Dining @ Disney

[NorthernON_MOM]

What is up with this priority seating thing. Do we have to call and do this for every single meal for every day of our stay before we go? I'm confussed. Thanks. Oh and the character meals, would they be worth worrying about for almost 6 and 8 year old boys?

 

[The House of Mouse]

In my opinion it depends how structured you want your trip to be. Priority seatings aren't actual reservations, they just mean you will be put to the head of the waiting line when you arrive at your specific time. I personally plan on making reservations for most of our trip. Restaurants at Disney are very busy, but if you hit them at the best times you might not have a long wait. It depends how much sit down dining you plan on doing. I have also made PS while in Disney World, such as the Fantasmic Package at Hollywood & Vine, we just walked in the park first thing and booked a time. I highly recommend character meals, my children love them. We took them when they were 3 & 5 and also 5 & 7. This time around we have purchased the silver add on which includes two meals a day, so I am planning several character meals.

 

[Susan--Ontario]

Priority Seating are sort of reservations in that they only have so many per meal available. When you arrive at the restaurant you will be given the next table available for your party size. We always get them for the places that are "must eat at" for our family. For boys your age I would recommend O'hana's at the Polynesian. There is lots to eat and it's sort of like being in Hawaii. My son, who is 8 loves, Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge, Liberty Tree Tavern and we always do Chef Mickey's. That one is more of a tradition than anything else.

We also enjoy Breakfastosauros at Animal Kingdom. The food is really good.

We always try and book a special meal at least every other day when we are there. We have done a trip where we didn't book anything and we spent a lot time doing the "where do you want to eat?, I don't know, where do you want to eat, thing"

I also try and book a big breakfast later or a supper earlier so that we are getting two meals in one. Any other questions please ask.

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

What I usually do is make a little chart on a regular piece of paper.

I put the days we will be at WDW and plot in where we might be for B/L and D. I usually start by figuring out which parks have EE days, and then go from there. For example, on EE day for AK, you could book bfast at Breakfastasaurus around 9:30 or so, then you can ride the popular rides first, then have bfast and enjoy the rest of the park.

I usually plot in as many meals (PS's) as we think we will want to do. You can always cancel your PS's if you don't think you'll be dining at a particular place. Usually we end up cancelling at least two, but I like to know that I have the option of dining when I want to, instead of waiting.

Some other suggestions for your kids (I have a DD8 and DS5) They liked 50's Prime Time, SciFi Cafe, Garden Grove at Epcot, Le Cellier, definately O'Hana's with the coconut hockey and hula-hoops. Check out the menu's at www.wdwig.com to help with choices.

Also don't forget the AK Meal Deal for lunch. It is the greatest value going.

Another suggestion that the kids just loved was the Family Magic Tour. It was well worth the $$ and the whole family had a ball!

Definately make some PS's prior to going. You will be glad you did, especially with kids.

Happy planning!

 

[from Canada]

We've never been to O'hanas. (at the POLY right?) Maybe I should book this one and arrange it at a time to view the electric water parade. Does that parade run every night? What time would it pass the Poly? Can you see it from the restaurant, or would we finish, then go outside to view? Sorry if this is a little off topic, maybe the OP's boys would enjoy the water parade also... Tell me more about the activites such as coconut hockey. Are there characters there for dinner?
TIA
Karen

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

O'Hana's is a really fun place for the kids.
Yes, it is in the Poly.
Periodically throughout the evening the host invites all the kids up to grab and broom and coconut and they kind of race around the restaurant moving the coconut around. Kind of like broomball, I guess. At the end they are rewarded with gummy worms. It's not really a race, so not to worry about younger ones, and everyone gets to participate. The kids think its a hoot, as they get to run around the restaurant with permission!
They also have the kids come up and do "hula hoop".
There are no Disney characters for dinner, but the CM's really play up the Polynesian theme, and make it fun.
We tried to book around the time for the fireworks, because they turn down the lights and pipe the music in. Unfortunately, they were just changing over to the wishes show, and didn't have fireworks the day we were there. That would be the best, then you can also see the Water Parade as they usually run it just prior to the fireworks. You'll have to check the times for your dates.
Also, come very hungry - you won't believe the amount of food you get!!

 

[The House of Mouse]

Originally posted by Yzma and Kronk
What I usually do is make a little chart on a regular piece of paper.

I put the days we will be at WDW and plot in where we might be for B/L and D. I usually start by figuring out which parks have EE days, and then go from there. For example, on EE day for AK, you could book bfast at Breakfastasaurus around 9:30 or so, then you can ride the popular rides first, then have bfast and enjoy the rest of the park.

I usually plot in as many meals (PS's) as we think we will want to do. You can always cancel your PS's if you don't think you'll be dining at a particular place. Usually we end up cancelling at least two, but I like to know that I have the option of dining when I want to, instead of waiting.

Some other suggestions for your kids (I have a DD8 and DS5) They liked 50's Prime Time, SciFi Cafe, Garden Grove at Epcot, Le Cellier, definately O'Hana's with the coconut hockey and hula-hoops. Check out the menu's at www.wdwig.com to help with choices.

Also don't forget the AK Meal Deal for lunch. It is the greatest value going.

Another suggestion that the kids just loved was the Family Magic Tour. It was well worth the $$ and the whole family had a ball!

Definately make some PS's prior to going. You will be glad you did, especially with kids.

Happy planning!

It's nice to see somebody plans as much as I do, I have already gone through two separate "itineraries". I wondered about Breakfastosaurous (sp?) because it ends earlier then the other character meals. You were able to take advantage of the EMH and still go to the breakfast? We also planning on doing the Family Magic Tour, tell me all about it!

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

Hey House of Mouse (our fav Disney show BTW )

I usually end up with revision #6 before I'm done - LOL!

For Breakfastosaurus, we booked it for 10:15am, but it wasn't a EE day. We did ITTBAB first, then the family walked over to the Dinoland USA, while I walked/sprinted to Kilimanjaro for FP's. (it took me less than 10 minutes each way - nice morning exercise walk!) They then did Primeval Whirl (DD's Fav) and Triceratop Spin, and met me at the Boneyard before bfast.
I believe "Chico" did bfast on a EE day......see his trip report part#5.

When at AK - don't forget the "Meal Deal" for lunch. They don't really advertise this, but it is on all the meal boards. We ate at Pizzafari. For the kids meal they got a good sized personal pizza, a small bag of potato chips and a small drink. Also included were a coupon for another drink (bottled water, powerade, soda) and popcorn or ice cream to use while in the parks. It was $8.99 I believe for kids, $12.99 for adults (I ordered a kids meal for me with no problem - there was enough food) The only thing is you must use the coupon the day of purchase, so just make sure you get your treats before leaving (you can take them out)

Family Magic Tour: We had 4 kids with us DN9, DD8, DN6 and DS5. I didn't tell anyone prior to the tour what we were doing, just that we had to go to MK and be at City Hall by 9:45am. Upon checkin just left of City Hall, they give you a Peter Pan name tag, and coffee if the adults need it!!
Once everyone is there, your guide talks to everyone about the tour. The premise is that Peter Pan has stolen Captain Hook's special golden hook, and he called Mickey Mouse and was very upset. If we didn't help him get the Hook back in two hours, CH would get all the villians together and turn the MK into a evil place. Our guide sprinkled everyone with special "Mickey Dust", showed everyone the clues that Peter had prepared to find the Hook, and off we went. The guide, doesn't guide per say, she just makes sure everyone is having fun and following along if they want to participate. It's mostly for kids, but the adults are free to participate as much as they want. For example, you hop, skip, jump, run backwards, crawl through restaurants during the two hours. It is so funny to see the other guests look at the group! At the end, you meet in a small private courtyard by Liberty Square. In our case Peter jumped out of the forest with the hook. They don't guarantee Peter, but I'm sure he appears most of the time. Peter then has one-on-one time with the children for pictures, autographs, etc. Then he took our group to ride Small World. He was totally in character the whole time, constantly referring to the adults as, "stinky adults" D )
The kids played a game throughout IASM, and at the conclusion we were given "certificates".
Everyone had a great time. Some people dropped out (I don't get it......) but most participated throughout. We then went over to Cindy's castle for lunch, which was a great end to our tour.

Make sure you already have visited the MK on a previous day before doing the tour. You will be less distracted, and kids will be more focused on the "Hook hunt" Also don't try to do this on the last day. We had one group with us that were too worried about getting back to checkout of the hotel and flying home, that they dropped out early.

After lunch, we revisited some of the rides that we missed the first day, and some favorites.

If you have any other questions, no problem!

 

[The House of Mouse]

The information you gave me has definitely helped me make a few decisions. We have the silver plan add on this time around so I am making quite a few PS and we plan to use a wish to do the tour, it sounds great! I don't think it is, but your trip to the castle for lunch wasn't part of the tour was it? I was thinking of booking Crystal Palace that day, but the castle is a good idea too. All depends if I can get princess breakfast reservations for earlier in the week, sounds like that may be hard to do.

 

[Mortlives]

NorthernON_MOM,
Your question was kind of ambiguous, so just in case this is what you are asking, priority seatings are only for "sit-down" restaurants, not the multitude of fast food counters around WDW. You can go an entire vacation without a PS, but they are advised for sit down dining places such as 'Ohana (highly recommended). Even some sitdowns don't require them. I've never had one for the House of Blues in Downtown Disney, but I've never had trouble getting my Elwood sandwich.

Ciao,
Mort.

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

No - lunch was not part of the tour.
I thought of booking CP as well, because of the characters, but I had never been to the Castle for lunch. Since I was planning the whole thing, I got to pick (IMO that's part of the fun of planning - you get to go where you want to...... )
Sometimes you can see Peter and Captain Hook running around the Castle, so if we were lucky that might happen........it didn't.

Check the menu's and see which is more suitable for your kids. They wouldn't substitute fries for mash potatoes when we were at the Castle, which was a problem for the kids. Otherwise it was good. CP is a buffet.

Have Fun!