Pixie Dust and Great Dining?

[mommahnina]

We are leaving for Disney in 25 days. Yesterday my husband was able to find a CRT ADR on the computer. At that time we only had Mickeys Backyard BBQ, Chef Mickeys, and 1900 Park Fare Dinner booked, and we were having to pay out of pocket because we only had the free dining from the value ( qs meals ) We are a family of 6, ( 2 adults and 4 kids 3,7,9,12 ) and we are staying at All Stars Music Family Suites. Well my hubbie did the math and just the Mickeys BBQ was 283 something, Chef Mickeys and 1900 were probably going to run us 150 each. So he told me to call and see how much to upgrade our dining plan would be. Lucky for us it was only 360!!! So to us it was worth it to upgrade and get other TS places we wanted to go only down fall is the tips are not included I am not sure about taxes ( 3 of ours have taxes and tips included the shows and CRT ). So yesterday we just happened to get ADRS for *drumroll please * lol CRT , LeCiellar, Sci Fi Diner, Spirit of Aloha, Via Neplia (sp?). We got all of them in one day with 26 days to go plus they were all for a table of 6. I am thinking that tinkerbell herself came to visit us in our sleep and sprinkled some MAJOR pixie dust on us LOL!! so My ? is The last time we went to Disney was two years ago and we had some pretty bad experiences mostly with the Liberty Tree Tavern and Tusker house breakfast. So I was wondering if I could get opinions on the ones I did book this time. I tried not to have ALL character meals because honestly we had some bad experiences So I tried to choose wisely. So I would love to hear some of ya'lls thoughts :) If you think those are good ADRS and if you think it was worth it for us to upgrade? ( our main reason for the QS plan was for the mugs LOL yes silly and for the snacks cause we were under the impression that you could still get the goofys candy shop make your own was still on the DP, and its NOT :( which was a heartbreaker for me!! and after him paying all of that for the few ADRS we did get at the start of us planing it just made sense to us to change. Anyways like I said before any thoughts/ opinions would be appreciated! thank you!

[jodijo]

Did you upgrade to the deluxe dinning plan?
I ask because a few of your reservations are signature restaurants and requite 2 TS credits per person on the regular dinning plan. If it is not the deluxe, I think you will still be paying for some meals out of your own pocket.

[mommahnina]

we are actually staying 11 nights ;) so there will be I think two or three nights that we need to eat elsewhere. BUT I figure on MNSSHP night we will eat a big lunch then head there and then we will just snack on junk that night LOL!! then on the days we will just eat somewhere like QS and pay out of pocket. :)

[jodijo]

WOW, 11 nights!!
Sounds great! Have fun:mickey:

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

Hopefully you haven't used all the pixie dust:D

I've been trying for weeks to get into 1900 Park, Ohana, Chef Mickey's and Hoop De Doo (to name just a few) and so far have struck out on all of them. Did manage to get a Candlelight Processional package for 5 at Coral Reef, which is a nice surprise as we've never eaten there, but otherwise, total frustration.

You definitely will like LeCellier. I've heard mixed on Aloha, some seem to really love it, others think it's overrated, have never done it myself. Via Napoli I believe is getting condistent good reviews.

I think you will be pretty happy with what you've got.

[mousetrapper]

We've done all of those except Via Napoli, and the only one I didn't especially like was Spirit of Aloha. It was years ago, just after they changed to the new format and I think I would have liked the old one better. The food wasn't that remarkable either.

Have a wonderful time!

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

11 days? how heavenly!!!

We did the Spirit of Aloha in 2000 during our honeymoon. We could have done without. We LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Ohana's much more.

Ohana's is "Disney" to us and a must do... (even though we aren't doing it this time around since we vowed to try new restaurants!)

If I were you, I'd cancel Spirit and do Ohana's better. With your kids age group, it will be more fun IMO.

We'll be there in 17 days! So we'll be leaving when you are arriving.

[darthmacho]

It took me all week to figure this out on my last trip, but the only TAX we were paying was on the items that were not covered by our dining plan, such as alcoholic drinks or appetizers. You don't seem to pay tax on the covered entree, drink and dessert, just the tip. Sometimes, however, the food was so expensive, the tip alone would be as expensive as a restaurant bill at home.

Thank goodness for the dining plan!

[disneymom2000]

What amazing luck that you could get all those so close to arriving in the World. You did a smart thing with upgrading your dining experience and I think you will be more than happy with your choices. If you find you don't like one, then that is one less place you have to worry about the next visit. Enjoy yourself.:tink:

[VWL Mom]

You're upgrading 11 nights for 6 people and it's only costing 360? That's amazing and definitely worth it in my book (and I'm not a DDP fan)!

[mommahnina]

you know I got to really thinking about it and our first dining plan the QS was part of the free dining so basically we paid 360 for all of the dining. so I am 100% certain we saved money! I am so excited I can't wait. I can't stop dreaming of disney!!!:cloud9: