ADR help! Which to cancel or pay OOP?

[nevergrowup5]

Help, I have too many good reservations! We are on the DDP staying 8 nights. I had my plans set, and then my adorable 7 year old (who doesn't know we are going yet) told us that all he wants to do is go back to Disney and eat with Chef Mickey. And THEN, they released the Snow White dinner at Artist Point. So now I have 10 credits planned. My husband wants me to cancel 2 credits, but I really want to keep them all. My thought is to pay OOP for HDDR. It's worth noting we are going over President's week due to school break so I would love to cancel Tusker and H&V, but worry we will need the VIP tickets to see the shows. Kids are 7 y/o boy and 2 & 5 y/o girls. Here's my current plan - thoughts? What should I pay OOP or cancel? CRT is non-negotiable for the girls.

Arrival day - Ohana dinner
MK day - BOG lunch (QS)
AK day - Tusker House (ROL package)
EP day - Artist Point
MK day - Chef Mickey's breakfast, HDDR dinner
HS day - Hollywood & Vine lunch (Fantasmic package)
EP day - Bon Voyage Breakfast
MK day - CRT lunch

 

[happymommy]

I would totally skip Ohana on arrival day if it were me. I don't like to have any ADR on arrival day, due to being unsure if kids (or adults) are exhausted from a travel day, or travel delays in general. We like to settle in and do something unplanned on arrival day for dinner. Also, it does get very mixed reviews. Some folks love it, some say there's always quite a wait to be seated and service can be hit or miss, as can the food. I've never been, as it holds little appeal to me (not into all you can eat, as I'd eat some noodles and a couple dumplings and be full).

I also don't really see much appeal to Bon Voyage breakfast. I've read a review or two, and it just looks "okay". But, if those characters are important, keep it.

Definitely use credits for BOG lunch. We really enjoyed two lunches there! It was my youngest and I, and we substituted soup instead of dessert (but now dessert isn't included, but you can get soup as a snack credit). It was SO much food. We couldn't eat half of it! We agreed, the roast beef sandwich and French onion soup were the best. Out of pocket, it rang up as over $50 for the two of us, but we were on the free QSDP.

Artist Point - is that 2 credits? Just wondering if that's worth it. For an Epcot day, maybe I'd choose something either in the park or at an Epcot resort.

 

[nevergrowup5]

I would totally skip Ohana on arrival day if it were me. I don't like to have any ADR on arrival day, due to being unsure if kids (or adults) are exhausted from a travel day, or travel delays in general. We like to settle in and do something unplanned on arrival day for dinner. Also, it does get very mixed reviews. Some folks love it, some say there's always quite a wait to be seated and service can be hit or miss, as can the food. I've never been, as it holds little appeal to me (not into all you can eat, as I'd eat some noodles and a couple dumplings and be full).

I also don't really see much appeal to Bon Voyage breakfast. I've read a review or two, and it just looks "okay". But, if those characters are important, keep it.

Definitely use credits for BOG lunch. We really enjoyed two lunches there! It was my youngest and I, and we substituted soup instead of dessert (but now dessert isn't included, but you can get soup as a snack credit). It was SO much food. We couldn't eat half of it! We agreed, the roast beef sandwich and French onion soup were the best. Out of pocket, it rang up as over $50 for the two of us, but we were on the free QSDP.

Artist Point - is that 2 credits? Just wondering if that's worth it. For an Epcot day, maybe I'd choose something either in the park or at an Epcot resort.

Thank you for the help! I have the same worries about Ohana, the only thing is we are meeting both sets of grandparents for the week and this is the only meal we have planned together. We are staying at Poly and the ADR is 4pm, so I was hoping we could make it work even if people are tired. I may have to re-think it. Artist Point is dropping to 1 credit when it switches to the Snow White dinner. I know it's not ideal to go all the way to WL from Epcot but I really want to do that one! Maybe I will hold it until I see how the reviews are. Thinking you are right about Bon Voyage, especially since we have to leave Epcot to go there.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would skip Bon Voyage since Epcot has so many good QS options.

I would also skip Hollywood and Vine. I've never had a problem finding a seat at Fantasmic. Maybe you could hop to the Beach Club and grab lunch at Beaches and Cream and pay OOP for that. Prices aren't far off from QS meal. Or switch to Sci Fi and pay OOP since the prices aren't out of control either.

 

[cincystamper]

I would skip Ohana and pay OOP for the Bon Voyage Breakfast.

 

[scottmik2]

I would skip BOG for lunch. We love it for dinner but lunch was not impressive. Besides that, the kids may be so excited to be at MK they wouldn't want to stop for any longer than a QS takes. Just my opinion.

 

[FFMickey]

We usually pay for breakfasts oop, but we usually plug in all our meals on the Dis trip planner to see which gives us the greatest value. https://distripplanner.com

 

[Franrose]

BOG lunch is a QS credit, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to get rid of that - it won't eat into your TS credit allowance.

Of your other options... HDDR uses 2 credits to get only tier 2 or 3 seating. I'd be tempted to pay for that OOP and go tier 1. Otherwise I'd look at which restaurant will be the cheapest per credit - my 'sources' suggest Trattoria al forno (I personally wouldn't cancel that one - it's not easy to get, and it's getting good reviews recently) and Chef Mickey's perhaps, but you'd want to check that yourself with all the recent pricing changes. (It might actually even be HDDR.) You picked these restaurants in the first place because you liked the look of them, so I wouldn't cancel anything, I'd pay OOP if possible.

 

[SA mom]

I would not go to Artist point on an EP day. It will take you at least an hour to get there and back. But, if you just got to do it, take a cab/uber/minivan. I would also give up Chef Mickey's. I know, you want to make the kid happy. It's my favorite, too. But the kid will be happy with any choices you make. And if he says, "But I really wanted to do...." use my mother's quote that we use all the time:

You gotta save something for next time.

It's amazing how those words can get a kid to think of the future instead of what they are missing right now.

 

[Mr & Mrs DD]

We had done the same thing on our last visit. We booked too many places to eat. In the end, we decided to keep them all and paid for one of them out of pocket. We were happy with our choice. We had many good meals last time.
We also had 'Ohana on our last visit. The first time we ate at 'Ohana, we weren't that impressed with it. When we ate there this time, we loved it. It was one of our best meals.
Having said all that, If I was going to drop one, I would drop Hollywood & Vine. Enjoy you trip and happy dining.

 

[sanapp]

I would just price out each one and pay for the cheapest oop. I wouldn’t cancel any of them.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Help, I have too many good reservations! We are on the DDP staying 8 nights. I had my plans set, and then my adorable 7 year old (who doesn't know we are going yet) told us that all he wants to do is go back to Disney and eat with Chef Mickey. And THEN, they released the Snow White dinner at Artist Point. So now I have 10 credits planned. My husband wants me to cancel 2 credits, but I really want to keep them all. My thought is to pay OOP for HDDR. It's worth noting we are going over President's week due to school break so I would love to cancel Tusker and H&V, but worry we will need the VIP tickets to see the shows. Kids are 7 y/o boy and 2 & 5 y/o girls. Here's my current plan - thoughts? What should I pay OOP or cancel? CRT is non-negotiable for the girls.

Arrival day - Ohana dinner
MK day - BOG lunch (QS)
AK day - Tusker House (ROL package)
EP day - Artist Point
MK day - Chef Mickey's breakfast, HDDR dinner
HS day - Hollywood & Vine lunch (Fantasmic package)
EP day - Bon Voyage Breakfast
MK day - CRT lunch

I'm actually surprised at the responses to cancel Bon Voyage - in my opinion it's the absolute best breakfast on property. We go at least once if not twice per trip. I'd cancel HDDR. You have some great ressies! I can't wait to try Snow White's new dinner and Ohana is a must do for us as well. Keep them and either pay OOP for HDDR or skip it. Have a great trip!

 

[czechplz]

I'm throwing in a vote for 'Ohana for pretty much every reason happymommy said. I would also move Artist's Point to a different day. Epcot has such great food to choose from. Maybe have it on one of your MK days? Unless you don't want two sit down restaurants in one day, in which case I would recommend dropping CRT. It used to be a favorite of mine, but nowadays, it doesn't have good enough food to justify the two credits.