Dining Reservations w/ an 8 month old...doable?

[camdensmom]

We just decided to add the dining plan to our trip. The hesitation we have is that DS will be 8 months old. He is a fairly easy baby and has a 'loose' schedule. However, since we are trapped in the Northeast during cold/flu season and therefore stay home more often than not I am starting to wonder if he is so good is because of our steady routines. I'm sure he'll love the sights and sounds of Disney, but we are a little concerned about how the change in routine will effect his schedule and therefore our dining reservations.

Would you recommend making reservations based on his current schedule adn hoping for the best or should we just skip the reservations and attempt to go with the flow?

TIA

 

[nucpharm29]

I would make dinner reservations when you want to eat--It's so hard to determine a schedule for your kids once at disney. We went when Dd was 16 months with all these grand ideas about napping and meals, etc. But then she wasn't on any kind of a schedule after a day of parks. We just got back from a trip in Jan. with Dd now 2 and DS, 2 months. We made meal ressies when and where we, as parents, wanted toeat. And more often than not, the kids were very agreeable when mealtime came. I tried to get ressies close to what is "normal" at home, but sometimes those spots just weren't open. So, I guess what i'm saying is go ahead and make ressies before you leave, and then at least you have a place to eat--you can always cancel later. But if you're there during a busy time, just going with the flow may mean no spots at the more popular eateries! Have a great trip!

 

[amarberry]

Definitely make some ADRs!!!! The last thing that you would want is to be struggling to find somewhere to eat and having to wait an hour when you are traveling with a baby. You might just want to avoid the restaurants that require a credit card and penalize you if you don't show up or cancel 72 hours prior (there are only a few).

We were on the dining plan when we took DD (who is pretty easy going) at 14 months and 18 months. The sit down meals were actually a really nice break. She loves being in a highchair though and we always bring "fun" treats (like the Gerber puffs when she was younger) to entertain her with. Disney staff at the restaurants are also wonderful with the little ones. They seemed to always be bring our DD little things to play with, bibs, etc.

An eight month old is a great age for traveling! They are still ususlly flexible enough to sleep anywhere, but they are also aware enough to really enjoy the new surroundings. Have a great trip!

 

[wdwlver]

We were there in October with our then 7 month old daughter. We had lots of ADR's and all went very smoothly. If she was up and hungry, she ate, if not, she slept while we did. I would definitley recommend trying it. Make your ressies, this way you'll be able to choose.

 

[las3888]

We went last fall with our 8.5 month old son. We were in for a big surprise because until then it was always just DH and I at Disney. We usually had no problems getting last minute ressies for the restaurants we wanted in the timeframes we wanted as a party of 2. A child in a high chair is considered party of 3, which means they have to put you at a table basically for 4. You are now in competition with tons of other people versus the tables for 2. Long story short we scrambled to get some reservations at decent times that worked with our son. I would definitely plan ahead next time. As another PP said, it is helpful to make the ressies and have them than to have nothing.

We enjoyed the buffets with our son. We could feed him little bits of things from the buffet. They were also very kid-friendly, as most places in WDW are.

Our son was just starting to get comfortable in a high chair at that age so it was a little rough going because that was all he had to sit in for every meal, but he did okay. We had good meals and meals that were a bit of a struggle (tired, cranky, whatnot), but it just comes with the territory. Oh - also, the character buffets were good too...DS enjoyed the characters.

Good luck!