First, we chose to use the Disney Plus Dining Plan (1 Table Service meal, 1 Quick Service meal, & 1 Snack). The cost of this dining plan is about $55 per adult per night and $20 per child per night. Kids 2 and under are free and "eat off your plate." If you are not a big eater, than the dining plans are not for you! And if you do any sit down meals, you will quickly learn that you can eat your money's worth and more on the Disney Dining Plan!!
Next, comes the hard part about choosing were to place reservations for all your Table Service meals! Last year, we used it for character meals and we did those meals at breakfast, lunch and dinner. This year, someone gave me a great idea of doing the character meals for breakfast. For our family, this makes perfect sense! The kids are awake and happy and it is the best meal they eat of the day! And who doesn't like Mickey Waffles, eggs, bacon, juice and fruit for breakfast every day? All the breakfasts (except for Cinderella's Castle) is after 10am, so we can sleep in, ride some rides and then go to a late breakfast which practically qualifies for a brunch by this time! Another great reason for choosing Character meals is that it is an easy way to see characters and not have to wait in line after line to see them!
Our favorite character meals so far have been Akershus (found in Norway at Epcot) and 'Ohana at the Polynesian Resort. We did the first lunch seating at Akershus and it was beautiful and delicious! The one problem we found with many of the character meals at lunch and dinner was that they were buffets and we hardly ate together as a family because someone was always up getting kids food or their own and we had to take turns sitting with the kids. At Akershus, you start out as a buffet for appetizers, but then you order your main entree and desserts and they are brought to your table. The appetizer buffet consisted of fruits, cheeses, and meats that all my kids love! And of course, Mac and Cheese is always offered as a main course for the kids. The characters were amazing at this lunch... we saw Belle, Ariel, Aurora, Snow White and Cinderella. No long waits in line to see these princesses and they played their characters amazingly!
We went to 'Ohana for breakfast for Miss Hannah's birthday and it was soooooo delicious!! They bring out their renown bread and juice, fruit, and a big platter of eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and Mickey Waffles to your table for breakfast! The Characters are Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto and the atmosphere is so much fun!!
My least favorite character meals were Chrystal Palace at MK and Hollywood & Vine at HS. Chrystal Palace has the characters from Winnie the Pooh and is another buffet. We went for dinner our first night there, and I was tired and very busy with the kids that I hardly ate. The food was good for a buffet, but it just didn't leave a big impression on me!
We went to Hollywood & Vine for lunch our 6th day there... and the kids were tired and grumpy that day! The Characters were from Disney Jr. and for us they were Jake, Handy Manny, Agent Oso, and June. The food was not impressive and it took forever for the Characters to get to us because they kept stopping for a dance party, which my kids did not want to do. The best part of this whole thing was when I came out of the bathroom with Sam and we ran into Jake doing the dance party and Sam ran up to him and gave him a big hug! This was only the 3rd character Sam would touch besides Pluto and Mickey! We are going back to H&V this year for breakfast, but primarily to see the Characters! The characters have changed to include Jake, Princess Sophia, Doc McStuffins and Handy Manny and 3 out of the 4 characters are a must see for our family!!
One of the main reasons that we chose all breakfasts this year was that originally, Josh and I were going to Disney with just us and the kids. That would really make doing buffets tough, and it would be much easier if the food was brought to us... but I still wanted to do character meals instead of just plain sit down meals. However, my in-laws decided to come with us and now we have babysitters :), so Josh and I are going out on a date night!!
For our date night, I have a fun evening planned!! We are going to Narcoossee's at the Grand Floridian Resort with an 8pm reservation. I plan to get the Surf and Turf, and I have heard that the food is AMAZING there! I'm sure we will also order Lobster Mac & Cheese... it may just be Josh's favorite thing! Afterwards, we are going to sit out on the beach at the resort and watch the floating parade at 9pm and watch the fireworks at 10pm! I'm very excited about our date! How does this play into the dining plan? Let me try to explain... Narcoossee's and Cinderella's Castle each costs 2 table service credits, and we will be using our dining plans for these meals. Narcoossee's will cost well over $100 a person and 'Ohana is $21... I would rather pay out of pocket for 'Ohana then Narcoossee's. because the kids will be "skipping" one meal with us, they may end up with one extra table service meal, but I figured I will just use it to get them breakfast the morning we leave. I may loose out on a few dollars there, but I will be saving in the long run!
Last year, I also ordered groceries to be delivered to our resort room. I had Milk, Juice, Cheese, yogurt and water delivered to our resort but this year I think I am just going to order water bottles from Sam's Club to be delivered. We will bring cereal bars, gold fish, cheese-its and fruit snacks with us, along with lemonade and fruit punch for the kids waters. I bought these great big thermos's for the kids last year from the Disney Store and fill them with water and single Kool-aid packets. These last most of the day. Then I put cold water bottles and extra Lemonade or Kool-aid packets in my Vera Bradley lunch box (fits about 5-6 bottles) and take those to the park with us (my lunch box fits nicely on the bars under the double stroller). They will warm up, but I can drink luke warm water, and for the kids I just ask for some ice to put in their thermos's to cool down their water! It only took me all of last trip to figure out how to best utilize our water :)
Have a Magical Day!!
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