How do you folks plan so far ahead?

[tinkerfan1]

Also, I believe they said that when they went back to the 180 day window for reservations, they would also start posting the EMH 180 days in advance as well. What I would do, if that is the case, is plan on where I would like to go ahead of time, then check the EMH before I made my phone call to make sure it didn't conflict with any of the days I picked for whichever restaurant. If it does, just move your meals around.

 

[mmtska]

We haven't been to WDW as many times as most of the posters, but we do have some ideas of restaurants that we want to try. I look over the menus and get an idea of what there is to offer-I'm a VERY picky eater. We choose which ones we REALLY want, and then some backups. The ones in parks we go to on the day we're in that park(which we figure out when the times come out). Resort restaurants we just plug in wherever.

I love to organize though. DH teases me about it, but he's already agreeing to some of the restaurants I've been checking out. We use park hoppers too so that makes things a little easier.

 

[Disney*Dreaming]

Thank-you all for sharing your tips with me. You are all so kind.
Unfortunately I can't pick my travel agent, so the Disney one is out. I guess I should give you a little background here. I have been wanting to take my kids to Disney ever since they were born. But, life has always gotten in the way.
Recently, I had entered a contest, and won the grand prize of a very generous sized gift certificate to a travel company. Once I stopped crying and dancing around my kitchen I discussed things with my husband and we both knew instantly that there was only one place we wanted to go....Disney World! I guess you could say this is a dream that has been in the making for 10 years now, though up to now it was just a dream, now that it is going to become a reality it's kinda throwing me off. I think for me the hardest part is getting started, I'm hoping that once I get things going that the rest will just fall in to place. ( I hope, because so far I find this all mind-boggling) Thanks to your advice, I've printed off last Mays hours, and now I'm off to research crowd calenders. I've looked at all of the restaurants and there are lots I'd like to try, especially character meals for my kids. We will have park hoppers, and a rental car and the deluxe dining plan, however I really don't like that my 8 year old will have to eat off the kids menu while my 10 year old doesn't, my daughter is going to be quite upset about being treated like a baby. (I'm sure she will say that) but from reading here on the Dis, if I throw in enough buffets, she might not even notice. Once again, thank you for your help, because of you I might be able to start making baby steps, then hopefully break into a jog with these ADR's.

 

[Yummy]

Lucky you, planning your first trip! You sound just like me last year when I was planning our first trip to WDW, which was for May 2009 We booked our trip around the 80 day mark, btw.

When I begun planning and reading posts on this board, I totally panicked about all that ADR stuff, like you... We decided, since it was our first trip, to take it easy. May is a great time of the year to do that, because it's not peak season. We didn't have a plan, except arrive at parks a half hour before opnening, get fast passes for the attractions we didn't want to miss out on, take afternoon breaks at the hotel (to sleep or relax in the pool), and go back to the parks for dinner, more rides, and fireworks!

After thinking the pros and cons, we decided to do the QSDP (Quick Service Dining Plan), which I thought was GREAT for first-timers, because you don't have to make ADRs for counter service places. And in WDW, counter service is more than burgers and fries! (just go to allears.net to check out menus of CS places: that's what sold me on the QSDP!) Out of a 7-day trip, we ate burgers once, because we felt like it. We only had 2 ADRs all week, both on the same day, for the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater in HS and San Angel Inn in Epcot, just because they both seemed like cool places.

My personal advice for your first trip would be to do the QSDP, or no plan at all; waaaaay less pressure that way! You could check around your 45-day mark for ADRs; if there's plenty of TS restanrants that interest you that are still available, you can always add the dinning plan to your reservation, up to 3 days before you check-in! (we added the QSDP to our ressie a week and a half before check in last May).

I'm sure not everyone will agree with me, but for us, it was a fabulous experience, not having ADRs and doing the QSDP. Being free to decide on a whim that we want to go to a different park than we had planned, or that we just want to eat a quick bite to make full use of our time in the parks made it a hassle-free vacation for us.

Enjoy your May trip!

 

[Nancyg56]

After thinking the pros and cons, we decided to do the QSDP (Quick Service Dining Plan), which I thought was GREAT for first-timers, because you don't have to make ADRs for counter service places. And in WDW, counter service is more than burgers and fries! (just go to allears.net to check out menus of CS places: that's what sold me on the QSDP!) Out of a 7-day trip, we ate burgers once, because we felt like it. We only had 2 ADRs all week, both on the same day, for the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater in HS and San Angel Inn in Epcot, just because they both seemed like cool places.

My personal advice for your first trip would be to do the QSDP, or no plan at all; waaaaay less pressure that way! You could check around your 45-day mark for ADRs; if there's plenty of TS restanrants that interest you that are still available, you can always add the dinning plan to your reservation, up to 3 days before you check-in! (we added the QSDP to our ressie a week and a half before check in last May).

I'm sure not everyone will agree with me, but for us, it was a fabulous experience, not having ADRs and doing the QSDP. Being free to decide on a whim that we want to go to a different park than we had planned, or that we just want to eat a quick bite to make full use of our time in the parks made it a hassle-free vacation for us.

Enjoy your May trip!

I am glad that worked for you. I think everyone needs to evaluate what experience that they are looking for during the trip. For my family's first trip the characters were a must and we needed to ensure that there were plenty of meals so that my DGD could meet all of her "friends". To manage that we needed a plan and plenty of ADR's. My family likes sit down relaxing meals so that was also part of our vacation plan.

We were "loose" planners, I only made notes for the park we would be at and the time the shows and parades were. After that we just got to our meals on time, everything else was like your family. I hate stress.

If you are able to enjoy touring without meals planned and do not want character meals then teh QSDP is a great way to have meals paid for and yet have the freedom to eat on a whim.

 

[Vility]

i agree.
last year when planning my first trip i felt the pressure!
now i feel like an old pro.

have fun on your trip!

 

[tiredsigh]

Thank-you all for sharing your tips with me. You are all so kind.
Unfortunately I can't pick my travel agent, so the Disney one is out. I guess I should give you a little background here. I have been wanting to take my kids to Disney ever since they were born. But, life has always gotten in the way.
Recently, I had entered a contest, and won the grand prize of a very generous sized gift certificate to a travel company. Once I stopped crying and dancing around my kitchen I discussed things with my husband and we both knew instantly that there was only one place we wanted to go....Disney World! I guess you could say this is a dream that has been in the making for 10 years now, though up to now it was just a dream, now that it is going to become a reality it's kinda throwing me off. I think for me the hardest part is getting started, I'm hoping that once I get things going that the rest will just fall in to place. ( I hope, because so far I find this all mind-boggling) Thanks to your advice, I've printed off last Mays hours, and now I'm off to research crowd calenders. I've looked at all of the restaurants and there are lots I'd like to try, especially character meals for my kids. We will have park hoppers, and a rental car and the deluxe dining plan, however I really don't like that my 8 year old will have to eat off the kids menu while my 10 year old doesn't, my daughter is going to be quite upset about being treated like a baby. (I'm sure she will say that) but from reading here on the Dis, if I throw in enough buffets, she might not even notice. Once again, thank you for your help, because of you I might be able to start making baby steps, then hopefully break into a jog with these ADR's.

Congratulations!! That is an amazing prize since you get to go somewhere you have always wanted to take your family

Have you read the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World? I had a friend give it to me when we were planning our first trip. I brought the book with me on the trip even! That book takes all of the information and puts it into perspective. Plus, you can then have free access to his crowd calendar. He also recommends which parks to go on certain days. You can see it way in advance if you buy a book. I was VERY glad I read that. It answered every basic and moderately complex question so then I could go here and ask the nitty gritty questions.

I use that crowd calendar to plan my parks first. That way, it does help plan what days I plan on Epcot reservations, etc. We also do some restaurants more than once in a trip. My youngest is not going to sit through Chefs or something else more formal. Instead, we sat down with the kids and showed them videos on youtube (if available) and on websites for different restaurants. If they got excited about going, it went on my excel spreadsheet.

I highly recommend an excel spreadsheet. I can then keep track of which park on which day, which restaurants with times and reservation numbers, times for parades or fireworks that day. I also make notes of the location of each restaurant and if it is monorail or bus, etc. I print off the spreadsheet and carry several copies with us on the trip.

 

[believer]

Luckily I enjoy planning ahead. There must be a condition for all the Disney planning I've done. We are heading to the world in January and my husband thinks I'm nuts to be planning this far ahead. I use TGM and I am constantly rearranging our days until its perfect. Now I have ADR's to make the end of the month and am planning those plus some extras. I just pray we dont go too off course from my plan. But I will make some ressies around our resort so it wont matter which park we go to for those reservations.

What's TGM?
It sounds like something I would like to use...

 

[Disney*Dreaming]

Thanks tiredsigh.
I am actually embarrassed to say this, but I have a guide book, I bought it years ago. Since discovering this board though, I have ordered the Unofficial Guide 2010 (I don't have it yet though). I realized my book was just a wee bit too out of date when it reviewed King Stefan's Banquet Hall which is CRT these days.

 

[B-Ride]

IMHO, the best advice I can provide for a fellow Canadian and a first time vistor to WDW is to not bother with the Dining Plan, unless you get it for free.

My reasons are as follows:
1. On you first trip, it is more about the parks and less about the food. Eating at a TS restaurant every night takes some time which you might rather spend touring the parks.
2. The Quick Service plan is not really an option because it rules out any TS meals.
3. It is much harder to plan meals and where you want to be each day, unless of course you do like we do and get Park Hopper passes and a rental car.
4. Your 8 year old will definitely not be happy with the child menu. It is generally pretty bad, the one real downside to the DP.

I would recommend you pick a few TS restaurants you would like to try and book them in advance. For the rest, there are plenty of CS options. I would recommend a character meal like Crystal Palace or Chef Mickey and a place like 'Ohana. All have the advantage of not being in a park and consequently not tied to which day you are going to which park.

 

[Sagginit]

use several tour books and websites for an unbiased view of the world.
pick parks for each day and then pick restaurants in each park.
dont panic if you dont get what you want right away, go with the flow and you may get better times.
i used a pen and paper to make a rough spreadsheet on paper and plugged in the ADR #s to keep track of meals, i also made a rough map on paper of the parks and resorts, and all the restaurants we wanted to eat at. most were in epcot so we planned more meal times around epcot and the visual helped me to take into consideration how far we would be going for each meal.

as a newbie understand many people will be using the "unofficial guide" and tourguide mike. we found laminated touring plans hanging off strollers, well if everyone uses the same touring plan and crowd calender it defeats the purpose so go with your gut too. the least crowded day in the MK for us was supposed to be the one day everyone said to avoid, i was glad i ignored the books on that one.

 

[Disney*Dreaming]

as a newbie understand many people will be using the "unofficial guide" and tourguide mike. we found laminated touring plans hanging off strollers, well if everyone uses the same touring plan and crowd calender it defeats the purpose so go with your gut too. the least crowded day in the MK for us was supposed to be the one day everyone said to avoid, i was glad i ignored the books on that one.

That's a good point too. I'm so glad I found this forum.

 

[Disney*Dreaming]

My husband really wants the deluxe plan, I would be fine with just the regular one, because I don't want to spend all my time eating, but it's not just my vacation, so everyone needs to be happy. I'm also hoping that since it will be May, crowds both in the parks and at restaurants themselves will hopefully be low. My kids love eating out, probably because we rarely do it, so I guess I can just look at meal time as a nice break to sit and relax for a bit, before we get back out there.
Gosh I am so excited about this, I doubt that really translates well through my typed posts, but I am over the moon, just confused about getting it all organised. I wish I had the skills that you all seem to have.

 

[Chopair1]

do you want to jump parks on the same day? I have done both and made up our mind too much time and energy is lost doing two parks in a day.

getting a reservation to enter the park before it opens is too cool. You see the parks almost empty like its just open for you. If you want to see something truly cool be in a park at the rope drop and see the hordes of people from the other side of the rope.

Book early as in early in the morning on the earliest day you can. Try to press your luck and call before you think you can and see if you can get that reservation you just have to have.

Make plenty of time between meals so your hungry when you get to your table. Nothing says value like eating the food your paying for!

Restaurant revues are nice but just like movie critics just because they like/dislike something does not guarantee you will feel the same way.

 

[dvcdisney]

My husband really wants the deluxe plan, I would be fine with just the regular one, because I don't want to spend all my time eating, but it's not just my vacation, so everyone needs to be happy. I'm also hoping that since it will be May, crowds both in the parks and at restaurants themselves will hopefully be low. My kids love eating out, probably because we rarely do it, so I guess I can just look at meal time as a nice break to sit and relax for a bit, before we get back out there.
Gosh I am so excited about this, I doubt that really translates well through my typed posts, but I am over the moon, just confused about getting it all organised. I wish I had the skills that you all seem to have.

I am in no way steering you away from the DxDDP. I just thought I would share my experience. I find that the food is too much and the time it takes to have 3 sit down meals takes up a lot of time away from the parks. Since it's your first time, you will probably be very eager to do all the rides and shows. Each meal will take at least 1-2 hours depending on which restaurant and how efficiently you are served and how quickly you eat. My children love to eat, but found that taking time to eat that long for each meal was taking a toll on them. By the fourth or fifth day, they started complaining about eating again.

Needless to say, we didn't do that again. The basic DDP is still a lot of food, but I think it was more manageable.

However, if you do decide to get the DxDDP and you don't want to eat at TS restaurants 3 times a day, you could book 2 TS credit ADRS such as CRT or Brown Derby or the Spirit of Aloha etc. So, you'll only have to book 2 ADRs for those days.

Good Luck. And remember, the first time planning is overwhelming for everyone. This is a good place to get some info. Most are very helpful and even after many trips, I still learn a lot from here.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

For us the deluxe plan works out well eating a late breakfast at a one table service restaurant and eating dinner at a Signature restaurant. That way you are eating at 2 restaurants a day and using all of your dining credits. The food at Signature restaurants is AMAZING!