a larger meat selection and better cuts, for half the price. We decided to focus on things that we couldn't get anywhere else, thus the character meal heavy trip.

Thank you! I will think harder on the Ohana vs Storybook dining! Right now the Ohana ADR is at a better time for us, but there should be enough time to modify Storybook to an earlier time.

H&V was by far our worst dining experience at Disney. The food is below school cafeteria quality. I would recommend literally any restaurant over it, including quick service places.

Yikes! This is definitely one of my concerns. I mean, characters are most important but the food at least has to be edible (and good options for my child with Celiac/gf). Can you compare to Chef Mickey?

 

[nkereina]

I would lean towards Chef Mickey's and Mama Melrose. You're doing a lot of character meals already, so I think its nice to mix it up with a non-character meal. Character meals can be loud, busy, and not relaxing since you're constantly on the watch for characters to come by and your meal gets interrupted for photos, autographs, etc. Because of this, they are also very time consuming. Also, 1900 PF but I'm not sure I'd do that in the same trip as CRT. Just personal preference.

 

[epcotobsessed]

Chef Mickey's food is not the best but it is significantly better than H&V.