Brand new newbie, help please

[sknyc]

Hi:
We are going to DW at the end of August with our two kids, 9 and 7. I have a 7 day meal plan. I was told that people already started making reservations for restaurants 6 months in advance. We don't know how we should do it. Should we wait and book the restaurant on the same day, or should we book it now? How should we do it? Do people eat at resorts, parks, or are there some restaurants other than these 2 areas? How do we know when to eat where? What if we make a reservation at a restaurant on that day but we end up being elsewhere?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

If you have the dining plan you want to book your restaurant meals now. Do not wait till you get there as you won't be able to eat anywhere.

If you know what parks you are going to each day then you can book your meals at that park that day. You can also plan to eat at resorts that are close by.

We like LeCellier, Teppon Edo & Coral Reef at Epcot.
We like Yak & Yeti & Tusker House Safari breakfast at AK
We like Crystal Palace at MK

At the resorts we really like Ohana at the Poly. Resort

Go to :http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/

go to tab : where to eat. Click on making dining reservations. Put in a date, time & how many are dining. Everything available will come up. Decide what sounds good & reserve it.

If you find later it won't work out cancel the reservation.

 

[KeroKero]

Hi:
We are going to DW at the end of August with our two kids, 9 and 7. I have a 7 day meal plan. I was told that people already started making reservations for restaurants 6 months in advance. We don't know how we should do it. Should we wait and book the restaurant on the same day, or should we book it now? How should we do it? Do people eat at resorts, parks, or are there some restaurants other than these 2 areas? How do we know when to eat where? What if we make a reservation at a restaurant on that day but we end up being elsewhere?
Thanks in advance!

Meal reservations can be made up to 180 days in advance!! It's crazy, yes ... but for a lot of the high demand places it is totally necessary to have Advance Dining Reservations. You didn't mention what kind of meal plan you're on. But, here's what I usually do.

We eat breakfast most days at the resort, maybe one morning we'll have a character breakfast in the parks (either Crystal Place in MK or Tusker House in AK), the morning we have the character breakfast we'll spend the rest of the day at that park.

Lunch we usually do quick service, so as to devote most of our time during the day to seeing as much as we can at the parks.

Dinner we do table service dining for a little over half the days we're doing go be at WDW. Now .. here is where advance planning comes in handy. You've got to schedule your days so you know where and when to be near your restaurant for your dinner reservation.

Disney dining is not be missed. The food is great and the experience and theming at resturants is amazing.

On the WDW website you can check which resturants still have time slots available for days you wish to eat. And you can book your reservations directly on the site as well. I recommend making reservations before you leave, and if you have to cancel while you're there, then do so. At least a place will be saved for your group. Also, you can always check with the front desk in the mornings to see if a specific restaurant you want has any open reservation times.

Good luck with reservations & enjoy your trip!

 

[Cafeen]

The first thing to do is to decide what area of WDW you plan to be in on each day. This is tricky, especially for someone who has never been there before and has no idea what to expect (don't know if this is you or not, but in general).

A good resource to help you with this is www.easywdw.com. It's free and offers park suggestions on which park to visit which day. And the guy who created it resides on these boards too! (Even though I once gave him a rather harsh QA of his site when it was first coming online )

Once you get a general idea there, start finding restaurants that you think you may like in the general vicinity of where you plan to be. (Or, you can start making lists of restaurants at the same time, it works either way).

Once you get the two lists as rough outlines, then you can start searching for ADRs. At this late in the game, you're going to have to be a bit flexible as far as times and locations, but you will find somewhere to eat for every meal you need to.

With the DDP (Disney Dining Plan which is what I'm assuming you mean. This is the 1 Counter, 1 Table, 1 Snack per night of stay plan), you're going to want to focus on sit down dinners mostly. Otherwise, you may end up spending more by being on the plan than you would had you done the same thing not on the plan. (Doesn't have to be ALL dinners, but I'd say for every 1 non-dinner, do at least 2 dinners)

Some suggestions taking travel into consideration

• MK Day
  • Crystal Palace (MK) - Buffet with Pooh and the Gang
  • Liberty Tree Tavern (MK) - Dinner is a perpetual Thanksgiving Feast (basically). I actually prefer lunch here as I'm not a fan of the Thanksgiving Fare, but I'm a little weird.
  • Kona Cafe (Poly - Monorail from MK)
  • 'Ohana (Poly - Monorail from MK) - Breakfast is with Mikey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch. Dinner is a family style meat-on-skewers type of meal. 'Ohana dinner may be out though, as it's now the single toughest reservation to get on property.
  • 1900 Park Fare (Grand Floridian - Monorail from MK) - Dinner is with Cinderella, Prince Charming, and Cindy's step-family. From what I hear it's a very good time.
  • Whispering Canyon Cafe (Wilderness Lodge - Boat from MK) - An uproarious restaurant with silly antics by the staff.
• Epcot Day - There are numerous restaurants in Epcot. Pretty much at least one for every taste.
  • San Angel Inn or La Hacienda de San Angel (Epcot-Mexico) - Both are very good traditional Mexican restaurants with Hacienda being more grilled type of fare. Neither are Tex-Mex or Taco/Burrito type places though.
  • Akershus (Epcot-Norway) - Princesses galore and a picture included. May not be the best choice if your two kids are boys . All meals are reportedly good here, but again, I'm weird and only really think I'd like the breakfast (which I have done and was very good).
  • Teppan Edo (Epcot-Japan) - A perennial favorite of these boards. Has communal seating though, and if you have a local good hibachi near you, may not be anything special
  • Chefs de France (Epcot-France) - Another favorite around here, especially for lunch. Potential Remy (from Ratatouille) sightings in the dinner hours as well.
  • Le Cellier (Epcot-Canada) - A decent steakhouse and one of the better values on the DDP. Note that dinner is now 2 credits and not that great a deal on the normal DDP, so lunch would be preferred. However, this is also a very difficult to get ADR.
  • Garden Grill (Epcot-The Land) - A family style meal with Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale. Another difficult ADR due to limited time they are open.
  • Cape May (Beach Club Resort - Walk from Epcot for Dinner) - Breakfast may be a bit difficult to get to, but it has Mickey, Minnie, ... and a couple others. Dinner is a seafood buffet (it has other stuff though).
• DHS Day - (This is the trickiest one for me...)
  • Cape May - As above. Also walkable or a boat ride away from DHS.
  • Mama Melrose (DHS) - Simple Italian fare
  • 50s Prime Time (DHS) - Good old home cooking with long lost relatives.
• AK Day
  • Tusker House (AK) - Breakfast has Mickey, Daisy, Goofy, and Donald (who sometimes roams, sometimes just takes a picture at the entrance) and is a very good buffet with a few more adventurous items (and long standing favorites). Lunch/Dinner is a bit more African flare
  • Yak & Yeti (AK) - Reportedly very good Asian influenced food.
  • Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge) - A large buffet with many African inspired items.
  • Sanaa (Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani) - African/Asian/Indian type dishes. I hear this is VERY good and really looking forward to my meal there in Sept.

So yeah, that's a long list, but it should get you started. It also should display how I personally group restaurants to fit best into each day (note, I only use Disney transportation, though I did take a cab from Jiko back to CSR last year). If you have your own transportation, it'll free you up from these groupings a bit as well.

It's a lot of information to swallow at once, I'm sorry, but once you get going, it won't be so bad at all.

(And lawl @ "Post Quick Reply" as if anything I ever write is a "quick reply")

 

[lauralong81]

I second ALL of Cafeen's suggestions...
EasyWDW.com is great... I would also suggest something like TOurGuideMike.com for a newbie. His site is a little outdated, but tons of great information on what to do what day.
Figure out parks first - then figure out meal reservations. You probably need to act quickly to get the good ones.

I HIGHLY suggest Ohana's for any meal - breakfast is a great deal of fun and yummy, Dinner equally yummy and a very nice sit-down break.

Good luck & welcome to the obsession!
-Laura

 

[sknyc]

Thank you, MagicalMawmaw,KeroKero, Cafeen, Laura, your information are very helpful. I definitely will get this going tonight and hopefully book most if not all reservations.
Another question: We are going in the last of August. Is there a reason we should visit a particular park first, and all the rest in order, or it doesn't matter? The water parks look great, and we plan to hit both. Any tips on the order? I am thinking, maybe alternate the water parks with dry parks...
Your suggestions are very much appreciated!

-SK

 

[lauralong81]

Thank you, MagicalMawmaw,KeroKero, Cafeen, Laura, your information are very helpful. I definitely will get this going tonight and hopefully book most if not all reservations.
Another question: We are going in the last of August. Is there a reason we should visit a particular park first, and all the rest in order, or it doesn't matter? The water parks look great, and we plan to hit both. Any tips on the order? I am thinking, maybe alternate the water parks with dry parks...
Your suggestions are very much appreciated!

-SK

It depends on the dates and days of the week.
What day do you arrive?
And what day do you depart?
Where are you staying?
Do you have disney dining plan? (Cant remember if you said you did or not)
Do you have park hoppers?

Knowing those things will seriously influence what you do what day and how you tour.

 

[Cafeen]

Thank you, MagicalMawmaw,KeroKero, Cafeen, Laura, your information are very helpful. I definitely will get this going tonight and hopefully book most if not all reservations.
Another question: We are going in the last of August. Is there a reason we should visit a particular park first, and all the rest in order, or it doesn't matter? The water parks look great, and we plan to hit both. Any tips on the order? I am thinking, maybe alternate the water parks with dry parks...
Your suggestions are very much appreciated!

-SK

Well, Magic Kingdom is never a bad place to start, unless it's going to be super crowded that day. As long as it's not the "worst park" with either EasyWDW or www.touringplans.com (Aug 11 - Sept 10 is free to the general public right now, so it's a good time to take a quick glance), then it should be ok.

I would place a rough schedule something like:
Day 1 - MK
Day 2 - Epcot
Day 3 - AK or DHS
Day 4 - Water Park/MK evening
Day 5 - AK or DHS
Day 6 - Epcot or Water Park/Epcot Evening
Day 7 - MK

Of course, the detail depends on what some of crowd the experts would suggest for that time frame. However, the end of August should be relatively quiet, so there is quite a bit of flexibility there.

One other tip concerns tickets. If you're planning 2 days at water parks, then then Water Parks Fun & More option will save you quite a bit of money vs. 2 1 day water park tickets. However, unless you're absolutely positive that you are going to spend at least 2 days in water parks, you do not need to get this option first. WP tickets are different in that you can buy a single day, use it, and then use that ticket to upgrade your main tickets with the WPF&M option for the price difference (~$5-10 per ticket I believe). (Note: this is the only case where two separate tickets may be combined for an upgrade!)

The last bit is to learn the FastPass system. Work that system like there's no tomorrow and you'll have a blast and rarely wait in long lines (if at all).

More on this can be found over in the strategies forum, and I don't want to annoy Nala, Tricia, or the other mods into having to move it there .

One last thing, if you don't get an ADR for your first choice, make a backup but KEEP TRYING. Cancellations for ADRs happen all the time (also, pay attention to the August Cancellation thread) and you can often score the ones you really want by keeping at it. (There, see, I brought it back to the proper forum )

 

[MHSweb79]

We stayed off-site last time and I can tell you that the park day recommendations at easywdw.com were spot-on.

Now, when we stay on-site it's a different story, as we like to hit the morning EMH park (which is never recommended on that site) and then hop to a different park for the afternoon. Another good rule of thumb, if you don't have park-hoppers is to choose the park that had evening EMH the night before, as it's usually not too crowded.

As others have said, look at the park hours schedule. Then come up with a general outline of where you'll be on which days. THEN you can look for ADR's either in that park or in the nearby resorts.

Another great resource is allears.net Go to their "rate & review" tab and you can find reviews of all the eateries in the parks and the resorts. You can even look at the menus to see if there's something everyone in your party would like.

Now, once you have all this in place, view it as a safety net, not a prison. Feel free, once you're there, to skip an ADR (as long as you haven't secured it with a credit card) or throw the day's schedule out the window if it isn't working for you. You can always ask at your resort's concierge desk, or at guest relations in a park, where you can get an alternate ADR that day if you need to.

 

[sknyc]

Thank you all for the replies. I think I have enough info. Just one last question, I promise, before the mods want to move this thread elsewhere. We arrives on a Thur night, 3:28pm (airport), and check out on the next Thur 11:00am. Our park pass is only 7 days, no park hopping option. Which day should we skip the park? 1st or 8th?
Thanks again! (where is the bow icon?)

 

[Cafeen]

Thank you all for the replies. I think I have enough info. Just one last question, I promise, before the mods want to move this thread elsewhere. We arrives on a Thur night, 3:28pm (airport), and check out on the next Thur 11:00am. Our park pass is only 7 days, no park hopping option. Which day should we skip the park? 1st or 8th?
Thanks again! (where is the bow icon?)

Note, the below is presupposing the use of Disney's Magical Express. Though, if renting a car they should be relatively similar, but I don't have the experience there).

A 3:30 (ish) arrival should put you setting carryons down inside the room by about 5:30, probably a bit earlier since you're arriving on a weekday afternoon (by far, not the most popular travel days, which is why it's a bit cheaper to fly ). This may give you some park time, especially if it's a late night at either Epcot or DHS (don't remember which days are EMH days for them). Of course, you could be too tired from traveling to bother, so I'd play this day by ear. For ADRs, I'd look at either doing CS this day, or eating at a TS either in your resort, near MK (easiest to travel to), and not booking it for any earlier than 7pm or so.

On the departing day, if your flight out is at 11am ME will pick you up at around 8am. If this is the case, then you're certainly not going to get any park time here. If it's later in the day, you can drop bags off at Bell Services and hit up a park as well (depending on what you did on arrival day), just be sure to be back at the resort at least 15 minutes before ME pick up time.

If you decide to go to a park on arrival day, and desire to get a half day in before you head off to the airport on departure day, then you can simply add another day to your tickets for around $8 per ticket.

 

[sknyc]

Oops, my misleading info on the departure time. I meant the checkout is 11:00am, but our flight is 7:30PM. Should we do the park on the last day?

 

[tigger536]

Do one of the water parks on the last day, since that is a separate ticket.