? about Dining Plan and OOP $$ paid on Dining...

[angelmav]

OP don't forget that you have all those CS credits too and there are alot of really good places to use those up and they wont require the time or preplanning to use. I always have to talk myself down off the ledge from overbooking ADR's too, it gets really easy to get caught up in the excitement!

I also would agree that the BBQ and Luau are easily skipped, especially for your first trip, there is just too much to see/do that you'll have buyers remorse at some point! Rather than the backyard bbq, maybe a trip to trails end, then you can do the petting zoo and campfire with chip n dale! I'll bet your son would love this!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Yeah, I now he's going to be so tired! One night the EMH are from 10-1am...I I think it's the night of the Aloha dinner. I REALLY want to go back to the MK! LOL! I told DH, I'm just going to put Maddox in the stroller with some blankets and pray he goes to sleep! LOL

DD slept great in her stroller too! Be careful with early breakfasts if you plan to stay out late.

You are staying at the Poly right?? Here is what I would do:

Sept. 9 (arrival day) Chef Mickey's 6:30 for dinner COST $85.00- DP

Sept. 10 Skip the BBQ. Pick something different.

Sept. 11 Breakfast 7:55 Ohana's $65 OOP :: Dinner 4:55 Crystal Palace $75 DP

Sept.12 I would skip the Cape May breakfast since it's at a different resort and skip the Luau. Pick something different.

Sept.13 Donald's Safari Breakfast 8:05 $65 OOP :: Dinner Le Cellier 6:35 $130 DP (If you are planning on doing MK EMH the night before will you be able to get up that early for the breakfast??)

Sept.14 CRT Breakfast 10:30 $100 OOP :: Skip Cape May dinner. Keep the castle. I the castle.

ADR's to pick on those two days would depend on where you are those days.

 

[starstruck93]

Yes, I have some tweeking to do. I'm so grateful to all of the people on here that told me all of this..... I think we would be tired just from eating! LOL! Let me go take a look and I'll let you know what I come up with. I REALLY love the idea of Mickey's BBQ and the Aloha dinner... those are going to be hard to give up.

DD slept great in her stroller too! Be careful with early breakfasts if you plan to stay out late.

You are staying at the Poly right?? Here is what I would do:

Sept. 9 (arrival day) Chef Mickey's 6:30 for dinner COST $85.00- DP

Sept. 10 Skip the BBQ. Pick something different.

Sept. 11 Breakfast 7:55 Ohana's $65 OOP :: Dinner 4:55 Crystal Palace $75 DP

Sept.12 I would skip the Cape May breakfast since it's at a different resort and skip the Luau. Pick something different.

Sept.13 Donald's Safari Breakfast 8:05 $65 OOP :: Dinner Le Cellier 6:35 $130 DP (If you are planning on doing MK EMH the night before will you be able to get up that early for the breakfast??)

Sept.14 CRT Breakfast 10:30 $100 OOP :: Skip Cape May dinner. Keep the castle. I the castle.

ADR's to pick on those two days would depend on where you are those days.

 

[robinb]

Yeah, I now he's going to be so tired! One night the EMH are from 10-1am...I I think it's the night of the Aloha dinner. I REALLY want to go back to the MK! LOL! I told DH, I'm just going to put Maddox in the stroller with some blankets and pray he goes to sleep! LOL

I have to say from experience hanging out until 1am in an EMH park with a 3-year old in a stroller is really no fun. Since you will need to baby swap with your son sleeping in the stroller everything will take twice as long, even those attractions that he could go on. A better idea with a young child who probably already wakes up early is to make the MK at rope drop and head back to Fantasyland. Even in the busiest times we could easily "knock off" all of FL in that first hour. Do Dumbo first and get a FP for Peter Pan.

 

[bangzoom6877]

We did our first family trip to WDW last summer, with 2 boys, who were 14 months old and 3 and a half years old at the time we went. We did a 5-night trip. We had the basic DDP. We did one TS dinner every day. Our dinners were:

1. Liberty Tree Tavern at MK (had characters back then, but no more)
2. Biergarten in Germany at Epcot
3. 1900 Park Fare at Grand Floridian (characters)
4. Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge
5. Crystal Palace at MK (characters)

We paid for 2 breakfasts OOP. They were:

1. Hollywood & Vine at DHS (Playhouse Disney characters)
2. Chef Mickey's at Contemporary (classic Mickey characters) (on our last morning just before leaving, was a nice end to our trip)

So, overall we did 5 character meals and all went well. We kept to their regular eating schedules for all meals. I made our ADRs all between 5:00 pm and 6:15 pm because that is the normal time range we eat dinner on a daily basis. We had breakfast in the room in the morning when we did not go to a character breakfast. We would have cereal or cereal bars, milk, and DH and I brought a hot pot to make coffee, with Folgers singles. We used our CS credits for lunch each day, always between 11 am and noon, my sons' normal lunch time. And we used our snack credits throughout the trip to sample various items. Some were Mickey ice cream bars or ice cream sandwiches, HUGE cinnamon rolls from Main Street Bakery at MK (a must-try!), Dole whip; chocolate mousse in France at Epcot, etc.

We did not do any of the night time parades or fireworks. We were able to see the higher Epcot fireworks from our room window at Pop Century, so I allowed my older son to stay up to see it when it began at 9PM, then we all went to bed (we were exhausted anyway!). We also got to the parks very early, well before rope drop (maybe there were 2 or 3 families in line ahead of us when we arrived at the park). We left each park between 1 and 2 pm each day and had seen everything we wanted to see with the kids by then. We took a nice break in the room, then went back to the park if we had an ADR, or we did not go back to the park if our dinner ADR was in a resort restaurant. All worked out well.

Hope this all helps, and I hope you enjoy your trip! I know we sure did last summer...so much that we bought a DVC membership at BWV after deciding we want to take the kids to DIsney every other year as they grow up and stay a nice long 10 nights each time! We are teachers so we have the summer off and certainly have enough time to have long trips!

 

[ljcrochet]

Did you call more then once to see if you could upgrade to the deluxe? Sometimes it just takes getting the right person who will make your trip more magical.

You know your son, I know my girls love the table service breakfast and dinners. We have never done a dinner show, but are doing HDDR reivew this trip.
Good luck deciding what to do.

 

[starstruck93]

We did our first family trip to WDW last summer, with 2 boys, who were 14 months old and 3 and a half years old at the time we went. We did a 5-night trip. We had the basic DDP. We did one TS dinner every day. Our dinners were:

1. Liberty Tree Tavern at MK (had characters back then, but no more)
2. Biergarten in Germany at Epcot
3. 1900 Park Fare at Grand Floridian (characters)
4. Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge
5. Crystal Palace at MK (characters)

We paid for 2 breakfasts OOP. They were:

1. Hollywood & Vine at DHS (Playhouse Disney characters)
2. Chef Mickey's at Contemporary (classic Mickey characters) (on our last morning just before leaving, was a nice end to our trip)

So, overall we did 5 character meals and all went well. We kept to their regular eating schedules for all meals. I made our ADRs all between 5:00 pm and 6:15 pm because that is the normal time range we eat dinner on a daily basis. We had breakfast in the room in the morning when we did not go to a character breakfast. We would have cereal or cereal bars, milk, and DH and I brought a hot pot to make coffee, with Folgers singles. We used our CS credits for lunch each day, always between 11 am and noon, my sons' normal lunch time. And we used our snack credits throughout the trip to sample various items. Some were Mickey ice cream bars or ice cream sandwiches, HUGE cinnamon rolls from Main Street Bakery at MK (a must-try!), Dole whip; chocolate mousse in France at Epcot, etc.

We did not do any of the night time parades or fireworks. We were able to see the higher Epcot fireworks from our room window at Pop Century, so I allowed my older son to stay up to see it when it began at 9PM, then we all went to bed (we were exhausted anyway!). We also got to the parks very early, well before rope drop (maybe there were 2 or 3 families in line ahead of us when we arrived at the park). We left each park between 1 and 2 pm each day and had seen everything we wanted to see with the kids by then. We took a nice break in the room, then went back to the park if we had an ADR, or we did not go back to the park if our dinner ADR was in a resort restaurant. All worked out well.

Hope this all helps, and I hope you enjoy your trip! I know we sure did last summer...so much that we bought a DVC membership at BWV after deciding we want to take the kids to DIsney every other year as they grow up and stay a nice long 10 nights each time! We are teachers so we have the summer off and certainly have enough time to have long trips!

This sounds wonderful! It sounds like you did a great job planning everything around their normal schedule too. I would love to become a DVC member eventually! Congrats and thanks for your help! April

 

[starstruck93]

Did you call more then once to see if you could upgrade to the deluxe? Sometimes it just takes getting the right person who will make your trip more magical.

You know your son, I know my girls love the table service breakfast and dinners. We have never done a dinner show, but are doing HDDR reivew this trip.
Good luck deciding what to do.

No, hmmm, maybe I should call back then! LOL! Thanks for your help... Yes, I really do not want to give up Mickey's BBQ ot the Spirit pf Aloha dinner. I think I'm just going to cancel the Cape May breakfast and the dinner. If I cancel the breakfast we won't be having to get up so early in order to get to the Beach club that morning and if I cancel the dinner on our last night, that will give us all of the time we need in the MK and to pack that night. We can just grab dinner at a CS or Captain Cooks at the hotel. Thanks so much for your help! April

 

[bangzoom6877]

This sounds wonderful! It sounds like you did a great job planning everything around their normal schedule too. I would love to become a DVC member eventually! Congrats and thanks for your help! April

My pleasure! If you have any questions regarding taking a toddler to Disney and/or the DVC, feel free to send me a private message! I hope you enjoy your trip!

By the way, we love cruises (I saw that you had said in one of your posts here that you planned a lot of shore excursions)! We prefer WDW and cruises for vacations! On both these types of vacations, I just feel like I am whisked away from reality and it feels so wonderful!

 

[CanadianPaco]

Very good point! The first time is about everything in WDW. Not just the restaurants!

Think of it as a reson to return and return and return!

 

[starstruck93]

Very good point! The first time is about everything in WDW. Not just the restaurants!

Think of it as a reson to return and return and return!

Yeah, I'm just having a hard time cutting some of them! Mickey's BBQ sounds like so much fun and the Spirit of Aloha dinner sounds great too. I really do not want to cut those 2. I'm thinking both of my Cape May meals. What do you think? Thanks so much for your help! April

 

[CanadianPaco]

I think Cape May is a great restaurant but one you could probably pass on. Your Aloha dinner is kind of late. Will you son awake enough for it? I know this will be a tough decision. Keep reading the posts and keep track of the restaurants you'll visit next time

 

[starstruck93]

I think Cape May is a great restaurant but one you could probably pass on. Your Aloha dinner is kind of late. Will you son awake enough for it? I know this will be a tough decision. Keep reading the posts and keep track of the restaurants you'll visit next time

Hey! Yeah, I originally had it for 5pm but we're going to Blizzard Beach that day and I knew he would need a nap before dinner. If we had it for 5pm, we would have to leave the park around 1:30 so we could get back to the room, set a nap and get ready for dinner (that would'nt leave much time for enjoying Blizzard beach). DS is a total night owl (like 12-1am). However, I think Disney is really going to tire him out more. Also, this particular night is EMH 10-1am and I REALLY want to go back after dinner! Maybe not a good idea for a 4yr old. Huh? What do you think? Thanks so much! April

 

[caroline1851]

You should just do one TS meal per day. It's a lot to be scheduled that much with a little kid.

 

[cnjmom]

We just got back from a 6 night trip. I have three kids--DD5.5, DS3 (turned three our last day there) and DS13months. I will echo what the others have said. Most of these meals can take a long time, so you need to be aware of that. We did the following:

Akershus dinner (for DD for the princesses)
'Ohana dinner
Crystal Palace lunch
Whispering Canyon dinner
Chef Mickey's breakfast
Hoop Dee Doo

Hoop dee Doo went over the head of my three year old, which I sort of expected it would. This was a pretty good mix, though. We stayed at SSR so we had a kitchen and ate most breakfasts in the room and brought sandwiches with us for the non restaurant meal during the day. Chef Mickey's and HDDR were on the same day and it did limit our park visits that day, so keep that in mind.

We wound up being in the parks many nights very late for our kids (whose bedtime is usually between 7:30 and 8). I will say that by the fourth day, even though my 3 year old got a nap each day, he was starting to show signs of weariness. Although, if you are from the west coast, maybe this could work to your advantage if you could somehow keep your family on west coast time for the nighttime activities.

 

[CanadianPaco]

I give you credit for your organization and research skills. This is our third trip to WDW and I'm only now doing more in depth planning. Be proud of what you've learned and try to scale things back a bit. It'll be great no matter what!
Good Luck!

 

[2forMe]

LOL!, yeah, you may be right. Maybe I over booked our meals. My DS is 3.5 and he has an attention span of about 10 minutes tops! LOL This is out first trip ever with a child, staying at the resorts, doing the character meals, the WHOLE 9 yards! I really had no clue about all of the planning until I joined this board. Do you think I should take some of the meals off? Is it over stimulation for a 3.5 Year old? LOL!

I would def. stick to 1 sit down meal per day. I am sure your ds would prefer to have the extra time in the parks, having a little nap or going to the pool etc.

 

[angelmav]

Just to add, if your booking with the military offer you can't get the deluxe no matter who you talk to.

The Aloha and Mickey's bbq are things that generally get mixed to low reviews. Part of that is the cost and part of that is the time. IMO they are really best left for a future trip when you have credits to burn. If your having to pay for other things OOP, your going to more likely feel that some of these things aren't worth the money or time and it will impact your vacation. I can't stress to you enough how much there is to see and do here or the time that you can wind up spending on these meals. Again, it's not that these things aren't worth doing, this is just a common pitfall for first time visitors and can really color your impression/enjoyment.

One more thing, don't underestimate how taxing touring the parks can be! You'll tire out more quickly than you think! Between the sun, the walking and the constant adrenalin rushes, it can really wipe you out!

If you haven't already, I would recommend signing up for Tour Guide Mike to get a realistic idea of how to tackle the parks for what is important for your group. His advice really puts into perspective what it is you can reasonably accomplish as well as some ideas on how to tackle each park.

Either way, have a great time and know that no matter what you do, your only going to see the tip of the iceburgh!

 

[mitsybella]

on our last trip we did one character meal a day usually at dinner, we were there for 6 nights and 5 days in the parks, we arrived around 3pm and did a CS meal the first night at our resort, this allowed us to use the 2 TS credits for our CRT meal later in the week(and my 2 yr old son loooved the princesses, they made a big fuss and left big red lipstick kisses on his forehead and cheeks) . We thought about going to the BBQ and Aloha but with a 2 and 4 yr old we decided to wait until they are a little older and can sit thru the shows, may not be so bad with 1 child but my two start annoying each other (and then us ) the other thing to look into for the later dinner might be the babysitting services I have never used them but I am sure someone will know how they work.

 

[LovesTimone]

Sept. 9 (arrival day) Chef Mickey's 6:30 for dinner COST $85.00- DP
Sept. 10 Dinner- Mickey's BBQ 6:30 $117 OOP
Sept. 11 Breakfast 7:55 Ohana's $65 OOP :: Dinner 4:55 Crystal Palace $75 DP
Sept.12 Breakfast Cape May 8:00 $60 OOP :: Dinner Aloha Dinner at Luau Cove 8pm $130 DP
Sept.13 Donald's Safari Breakfast 8:05 $65 OOP :: Dinner Le Cellier 6:35 $130 DP
Sept.14 CRT Breakfast 10:30 $100 OOP :: Dinner Cape May 6:30 $70 DP[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

I would cut down on the TS. especially with a 3.5 yr old. You really don't want to have a melt down right in the middle of Character dinning. If you are planning for late night meals. Make sure to take a nap during the day for everyone. My DD at 3 would never have made it with all the TS. We just did CS and maybe 2 character meals then like the plaza or Tonys where things aren't so wild.
Just my thoughts