WDW Must & Must Not Do's

[kimbe]

Oh go to the DISigns forum on the disboards and have someone make you an image for a t-shirt. The kids loved theirs. Plain white shirts and ironon transfers and you have a great souvenier! Those people inspired us to make our own shirt for DS's first haircut!

[fivi2]

I love this thread! It's so helpful to see everyone's opinions, even though they are all so different!


Day 4-Chef Mickey's at 7. God awful early/not a convenient day, but the only one I could get, and I had to trade for it. I really want to do this one b/c DS loves the classic characters. I keep working on alternate days/times, but so far, this is as good as it gets. Then Epcot.

I think the classic characters are at Tusker House at Animal Kingdom (breakfast only). That is what we are doing - haven't gone yet, so no review! The ADRs were really easy to get. Well, I called way in advance, but when I called closer to and thought about moving them around, they still had some available.

I have heard great things about Chef Mickeys, so not trying to change your mind, just thought maybe Tusker would be easier for you to fit in if you do it on Animal Kingdom day!

I am also loving this thread - we are taking a really short first trip (with kids) next week!

[Momof3Labs]

Lori - I'd try to stay close to the park that you're visiting that day when you make your ressies. That will help you get to the park earlier, and will end up minimizing the time you spend in line (they are so much shorter in the AM vs. later in the day). As far as Chef Mickey's vs. Garden Grill, we've done CM twice and GG three times. CM is crazy - loud and busy - and the food is pretty mediocre. There are many characters, but they move fast through the tables. GG is quiet and peaceful, the characters linger a lot longer at your table, and the food IMO is much, much better. If you are choosing between those two, I'd definitely pick GG.

You also might want to rethink the 7am ADR unless you are REALLY early risers. If you are driving, you need to allow about a half hour, but if you are bussing it, you need to allow more like 45 minutes or so. That's an early morning (even for my early risers) at Disney! With the late evening ADRs, keep in mind that you'll probably be seated later than your ressie, then you have to order, wait for food, etc. I'd keep on calling for something earlier that evening (how about Coral Reef?).

[bnme]

I agree that 7am is crazy early. You will also see Mickey & Goofy at Ohanas breakfast. I did enjoy Chef Mickey's, though. I will also say for us the boys started to be less excited by the character meals toward the end of the trip (overkill?) but the first 1 or 2 were super exciting.

Other recs for EPCOT -we love the restaurant in Mexico. Atmosphere is GREAT. Spoodles is a short walk down the boardwalk and we love that too.

So many great things to do and see, I can't wait to go again.

My number one favorite momment in WDW with my kids was SpectroMagic. And our afternoon at the pool was alot of fun and a good break from the park. My DS must've rode down the slide 1000x.

Have a great trip!

[JTsMom]

Goofy is at Ohana's too? I hadn't heard that- hmmmm.

I've been calling Every. Single. Day. trying to get Tusker House, which I would actually prefer based on Lori's rec, but so far- nothing. Well, technically I do still have a res for our first day, but that's not going to work b/c we want to do MK that day.

You never know though- could still happen!

I've gone back and forth on the GG vs. CM thing, but I'd hate for DS to miss Goofy, Minnie and Donald- that's why TH would be ideal.

We are pretty early risers typically- we call DS the human fly b/c he never sleeps. I figured we'd have to leave around 6:15 to make CM, and normally we sleep until about 6:30, so we'll see. If we can't improve that res, I'll definitely skip Le Cellier and just do Italy instead.

[Momof3Labs]

You can see Goofy, Minnie and Donald (along with Chip, Dale, Pluto and Mickey) at the Epcot character meet and greet near Innoventions. Stand in line once and you can visit each of the characters (and take pics, get Photopass pics, get autographs, etc). If that makes your decision any easier on CM's!

Is Minnie at TH? I didn't think so. I thought that it was Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy, but maybe it has changed since we were there last December.

[JTsMom]

I don't know why I'm so set on the meals. I guess I'm worried about getting him to stand in line for long enough to do the character interactions.

And I think you're right about Minnie and TH. WHY, why is this so difficult?!?!?!

How was your trip btw?

[clc053103]

Having just traveled there with a 3 year old, i can tell you that I think your schedule looks great (I am a big planner too!)- and your plan to break for rest in the afternoon is a good one, we napped every afternoon which led to happy evenings with a well rested child.

One thing about the character meals- has DS been exposed to characters before?? My DS was terrified of all except Chip and Dale (Garden Grill was a good meal for us!) So it never really mattered if characters were at these meals, because he wanted nothing to do with them.

I would stick with Chef Mickeys for classic characters. Tusker House at AK definitely didn't have Minnie Mouse (only saw Donald, Daisy and Mickey there), and honestly I think it was the worst meal we had the entire week.

As for your birthday dinner, we really loved dinner in Italy, though Le Cellier is supposed to be wonderful, the waiters in Italy were so fanastic with the kids that I would go back there in a second.

Have a wonderful trip!

[JTsMom]

Thanks for the input! I think he's going to looove the characters. We've seen non-Disney characters, and he's really enjoyed them. He also went running up to someone's giant inflatable Mickey at Halloween and hugged and kissed it about a hundred times. LOL He keeps telling me he's going to give Mickey a big hug when he sees him. We'll see if this actually holds true, but he is pretty fearless in general about these sorts of things.


Thanks for the TH tip too- maybe I'll just give up on that one and focus on making CM's work instead. Good to know about Italy too. I've heard so many mixed reviews on all of the Epcot places that I don't know what to think. And when it comes down to it- it's just food! I can't believe how much time I've devoted to ADR's. I need an intervention.

[JTsMom]

Oh go to the DISigns forum on the disboards and have someone make you an image for a t-shirt. The kids loved theirs. Plain white shirts and ironon transfers and you have a great souvenier! Those people inspired us to make our own shirt for DS's first haircut!

Kim,
I've been working on a bunch of Disney things- I'll post some pics eventually. So far I've made a bunch of Mickey PJ's, and one set of Cars ones, a surfing Mickey tropical style shirt for DH, and I'm currently working on coordinating ones for DS and me for our Ohana's day. I'm appliqueing them. Have you seen the disboutique groups pics? Those women are amazing! I'm a total amateur, but it's still fun.