Feel like quitting before I begin!

[BarbieGal457]

I also agree that Chef Mickey's can be replaced with better options as PPs have mentioned. I get the atmosphere is awesome, and it is fun, but I really thought the food was so-so (even though many will tell you - myself included - that a lot of meals at Disney are just average. Maybe nachos in Disney just taste a little better due to where I am!).

 

[Belle61513]

Listen to @LaurenT @LittleTee she's speaking the truth!
Also, don't make more than one ADR a day (if that) or you'll be run ragged with ADR's. WDW has some really solid CS dining options when you can get a square meal

 

[msb578]

It might be a little late for the most popular restaurants, but you still have plenty of time to arrange everything else Princess-Free character meals:
1900 Park Fare -Breakfast: Mary Poppins, Mad Hatter, Alice, Pooh, Tigger
Cape May Café - Breakfast: Donald, Goofy, Minnie
Crystal Palace - Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner: Eeyore, Piglet, Pooh, Tigger
Garden Grill - Dinner: Chip n Dale, Mickey, Pluto
Mickey’s Backyard BBQ - Dinner: Chip n Dale, Goofy, Mickey, Minnie
Ohana - Breakfast: Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, Pluto
Pirates and Pals Fireworks: Late night Capt Hook & Mr. Smee, Peter Pan (added as it is perfect for adventurous boys)
Tusker House - Breakfast/lunch: Daisy, Donald, Goofy, Mickey

If you stay 8 - 10 days, it should be possible to find a few nice restaurants to eat, next to the character meal. I would suggest to get yourself a copy of The Unofficial Guide to WDW to look for restaurant ideas. And keep checking, people always cancel or change their dinner plans.

Don't give up! There is time!

If by chance the OP will not have the dining plan, I'll add Garden Grove (not to be confused with Garden Grill!). Princess-free characters nightly for dinner, and for breakfast on weekends.

 

[staceyeileen]

I'm probably the ultimate last-minute planner because I'm usually planning a day at WDW less than a week out. I take advantage of the last-minute cancellations that happen in the last couple of days before people will be charged the no-show fee. I'm usually able to secure a reservation I want.

For example, right now I can book BOG for dinner tomorrow evening for a party of 3 or Chef Mickey's for breakfast.

 

[FallsChurchDad]

I don't think you are too late, at all.

We did an 8-day trip last fall, with free Quick Service dining. We were too late for ADRs, which is part of the reason we chose to stay at Pop instead of a moderate. At the advice of DIS boards, we checked MDE a lot 24-48 hours before we wanted an ADR, and we did end up getting an Ohana ADR at the perfect time for us (very late brunch - basically breakfast for lunch). Other than that meal, we ate all Quick Service.

The QS places were awesome, especially Be Our Guest in MK, Sunshine Seasons in Epcot, Wolfgang Puck Express in DTD, Flame Tree BBQ in AK, and the Art of Animation cafeteria. In retrospect, we would have been fine skipping Ohana and having QS the entire trip. I only had two burgers the entire trip, and one of those was an amazing Surf and Turf burger at AoA.

Ohana brunch was fun, but it was a process. We arrived 10 minutes early for our ADR, and we weren't seated for 35 minutes. They gave us a buzzer while we waited, so we could walk around, but with the Poly construction and not knowing how much time we'd have, there wasn't much we could do. Then no one came over to our table for 15 minutes after we sat down. We have two young boys, so they got really antsy, even though the environment and food were perfect for them. At a quick service place, we would have been done eating before we even got juice at Ohana.... In retrospect, we would have rather had a quick meal and taken more time in the parks, instead of taking 3 hours (including the travel over to Poly) for brunch. Of course, it might be very different for people with older kids or adults only.

 

[larryz]

Maybe nachos in Disney just taste a little better due to where I am!

Ah, yes. That special spice called "theme park food."

 

[minniemous]

This is just my experience. I did make my dining reservations at the 180 day mark and did very well with it. Then I started to change just about everything. The thread for Cancelled ADRS helped so much. With persistence I was able to switch a lot around and pick up new reservations.

It really depends on how important the overall plan is to you. It is not that important to us. I enjoy the planning but we go with the flow once there. We have a wonderful time and I would find it really hard to put a disney vacation off for a year because of planning issues.

 

[starsweeper]

If you really want a particular reservation, just keep checking back often. People cancel all the time, especially near the 45-day out cancellation mark (and I notice about 2 weeks out as well based on a few trips when I juggled things). I planned a last minute trip for Easter week with 3 weeks notice and little was available when I booked the room. However, about 2 weeks out I was able to book CRT breakfast, Be Our Guest breakfast, Crystal Palace lunch, Akershus lunch and Rainforest Cafe lunch, and saw availability for many more popular places.

 

[gizzoid]

I have found that fall can be a tough time especially when the food and wine festival is happening. Last time we went it was so busy we left the park and went to the Magic Kingdom...

 

[BarbieGal457]

Ah, yes. That special spice called "theme park food."

Don't forget the alluring scent of "forced recycled air with chemical scent from water fountain" which I think just intensifies "theme park food" spice!!!

 

[Angel Ariel]

Hi, I am new here!


I have been looking into a WDW trip for Sept this year. I have gone to DLR for the previous three years and would like a bigger adventure!
I travel with my husband and son and we normally 'wing it'; last minute bookings, no dining reservations etc and we've always had the best time. I thought 5 months in advance to start booking would be ok, but it seems maybe this is considered last minute for WDW.
I put in some 'test' dining reservation requests online and could not get *anything* I wanted. Chef Mickey especially. I am not sure if I am doing something wrong or if it's truly too late to be planning this holiday.

At Disneyland we were able to just get on a standby list and wait to be seated if we really wanted to eat somewhere or just stumble upon a restaurant and not have any issues. Am I totally stupid thinking it would be similar at WDW?

I am totally confused (and lacking enough research) to move forward. Starting to think we'll have to wait until 2016

Any help/ideas would be so greatly appreciated!

Don't give up yet! WDW is very different from DLR, especially in terms of dining, but there's still a lot of time before September! I would highly recommend following the September 2015 ADR Cancellation thread - people will post here that they have ADRs they are cancelling and you can coordinate via PM so you can pick up what's being cancelled. I managed to get BOG reservations about 1 month prior to our November 2014 (after *not* getting them at 180 days).

As a DLR vet headed to WDW, I would also highly suggest cheking our HydroGuy's guide to WDW for DLR vets. Some of his FP+ information may not be up to date (someone pointed that out recently, and I don't know if HydroGuy updated yet) - so for FP+ information I would suggest checking out mesaboy2's FP+ information thread.

Friends of mine did not book their November trip until 3 months before their date. I was able to get them all the dining reservations they wanted, including an Akershus princess breakfast - mostly from that Cancellation thread. They had a great vacation! Don't give up - keep on looking, and have a fantastic trip in September!

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I hardly ever plan a full 6 months out - it is just too long for me to wait to be at Disney! On our next trip, I ended up with everything I wanted at the times I wanted by stalking the reservation site. If you watch, you will find the ADRs you want or you'll find some that will be just as good. For instance, we prefer 'Ohana to Chef Mickey's.

There are also services out there that will, for a fee, text or email you when a reservation comes open on a certain day/time, if you don't want to stalk Disney's website yourself.

 

[Pucka1378]

I guess I was lucky the only reservations I did not get for ADR's was Sci Fi..... I think I made reservations at 95 days before our trip. I even got breakfast at CRT and a BOG lunch. We are going late june/early july

It was a in the world for WDW a last minute decision.

 

[Weev]

OP, don't give up. I know several people who go to WDW all the time and never make ADR's - they just decide where they want to go, walk up and ask to be put on the list. Funny thing is, they are sometimes seated before we are - and we always have ADR's !!

 

[LittleTee]

Wow, just woken up (I'm in Australia) to all these lovely replies. Thank you!

I think it's safe to say the trip is salvaged.

To be honest, dining isn't really a big deal for us (apart from a couple of character meals as I know DS loves them coming to the table). Food really isn't a priority, especially to my DS who has zero interest in restaurant food and lives on snacks I bring from home. We have never booked anything and just walk up to a restaurant and ask what the availability or wait time is - we then make a decision based on the answer. We have had lovely vacations with this attitude. I just freaked out because I got the impression that we HAD to book to be able to eat and if I was struggling at 5mths out, then it would be a nightmare when we arrived. DH also is not keen to manage the whole trip so early on...he wants to wing it. Now that I know that we *can* wing it, I feel much better!

We probably won't be doing the dining plan, even with the rumoured announcement of FD. We can get a much better rate for rooms on Expedia when we package them with flights, and we don't need to pay currency conversion fees. FD does sounds good though!

Going forward, I will book a couple of the character meals based on the great suggestions!

Thanks again for your replies! I'm sure I'll be posting again with more questions soon

 

[Pemeberly]

I actually think you're fine.

I'm going in September, too, and only made my ADR like last week. The only problem we had for booking was BoG dinner (no surprise), but we snagged a BoG lunch rather easily.

With Disney's new FP+ system, it's really easy to feel like you HAVE to plan everything. More so, too, when you hang out on boards full of Disney fanatics! But it's not actually as stressful as it seems, and as long as you're flexible with where you eat or what you ride, you don't need to go crazy with planning.

 

[LVSWL]

Thanks LaurenT -- no, the trip won't be ruined if we miss Chef Mickey's. I personally loathe the food at some of the buffets but I was just looking for a character meal for my son that doesn't involve too many princesses. He really loves Tigger.

I'll keep looking and researching. Thanks again.

If he loves Tigger, then try the Crystal Palace in MK. Awesome breakfast!

 

[CaryHaven]

Thanks LaurenT -- no, the trip won't be ruined if we miss Chef Mickey's. I personally loathe the food at some of the buffets but I was just looking for a character meal for my son that doesn't involve too many princesses. He really loves Tigger.

I'll keep looking and researching. Thanks again.

I haven't read all the replies, but I will say that Crystal Palace has a pretty decent buffet, and they have Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore. I personally think Tusker House is a hundred times better than Chef Mickey's. It seemed quite rushed and dirty to me, and the worst buffet food of all the buffets. If you're not planning on going to AK, then Cape May might be a possibility. Plus I believe it's a lot easier to get into than Chef Mickey's.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

WDW is a different animal. You can't expect it to be just like DL, which is much more of a "local" park and you don't have the same demand for restaurants onsite.

 

[Disney Mom 7272]

Thanks LaurenT -- no, the trip won't be ruined if we miss Chef Mickey's. I personally loathe the food at some of the buffets but I was just looking for a character meal for my son that doesn't involve too many princesses. He really loves Tigger.

I'll keep looking and researching. Thanks again.

Try Tusker House at Animal Kingdom for breakfast. My kids really enjoy that one and the food is good too!