Dining Schedule - Recommend any changes? Leave in 3 weeks!

[maui2k5]

My GF and I will be heading down to WDW Sept 22-Oct 1 and will be staying at the WDW Swan. My parents will also be flying in from AZ a couple of days after we arrive. I made most of our dining plans 2 months ago, but now I am doing a check to see if there is anything I should change. Any opinions are welcomed!

9/22
Flight lands @ Noon
Lunch - Garden Grill (late lunch)
Dinner - Counter Service @ Magic Kingdom

9/23
Breakfast - Boardwalk Bakery
No Lunch or Dinner plans - Will be @ Universal Studions/IOA

9/24
Breakfast - Tubbi's Buffeteria @ Dolphin
Lunch - Counter Service @ Blizzard Beach
Dinner - Cinderella's Royal Table

9/25
Breakfast - Garden Grove @ Swan
Lunch - Counter Service @ Animal Kingdom
Dinner - 50's Prime Time Cafe

9/26
Breakfast - Tubbi's Buffeteria @ Dolphin
Lunch - Sci-Fi
Dinner - Le Cellier

9/27
Breakfast - TBD - Steam Engine Tour @ 7:30 AM
Lunch - Trails End Buffet (No Breakfast plans)
Dinner - Boma

9/28
Breakfast - Spoodles
Lunch - Counter Service @ Typhoon Lagoon
Dinner - Brown Detby (No Lunch plans)

9/29
Breakfast - Tubbi's Buffeteria (Possiby Fresh @ Dolphin)
Lunch - No plans - Sea World Day
Dinner - L'Originale de Alfredo

9/30
Breakfast - Boardwalk Bakery
Lunch - Wine & Food Festival
Dinner - Liberty Tree Tavern (MNSSHP)

10/1
Breakfast - Kona Cafe
Lunch - Couner Service @ Epcot
Dinner - Counter Service @ MGM

Any comments or suggestions are welcomed! Hard to believe just about 3 weeks to go!

 

[Bob P]

Looks like a lot of fun!

I have one small thought: your first day plan looks a little ambitious. Your flight lands at noon...I don't know how you're getting to the hotel but you have to figure it will be at least 1:30 before you are ready to head out to Epcot (assuming your flight is on time). Figure 2:00 at the earliest by the time you are sitting in the Garden Grill.

Keep in mind that MK closes at 8 that night so essentially after you finish your GG lunch you are allowing about five hours for Epcot and the MK. This on top of a day of travel might be a little much...I don't know; your call of course!

Have fun!

Bob

 

[ssdeverell]

Nice choices. Looks like you are doing a lot of park hopping.

My suggestion for a CS at Sea World is Mango Joe's. You can see their menu on the SW website. It was very good.

 

[maui2k5]

Thanks for the replies - getting very excited about my first trip in 6 1/2 yrs... We will be using a limo service to get us to the hotel from the airport (land @ 11:50 AM) then will be headed to the Swan to leave our bags with the bell hop assuming our room will not be ready yet. Afterwards, I am planning on taking the boat to Epcot and walking through it for lunch @ 2:45 PM at the Garden Grill. We are not planning on hitting any rides when we are in Epcot, just lunch with Mickey (GF has never met Mickey) and then off to Magic Kingdom for the rest of the day (have to get a monorail ride in). So it will not be a touring day of Epcot, but a great way to start off the trip with lunch with Mickey and a monorail ride to the MK. If we decide that the Garden Grill for lunch is not going to work, we have another reservation for it later in the week as an alternate for lunch...

We are doing park hopping pretty much each day, but we have plans to take a break in the afternoon each day. On all of the trips I have been on we have for the most part done one park in the morning - take a break in the afternoon (pool or nap) then head to another park or Downtown Disney in the evenings... I have found breaks in the afternoon to be very helpful to keep us refreshed and not exhausted... Once we are back at the hotel, if we go back to the same park or a different one, it would still be a boat or bus ride away no matter which park we select... Hopping is part of the fun!

 

[Forever42]

9/30
Breakfast - Boardwalk Bakery
Lunch - Wine & Food Festival
Dinner - Liberty Tree Tavern (MNSSHP)

You might want to rethink this day, depending on how important the Food+Wine Fest is to you. There's enough to do to spend many days at Epcot, plus I think you'll be too full from the booths to do LTT unless you limit yourself to just 3-4 samples each.

 

[GoodFairies]

I have a suggestion. It appears you are planning on eating breakfast and going directly to a water park on two of the days. Eat light breakfasts. We did a buffet once then TL. Not good. Lots of food + hurtling down slides at high speeds do not mix.

 

[swilphil]

Since you are just grabbing quick breakfasts at Tubbi's, I would highly recommend doing a grocery stop or having groceries delivered and eating in your room. They can empty your minibar fridge for $20 and you can keep cold items there. We get donuts, pastries, muffins, cereal, yogurt and fruit. Tubbi's breakfast is a little overpriced for what you get. Do get a refillable mug and have their Starbuck's coffee.

 

[maui2k5]

Good points about breakfast before the water parks... I am not too concerned about that in the sense that I am fine with missing a buffet breakfast... I would rather something light that makes the day more enjoyable in the water park. We will not have a car while we are there so no way to get to a grocery store... I thought Tubbi's was relatively cheap? Is that not the case?

 

[dicdover]

Two buffets in one day! A lunch buffet (Trails End) and a supper buffet (Boma). Even if you skip brkfst, that is a lot of eating IMHO. I would keep Boma and do CS for lunch.

 

[maui2k5]

I did think about the two buffets on one day, but... Fort Wilderness is where we stayed for years and it would mainly be for nostalgia purposes. Plus the fact the buffet is only $11 and Boma is just about 8 hours after we eat at Trails End. If nothing else we can just eat lighter foods off the buffet in Fort Wilderness. If we are not hungry, we can just get counter food somewhere instead... The only meals I do not want to skip are mainly the dinners...

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I personally would not park hop this much as you will spend all of your time transporting between the parks and not much time to do much of anything at them(especially if you are talking about breaks).
However, my parents would love your schedule because they would go to WDW to eat, not see the rides.
Have fun no matter what you decide!!!!!!!!

 

[maui2k5]

Not quite sure what you mean about the park hopping... If we plan on taking a break mid-day and are back at the hotel, it does not really matter if we get on the MK Bus or Epcot boat? Either way we have to get transportation to somewhere... I do not really want to be in a park in the middle of the afternoon getting tired and sweaty - rather hang out at the pool, relax then go to a park or downtown disney in the evenings... We have been doing park hopping ever since Epcot opened and have always enjoyed our trips and the flexibility. I cannot imagine going to WDW and not hopping... That is why there are options for park hopping and no hopping for everyone when buying tickets. Everyone has their own way to do Disney and I do appreciate the input I have received from everyone.

 

[nbandfour]

Maybe the posts which gently question the amount of park hopping you are doing, with the inclusion of afternoons at the resort, are worried you won't have much time in the parks because they close so early in September. Most parks are closing at 8 or 9, not the 11 oclocks folks are used to who go in busier seasons.

NB

 

[dizfan]

We agree that going back to the hotel at mid-day is a great way to break up the day. Hoping in the pool and relaxing re-energizes everyone. We are planning to take the same approach for our upcoming (late-Sept, early-Oct) trip.

Dan & Debbie

 

[maui2k5]

True that the parks do close early, but since we are there for 10 days we should have plenty of time to see the parks with breaks in the afternoon. From our experience is it very valuable to be rested for the evening and the breaks in the afternoon are. If the trip was shorter, I may very well have a different approach to the parks. It is possible the plan changes when we are there, but even if it does - we will still be in Disney!

 

[Dory41]

maui2k5- Just out of curiosity, are you from Maui? It's such a coincidence that we too are arriving on 9/22, staying at the Swan, spending 10 days at WDW, and taking a limo from the airport. If you tell me that you are from Hawaii too, you just might be my long lost twin.

Aloha!

 

[maui2k5]

Dory41 - Unfortunately I am not from Maui (wish I were there now!), but have been there several times... Maui is a tie for me as the two best places to visit and I would go to either in a heart beat. Maui is next on my list for 2006. Not to get too off track, but what time of year do you actually think is the best to visit Maui? We have generally gone in the past in the July-Aug time frame and it was pretty nice weather (had a hurricane just miss us in 2000, but we still had a great time)...

What room type do you have at the Swan? We will be in a Resort View Room with a balcony I believe on floor 5 towards the end of the hallway facing Epcot. I called the Swan and made the request and they fulfilled it - I am very happy with the rate of $169 for the entire stay in the room type we have...

 

[Dory41]

Dory41 - Unfortunately I am not from Maui (wish I were there now!), but have been there several times... Maui is a tie for me as the two best places to visit and I would go to either in a heart beat. Maui is next on my list for 2006. Not to get too off track, but what time of year do you actually think is the best to visit Maui? We have generally gone in the past in the July-Aug time frame and it was pretty nice weather (had a hurricane just miss us in 2000, but we still had a great time)...

What room type do you have at the Swan? We will be in a Resort View Room with a balcony I believe on floor 5 towards the end of the hallway facing Epcot. I called the Swan and made the request and they fulfilled it - I am very happy with the rate of $169 for the entire stay in the room type we have...

PM'd you