Critique my dining itinerary (and help me with Hoop Dee Doo)

[rg35]

There's nothing similar between Tusker House and Tiffins as the previous poster suggested. Tiffins is a fantastic fine/signature restaurant, and you should definitely go. This year we did Tusker House for lunch and Tiffins for dinner on our AK day and were happy with both choices. This was our second year in a row at Tiffins, and they gave us a nice card signed by the managers for being returning guests - a nice touch.

 

[Mopedmom1]

If it were me personally, I would stretch out the meal times. Reserve an early breakfast, say 7:00 am if possible; lunch 1:30; dinner no earlier than 6:30. For our family that would get pushed out even later.

You have scheduled a whole lot of food in a short time. You've got to save some room for mickey bars and popcorn!

 

[michelepa]

I agree with many of the posters you have way too many TS meals for the heat of summer and with a 7 and 9 year old in tow. Meals will definitely take up alot of your time each day.

I would rethink the deluxe dining plan -most people i know who have gone that route regretted their decision.

Also wanted to mention that Sanna is not located in AKL but at Kidani Village DVC lodging not too far from the lodge.

You have chosen all the most popular restaurants so if you do go with this itinerary be sure to get on the Disney site at your 180 mark to have best chance of ressies because most of summer is a busy time.

 

[kreckl]

Ok~
I'm thinking it may be helpful for you to map out your day, because to me, it seems like a whole lot of traveling and eating time.
Say you get up very early for your 7 am breakfasts...are you really going to stay at the parks until after fireworks with kids that young? We've found we can do early morning one day, then an early-ish night. And a hang at the resort until late afternoon and head to a park/dinner and evening shows...but carefully arranging these days has been key for us. It can take awhile to wait for an attraction, then another, head out of the park, wait for buses ( or uber and travel), and I'm thinking you may be headed to your next meal before you are hungry and before you have enjoyed even sections of parks, which would force you to return and travel back to them several times to get things done/seen.
For us, simplifying has been key to good trips.
And waterparks in August are nuts- so plan on lots of waiting ( last august kids waited over 45 min holding tubes for a one minute slide, and even when they wanted to bail out they couldn't get down the stairs safely with their tubes, so they stayed)....
The restaurants you've chosen are fine, imo. But I'm already exhausted for you!

 

[YYC-Rob]

Wow! Thank you all for the replies and advice. The general consensus I am getting is that I have planned to many meals in too short a time! I say I was at first a bit surprised because most days I only have a lunch and dinner booked, which doesn't seem like overkill. I think the 3 meal days are a problem than and perhaps the locations of the other restaurants. Well, it would be sort of stupid of me to ask for advice and than not take it so lets see what I can come up with.

I little more background motivation first, so you all can understand my approach. When we traveled to Disneyland last year we ate at Napa Rose. The meal was a real highlight for us but not for my wallet (seriously we could have spent a couple nights at that resort for the price of our meal). So, when I saw we could upgrade to the DxDP and do many of the signature dining attractions for relatively cheap (I think the upgrade for us is around 1700 for the 14 days) I was all in. So dropping the DxDp is not an option for us. Even if we ended up losing money overall, the "feel" of not worrying about how much we are spending and where, would be worth it to me. I dont know if anyone else can relate but I get stressed and frustrated with my children when we pay out of pocket at a restaurant and they hardly touch their meal. I know this is my issue, not theirs. With the DxDP and the use of dining credits this wont bother me at all. They can eat as much as they care to fill their little tummies without Dad nagging them to eat more. I also want to keep as many of the signature dining events in our list.

So the solution is to tone back the 3 meal days and to temper travel time... Ill start anew here instead of editing post 1 again. That way if someone is in the same boat as us they can see how we came to the revised plan from the advice given. Ill change the 3 meal days and add in some Minnie vans where i think they are needed.

Arrival - Cape Mae (its in our hotel)

Day 1 - MK - 8 am breakfast at Crystal Palace. Rope drop and rides until 12. Back to resort for Beaches and Cream lunch and time at SAB (Storm Along Bay). Back to MK for around 6 at Be Our Guest. This gives us our midday break while keeping lunch casual and close to our swimming location. The breakfast is happily at MK and lets us ride a good number of morning rides at rope drop. Dinner will finish with enough time for more rides and Fireworks

Day 2 - AK - Tusker and Tiffins seems easy here. 11:30 Tusker and around 6 again for Tiffins. They are both at the AK. If we feel like it we will break for SAB mid day.

Day 3 - Epcot - Again we have an easy to get to lunch in park at Biergarten (ill shoot for 11:30). Dinner is effectively at our resort at Yachtsman SH. No crazy travel here... real benefit of staying at an Epcot resort I hope.

Day 4 - Rest Day - So I think Sanaa and the travel to AKL is what throws this day off. So instead we can keep the Trattoria Breakfast as its a short walk from our resort. Then we can head to a waterpark and just eat there when it suits our fancy. Ill than book Ohana for around 7 pm. If we leave the waterpark around 3 or 4 we can head back to the resort and change than Minnie Van to the Poly for Ohana. We will probably Minnie van back as well after fireworks.

Day 5 - DHS - Sci Fi (we have 50's diner later! Gotta go here for my son) at lunch. Its in park, easy. Then dinner in park again at Brown Derby. Maybe we take a break but the boat is like 15-20 minutes to our resort and SAB.

Day 6 - AK - Y&Y is in park. Jiko is "close by". We will likely take a break this day back at SAB after lunch. So we can MV (minnie van) to Jiko from our resort then take a short ride from there to AK after dinner!

Day 7 Rest Day - A seemingly contentious day! I would have though DS had plenty to do to fill from lunch until dinner, am I wrong. We can get up late and swim at SAB. Hit DS for lunch at Morimoto. Then the shopping for a few hours. Maybe DS and DG and I will bowl or something while DM and DD shop. Dinner at the BOATHOUSE then back to resort. Am I way off on this day? It seems reasonable to me.

Day 8 - MK - This could be another double MV day. Kona is close by MK so thats not an issue but maybe we should just eat in park at Pecos Bills or Liberty or something that catches our eye. Im gonna swap Hoop Dee Doo out for Artist Point here. Short boat ride from or two MK.

Day 9 - Epcot - Food and wine will be easy and eat our our leisure for lunch. THAN we do Hoop Dee Doo for dinner. Probably Minnie Van there, back or both to cut that travel time down.

Day 10 - Rest Day - From what I gather we will have to get a bus to disney springs than xfer to a water park. So we do an early lunch AT DS at homecomin' than head to a water park. Finish up there and Minnie van back to resort and than head to California Grill for a later dinner (7ish). We will likely bus it to MK(or TTC? not sure how that works) and walk over to contemporary. MV home.

Day 11 - DHS - Lunch in park at 50's. Flying Fish for dinner at Boardwalk which is a short boat ride or even walk from DHS. Minimal travel day. Remember lunch for us will be around 11:30 and dinner 6. Plenty of time in between.

Day 12 - Split park AK/Epcot - This day is nearing the end. We will head early to AK and ride everyone favorite ride once more than leave back to BC and a short walk into epcot for lunch at Coral Reef. 30 minutes from AK to BC? If so than I think that is doable. Dinner is in epcot at Monsieur Paul. No travel required. Again we will likely just try to ride whatever my kids favorite rides are in Epcot.

Day 13 - MK - Lunch is in park at the castle. No travel required. Travel from MK to GF for Citricos has got to be reasonably short for dinner and back.

Day 14 - the day that shall not be named


It seems like a lot but I think I have it relatively streamlined. It's mostly close lunches and the few tricky dinners we can MV. It cant be that insane to eat two sit down meals a day?!? I am also not going to worry if Gramma and my Son want to skip out on a meal and just relax by the pool or ride more attractions(or any variety of this sort of thing). I will do the ADR's at 180 days and than, worst come to worst, if we feel that it isnt working I will alter our plans to suit us better.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Wow! Thank you all for the replies and advice. The general consensus I am getting is that I have planned to many meals in too short a time! I say I was at first a bit surprised because most days I only have a lunch and dinner booked, which doesn't seem like overkill. I think the 3 meal days are a problem than and perhaps the locations of the other restaurants. Well, it would be sort of stupid of me to ask for advice and than not take it so lets see what I can come up with.

I little more background motivation first, so you all can understand my approach. When we traveled to Disneyland last year we ate at Napa Rose. The meal was a real highlight for us but not for my wallet (seriously we could have spent a couple nights at that resort for the price of our meal). So, when I saw we could upgrade to the DxDP and do many of the signature dining attractions for relatively cheap (I think the upgrade for us is around 1700 for the 14 days) I was all in. So dropping the DxDp is not an option for us. Even if we ended up losing money overall, the "feel" of not worrying about how much we are spending and where, would be worth it to me. I dont know if anyone else can relate but I get stressed and frustrated with my children when we pay out of pocket at a restaurant and they hardly touch their meal. I know this is my issue, not theirs. With the DxDP and the use of dining credits this wont bother me at all. They can eat as much as they care to fill their little tummies without Dad nagging them to eat more. I also want to keep as many of the signature dining events in our list.

So the solution is to tone back the 3 meal days and to temper travel time... Ill start anew here instead of editing post 1 again. That way if someone is in the same boat as us they can see how we came to the revised plan from the advice given. Ill change the 3 meal days and add in some Minnie vans where i think they are needed.

Arrival - Cape Mae (its in our hotel)

Day 1 - MK - 8 am breakfast at Crystal Palace. Rope drop and rides until 12. Back to resort for Beaches and Cream lunch and time at SAB (Storm Along Bay). Back to MK for around 6 at Be Our Guest. This gives us our midday break while keeping lunch casual and close to our swimming location. The breakfast is happily at MK and lets us ride a good number of morning rides at rope drop. Dinner will finish with enough time for more rides and Fireworks

Day 2 - AK - Tusker and Tiffins seems easy here. 11:30 Tusker and around 6 again for Tiffins. They are both at the AK. If we feel like it we will break for SAB mid day.

Day 3 - Epcot - Again we have an easy to get to lunch in park at Biergarten (ill shoot for 11:30). Dinner is effectively at our resort at Yachtsman SH. No crazy travel here... real benefit of staying at an Epcot resort I hope.

Day 4 - Rest Day - So I think Sanaa and the travel to AKL is what throws this day off. So instead we can keep the Trattoria Breakfast as its a short walk from our resort. Then we can head to a waterpark and just eat there when it suits our fancy. Ill than book Ohana for around 7 pm. If we leave the waterpark around 3 or 4 we can head back to the resort and change than Minnie Van to the Poly for Ohana. We will probably Minnie van back as well after fireworks.

Day 5 - DHS - Sci Fi (we have 50's diner later! Gotta go here for my son) at lunch. Its in park, easy. Then dinner in park again at Brown Derby. Maybe we take a break but the boat is like 15-20 minutes to our resort and SAB.

Day 6 - AK - Y&Y is in park. Jiko is "close by". We will likely take a break this day back at SAB after lunch. So we can MV (minnie van) to Jiko from our resort then take a short ride from there to AK after dinner!

Day 7 Rest Day - A seemingly contentious day! I would have though DS had plenty to do to fill from lunch until dinner, am I wrong. We can get up late and swim at SAB. Hit DS for lunch at Morimoto. Then the shopping for a few hours. Maybe DS and DG and I will bowl or something while DM and DD shop. Dinner at the BOATHOUSE then back to resort. Am I way off on this day? It seems reasonable to me.

Day 8 - MK - This could be another double MV day. Kona is close by MK so thats not an issue but maybe we should just eat in park at Pecos Bills or Liberty or something that catches our eye. Im gonna swap Hoop Dee Doo out for Artist Point here. Short boat ride from or two MK.

Day 9 - Epcot - Food and wine will be easy and eat our our leisure for lunch. THAN we do Hoop Dee Doo for dinner. Probably Minnie Van there, back or both to cut that travel time down.

Day 10 - Rest Day - From what I gather we will have to get a bus to disney springs than xfer to a water park. So we do an early lunch AT DS at homecomin' than head to a water park. Finish up there and Minnie van back to resort and than head to California Grill for a later dinner (7ish). We will likely bus it to MK(or TTC? not sure how that works) and walk over to contemporary. MV home.

Day 11 - DHS - Lunch in park at 50's. Flying Fish for dinner at Boardwalk which is a short boat ride or even walk from DHS. Minimal travel day. Remember lunch for us will be around 11:30 and dinner 6. Plenty of time in between.

Day 12 - Split park AK/Epcot - This day is nearing the end. We will head early to AK and ride everyone favorite ride once more than leave back to BC and a short walk into epcot for lunch at Coral Reef. 30 minutes from AK to BC? If so than I think that is doable. Dinner is in epcot at Monsieur Paul. No travel required. Again we will likely just try to ride whatever my kids favorite rides are in Epcot.

Day 13 - MK - Lunch is in park at the castle. No travel required. Travel from MK to GF for Citricos has got to be reasonably short for dinner and back.

Day 14 - the day that shall not be named


It seems like a lot but I think I have it relatively streamlined. It's mostly close lunches and the few tricky dinners we can MV. It cant be that insane to eat two sit down meals a day?!? I am also not going to worry if Gramma and my Son want to skip out on a meal and just relax by the pool or ride more attractions(or any variety of this sort of thing). I will do the ADR's at 180 days and than, worst come to worst, if we feel that it isnt working I will alter our plans to suit us better.

I totally get the motivation for the DxDP. We don't purchase the dining plan, but tend to enjoy the signature restaurants more than the 1 credit TS (with a few exceptions). I don't think two TS a day is unreasonable at all and cutting down on travel time is always a good thing IMHO so you can focus more on the fun stuff at WDW and not feel stressed getting from point A to point B.

I'll comment day-to-day:

Arrival day: Great choice! Do you know when your flight arrives? I would just leave plenty of time between arrival and your ADR time to allow for potential delays.

Day 1: I'm just wondering if you think you might have jet lag? If so, you might want to consider changing to CP lunch instead of breakfast (so you aren't terribly rushed in the AM and can get to MK a little later). If you go that route, I would probably do CP at noon, leave for BC, swim and push BOG a little later. If you decide to keep the CP, B&C and BOG ADR's, you, again are beholden to 3 restaurant reservations that are going to dictate your entire day and with B&C lunch around 1 pm and BOG at 6 pm, you are only giving yourself about 2 hours to swim before you have to shower, change and get back to MK (remember to factor in time to get through security as well as transportation time)

Day 2: If you want to take breaks back at BC/SAB on AK and MK park days, I would just recommend pushing your dinner ADR's a little later. Even with taking MV's, you have to factor in travel time and getting back through security at the parks plus, then walking to the restaurant. I don't know about your family, but just with the three of us, it takes at least an hour to shower and get changed after we swim.

Day 3: Great!

Day 4: Sounds like a good plan! I would suggest having everything with you for the waterpark at Trattoria and then you can just leave from BWI. O'hana at 7 pm is a good plan. I find we are pretty tired after the waterparks and need some extra down time before we head out again.

Day 5: Great! Yes, it's a short boat ride back to BC from DHS. You can also walk, but it will be pretty hot mid-day in August. I've actually uber'd back from DHS to EP resorts. I wouldn't MV it (waste of $20, IMHO), but a regular Lyft/Uber would be in the $5 range if the boat wait is long or it's too hot to walk.

Day 6: Great!

Day 7: I, personally, couldn't spend more than 2-3 hours at DS. If you are going to bowl AND shop, maybe? Even then . . . Unless you are heavy duty shoppers? I don't know. Other than shopping, there is bowling and a movie theater and Characters in Flight (which is pretty boring IMHO). The NBA experience might be open by then? I don't know if that interests you. Plus, it's going to be REALLY hot between lunch and dinner. Personally, I would set aside 4 hours and pick one meal. There is no way I could do 5-6 hours at DS in the blazing August heat.

Day 8: I wouldn't leave MK twice to eat. The resorts are in the MK area, but I can't emphasize enough how much walking, waiting for transportation and traveling are involved. You are looking at knocking about 90 minutes out of your day just to get to these restaurants (round-trip from MK). I would do TS in the park (Skipper Canteen is pretty neat) and then Artist Point. You may want to think about whether or not you'll want to change before dinner. Really keep in mind how hot it will be in August in Orlando.

Day 9: Sounds good.

Day 10: Just remember, getting to a water park late means long lines in blazing heat. Personally, I would ditch Homecomin' and get to the water park as soon as it opens. (I know you had a great experience at Napa Rose, but other than a few, signature restaurants, you aren't going to repeat this on a daily basis at WDW. WDW really isn't a foodie place)

Day 11: Sounds good.

Day 12: My greatest confusion is why you are buying park hoppers and only using them once. This seems like a colossal waste of money. You may want to think about dropping them or re-configuring your touring plan to utilize them better.

Day 13: Traveling to Citrico's and back plus eating - I would factor in at least 3 - 3 1/2 hours.

Are you planning on doing the nighttime shows in the parks? As you plan this out, I can't emphasize enough how much time it takes to get from point A to point B in WDW, how hot it will be mid-day in August and how long signature meals take.

 

[GillianP1301]

Now this is a dining plan I can get behind! We do deluxe dining and have very similar looking plans to this. You have some awesome choices on there and you've done a good job of making convenient location choices as well. For the resort dining that you're concerned about, those are best on non park days because you won't fee as rushed to get there and if you are running a bit late, you can always cab it or minnie vans it rather than the double bus ride.

The only change I will throw out for consideration is your Day 8 @ MK. Kona Cafe is good, but I'm not sure I would bother leaving the park for it, but instead I would do Skipper's Canteen, which in my opinion is seriously underrated and IMO, the best TS in MK.

 

[YYC-Rob]

Thanks Gillian. I think I will drop Kona.... also thanks for the tip on Skippers Canteen, it looks delicious!

@DisneyWishes14 - You bring up a good point regarding the park hoppers. I had originally purchased this option so that we had flexibility and entrance to the water parks at our leisure. By making my ADR plan I have really limited our ability to use this, which I do not want to do. I think my best approach than is to only keep the dinner ADR's and drop the rest. This way I can ask my kids where they would like to spend the mornings and I'll make a plan around that for lunch. The evenings we can go to whatever park is closest to our dinner ADR.

How necessary are lunch/breakfast ADR's? The crowd levels for the equivalent months this year on touringplans are fairly low (very low week 2).

If we only book a dinner ADR for DS day (5 hours of hot shopping heat sound much worse than water park for a while then dinner and 2 hours of shopping in the evening) which would you go for; Morimoto, BOATHOUSE, or Paddlefish?

I am also starting to rethink leaving MK at all on day 13. Being our last day I'm sure we will feel desperate to soak in as much as possible. I guess if they do MNSSHP early again next year that could throw a wrench in our plans as well. But with the park hoppers we can head over somewhere else no problem.

 

[Jack & Monica]

Wow -- it is hard to comment on a person's plan when I don't really know all the variables regarding your family. I will say that this overall plan seems very food-centered. I say this with an eye to the fact that you have two children on board. I also think you will regret getting the Delux plan. It is just way too much food. We go to Disney almost annually now and we are down to DH (me) DW and DD (12). There are some really good quick service places out there that you will not get to experience.
On park days, we usually eat breakfast in our room. We use the Garden Grocer to have ample breakfast food available. We then get to the parks at rope drop (usually at parks that have EMH). We then use our fast passes up and are ready for a quick service lunch by 11:00. We have found this to be a good plan -- we have found that we rarely have trouble with lines or getting a table at this time. If we are staying at the park, we usually eat dinner at 4:00 pm.
This is not set in stone though -- I do schedule table service breakfasts occasionally on our off-days, but these are usually much later in the morning (about 9:30).
Since you are staying so long, I recommend taking the munchkins to one of the minature golf places on property. Also, the surrey bikes at the boardwalk are fun to do also. I also recommend the pirate adventure on an off day. Your kids will love that.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thanks Gillian. I think I will drop Kona.... also thanks for the tip on Skippers Canteen, it looks delicious!

@DisneyWishes14 - You bring up a good point regarding the park hoppers. I had originally purchased this option so that we had flexibility and entrance to the water parks at our leisure. By making my ADR plan I have really limited our ability to use this, which I do not want to do. I think my best approach than is to only keep the dinner ADR's and drop the rest. This way I can ask my kids where they would like to spend the mornings and I'll make a plan around that for lunch. The evenings we can go to whatever park is closest to our dinner ADR.

How necessary are lunch/breakfast ADR's? The crowd levels for the equivalent months this year on touringplans are fairly low (very low week 2).

If we only book a dinner ADR for DS day (5 hours of hot shopping heat sound much worse than water park for a while then dinner and 2 hours of shopping in the evening) which would you go for; Morimoto, BOATHOUSE, or Paddlefish?

I am also starting to rethink leaving MK at all on day 13. Being our last day I'm sure we will feel desperate to soak in as much as possible. I guess if they do MNSSHP early again next year that could throw a wrench in our plans as well. But with the park hoppers we can head over somewhere else no problem.

In terms of making ADR's, I feel you have a bit of a catch-22 on your hands by buying the DxDP. At this point, we make, maximum, 1 ADR a day (at something we consider a "must-do") and wing the rest, but I'm typically not looking to book really hard to get ADR's and don't really care where we eat other than the must-do's, so, I can get on the MDE app 2 hours prior to dining and just pick something then OR if nothing interesting or in our general vicinity is available, we just do QS - no big deal. However, with the DxDP, you'll really be throwing money down the drain if you don't use your credits. Plus, in looking at your restaurant plans, I would recommend having ADR's for every single one of those restaurants except the DS ones (unless you walk up at prime dining times) if you really want to do them. I've gotten Boathouse reservations day of. You can also make many DS reservations on opentable so you aren't held to WDW cc no-show conditions. I use the Landry's Card for Y&Y priority seating, but purchasing that wouldn't make sense for you if you are on a dining plan. If you are ok, say, with being in DHS and getting on the MDE app to find that you can get into Mama Melrose, but not Sci-Fi, then, no you don't need all of the ADR's. If the restaurants on your list are absolute must-do's, you really should have ADR's If you want to try to wing this a little more, I would probably try to pare down the "must-do" ADR's a little bit and tweak the plan from there. Personally, I would do, max, two ADR's a day and keep the traveling down as much as possible.

 

[kreckl]

I'm just back to day one. We generally find a lighter day works for us, as the travel day has usually meant getting up early/flight/DME/hotel check in. You are planning on getting there for RD AND being there for closing, which will be a long day. If you have CP at 8am, you will likely be there until 10, as rarely are you seated exactly on time. So you are actually losing the benefits of going to RD, imo. By 10 the crowds will be pouring in. You may want to consider a later CP meal, say late morning. Then you could definitely ride at RD, then take a break and eat. With a 6pm BOG dinner, I doubt you would want BC lunch either way. If you are at the pool, excited on your first day, would you want to leave and go inside and eat at BC? When would you eat, maybe one? would you want another meal after eating from 830-10 and when you have another one at 6? You could always grab QS by the pool if some of you are hungry. So BOG at 6 then more rides and fireworks and leaving the park at closing- very long day. You are there for a very long trip, so I guess I would definitely tone down day one. You don't have any reason to cram it all in.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I'm just back to day one. We generally find a lighter day works for us, as the travel day has usually meant getting up early/flight/DME/hotel check in. You are planning on getting there for RD AND being there for closing, which will be a long day. If you have CP at 8am, you will likely be there until 10, as rarely are you seated exactly on time. So you are actually losing the benefits of going to RD, imo. By 10 the crowds will be pouring in. You may want to consider a later CP meal, say late morning. Then you could definitely ride at RD, then take a break and eat. With a 6pm BOG dinner, I doubt you would want BC lunch either way. If you are at the pool, excited on your first day, would you want to leave and go inside and eat at BC? When would you eat, maybe one? would you want another meal after eating from 830-10 and when you have another one at 6? You could always grab QS by the pool if some of you are hungry. So BOG at 6 then more rides and fireworks and leaving the park at closing- very long day. You are there for a very long trip, so I guess I would definitely tone down day one. You don't have any reason to cram it all in.

I agree with this and my other thought was, I would take advantage of your prime resort location (BC) and it's proximity to EP and DHS and your park hoppers. We stay at EP resorts 85% of the time (maybe more!) and, quite honestly, if we go to MK in the morning and go back to the resort for a break, I REALLY don't want to go all the way back to MK in the evening! I would suggest breaking your plans into half days and try to always pair your half days at MK and AK (longest travel) with half days at either EP or DHS. For example, on your first day, try for RD at MK (use RD for prime riding time), have a 12:30 lunch at CP, go back to the resort to swim and then consider doing Monsieur Paul (or one of your other EP restaurant "must-do's") that night (even put Yachtsman or FF in here) around 7 pm or so. That way you can swim and relax and simply walk to your evening activity. Traveling to AK and MK will eat up a lot of your day, so if you can keep that trip to once a day (either a morning half day or evening half day) you are eliminating quite a bit of waiting for and traveling on buses.

 

[YYC-Rob]

Thanks again guys. After these comments I think I really need to "rethink" a general day plan to leverage our resort location and flex passes. Also, thanks for the tip on the pirate adventure. I had been looking at that recently and it may give the kids some extra fun!

First, in regards to the comments about regretting the DxDP upgrade. I really want the upgrade to be able to do the signature dining. I cant do that with the other dining plans unless i only want to eat 2 other QS meals on top of the signature dining in a 48 hour period. That being said, if the free dining is not offered again than I likely wont go as high as the DxDP. As is, the upgrade will only cost us ~1800 to bump the free DDP to DxDP. Over 14 days thats only 130 dollars a day food budget(rounded up). With a family of 5 travelling (3 adults 2 kids) we would definitely go over that paying OOP, even just dining at two QS meals a day.

So I think the "new" approach I need to take, in order to use the advice you have all kindly given, will be...

ADR strictly for dinner at the 180 day stage. ADR for the park I would like us to end up at for the evening shows. Let my kids decide which park they would like to visit for Rope Drop the night before and then take advantage of MDE to grab an ADR for the park the kids choose. I will try to take the advice and pair half days at AK or MK with half days at Epcot or DHS to cut down on the times we would be doubling up on the longer commute. With 3 adults we really have the advantage some days of splitting up... If DG and the kids would rather miss an ADR and swim more or park more than my wife and I can enjoy the meal with just the 2 of us.

At risk of driving people to insanity I am going to write this out again... but in short hand, skipping arrival and departure day.

Day - Morning Park - Afternoon Park - ADR
1 - MK - Epcot - Yachtsman SH
2 - Epcot - AK - Tiffins
3 - DHS - MK - California Grill (minnie van there and then monorail to MK to ease up travel time)
4 - Rest day - Ohana dinner late to see fireworks
5 - AK - DHS - Hollywood Brown Derby
6 - Epcot - AK - Jiko (the more I look at this one the more I think it will just be my wife and I with maybe 1 of my children while grandma and the other stay at AK. My kids need periodic breaks from each other)
7 - Rest day - BOATHOUSE(or Morimoto?)
8 - MK - Epcot - Monsieur Paul
9 - Different plan for this day - We can do kids choice of park from RD until early afternoon. Hoop Dee Doo for dinner - DHS for a night show
10 - Rest day - Artist Point (minnie van transport)
11 - DHS - MK - Be Our Guest (with a lunch at a signature near the resort or in DHS/Epcot)
12 - AK - Kids Choice(Epcot or DHS) - Flying Fish
13 - MK for the day - Cinderella Castle

This accounts for 24 of our 42 credits leaving us with 18 to play with for lunches or breakfasts or poolside meals etc. We could even double up on a signature on day 12. Maybe pick our favorites so far and do one lunch and one dinner if we can get in.

You'll also notice I left Citricos and Narcoosee's off the list. I could swap our 'Ohana from the list for one of these but I keep hearing great things about Ohana.

DAMMIT - I just wrote all this out and now realize that giving my kids the choice on the morning park will thwart any attempts I have to make morning Fast Passes! So you all are going to see the revised version where I choose. It will likely be better as my children can seldom agree on small things let alone which parks to visit. New plan fits in the meals as well as rope for each park at least twice and and each park at least twice for the night shows (gotta see both fantasmic and star wars!)

Finally, thank you for the advice on crystal palace. I was hoping to eat quick and do rope drop! We will sneak in there for lunch or brunch one of the days.

 

[kreckl]

Its looking better! I think its great advice to plan the 2nd half of your day eating and visiting another park. If you have fp there, you will have an easy time of it.
Day 9 looks a little iffy to me. Rope drop to close, and going all the way over to HS after hoop- maybe that could be a night to watch the fireworks, which would only be a short boat ride away? On day 5 you are at HS, could you do a night show then? If you are looking for something to do after hoop, FW has some fun things...

 

[YYC-Rob]

Its looking better! I think its great advice to plan the 2nd half of your day eating and visiting another park. If you have fp there, you will have an easy time of it.
Day 9 looks a little iffy to me. Rope drop to close, and going all the way over to HS after hoop- maybe that could be a night to watch the fireworks, which would only be a short boat ride away? On day 5 you are at HS, could you do a night show then? If you are looking for something to do after hoop, FW has some fun things...

You know, I almost didnt write "DHS for a night show" on there. I almost wrote - night time SAB. I didnt because Hoop Dee Doo has a 4:00ish show. If we finish up around 6 we have plenty of time to get back to our resort and boat over to DHS. I really want my kids to see both the night shows at DHS but I'm not going to try and jam them both into one evening.

 

[kreckl]

Both shows are great- I was just thinking that since you were RD that morning you'd be burning the candle on both ends. Also fun random fact, if you time your mini golf at Fantasia, you can see the FW very well from there. We didn't know this and got quite a show- they are very close, and no crowds. We walked back to swan and boated back to BC easily afterwards.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You know, I almost didnt write "DHS for a night show" on there. I almost wrote - night time SAB. I didnt because Hoop Dee Doo has a 4:00ish show. If we finish up around 6 we have plenty of time to get back to our resort and boat over to DHS. I really want my kids to see both the night shows at DHS but I'm not going to try and jam them both into one evening.

If you want to go to DHS after Hoop, I would just take a bus (or Minnie Van) directly from Ft. W to DHS. No need to go all the way back to BC and then take a boat over. I definitely recommend fitting in a little extra time at Ft. W (even just 15 - 30 minutes) just to see the stables and gift shop if nothing else. Ft. W is pretty cool!

 

[Jack & Monica]

One of the things I think you are missing here is the balance of scarce resources. I am not talking about money. I am referring to mainly time. There are three things that are usually sought after at WDW -- the first I assume you already have locked in -- an on-property resort. The second, you are well in control of getting -- restaurant/show reservations. The third is what I think you are a little fuzzy on. It is getting to enjoy the attractions that you want without having to wait in line for two hours per attraction. You have a big advantage in that you are going to be able to go to the parks multiple times. Because you are going in the summer, you have to consider the crowds, and you have to be a little strategic in your planning as far as the attractions go. I apologize if you know these things already. I am going to talk about 1 person. I assume you are getting park hopper tickets (that allow you to go to multiple parks per a single day. With your schedule above, (if I counted correctly) you will need 10 park hopper tickets (I did not see you mention the water parks but I will bring that up later).
With each park hopper ticket, you will be able to go to multiple disney parks each of 10 separate days. With each park hopper ticket, you will get 3 fast passes (and only 3). These can be scheduled 60 days ahead of your planned vacation. For you -- I will use an imaginary date -- Saturday July 7, 2018 as the arrival day of your vacation. Since you are spending so much time at WDW, I would not schedule a park day on your arrival day. I would schedule, however, two great meals. One of the things I try to do on my vacation is to go to the California Grill for a late night dinner. This works perfectly if you do not get to the resort until late morning or early afternoon. I schedule an 8:45 seating so that we are in place when the MK fireworks go off. They pipe in the music from the display. You are at the top of the contemporary and have a thrilling view. (You can start scheduling your meal reservations 180 days from your arrival date). But I am getting off track.
My main concern for you is that you will spend a lot of time waiting in line for the really good attractions. These attractions are the scarcest commodity. Disney gives you a lot of tools in order to still have a great experience (even at the height of the summer season). Since it has been a long while since your last visit, I would recommend you choose parks that use EMH. These are available just about every day. There are morning extra magic hours and evening extra magic hours. RIght now in August 2017, perhaps the toughest/most sought after FP is the Avatar Flight of Passage (FOP) ride at AK. People are having a tough time getting a fast pass for this attraction. Folks that are staying on property can schedule their fast passes 60 days out. A lot of people will quite literally be up at midnight of the 61st day before their vacation just so they can go online to the my Disney AP and schedule this fast pass. One of the advantages that you have is the length of your stay. Most people will not be staying 13-14 days on property. You fast passes will open up for the entire vacation period. So if you were staying 13 days from 7 JUL 18 to 20 JUL 18. You would be able to book fast passes for the entire vacation time frame starting 60 days out from 7 JUL 18 (the last day of your vacation would be 73 days out!
Disney, for the most part, opens up the really good attractions during EMH, so you can ride at least two of these in that first hour before the park opens. You then can enjoy your three fast passes later in the morning with plenty of time to make lunch at a signature restaurant in the park you are at.
At that point, you could go back to the resort for some rest to get geared up for going back to the park in the evening after a good dinner.
Here is a day I have planned for an upcoming visit in January of 18. We arrive on a Saturday, and we are staying at the Wliderness Lodge. I have dinner reservations for California Grill that night. We will eat at either Roaring Fork or Geyser Point (both are quick service places at or by the Lodge).
Sunday is a sleep in day, we will go to Disney Springs to scratch the itch my wife will inevitably have to buy souveniers for family not with us. We will eat at D-luxe burger there and will go to the Hoop de doo Revue for the 4:00 dinner show. We will relax at the resort after that. Monday will be our first day at a park. We will go to AK that day. Here is my plan: It is an EMH day so we will be at the park at around 7:15-7:30. They will usually open earlier than the posted 8:00 time. Depending on how lucky I was in getting fast passes will dictate which rides I go on during EMH. If I am able to get a FOP fast pass, I will go to the Na'Vi river journey (also new and also in demand). After that I will go to the Kilimanjaro Safari. It is always good to go as early as possible on the safari for more active animals. My fast passes will then be the following: Kali River Rapids/ FOP / and festival of the lion king (highly recommend not missing this). We will also do the Primeval Whirl (low grade roller coaster) and Dinosaur. Absent from our lineup is Expedition Everest. That is a must do, but my wife is not a fan of big roller coasters.
If I do not get an FOP fast pass, then my day will be this -- EMH FOP and Na'vi river journey -- FP for the safari. kali river rapids, and the festival of the lion king.
We will eat lunch at the Yak and Yeti. We will go back to our resort for the afternoon. We will eat dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. and then debate if we are going back for the night activities at AK.
That is just an example of one day's planning. It does not include all of the things available at AK. You will have the luxury of getting a second crack at the key rides on a second day at AK. You will probably be able to get at least one fast pass for FOP.

We have a plan that we stick to, but we still have flexibility built in -- (do we go back to AK for the evening? Do we feel like staying at AK for more attractions after lunch. It's a bugs life/Finding Nemo the musical/ etc.)
Here are some resources that will make this easier:
First is hat attractions are open during EMH at each park:
(MK) https://touringplans.com/magic-kingdom/attractions/morning-extra-magic-hour
(AK) https://touringplans.com/animal-kingdom/attractions/morning-extra-magic-hour
(HS) https://touringplans.com/hollywood-studios/attractions/evening-extra-magic-hours
(EPCOT) https://touringplans.com/epcot/attractions/evening-extra-magic-hours

Have you considered going to one or more of the water parks? If you upgrade your Park Hopper to a Park Hopper Plus you will have an equal amount of free admissions to one of a number of other venues to include the two water parks and the two minature golf courses.

Since you are going for so long of a time, I would encourage you to consider the water parks.

I apologize for the length here. I do tend to get carried away.

 

[Jules76126]

First off let me say, I absolutely love BC. That is the resort that we always stay at. In August, you will certainly want to take advantage of SAB because it is an amazing pool. I think a lot of people have given great advice already.

I totally understand wanting to do the deluxe plan for the signature restaurants.I personally am a small eater (QS kids meal for lunch is plenty) so it would not be my choice, but I can see your reasoning. I will say that Yachtsman is delicious and a must do if on this plan. I also love CG. The views are great and the food is pretty good.

In terms of ADRs, I would suggest making them for all your must dos, even if some of them are not for dinner. As long as you cancel 24 hours ahead of time, you will not be charged. I was in WDW in November and could not get a Beaches and Cream reservation to save my life. So if you think you want to eat there, then definitely make one. That place is very small and fills quickly. The ice cream is only Edy's so nothing special so please do not go there just for that.

Make sure to factor in the money that you will need to pay oop for tips and any alcoholic beverages you may purchase (if that is something you want - love my glass of wine with dinner). Also when do you plan to use your 2 snack credits a day? I totally get not worrying about what your kids order to eat and not finishing it if the plan is already paid for. But you may end up paying more in the end when you add in the upgraded cost and tips. If you would order an app, meal, and dessert at each meal than the plan is the way to go. I am sure your trip will be great either way. I will be following along to see what you actually pick.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

One of the things I think you are missing here is the balance of scarce resources. I am not talking about money. I am referring to mainly time. There are three things that are usually sought after at WDW -- the first I assume you already have locked in -- an on-property resort. The second, you are well in control of getting -- restaurant/show reservations. The third is what I think you are a little fuzzy on. It is getting to enjoy the attractions that you want without having to wait in line for two hours per attraction. You have a big advantage in that you are going to be able to go to the parks multiple times. Because you are going in the summer, you have to consider the crowds, and you have to be a little strategic in your planning as far as the attractions go. I apologize if you know these things already. I am going to talk about 1 person. I assume you are getting park hopper tickets (that allow you to go to multiple parks per a single day. With your schedule above, (if I counted correctly) you will need 10 park hopper tickets (I did not see you mention the water parks but I will bring that up later).
With each park hopper ticket, you will be able to go to multiple disney parks each of 10 separate days. With each park hopper ticket, you will get 3 fast passes (and only 3). These can be scheduled 60 days ahead of your planned vacation. For you -- I will use an imaginary date -- Saturday July 7, 2018 as the arrival day of your vacation. Since you are spending so much time at WDW, I would not schedule a park day on your arrival day. I would schedule, however, two great meals. One of the things I try to do on my vacation is to go to the California Grill for a late night dinner. This works perfectly if you do not get to the resort until late morning or early afternoon. I schedule an 8:45 seating so that we are in place when the MK fireworks go off. They pipe in the music from the display. You are at the top of the contemporary and have a thrilling view. (You can start scheduling your meal reservations 180 days from your arrival date). But I am getting off track.
My main concern for you is that you will spend a lot of time waiting in line for the really good attractions. These attractions are the scarcest commodity. Disney gives you a lot of tools in order to still have a great experience (even at the height of the summer season). Since it has been a long while since your last visit, I would recommend you choose parks that use EMH. These are available just about every day. There are morning extra magic hours and evening extra magic hours. RIght now in August 2017, perhaps the toughest/most sought after FP is the Avatar Flight of Passage (FOP) ride at AK. People are having a tough time getting a fast pass for this attraction. Folks that are staying on property can schedule their fast passes 60 days out. A lot of people will quite literally be up at midnight of the 61st day before their vacation just so they can go online to the my Disney AP and schedule this fast pass. One of the advantages that you have is the length of your stay. Most people will not be staying 13-14 days on property. You fast passes will open up for the entire vacation period. So if you were staying 13 days from 7 JUL 18 to 20 JUL 18. You would be able to book fast passes for the entire vacation time frame starting 60 days out from 7 JUL 18 (the last day of your vacation would be 73 days out!
Disney, for the most part, opens up the really good attractions during EMH, so you can ride at least two of these in that first hour before the park opens. You then can enjoy your three fast passes later in the morning with plenty of time to make lunch at a signature restaurant in the park you are at.
At that point, you could go back to the resort for some rest to get geared up for going back to the park in the evening after a good dinner.
Here is a day I have planned for an upcoming visit in January of 18. We arrive on a Saturday, and we are staying at the Wliderness Lodge. I have dinner reservations for California Grill that night. We will eat at either Roaring Fork or Geyser Point (both are quick service places at or by the Lodge).
Sunday is a sleep in day, we will go to Disney Springs to scratch the itch my wife will inevitably have to buy souveniers for family not with us. We will eat at D-luxe burger there and will go to the Hoop de doo Revue for the 4:00 dinner show. We will relax at the resort after that. Monday will be our first day at a park. We will go to AK that day. Here is my plan: It is an EMH day so we will be at the park at around 7:15-7:30. They will usually open earlier than the posted 8:00 time. Depending on how lucky I was in getting fast passes will dictate which rides I go on during EMH. If I am able to get a FOP fast pass, I will go to the Na'Vi river journey (also new and also in demand). After that I will go to the Kilimanjaro Safari. It is always good to go as early as possible on the safari for more active animals. My fast passes will then be the following: Kali River Rapids/ FOP / and festival of the lion king (highly recommend not missing this). We will also do the Primeval Whirl (low grade roller coaster) and Dinosaur. Absent from our lineup is Expedition Everest. That is a must do, but my wife is not a fan of big roller coasters.
If I do not get an FOP fast pass, then my day will be this -- EMH FOP and Na'vi river journey -- FP for the safari. kali river rapids, and the festival of the lion king.
We will eat lunch at the Yak and Yeti. We will go back to our resort for the afternoon. We will eat dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. and then debate if we are going back for the night activities at AK.
That is just an example of one day's planning. It does not include all of the things available at AK. You will have the luxury of getting a second crack at the key rides on a second day at AK. You will probably be able to get at least one fast pass for FOP.

We have a plan that we stick to, but we still have flexibility built in -- (do we go back to AK for the evening? Do we feel like staying at AK for more attractions after lunch. It's a bugs life/Finding Nemo the musical/ etc.)
Here are some resources that will make this easier:
First is hat attractions are open during EMH at each park:
(MK) https://touringplans.com/magic-kingdom/attractions/morning-extra-magic-hour
(AK) https://touringplans.com/animal-kingdom/attractions/morning-extra-magic-hour
(HS) https://touringplans.com/hollywood-studios/attractions/evening-extra-magic-hours
(EPCOT) https://touringplans.com/epcot/attractions/evening-extra-magic-hours

Have you considered going to one or more of the water parks? If you upgrade your Park Hopper to a Park Hopper Plus you will have an equal amount of free admissions to one of a number of other venues to include the two water parks and the two minature golf courses.

Since you are going for so long of a time, I would encourage you to consider the water parks.

I apologize for the length here. I do tend to get carried away.

Just an FYI for your own trip and for OP's, you can't make FP+ at midnight, 61 days prior to your trip. You could in the past, but it has been changed. You can start making FP+ at 7:00 am EST, 60 days prior to check-in. Just want to let you know so you can get a little sleep the night before