Schedule Help for a Disney Novice

[LostRosetta]

I should start off by saying that even though I’ve been to Disney once before, this is the first time that I have planned for it 180 days out and I must tell you, it is stressful!

I will be going to the World with my father and it will be just the two of us. I’ve tried to plan as much as possible but I’m running into a few problems. My Dad wants to have a sit down breakfast (read: TS) every morning. This really rushes things because I want to make rope drop. We have agreed upon having a slightly rushed breakfast, but a sit down one nonetheless. My second problem is that while I have scheduled a trip from December 12th through the 24th we might have to cancel days up until the 17th because that is my final period at University and I won’t know when my finals will be until August.

To make a long story short, I want to ask all of your opinions not only just about my schedule overall, but also about which night I should try to fit in the Candlelight Processional. This is a must see for me and I want to try the dining package with it this year to get better seats. I was thinking maybe the 19th or 20th? I am thinking of going to the 8:15PM showing, but I also want to make sure to see Illuminations. Any helpful hints?

Thank you all so much in advance!

 

[abeyst]

Your best bet for CP and Illuminations would be the 20th. If you want a LeCellier dinner package be sure to keep an eye on when the open the reservations for that and call right away.


I noticed a few things on your itinerary.

1) your breakfast times and park arrival times seem very close together (example: 15th, 16th, 20th) I highly doubt you'll be able to eat breakfast in an hour (let alone a half hour) and still make it to the park by rope drop. It's a good idea to be at the park a half hour before opening, because they normally let you through the gates and wait in the park at the rope. Not arriving until the scheduled opening time will find you in a long line at the turnstiles. I would suggest ordering room service earlier or eating breakfast at the park an hour or 2 after rope drop.

2) Some days have too much hopping, and hopping can be time wasters. If you're using Disney transportation, it may be challenging to go to another hotel for breakfast, then to a park, then to a different park after that. You may want to try and streamline your meals to coincide with where you're staying, or a park you're visiting. (The big example of this, Dec 23rd).

Enjoy your trip, and all the Christmas decorations!!

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Would your Dad be willing to do a sit down breakfast later on in the morning? You could hit the parks at rope drop, do your top rides, then sit down to eat. Just a suggestion.

 

[lorli]

Did I miss it? Where are you staying? Most places we've stayed on property have a very decent cs meal that you can enjoy the dining area and relax before going to the parks. Is this an option, this will let you get to parks quicker?

 

[KJ Luvs Pluto]

There are days where you have breakfast at 7:30 or 7:20 and your itinerary says that you will arrive at the park at 8. This is not possible even if you have your own car. How quickly can you eat even after you get served? Even if you get seated right away and it's a buffet and you eat very, very fast, you still could not walk out to your car, drive to the park of your choice, park the car and get to the turnstile in time for the opening. With the buses - no way. As other posters have mentioned, you have a lot of park hopping in there too. I love to park hop, but you have 11 days, you don't really need to waste the time doing so much of it.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Just because DD wants a sit down breakfast doesn't mean it has to be DURING THE most prime hour to be in the park. If the park opens at 9, and you are eating at CRT, then a breakfast at 10 or 11am would be better. If you can get dad to go along witha late breakfast at CRT - say 11am, then you'll be easily able to skip lunch. CRT is a buffet after all.

I second the idea of dining either at your home resort or at the park you plan to visit for the day. Some hopping is fine and good, but hopping to Chef Mickey's when you plan on hitting AK is going to cost you LOTS of time. Do the monorail resorts when you plan to be at MK. Do the Epcot area when you plan to be at Epcot or HS.

A good bet for streamlining breakfast is dining at your home resort (assuming it has one) Like if you are at the Poly, plan breakfast at Kona Cafe and 'Ohana (GF is quick hop too.) CR has the new Wave and Chef Mickey's.

Am I correct in guessing that you are staying at GF? If so, then your plan doesn't look too bad. Getting to CR or the Poly from GF is pretty easy.


Do try and talk you dad into a food court breakfast at least ONE morning! I hate food courts in the malls, but most of the food courts at WDW are pretty good. Do look at the one at your home resort. Many offer fresh waffles, omlettes made to order, fresh fruit.

If you are staying at CSR, thenthe 'food court' there would be perfect. It offers partial table service, a WIDE selection of options, fresh fruit. the food there is better than many TS breakfasts! If you are staying at any other moderate, consider changing to CSR! Of the monorail resorts, the QS at GF is pretty nice. We REALLY enjoyed eating outside with a view of the castle there! It is a great way to start the day!

For value resorts, ASMu's breakfast was really good.

 

[LostRosetta]

Wow, thank you all so much for the responses, it really makes the scheduling a lot easy to have additional input. I’m so new at this!

I thought I had mentioned that we were staying at the Grand Floridian, but of course I read back over my post and it is nowhere to be found. Sorry about that!

Your best bet for CP and Illuminations would be the 20th. If you want a LeCellier dinner package be sure to keep an eye on when the open the reservations for that and call right away.

1) your breakfast times and park arrival times seem very close together (example: 15th, 16th, 20th) I highly doubt you'll be able to eat breakfast in an hour (let alone a half hour) and still make it to the park by rope drop.

2) Some days have too much hopping, and hopping can be time wasters.

I agree, and I think I will try for the Candlelight Procession on the 20th. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it though. It was so difficult to get just the regular Le Cellier reservation and that was at my 180 day mark too. I suppose if need be I can try for the 19th with Teppan Edo.

As far as the park and arrival times go, I was hoping to maybe be done with breakfast in an hour at most? I knew the half an hour differences would be difficult if not impossible, but I was thinking an hour was manageable. Or at least when going to the MK or Epcot when it was just a monorail ride or two away. Is rope drop done on an Extra Magic Hour morning as well? I wasn’t sure about this.

I think the hopping thing was my biggest problem. Most of the places we want to eat at are at Epcot, but unfortunately that is my least favorite, except for Animal Kingdom, park to be at during the evening activities. I am one of the people who adore Fantasmic and love to see it multiple times per trip, but unfortunately, DHS in and of itself do not have much in the way of dining, so I have to park hop there.

Would your Dad be willing to do a sit down breakfast later on in the morning? You could hit the parks at rope drop, do your top rides, then sit down to eat. Just a suggestion.

Wow, in know this must sound so stupid but I never really gave thought to eating after seeing rope drop. That is something to think about during times when we go into the parks and are eating there. I think the only thing that worries me is that during a lot of the mornings I tried to make sure we went to parks with EMH and I’m still not quite sure whether rope drop formally occurs on those days. The two parks I really care about seeing rope drop the most is AK and MK as I heard Epcot does not do much and DHS I saw last time we were at the parks.

Did I miss it? Where are you staying? Most places we've stayed on property have a very decent cs meal that you can enjoy the dining area and relax before going to the parks. Is this an option, this will let you get to parks quicker?

No, I’m sorry, you did not miss it. I never mentioned where we were staying. It is the Grand Floridian by the way. I believe last time we were at the parks we did counter service a lot for breakfast, but this time we are on the deluxe dining plan so he wants to use a lot of those credits on table service meals to try and get a better value for the money. I guess I understand that but I know that I still like spending more time in the park than time eating.

There are days where you have breakfast at 7:30 or 7:20 and your itinerary says that you will arrive at the park at 8. This is not possible even if you have your own car...... I love to park hop, but you have 11 days, you don't really need to waste the time doing so much of it.

Thanks for pointing that out, I knew it would be a rush, but I guess I just wasn’t entirely thinking it through. A bit too excited to fill the days to their maximum I suppose. As for the car thing, no, we won’t be renting a car. We try to spend the extra money on a deluxe resort so that we can be on the monorail track.

Just because DD wants a sit down breakfast doesn't mean it has to be DURING THE most prime hour to be in the park. If the park opens at 9, and you are eating at CRT, then a breakfast at 10 or 11am would be better. If you can get dad to go along witha late breakfast at CRT - say 11am, then you'll be easily able to skip lunch. CRT is a buffet after all.

Do try and talk you dad into a food court breakfast at least ONE morning! I hate food courts in the malls, but most of the food courts at WDW are pretty good. Do look at the one at your home resort. Many offer fresh waffles, omlettes made to order, fresh fruit.

As I said to a previous poster, I can’t believe I never thought about doing breakfast shortly after rope drop. I guess a part of me wants to get into the park ahead of everyone else to get good pictures, but a part of me also wants to be with the crowd experiencing the magic of rope drop. I think I’ll have to consider trying to change some of them to a later time.

Also, I can’t quite remember the order of the resorts on the monorail line. Is the Grand Floridian close to any of the others or is it the entire loop around? Hmm, I guess I’ll have to go research that one. And to confirm your good guess, yep, we will be staying at the Grand Floridian.

I think my Dad thinks somewhat like you in that all food courts are no good. We just have different tastes I guess. The first time we went to Disney we stayed at the Contemporary and I don’t think he was too fond of their quick service breakfast. Honestly, I can just be happy with a cinnamon roll for breakfast and then hit the parks!

Thank you so much for talking about the quick service at the Grand Floridian. You made it so good I might just have to try it one morning. You haven’t by chance eaten at the Grand Floridian Café, have you? I’ve been searching for reviews to see if it is worth the time but I can’t find anything.


Once again, thanks for the advice everyone! If anyone else has further input, believe me I would love to hear it!

 

[abeyst]

If the breakfast is a necessity, which it sounds like it is, here's a few suggestions:

- Eat a 7am-ish breakfast and then go to a park that does NOT have the morning EMH. That will give you time to eat and still make it to the park in time.

- If you're eating breakfast IN a park, you can probably do it in a half hour IF it's a buffet and not family style. (Example-we had a party of 8 eat breakfast at Crystal Palace at 8:05am. We were done by 8:55 and running over to Tomorrowland for the rope drop.)

-Don't forget to leave LOTS of room for travel time since you're taking the busses. Once breakfast is over, you'll need a little leeway to get to where you're going, get through the line, and then through the turnstiles.