Eating & staying at WDW

[thehails]

Hi just wondered if you could give me some advise please.

We are planning on going to WDW next year (Sep / Oct 08) after looking at this board we have realised we need to do some serious planning. Could you help with the following questions please?

How do you decide where you want to eat before you go. We have read the reviews on the resturants and have made short list that we would like to try, should we book somewhere for every single day of the visit or should we leave some days open and decide once we get there and have a look? Do we need to book breakfast's in advance or just turn up some where?

We wanted to try Vctoria & Albert but looking at reviews and comments here we are guessing its not the place to take children. Do the resorts offer a baby sitting service? If so have any of you left your children with the service?

We are planning to stay for 7 days at onsite resort (if we can save the pennies!) Would you recommend staying at the same resort all 7 days or splitting it between 2 different resorts.

Sorry for such a lengthy post - but hope somebody can help with the first few of many questions.

Also thanks to every body who was so welcoming when I first posted on the site last week, its nice to meet such a friendly / helpful bunch of people.

 

[natalielongstaff]

How do you decide where you want to eat before you go. We have read the reviews on the resturants and have made short list that we would like to try, should we book somewhere for every single day of the visit or should we leave some days open and decide once we get there and have a look? Do we need to book breakfast's in advance or just turn up some where?

i personally decide where and when to eat in advance...have a look on allearsnet.com for reccomendations. character meals are best booked in advance]
We wanted to try Vctoria & Albert but looking at reviews and comments here we are guessing its not the place to take children. Do the resorts offer a baby sitting service? If so have any of you left your children with the service?

there are baby sitting services but ive never used one

We are planning to stay for 7 days at onsite resort (if we can save the pennies!) Would you recommend staying at the same resort all 7 days or splitting it between 2 different resorts.

that depends on your budget but again i would prefer to stay in one place
hth

 

[eyoreaud]

Hi there and Welcome!

How many kids are going with you and what age/ages are they? This would be significant in choosing which resort/restaurants to choose. I stayed in All Stars Music the first time we went and my youngest was 10 and eldest 15, they also enjoyed Port Orleans Riverside as well when they were older. It all depends on your budget.
What time of year are you thinking of going?
Is this your first time in Orlando?
How many Adults will be going with you?

If we know these things it'll be easier to advise you.
Audrey

 

[thehails]

Hi thanks for quick response.

Sorry forgot to say ages of children. They will be 9 & 6. Planning to go in Sep / Oct 08 and there will be just the two adults.

 

[eyoreaud]

If you are looking to stay in WDW itself on a budget then you should look at www.dreamsunlimited.com Usually All Stars is good value for money and they also do a suite as well now. PopCentury is similar in price but i think (and you can correct me if i'm wrong) that Pop is bigger than AS and if it is your first time then maybe AS would be a better option, As you probably already know that there are lots of other resorts but they do get more expensive as you go up a category. As has been said before it depends on your budget.
Hope this helps a little
Audrey

PS If you start a seperate thread for seperate questions it may help
Good Luck with your planning! Please keep us posted

 

[Lizzybear]

How do you decide where you want to eat before you go. We have read the reviews on the resturants and have made short list that we would like to try, should we book somewhere for every single day of the visit or should we leave some days open and decide once we get there and have a look? Do we need to book breakfast's in advance or just turn up some where?
I checked the menus on here and Allears and went from there. We have the dining plan so had 14 TS credits to use but if you're paying out of pocket it's up to you how many table service meals you want to do. I know some don't like taking too much time out of their park touring to eat but I like it as it's a nice respite from the heat and crowds Nowadays with the dining plan being so popular (and particularly during the free dining period, not sure if this will affect you next year though) a lot of table services places are booked up quite far in advance and some are known to not take walk-ups at all. Personally I would book any restaurants you would be disappointed not to eat at as making ADRs costs nothing for most of them (I think CRT is an exception, some of the others require a credit card guarantee which means your card is only charged if you don't turn up or don't cancel within a certain time frame) and you can cancel/rearrange them at a later date if you want to.

We are planning to stay for 7 days at onsite resort (if we can save the pennies!) Would you recommend staying at the same resort all 7 days or splitting it between 2 different resorts.
You'll probably get a myriad of different responses here but from what I can gather Disney are very good about moving your luggage for you if you need this service so multiple resort stays shouldn't be a problem. Personally I like to stay in one place for a week, but would consider a week each in different places for a 2 week stay.