HELP.. Going in 43 days and I am overwhelmed

[jkjjhuddle]

We are not Disney newbies
We have not been since in 2018 and that was an adult-only trip.

We were supposed to go last April and I felt prepared and ready. We were taking our newly adopted daughter (9) with my sons (16 and 20)
Of course, Covid happened and we post posted.

We have also added another child to the mix so here is what we have.

Me, DH, DS (21), DS (17), DD (10), and new FS (14)

My daughter and foster son have never been to Disney.

We are staying at Bonnet Creek. Getting dining reservations was tricky for 6 so we did not do many. The main place we wanted was not opened. (Ohana)

So we will have 1 preteen princess and the rest boys. Some of our crew LOVES Star Wars so that is a must.

I am confused about the food situation.. and how to book things... It is all so different. Will be able to do quick service lunches??

We do have park reservations.

Help! Any advice will be welcomed.

 

[mjmgsssp]

Mobile ordering will be the way to go for quick service meals.

Congrats on your expanding family.

 

[Skippyboo]

Basically almost all the quick service restaurants you have to use the mobile ordering. It’s on the MDE app. You can play around with it from home. Biergarten could easily handle your party of six. Disney Spring has lots of restaurants too. You can use open table to book instead of Disney app.

 

[SwanVT2]

I would do a grocery order to your hotel for snacks, water and breakfast items. This should save you a bundle. Get a landry's membership for 25.00 off first meal and bring the gang to T Rex in DS. Have fun!!

 

[Upatnoon]

When making restaurant reservations, also look at Open Table, which has many places at Disney Springs.

 

[NH-to-FL]

First, wonderful on your new family members!

And for having your park reservations ready to go!

I agree with @Skippyboo comments. Take some time and learn mobile ordering on the MDE app. It is also a good way to familiarize yourself with the menus and perhaps preplan some orders to make it quicker to enter the order. I was slow to pick up on the service but have become a fan of mobile ordering.

Also agree with @SwanVT2 on getting food for the room. You didn't say whether you had a car but a grocery run or delivery at the beginning of the trip can be both a time and $$ saver.

 

[DeutscherDon]

Those days are going to fly by, yay!
We used grocery delivery for the first time in December and will be doing it again this July super convenient. We got snacks, drinks, (water, Gatorade,and juice) we also got breakfast things that our family of eight love. As for eating it depends on your budget and you food tastes. Disney food blog has a wonderful breakdown of all the restaurants at Walt Disney World you might be interested in, I highly recommend them. Then make a list with the group about what rides or experiences they want to have while there and build off of that. What does everyone like to eat? Are they adventurous or do they always eat chicken fingers and fries. Which they have at almost every restaurant but you might have to ask. For example if in magic kingdom one of our favorites is a sit down restaurant Skippers Cantina, can seat a larger party and the food is great. Mobile ordering Is a positive In that you go on line at the place you want to eat at and pick a time and then go through The menu, pick items you want get a total and then pay on your phone. Once you get used to it - it works great. The other thing we did was buy a box of 50 masks decorated in stars that we all wore, we bought a few disney ones as well but these were disposable. Hope this helps! Have a magical time!!

 

[Blondie58]

Congratulations on adding to your family. You will make a difference that will go on forever. Don't stress. Plan as best you can and then relax and have fun. My best advice: Don't try and do it all. Specific memories are far better than a blurrrrrrrrrrrrrrr in my opinion.

 

[jkjjhuddle]

Thank you, everyone!!

We are staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek. We have a 3 bedroom booked.
Are there any places that will deliver groceries there??

Also any off-site dining places. We do not typically do much off-site, but we are talking about going down a day early.

The new kiddos are NOT adventurous. One has only had chicken fingers.. so it is always an adventure with them, but they are trying. We figured kid-friendly meals were always available at most places.

Our biggest struggle has been finding seating for 6.

 

[auntlynne]

In case you haven’t been reading the DIS lately,

1. You can get in the parks and start riding some rides 45-60 minutes before posted opening times. Disney transportation accommodates this. I don’t know about Bonnet Creek. Cars are allowed in about (but not before) 1 Hour before official opening. (And trams are not running).

2. QS dining - don’t wait until you are hungry to place your mobile order. You might not get a time window for pickup right away. You can place orders in the morning and pissibly modify them later (you can also cancel). When it’s pickup time, you notify them you are ready.

Lots of food and grocery delivery. Keep reading that in posts. Publix, Walmart are not too far away, so probably are sources for delivery companies. (We have a car, so just head to Publix on I-Drive.

So much food nearby, any ideas what non-chicken finger eaters want?

 

[jkjjhuddle]

How big of a deal are the trams not running.. does it create so much more walking every day or is it just one of those things you just suck it up and do it. Not worried about the mornings.. more the afternoons.

Is it better to Uber in or something like that each day?


Our non chicken finger people like pretty much any

 

[Missingmypooh]

When are you going? We’re a family of 5 to be 6 so I know the struggle.
I just did 6 for April 29 and there were over 20 options, several in the parks or right outside at nearby resorts.

I suggest not clicking “lunch” but scrolling right on the app to click the times buttons- over and over and over till you find some availability!

 

[jkjjhuddle]

We are going May 7-15. We have some of the main ones we wanted so we can do quick service the rest of the time.

 

[Sirenitas]

We are going May 7-15. We have some of the main ones we wanted so we can do quick service the rest of the time.

We will be there around the same time and there will be 6 of us - 2 who like very few things (tenders, plain pasta, fries, smoothies, eggs ) - and it has been pretty hard to find ADRs. I was able to book our must-haves right when our window opened but have not been able to find much after that day. I keep checking every day and have been able to find a couple of places that work for us so keep checking the site. Look both under the lunch/dinner tab and individual times. I've noticed that some show up on the meal tab and others on the time tabs.

I also booked a couple of resort restaurants to mix it up - The Wave and Whispering Canyon. Those I found easily after my initial ADR day.

Someone mentioned the Landry's card - it is really worth it. You pay $25 to get it but they give you a $25 credit right away. You then can just show up and they give you the next available table of your party size, no ADR needed. It works on TRex, RFC (both DS and AK) and Yak & Yeti.

We are looking forward to using mobile ordering and trying new QS places - we have not been since 2017 so there are quite a few of them!