Confused?

[Drrazorback]

There is a TON of info on this board, so if this question has been answered (which Im SURE it has), please feel free to just post a link to the thread for me!

I am TOTALLY new to this Disney thing! I havent been to DisneyLAND in over 30 years!!!! It was a blast and I still remember it to this day!!!

Fast forward to me being 40 and taking my wife and 5 year old twins (boy and girl) to DisneyWorld later this year...

I am SO confused about how things work! Ive already made a 6 night reservation and barely got in on the Free Dining plan, but someone told me I need to go ahead and book where we are eating!!! UGH! I dont know what we are eating tomorrow, much less 4 months from now!!!!!

Anyways, is there an easy way to plan this and then go online and reserve our tables...Again, Im really confused! I wished there was a list of things that I need to tend to asap so that I can get this worked out...

Any help would be appreciated! Thank you...

 

[Mariep26]

Hi!! Welcome. A few questions... When are you going -- exact dates. Where are you staying? And what dining plan did you get (I am assuming Quick Service but you may have upgraded)?

In general for any Table Service meals you will want to make your reservations 180 days out either online or by phone. Are you thinking you want to do any character dining? How many sit down meals versus counter/quick service meals are you thinking?

 

[Lisa71]

I would pick what places you want to eat the most at (such as Ohana"s, etc) then call immediately and place your reservations for those sit down meals (the character meals rock)...then go from there. Read a guide book or a few reviews to see what kind of things your family likes best. It also helps to think of time frames that suit your family. We are in CA so we don't make really early reservations as our DD who is 6 does not like getting up early, and with the time change it is CRAZY...so we have a 10a, breakfast as our only early meal, and more dinner and lunch ressies. HAVE FUN!!

 

[ses1230]

I agree with the guidebook suggestion, my fave is the Uniffiial Guide. easywdw.com also has a wealth of information.

First, I would decide what park you are going to on what day. The website I mentioned above has crowd analysis that should be able to help with that. Once tou decide your park day, then I would decide on what ADRs to make.

ADRs are only for TS restaurants, not CS. (You didn't say whih plan you have)

I would try to decide sooner rather than later as you said your vacation is only four months away. ADRs open 180 days prior, so people have already started making reservations for that time frame.

 

[Cafeen]

Planning a first trip to WDW now a days can be overwhelming. Long gone are the days where you can wake up, pick a park, and walk into any Table Service restaurant and get seated quickly. While it's possible to still happen, you do have to plan for it to some extent.

To get started, take a look at the restaurants either on the DIS (www.wdwinfo.com), AllEars (www.allears.net) or even on the WDW official site itself and get an idea of where you'd like to eat. Make a list of these restaurants (don't worry about credit count and all that just yet).

Next, head on over to either www.EasyWDW.com or www.TouringPlans.com and check out the crowd calendars (note, TouringPlans requires a subscription for this for dates other than the next month or something like that). Figure out a general plan of where you want to be on which day you want to be there.

Then, start matching up the restaurant list with this day by day park list. Keeping the restaurants in or near the parks you're going to will help a lot with the excessive travel time that can happen. Now is also the time to consider the credit counts. Make sure that you've used up all the credits (note that you don't have to use the nightly allotment of credits each day, they are pooled at the start of the stay and you may use them in any order and for any number of meals per day that you wish).

If you go over, decide whether or not you want to keep them all, and if so, figure out which will likely be cheaper and pay OOP for those meals rather than on the plan (if you have questions about this practice, please feel free to ask, we have several VERY good people here that can point you in the right direction on general strategies for paying OOP vs DDP).

Do note that you MUST have tickets to the park if you wish to dine there, so if you don't have hopper tickets, do NOT plan meals in two different parks on the same day.

Now, since you are already within the 180 day mark, head over to the WDW site and start searching. The online system is quite easy to use, but if you have any specific questions on it, feel free to ask (it's too much to go into a general walkthrough within this post). It's a good idea to have some backups in case there's nothing available for your desired day/time, or being flexible with swapping stuff around on days and such.

I do like to write down my Confirmation #s, restaurants, and times (and notes) all into an Excel spreadsheet to help me get a handle on things, as I'm more visual, so this may help as well.

Example of my spreadsheet: (I've blacked out the specific Touring Plans Crowd and Confirmation information)


And of course, as you continue your planning, feel free to stop on by and ask questions. We love answering them

 

[icc2515]

Here's the thing, are you on quick service dining or do you have the standard package of 1 quick service and 1 table service? If you are staying at a value then you have quick service, a deluxe you have standard, a moderate...well I don't know what you get with them this year. Last year in Dec we stayed at Coranado and got standard, but I thought I read that moderate was now quick serve.

Anyway, if you have quick server you don't need to plan for quick serve meals. Just go up to the counter and order. If you want to do some table serve then you had better make some reservations.

 

[Drrazorback]

We are staying from 9/21-9/27 at the Wilderness Lodge...So, we have the 1 table, 1 quick, 1 snack plan!

I called today because my wife and I like to sit down for breakfast and eat the morning buffets and then have a sit down meal for dinner! So, I was concerned that 1 table meal wasnt going to be enough...And since we are doing the Cinderella Round Table, that uses an extra table meal.

Anyways, any thoughts? Is this enough food per day? Im sure it is, but again, we like to sit down and eat the breakfast and then again at the end of the day to recap things with the kids and all!

So, please give me input! Thanks a bunch! Im learning a lot on these boards!

 

[ses1230]

We are staying from 9/21-9/27 at the Wilderness Lodge...So, we have the 1 table, 1 quick, 1 snack plan!

I called today because my wife and I like to sit down for breakfast and eat the morning buffets and then have a sit down meal for dinner! So, I was concerned that 1 table meal wasnt going to be enough...And since we are doing the Cinderella Round Table, that uses an extra table meal.

Anyways, any thoughts? Is this enough food per day? Im sure it is, but again, we like to sit down and eat the breakfast and then again at the end of the day to recap things with the kids and all!

So, please give me input! Thanks a bunch! Im learning a lot on these boards!

If you like to sit down and be waited on twice a day - meaning two TS meals, or one buffet and one TS meal - than the regular DDP isn't going to cut it. You could consider upgrading to the DxDDP which is three meal entitlements. Then you wouldn't have to worry about CRT taking up two of your credits.

Or if you want to stick with the regular plan, you could pay for CRT OOP or you could look at menus here or on allears and have a look at the prices, and figure out what to pay OOP.

But before you decide on that, I would check restaurant availability since you are within your 180 days.

 

[TDC Nala]

With your preferences, I think the Deluxe Dining Plan would possibly be the right plan for you (with 3 meal credits allotted per night - the regular plan will not cover 2 table service meals per day for the duration of your trip), but you'd have to pay the difference between the plans to upgrade should you wish to. I agree it is a good idea to make sure you can get the restaurants you want before you decide to upgrade.

 

[Drrazorback]

OMG Cafeen! How did you put together such an extensive spreadsheet!?!? That is AWESOME! lol...

 

[Cafeen]

OMG Cafeen! How did you put together such an extensive spreadsheet!?!? That is AWESOME! lol...

That one isn't too bad, it kinda grew as I needed stuff on it. Simply shows the basics of listing out the hours, crowd estimates, and using those to make a general outline of where you want to be and when. Then plugging in the other half of the puzzle (the restaurants/meals you want to do) to fit them together.

Now my "How much money (if any) will I save on the various dining plans vs TiW vs OOP?" sheet, that thing is complex with equations and if/then logic, and lots of fun stuff . (The true answer is time...and a lot of it)