ADR opinions...what to keep/what to ditch

MelissaMonicaDrake

Mouseketeer
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
INFO:
1. There are 5 of us. Trying to stay on budget, so some of them have to go!
2. We do have 2 picky eaters...something to just keep in mind.
3. Our older two children (12 and 14) have been to Disney, our youngest (almost 7) has not. These character meals are mostly for her, so I want to keep one's that will wow the little one :)

Day 1 - MK Day (won't get to the resort until around 2)
Late Lunch - Crystal Palace (We do have Fireworks Dessert party booked this day as well)

Day 2 - DHS Day
Lunch - Minnie's Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine (w/ F!)

Day 3 - Epcot
Breakfast Akershus (Again, picky eaters. Figured breakfast was our best bet!)
Currently have a 10pm dinner reservation at T-rex. Too late for us. Hoping an earlier one opens up.

Day 4 - MK Day
Breakfast - Ohana - 14yo loves Lilo and Stitch, this one is for her!
Lunch - BOG
Dinner - CRT

Day 5 - Universal Day

Day 6 - AK Day
I have two breakfast reservations
730am at Trattoria and 915am at 1900 Park Fare. Not sure which one to go with.
Lunch at Tusker House

With 4 of us being charged adult pricing, cutting just 2 meals will save us around $4-500. So, if you had to cut 2, which 2 would you cut??
 
Truthfully, I would ditch TREx, Or Tusker House. It was not our favorite, not for lunch or dinner.

I liked CRT but given you want to stay on budget, unless you think the little one needs to dine in that Castle, Akershus was a much better interaction with the Princesses. Cindy is at Akershus, as is Belle. If CRT is a must, and I get it if it is, our Princesses dined in every Castle, I would ditch TH and get a CS meal in DAK. I found TH chaotic and it took forever to meet the characters.

I would problem keep Trattoria unless it is out of the way. My Princess loves Rapunzel. 1900 PF has some duplicate characters with Crystal Palace.

On your arrival day I would also grab CS and get rid ot Trex.
The only thing I will add is that you have a lot of buffet on your menu plans.
 
Truthfully, I would ditch TREx, Or Tusker House. It was not our favorite, not for lunch or dinner.

I liked CRT but given you want to stay on budget, unless you think the little one needs to dine in that Castle, Akershus was a much better interaction with the Princesses. Cindy is at Akershus, as is Belle. If CRT is a must, and I get it if it is, our Princesses dined in every Castle, I would ditch TH and get a CS meal in DAK. I found TH chaotic and it took forever to meet the characters.

I would problem keep Trattoria unless it is out of the way. My Princess loves Rapunzel. 1900 PF has some duplicate characters with Crystal Palace.

On your arrival day I would also grab CS and get rid ot Trex.
The only thing I will add is that you have a lot of buffet on your menu plans.

This will most likely be our last Disney trip, so will most likely keep CRT. I actually have a 1900 PF dinner booked that night in case I wanted to go a little cheaper, but hanging on to CRT for now!

Thinking we will cancel Tusker house, thanks!
 
This will most likely be our last Disney trip, so will most likely keep CRT. I actually have a 1900 PF dinner booked that night in case I wanted to go a little cheaper, but hanging on to CRT for now!

Thinking we will cancel Tusker house, thanks!

CRT would not have been the first I canceled, however if you will not be back, keep CRT. At that age, it is truly magical. I hear Minnie's Seasonal Dine is fun, so I would keep it. I have it booked for my family in December. The characters overlap between H&V and TH.
 


I'd go down to one TS per day. From the list you have:

Day 3 - drop T-Rex
Day 4 - keep CRT
Day 5 - seriously reconsider. A day at US will cost you dearly, specially if you end up doing park to park in order to see both HP parks. Plus transportation to/from (Uber is your best bet)..
Day 6 - I'd say lunch at Tusker - the travel to Trattoria from your resort will take a lot of time.
 
I'd go down to one TS per day. From the list you have:

Day 3 - drop T-Rex
Day 4 - keep CRT
Day 5 - seriously reconsider. A day at US will cost you dearly, specially if you end up doing park to park in order to see both HP parks. Plus transportation to/from (Uber is your best bet)..
Day 6 - I'd say lunch at Tusker - the travel to Trattoria from your resort will take a lot of time.

I hated to be the one to bring up Universal. I also would cancel that portion and concentrate on Disney parks. The money saved is not the only benefit. There is just so much in WDW, adding Universal can add stress because you try to get more done while in the parks. I honestly do not like to pack too much in a vacation, so much gets lost.
 
Agree with what everyone else has said, ditch Uni (possibly make it a Uni only trip several years from now when your youngest appreciates Harry Potter)
I would do either Akershus OR Trattoria, not both, and also cancel TRex. (It's a long and painful out of the way journey to DS, especially on a 4-5 trip). Eat at one of the wonderful TS or CS in Epcot. So much better, and you won't have to take time away from Epcot.
And last (albeit first on your list) I would also not do CP my first day. It's a huge time sucker on your first day and you already have a dessert party. (I no longer will even consider watching the FWs without some type of dessert party or FP, it's just too crowded imho)
I personally don't think you're too heavy on buffets. What I like most about them with your children's ages, etc, is that there is ALWAYS something they like to eat. You're already getting to MK late. In fact I would not do a TS on my first day at all, due to your limited time. Grab a lunchvCS meal, and then head to your dessert party later on.
IF you can and you really really want CP, try to switch up your lunch at BOG. It's counter service and CAN/MAY get busy and the good is not that fabulous. Beast also is not there at lunch. Otherwise, save your money and get Counter Service somewhere around the area you will be in. You may even be able to share some of those CS meals, some of them are huge!
This is a lot of info you have received, good luck and have a blast!
 


Thanks everyone!

Would definitely prefer to do BOG on our first day instead of CP, but couldn't get a reservation. Will keep looking, but we'll mostly use that res at a "snack" to stay on the cheaper side and see the castle.

Leaning towards cancelling trex, cp and Tusker house right now.

Univ day has to stay. My older two are so excited for that part of the trip. We were actually going to do a split stay, but compromised with a one day trip. My oldest, especially, has been looking forward to visiting HP world since we planned the trip 6 mo ago and has been saving her money to spend there.
 
Thanks everyone!

Would definitely prefer to do BOG on our first day instead of CP, but couldn't get a reservation. Will keep looking, but we'll mostly use that res at a "snack" to stay on the cheaper side and see the castle.

Leaning towards cancelling trex, cp and Tusker house right now.

Univ day has to stay. My older two are so excited for that part of the trip. We were actually going to do a split stay, but compromised with a one day trip. My oldest, especially, has been looking forward to visiting HP world since we planned the trip 6 mo ago and has been saving her money to spend there.
That sounds wonderful!
I'm sure you're going to have a fabulous trip.
So, it sounds like you have a good basic plan.
My only other advice (really a tip) is that Table Service always takes up much longer than you expected, so be prepared. That's why my advice about cx CP stands.
And when you wrote in your letter about CP to see the castle, I'm not sure if you meant Crystal Palace (larfe buffet, fixed price, not the castle) or CRT (Cinderella's Royal Table). You need a pre paid ADR for the castle, so there's no "snacking". And there's no "snacking" at the buffets either. Unless you want to pay $50.00 for a snack.
 
That sounds wonderful!
I'm sure you're going to have a fabulous trip.
So, it sounds like you have a good basic plan.
My only other advice (really a tip) is that Table Service always takes up much longer than you expected, so be prepared. That's why my advice about cx CP stands.
And when you wrote in your letter about CP to see the castle, I'm not sure if you meant Crystal Palace (larfe buffet, fixed price, not the castle) or CRT (Cinderella's Royal Table). You need a pre paid ADR for the castle, so there's no "snacking". And there's no "snacking" at the buffets either. Unless you want to pay $50.00 for a snack.


No, no, I was referring to BOG. Which is what I tried to book on Day 1 instead of CP (to no avail) :) We have a reservation for BOG on another day, which is why I said we'll keep that one (bog) regardless because it is QS and we can keep the costs down there as opposed to the other TS/Character meals which are far more expensive and price fixed, and still get to see the beasts castle.
 
INFO:
1. There are 5 of us. Trying to stay on budget, so some of them have to go!
2. We do have 2 picky eaters...something to just keep in mind.
3. Our older two children (12 and 14) have been to Disney, our youngest (almost 7) has not. These character meals are mostly for her, so I want to keep one's that will wow the little one :)

Day 1 - MK Day (won't get to the resort until around 2)
Late Lunch - Crystal Palace (We do have Fireworks Dessert party booked this day as well)

Day 2 - DHS Day
Lunch - Minnie's Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Vine (w/ F!)

Day 3 - Epcot
Breakfast Akershus (Again, picky eaters. Figured breakfast was our best bet!)
Currently have a 10pm dinner reservation at T-rex. Too late for us. Hoping an earlier one opens up.

Day 4 - MK Day
Breakfast - Ohana - 14yo loves Lilo and Stitch, this one is for her!
Lunch - BOG
Dinner - CRT

Day 5 - Universal Day

Day 6 - AK Day
I have two breakfast reservations
730am at Trattoria and 915am at 1900 Park Fare. Not sure which one to go with.
Lunch at Tusker House

With 4 of us being charged adult pricing, cutting just 2 meals will save us around $4-500. So, if you had to cut 2, which 2 would you cut??
I am not sure where you are staying, but if at an Epcot resort, I would keep La Tratoria. It has the princes too so that is something different. I would drop the 9:15 1900 Park Fare (unless you are staying at a monorail resort) as it will really cut into your AK day. Regardless, I would definitely drop Tusker House.

If you have a Landry card, you can walk up and get the next table, ahead of ADRs. It costs 25 but you get a coupon for it.
 

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