Old Favorites or New Experiences

[SleepinB]

While planning my next trip I discovered an interesting dilemma. Each trip there are many table service restaurants I want to try after reading reports online. At the same time, we all have old favorites that carry special memories; some that are "must dos" every trip. But there are only so many nights available on a trip. I am finding that I must make a choice between old favorites and trying something new.

I was curious which way Intercotees find themselves leaning when faced with choosing between a "must do" and a "I've always wanted to try"?

If you skate around the answer by stating that you do some of both, how do you choose which "must dos" get dropped and become "didn't dos".
.

[PopPhan]

I like to try at least one new (to me) restaurant each visit. Since I do multi-day trips, I find that I can always squeeze in something new.

Yes, I have favorites that I would like to visit every trip, but if I don't try something new now and then I might miss out a a new "Must-Do."

[VacationDisney]

We try to do one new restaurant each visit. We go for a week so we can kinda squeeze one in.
Our upcoming trip will be the first time that my husband has eaten at California Cafe. I have eaten there in the past on my trips with my daughter but my husband has never eaten there before.

It's so difficult to give up our favorites, but we try. The only restaurant that we NEVER miss out on is Brown Derby. In the 20+ visits we never miss eating there.

Sometimes it years before we return to other places we like but all the dining experiences, over the years, have been wonderful

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

Our one must do is Garden Grill - my kids remember this restaurant from our 2001 trip with my parents who have since passed on. It is the only restaurant they do remember, so it is a MUST do during our visit.

Other than that, it depends on who is going on what we eat. DH and I ate a lot of new places during our 20th ann. trip. DD and I ate different places than her father and I did during her graduation trip. And DS and I are going to different places yet again during his graduation trip in June. Some the same because there are only so many choices with his picky habits.

[buzznwoodysmom]

We only have one absolute must do on each trip. That would be Ohana!

We have lots of other favorites that we like to do at least every other trip, but are not a must do for every trip. We try to rotate those favorites.

On a typical 7-9 night trip we do Ohana, then the remainder of our meals are an even mix of other favorites and new experiences.

[ANG]

Most our trips are at least a week. So DH and I each get to pick an old favorite and a new one. Then we debate the rest depending what else we will do that day. Some oldies have become tradition

[Scallywag]

We have the same dilemma. We usually stay 8 nights and it looks like this...

Must dos:
T-Rex Café
Rainforest Café
Be Our Guest
O'hana
Coral Reef ( We always eat here our first night-Epcot is always 1st stop )

Somewhere is HS - The night we see Fantasmic. Next trip will be Mamma Melrose ( never been there )

So we have two meals left and we debate on new place or somewhere we haven't been in a while.

This is also a fun part of planning...

[dtootsie42]

We really only have one must have and that is Narcoossee at the Grand Floridian. When our daughters were younger that was date night for us while they played at the Neverland Club at the Poly. When they got older they would go off on their own adventure and now as adults it is a family favorite.

[Crow]

Must do is Tokyo DIning, due to the service and location. must do Downtown is Raglan Rd or Paradiso..either or
another is Artist Pt...but i dont make it there every trip cause of its location.
otherwise i sometimes try diff places and sometimes give another chance to a place that wasnt as good .
San ANgel has been good last few times...
Via Napoli..had a great first time then a bad second time, but gave it another chance and it was good.
so i say visit a fav and try somewhere new

[azcavalier]

Without going into lengthy lists of our must-do's, we try to hit at least one new restaurant each trip. The way we usually decide is that we first plan out which parks we're going to, based on the park schedules and Extra Magic Hours for those days. Then we narrow it down to the restaurants we want to try either in that park, or at a resort close to it.

This next trip, we're going to try something we've never done in our 15 years of going to WDW....Cinderella's Royal Table! We're going to have two little girls with us, and we think it'll be awesome.

Also, since we're staying at a new resort for us, Caribbean Beach, we'll try Shutters at Old Port Royale. So that's two new ones for us this next trip.

[joonyer]

Our last trip, we ate at two old favorites, Ohana and Chef Mickey's, and also tried a couple of new places for us, Biergarten and Mama Melrose, and we really enjoyed them both. We'll be revisiting them on future trips.

[#1donaldfan]

For us the must "dos" are just that, something we must do, and we do it. We also like finding new places and try to incorporate at least one into the mix....if not two....

[TheVBs]

We don't have any must dos anymore. There are plenty of places that we've enjoyed more than once and know we'll have a good experience at. We usually mix those up with a few new choices.

[MrPeetrie]

SleepinB, I think many of us face the same dilemma. On one hand: there are so many great and varied options you hate to limit yourself. On the other hand: there are "traditions" you want to adhere to. Here's what we're doing on our upcoming trip:

On the day before our 180-day mark, we are going to have dinner and each of us will state a one "MUST-DO" dining event. We will be there for 11 nights, so I am going to mix in some new things, like Raglan Road, Kidani's, Be Our Guest (if we can get it,) and believe-it-or-not Ohana's for breakfast. (We've never eaten here.) Going to drop a Chef Mickey's breakfast for the first time in a while.

Crystal Palace had been a must-do on our first day at Magic Kingdom, but we haven't eaten there on our last two trips. May add that on this trip.

Good luck with whatever decisions you select.