Thoughts on my Dining Itinerary?

Disney Dining Dad

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 20, 2018
My wife and I will be bringing our four-year-old daughter to Disney World for the first time in July, and as the "foodie" in the family, my responsibility is taking care of our meals. We have the Deluxe Dining Plan, and I have made reservations at a number of restaurants with the hopes of combining a fun, memorable experience for my daughter with some unbelievably good meals at "Signature Restaurants."

Here's what I currently have lined up:

Arrive on Sunday morning
Lunch: Be Our Guest
Dinner: Artist Point
We are staying in the Wilderness Lodge, and I thought we might just want to go to bed after dinner after waking up at 3:00 a.m. that day for our flight from PA.

Monday:
Breakfast: Cinderella's Royal Table
Dinner: 'Ohana

Tuesday:
Lunch: Yak and Yeti
Dinner: Yachtsman Steakhouse (this is our wedding anniversary, but our daughter will be with us)

Wednesday:
Lunch: '50s Prime Time Cafe
Dinner: Flying Fish

Thursday:
Breakfast: Garden Grill (Chip 'n' Dale's Harvest)
Dinner: Monsieur Paul

Depart on Friday

As you can see, I attempted to plan a day at each park, though we will have a hopper pass (and a few of the dinners are in or near Epcot).

I originally had our anniversary dinner at La Cellier, but I've read many reviews online saying that Yachtsman is better, even though it doesn't have the same hype.

I've also considered replacing Flying Fish with Narcoosee's or Artist Point with California Grill, but I've heard some negative reviews about the latter options while finding very few about the former.

My original plan for Epcot's one-credit meal was the Biergarten, but I feel like my daughter may prefer another character breakfast. Plus, many of the dinners are for mom and dad.

Please feel free to share any thoughts or suggestions that you may have. Thanks very much.
 
We did the delxue plan in November with our 4 yo daughter and had a similar strategy to you -- character breakfast or brunch daily then a signature dinner. I think your plan looks really solid.

Day 1 - solid choices. You really have to see th castle once and we enjoyed bog breakfast over dinner
Loved the open face bacon arugula sandwich.
If you do consider cali grill over artist point, we ate their twice last trip and loved the food. Their sushi choices were particular standouts. And my daughter LOVED the view and being able to see the castle lit up at night.
I hear great things about AP too though and that would probably be more convenient for your first night.

Day 2: we found the food at ohana to be very umderwhelming/disappointing. My daughter liked the coconut race though. We wish we had tried narcoosee or citricos instead.

Day 3: yachtsman was kiddos favorite signature of the trip. She loved getting her own steak and the "artist pallet" dessert/art project was a huge success. Consider brunch/lunch at tusker house over yak and yeti -- you don't have any meals with Donald/daisy and The tusker lunch buffet has great non typical buffet offerings (curries, whole roasted fish) along with the standard kid friendly items


Last two days:: we really enjoyed flying fish and garden grill. We did sci fi instead of 50s prime. Kiddo loved sitting in the car and watching to old movies but the food was standard bar fare. we will be trying 50s next time we do HS.

Hve a great trip!
 
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If you're looking for memorable, I would switch out 'Ohana at Poly for Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge, especially if you are looking for a signature experience with delicious food. Plus, AKL is gorgeous. We've had consistently great meals at Jiko. Plus, if you like wine, Jiko has an extensive South African (I think) wine list. They have a kid's menu as well.

I would only eat 'Ohana if I was staying at the Poly, and only then, as room service.

Edited to add - I keep remembering things after I submit the post. Artist Point has this amazing "Taste of the Pacific" on its menu. It's 5 courses of regular-sized meals and it was one of the most amazing dining experiences we've ever had at Disney. I'm not sure if you can use the DDP, but it's worth checking out.
 
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I would be very happy if this was my dining itinerary. I think you have a great mix. I also think eating at artist point on the first night you arrive is a good plan.
 


My wife and I will be bringing our four-year-old daughter to Disney World for the first time in July, and as the "foodie" in the family, my responsibility is taking care of our meals. We have the Deluxe Dining Plan, and I have made reservations at a number of restaurants with the hopes of combining a fun, memorable experience for my daughter with some unbelievably good meals at "Signature Restaurants."

Here's what I currently have lined up:

Arrive on Sunday morning
Lunch: Be Our Guest
Dinner: Artist Point
We are staying in the Wilderness Lodge, and I thought we might just want to go to bed after dinner after waking up at 3:00 a.m. that day for our flight from PA.

Monday:
Breakfast: Cinderella's Royal Table
Dinner: 'Ohana

Tuesday:
Lunch: Yak and Yeti
Dinner: Yachtsman Steakhouse (this is our wedding anniversary, but our daughter will be with us)

Wednesday:
Lunch: '50s Prime Time Cafe
Dinner: Flying Fish

Thursday:
Breakfast: Garden Grill (Chip 'n' Dale's Harvest)
Dinner: Monsieur Paul

Depart on Friday

As you can see, I attempted to plan a day at each park, though we will have a hopper pass (and a few of the dinners are in or near Epcot).

I originally had our anniversary dinner at La Cellier, but I've read many reviews online saying that Yachtsman is better, even though it doesn't have the same hype.

I've also considered replacing Flying Fish with Narcoosee's or Artist Point with California Grill, but I've heard some negative reviews about the latter options while finding very few about the former.

My original plan for Epcot's one-credit meal was the Biergarten, but I feel like my daughter may prefer another character breakfast. Plus, many of the dinners are for mom and dad.

Please feel free to share any thoughts or suggestions that you may have. Thanks very much.

I think your plan looks solid. It's a good mix of signatures where you'll get good food (you may want to temper your expectations from "unbelievably" good, though!) and "Disney" meals.

Sunday - make sure you pre-order for BOG. The line to order at the kiosks can get very long and especially after a long day of travel, you can speed up the process by ordering your meals in advance. Keep Artist Point. We've eaten at both AP and Cali Grill several times and Artist Point beats the food at Cali by a mile. Cali's view is amazing though, but, especially if you've been up since 3 am and you are staying at WL, AP is a great choice.

Monday - CRT, iconic Disney! O'hana - you are going to get a lot of varied responses on this one. We've been here about 5 times over the last 10 years and on our last trip in December it was really bad. We were there for over 90 minutes and they never did the coconut races or the limbo. The server was incredibly rushed (it seemed she had a very large section to herself) and she literally plopped about 3 lbs. of meat on my plate without ever asking me if I even wanted it. It was gross. If you want some type of "experience" (if you are lucky and they actually do the games), I guess it's fun. Otherwise, I would reconsider. Honestly, since you are staying at WL, I would consider WCC. The servers and the antics there are really fun!

Tuesday - solid choices. Yak & Yeti is good, however, if you have any interest in switching out Garden Grill for Tusker House, TH is one of the best character meals on property, IMHO. The food is much better there than at GG. I would stick with Yachtsman over Le Cellier. Le Cellier is good, but it's quite small and loud in there.

Wednesday - both fine. I'm not a fan of either FF or Narcoosee's, so I don't feel I can be of much help here! There is certainly a better view from Narcoosee's.

Thursday - personally, as I mentioned, I would switch Tusker House for Garden Grill and consider doing an early lunch somewhere in EP WS instead of GG on this day. If you take out GG and do TH, that would leave room to do Biergarten instead as you had planned and still get that character meal in. Monsieur Paul is awesome!
 
If you're looking for memorable, I would switch out 'Ohana at Poly for Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge, especially if you are looking for a signature experience with delicious food. Plus, AKL is gorgeous. We've had consistently great meals at Jiko. Plus, if you like wine, Jiko has an extensive South African (I think) wine list. They have a kid's menu as well.

I would only eat 'Ohana if I was staying at the Poly, and only then, as room service.

Edited to add - I keep remembering things after I submit the post. Artist Point has this amazing "Taste of the Pacific" on its menu. It's 5 courses of regular-sized meals and it was one of the most amazing dining experiences we've ever had at Disney. I'm not sure if you can use the DDP, but it's worth checking out.

Jiko is awesome, but it's going to throw off their TS credit count as O'hana is 1 credit and Jiko is 2 credits. Going along those lines, though, Sanaa at AKL would be a great substitute for O'hana, IMHO! Much better food than O'hana and, as you said, AKL is gorgeous!
 
This looks like a very smart plan! Your dining choices make logistical sense and don't have you running all over WDW just for a meal. I also like that you are enjoying what your resort has to offer and are staying put for dinner the first night. When people go to WDW and hate it, it is often because they don't plan or they don't plan well.

If you are considering trading Flying Fish, I can attest to how good California Grill is. That view alone makes it worth the cost. The staff is spectacular (say hi to Ray at the bar) the wine list fabulous and the food is delicious. I am craving the lavender bread and the goat cheese ravioli right now.

It is loud and kinda bananas, but we adore 'Ohana. My kids loved the entertainment and coconut races when they were little.

I haven't been to Garden Grill since they got rid of the ice cream social about a million years ago, but Biergarten is often on our plans. DH likes the beer, I like the pretzel bread and tomato-basil salad, and my kids like the desserts and the band.

Happy planning!
 
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I love your plan! I wish my son (who will be 9 at the time of our Summer trip) would eat at some of those restaurants -- but he's super picky and we won't have the dining plan and don't want to waste more money on his dinners than we have to. ;)
 
That looks like a really good plan.

Just a thought since you're staying at Wilderness Lodge:

If anything changes or you need an extra bite, the burgers at Geyser Point are *incredible.* And if you're there at night, the patio has a great view of the Electrical Water Pageant.
 
I think you have a lot of great choices and, like others have stated, it seems well thought out.

We love Yachtsman and have a hard time not hitting it up every trip. I haven’t been to le Cellier in many years, but for an anniversary I don’t think you can go wrong with Yachtsman.

Garden Grill is a nice, relaxed character meal since the food is served family style and you don’t have to make multiple trips to a buffet with a little one. The character interaction is always great for us (usually multiple visits to the table) and we really enjoy the food. I would keep it.

As others have mentioned you could consider switching y&y for tusker house, but y&y is fine. We prefer tusker house but we enjoy character meals, get the ROL package so we can catch the show if we want, and had a less than stellar experience at y&y so my opinion may be skewed.

Sounds like a great trip!
 
Thanks everyone for your in-depth, thoughtful responses. I really appreciate the feedback.

I hadn't heard much about Tusker House until this thread started, but I am now intrigued and will do some research while considering a change.

Thanks again.
 
Jiko is awesome, but it's going to throw off their TS credit count as O'hana is 1 credit and Jiko is 2 credits. Going along those lines, though, Sanaa at AKL would be a great substitute for O'hana, IMHO! Much better food than O'hana and, as you said, AKL is gorgeous!

Completely forgot about the dining credits! Sanaa is an excellent substitute. It's another place where we've never had a bad meal. The bread service alone is worth the trip.
 
I just looked over all of my dining reservations again and noticed that Cinderella's Royal Table (which my wife booked before I took over the rest of this task) says "Not Guaranteed by Credit Card," while all of the other nine reservations say "Credit Card Guarantee."

I did some quick Googling, and it looks like this is normal, and not a mistake? And my reservation at CRT should be just fine?
 
I just looked over all of my dining reservations again and noticed that Cinderella's Royal Table (which my wife booked before I took over the rest of this task) says "Not Guaranteed by Credit Card," while all of the other nine reservations say "Credit Card Guarantee."

I did some quick Googling, and it looks like this is normal, and not a mistake? And my reservation at CRT should be just fine?
You'll be fine:).
Like others I think you have a well thought out eating itinerary that uses your credits nicely. Just want to point out that the desserts at FF are phenomenal not just in artistry but in taste. We had the panna; something that looked like a seascape with lemon and blueberries, and a chocolate dessert this past December. They all matched the meal nicely; nothing too heavy that tries to wow you with overall size and no substance to speak of. Wish more pastry shops at Disney would learn the lesson.
 
Your plan looks fantastic. You have some of my very favourite dining locations covered.

For your HS day, I personally prefer Sci-Fi over 50s, although both are quite good. The uniqueness of the setting of Sci-Fi is a huge bonus though.

For your AK day, unless you are really looking to add another character meal, then I would stick with the Yak & Yeti. Generally speaking, the quality of food at buffets is not as good as a non-buffet and although Tusker House is a pretty decent buffet, Yak & Yeti is really good.
 
You'll be fine:).
Like others I think you have a well thought out eating itinerary that uses your credits nicely. Just want to point out that the desserts at FF are phenomenal not just in artistry but in taste. We had the panna; something that looked like a seascape with lemon and blueberries, and a chocolate dessert this past December. They all matched the meal nicely; nothing too heavy that tries to wow you with overall size and no substance to speak of. Wish more pastry shops at Disney would learn the lesson.


Is it because Cindy's is pre-paid dining experience? I'm guessing here, I've never been but I think I've heard others mention something similar before.
 
Your plan looks incredible and well thought out, now I unlike many of my fellow posters love Ohana's. We eat there twice every trip and I noticed some were recommending Jiko's. While I love Ohana's I as least rate Jiko's as the best restaurant at WDW.
 
You may want to think about the time you book a dinner reservation. When my three kids were four they were very tired after being at a park and were asleep early.
 
1. If you have a long travel day with a 4 year old, I would not do a signature on arrival. My kids tend to be a little spastic when when they have been up for way too long. We tend to do well with a character meal on the first night to deal with the tiredness. (alternatively we do CS)
2. We do 2 TS restaurants a day normally due to food allergies. I have a 4 year old. (and we've gone at 3 and 2 and as a baby to either DL or WDW). We tend to crack in the middle because the kids need a break from TS. I normally am adjusting reservations as a result.
 

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