Seriously, there are so many options! From California Adventure to Disneyland to Downtown Disney to the hotel restaurants, anything and everything is offered. And along with everything offered comes review after review ranging from amazing to down right horrific. So what do you do? How do you decide? And decide you must because you can start making reservations for your dining experiences 60 days prior to your arrival.
Well I started with the Disneyland website. And made a list of the restaurants I was interested in for both parks. And then I went to my trusty friend the Internet and found AllEars.net witch just flat out has been one of the best restaurant resources ever, if for no other reason than it has a menu with pricing for almost every single eatery and dining option. And then I stumbled across The Disney Food Blog. Where I found food reviews and even more info. The above web resources are definitely helpful for more than just food but without them, I'd still be swimming in uncharted waters trying to figure out where to plan our meals and Character Dining.
Since we are driving, I plan on packing LOTS of snacks. That is one tip on saving money I garnered that I'm going to put to good use! Also, with the oldest, little man's allergy it really does help to control his intake of corn based products. I'm also traveling with breakfast food since we have the space and need to be fed and out the door very early.
We went ahead and purchased the Disney Dining Plan for our trip. Again after a lot of research, the decision came down to simplicity. Does it save you a lot of money? No. In fact if you are the type of family who orders salads and has extremely picky eaters, than it might actually be more expensive for you to purchase the Dining Plan than to simply pay out of pocket. However... WE are the type of family that orders steak. My kids are the farthest thing from picky eaters and are also likely to pick steak if given the option.
And from the research, I understand that the Disneyland and Disney World Dining Plans are extremely different and that the WDW plan is much more economical and very much worth it.
What it is, is simpler. I've prepaid for our food and now I don't have to worry about it. The way it works is: you receive one counter service coupon, one table service coupon and one snack coupon per day. The counter service coupon is valued at $15 per adult and $10 per child. So spend it. You won't be receiving any change if you don't. The snack coupon is valued at $5, so same goes here... use it! The table service includes character dining and/or deluxe character dining.
For example: We've purchased the Minnie's 4-Day Dining Plan. So we have 4 snacks per person/ per day, 4 counter service meals per person/ per day, 3 table service/ character dining per person/ per day and 1 deluxe character dining per person/ per day. The above info is very important as I found it no where on the world wide web. I had it explained to me by 3 different Cast Members before I really understood it as each of them explained it very differently. Again, for me, it is all about the simplicity. And who knows how I'll feel about it all after our trip. I'll let you know then.
Here is our reservation list/ Where we plan on eating:
Day 1:
Breakfast - In Room
Lunch - Flo's V-8 Cafe in Cars land, DCA
Dinner -Earl of Sandwich in DTD
Day 2:
Breakfast - In room
Lunch -Tomorrowland Terrace in Tomorrowland, DL
Dinner - Carnation Cafe on Main Street, DL
Day 3:
Breakfast - The Storyteller's Cafe in Grand Californian Hotel
Lunch - French Market in New Orleans Square, DL
Dinner - Date Night - Trader Sam's Tiki Bar in The Disneyland Hotel
Day 4:
Breakfast - Minnie & Friends Breakfast at The Plaza Inn, Main Street, DL
Lunch - Jolly Holiday Bakery on Main Street, DL
Dinner - Wine Country Trattoria on Paradise Pier, DCA
Day 5:
Breakfast - Goofy's Kitchen in The Disneyland Hotel
Lunch - Paradise Pier Eateries (Lucky Fortune Cookery, Pacific Wharf Cafe, Etc.), DCA
Dinner - Blue Bayou in New Orleans Square, DL
I've made reservations for our dinners and our 3 character breakfasts. I'd love to try Napa Rose, Carthay Circle and Steakhouse 55 but our kiddos are too young for restaurants like those and on our date night (we'd originally planned on hitting up Carthay Circle) we are more interested in riding rides and exploring the park sans kiddos than sitting down to a fancy meal. By planning our meals, it has really allowed me to plan out our days accordingly, more on that in my next post!
I've read the menus from each of the restaurants so I know that there are options my kiddos will be interested in. And I've tried really hard to mix up the variety. I'm not a hamburger for every meal type of person. And with my autoimmune issues and the allergies in our family, I have to be more aware of what I and my family eat. We don't need any tummy issues in the Happiest Place on Earth!
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