POP+F&W Fest+BWI+Twins' B'day+MNSSHP... 'o my! -> UPDATE 10/14: ADRs Help, please

[lizzyshakuntala]

Hi everyone!! I'm so excited for my first ever PTR! You see, as long as I've been a DISer I've only either posted threads for short questions, followed along a fellow DISer's awesome PTRs/TRs, or lurked around (promise I'm not creepy). I'll try to keep this short and sweet since we're four days away from our departure date.

THE CASTS:



1. Me - 31 - my name is Lizzy, wife of my wonderful DH and STAHM to my sweet/silly/playful twin boys'. Like all of you, I love everything Disney and so far has been quiet successful recruiting my kids into my team. When I'm not indulging myself with Disney stuff, I enjoy books, cooking, traveling, and making people laugh and/or happy.

2. DH - 38 - name is Abdoeh (reads "up-do", just like the hairstyle). He's a wonderful, patient and loving husband and he's such a great dad! We've been married for five years and were dating for 2 before that. We have totally different personalities but somehow we found lots of similarities too in many occasions. Go figure!

3. DSM - almost 5 - Max is one of my twin boys. He's silly, has tons of energy, can be shy towards others when he's away from his twin brother, the more adventurous eater, but also very sweet. He'd come up to me randomly, give me a big hug and tells me he loves me *single happy tear*.

4. DSD - almost 5 - Dexter the joker, that's what we call him. He can crack you up anytime, any day. I'd say he's the more confident of the two and most of the time would man-up for his brother. He is very specific about this one thing and that is the color blue! If he gets his way he'd probably have all blue clothes, shoes, toys, skin, eyes, hair, everything!

A little background story about us... We're Indonesians living in Boston, MA. We moved here in the Summer of 2014 in the event of my husband's taking his Masters of Law program at Northeastern University (Go Husky!). He went to high school in Ashburnham, MA and his undergrad at Northeastern University, while I spent kindergarten all the way to high school in Indonesia then went to Georgetown University in Washington, DC for my undergrad, then worked in DC for a few years before returning home to Indonesia in 2008. Right now we're trying to travel within the US as much as we could before we return home to Jakarta at the end of the year. WDW is, of course, at the top 3 of our list.

TRAVEL DATES & RESORTS:
- Oct 16-22 at POP
- Oct 22-24 at BWI

ADRs:
1. Garden Grill (EPCOT) dinner at 5:25PM
2. BOMA (AKL) breakfast at 9:45AM
3. Crystal Palace (MK) dinner at 7PM ---> there's a 90% chance we'll cancel this ---> CANCELLED!
4. Artist Point (WL) dinner at 7:30PM
5. Cape May Cafe (BC) breakfast at 10:45AM

ITINERARY:
- Arrival day (Fri, 10/16) : DTD or just stay at the resort (depends on how tired we'll be).
- Day 1 (Sat, 10/17) : EPCOT
- Day 2 (Sun, 10/18) : AK
- Day 3 (Mon, 10/19): MK
- Day 4 (Tue, 10/20) : Planned for a rest day, but DH is thinking of a trip to USO or IoA.
- Day 5 (Wed, 10/21): DHS
- Day 6 (Thu, 10/22) : Twins's birthday and MNSSHP at MK. We'll also be switching to BWI CL.
- Day 7 (Fri, 10/23) : EPCOT
- Departure day (Sat, 10/24): DME to airport at 3PM, so w're thinking about a morning park time (MK?).

I'll get in a few daily details in my next posts. I'd love to meet some new friends here and hear any inputs you might have

 

[lizzyshakuntala]

.............Oh hey, it sure is quiet in here .............
2 MORE DAYS PEOPLE!!!!! Let's make some noise!!!

Before continuing with our daily details, I have to admit that I'm starting to feel that I've booked a little too many ADRs and not sure if DH and DSs would want to dedicate as much TS dining time. And for that very reason I sure could use a little help from you guys about a few ADR dilemmas...

1. GARDEN GRILL (dinner)

This will be our first character meal during this trip and I chose this place mainly for what seems to be a healthier (Disney) food option AND that we'll get to see Mickey, Pluto and Chip & Dale. BUT here are a few little concerns I'm having right now:
-> I have FPP to see the talking Magician Mickey on our departure day, so we'll still see Mickey anyways... You see, Mickey is DSM's favorite 'Fab 5' character while Donald is DSD's fave 'Fab 5' and we'll see him during our Cape May breakfast. So there's another reason for character meal: to have both of them meet these 2 characters without having to wait in long lines. In your opinion, which one is better meeting Mickey at GG dinner or seeing the talking one? Anyone has experienced both?
-> We're planning to have lunch from the various EPCOT F&W Fest booths and it seems impossible for my family to be hungry again by our ADR at 5:25PM (only time available). I'm pushing it, aren't I?


2. BOMA (breakfast)

The top reason behind this ADR is to visit AKL and see the beautiful resort as we've never been. I've looked at the breakfast buffet menu, scrutinized over food pictures from said buffet, read various reviews online, and yet I still can't decide if this ADR is going to be worth it. I'd love to hear your BOMA breakfast experiences, good or bad! And if we decided to cancel this ADR, do you think it's too much of a hassle to visit AKL the morning before our AK day? (We'd be staying at POP Century and would go to AKL by taxi). PS: I have to admit that this is mainly my gig as DH and DSs don't really care whether we see AKL or not.


3. CRYSTAL PALACE (dinner)

Alright, I've actually convinced myself to cancel this one easily as we're not the biggest Pooh gang fans (not that we don't like them) and we're also not too crazy about the dinner buffet options here. Oh and just like the last time we were at MK, we were far more happy with the nearest QS option available to us depending on where we would be at the time (compared to rushing to our ADR and drag the kids from one end of the park to another).

That's all for now, folks!
I'd love to hear your two cents on these little issues. Thanks in advance