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EricaAlt
LIF Adult
Member since 7/08 22665 total posts
Name:
Erica
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Disney Dining question
Do you need reservations for every place?
I was only to get one character dining meal at Hollywood Vine. Everything else is booked.
Is character dining worth it or do you just stop wherever and eat?
My boys aren't big eaters and we are staying at a timeshare with friends. Was thinking of packing snacks for the day and having breakfast or dinner at a restaurant. Some nights we will probably come back early and have dinner at the timeshare.
Thoughts? How did you do dining there?
My boys are 4 and 2 and our friend's son is 3. None are big eaters so we decided not to do the meal pass.
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Posted 9/12/13 11:48 AM  |
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BargainMama
LIF Adult
Member since 5/09 15660 total posts
Name:
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Disney Dining question
We don't do a lot of character meals. We aren't a family that likes to sit and eat for over an hour. We just usually go wherever. Not to mention the character meals are really expensive these days. There are so many good quick service options (not juts all greasy fast food type stuff). The last trip we did Chef Mickey's and that was fun.
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| Posted 9/12/13 11:51 AM |
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EricaAlt
LIF Adult
Member since 7/08 22665 total posts
Name:
Erica
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Re: Disney Dining question
Posted by BargainMama
We don't do a lot of character meals. We aren't a family that likes to sit and eat for over an hour. We just usually go wherever. Not to mention the character meals are really expensive these days. There are so many good quick service options (not juts all greasy fast food type stuff). The last trip we did Chef Mickey's and that was fun.
Thanks! That's us too! Well, I love nice dining and could sit for a while with a drink, but not so much when the kids are around.
Figured this will not be one of those trips.
Did you make any reservations or just wing it?
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| Posted 9/12/13 11:57 AM |
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ml110
LIF Adult
Member since 1/06 5435 total posts
Name:
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Re: Disney Dining question
We're going in February with DS, he'll be a little over 3. We only booked Chef Mickeys character breakfast, and plan on just winging the rest of the meals- quick service or whatever.
I just wanted to do one character meal for DS to have that experience... But other than that, it doesn't matter much to us. DS will be more into the rides anyway I think
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| Posted 9/12/13 12:00 PM |
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BargainMama
LIF Adult
Member since 5/09 15660 total posts
Name:
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Re: Disney Dining question
Posted by EricaAlt
Posted by BargainMama
We don't do a lot of character meals. We aren't a family that likes to sit and eat for over an hour. We just usually go wherever. Not to mention the character meals are really expensive these days. There are so many good quick service options (not juts all greasy fast food type stuff). The last trip we did Chef Mickey's and that was fun.
Thanks! That's us too! Well, I love nice dining and could sit for a while with a drink, but not so much when the kids are around.
Figured this will not be one of those trips.
Did you make any reservations or just wing it?
You can't make reservations at the quick service places. If you want to sit in a restaurant with waiter service, you need to make reservations. They tend to fill up. We went in April and tried to do a sit down one night (non character place), and the wait was like 2 hours.
We did however make a ressie for Chef Mickey's. That one is nearly impossible to get a ressie for on short notice.
Message edited 9/12/2013 12:17:29 PM.
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| Posted 9/12/13 12:16 PM |
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ali120206
2 Boys
Member since 7/06 17795 total posts
Name:
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Disney Dining question
We only booked two character meals when we were there. We did book two dinners - one at T Rex and one at Rainforest and just winged it the rest of the way.
We stayed offsite and ate most of our meals offsite.
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| Posted 9/12/13 12:17 PM |
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EricaAlt
LIF Adult
Member since 7/08 22665 total posts
Name:
Erica
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Re: Disney Dining question
Posted by ali120206
We only booked two character meals when we were there. We did book two dinners - one at T Rex and one at Rainforest and just winged it the rest of the way.
We stayed offsite and ate most of our meals offsite.
How far in advance did you book the reservations? I saw a few cute places to go to that are not character dining, but I hate booking time now.
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| Posted 9/12/13 12:19 PM |
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nferrandi
too excited for words
Member since 10/05 18538 total posts
Name:
Nicole
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Re: Disney Dining question
One character meal is more then enough. I prefer the breakfast because at least you know here will be something for everyone- how can you really screw up breakfast?! Try to get an early seating so you can get into the park before it opens. All other days do breakfast at the timeshare. You can just wing it or lunch at a fast service place. As for dinner, if you're at the park you just wing it. But I find food to be better and obviously cheaper outside the parks. What timeshare are you staying at?
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| Posted 9/12/13 12:19 PM |
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EricaAlt
LIF Adult
Member since 7/08 22665 total posts
Name:
Erica
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Re: Disney Dining question
Posted by nferrandi
One character meal is more then enough. I prefer the breakfast because at least you know here will be something for everyone- how can you really screw up breakfast?! Try to get an early seating so you can get into the park before it opens. All other days do breakfast at the timeshare. You can just wing it or lunch at a fast service place. As for dinner, if you're at the park you just wing it. But I find food to be better and obviously cheaper outside the parks. What timeshare are you staying at?
Thanks! This is most likely exactly what we will do.
Can't wait!
My friend has the timeshare. Forgot which one, but one in Kissimmee about 10 mins or less drive
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| Posted 9/12/13 12:26 PM |
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ali120206
2 Boys
Member since 7/06 17795 total posts
Name:
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Re: Disney Dining question
Posted by EricaAlt
Posted by ali120206
We only booked two character meals when we were there. We did book two dinners - one at T Rex and one at Rainforest and just winged it the rest of the way.
We stayed offsite and ate most of our meals offsite.
How far in advance did you book the reservations? I saw a few cute places to go to that are not character dining, but I hate booking time now.
I booked about a month in advance but, you have 24 hrs to cancel. I spread everything out so that we weren't doing too much in one day.
Some places book early while others don't fill up as much. you can always book and cancel - as long as it's over 24 hrs in advance. And check while you are there - someone may cancel!
We did quick service lunches most days - just beware, they don't have the same kids menu at each quick serve restaurant (I know your DS is picky like mine). I found Cosmic Rays to be the best for us at MK.
Message edited 9/12/2013 2:23:03 PM.
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| Posted 9/12/13 2:20 PM |
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nferrandi
too excited for words
Member since 10/05 18538 total posts
Name:
Nicole
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Re: Disney Dining question
Posted by EricaAlt
Posted by nferrandi
One character meal is more then enough. I prefer the breakfast because at least you know here will be something for everyone- how can you really screw up breakfast?! Try to get an early seating so you can get into the park before it opens. All other days do breakfast at the timeshare. You can just wing it or lunch at a fast service place. As for dinner, if you're at the park you just wing it. But I find food to be better and obviously cheaper outside the parks. What timeshare are you staying at?
Thanks! This is most likely exactly what we will do.
Can't wait!
My friend has the timeshare. Forgot which one, but one in Kissimmee about 10 mins or less drive
We own in that area too. I can recommend some local, kid friendly restaurants if you want.
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| Posted 9/13/13 8:59 AM |
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jlk51496
Mom of 3 - YIKES! =)
Member since 10/09 6758 total posts
Name:
Katie
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Re: Disney Dining question
i would book ALL your sit down meals because it is hard to walk into a lot of the restaurants and just be seated - you can wait a long while! I booked all my sit downs 180 days before (that is the first time you can book them - and LOTS and LOTS do this - so I would recommend - you can always cancel with no penalty when you want to change or if one that you want more opens up!
- but the counter service meals you can "Wing it!" No problem there!
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| Posted 9/13/13 10:06 AM |
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Bridex100
Two Under Two Mommy
Member since 3/08 10420 total posts
Name:
Momx100
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Re: Disney Dining question
We have gone to Disney twice and going again in 2 weeks.
first time we went, we stayed off property. I thought it was a hassle to go back to Disney after going back to the hotel to rest. we did parks/lunch at parks and then pool/dinner in or around our hotel.
second time we went, we stayed on Disney property. we never left Disney. our friends did a target run and bought us snacks and drinks.
It really depends what kind of vacationer you are. We don't want a meal reservation to dictate where we need to be at a certain hour. Then again, we stayed at poly last time and thought the food was really good there. we ate most of our meals at the resort or at the parks. only reservation we had was for character breakfast at ohana. this time around, we have one character breakfast scheduled at chef mickeys. for us, that is enough.
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| Posted 9/13/13 1:05 PM |
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Agape08
LIF Adolescent
Member since 10/08 807 total posts
Name:
Kathy
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Re: Disney Dining question
Posted by jlk51496
i would book ALL your sit down meals because it is hard to walk into a lot of the restaurants and just be seated - you can wait a long while! I booked all my sit downs 180 days before (that is the first time you can book them - and LOTS and LOTS do this - so I would recommend - you can always cancel with no penalty when you want to change or if one that you want more opens up!
- but the counter service meals you can "Wing it!" No problem there!
I also did the same, but booked everything 4 months in advance (didn't get every sit down meal I wanted). I would recommend booking every sit down meal in advance. Some don't like to book in advance b/c they don't want to be "slaves" to the food schedule. It's totally up to you...no right or wrong but just be prepared for a wait if you don't have reservations.
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| Posted 9/13/13 1:07 PM |
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MommaG
Yay Spring!
Member since 5/05 5133 total posts
Name:
Gloria
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Disney Dining question
If you want a particular sit down meal, reservations are a must. I was able to book within a few days of my arrival for all but one that we wanted. Just check online every day for the place you want - people cancel all the time and reservations open up more often than you think. The quick service places also have "take out" so you can take the food with you and sit on a bench or table elsewhere.
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| Posted 9/13/13 5:25 PM |
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Jenn627
Laaaaaaaambert!
Member since 5/08 9818 total posts
Name:
Jenn
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Re: Disney Dining question
We always do reservations. Just got back and we did a bunch of character meals... Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace, 1900 Park Fare, and Garden Grill. We also did the Spirit of Aloha and the fire dancer was AMAZING.
We went this past week so it was practically empty but I still suggest reservations.
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| Posted 9/13/13 9:56 PM |
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itsbabytime
LIF Adult
Member since 11/05 9644 total posts
Name:
Me
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Re: Disney Dining question
We always do character dining or something like it (luau etc.) at least once per day. IMO it really adds to the experience and, if I am in Disney already and paying all that $$$ it gives the total experience. My kids look forward to the meal every day and have SO much fun while we eat that it is worth every penny! And, while my DS eats amazing my DD hardly eats when we are out. Still worth it - you pay for the experience really, not the meal.
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| Posted 9/14/13 10:04 AM |
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