Help me understand dining

[TheHannas]

OK i am planning all wrong, I am counting my departure day as a day on my dining plan. I originally wanted to check out and go to Disney Springs for a Table lunch but thats not going to be possible unless i come out of pocket. I have pretty much figured out my nightly plan but i over used my table credits by booking Hoop de doo. Am i just going to be coming out of pocket the difference? So my current plan is Sunday- Liberty Tree Tavern. Monday Kona, Tuesday Hoop de doo, Wednesday Garden Grill. Thursday is departure day

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

OK i am planning all wrong, I am counting my departure day as a day on my dining plan. I originally wanted to check out and go to Disney Springs for a Table lunch but thats not going to be possible unless i come out of pocket. I have pretty much figured out my nightly plan but i over used my table credits by booking Hoop de doo. Am i just going to be coming out of pocket the difference? So my current plan is Sunday- Liberty Tree Tavern. Monday Kona, Tuesday Hoop de doo, Wednesday Garden Grill. Thursday is departure day

I think that looks like a good plan for your first trip. Hoop de Doo is a lot of fun and the food (all you can eat) is great as well as beer and wine included (make sure that you give yourself at least an hour to get there as you will have to take at least one bus, maybe more since you can't drive to it.. There are plenty of fairly inexpensive places to eat at Disney Spring. We haven't been sing the change over happened and all the new places opened, but our favorite in Wolfgang Puck Express in the Marketplace section of Disney Springs. It isn't expensive (for tourist area restaurants) and for all practical purposes it is a TS but considered a counter service. You order at the counter, get your own drinks, but they bring your food to your table and usually the waitstaff will get your refills for you. There are several Wolfgang Puck's in Disney Springs, you want the one closest to the World of Disney store. Other inexpensive options for your last day are Grand Floridian Cafe at the Grand Floridian Hotel or the Trails End breakfast buffet (right next door to where you went to the Hoop de Doo).

 

[DisneyAnytime]

On the regular Disney Dining Plan the Rivers of Light Package has 2 options: Tusker House (1 table service credit) or Tiffins (2 table service credits).

You may use any of your dining plan credits (Meals or Snacks) up to 11:59pm on your check out day, even after you have officially checked out of your resort.

When you go to the WDW website, select "Things to Do" then ALL DINING. Then you can filter your results across the top by location, dining experience (character meal, buffet, signature, table service, quick service, etc) If you are looking for a "show" then choose the UNIQUE/THEMED dining here or CHARACTER MEAL. You can also select "Dining Plans Accepted" so that you know that it is covered by your dining plan. Just be sure to click on the restaurant and read the information to be sure if it is 1 or 2 credits. The signature dining and some of the "shows" are 2 table service credits.

You can also put in a specific date to search for available reservation times.

Your first trip can be quite overwhelming. Just go in with the understanding that you probably won't be able to do everything you want to do and that it will take multiple trips to really "Do it ALL". You will walk between 8-10 miles each day, July is HOT (take advantage of the free cups of water at all the counter service places, but be sure to order a CUP of water or you'll end up with a $3 bottle of water), keep doing your research. Look at the park maps and have a loose plan of what you want to ride first and develop a plan to hit as much as possible without wasting a lot of time criss-crossing the parks. Hit some of the slower or inside rides during the heat of the day for a little mini break, and most of all DON'T PUT SO MUCH PRESSURE ON YOURSELVES TO MAKE IT PERFECT!

Enjoy the whole trip as much as you can. Even if you are never able to go back, try to relax so that you are focused on what you are doing and not on what you missed.

ENJOY!!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

Just a nice sit down with good entertainment would be a plus.

What sort of entertainment are you thinking of?

does not have to be really upscale but not like a buffet style.

So character meals are out, because of not wanting a buffet, but characters are entertainment.

I feel like i may split up "table dining" so we can see the parks at night also.

I'm not sure what that means.

I played around on the "my disney app" and tried to look up dinner shows, for some reason it came up with 0 results. my search info i feel was pretty broad to.
It has to be user error to have 0 dinner shows available at different times i tried.

This close to the trip, a summer trip, that goes over the 4th of July? Probably not user error.

Disney Springs is not necessarily for 1st-time visitors - it's really just shopping and food.

Exactly. We go for Lego store if we have reward points (there's nothing there you can't get elsewhere, though I'll admit FL tax is lower than WA tax, but then ya gotta get it home) and to Raglan Road for weekend brunch and Guinness. That's it.

I do not want to try to rush in trying to get to some ride i have no clue how to do along with time restraints.

What time restraints? What do you mean having "no clue how to do"? With one day in a park, if you don't hit the ground running you're going to have a very different sort of park day than many of us like to have.

Can I suggest that you run to a bookstore and get the most recent edition of the Unofficial Guide to wdw, and maybe Birmbaum's Wdw guidebook as well? I think maybe that you are so new that a guidebook might be a terrific place to start.

and frankly, for us, AK is usually a day and a half park.

For us it's more. We still haven't done everything at AK!

 

[TheHannas]

What sort of entertainment are you thinking of?



So character meals are out, because of not wanting a buffet, but characters are entertainment.



I'm not sure what that means.



This close to the trip, a summer trip, that goes over the 4th of July? Probably not user error.



Exactly. We go for Lego store if we have reward points (there's nothing there you can't get elsewhere, though I'll admit FL tax is lower than WA tax, but then ya gotta get it home) and to Raglan Road for weekend brunch and Guinness. That's it.



What time restraints? What do you mean having "no clue how to do"? With one day in a park, if you don't hit the ground running you're going to have a very different sort of park day than many of us like to have.

Can I suggest that you run to a bookstore and get the most recent edition of the Unofficial Guide to wdw, and maybe Birmbaum's Wdw guidebook as well? I think maybe that you are so new that a guidebook might be a terrific place to start.




For us it's more. We still haven't done everything at AK!

Allot of my first question was before i booked and i had no clue what to even ask about of plan. I have made a lot of plans now thanks to some co workers and a lot of people like yourself on this site.

We are going forth of july- actually July 2nd -6h.
By splitting table dining it's referring to using the table dining credit on our meal plan for lunch instead of dinner and just grabbing a quick service for dinnner. Giving us more time at night in the parks vs using time to eat.

As far as entertainment i meant like dinner theme shows. Like Hopp do doo.

 

[cwt580]

you can use your dining credits in any combination. if you don't have enough to use for something . pay out of pocket. dont think you can split bill between cash and using a credit if you have 1 left(signature 2 ts credits or show dinners)