My ADR day is a mere 5 weeks away and I need to buckle-down and come up with my dining list. We will be there for two-weeks on a 10-day ticket. Counting arrival and departure days we will have 5 rest days. We will drive to the parks and take mid-day breaks every day. We have park-hoppers. The idea is to be at a park at open and close. With the car and breaks we don’t have to buy food in Disney unless it is worthwhile compared to what we can get outside of Disney. Also, at the moment, I am strongly leaning toward our offsite reservation with a kitchen. We also don’t drink alcohol while at parks.
Food can be worthwhile because of :
characters,
atmosphere/experience,
being iconic while also being good, or
food that is just good.
The first two is easy to judge for myself, I might be missing some iconic, and I need help with food quality.
This is my list so far:
Characters in order of importance assuming that they are back
Princess Meal, either Aker or CRT assuming open and hugging princesses.
Crystal Place assuming Eeyore is there. I don’t care if they charge us $40 for a bowl of oatmeal.
Topolino’s for Mickey et.al
Trattoria for the two royal couples (might drop if tired of characters) But Flynn is so cute.
1900 for the evil godmother if we aren’t tired of characters (thinking departure day)
Atmosphere:
Oga’s, even though everything looks disgusting
Hoop De Doo Review, if back to normal
LTT if back to ala carte because I have a crush on Jefferson and also for the Toffee Cake
Misc. Food
Dole Whips at the Aloha bar
Mickey Waffles
Grey Stuff
Mickey Ice Cream Bar and Sandwich - might buy at grocery store.
Biergarten because we love German food
What should I add to the list? FOMO might be kicking in, and this is a one-and-done trip.
So I have some good news for you. Your adr day is going to be super easy! Bad news is literally Ogas and Topolinos are the only 2 you’ll need to make based on all your qualifiers.
Princess Meal, either Aker or CRT assuming open and hugging princesses.
CRT was fun, but Cindy is distanced and there isn’t any hugging. Akershus isn’t opened yet.
1900 for the evil godmother if we aren’t tired of characters (thinking departure day)
1900 Park Fare isn’t opened yet
Atmosphere:
Oga’s, even though everything looks disgusting
Dd and I just got non-alcoholic drinks and the experience was really great. I got a Cliff Dweller (w/o the Porg mug) and dd got the Hyperdrive. Both were delicious.
Hoop De Doo Review, if back to normal
Not back yet
LTT if back to ala carte because I have a crush on Jefferson and also for the Toffee Cake
Served family style. I was eager to try the Toffee Cake for the first time and was disappointed.
Well, I want to have reservations in place assuming they come back by Feb. As is today, Oga’s, Topolino’s and Biergarten really would probably be our only ADR’s. But Feb. is a long time away.
Because you said February here, wondering when your trip is? ADRs can now only be made 60 days in advance, for everyone, not 180 like it used to be. We are going at the end of January but my ADR day isn’t until Thanksgiving week. Just mentioning in case you have more time than you think to make decisions on priorities. I am also hoping that HDDR is open again in 2022!
Definitely CP. Eeyore will certainly be there unless something drastic has changed. Skip food at Oga’s and just get drinks. LTT is a good choice based on atmosphere/theme. Wonderful dessert, IMO. Definitely HDDR- hopefully they reopen. CRT over Akershus, IMO. No matter what - make an ADR for everything available, even if it’s a restaurant that’s not popular. The staffing shortage has put a strain on things.
I didn’t think characters were back at Crystal Palace yet.
IF 1900 Park Fare is open and assuming it is back to normal, dinner would be the Evil Stepmother and Stepsisters. I don’t know who the Evil Godmother is?
But as others have said - you could only make 3 of those reservations anyway right now. You can’t make reservations for a place not yet open. And ADRs are 60 days out.
Yes, technically we arrive end of January, but most of the trip is Feb. so that is how I think of it. I want to do a late Topolino’s breakfast on arrival day, so I have a leading reservation mainly for that. So 11/20 is my first ADR day.
Characters and food that is good: Topo’s breakfast
Ambience: Oga’s post park close (drinks only) and maybe add Sanaa at AKL (don’t know who is in your party but food is very good and seeing the animals is super fun)
Iconic: add Sleepy Hollow waffle, definitely the dole whip, I could take or leave the grey stuff and I LOVE cupcakes and frosting…I’d swap out for a cinnamon bun from Gaston’s tavern instead. Also, I think Festival of the Arts may still be going on when you are there so there may be some specialty foods in Epcot worth checking out.
