First Timer

[teach73]

A clueless first timer, I may add! I've been to WDW several times, but always stayed offsite. I am booking this week a 5 day/4 night trip for my 6 & 3 yo and hubby and myself.
I believe that my quoted plan is for 4 table service credits, 4 counter service credits and 4 snacks.
My question is this- do I have to do a table service or can I do counter service in its place ( I assume it is cheaper)?

But my bigger question is- do I have to make a reservation for each night or will I be able to wing it AT ALL, assuming that dining with a character is not important? Doing a character thing once would be great, but that would suffice. My 3 yo is not very schedule driven and I fear I won't be able to keep the reservations! If they are indeed a necessity each day, do you route the order in which you hit each park?



What the heck are these mugs I keep reading about?

The package price through Disney is about $400 more than if I price it individually at Expedia with a coupon I have. Is dining worth the $400?

Finally, if I arrive on a Sunday and leave on a Thursday, what day does my dining begin?!?

Sorry I'm so green at this. Honestly, I am not enjoying this planning business at all! Vacation shouldn't be work, should it!?!? I may have a stress attack in trying to throw together a last minute trip! LOL

Thanks in advance for your help and expertise!

 

[smiths02]

Some of this would depend on if you are going during free dining...

Disney charges $39.99/night/adult for dining and $10.99/night/child for dining...so that is just over $400...so the difference is about even...so IF you really don't want to eat at 4 TS restaurants, then you may do better just taking the $400 discount and pay for dining yourself as you go

With a 6 and 3 year old I would not wing it as you may then have two hungry, tired little children and be scrambling to find a restaurant or you may just end up eating fast food or offsite and then it wasn't worth losing the $400 discount b/c you have wasted a TS credit!

Sometimes during free dining b/c restaurants fill up, they have allowed people to exchange TS for CS, sometimes during other periods they have allowed it, but this is not guaranteed...and again, it would be a poor use of your credits which by your account, you are paying $400 for

Dining begins the moment you check in and ends on midnight of the day you check out..

As far as reservations, most figure out which park based on park hours/touring plans/crowd levels and make dining reservations accordingly...many people also have parkhopper tickets...there are also restaurants at many resorts..

If you were not planning on parkhopper tickets (another $200 expense for your family), then you really really don't want to go without ADRs b/c your dining options would be limited to that one park and resort restaurants...making it even harder to get in


If this is really last minute and you don't want to make 4 ADRs, I would just take the other discount, make my 1 character ADR and eat quick service the rest of the time.


BUT there is also a quick service dining plan which allows 2 CS per night, 2 snacks per night and a refillable mug at the resort...it is slightly cheaper, so if this is not during free dining time, you can consider that

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I know it can seem a bit stressful to be planning when and where you are going to eat, but I promise you that it will make your vacation more enjoyable when you get there!

I agree with the PP that it matters when you are planning to go - during Free Dining or not. It sounds like it is not during Free Dining because of the price you are paying.

Here's what I'd suggest: Pick what park you want to go to each day. My advice with little ones is usually to do MK last, otherwise they expect all the parks to be like MK and are disappointed. And you may want to plan around the Extra Magic Hours. Once you've picked the park, go read the menus and pick the restaurant in each park where you think you'd like to eat. Have a second and third choice in mind, too, just in case. Then call and make your ADRs accordingly.

Once you know what that ADR time and location is, it becomes a "target" to plan your day at the park around. Let's say you know you're having dinner at Crystal Palace at 6:00. So when you get to the park in the morning, you could head straight back to Fantasyland (which gets busy quick and which will appeal to your little kids) and do those rides. Then over to toontown and tomorrowland. Maybe have lunch at Cosmic Ray's. In the afternoon, head back down Main Street, then take the train over to Splash Mountain. Do Splash and Big Thunder, Tom Sawyer's Island, then Pirates, Tiki, Jungle Cruise, Aladdin... keeping an eye on the time as you go, but you're getting closer and closer to Crystal Palace. You'd probably want to check in at CP about 5:30 or 5:45. But if you get stuck in a line or a ride, don't worry about it - you can show up a bit late and they'll do their best to fit you in. The ADR's are for the "next available table" - they don't have a little "reserved" sign on a table that means you lose your spot if you are late.

Teresa

 

[Faldred]

What the heck are these mugs I keep reading about?

It's a 14-ounce insulated travel-style plastic mug that can be used at your resort food court (or quick service location) for free refills of soda, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate for the duration of your stay. They're included on all dining packages except the basic DDP, otherwise, they're about $14 each if you want to buy one.

 

[zarvgirl]

I would add that with kids I really found booking TS for lunch worked great.
11:30-especially those restaurants that hadn't served breakfast and were just opening for the day, they were quieter, and a cool break after touring in the morning.

Then you have the flexibility of sleeping in and then getting to park for lunch and tour, or hitting rope drop, have lunch, then head back to resort for downtime in the afternoon.

We seemed to find it harder to get to the dinner ADR's on schedule.

Really once you have the initial planning done it makes for a great trip, no thinking where/what are we doing next. It's already figured out.

I looked at menus to find things all the family would enjoy, then booked restaurants based on first choices and when they were available then decided what parks. It worked for us.

Have a great trip.

 

[teach73]

Thank you!
Here is the crazy part- this would be for May 31-June 4th. So, do I even have a chance at getting a table!??!

 

[luckytobeme88]

A clueless first timer,
What the heck are these mugs I keep reading about?

The package price through Disney is about $400 more than if I price it individually at Expedia with a coupon I have. Is dining worth the $400?

Finally, if I arrive on a Sunday and leave on a Thursday, what day does my dining begin?!?

Sorry I'm so green at this. Honestly, I am not enjoying this planning business at all! Vacation shouldn't be work, should it!?!? I may have a stress attack in trying to throw together a last minute trip! LOL

Thanks in advance for your help and expertise!

A good way to start is an easy read. Thanks to Disboard, there's a lot of stickies with great information. You will be an expert in no time.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2054845

If you feel that Expedia can really save you that much money, you should book thru them. I don't know of one TA that can give you that much saving??
I would double and triple check their rates just so the saving is really for the exact same package.
Everything begins once you have checked in(note that sometime even if your room is not ready yet, you can go to the park and use your dining credit already)
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=236234