Can I plan a trip with only 3 weeks til we leave?

DylansMom

Earning My Ears
Joined
May 11, 2009
Messages
6
This will be our 1st time @ Disney World and we are wanting to go in 3 weeks. Some people have told me that this is the kind of trip you have to plan far in advance. Why is that? Like they said you have to make reservations at all the restaurants far in advance. Is there not any fast food type places where you can just walk in and eat? IDK cuz i've never been there but please give me some insight on planning this cuz like i said we are wanting to leave on june 13th. Thanks so much!
Keri
 
This will be our 1st time @ Disney World and we are wanting to go in 3 weeks. Some people have told me that this is the kind of trip you have to plan far in advance. Why is that? Like they said you have to make reservations at all the restaurants far in advance. Is there not any fast food type places where you can just walk in and eat? IDK cuz i've never been there but please give me some insight on planning this cuz like i said we are wanting to leave on june 13th. Thanks so much!
Keri

Well yes, you can do it. But people are right that the restaurants will most likely be booked. Yes there are lots of fast food type places all through out the park. You might get more advice if you post this on the theme park attractions and strategies board. Are you staying at a disney hotel or some where offsite?
 
A few ideas:

- If you're locked into June, go for it!!! hit the reservations site and make those reservations as soon as possible.

- If you can wait until August 9th, you'll hit Value season, and the resort prices will drop considerably; http://www.mousesavers.com/roomrates2009.html

- If you can wait until August 16, you can get the dining plan for free. Plus there's another huge incentive: you can only make Advanced Dining Reservations 90 days ahead of time. It's more than 90 days till August 16th. So if you can wait for free dining, you'll:
- get cheaper rates at your resort
- get the meal plan for free
- be able to have your choice of dining, including character meals.


But if you're locked into June, I say go for it!!

If you can be a bit more flexible with your dates, there is a summer special:
http://bookwdw.reservations.disney....romotionCode=fy09sumbroad&market=fy09sumbroad

I just played on the reservations site. I assumed it was you and your husband and a 4 year old.

For June 13-20, the only resort that came up was the Wilderness Lodge (a Deluxe resort.) I forgot to write down the price, but believe it was ballpark $3500 (for room and park tickets.)

Then I moved the dates: June 11-18. Now you can get All Star Movies (a Value resort) for $2075.

Go during free dining, and it goes down from there.

Happy planning!!
 
Not an issue. We booked a week in advance just recently and got ADRs and everything!
/hillary
 

It's definitely a lot easier to save money if you plan in advance, but it is possible to go with little or no planning ahead.

If you want to do Counter Service (Disney's term for fast food) then you'll be ok on the food front. However, it is nice to plan at least one Table Service (sit down) meal for your trip. However, at this point you'll basically be left with what ever is left over. Definitely call ASAP to see if anything is available.
I would not recommend arriving without Advance Dining Reservations and planning on getting into any Table Service restaurants by walking up, especially not during typical meal times. I went in January, one of the least busiest times of year at Disney, and felt bad for people who walked up trying to get a table. I felt worse for the CMs (Disney employees) who were trying to explain the way Disney does reservations.
Counter service, yes, but plan on waiting in line during peak meal times.

Also, I would recommend buying a subscription to one of the Disney Tour Sites. They are a plethora of information about when to see which attractions.
I use TouringPlans.com, but I've heard wonderful things about TourGuideMike.com.

Disney is MASSIVE, and can be rather daunting for someone who has never been there before. At least take some time to plan which parks to do on which days, and research some of the attractions so you know which ones you would like to make sure you hit.

Just a little bit of research and you should be fine. Just remember that fun is your goal!
 
It can be done. If you think ahead, you can even book some dining. I'd try to book some dinignn option as soon as you can. Also, some of thebetter places, you may have to settle for an odd dining. Don't rull out dinner at 4:30pm or 9pm. It may actually be an avantage to eat at times like those - esp cially ona first trip. Thereis no shortage of plces to get food and snacks ofall sorts at WDW. But most dining options involve a line of some sort.

DO consider concierge level or getting the Dining plan. Sure it doesn't sound like much: two meals and a snack each day - but if one of the meals is an all-you-can eat buffet, two meals a day is plenty! There's currently a summer discount for concierge rooms. You will have to go back to teh resort to get the concierge food, but this time of year an afternoon break might be just the thing. You'll also get a no hassle breakfsat complete with coffee to your liking (Actual milk or cream) and NO LINES, plus a deluxe resort. REalize every quick service meal and every attraction means standing in a line.

Know that Orlando is HOT this time of year. It is much more comfortable other times of year, sometimes even COLD. Try not to judge WDW by June weather!

Deluxe resort prices are crazy, but teh added convenience is great. The mods are nice too. The values are also very cealnand have much to offer. Of the values I prefer Pop. Of the mods I suggest any but POR/POFQ. Of the Deluxes, all are pretty much very nice. I also strongly suggest teh Swan - if you can get a discounted rate. The location is great and at $150, it's great value. You just can't get the dining package there.

DO read up! I'm not one to suggest that you plan every minute, but know that you talking about four major parks, lots of attractions, lots of dining choices, lots of hotel choices. Try to picka few attractions in each park that you really want to see. Do start each day witha fastpass attraction. Do try to start each day at 9am or earlier. DO read about fastpass, and understand ahead fo time what it is.

DO see the fireworks at MK at least once. Also Illuminations in Epcot and Fantasmic in HS are great!

If your kis are under eight, STRONGLY consider bringing a stroller for them. Get a good quality umbrella type stroller - not a Jogging one, not something heavey. You want something 25lbs. or less, that folds compactly. (MAclaren!)

DO get everyone in shape. Start walking every day for at least 30 minutes. Do make certain everyone has two pairs of good walkng shoes: sneakers and quality sandals/ or some other kind of good walking shoes. If you can waer Crocs all day they are a good option, as they can go on the water rides and double as pool shoes. I fyou know now that a member o f our family can't walk that much, consider renting a scooter fomr an offsite place.

DO dirnk LOTS of water. If drink coffee at breakfast,and beer or Coke the rest of the day, you WILL get dehydrated. Drink LOTS of PLAIN water!

Do bring some essentials tothe park each day: ticket, room key, ID, money, credit card, digital camera (Preferably compact). DO not carry a big backpack - at least that's my opinion. That bag will feel like lead at the end of the day. Secure pockets are your friend when considering wardrobe. OTherwise, consider somthing like a fanny pack or sling. Non-valuables can go inthe bottom of a stroller. Never leave valuables behind.

Do watchthe weatehr resprt each day. Sudden short rain storms often happen each day. A soggy stroller can be apain.Soggy sneakers are even worse. Soggy sneaker plus blisters is a nasty combo. Bring moleskin. Find it at your local drugstore.

Do plan on spending some money on souvies. As Sam Brown says, "Stuffed animals have away of accumluating when you are at Disney World!"

Oh, one last thing, you can't see EVERYTHING in one week. So don't stress it. Tell yourself you wil be back. If you dont' stay at a deluxe resort, at least visit one and dine thre, then spend a little time walking around.
 
Thanks for the advice. How do you know what restaurants to eat at if youve never been there though??
 
We plan on staying at a disney resort. Are the fast food places included in the dining plan? Can you eat at any place you want with that?
 
Thank you so much for all your help. That was really nice of you to do all that. We can be flexible on the dates. We were planning to go while my dad was on vacation so it would be 4 adults and a 2yo. But we are kinda thinkin now after all yalls help that we may wait and go later in aug like you said or next year even. Idk, i just dont wanna get there and pay all that money and wish that we had planned more. So thanks alot!!
 
Ok thanks, that was a nig help. We will prob end up waiting til next year so we can plan better.
 
There are many different dining plans...

First of all is the Quick Service Dining Plan which is new this year - $29.99/night
It includes 2 Counter Service meals and 2 snacks per night

Next up is the Regular Dining Plan - $39.99/night
It includes 1 Snack, 1 Counter Service, and 1 Table Service

The Deluxe Dining Plan includes 3 Table Service/Counter Service Meals and 2 Snacks a day (I would not recommend this for a first time goer, especially at this late time) $71.99/night

You can look through reviews of restaurants on the restaurant boards (I think that's what they're called)
There is a great variety of places, but the popular places book early.

I would recommend calling Disney Dining 404-WDW-DINE and just seeing what's available.

It depends some on the composition of your party, how many people are going? what are there ages etc?
We can help you a little, but ultimately everybody enjoys different places.
 
Planning is NOT everything! DW,DD and I went Sept 08 and booked only 3 weeks b4 arrival. Had awesome time. 1st time for DW & DD. Did not have prob w/ ADR's just be realistic. Tough to get CRT , CM & the like but many great restaurants at WDW to choose from. I actually thought it was better with not much time to plan. CM who handled my ADR's came up with great options for me. No CRT try Akerhus in Epcot for Princesses. I also disagree with no walk-up's. In Sept walked up to Biergarten and got table after 15 min wait and this was during F&W festival. You can also try to get those hard to get places b4 you leave or check in morninG or afternoon when there. Things become available b/c of the hard core planners who double and triple book ADR's then no show because it is very hard to keep up the commando tour for more then a day or two. Kids meltdowns, Dad.s blisters noone wants to go to that res we booked 3 mos ago. IMO it would be wise to book FD but if you go on short notice you WILL have a GREAT TIME!
 
11.gif
 
I've read all the advice and sit on the fence on alot of the posts. We never plan meals and go with the flow, we don't know where, when or what we'll be hungry for. CS suits us fine and I'll stand by the statement of TS meals are ridiculously priced. I suggest you visit allears.net and peruse the menus of the restaurants, parks and resorts, check the contents of the meals and the prices. We're not rich but thrifty and most of the meals I know what I'm willing to pay, it Disney wants alot more, we'll skip it. Thats how we feel about the dining plan, waste of money, same for ADR's. We've logged 42 trips and very seldom have ADR's, we know where the meals we like are at, be it CS, that's fine. To us, Disney is about the resort ambiance and parks, not food, we could care less what or where we're going to eat, give us a home made grocery stop sandwich, some drinks and the pool, and shadow that all with the beautiful Florida sun and it couldn't get any better than that.
We wish they would do away with the so called free dining and get back to how it used to be and walk ins could be had anytime.
 







Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE






DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top Bottom