Dining Plan is making me crazy!

[TEK224]

Going in mid-Aug. Me (43n y/o) Dis Freak and 12 nephew. Have free dining plan. Will be there 4 nights/5days.

1st night arriving late (6 PM). Figured would just have dinner and relax. I wanted to try some restaurants I wouldn't ordinarily go to w/o dining plan. Nephew wants to do some character meals. Also trying to plan this around EMH and parades and allowing some rest time. I know it's going to be crowded and I'm trying not to be in kamikaze mode, but I'm going nuts!

Has anyone done Concourse steakhouse for lunch? Wanted to try it for dinner, but thinking lunch may be better time wise, plus will give us break from the heat. Was also thinking Capt. jack's at DtD for arrival night.

Possibility of Mickey's Backyard BBQ, but worried it might be too hot for that in mid-Aug. (I'm assuming it's outside - never been to that). But nephew may like FW area, too.

Thinking of CM or LTT for character meal (possibly on MK EMH night).
He's never been to AK, so that would be something new. There is EMH for that. Also trying to fit in Fantasmic.

Ugggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!! I can't take it!

Maybe what I'll do is explain to him we can't see everything. Give him a list and let him pick things from each column (restaurants, parks, specials) and go from there, with still leaving time for the pool.

Any suggestions/ideas??

Terri

 

[milmore104]

I too have planned our trip around our dining plans. I have PS's at certain parks on certain days. So what I've done is just fill in the empty spots w/ other things we want to do. We normally do eat at a lot of TS restaurants but it's usually the same ones.So this time we're trying something new. Seeing as we have the free dining plan we won't feel like were wasting our money if we don't like the place.Plus we also Park hop just about everyday. Try making a PS for a rest. you want during lunch and then head over to Fantasmic. Or do AK in the AM and head over to Mickey's BBQ for dinner. For a character meal CM is a MUST PS it for the morning your heading over to MK or EPCOT and then just jump on the monarail for a quick ride to the park. Hope this helps! Have a Magical Trip

 

[fac]

Maybe what I'll do is explain to him we can't see everything. Give him a list and let him pick things from each column (restaurants, parks, specials) and go from there, with still leaving time for the pool.

Any suggestions/ideas??

Terri

Which day of the week do you arrive? My impression is that Micky BBQ is tue/Thurs only, threfore you do not really have too many choices.

It seems that you have not even made PS yet, I am going at end of Aug and found out many places are booked solid while I want to make changes.
Given you have only 4 nights, my suggestion is to first identify a place you definitely want to go, make a PS and plan from there.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This may be a bit too much for you, but what I like to do is get a legal pad and turn it sideways. I then make vertical columns for each day at WDW and further divide those horizontally into morning, afternoon and evening. (Are you with me so far? Sorry, as a nurse it's a lot like making a medication chart, LOL).

We then decide where we want to go each day in the morning, afternoon and evening (some days it may be one place all day, etc...). Depending on where we are, we pick a restaurant nearby, call and make our PS's and then we're done. Pretty easy, really, and fun to plan. Not so good if you'd prefer to be spontaneous, but you can incorporate the wishes of your nephew and yourself if you take a good look at a plan, IMO. You can see all the restaurant choices on www.allearsnet.com. As another poster said, you should go ahead and make your PSs soon since it's so busy right now.

On our last trip a wrench was thrown into our plans when upon arrival we learned they'd changed some of the EMH hours for the week so I spent about an hour on the phone changing our PSs around - luckily it was January.

 

[Karel]

You don't say if you have park hopping passes. That will make a difference.

I pretty much targeted one park for each night and picked a restaurant in that area where we want to eat. For AK, I plan to go to EMH PM and will have CS for dinner. I planned a TS lunch for earlier in the day. That's the only EMH I think we will attempt.

Also, I know we will spend more time in EPCOT than anywhere else, so I have two TS planned there.

I also spent a lot of time looking at menus and actually have a few TS lunches planned because I liked their menus better ( in terms of making the whole family happy) I don't have any of the more exotic places planned so I might try to sneak Kona cafe in somewhere.

Of course, all my plans will fall like a house of cards because my BIL might pop over from the coast to visit us. Who knows when he is coming though, and he is not interested the planning that is involved in a WDW trip!!

We'll be the 21st and my TA has said she hasn't had any trouble getting what we want at the time we want.

If you dont' have park hopper, the whole process is that much harder. But I would just pick where you want to eat and then work your schedule around that.

 

[jjohnson]

I have a DS11 soon to be 12. His picks are:

Chef Mickey's (breakfast)
Concourse Steakhouse (dinner)
Donald's (AK) breakfast
Sci-FI (MGM)
Espn (BW)
RFC (AK) (not on dining plan)
H&V (MGM) dinner

We're also not planning on parades. Too hot. Hope this helps.

 

[TEK224]

Thanks for the replies.

I just booked this trip so no Ps's are made yet. I hope to do that this week.
Except for the one day base ticket I have with the package, my other passes are all park hoppers.

Pea-n-me, I understood you perfectly I actually made up something similar and will see my nephew on Tuesday so we can pick out what we want.

I know it's going to be hot and crowded, so I just don't want to go crazy trying to do everything (it's not my first time at WDW). On my last trip when I took my nephew we had a not-so great time (due to our travelling companions). This is his make-up trip and I want us to have a blast!

Terri

 

[Hannahsmom]

Linda - That is exactly what I do too!! Too Funny. I am glad to see I am not the only excessive disney compulsive planner on the planet. We even take the columns a step further, the morning before we leave the hotel we tear that days column off and carry it with us. Since it has PS #'s and times it helps keep us on track.

My calendar for our trip in Sept. is driving me crazy. I love the Free Dining Plan, but it is making my head spin.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Linda - That is exactly what I do too!! Too Funny. I am glad to see I am not the only excessive disney compulsive planner on the planet.

There are lots of us here!