Help with a few questions please :)

[mommynurse]

I'm in the midst of planning a trip for our family to WDW this fall - likely September. I've gotten the offers for free DDP in the past but was in nursing school and couldn't go. So this is our year to finally have time to travel..crossing my fingers for the free offer again! This will be our FIRST big trip ever! I have only been to WDW once and that was many moons ago (like 20 years!)

So here are my questions I can't seem to figure out from my many hours reading on here.. for background my kids are 7&9 girls and how much they eat varies day to day lol.

1) We might want to travel there again next year so I'm looking at the option of buying an AP. If we do that and stay onsite too..can we still purchase the DDP or do we have to buy that discount card thing instead?

2) God do I REALLY have to plan out my entire itenerary and dining 6 months in advance so I can "get a seat"? I'm already overwhelmed! lol

3) Since my kids still kinda dig the princesses (but Lord help me if Hannah Montana isn't taking over our daily topics of conversation..sigh...) I'd love to do the Cinderella royal table meal (probably more for ME than them hehe ) I read you have to pay in advance when you call to make the ressie. How does that work though if you are doing the DDP?

4) Do I have to have my trip purchased/booked to make reservations for the restaurants?

What do I for sure need to have figured out 180 days out from our trip? I'm sort of a committment phobe and it will probably take me 3 more months just to finally decide what resort to stay at and whether we want to drive vs fly and all that. The idea of having to plan out meals in the next 30 days or so...ack!

I really want to stay for like 10 days. And I really (think) I want to stay at AKL. But that is a little pricey..esp if I do the Savannah view (geez who wants to look at a parking lot? That's depressing) So I'm thinking 5 days at Pop (maybe?) and 5 at AKL (or Wilderness Lodge looks cool too..told ya I have trouble making decisions!) If I do a split stay is this going to make the DDP stuff more complicated?

I'm trying to make all this planning fun..unfortunately I'm a type A and often get overwhelmed with my perfectionistic ways..gulp.

Thank you for any guidance!

 

[jiffypop72]

1)Currently, you have to buy at least one day of tickets to purchase the dining plan- it's part of a package including resort & tickets. So if you have an AP, you'd still need passes.

Notice I said currently. Count on this to change in the very near future.

2)Well, you don't have to book everything six months in advance. But the big ones- especially Cinderella's Royal Table- yes, you do. Other ones that get really crowded really fast: Chef Mickey's, Ohana Character Breakfast, Le Cellier. Everything else you could do 3 or so months in advance and be fine. There's even some stuff you could do a month in advance. But pick the ones you know you want and do those ASAP.

3)Cinderella's Royal Table is prepaid. If you're doing a DDP, you'll just need a credit card guarantee, they won't charge the CC unless you cancel within 24 hours or no show.

4)No, though if you do have your resort reservations booked, you can book dining reservations 190 days out instead of 180. Inside 180 days, you don't even have to be staying a Disney Resort to book dining.

Splitting the stay does make the DDP a little more complicated, since you'll have to book 2 separate packages, and it's the ticket parts that make it hard. It's not impossible though and a good reservation agent will be able to walk you though it. If that's how you can make your dreams come true, DO IT!!

Don't stress out too much, remember this is supposed to be fun!! And if you have questions that don't get answered here, call Disney... that's what they pay their reservation agents for. They'll help you with every step of the process.

 

[beroh2253]

I really want to stay for like 10 days. And I really (think) I want to stay at AKL. But that is a little pricey..esp if I do the Savannah view (geez who wants to look at a parking lot? That's depressing) So I'm thinking 5 days at Pop (maybe?) and 5 at AKL (or Wilderness Lodge looks cool too..told ya I have trouble making decisions!) If I do a split stay is this going to make the DDP stuff more complicated?

Take a look at Riverside Port Orleans beautiful senery all around. Nice pools.
I'll attach Allears pictures Moderate prices.

http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/porss.htm

 

[Tricia1972]

1)Currently, you have to buy at least one day of tickets to purchase the dining plan- it's part of a package including resort & tickets. So if you have an AP, you'd still need passes.

Notice I said currently. Count on this to change in the very near future.[/quote]

Actually I think you'll just need two one day passes with the AP in order to book the DDP.

I think that before discounting the DDE (discount card), you'll want to look at what you think you'd order at your TS meals or how many character meals you plan on doing. If you don't like having commitments made the DDP can be a gamble, because it's hard to not pay more for the DDP than OOP if you leave any TS credits on the table (so to speak).

SO if you're touring or your daughters just aren't particularly hungry on a certain day, with the DDP you could be committed to eating a dinner that you're not hungry for. With the DDE you can just call and cancel, eat CS that night and save a bit of money.

 

[mommynurse]

1)

3)Cinderella's Royal Table is prepaid. If you're doing a DDP, you'll just need a credit card guarantee, they won't charge the CC unless you cancel within 24 hours or no show.

Splitting the stay does make the DDP a little more complicated, since you'll have to book 2 separate packages, and it's the ticket parts that make it hard. It's not impossible though and a good reservation agent will be able to walk you though it. If that's how you can make your dreams come true, DO IT!!

Wow I get home from work to some great answers..I'm quickly becoming addicted to this board

Back to Cinderella - say if I book in March and I haven't committed to a package yet therefore have not yet bought a DDP... do I have to prepay? Or can I say "I'm planning on doing DDP"?

And on splitting the stay - and two packages - can I still do a 10 day ticket or would I then have to do two 5 day tickets? Seems like that might be a lot more expensive.

I think I'm gonna have to break out the spreadsheets soon!

 

[sohappy]

I don't know about the tickets and the stay, but they charged my cc for CRT as soon as I made the reservation. Once I booked my resort/dining plan/tickets, I called back with my reservation number and they credited my cc.

 

[minniekissedme]

Santa Claus put our trip (2/2-29) together in December. The only dinner reservations I couldn't get were LeCellier and Ohana. We were able to get convenient times for us and some great places. If you enjoy the dinners then it's worth the effort to make the reservations. I'd suggest finding the menus on line (allears.net) and deciding on which places to dine...then make your reservations and stop sweating it!

I strongly recommend Kona Cafe...best meal of our week. Get the Tuna Oscar or the mahi-mahi.
As an alternative to the castle, check out Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Epcot.

We've stayed at Port Orleans Riverside the last two years and love it...Riverside Mill food court is a good quick service place for breakfast/lunch/dinner. Nice variety of offerings.