Arrival day dinner?

[fivi2]

Me again :)

So, I thought ADR time was 90 days out, but apparently it is 180 - so I need to get on this! Last year we did and loved Tusker House and Crystal Palace. Those are still in the running for this trip, but one may get bumped...

Looking for arrival day dinner ideas (on a sunday)- we are staying at Ft. Wilderness, but will have park tickets (don't have firm plans to go to any park that day, but it was so cheap to add the extra day I went ahead and did it. So we can enter a park if we want to). Not sure what time we will arrive, we will be in the area the night before, but possibly having lunch with relatives before heading out to wdw.

We aren't that into princesses yet. Love Tink, but she doesn't have a meal. My girls will be 4.5 at time of trip. Know the classic characters, pooh, the playhouse disney people... I think that is it.

My thoughts:

HDDR (too old for them?)
Mickey's Backyard BBQ (not great reviews on the dis)
Chef Mickey's - too chaotic?
Crystal Palace that night, see castle? But will it be too overwhelming to go into MK late in the day and not get to see everything? I had been thinking we'd do Crystal Palace as a late lunch on our last day right before we leave wdw. I think that is a better idea, but can probably be convinced otherwise...
I am not willing to spend the money on CRT (even if we could get in) since my girls aren't into princesses (they do love the castle though :) )

What am I forgetting? Any thoughts?
Thanks!

(I did say I'd be asking a lot of questions! ;))

[deenass]

I LOVE the Hoopdy Doo Revue, I remember seeing it when I was a kid (and I think it may still be the same show :).

We took DS to see it when he went right before his 3rd bday. He LOVED it!

Chef Mickey is also a good option as you know everyone will get some "face time" with the characters so it kind of takes the pressure off to have that out of the way. We usually do a character dinner the night we arrive for just that reason.

[egoldber]

It doesn't have to be a character meal. :)

I assume you have the dining plan?

There is a low key Cinderella and Friends meal at 1900 Park Faire (GF) for dinner.

Other places we like are Beaches&Cream on the Boardwalk, SciFi Dine-in Theater at DHS, and Liberty Tree Tavern in the MK. Epcot has a lot of good choices: Garden Grille in Epcot, Biergarten and the English pub (I forget it's name). The Mexican restaurant in the pyramid is also fun.

[bnme]

I would do the BBQ since it is at Ft. Wilderness and just stay there to swim. I've read the so-so reviews but it sounds like fun to me. If I had a car I may do Ohana or Chef Mickeys and just monrail it to the park for the parade.

[fivi2]

No dining plan - just doing a few table service meals, so it doesn't seem worth it. But I hear so much conflicting info on that... (and just you asking me that makes me wonder if I am making the right call ... ;) )

Right now, I am hoping to get - a breakfast at Tusker House, a lunch at Crystal palace. Maybe an arrival day dinner, and maybe a table service at EPCOT. But probably not all 4 of those (I'd like to keep it to 2 or maybe 3 big meals), I need to figure out what is most important... The rest of the meals will be at cabin or counter service (or pack food in to parks).

aarrgghhh! :)

Thanks for the ideas!

[egoldber]

LOL! Well, I am pretty firmly in the anti-dining plan camp, but I feel pretty alone there, hence my assumption. Sorry to make you doubt yourself!

[JTsMom]

Did you say you're staying for 5 days? If so, I would not do the dining plan b/c you probably won't want to do that many table service meals, unless you decide you want to do HDDR, and maybe 1 other signature meal (which I think CRT is) b/c that might work out to be cheaper (do the math though).

I'd vote for HDDR personally. I think most younger children enjoy it- my DS did at 3.5 and this year at 4.5. There is a lot of singing and dancing, and some corny humor. Towards the end, they do a singing/shouting/stomping type of competition between both sides of the hall, which the kids love. At the very end, they give all of the kids washboards to play, which was the highlight of the evening for DS. :) IIRC, youtube has some footage so you can see it for yourself.

The food is good, but not great. They serve everything family style- fried chicken, ribs, beans, mashed potatoes and strawberry shortcake. Some cocktails are included as well.

If you do decide to do it, try to get the 5:00 show if your kids are early risers. It lasts about an hour and a half, and it's kind of a big ordeal- kwim? You have to show up early, wait to be seated, blah blah blah.

ETA: My next choices would be 1900 PF, Ohana or Garden Grille. I wouldn't plan on really doing a park (maybe a ride or 2, or just look around or something, unless you're there pretty early- I like that first day to get organized, explore the resort, and rest up.

[JTsMom]

LOL! Well, I am pretty firmly in the anti-dining plan camp, but I feel pretty alone there, hence my assumption. Sorry to make you doubt yourself!

You know, even I will likely skip it next time! Now that we've done a lot of the restaurants, it won't be such a big deal to do TS. We'll see. I still like the character meals, but most of the rest of it was just meh. It was free though! LOL

[egoldber]

I like the meals OK, I just don't like being so tied down to reservations. Having to know where I want to eat months in advance and what parks I want to be at when...no thanks. It's just too stressful for me.

ETA: And it's only "free" if you would have eaten that many table service meals anyway.

[billysmommy]

And appetizers aren't included while desserts are......we always get appetizers and very rarely desserts so we would have ended up paying oop for the apps and our "adult drinks" anyway

[JTsMom]

We were already booked for the TS when I got the PIN, so definitely free for us! I did the math every way, and it was the biggest possible discount for us since we were staying at POP. We did end up skipping one of the TS and were able to use the credit at the food court instead.

[fivi2]

Thanks again! I feel better about not doing the dining plan :) especially if we plan to cook in the cabin, it just seems like overkill.

I think right now I am down to deciding between moving Crystal Palace to arrival day - wandering around MK just to see a few things (the castle!) and eating dinner. or just staying out at the resport and doing the HDDR. It will probably depend on what I can get at this time! That will leave our last day open to go back to whichever park we want instead of being tied down to Crystal Palace/Magic Kingdom.
I also think I will sign up for either TGM or Touringplans and check crowd calendars, etc...

Thanks for the input :)