Everyone else is doing it...

[Wildflowerz]

...so why can't we?

Okay, I'm attempting to figure out our ADRs and in between pulling my hair out, I think I've got a tentative plan. If anyone's bored and avoiding doing actual work like me, could you take a look? Any recommendations on anything are much appreciated.

This is our bare-bones plan. We're not doing a minute by minute commando attack of the park. We're going at it in a more leisurely pace, so once I figure out what main events we're going to do and where we need to eat, I'll be done. So.

Players:
-Me. 31yo mom of one. Allergic to seafood, but will try most anything else. Loves just about anything Disney.
-DH. 35yo dad of one. Likes seafood and will try most anything. Loves spicy stuff. Loves Disney.
-DD. 4yo typically picky eater. Loves Princesses, High School Musical, and Lilo and Stitch.
-DF (Friend/Babysitter). 30yo single woman. Dislikes Chinese. Picky eater, but SAYS she can find something anywhere to eat.

We've talked about all the restaurants on our list, so we're all reasonably fine with them all. Also, to pick my parks and the times I list as getting to the parks, I used TGM and last year's schedules. I don't think I'm revealing anything in saying that. Schedules are available here and TGM recommends several parks each day, so I'm pretty sure I'm good. Anyway, so the times and such are subject to change, but I'm cautiously optimistic that this year will be like last year. All times and days for shows are also using last year's info. All but MVMCP, of course, 'cause we know when that will be. Also, if a meal isn't mentioned, we'll do CS (which we aren't really planning and will just pick what's close, for the most part). Also, we're on the DDP Basic for 3 adults and 1 child for 7 hotel nights. Anyway, on to the plan:

Saturday, 12/6: Leave Atlanta area around 8am. Hopefully arrive at All Star Music and check into our Family suite around 4-5pm. I was originally going to plan a nice dinner for this night since we'd be just getting there, but now I'm thinking we'll just pick some random CS somewhere. If we get there early enough, we'll probably check out DtD or hang by the pool. Then, in bed early-ish.
Sunday, 12/7: Ohana at the Poly for the Lilo and Stitch Breakfast at 7:30 or 8am. Head over to MK for the day, hopefully around 9am or so. Probably have an early CS lunch and head out of the park around 2 or 3, depending on how DD's doing. Dinner that night at Le Cellier at Epcot around 5pmish.
Monday, 12/8: Akershus in Norway at Epcot at 8:30am. Continue on in Epcot for the day afterwards. Possibly Tangerine Cafe CS for lunch (I mention, because one of our filler or reserve restaurants is Marrakesh, but if we can't do Marrakesh, we'll do Tangerine.) Dinner at Rose & Crown around 7pm, followed by Illuminations at 9:30pm. I'm worried about this day. I think it's WAY too long for my DD to be at a park. We'd probably try a nap in the middle of the day, maybe leaving around 3pm and hopefully getting back earlier, but at least by 6ish.
Tuesday, 12/9: This is our non-park day. Sleep in after our later night the night before. Hang out at the pool. Check out DtD some more. Maybe tour some resorts...whatever we feel like. Lunch at Beaches & Cream where DF and I get something reasonable and DH and DD pretend like they'll eat the entire Kitchen Sink. /lol This night, I've got a lot of contingencies. IF we do MVMCP, we'll do it this night. If not, we've got 2 options. Dinner at Chefs or Bistro in France in Epcot for DH and I while DF and DD do their own thing and get to bed early-ish and then PI for DH and I. OR DF and I go to House of Blues. Waiting on the schedule for that. Not sure if we'd do that after dinner or what. Possibly dinner for 4 in France and then HoB for drinks and music.
Wednesday, 12/10: DHS for this day. Arrive around opening time and spend the day there. No real food plans unless we do the Fantasmic Pkg and do Mama Melrose. I'm gonna check out the youtube video posted on another thread to get a better idea if we'd be interested. If we're not, this night's also an option for dinner in France or HoB.
Thursday, 12/11: Animal Kingdom. Jiko either for lunch or dinner. Also another option for France or HoB for dinner. Honestly, we really need the schedule to see who will be there for this. It's up through 11/11 now, so hopefully it will be up through 12/11 or so by the end of the month.
Friday, 12/12: This is our non-specified park day. DD's choice. Probably MK, but she may surprise us. No reservations for Breakfast or Lunch. Dinner for Spirit of Aloha at the Polynesian, 5:15.
Saturday, 12/13: Quick CS, probably just at All Star Music and then head home.

Sorry, I know that was really long. and if you made it through!

 

[ekidwell0001]

As you said, I am another addicted DIS'er who is totally not working when i should be!! anywho, i think everything looks great seeing that you said DD loves Stitch and Princesses, but the only thing i would reccomend is when in DHS, try the Sci-Fi Resturant!! It is so much fun and the food (at least to me) is very yummy! Hope you have an awesome trip!!

 

[Wildflowerz]

As you said, I am another addicted DIS'er who is totally not working when i should be!! anywho, i think everything looks great seeing that you said DD loves Stitch and Princesses, but the only thing i would reccomend is when in DHS, try the Sci-Fi Resturant!! It is so much fun and the food (at least to me) is very yummy! Hope you have an awesome trip!!

Thanks! I forget...is that an ADP place? DH and I did that one when we went the first time. That'd be one we might see if we can walk into, but I doubt we'd do an ADP for it.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Saturday, 12/6: Like you plan this day. You never know when a flight will be delayed, etc. Keeping it free is good.

Sunday, 12/7: Good except I'd make dinner later. If you leave at 3, then head to a park for 5, you'll have a very rushed 'break.' I'd make dinner at least at 6pm. Conversely, it's usually evening EMH at MK on SUndays. That park will be crowded during the day. If you aren't going to stay for EMH, then pick a different park for day hours. If you are going to MK that day, then take advantage of emh there.

Monday, 12/8: I would not plan two ADR's for one day, esp. two days ina row. Too many. Too much time getting to ADR's on time. We like one ADR per day, but I also see days with no ADR's....that could work too. I like one TS per day most days though.


Tuesday, 12/9: good

Wednesday, 12/10: good
Thursday, 12/11: Jiko - a good pair with AK. The only trick is getting g back to your resort using Disney Transport. Best to go form a park and to a park - unless you have a car. I don't think they are open for lunch, but you could do early dinner.
Friday, 12/12: good

Saturday, 12/13: good - I laso like keeping last day open.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Thanks! I forget...is that an ADP place? DH and I did that one when we went the first time. That'd be one we might see if we can walk into, but I doubt we'd do an ADP for it.

I think your plans look good. Not sure about walking up to Sci Fi though. We tried it a couple of years ago and had the option of waiting 2 and a half hours! Last year we had an ADR and others were being turned away.

But we were there in the summer and the week before Easter so crowd levels were probably higher than when you are going. To be safe, if you think you really want to eat there, I would call for the ADR

 

[Wildflowerz]

I think your plans look good. Not sure about walking up to Sci Fi though. We tried it a couple of years ago and had the option of waiting 2 and a half hours! Last year we had an ADR and others were being turned away.

But we were there in the summer and the week before Easter so crowd levels were probably higher than when you are going. To be safe, if you think you really want to eat there, I would call for the ADR

Yeah, Sci Fi's not really high on our list, to be honest. That's why I said a walk up possibly. We've been there before and there are SO many restaurants at WDW that for the most part, we wanna go places we haven't been before. And nothing at DHS really interests me, food-wise. We'd probably end up doing a CS if we don't do Mama Melrose for Fantasmic. OR, we might just do Mama Melrose.

 

[Wildflowerz]

Saturday, 12/6: Like you plan this day. You never know when a flight will be delayed, etc. Keeping it free is good.

Sunday, 12/7: Good except I'd make dinner later. If you leave at 3, then head to a park for 5, you'll have a very rushed 'break.' I'd make dinner at least at 6pm. Conversely, it's usually evening EMH at MK on SUndays. That park will be crowded during the day. If you aren't going to stay for EMH, then pick a different park for day hours. If you are going to MK that day, then take advantage of emh there.

Monday, 12/8: I would not plan two ADR's for one day, esp. two days ina row. Too many. Too much time getting to ADR's on time. We like one ADR per day, but I also see days with no ADR's....that could work too. I like one TS per day most days though.


Tuesday, 12/9: good

Wednesday, 12/10: good
Thursday, 12/11: Jiko - a good pair with AK. The only trick is getting g back to your resort using Disney Transport. Best to go form a park and to a park - unless you have a car. I don't think they are open for lunch, but you could do early dinner.
Friday, 12/12: good

Saturday, 12/13: good - I laso like keeping last day open.

For Sunday, the info I found is that if MVMCP was on a Sunday, then MK and DS usually swap their EMH, so for now I'm assuming that will be a DS EMH. But I'd need a real schedule and not just my guesses to determine that. I definitely am trying my best to avoid parks with EMHs though. Good point on the dinner, though. My reasoning on the early dinner was that we'd be going out early for a breakfast, so I wanted to do dinner as early as possible to get my DD back to the room and to bed. But, you're right and that would cut the nap short.

For Monday, good point. I'm thinking if I changed that, I'd probably move Le Cellier on Sunday to maybe Tues, Wed, or Thursday. That way, if we're at MK, we could stay there and see Wishes at 6 and do some CS somewhere.

Thursday - OOoh, no lunch at Jiko? I didn't think to check that. I originally wanted it for a dinner, but I'm trying to be a little looser with dinner since my DF wants to go to the House of Blues one night. I'll probably move Jiko back to dinner time then.

Is it bad, that I'm hoping at this point that I'll be less than impressed with the YouTube Fantasmic video I find and cross that off completely? It's so hard to get everything in! Honestly, I'm thinking of ditching most of those special things (MVMCP and Fantasmic) for this time. This is my DD's first time there and she's only 4, so I'm sure she'll be impressed with it all no matter what. I think I'm getting a little caught up in trying to get it all in. I'm sure we'll be going back in a couple of years anyway. Calm down, Jenn...calm down.

 

[arbonnette]

Monday, 12/8: Akershus in Norway at Epcot at 8:30am. Continue on in Epcot for the day afterwards. Possibly Tangerine Cafe CS for lunch (I mention, because one of our filler or reserve restaurants is Marrakesh, but if we can't do Marrakesh, we'll do Tangerine.) Dinner at Rose & Crown around 7pm, followed by Illuminations at 9:30pm. I'm worried about this day. I think it's WAY too long for my DD to be at a park. We'd probably try a nap in the middle of the day, maybe leaving around 3pm and hopefully getting back earlier, but at least by 6ish.

All of your plans look great! My only suggestion would be to think about not doing an ADR for Dinner on Monday. That seems like a super long day. We tried Marrakesh once, and though the bellydancing was fun, the food is MUCH tastier at Tangierine Cafe. Maybe you could have a late lunch there and then head back to your resort. You could make up the dining credit by booking a 2 TS credit on another day. I have a 5 yo and we have never done Illuminations due to timing issues. If you wanted to have a late night, I think the Christmas Party would definitely be worth it for your DD, with the special parade and the princesses. HTH!

 

[Cobbo]

Saturday, 12/6: Leave Atlanta area around 8am. Hopefully arrive at All Star Music and check into our Family suite around 4-5pm. I was originally going to plan a nice dinner for this night since we'd be just getting there, but now I'm thinking we'll just pick some random CS somewhere. If we get there early enough, we'll probably check out DtD or hang by the pool. Then, in bed early-ish.

Sounds reasonable to me.

Sunday, 12/7: Ohana at the Poly for the Lilo and Stitch Breakfast at 7:30 or 8am. Head over to MK for the day, hopefully around 9am or so. Probably have an early CS lunch and head out of the park around 2 or 3, depending on how DD's doing. Dinner that night at Le Cellier at Epcot around 5pmish.

7:30 sounds a bit early for me for vacation, since that means you're probably going to need to be up by 6am to get everyone done, dressed & catch transpo/drive over to TTC/Poly for b-fast at Ohanas, but hey, if you're early risers, sounds about right up until after you leave MK @ 2-3....if you're out of there at 2, it'd probably work to give DD nap/recovery time, but otherwise you might be pushing it to comfortably go back to your resort & then off to Le Cellier w/o meltdown. Might be a good idea to stretch the break time & do some of the EPCOT evening stuff after kicking back off with Le Cellier...but then again, only you know your DD...

Monday, 12/8: Akershus in Norway at Epcot at 8:30am. Continue on in Epcot for the day afterwards. Possibly Tangerine Cafe CS for lunch (I mention, because one of our filler or reserve restaurants is Marrakesh, but if we can't do Marrakesh, we'll do Tangerine.) Dinner at Rose & Crown around 7pm, followed by Illuminations at 9:30pm. I'm worried about this day. I think it's WAY too long for my DD to be at a park. We'd probably try a nap in the middle of the day, maybe leaving around 3pm and hopefully getting back earlier, but at least by 6ish.

Wow. Long day with a young DD...I vote for the break in the middle, or do some of the evening stuff the night before. Don't know that I'd bother to do Illuminations with her at 9:30pm, it's cool, but Fantasmic is far and away the best night-show of all the parks, IMHO - and much more keyed to the shows/movies that the kids will be familiar with...nothing like projecting familiar scenes on walls of water while the characters are live & there...

Tuesday, 12/9: This is our non-park day. Sleep in after our later night the night before. Hang out at the pool. Check out DtD some more. Maybe tour some resorts...whatever we feel like. Lunch at Beaches & Cream where DF and I get something reasonable and DH and DD pretend like they'll eat the entire Kitchen Sink. /lol This night, I've got a lot of contingencies. IF we do MVMCP, we'll do it this night. If not, we've got 2 options. Dinner at Chefs or Bistro in France in Epcot for DH and I while DF and DD do their own thing and get to bed early-ish and then PI for DH and I. OR DF and I go to House of Blues. Waiting on the schedule for that. Not sure if we'd do that after dinner or what. Possibly dinner for 4 in France and then HoB for drinks and music.

Sounds good...everyone needs some scheduled down time - you never know what you, DH, DF or DD may want to end up exploring....take some time to go play mini-golf at Winter-Summerland. It's always nice to enjoy & DD will get a kick out of it & the Xmas music, regardless of if you play the winter or summer course...

Wednesday, 12/10: DHS for this day. Arrive around opening time and spend the day there. No real food plans unless we do the Fantasmic Pkg and do Mama Melrose. I'm gonna check out the youtube video posted on another thread to get a better idea if we'd be interested. If we're not, this night's also an option for dinner in France or HoB.

Okay, need some work here. DD will love this park, especially if she's in to the Little Mermaid and/or Playhouse Disney (Little Einsteins, JoJo, Tigger/Pooh), etc. Consider doing either b-fast/lunch w/the Little Einsteins/JoJo character at H&V. If you/she are not into either, defintely do Primetime Cafe for a fun meal (and order a shake - they're great - my fav is the chocolate-peanutbutter-banana, it sounds gross but is awesome ). Also, or if you don't do the H&V for b-fast/lunch, consider doing a Fantasmic package for dinner. DD will love the show (and you will too - as I said before, I think it's the best one they've got), but the downside without the dinner package is seriously a 2 hour time-killer of sitting out in the sun in the amphitheater to have decent seating. Do the dinner package, even if you at 3pm in order to have a break from the sun, and designated seating area for the show, that way you don't have to try and entertain DD in a confined space for an hour or two pre-show....

Thursday, 12/11: Animal Kingdom. Jiko either for lunch or dinner. Also another option for France or HoB for dinner. Honestly, we really need the schedule to see who will be there for this. It's up through 11/11 now, so hopefully it will be up through 12/11 or so by the end of the month.

Not much planned, but it works for AK. For us, AK always seems like a 1/2 day park, esp b/c our DDs are too young for wild-rides, etc, but they love the animals, and we enjoy it. Never found anything special about the food there, but we have yet to try Yak & Yeti...we tend to stick with CS here b/c flame tree or pizzafari always work for us. Take the "early" day to go back & play in the pool at the resort, explore other stuff/revisit favorites.

Friday, 12/12: This is our non-specified park day. DD's choice. Probably MK, but she may surprise us. No reservations for Breakfast or Lunch. Dinner for Spirit of Aloha at the Polynesian, 5:15.

Another good day. Lots of CS options everywhere, and a nice dinner already set. Sweet.

Saturday, 12/13: Quick CS, probably just at All Star Music and then head home.

Eh, it's always sad when they end, isn't it? Don't forget to hit DTD for those last minute gifts / treats to tide you over for the trip home. Gotta love Goofy's.


And on that note, I must force myself back to work....

 

[Wildflowerz]

Thanks Cobbo for the advice!

That first day's gonna be our earliest day. Besides the Akershus day, we probably won't do Bfast at all other than a bagel in the room or something. I did it that way so our first day would start off with some cool characters that DD loves (her room's decorated in L&S and Finding Nemo) and then hit MK near to opening time. DD normally is an early riser, as am I. And I'm sure that the first day of vacation she won't have adjusted to sleeping in a little yet. (At least, I hope she adjusts during the rest of the week!)

For the evening, I'm definitely seeing the flaw in that planning. I'm now thinking that I'll at least bump Le Cellier back an hour or two OR put it on another day and just come back to MK when we're ready and see Wishes and do CS. Sounds less stressful that way, anyway.

Monday, we will most likely get a break there in the middle. I'm betting we'll miss Illuminations, to be honest. When DH and I went the first time quite a few years ago by ourselves, we ended up not making it to any of those evening shows! We were so tired!

Tuesday: Ooh, good point on the mini-golf. DD's never done that and the MYW stuff comes with some vouchers for it, I think.

Wednesday: We decided to do princesses and Lilo and Stitch for characters and skip the rest. We contemplated H&V but none of us are keen on buffets, so that's why we decided against that one. DD likes Jojo and LE, but she LOOOVES the princesses and L&S! We'll definitely the PHD thing at DHS though. And I don't know about the Primetime Place. None of us particularly enjoy "home cooking" and I'm pretty introverted and don't enjoy those type of places where the servers sole purpose seems to be to irritate you. It's just not for me. If we decide on Fantasmic, though, we'll definitely do the package and most likely put Mama Melrose with it. Darn work blocks YouTube or I'd be checking out a Fantasmic video right now.

Thursday: When DH and I came before, we actually skipped AK. We just didn't think it'd be all that interesting. And we were also doing Universal stuff too last time. This time, we'll do AK though. I'm actually thinking we might not spend the whole day there, but I don't know. That's why I'm unsure about what time to do a Jiko dinner. I mean, if it's a half day kinda park, then I'd want the ressie to be later so we'd have more time between when we leave and when we have to come back. But if I think we'll be there most of the day, then we'd want it earlier. /shrug I'll have to think about that one some more!

Saturday: Another good point. I wonder what time DtD stuff opens? We're driving back, but since we're doing it on a Saturday and not Sunday, an hour or two in DtD would still fit in the schedule okay. Hmm...

 

[Matt'sMom]

...Also, we're on the DDP Basic for 3 adults and 1 child for 7 hotel nights.

Jiko is 2 TS credits (signature dining) & the Spirit of Aloha at the Poly is another 2 TS credits (dinner show). So that is 4 out of 7 TS credits per person down. Only leaves you 3 more single TS meals... and you have mentioned plans for quite a few more than that ('Ohana, Le Cellier, Akershus, Rose & Crown, and possibly Marrakesh, Mama Melrose, Chef's or Bistro).

Just wanted to make certain that the OP is aware that you will need to pay OOP for the additional TS meals, if you exceed your 7 TS credits per person. Or you could just trim it back in regards to TS, and plan on eating more CS (using your DDP CS credits).

Have a wonderful WDW vacation, with your little princess.

 

[SereneOne]

We will be there around the same time as your family and while I am contemplating staying at ASMo, my parents stayed at ASMu and we may stay there.

This is my tenative plan, being that I can not make ressies for almost two weeks...(onsite guests get to make ressies 180 plus 10 days is my understanding)

We will drive down on Fri(5) early in the morning from Greenville, SC and go to DTD. We shall eat lunch at Earl of Sandwich and make ressies (seperate from Disney) at RainForest Cafe for around 7pm.

Dec 6th we plan on eating our free breakfast (we shall be staying offsite the first night) and then touring Disney Hollywood Studios for the day. We are having a late lunch at HollyWood and Vine, a character lunch with JoJo/Goliath/June and the other Einstein kid, so we can make the 630 showing of Fantasmic!

Dec 7th, we will have breakfast at our resort, tour MK and eat lunch at Pinocchios Village Haus and dinner at Crystal Palace around 6 or 7, it is a character meal with Tigger/Pooh/Eeyore and Piglet and see the electric parade.

Dec 8th, bf at resort, tour Epcot, eat at Electric Umbrella (great fixins bar and free refills) and dinner in France around 6pm. Watch Illuminations at Catina De SanAngel while drinking margaritas.

Dec 9th, bf at resort, and then my preschool daughter and I are going to the GF for the Princess tea with Rosebud and Aurora...I forgot the official name, and Dh is grabbing lunch someplace while we are at it. Dinner will be at 7pm at Liberty Tree Tavern, my personal favorite. They have a thanksgiving-like family style buffet and Minnie/Goofy/Pluto/Chip and Dale! woohoo!

Dec 10th, Animal Kingdom! bfast at resort, lunch at FlameTree BBQ and dinner at my DH's favorite, Whispering Canyon Cafe around 7pm.

Dec 11th, Magic Kingdom, bfast at resort, lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table, Our four year olds fave along with Akershus, she will go to BBB before lunch, and we will have dinner around 7pm at Cosmic Ray's Cafe.

Dec 12th, Epcot, bfast at resort, lunch at Cantina De San Angel and dinner at Akershus! Princesses or bust! lol

Dec 13th, bfast at resort, I do not know what park this day, whichever one we missed doing things at or whatever, dinner will be around 7pm at Chef Mickeys...

Dec 14th, bfast at Supercalifragilistic breakfast with Alice, Hatter, Mary Poppins and whoever else and then spend a few hours at one of the parks...maybe a counter lunch and drive 7 to 8 hours home!

We do not like to park hop...exhausting esp with a special needs preschooler with a feeding tube and nebulizer. So we pick restaurants at the park we will be at, or at a resort, so no park hopping. Saves 45 dollars per ticket.

We did the DDP last year, where not planning on doing it this year, however, this plan would easily switch to the DDP with bfast being a cinnamon bun and free refills cup hot chocolate (HEY! it is vacation, lol...could easily be switched to oatmeal and coffee/tea or fruit and coffee/tea). One Counter service and one Table service a day. We would then pay for CRT out of pocket and use our credits towards two restaurants instead of using two for CRT.

Boma is excellent in place of Jiko if you do not wish to waste the credits, but I hear jiko is phenomenal...we will go next trip!

We have a four going on five year old, characters are important to her, so we book alot of character meals...we get a kick out of them too.

I hope you have a wonderful time.

 

[Wildflowerz]

Jiko is 2 TS credits (signature dining) & the Spirit of Aloha at the Poly is another 2 TS credits (dinner show). So that is 4 out of 7 TS credits per person down. Only leaves you 3 more single TS meals... and you have mentioned plans for quite a few more than that ('Ohana, Le Cellier, Akershus, Rose & Crown, and possibly Marrakesh, Mama Melrose, Chef's or Bistro).

Just wanted to make certain that the OP is aware that you will need to pay OOP for the additional TS meals, if you exceed your 7 TS credits per person. Or you could just trim it back in regards to TS, and plan on eating more CS (using your DDP CS credits).

Have a wonderful WDW vacation, with your little princess.

Ooh, thanks for the info on Jiko, I didn't know they were signature. I did know Spirit was. There are too many TS places that we wanna eat, so I know we'll be paying OOP. However, I'll have to check into Jiko. Hmm..