Help with PS please

[SpecialK]

I'm planning our first Disneyworld vacation for June of 2004. I have started researching attractions and restaurants (thanks to all here for the great info) and I have a question. How do you choose times for your PS arrangements? I'm having trouble predicting how much time to allot for daily activities. Any advice you can give would be appreciated.

 

[Eeyore1954]

Originally posted by SpecialK
I'm planning our first Disneyworld vacation for June of 2004. I have started researching attractions and restaurants (thanks to all here for the great info) and I have a question. How do you choose times for your PS arrangements? I'm having trouble predicting how much time to allot for daily activities. Any advice you can give would be appreciated.

My DW and I make PS based on when we want to eat. We're both usually early risers -- well, I am at least and she usually hasn't got much choice but to follow my lead ... So if we want a Disney breakfast, we usually book an early seating -- 7:30 a.m.

One lesson we learned is not to try to eat 3 Disney meals in a day. Way too much food, even if you plan to circumnavigate EPCOT multiple times in 1 day. So we usually plan a b'fast and dinner. Lunch may be a light snack or light counter service, if we're hungry.

We try to avoid peak meal times. So we might do an early (5 or 5:30) or late (8:30 or later) dinner.

We check out the park schedule each day and call WDW Dining to change PS if it conflicts with a show, parade, etc. However, we usually go during Value season, so it's easier to get those last minute changes done.

As for meal times -- we spend around 45 min. to a hour at a buffet meal; at least an hour to 1 1/2 hours at a sit down meal (that can vary depending on the restaurant). Hope this helps.

 

[ILUVDXL]

Let's see if this will help you based on how I work it. We eat mostly at Epcot and some resorts. We start our day in one park, take a break in the early afternoon and then head for Epcot arount 2:30 or 3 or we go to a park closest to the resort we'll be having dinner in. Depending on how early you like to eat, when making your PS's give them a 1/2 hour lee-way. I usual tell the CM I'd like a PS between 7 and 7 :30. They'll tell you what's an available seating time. It's mostly giving yourself enough travel time. Hope this helps.

 

[jann1033]

I figure out what rests. we want to go to for the trip and figure the park days around that.

we go about this a little differently as we usually eat our biggest meal at cheaper priced lunch (unless the place we want to go only serves dinner) so we eat a light breakfast (bagels or cereal at the resort ) then make a lunch ps and snack/ counter at dinner.

we like to change parks mid day also sometimes so then I will make the lunch later ( as late as possible, sometimes up to 4pm) and eat a larger breakfast before we get to the park(plus hubby loves breakfast buffets so it keeps him happy) or since we like some resort rest. go to ee day at what ever park, head to that resort for lunch and then on to the second park.

if we are going to some where like Ohana's that only serves dinner we eat either a larger breakfast or very early lunch then late dinner.

this way we don't waste a lot of money or time during the day but get a nice break with a sit down" rest your feet "lunch. we go in value season but doing it this way have never found the need to go back to rest at the resort duing the day, even when our kids were small ,which saves a lot of travel time since the parks close earlier but still gives you a nice hr or so break mid day. I also agree 2 meals are usually plenty with maybe a snack along the way

 

[new_yawka]

Especially if this is afirst trip to WDW, I would not go crazy with PS's....stick to one a day max if you can (two can work, if you do an early breakfast - character breakfasts are great - and a later dinner). Some people get stuck with lunch and dinner PSs in the same day...that can be hazardous...you end up eating too much and missing some of the attractions you'd like to see.

As for our PS's...we generally make a breakfast PS in the park we are at and a dinner PS either in that park if we are spending a whole day or at one of the resorts in the evening. On days when we eat breakfast in the room (we have a full kitchen) we will skip a breakfast PS and make an early dinner PS.

Key is deciding where you want to dine and then working a schedule so the dining doesn't interfere with park time too much (thus early breakfast PS's are good for us )

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[castlegazer]

Don't forget that if you want to dine around an event, i.e. Wishes or parades, you will need to go to historical park times and then base your PS around this event and get that PS to ensure you will be seated at the proper time.

I hope that made sense because I just confused myself.

 

[SpecialK]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You answered all the questions I didn't even know I had ...I just knew I was confused. Now I know where to start and how to plan.

 

[Scottwdw]

If you have any questions about how or when to make your PS arrangements, check out my site (use links below).

Happy Planning!

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

I have always struggled with guessing PS times right, too. This trip we plan to take a different approach:

We've bought Connections vouchers - breakfast and Q&C. We've made breakfast ressies at a bunch of great buffets and character meals, later in the morning. We plan to get filled up on burnch, then pick up a snack or turkey leg later on, and use the Q&C vouchers for a later supper. Or for an early supper and snacks later on.

Every time we've done a big breakfast, it's messed up our plans for nice dinners later on. So this trip, we'll plan our eating around the breakfasts. And considering the Q&C is $11.50 and the Breakfast 17.50, that's $39 each per day prepaid for the majority of our food.

We generally don't like to jump up early and rush off to a park, but rather take our time. This should be an interesting experiment in strategy.

 

[crisi]

We made all our ps's for our last trip at 6:00. We have little kids who don't stay up past about 8:30.

Our days went:

Breakfast in room (eggs in a DVC villa, but pop tarts and cereal bars work as well if you aren't big breakfast eaters and don't have a fridge.

Counter service at 11:00 (after a light breakfast - we were ready for lunch as oon as they opened)

Leave the park about 2:00 - swim in the pool.

Leave the pool at 5:00, dress, go into Epcot for a 6:00pm dinner.

The exceptions were the night we let the kids stay up for Fantasmic - we ate dinner at 5:00 to make sure we were in the theatre around 6:30 (the show was at 7:30 - we actually got there a little plast 6:45. And the day we had a character breakfast - but the rest of the day was much the same.

Before children, we would plan to eat around 7:00pm - we'd skip the trip back to the hotel and spend all day in the parks.

Another option is to plan your PSs for about 1:00 and eat your big meal at lunchtime. This puts you in the restaurants when the parks are crowded, frees up your evenings (when park traffic tends to be lighter), and is less expensive. If you do this, you'll want a more substantial breakfast or a snack around 10:00, and then a counter service dinner when you are hungry again.

Or you could do lunch late - 3:00 or 4:00 (which is generally the last lunch seating.

We also tend to eat at Epcot or the resorts.