- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Parenting
Disney Questions
OK, more just looking for thoughts than any questions. My DH, 2 girls (4 1/2 and 6 at the time of the trip) and my parents (early 70's) and I are doing a 4 night cruise and then 3 nights at the Polynesian and just doing Magic Kingdom in the fall. I will be booking our dining reservations in about a week and a half. Any feedback from anyone who has been recently on the following or overall thoughts on my plan.
Cruise is Sunday - Thursday and we will arrive at WDW late morning on Thursday.
We are not doing the Halloween party thing which is the TH and FRI that we are there so the park will close a little early those 2 nights.
Thursday - leave our bags at the hotel and head to MK - eat lunch at either hotel or park depending on timing. Thinking of doing Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique late on this day assuming that I get my dining reservations that way I want otherwise will do that the next day. Dinner at 1900 Park Fare with the Princesses.
Friday - Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table (will aim for this or Sat morning), lunch open and then Spirit of Aloha dinner (at Poly) that night and we can watch the fireworks from the beach.
Sat - Chef Mickey's for breakfast and leaving the rest of the day open unless the new Beasts Castle is open and then we would try for that for dinner (rumor is it will open in fall to late 2012 but nothing official is out yet). We plan to be at the park late this night for the electrical parade and fireworks.
Sun - we have not booked our flights yet so not making any plans for this day - depending on flight times might book a breakfast at the Poly or we might go back to MK for a short time before heading to the airport unless we end up with an early flight.
We do plan to head back to the hotel every afternoon for a nap and maybe swimming depending on the weather.
Is this too many meals planned? Would you trade out any meals? We do not have park hopper passes and will not have a car so really want to stick to MK or monorail restaurants as it will be easier with our family for this trip (we plan to take the girls back when they are older and do the other parks) - we are trying to plan a relaxing trip - we do not plan to rush around and stress about seeing and doing everything - we want to give the girls a Princess trip and just soak in the Disney Magic and have a wonderful memory of a trip with us and their grandparents - future trips when they are older will be pretty different I am guessing.
My back up restaurants (if needed as we can always flip some of the days that we have planned) are Crystal Castle, Plaza Rest, California Grill and The Wave.
Jenni Mom to
DD#1 - 6-16-06
DD#2 - 3-13-08
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Disney Questions
Just wanted to clarify that the 1900 Park Fare dinner is Cinderella, Prince Charming, 2 stepsisters and stepmother. No other princesses. We love that dinner.
It's really not a big deal to get to the other parks on the buses. We really have fun at each of the parks. If you are open to something different...Animal Kingdom is a solid half day and the breakfast at Tusker House is really really good.
I plan a character meal for each day because it is nice downtime and keeps the kids entertained during meal time which can sometimes be tricky when they just want to go, go, go!
A few things:
~We loved the Poly; the pool was nothing short of awesome! My kids adored it and wanted to spend more time there than the parks. its very kid friendly! It is very easy to get to the Grand Flordian (1900 Park Fare), Magic Kingdom & Contempory (Chef Mickey's). Its even easy to get to Epcot (from the transportation center next door also via monorail). Epcot has a princess breakfast and I liked that better than Park Fare. You can pick which building you want and do online check-in to make things go easier. We just stayed there in March.
~Chef Mickey's, 1900 Park Fair, Crystal Palace, Hollywood & Vine and the Tusker House all have VERY similar food (by the end of our 5 day trip...I was over it!!)
~We really like the character meals~ its an easy way to meet characters, get autographs & eat (like killing 2 birds with one stone type of thing...) i would do no more than two and never two meals sideby side (breakfast/lunch; lunch/dinner). Its a ton of food!
~I loved doing BBB and CRT one the same day. CRT is much more fab than 1900 Park Fare...Park Fare is my least fav of the princess meals (we did dinner) but maybe lunch or something else is better...
~ The fireworks & Wishes parade shoud not be missed, get your spot early!
~ We have gone when DD was 4 & 6 and there is still princess magic. We are planning to go again in 2013! Love Disney World!
I think I would trade out Park Fare for CRT, then do either the epcot princess breakfast or the crystal palace breakfast Fri AM....doing breakfast gets you in the parks earlier!
~Have a list of which rides you for sure want to do and have a plan to get FPs for those that are offered, its saves lots of time! We have found that the parks are always earlier in the AM
Do you have the dinning plan? If so don't forget you will have quick services meals also...we left two behind last time we went and several snacks the time before...
Be prepared - the boats and monorail lines can be absolutely ridiculous too! We spent more time waiting for monorails than for buses last year!
It's 10 days in advance to do online check in and its on that form that you can put a building preference. I think it was MouseSaver that had all the perks of the each buidling (there is like 20 : ) and we picked one that wasn't too far from the pool, next to the Great Cermonial House (lobby) and walkable to the transportation center. We got our first choice!
My kids all fell asleep right after Wishes, only my mother and I were up for the fireworks...One day, the kids were fussy and we had manatory nap and they did nap! So, we went to a different firework show that night and they did awesome and enjoyed them. You might want to do the fireworks one day when the kids are rested, also keep in mind you can't plan everything, sometime plans need adjusted/played by ear...The first time we went we did the fireworkds the night we got there and the kids were all pumped and excited, they stayed up for them...
The character meals are very $$$ IMO if you're not on the dining plan. I would probably only plan 2- one princess meal and one other one (either Crystal Palace early breakfast or Chef Mickey's.) If I were you I would schedule BBB for Thurs afternoon and do CRT for dinner on that day. I just think it might feel like a waste of a day at MK if you get there in the afternoon and have to leave after a few hours to make a dinner at the Poly. Even though you don't have a ticket for MNSSHP you can still eat dinner during that time, you'll just have to leave the park afterwards.
We just did CP 8:15 breakfast on our last trip and it was nice to be the first in the park and we got a lot done the first hour the park was open as well. But I would pick b/w CP (Pooh characters) and Chef Mickey's based upon what characters you think your kids want to see. Most people say Chef Mickey's is better for breakfast but we like eating a simple breakfast so we usually schedule more dinner's. I don't like to over due the character meals. You do often find yourself done eating and still haven't seen all the characters which can be annoying to have to wait for.
I've heard great things about Ohana's at the Poly as well. Its only a character breakfast, but I would go for dinner which is served family style and suppose to be really good and it's a hard reservation to get.
I've stayed at the Poly twice. Once with my mom, brother and 2 nieces and the other time on my honeymoon.
First stayed at the building named Niue- it was nice but no view, well, not a good or bad view, just greenery.
2nd time was on honeymoon and stayed in Tuvalu building- AWESOME view! Was waterfront so could see the lake parade at night and also the fireworks over the MK at night as well. (Could see castle too)
So, if your parents had your kids out on the beach area watching the fireworks, you and DH could be in the room watching too (wink, wink, nudge nudge)
As for Dining, I think your ideas are great, sounds like a good plan. The Poly has a great breakfast too. Characters are Mickey, Goofy and Chip N Dale. If I was in the WDW area and only had time to eat at one restaurant I would choose Ohana's at the Poly.