My Life as a Disney Restaurant Researcher

Full Disclosure: This is a backdated post. I wrote it after the blog was created, but have written it in the style of an in-progress blog so that anyone reading from the beginning will get a more sensible narrative than time-jumping like Church through our wedding planning.

In which I reveal that I have become an obsessed Disney planner.

Up front, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I hate not being able to do what I want to do, especially when other people are depending on me for a good time. I always show up at the movies 25 minutes before the show to guarantee I get good seats. When we go to a Mariners game, I always buy tickets in advance, and try to show up in plenty of time to grab the food I want (hot dog, garlic fries, and beer, naturally). I book my tee times a full week out in advance, and when we go on vacation I have every single reservation made far ahead of time.

Since Girl Scout Fiancée has graciously allowed me to be the primary planner for the honeymoon portion of our trip (wisely acquiescing that my twenty plus trips to Disney World may have given me some valuable experience), I've started putting together a tentative schedule of what we're going to do during the nine days of our honeymoon. Now, some things you can paint in broad strokes (which parks we're going to visit on which days, which days are "relax and catch your breath" days), but I also started penning in potential restaurants. When I was young, Disney World food was somewhat maligned, and for good reason, but as I got older and Disney food got better and better soon we discovered that having a good food experience at Disney World is a matter of knowing where to go. Since Girl Scout Fiancée is a former professional cook and a graduate of culinary school, I know that anything less than a stellar selection of meals is going to leave the both of us disappointed.

Going to Disney World with my family, we almost never made Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs), except for things like the Hoop-de-doo Review or the Luau, which were more like events than simple restaurants. Of course, back then, it wasn't that big a deal to find out that a restaurant was booked; we'd just try it on the next trip. Since Girl Scout Fiancée and I have no idea when our next trip will be, though, I think I need to get on the ball about planning out where we're going to eat in order to be able to put our ADRs in.

Seems sensible and innocent enough, doesn't it? It would, until you saw how totally insane I've gone. Where my nights used to be filled with Xbox or PC games, television, or board games, now after dinner I fire up my computer and spend the night trawling Disney World food blogs, Disney restaurant news websites, and message boards. Girl Scout Fiancée has said I'm like a bridezilla, but of honeymooning (Groomzilla? Honeyzilla?), and she's not far from it. I've scoured the Internet for every scrap of information I can find about Disney restaurants, for while I do have extensive experience with many of them, in the last decade several new restaurants have opened up that I have not yet had a chance to try.

If only I could convince Girl Scout Fiancée to let me hire a pug research assistant.

What's worse is that, because of my need to get my way, I realized that I basically have to have every restaurant planned out for our trip that I want to get ADRs for well before the 6-months-before-your-trip reservation window opens. I've marked the day on my calendar when I can start making ADRs for my trip, and will be up at 6 AM to get on the phone and call. I even know on which days and at what meals I'll be booking each restaurant. Why? Because if I'm going to have my honeymoon in Disney World, I'm going to eat at every restaurant that I want.

Now, that's the psychotic overplanner side of this. The awesome side is that I am starting to plan out a series of meals that should be more than just food, but are also memorable events. For example, the #1 thing I want to guarantee that we get to do is eat at the Chef's Table at Victoria & Albert's. Since Girl Scout Fiancée used to work in a kitchen in various fine dining restaurants, I feel like this is something that she would enjoy (especially now that she no longer endures the grueling schedule and constant stress of cooking in a restaurant every day), and everything I've read about it says that it's a great experience that lasts for several hours. This is something I never would have done with my family (they aren't exactly adventurous foodies, though we do all enjoy a good meal) and it's something I think Girl Scout Fiancée will appreciate on a level that even I won't be able to.

Does it seem cruel to drag an ex-chef back into the kitchen?

Beyond that, I'm really excited to book a dinner at the (currently undergoing remodeling) California Grille during the Magic Kingdom's fireworks. I've only had a brunch at the California Grille (about 10 years ago) and my parents did dinner there on one of their recent trips and had nothing but rave reviews for it. I don't think the food is as much of a draw here (living on the West Coast, I feel like we're already quite familiar with California cuisine) but I want to make sure we have some romantic dinners together and this seems like a great place for that.

The Magic Kingdom also has a couple of new restaurants that I've never eaten at, including Cinderella's Royal Table and the Be Our Guest restaurants. Both might be a little more geared toward kids, and neither seems like true "fine dining," but I'd be hard pressed to think of two restaurants that will do a better job of making Girl Scout Fiancée feel like a Disney Princess, which is basically goal #1 for the honeymoon for me.

Also in the parks, I plan on booking reservations for the Sci-Fi Dine-In restaurant (the food has always been fine, if not special, but the atmosphere is so unique that I can't pass up taking Girl Scout Fiancée there once), and Mama Melrose's (by far my favorite in-park restaurant, which used to serve one of my favorite pasta dishes of all time) for our full day in Disney Hollywood Studios, plus possibly the 50's Prime Time Cafe on one of our return days. Since I expect the Magic Kingdom to take up a couple of days, I'm also penning in Liberty Tree Tavern and Tony's for lunches, since I've always had good food at each of them.

Epcot is going to be a challenge, because there are so many great places to eat. I've only eaten at La Celier once, but if there's one place in the whole park that I have to get us a reservation for, it's that one. I would like to book a lunch at the Coral Reef Restaurant for our full day in Epcot, because it's been a long time since I've been there and I've heard the food has improved a lot. Plus, during our myriad travels, Girl Scout Fiancée and I have visited aquariums all over the United States, and I think this would be a nice thing that she and I could enjoy together. Of course, if things pan out like I hope they will for our hotel, we should be able to visit Epcot for food on multiple occasions, and I've got my eye on fish & chips (plus delicious Bass Ale) at the Rose & Crown, dinner at the Biergarten, and desserts from the Boulangerie Pâtisserie one night after dinner.

I may have ulterior motives for wanting to spend so much time at Epcot.

We've talked about doing the Hoop-de-doo Review for our "rehearsal dinner," and I want to do the Spirit of Aloha luau (which I've done a couple of times with my family, but it's been over a decade since I've done it), both of which I think will be fun experiences and not just another meal.

I haven't even mentioned the hotel restaurants we need to hit. I've got Jiko (never been here), Sanaa (here either, plus: animals!), Chef Mickey's (gotta have at least one character breakfast), Beaches & Cream (at least for dessert one night), Kouzzina (probably just when we need some place on the spur of the moment), 1900 Park Faire (Girl Scout Fiancée is a big fan of Mary Poppins), Kona Cafe (a last-day tradition, getting the stuffed French toast), Yachtsman Steakhouse (MEAT!), Raglan Road (technically at Downtown Disney, but my parents put this on the list of places we MUST go), and a few others on the list, but not all of them will need ADRs. Still, you can see I've got a lot on my plate with regards to planning, and that doesn't even count the other restaurants I've got on my "still a good possibility" list, like Narcoossee's, the Hollywood Brown Derby, etc.