Go with tradition or try something new?

[kcp1377]

We're leaving soon for our 6th trip to DW with our kids. Every other time we've gone to Ohana for breakfast and we love it. (Heck, we even named our dog Kona after the cafe and coffee!) The kids love seeing Stitch and it's always a great time. Plus we love the food and atmosphere. We have a large family so we do one "big" meal out. So do we book Ohana again for breakfast since it's such a Disney tradition for us? Or do we try something new? I sort of can't imagine a trip to Disney without it, but we love trying new things too... Hmm... Maybe I could try to find extra in the budget for 2 meals? I'd love to hear your thoughts if you've been in a similar spot!

 

[stobaugh6]

This made me smile because just today I was trying to talk my 7 children and DH into breaking our Crystal Palace tradition and go someplace different for our one sit down meal. Lol! We decided to go ahead and keep our CP ADR and add SciFi (appetizers and desert). Good luck!

 

[cyneswith]

Given that it's such a tradition for you, I'd go to Ohana, and I'm a "try everything" sort.

Restaurant Marrakesh was almost a must do for us (we've gone on 2 out of our 3 trips, and my mom got their cookbook the first time - my first run in with middle-eastern cooking and I LOVE it), but Spice Road Table will fill the same niche while allowing us to try another table service for dinner. But we ARE going to Biergarten, which was one of our 2 table service meals on our first trip... 20 years ago.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

How about some risk but not all...a different meal at O'Hanas or is that out of budget? If so then I would stick to it. If you have budget for one, know you enjoy it why change! Just enjoy. Life is too short.

Families have traditions. Every week we would go to town as a family and eat at the same hamburger joint. They are my fondest childhood memories. We all had our special dish, milkshake flavour etc. If we had gone to different places I doubt I would remember it as well. With so much of life changing isn't it nice to just have something concrete to enjoy?

 

[kcp1377]

Thank you for all your thoughts! The reservation system ended up deciding for us since we waited so long and have a large party. Instead we're going to do the Kona cafe for lunch and Trails end for their weekend brunch. It will end up being about the same cost for the two, so that's a bonus. And we still get our Poly meal, so I think it will work out well. We'll have to hunt down stitch at the parks!

 

[Eoywin]

We do the dining plan for a variety of reasons. In part, because I like that it's prepaid, but I love the food at Disney. Plus that way we get to do our favorites and try new places each trip.

We are doing Ohana breakfast for the first time this trip! And Ohana dinner too because I love Ohana

 

[monorailsilver]

We are in the same boat. Since having kids we have eaten at chef mickeys for dinner, the last 3 trips on arrival night and the 1st one with kids mid way thru.

Fast forward to August 2018...my kids will all be Disney adults ages 17, 14 and 12. They have asked since we came home in 2013 if we are going to eat at CM again and I keep telling them yes. I mean it's a great place to go on arrival day for us plus easy to get to from the poly.

So I am currently saving money for this trip, well free money. I do rewards sites and have saved $1200 on my last count with the ultimate goal of $1500 for 11 days of food for the 5 of us, I don't do the dining plans as we end up paying more.

About a month ago I went to all ears to check prices and I am still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor. CM would be $300+++ tip for us. I mean I loved the little crab legs they had and I think I OD'd on them but it got me thinking that CM is done for us for now, well until grand children come into play, because that's a lot on money for my kids to pick.

I am dreading breaking tradition but there are a few other places I want to try. We will still eat at WCC one non park day. At least I still have 18 months to decide.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Thank you for all your thoughts! The reservation system ended up deciding for us since we waited so long and have a large party. Instead we're going to do the Kona cafe for lunch and Trails end for their weekend brunch. It will end up being about the same cost for the two, so that's a bonus. And we still get our Poly meal, so I think it will work out well. We'll have to hunt down stitch at the parks!

Trails End is so YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

 

[kcp1377]

I hear you! I'm sure they'll love wherever you go. I keep telling myself that Disney itself IS the tradition. What we do there is the fun. They'll remember the trips more than the individual meals, right?

ETA: there was supposed to be a quote from monorailsilver here...

 

[jtopp]

Have you tried Kona Café for breakfast (gotta love Tonga Toast)? Still gives you the Poly atmosphere, but a less costly sit down meal. We have our favorites, and the rule is every trip we must try one new place to eat. Enjoy!!!!

 

[kcp1377]

Have you tried Kona Café for breakfast (gotta love Tonga Toast)? Still gives you the Poly atmosphere, but a less costly sit down meal. We have our favorites, and the rule is every trip we must try one new place to eat. Enjoy!!!!

We haven't since we're gluten free (DD1 is celiac and we suspect a couple of the other kids are too) and I don't think they have Tonga toast GF yet. They do make my favorite pan asian noodles GF so that's what I'm gonna nab...

 

[Mr & Mrs DD]

I think tradition is worth keeping if everyone enjoys it so much, BUT if you decided to try something different, we enjoy going to Tusker House at Animal Kingdom for breakfast. I guess it's become our tradition.

 

[ruthies12]

Thank you for all your thoughts! The reservation system ended up deciding for us since we waited so long and have a large party. Instead we're going to do the Kona cafe for lunch and Trails end for their weekend brunch. It will end up being about the same cost for the two, so that's a bonus. And we still get our Poly meal, so I think it will work out well. We'll have to hunt down stitch at the parks!

I would love to hear a report after you get back! I am currently experiencing the same dilemma for our next trip, which isn't until next year so I have plenty of time to decide.

Our tradition has always been for the first meal to be at Chef Mickey's. First 3 trips we flew in the afternoon and then went to CM for dinner on arrival night. Last trip we drove down in our camper and stayed at the Fort and so we took the boat over and did CM the next morning for breakfast after we arrived the evening before.

Our next trip will be to the Fort again and I'm thinking of mixing it up and doing Mickey's BBQ instead of CM since that is at the same resort and since it is the same characters. But I'm not sure if it will just make the trip not feel quite the same, you know? I'd be really interested in hearing how you felt during your trip and afterwards and if you really missed that meal or enjoyed doing something new instead.

And yes Trails End is very Yum! Good choice

 

[kcp1377]

I would love to hear a report after you get back! I am currently experiencing the same dilemma for our next trip, which isn't until next year so I have plenty of time to decide.

Our tradition has always been for the first meal to be at Chef Mickey's. First 3 trips we flew in the afternoon and then went to CM for dinner on arrival night. Last trip we drove down in our camper and stayed at the Fort and so we took the boat over and did CM the next morning for breakfast after we arrived the evening before.

Our next trip will be to the Fort again and I'm thinking of mixing it up and doing Mickey's BBQ instead of CM since that is at the same resort and since it is the same characters. But I'm not sure if it will just make the trip not feel quite the same, you know? I'd be really interested in hearing how you felt during your trip and afterwards and if you really missed that meal or enjoyed doing something new instead.

And yes Trails End is very Yum! Good choice

I'll definitely report back! I'm still a bit bummed that we couldn't get into Ohana (I do keep trying just in case it's meant to be) but logically it's really better to do it this way. We used to do Cm too, but it just got too difficult (and expensive!) to do buffet with so many small children. This is the first time we've done a buffet since 2012! I hope it works well! I hope they have lots of fruit and shrimp out... The kids can eat their weights in those!

 

[tami82]

This is a hard one but I just love Ohana and it needs to be included each trip. I think you should stick with Ohana. If you can swing it money wise and can put a little extra away to do two big meals during the trip so you can include it and also try something new would be great. We paid out of pocket for our meals this time and I allowed myself two, one at Ohana for dinner and the other at Biergarten. The rest were counter service. I was saving money for a year for the food part of our trip so If I didn't spend all of my money for the week I would just save it in my food fund for Disney.