Dining Review: 50s Prime Time Cafe

Let me just say we liked this restaurant so much we went twice in one trip.

This is a fun restaurant where the waitresses play the part of you 50s cousin or aunt.  They will make a big deal out of not eating your veggies and bad table manners so if that does not appeal to you do go because they don't have any problem playing the part.  

The food was great I personally love the iceberg and blue cheese salad.   The pork chops where about an inch thick and reported to be great by a member of our group.   Peanut butter and jelly milkshake was huge and great.  The dessert menu was on a view master so that's fun. 

They do not have a bread basket with your meal but the waitress went over to Hollywood and Vine and got some rolls after one of our party asked for bread.  

One of our party ended up with a salad with whipped cream on it at one point and I was almost end force fed green beans.  It was fun as long as you understand it is part of the package there.  

A day in the schedule of my Disney trips

A basic day for us at Disney would generally start out getting to the bus stop early we found that generally the buses came on the hour in the mornings then every 20 mins.  So meet your group at the bus stop a few minutes before the hour (for us that was before 7 or 8 am).  Some days we have reservations before park opening for breakfast.  I liked being in the park with only a few others but one time we had an 8 am reservation when the park was supposed to open at 9, however they extended hours to open at 8 so we lost the first hour of park time.  

We were on the deluxe dining plan so we usually had breakfast and dinner scheduled.  Due to the portion size two meals a day is plenty.  So we utilized two credit options most nights.  The first couple of hours we would use the standby lines, then we had our fastpass+ selections for mid afternoon.  Then if you want to head back to your room for a break once you use all your fastpass+ that would be a good time. Realize that it could take upto an hour to get to your hotel and an hour to get back so use caution with your dinning reservations. Also as soon as you use your third fastpass+ you can schedule the fourth one so do that right away to have the most selection but make sure it's not too soon after your dinner.  Give yourself 1.5 hours for your meal then schedule your fastpass+, you will have an hour window so that should be safe without a terrible gap.  If you are going to be eating near the attraction you select you could schedule it an hour after your dining time then you would have half an hour to use your fastpass+.

Generally when I was at Disney with my 5 year old in May we did more afternoon breaks, due to the heat and just needing a break.  When I was there with my husband we never took breaks, we were there in December and it was just very manageable.  I would recommend a break day mid trip.  I would plan a day to sleep late have breakfast/lunch at the hotel then afternoon at the pool then a dinner reservation at either another resort (Chef Mickey, Hoop Dee Do Music Revue, or Downtown Disney).  I thought just sleeping in was good enough for a mid week break, not so, really take a good break where you can limit the walking you do as much as possible.  The average person walks 8-12 miles a day at Disney give your body a break.

Anything you must have in your daily schedule?  Let us know in the comments below.

Thinking of the next trip

Sorry for the huge gap in articles but after our last trip to Disney, my husband and I found out we were going to have a daughter. Long story short she decided to come 6 weeks early after a long time in the hospital on bed rest.

So now we are looking ahead to her first trip to Disney and our first trip with a toddler.  Since the only break in pricing that you will ever get is by taking a child under 3 that's our plan.  She changed our September trip to a May trip with her early arrival as I will never go to Disney in the summer.  I can't handle the heat or the crowds.

Children under 3 don't need a ticket, don't count toward the number of guests in your room, and eat off your plate at buffets.  The ticket savings is a huge one as children's tickets are only a few dollars less than adult tickets and tickets are one of the largests expenses while at Disney.  I have already been asked the question why so early... She won't even remember.  Well we will remember and she will have the pictures and video to enjoy later.  We also know we will go back eventually so this will not be her only Disney trip.  

So, now I have been looking at how to have some balance with this trip as we will also be taking my other daughter who will be graduating college the same month.  We will most likely head to Disney shortly after her graduation.  I realized on my last trip that a break day would make things more enjoyable, so I am looking to work that into our plans.  Our last trip we used the deluxe dinning plan (DDP) and determined that we only saved about $110 dollars which could have been done by my husband and I splitting and apitizer and dessert instead of getting two each meal.  Seeing as so much food was wasted I think I would feel better about it anyway.  However, my older daughter thinks DDP is the way to go as the idea of order anything is not the norm for us and she is a bit of a foodie and loves the variety at Disney.   Honestly, I will just be doing the math ahead of time and decide later what the best value is for our family.  If free dining is available or not that will add into the decision.

So I look foward to sharing what I learn about toddler trips and plan to write some dining reviews in the near future.