Main Street Electrical Parade dining package replaced with Festival of Fantasy dining

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
My wife and I may need to keep this in mind for our upcoming trip. It will be our daughter's first, but she'll only be like 15 months old at the time of the trip, so I think we're going to have to keep reminding ourselves that a) we can't run her ragged the whole trip and b) she won't remember any of this, so we need to make sure to spend time really appreciating how she reacts to everything she does like because we will remember it forever.
Exactly this. We fanatics want our kids to feel the same way toward Disney as we do. They will eventually. We've been taking our boys since they were 7-months old, but we've always tried to respect their schedules and what they can do. Now at 3 1/2, they love Disney!
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COProgressFan

Well-Known Member
My wife and I may need to keep this in mind for our upcoming trip. It will be our daughter's first, but she'll only be like 15 months old at the time of the trip, so I think we're going to have to keep reminding ourselves that a) we can't run her ragged the whole trip and b) she won't remember any of this, so we need to make sure to spend time really appreciating how she reacts to everything she does like because we will remember it forever.

Exactly this. We fanatics want our kids to feel the same way toward Disney as we do. They will eventually. We've been taking our boys since they were 7-months old, but we've always tried to respect their schedules and what they can do. Now at 3 1/2, they love Disney!View attachment 162173

My daughter took her first trip at 6 months. My son at 11 months. They're only 3 and 5 now but have been multiple times. (They've become surprisingly good travelers, actually!) When people thought we were crazy for taking such young kids, I always told them we took it easy, made time for naps, snacks, swimming, etc. There was no pressure for the "perfect" trip because we knew we'd be back. The kids had lots of fun, and so did we. We're not doing a trip this year, and I'm already hearing about it from both of them.

You can't capture a lifetime of WDW experiences in one trip, and it's all so overwhelming for a child (or any first timer) anyway. I'm disappointed about MSEP, we were hoping to take the kids next year as they are old enough to handle staying up late for a couple nights. Hoping there will be some kind of evening entertainment as a replacement and my optimistic side is still hoping they fast track a new replacement night time electrical parade sooner than the 50th.
 

Launchpad McQuack

Well-Known Member
How do people generally feel about Tony's? Everything I've heard before makes it sound... underwhelming. I mentioned this package to my wife when I first read about it, and her response was basically exactly what I expected... "If I'm spending that much on Italian food at Disney World, it's not going to be in the Magic Kingdom." (We're big Via Napoli fans)
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
How do people generally feel about Tony's? Everything I've heard before makes it sound... underwhelming. I mentioned this package to my wife when I first read about it, and her response was basically exactly what I expected... "If I'm spending that much on Italian food at Disney World, it's not going to be in the Magic Kingdom." (We're big Via Napoli fans)
We surprisingly really liked it last month.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
How do people generally feel about Tony's? Everything I've heard before makes it sound... underwhelming. I mentioned this package to my wife when I first read about it, and her response was basically exactly what I expected... "If I'm spending that much on Italian food at Disney World, it's not going to be in the Magic Kingdom." (We're big Via Napoli fans)

Expect less than Olive Garden quality food but 3x the price.
 

LuvtheGoof

Grill Master
Premium Member
Why is everyone hating on the Olive Garden all the time? Word on the street is that they have improved a lot in the last 3 years or so...
Oh, I'm not hating on Olive Garden, as we like the food there as well. Just that our experience at Tony's has been that it is better.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Why is everyone hating on the Olive Garden all the time? Word on the street is that they have improved a lot in the last 3 years or so...

No OG hate here. :) We really like their Alfredo sauce (and bread sticks, salads, and soups). I've just not been impressed, at all, by the offerings at Tony's. Maybe they've improved over the past 15-18 months, but eating there in June 2015 it was sub-par, especially for the price.
 

COProgressFan

Well-Known Member
Why is everyone hating on the Olive Garden all the time? Word on the street is that they have improved a lot in the last 3 years or so...

For the same reason anyone "hates on" any chain restaurant. None of those places are generally known for having the best food, the service is usually inconsistent, and the dishes often are bland or just feel like they're reheated or mass produced. You'll usually get much better food from a more authentic local place, wherever you go. (And this would apply to steakhouses, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc.) There are regional differences and tastes as well: I can find a dozen excellent Italian places within a 15 minute drive of my house, but it takes a bit more effort to find great Mexican.

The pros of chains like Olive Garden places are that the food is usually plentiful (you leave feeling full), and prices are usually decent. You generally know what you're going to get, even if it's not really memorable in any way.

The problem with a place like Tony's is they serve Olive Garden food at grossly inflated prices.
 

Sordicampos

Active Member
The next four months does not help me when I am going in November that is two months away when I was told it was starting in April which was 5 months ago, I'm sorry if Disney has not worked out the bugs in five months time they must be morons. And yeah I may be having a meltdown, but when you have been wanting to take someone for 6 years and they finally get to go and it seems like Disney is doing every thing they can to ruin things before this once in a lifetime trip, I think I am entitled.

Ninjaprincesst, last year it was my partner's first trip and I wanted it to be perfect. I booked many table service restaurants, like Californian Grill and Jiko. It was great and we had a good time, but when we got home and I asked him about the restaurants he liked the most and would like to experience again, do you think he mentioned any of the places I was looking forward to showing him? any of the expensive restaurants? Nope! The things he loved the most were basically from quick service, like the coconut meatball from the Polynesian and the fish and chips from Epcot. lol Our favorite memories from the trip and the special moments we had were not necessarily linked to specific rides and shows. Most of the magical moments, the ones that will be forever in our memories happened when we were interacting with some great cast members, the fun conversations we had with other people in line, the details we noticed together, the walk we had from Wilderness Lodge to Fort Wilderness. We always remember when we decided to walk from Hollywood Studios to Epcot instead of taking the boat. We remember the conversation we had and the plans we made during that walk. We remember the little girl in front of us when we were riding It's a Small World asking everybody to sing along. lol We remember when we got drenched riding Kali River Rapid. We laughed so much and had so much fun. We were kids again and we rode it again! We didn't talk about the lack of theming, the broken effects or how short the ride is. It didn't matter. We had fun! We had so much fun doing that together. We always talk about a great skipper we had at Jungle Cruise and how much we laughed. We always talk about the boat ride from Disney Springs to Port Orleans Riverside and then sitting on a bench watching the boats down the Sassagoula River. I never thought we would have that much fun in the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon. We always talk about that day. The spontaneous moments usually are the ones that we end up enjoying the most. Rides are fun, parades are beautiful, shows are great, but they are not everything and missing some of them won't ruin a trip. Especially when you are with someone going for the first time. It's so magical watching the joy of a person experiencing Disney for the first time. It's so overwhelming and new that everything you said before and the expectations before the trip won't matter that much. Your boyfriend will experience things his way. He won't think about a specific show or parade. Only if you keep reminding him of what he is missing. He will be experiencing so many new things. Enjoy that. Enjoy yourselves together. Have fun together. You will have a great trip!
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Exactly this. We fanatics want our kids to feel the same way toward Disney as we do. They will eventually. We've been taking our boys since they were 7-months old, but we've always tried to respect their schedules and what they can do. Now at 3 1/2, they love Disney!View attachment 162173
I don't know that it's been acknowledged anywhere, but the on ride photo quality for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is probably the best of any attraction.
 

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