Thoughts on our ADR's: Character dining edition

[notslim99]

Here are our ADR's for our May 22-29 trip. Staying at POP and have the deluxe DDP. Since it's my DD's first time (she's 2,) we've planned on taking it easy and focusing on character interaction.

We arrive late on the 22nd, so we're just grabbing a bite at POP.

May 23rd (MK):
8:10am Cinderella's Royal Table
7:00pm Liberty Tree Tavern

May 24th (DHS):
12:15pm Hollywood & Vine
6:30pm 50's

May 25th (AK/EP):
12:30pm Tusker House
7:10pm Rose & Crown*

May 26th (EP):
11:30am Via Napoli
6:30pm Beaches & Cream

May 27th (MK):
8:05am 1900 Park Fare

May 28th (MK/DHS):
8:20am Chef Mickey
12:10pm Sci-Fi Dine-In
6:50pm Whispering Canyon

May 29th (EP):
8:00am Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

* What is the likelihood of acquiring a preferred viewing spot for Illuminations with a 7:10pm ressie?

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

* What is the likelihood of acquiring a preferred viewing spot for Illuminations with a 7:10pm ressie?

At the Rose and Crown you will be seated when the first table that will accommodate your party becomes available. That could be inside or outside. There's no harm in asking or telling the greeters that you don't mind waiting, but an outside table can't be guaranteed. That said, those dining inside are offered an outside viewing spot just before Illuminations starts.

BTW, I'm surprised that Crystal Palace isn't on your list for a character meal

 

[ginadee]

Tusker House, 50's and Sci Fi are among my faves and 1900 and Whispering Canyon was my friends fave. So you got good ones.

 

[notslim99]

At the Rose and Crown you will be seated when the first table that will accommodate your party becomes available. That could be inside or outside. There's no harm in asking or telling the greeters that you don't mind waiting, but an outside table can't be guaranteed. That said, those dining inside are offered an outside viewing spot just before Illuminations starts.

Awesome! Thanks for the tip.

BTW, I'm surprised that Crystal Palace isn't on your list for a character meal

Well, we're thinking about it on the 27th, since we'll be at MK all day that day.

 

[sgtmgd]

I'd recommend taking a good look at switching Hollywood and Vine for Mama Melrose in DHS. Mama Melrose is a hidden gem that has great ambiance and really good food, you can get an added bonus as it offers the Fantasmic Dinner package

 

[JillC LI]

Good restaurants, but you're going to spend a whole heck of a lot of time dining. When my kids were 2, the last place I wanted to spend a lot of time was in a restaurant, and they were fairly well behaved given their ages. I realize that these are kid-friendly, noisy places, but still, it's a lot of time for a kid to sit. Are you sure you want the Deluxe plan with 2-3 sit down meals per day?

 

[katieee]

I'd recommend taking a good look at switching Hollywood and Vine for Mama Melrose in DHS. Mama Melrose is a hidden gem that has great ambiance and really good food, you can get an added bonus as it offers the Fantasmic Dinner package

sgtmgd is the mama Melrose with fantasmic package 1 TS credit? Or is it 2 with fantasmic added?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

A few thoughts...if you do Hollywood & Vine, I'd do breakfast over lunch. The breakfast food gets much better reviews (we've only eaten breakfast there because of this.)...beyond that, it's a really fun meal.

Also, another vote for working in Crystal Palace. Breakfast is our fave. If you are doing DxDP, I think you may also need to add on one more meal. You get 3 TS credits per day and according to my count, you're only at 14 TS credits burned...i.e. you'll have 15 total pp. That would leave room to add on Crystal Palace. I know you said you're arriving late on that first day and just planning to eat at Pop, but from a monetary standpoint- it's a better use of your credit to pay OOP for that and use that credit on a TS meal on another day. Just my 2 cents.

As for Illuminations...you can ask to wait for a seat outside, but you won't always be accommodated. Reports of how they handle this varies...sometimes the CMs will insist on you taking the first available table while sometimes they will let you wait up to an hour past your ADR time for a spot on the deck. Supposedly...there is an area they can let you go to watch and then come back in to finish eating if you're seated inside. We tried doing this, but our server neglected to honor our wishes, so we found some empty spots out on the deck during fireworks (which apparently happens a lot).

Now, as for the timing...no clue what time Illuminations is that night. If it's at 9pm, you'll probably be OK with that time. When we tried it- we had a 7:45pm for Illuminations at 9:30. It was earlier than I'd wanted...was pushing for 8-8:30p...but it was the best I could get. We wound up ordering multiple rounds of drinks, as well as 3 courses (which you'll be getting anyway on the deluxe plan) just to drag it out as much as possible. IDK- we just found this to be a very difficult meal/experience to coordinate. I'm almost tempted to say use this credit and the one I'd suggested for Crystal Palace and just do California Grill timed with Wishes. My younger daughter was 2 on her first trip to Cali Grill and she loved it.

 

[notslim99]

Good restaurants, but you're going to spend a whole heck of a lot of time dining. When my kids were 2, the last place I wanted to spend a lot of time was in a restaurant, and they were fairly well behaved given their ages. I realize that these are kid-friendly, noisy places, but still, it's a lot of time for a kid to sit. Are you sure you want the Deluxe plan with 2-3 sit down meals per day?

We decided to make this trip more about being at Disney and not rushing from ride to ride. Plus, the cool thing about the DxDP is that your credits are just credits, and we can use them for table service or quick service meals. We can always adjust our plans if it seems that the little one will not take kindly to another sit down meal. I'm hoping she likes the princess dining that we have lined up, but we shall see.

 

[notslim99]

I'd recommend taking a good look at switching Hollywood and Vine for Mama Melrose in DHS. Mama Melrose is a hidden gem that has great ambiance and really good food, you can get an added bonus as it offers the Fantasmic Dinner package

We had Mama Melrose on the last trip and really enjoyed it. We've always wanted to try Hollywood & Vine, but we may very well switch at some point. We're trying to go to places we've never been before.

 

[buseegal]

one thing to keep in mind that at 2 years old she may be afraid of characters or at least want nothing to do with them. we are working with young granddaughter right now trying to get her over this and she even refuses face characters not just fur ones

 

[Weather_Lady]

I'm not sure about two princess breakfast buffets (CRT and Akershus). The food and the princesses are going to be largely duplicative. I'd swap the pricier (or 2-credit) CRT for the character breakfasts at 'Ohana (Lilo, Stitch and friends) or Crystal Palace (Winnie the Pooh and friends).

 

[ladydi]

If you get a chance try to expose her to some characters (our Red Robin restaurant sometimes has a character). My daughter at age 3 was fine with Mickey but terrified of face characters. She spent the entire princess meal at Norway hiding under the table.

 

[HollyAD]

We didn't ry care for the food at Crystal Palace. However, it is a good spot to see Pooh and friends. We enjoyed Cape May Cafe for breakfast. We had great character interactions and the food was really good.

 

[sgtmgd]

sgtmgd is the mama Melrose with fantasmic package 1 TS credit? Or is it 2 with fantasmic added?

Only 1 TS so an added bonus