What is your go to restaurant on your first night

tinkerbellandeeyor

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 4, 2011
So my family is staying at pop and trying to figure out what to do fo dinner the first night two major obstacles one member is in a ecv and one is gultin free tia
 
We have an ECV for my MIL and 3 of us are GF and never have issues. We rent a car so transportation is easy; however the ECV works on the bus system. You must give yourself more time for the bus as if there are other ECVs they could be full and you would have to wait for the next bus. We did the ECV bus thing when at the POP in December 2012 and had no issues if you are patient.

GF is the easier of the group as every Disney restaurant including counter service will accommodate you. We love Disney for many reasons, but the general feeling of food safety is a major plus! If you are unsure ask at the counter or your server, they will provide an allergy menu and/or the Chef will be there to help. The food court at the POP has a few GF options; but you will need to leave the POP for a table service meal.

We like to eat our first meal at or near the resort as we travel from Arizona and dont get into Orlando until the early evening most trips. October we will be at the Poly and have a 9:30pm at Ohana. It will only be 7:30pm to our bodies and we can enjoy HEA from the beach prior to the dinner.
I hope this helps.

Mike
 
We don't plan on anything special because we are usually tired from an early flight, then an afternoon in the parks. So we usually eat at our resort QS the first night. And the gift store better have some Mickey Bars in its freezer!!!!
 


We try to keep things fairly low key on the first night. It's a haul for us to get to WDW to begin with, then we rent a car & make a grocery store stop to stock the room, plus we sometimes have our 4 & 5 year old DGDs along so we don't do anything elaborate--better for them to get to bed early so we can make a great start the next day. With all of that in mind we try for something at the resort, TS is possible.
 


We stay at The Boardwalk so we walk over to Epcot, eat at Sunshine Seasons and then enjoy a relaxing night walking around World Showcase and watching Illuminations. We prefer quick service just in case we have a delay, we don't have to worry about a reservation.
 
I would go to Disney Springs. There are a lot of interesting restaurants there and you get out of the room for a while. Of course if people are tired you might just want to go to the resort food court. You could also go over to the Art of Animation resort to eat and do a little exploring.
 
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We usually do Wishes and then go over for a late 'Ohana reservation but since HEA is so much longer than Wishes I don't think this works anymore. So our new plan is to watch HEA from Trader Sam's Tiki Terrace and then a 9:30 'Ohana reservation!
 
I would love to do ohana (sp) and very reasonably priced I know this sounds silly but I am concerned about dhs safety I hear the ramps are very steep and he is not used to using a ecv
 
Our tradition is Disney Springs and Wolfgang Puck Express. This visit will be no different. However, I think we will get it to go and take it back to our resort. We will be driving for 14 (at least) straight hours. I want to sit on our balcony, watch the animals (hopefully) and eat pizza. That's my idea of a great way to start vacation.
 
What ramps?

The things to consider about arrival day dining is delays in travel. If your flight is delayed, there is a $10 pp no show fee

If you dine on property allow 90 min when using wdw transportation
 
What ramps?

The things to consider about arrival day dining is delays in travel. If your flight is delayed, there is a $10 pp no show fee

If you dine on property allow 90 min when using wdw transportation

Going from pop don't you take a bus from

Pop to mk
Monorail from mk to poly

Plan b

We are driving sens we only live 45 min to a hour away so we can leave the ecv at the hotel and drive to the poly can we park at the poly
 
One great thing about Disney World restaurants is that being gluten free is almost never a problem- most of them have plenty of gluten-free options (the only exception is some of the World Showcase restaurants at Epcot). My son is gluten free & he loves eating at the Disney World restaurants. If you google "gluten" along with the name of a WDW restaurant you're interested in, you'll find reviews of Disney restaurants by a gluten-free reviewer. The reviews can be very helpful.

One thing that is a bit of a splurge but that can be great on arrival night is the Hoop Dee Doo Revue dinner show at Fort Wilderness. To get there (since you have a car), you'll drive to the front of the Fort Wilderness resort, then park and take an internal Fort bus to the Settlement area where the dinner show is at Pioneer Hall. This route is ECV-friendly.

By the way, yes, you can park at the Polynesian, or any other resort where you have a dining reservation.
 

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