Where would you eat?

[IloveJack]

Our finances are not what I'd hoped they'd be for our fall trip. However, I am DETERMINED to take my daughter to WDW for her 1st b-day. Our plan was to go for 4 days, and spend 3 of them in the parks. However, I'm trying to get the trip as cheap as possible and still enjoy ourselves. The plan is as follows:
Wed. - Drive down, check in to the hotel, swim til bedtime.
Thurs. - Breakfast at Chef Mickey's, (something between b-fast and 4pm), Enter MK at 4ish for MNSSHP, Get 1st haircut, Early dinner at Cosmic Ray's, MNSSHP til baby gives out, Stop by bakery for snack at some point
Fri. - Epcot all day, Breakfast at Akershus, Snack for lunch, Rose and Crown for dinner
Sat. - (Breakfast somewhere), DTD, drive home

Here's my problem, where do I fit in CS meals? And where should we go? Dinner Wed. night would be nice, but it needs to be CS, and I'd rather it not be at the Food Court. Should we do DTD that night for dinner? And who serves a good CS breakfast? Or should I cough up the money for one last Character meal and end on a high note? (I swore I wouldn't go back to Ohana's after our horrible experience last time, but the idea of guaranteed pics with Stitch is making me rethink that idea.) I've only done two resort meals before (other than food court), and they were both TS. Help, please!

[Disney Doll]

DTD for Wed night sounds like a good idea. We love Earl of Sandwich. On Friday you could definitely snack your way around World Showcase. We love to do that. In fact we always stop at the pastry shop in France for a ham and cheese croissant sandwich. Those are so delicious and very inexpensive. As far as a CS breakfast on Saturday if you aren't going to the parks the only CS option I can think of would be the resort food court. I know there's a McDonald's in DTD so I guess that's an option too. We usually eat a light breakfast in the room so I'm no help with breakfast ideas.

Hope you have a great trip! We did WDW for our son's 1st birthday and it was a lot of fun.

[Buddy08]

It looks like you are only planning on getting a 2 day park ticket. I think they are cheaper per day the more days you add on. If you get say a 3 or 4 day ticket you could go to AK and/or DS which would give you more options. The picnic in the park at AK is really nice and affordable.
We usually get breakfast at the food court unless we have a character breakfast planned. 1900 Park Fair was a nice character breakfast though somewhat pricey but I think it is only 1 TS. Have a wonderful time with your 1 year old princess.

[DeniseMB]

You could order pizza & have it delivered to your room. Bring some candles from home & a bottle of wine. Make it magical. :mickey:

[Nini5055]

As you are attempting to keep the cost level down and the enjoyment level up, think over your eating options.

It appear that you are going on the Basic Dining Plan. It also appears that you will have 3 table credits, 3 counter service credits and 3 snack credits for you and your husband.

You will invariably get the most bang for your buck by doing your table service meals for dinner. You can get a danish or snack item for breakfast...think Main St. Bakery in the Magic Kingdom or Kringali (sp?) in Norway. The counter service meal can be had at any of the parks you choose to attend.

For me, it is all about my DD7 and I have been bringing her since she was 4. I would suggest the following:

Arrival Day - Wednesday
Dinner at Cinderella's Gala Feast 1900 Park Fare at Grand Floridian. This will give your dd princess time!!! My dd7 loves going to this one.

Day 1 - Thursday
Breakfast in room - Use snack credits if needed.
Lunch - Counter Service at Cosmic Ray's
Dinner - Chef Mickey's

Day 2 - Friday
Breakfast in room - Use snack credits if needed.
Lunch - Any table service in EPCOT...you will get TONS of recommendations here.
Dinner - Princess Storybook in Akershus. Don't forget you get the FREE photo included with your dinner here...it makes a great souvineer!!!

Day 4 - Saturday
Breakfast - Counter service at your resort or another resort.

***Another scenario would be to use the Counter Service credit from Day 4 for Arrival Day at the pool of your resort. That would give you Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare with characters.

Best of Luck & Have a Magical Trip!!!:mickey:

[5togetherWDW]

I'm unsure how many days in the park you are going for. As I read it, you are changing your "3 of them in the parks" into just 1 full day, at Epcot and the ticket only event at MK. Am I reading that correctly? If you still have three days park tickets and/or DDP -- it would be a shame not to use them. On the other hand, if you are doing the 1.5 days then finding meals outside the parks is what you'll need to do for Wednesday dinner and Saturday.
Earl of Sandwich has pretty good CS at DTD and when my boys were little -- they loved trying to play in the water outside it. There is also a hotdog stand nearer to World of Disney -- it does not have real meals but it is near Ghiradelli where you can split a sundae three ways.
You may also enjoy checking out the other resorts. You can wander their gift shops, take photos of your princess, and see what you think of their CS choices -- even if it is their Food Court. (While busy at breakfast and after parks close, we went into the one at the Grand Floridian at night -- and it was basically empty.)
Letting your princess ride the monorail and pose for pics at the other resorts will likey be enough to make the day magical -- if you decide to make the finances work for another big meal, I'd recommed you go for a character breakfast (they are cheaper.) You could get pictures with Pooh bear, Alice, and the Mad Hatter at the Park Faire at GF. We had a bit of a wait there, but all in our party enjoyed it.