Help..1st time to WDW

[craftymom]

We (myself, DH, DS 5 and my sis 18) will be traveling to WDW for the 1st time Jul 21-28. We are staying at AKL. I am by nature a planner and would like some help/opinions on what to do. We have the dining plan. What restaurants are musts and should I make reservations for all our sit-downs or leave a few open since this is 1st time? Oh, I did make 1 res already for Ohana's for breakfast. Thanks in advance for any help.

Jenn

 

[firemanx]

Dinner - Le Cellier, O'hana,

Breakfast - Crystal Palace

 

[kaybird]

You will be there in July. MAKE ADR"S!!! You will be so glad you have them, especially once you start seeing people turned away at restaurants. We love Boma, LeCellier, Spoodles, and Coral Reef, to name a few. I check the EMH to see what park we are likely to be in, and arm myself with a few backup choices for restaurants and times, then I call WDW-DINE. Makes it much easier to book if you are flexible on time. We like Early dinners, like 4:30 -5, parks are crowded, so we sit and take a little break during the heat. Hope you have a MAGICAL trip!!!

 

[wilde_oscar]

ok first and foremost, remember to breathe... you have picked one of the most expansive resort entertainment complexes in the world for vacation at the height of the season.

Some planning guides are a good start... The official Burnbaums Guide, the unofficial guide, and allearsnet.com are great starting points for gathering info. wdwinfo.com has many planning tips. but if you google on touring plans you will find a site that has great info on which parks are busiest on which days, and ways to plan around the crowds.

Dinning reservations... make them as soon as you have an idea of where you will be on what days. Be flexable, resies tend to go quick because the dinning plan is attractive to many cutomers.

For Character Breakfasts I would recomend:

Breakfastasouras; Chef Mickey; Crystal Palace and depending on the age of your kids Playhouse for toddlers, The princess breakfast at Epcot for little ladies.

for lunch, think counter service... easier, more flexable, and can fit in with most plans.

For dinner, think about the major attractions you will trying to attend and plan for dinner in plenty of time to get to them... for instance, a 7:30p at Liberty Tree Tavern will have you done eating at just about the right time to walk out front and catch the 9:00p spectromagic parade. Or Mamma Melrose at about 7:00p for Fantasmic!

you can go with out reservations at all, but will be hard pressed to get seated at a table service resturant.

 

[wilde_oscar]

OH, and ask questions, ask lots and lots of questions... some of the folks on these boards know things long before they are going to happen, have spent their lives doing research on the parks, and a few can quote the second verse to "great big beautiful tomorrow".

Someone knows the answer you are looking for, and many are glad to help.

 

[janjandis]

My favourites are:
Concourse Steakhouse -just a monorail ride from Magic Kingdom.
Le Cellier at Epcot in the Canada pavillion.
Spoodles at the Boardwalk.
Chefs De France and Alfredo's both at Epcot.

 

[craftymom]

Thanks. I will look at the menus for the recommemded restaurants.

 

[Punkin's Dad]

I'm going to echo several other posters in reccommending LeCellier. If you are a Steak lover it's a must. We ALWAYS dine at LeCellier at least once each visit.

This past January we had an ADR for the Coral Reef. It was a very late seating (for us anyway). If memory server it was for 8:00pm. Based on advice from this and other boards we advised the CM at the desk that we wanted a seat close to the Aquarium and that we were willing to wait for it.

We were not disappointed! Our table was right up against the window! Eating with thousands of tropical fish swimming by a couple feet away is an experience not to be missed! We probably waited ~30 min but it was totally worth it. The food was excellent. I was a bit worried about that, I'd red several so-so reviews but everything we had was wonderful and perfectly prepared. Our waiter was outstanding as was everything else about our dinner there.

One more cool thing about that night. Because we were seated so late, and because we took our sweet time about eating, by the time we exited the resturant EPCOT was almost totally deserted! The fireworks show had been over long enough that the crowd was gone. So we got a nice nightime stroll thru a deserted park.

Another of our favorites is Whispering Canyon. It's a must if you have young kids. My DD (8) and DS (13) absolutely love it. The food is great and there is plenty of it! The CMs really get into it and the atmosphere is crazy. Not a good choice if you like quiet, dignified meals, but if you want to let your hair down and have a good time Whispering Canyon is definately for you.

We did the Princess Breakfast at Cinderella's castle 2 years ago, back before it required 2 TS credits. The food was good, not great, but the look on my DD's face as Conderella herself greeted her was priceless. Great view out the dining room window too.

Chef Mickey's is fun, as others have said.

We have also enjoyed the Character breakfast at O'hana.

We (by "we" I mean my DW)are currently planning our dining for our January '08 trip. We have 7 nights booked at the WL (love that place!). I know we will be doing LeCellier, Whispering Canyon and probably Coral Reef, but we haven't selected the others yet.