Hi, I need your help, again!
I have end up with a tons of dinning reservations and now I have to choose as I only want one per day. Could you please help me to figure out which are the best ones? I’m going with my DD3 and DD5, I write down all my plans so you can tell me if I have too many princesses but my choices are on day 2 and day 4
Day 1 (pals): chef Mickey (dinner)
Day 2 (pala vs princesses): akershus (breakfast at 8/ lunch 12:30/ dinner:5:25) or garden grill at 5:15
Day 3 (pals): ROL tusker house
Day 4 (pals vs princesses): 1900 fare park (4pm) or crystal palace (6pm)
Day 5(pals): Minnie H&V
Day 6 (princesses): CRT
Unless you have a hard core Cinderella fan or neither of the girls even likes Winnie the Pooh then I’d choose CP over 1900 PF, just because that’s pretty much the only characters you haven’t doubled up on. I think the dinner at 1900 PF is a little better and it’s the only chance to see the stepsisters, but it’s also outside the park, which means it’s going to take you longer and you’re already going to see Cinderella (and get the photo package) at CRT.
I personally really dislike Chef Mickey’s for dinner… I think the food is terrible and it’s just loud and hands down the worst character meal there is, so since you’re going to see all of those same characters between TH and H&V, I’d skip it and choose Akershus breakfast and Garden Grill dinner on your Epcot day. Also, with little girls, Epcot is likely to be the park where you actually have time for 2 TS meals in one day.
Possibly look into the bon voyage breakfast at the boardwalk, it’s Ariel/Prince Eric & Rapunzel / Flynn Rider, if you are looking for a unique princess meet. Otherwise with what you have I’d choose
Garden grill over akershus, I felt way too rushed at akershus and the food was okay but a little weird for my dd.
I’d probably pick 1900 over the crystal palace, unless the kids are big Pooh and friends fans, then I’d choose it.
To me it’s a lot nicer to meet the princesses at meal time than waiting in line through out the park so I guess it just depends on how many times you want to see the princesses
My first thought is “Wow, that’s a lot of character dinners.” If you want a kid friendly TS that’s not characters, try Biergarten. My kids loved the music and they danced on the dance floor with other kids.
Hi @jcgoblue that’s actually one of my main worries! I really don’t know if it’s going to be a once in our life experience so I want to do everything! I have read that little kids are really into characters experiences (my kids are turning 3 and 5 just 2 weeks before going to WDW) but I don’t know if I’m getting too much!! @cjandandrea actually It was also in my initial plan as they love both Ariel and Rapunzel (and Eric, not that much into Flynn, don’t ask me why) but I’m staying in the Poly and we are early birds so we wanted to take advantage during the first hours (we will nap also around noon), is it worthy? Is it easy to go to other park that day? @Nikkipoooo wasn’t expecting this on chef Mickey! I thought it was a must! I may change then 1900 to Sunday (if available, as it’s The Christmas party it may difficult to find something out of MK) @kadmgs just checked the menu! Thanks for the advice!!!
Almost forgot! I was also planning to use some FP on meet and greet - that’s definitely too much, right?
I would say it’s too much, but you know your own kids best. My girls were 5 and 3 when we took them the first time. We did 1900 Park Fare and they were…unsure about the whole thing. Your kids might love character meals, but they might not. I’d mix it up a bit. I know there are posts on other kid favorites, but Biergarten really was a great atmosphere. Whispering Canyon, maybe?
In my experience, the in-park M&Gs tend to be more fun and interactive. There’s also the benefit of having Photopass photogs taking photos, if you’re getting Memory Maker. You can also find some different ones than you’ll have in the meals (Tinkerbell, Anna/Elsa, and Olaf are the standouts there). The trade off is that you have to wait or use FPP, but if you’re not planning on riding the roller coasters then you’ll have more time for those things anyway.
If you wanted to dial it back a bit on the characters, then I think I’d drop Akershus and Chef Mickey’s (rather than skip in-park M&Gs), because you’re seeing most of those characters elsewhere in places that have better food.
I would say Crystal Palace over 1900 park fare. Food is good, characters are so much fun and the building is prettier to look at. Park Fare dining room is lackluster, which surprises me since it’s at the GF. We had dinner there though and the character are a lot of fun as well. Cinderella and Prince Charming were meh because they have to be good but we all had a hoot with the step mother and step sisters.
When we took my daughter who was almost 5 at the time we hit MK all 3 days and just character dined it up and it was a lot of fun. Chef Mickeys and CP for breakfast, Park Fare and BOG for dinner. For lunches we mostly snacked but tried to hit up a few interesting places that were fun to look at but no characters. We did it as her little once in a lifetime. Chef Mickeys for breakfast was definitely fun but we met most of the characters at other spots so I would pick Pooh and friends over that and maybe keep Park Fare and CRT.
Now we are going and DD7 and bringing our son who will be turning 4. So we’re hitting Tusker House, CRT, CP cause we love pooh, but then also hitting Via Napoli since he’s a pizza freak and the Kona so we can walk around the Poly and check out that building (Moana!) I say character dine and princess it up if that’s her thing.
During our last trip in 2012, my son was 4 (he turned 4 while we were there). We did all character meals for our table services during that trip. We visited Tusker House (breakfast), Hollywood & Vine (lunch), Crystal Palace (lunch), Backyard BBQ, Chef Mickeys (breakfast). I definitely do not feel like he was tired of the character meals at all.
Have you done other ‘character’ interactions with them before? Our last trip DS2 hated the characters (with the exception of a few). We were on the deluxe dining plan so it wasn’t as much of an issue, but many of the character meals have mediocre food for premium pricing. I would recommend trying out some local M&Gs to see how they do. Otherwise your time/money might be better spent elsewhere until they’re older!
Hi @Jenboston it’s our first time for everything, it may sound weird but no characters and no roller coasters experience at all!!! I have book a fastpass for Tinker the first day to see how do they handle it… and I have also show them a lot of pictures of the character insisting on how big they are and so. The ones at the street doesn’t seem to scare them but we have never come closer, don’t ask me why… @bamabelle1982 I think I’m gonna try, I’ll try to go the first day to 1900 and see how they react… I really wish they love it!!!
Thank you so much for your advice!!! You can’t imagine how helpful you’ve been!!!