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MrsH
LIF Adolescent
Member since 3/07 766 total posts
Name:
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Just booked a trip to Disney
for late June. Not an ideal time b/c of weather but I am a teacher so I don't have many options.
Anyway, how do you decide what days to book character dining? Do you base it on what parks have magic hours? Does it make sense to go to a park that opens early and have breakfast there, or is that wasting valuable park time? I am so overwhelmed with planning this trip!
My son will be 4 when we go-any character dining events that are better than others? He does like the princesses too, so I was thinking of doing either the princess meal in epcot or cinderella's royal table-would you do both or just pick one?
Any advice/tips would be appreciated!!
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Posted 1/24/12 11:13 PM  |
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Long Island Weddings
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Mouse Tales Travel
LIFamilies Business
Member since 7/08 417 total posts
Name:
Melissa Salinas
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Re: Just booked a trip to Disney
If you have a the Park Hopper ticket option, then utilizing the morning EMH hours and switching to another park for the rest of day works well.
If not, then we schedule our clients away from the EMH park.
Breakfast before the park opens on a non-EMH day is a great way to get pictures of the park entrance area without the crowds. That's why I'm booking dining at 6am most mornings - getting our clients that coveted 8:05am breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table or The Crystal Palace at the 180+10 day mark!
I prefer Akershus at Epcot to Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast but like CRT's lunch and dinner menu better. Your son might enjoy the craziness that is Chef Mickey's, or the calmer 'Ohana breakfast with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto.
Though it's not a character meal, if he enjoys hijinks and silliness, Whispering Canyon Cafe is a fun one. Be sure to ask for ketchup ;)
- Kimberly Hill
Mouse Tales® Travel
LIFamilies Vendor
Creating Magical Vacations for LIFamilies since 2008
Message edited 1/25/2012 7:52:28 AM.
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| Posted 1/25/12 7:50 AM |
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MrsMC107
LIF Toddler
Member since 1/10 451 total posts
Name:
Meg
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Re: Just booked a trip to Disney
If you have reservations to a restaurant within a park before that park opens, you are allowed early entry into the park...so no need to follow along w/ Early Magic Hours.
In fact, it's pretty cool getting into the park before the rest of the crowd.
DH & I did Crystal Palace breakfast with Pooh & friends. It was fun & it looked like all of the kids were having a good time.
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| Posted 1/25/12 7:52 AM |
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MissEsq
LIF Adult
Member since 10/09 920 total posts
Name:
Missy
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Re: Just booked a trip to Disney
We just got back and did Crystal Palace (pooh and friends) and Chef Mickeys (Mickey and friends) and I would highly recommend Chef Mickey's over the Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace - the food was horrible and the place is big so character interaction is less bc there are a lot more people. Chef Mickeys - (breakfast/brunch) the food was better and it is much smaller and the character interaction was plentiful (we saw characters more than once; they were not rushed;etc)
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| Posted 1/25/12 10:58 AM |
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Lillykat
going along for the ride...
Member since 5/05 16253 total posts
Name:
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Re: Just booked a trip to Disney
Posted by MissEsq
We just got back and did Crystal Palace (pooh and friends) and Chef Mickeys (Mickey and friends) and I would highly recommend Chef Mickey's over the Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace - the food was horrible and the place is big so character interaction is less bc there are a lot more people. Chef Mickeys - (breakfast/brunch) the food was better and it is much smaller and the character interaction was plentiful (we saw characters more than once; they were not rushed;etc)
Wow maybe we should give CM's another chance. We did CP 2 times and CM 2 times - Once on both of our trips. Both times we found that CM was very rushed we barely got to take a photo and they were moving them onto another table. We only saw each character one time. CP on the other hand not only did we see some of them 2 times but they got down on the floor with my girls and had them sit on their laps, they spent a lot of time at our table. Maybe it depends on the meals? We did CP for lunch one time and dinner the other, CM was dinner both times.
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| Posted 1/25/12 11:16 AM |
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Lillykat
going along for the ride...
Member since 5/05 16253 total posts
Name:
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Re: Just booked a trip to Disney
Posted by MrsH
for late June. Not an ideal time b/c of weather but I am a teacher so I don't have many options.
Anyway, how do you decide what days to book character dining? Do you base it on what parks have magic hours? Does it make sense to go to a park that opens early and have breakfast there, or is that wasting valuable park time? I am so overwhelmed with planning this trip!
My son will be 4 when we go-any character dining events that are better than others? He does like the princesses too, so I was thinking of doing either the princess meal in epcot or cinderella's royal table-would you do both or just pick one?
Any advice/tips would be appreciated!!
If you do breakfast I would try to get a very early time on non EMH days. I like using the morning EMH because I find that a lot of people don't get up for it - and that we get a ton of things done. We leave the parks by lunch time or right after when it is getting really crowded. I find that extra hour really helps. So if you pick breakfast I would try to get it finished so you can be ready at rope drop and not miss those quieter times. I wouldn't do an EMH necessarily though if you don't have a hopper because those parks tend to be more crowded later in the day - esp if you are going during a busy season. I see that you are going in June though - so you are already in the 180 window so I would set up your ADRS asap.
If your DS likes Mickey - you should look at Chef Mickey's, Ohana's (breakfast), Garden Grill, and I think but double check - that Mickey is at Tusker House B and L buffets at AK.
If he likes pooh and friends - Crystal Palace in the MK.
You said he does like Princesses - Akershus is the cheaper meal - it is a good princess meal - but there is always Cinderella's Palace - I can tell you that a friend of mine has 2 boys and a girl and they always do Cinderella's Palace and she says her boys always enjoy it. They give the boys I think a sword and the girls gets wands. I think for a boy it might be more exciting to eat in the castle whereas with the girls if they just want to see princesses it is a toss up.
If your DS is into Disney Jr (jake, Oso, little Einsteins etc) You might want to consider Hollywood and Vine - I hear the food isn't very good - but a lot of people seem to enjoy this one if your DC likes these shows.
I personally don't like to pick breakfasts when I have younger children. If you plan to spend all day in the parks and not take a break or you don't mind waiting in longer lines than it is nice to do a breakfast. For us, it has worked better to have breakfast in the room and get going so that we are at the parks at rope drop and can in the most attractions before the lines get too long. We then tour until about 1 and head back to the hotel for swim/nap/shower/general rest time. Then we go back around 4 have dinner and get in some more rides. For this reason I prefer to do either sit down dinners or lunches. Also if you are eating on the dining plan you get the most out of your plan by eating dinners or lunch because they tend to cost considerably more than breakfast.
Are you staying on site? If so you might also want to consider some places like Ohana's for dinner, Whispering Canyon, sci fi drive in, etc for a non character meals because they have fun activities/environment for children.
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| Posted 1/25/12 11:28 AM |
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MissEsq
LIF Adult
Member since 10/09 920 total posts
Name:
Missy
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Re: Just booked a trip to Disney
Posted by Lillykat
Posted by MissEsq
We just got back and did Crystal Palace (pooh and friends) and Chef Mickeys (Mickey and friends) and I would highly recommend Chef Mickey's over the Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace - the food was horrible and the place is big so character interaction is less bc there are a lot more people. Chef Mickeys - (breakfast/brunch) the food was better and it is much smaller and the character interaction was plentiful (we saw characters more than once; they were not rushed;etc)
Wow maybe we should give CM's another chance. We did CP 2 times and CM 2 times - Once on both of our trips. Both times we found that CM was very rushed we barely got to take a photo and they were moving them onto another table. We only saw each character one time. CP on the other hand not only did we see some of them 2 times but they got down on the floor with my girls and had them sit on their laps, they spent a lot of time at our table. Maybe it depends on the meals? We did CP for lunch one time and dinner the other, CM was dinner both times.
Yes, we are so happy we went to CM (I was nervous because of the bad reviews on here). It may depend on the meal time. We did CM for brunch/early lunch - i believe we had an 11:50 reservation. It was wonderful! Food was good and the character interaction was awesome!!! It is a smaller space and still not totally full so the characters were with us a lot!
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| Posted 1/25/12 11:42 AM |
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JenniferEver
The Disney Lady
Member since 5/05 18163 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: Just booked a trip to Disney
It's always best to book a meal before the park opens. You can get in early, take pics in an empty park, and not miss prime touring time.
I'd do one morning at Crystal Place- Winnie the Pooh
and another at Akershus (Princesses).
In terms of EMH, unless you're going to get there at the beginning of EMH and park hopo later, avoid the EMH morning park like the plague. Definitely don't waste the EMH time in a breakfast. If you spend time time doing anything but touring, you're losing the advantage of EMH and you're rewarded with a more crowded park
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| Posted 1/25/12 3:56 PM |
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Goobster
:)
Member since 5/07 27557 total posts
Name:
:)
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Re: Just booked a trip to Disney
I didnt' base booking meals around extra magic hours. B/c since Magic Kingdom would be the most visited park by us, I wanted to do that first (god forbid DD got sick or something happened, I want to do the most important first). So for us, I just planned each day in order of what parks are most important. My DD is 3 and I planned like this...
Magic Kingdom, first 2 days
DHS, since it has Disney Junior and Little Mermaid, one day
Epcot 1-2 days
Animal Kingdom last
Then I just started booking meals around where i THINK we will be...and what meals were most important, etc. I edited and made changes many times, and I am sure I will still make some changes, but once I got started, t hings started to fall into place. How things will really pan out...well that I have no idea!!!
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| Posted 1/25/12 8:25 PM |
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JenniferEver
The Disney Lady
Member since 5/05 18163 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: Just booked a trip to Disney
I plan my intineraries with this hierarchy
Evening Shows/Fireworks (We ussually travel off season, so opportunities to see these are limited) > Availability of any special meals I really want to have > My preferences (for example, i always spend the first full day at EPCOT, for no real reason other than I've always done it that way) > Evening EMH (Want to go to) > Morning EMH (want to avoid) > Best/worst parks... for example, AL is MUCH less crowded earlier in the week because lots of people save it for last.
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| Posted 1/25/12 9:29 PM |
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MrsH
LIF Adolescent
Member since 3/07 766 total posts
Name:
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Re: Just booked a trip to Disney
Thank you so much for all of your replies! You gave me a lot to think about! Planning this trip is going to be so much fun.
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| Posted 1/30/12 4:42 PM |
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