how many know before you go.....

[geniegirl]

Maybe I am the only one who does not plan out each meal.

I have a few places that we want to eat at but have not selected a day or time. We dont even know what park we are going to on any day - just want to go with the flow and it also depends on whos doing what that day. My partner is really a fly by the seat of your pants type of girl and I love to plan - Type A - but for vacation I try to lighten up a bit and do whate ever. We have the opt to go in anywhere between 4-7 days so I'm not going to push it all into a day if I dont want to.

 

[disney queen]

hhhmmm........good question and point, steve. i am one of those planners. we usually have one sit-down a day such as california grill or maybe artist point. also, special events such as lunch/dinner w/the imagineer at brown derby needs to be booked beforehand. we really don't plan around meals; we just look where we will be and determine if we want a sit-down in the park or just counter service. one day we have lunch at the plaza in MK and then later in the afternoon over to beaches and cream for ice cream delights! not everyone is a planner; some like to "fly by the seat of their pants." that's what makes everyone's ideas beneficial. we can always pick up a tip or idea from each other. isn't disney great--caters to everyone!

 

[crazywig]

we do a sit down dinner every night. on our next trip we are doing 2 sit down breakfast as well.

we make our ps's well in advance, there are certain restaurants i must eat at (ohana) and i would be very disappointed if i couldn't get in.

yes, we plan our park hopping months in advance. we generally go with EE parks every morning, and hop later on to whatever park we are eating at (or park closest to resort we have a ps at) so we do plan around our dinners.

this year our son will be 2 so all plans could fly out the window

 

[marmar]

My husband is always afraid that I will "over commando" and forget to feed him. He and DD turn into grumpy bears if they are not fed on schedule. So I ALWAYS make PS's for every dinner. That way he knows he will be fed that day. After I book the flight & resort, we sit down as a family and plot meals. Selection is based on which park we will likely be at. However, we are notorious Hoppers so moving around between parks does not bother us. We also stay either at the Poly or Yacht/Beach club so getting someplace for meals is EASY.


I always pick at least one place we've never eaten before. Next week it's BOMA. We have many favorites we return to, but I don't think there is one place we visit EVERY trip. I think the most visited is LeCellier (5), followed by Liberty Tree(4) -favorite Character meal, and Norway's Akerhus (4).

 

[mrslane]

Originally posted by StuartMI
Yup. DW often tells me I plan a military schedule instead of a vacation!

My DH says the same! I LOVE to plan every aspect of dining to the point of printing menus for DH to look at weeks before the trip. We prefer sit-down places for L/D.

 

[CamColt]

LOL, mrslane. I showed up at a soccer game last weekend with a couple of menus for my mother too look at because that morning we were unable to get the PS that we were calling for.

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Originally posted by tiggersmom2
I plan my vacation around eating! I plan which restaurants I will visit and coordinate my park visits accordingly.

We do the exact same thing! How funny

BTW only 2 more days until we are in THE WORLD!!!!

 

[lissawynn]

I think one of the best parts about visiting WDW is trying new places to eat and making sure we have a PS for our favorites.
Since our honeymoon in 2002 was my first "adult" trip to the world, DH and I tried several great places. We also ate at some places we wouldn't visit again. On our last trip, we found more great places we'll be returning to in the future.
I will always make a PS for the California Grill on all of our future trips. Must dos for our next trip are Jiko and Flying Fish. I'd also like to try something at GF.

 

[onecoolmama]

Absolutely! I plan where I am going to eat based on the menus and I know what I am going to eat when I get to the restaurant.

I am extremely picky and my kids are just as bad. So I sit down with the menus and my DH and we decide what everyone will eat and the day and park.

It is actually easy for us to know the parks we are going to. We look at the EMH and plan off of that. I plan the small meals to the sit down meals becuase I really am that picky and I want to make sure I am somewhere I will eat.

You are not alone. I know my restaurant, meal, drink and dessert before I walk into a restaurant and I generally dont stray from it.

 

[disney4us2002]

DisneySteve, my question back to you would be how do you NOT plan your days and meals? I'm serious, not sarcastic here. How many travel in your party? We are a family of five (mom, dad, 3 boys) and no kidding if I didn't plan the days and meals, we would still be discussing what to do, where to go, and what to eat well after noon. I don't know if you've ever been to a beach resort, but imagine blocks and blocks with tons of restaurants. We have been known to drive from one end to the next and turn around before finally picking a place for dinner. A few vacations like that and you begin to value overplanning. Hubby and the kids actually are relieved that all the choices are made for them.

My hubby teases and calls me drill sergeant and says our Disney trips are 'boot camp' but without any plans, the 4 of them would just look at me and go "Welll? Now what?" I know where we'll be so I can decide what type of tickets we need. We plan PS's because we might use meal vouchers for a few of them and I want an idea of cost so I look over the menus. A place like Disney has just too many things to miss without doing research.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by disney4us2002
DisneySteve, my question back to you would be how do you NOT plan your days and meals? How many travel in your party?

I don't know if you've ever been to a beach resort, but imagine blocks and blocks with tons of restaurants. We have been known to drive from one end to the next and turn around before finally picking a place for dinner.

We plan PS's because we might use meal vouchers for a few of them and I want an idea of cost so I look over the menus. A place like Disney has just too many things to miss without doing research.

We are 3-6 people depending on who joins us. DW, DD and I plus either or both grandmothers and sometimes my cousin. I totally agree with your last sentence above - you have to research your trip and know your way around. I've been to Disney 22 times. My 8 yo DD has been 11 times. We know our way around quite well. We don't need to look over menus to know if a place has what we like or if it is in our price range, so we don't need to pre-plan in that sense.

On other trips (non-Disney), we have certainly done exactly what you describe with the beach resort. But at Disney we know where all the restaurants are and what they each serve.

We don't pre-plan which park to do each day because it depends on lots of stuff. We generally decide the nite before which park we will visit the next day, or if we will skip the parks and do something else. One day we may enter a park with the intent of staying there all day, but mid-day change our mind and go somewhere else. Or if we're getting tired, go back to our hotel and pick up a pizza. Other days, we may have a big lunch and not be that hungry the rest of the day so not really do a dinner - just get some snacks. We like to go with the flow. Trust me - we've never starved at WDW. If there was an absolute must on our list, I'd make a PS, but we are fortunate enough to be able to go once a year (sometimes twice), so if we don't get to a particular restaurant on one trip, we just try and hit it the next time. Also, we only visit WDW off-season so getting into the places we want to eat isn't usually a problem.

 

[disney queen]

wow!! you all are really like me! we do take advantage of EE and park hop maybe for lunch or dinner. i agree there is so much to do and see at wdw and it is such a huge place that i feel like we need some sort of a plan of attack.

 

[BCV23]

We always plan our meals. Certainly a big part of the fun for us. I often know what I will order too although sometimes I'm determined to try something new.

We actually avoid EMH days though so the new plan has me in a quandry.

We also never stay in a park all day. Sometimes we hop to a new park in the evening and other nights we enjoy a resort restaurant. But by lunch or shortly thereafter we're always out of our morning park!

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Originally posted by disney4us2002
DisneySteve, my question back to you would be how do you NOT plan your days and meals? I'm serious, not sarcastic here. How many travel in your party? We are a family of five (mom, dad, 3 boys) and no kidding if I didn't plan the days and meals, we would still be discussing what to do, where to go, and what to eat well after noon. I don't know if you've ever been to a beach resort, but imagine blocks and blocks with tons of restaurants. We have been known to drive from one end to the next and turn around before finally picking a place for dinner. A few vacations like that and you begin to value overplanning. Hubby and the kids actually are relieved that all the choices are made for them.

My hubby teases and calls me drill sergeant and says our Disney trips are 'boot camp' but without any plans, the 4 of them would just look at me and go "Welll? Now what?" I know where we'll be so I can decide what type of tickets we need. We plan PS's because we might use meal vouchers for a few of them and I want an idea of cost so I look over the menus. A place like Disney has just too many things to miss without doing research.

This made me laugh, so like our family!! They all joke about my planning out the parks, restaurants, etc. but once we're there, all look at me and wait to be pointed to the next thing!!

DD(14) and I are the only Disney-goers at the moment, so we get to do whatever we want, and what we want is to plan our whole trip around the restaurants!! We usually get the park hours, use the EMH mornings as a guide, but generally, we hop from the EMH park to another park or resort for lunch. We always have dinner planned, and try to decide before we go what to order, but they change the menu quite frequently at our favorites, so sometimes we change.

We don't find this too restrictive, at all. If we eat a big lunch, and are too full for dinner, we just cancel our PS (this rarely ever happens!) More often, we skip our PS for lunch, and go to the one for dinner. Sometimes, if we change our mind about which park to visit the next day due to unforeseen circumstance (weather, etc.) we just call from the resort and change our PS. But, we definitely DO make our plans around where we want to eat, no doubt about it!!

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by k&a&c'smom
we definitely DO make our plans around where we want to eat, no doubt about it!!

I guess this is where we differ. We eat to live, not live to eat. We don't plan where to be based on where we want to eat. We choose our meals based on where we happen to be. So if we are in MK, then we'll decide which MK restaurant we want. But we won't go to MK specifically for a meal at a certain place.

Certainly, if pre-planning works for you and your family, go for it. But just realize that it doesn't work for everyone. Some of us prefer to go without PS's in advance and we still manage to eat quite well at some of Disney's best. This probably works out for us partly because we visit off-season and getting into the restaurants isn't tough. If we were to go during Christmas week or some other peak time, our "go with the flow" method might not work so well.

 

[disney queen]

i agree w/disneysteve about doing whatever works best for the family/group going. i like to know what and where before we leave so i can make sure i have enough points to cover my meals. when it comes to meals/eating i am very on-task and no surprises. and we do usually take advantage of EE and then leave that park after lunch for either another park or back to the resort. lots of factors determine that. we have an agenda, but is it flexible, just the dining part usually isn't as flexible!

 

[onecoolmama]

Disney4us2002 -

I had an expirience like this once. My mom had planned a great trip for her and I to meet up with my brother in San Fransisco. I was 5-6 months pregnant and one day we must have walked the entire city!

It was like 9pm and we still hadnt eaten dinner. Finally, I got annoyed and said I had to eat. We must have wondered up and down streets for a half hour..every restaurant we came to, someone (me or my mom) wouldnt eat at. I was in tears by the time we fianlly did get to a restaurant. Decisions in my family come tough...either no one has an opinion or everyone does. From then on, everywhere I go, I research the places to eat and as much as possible the menus so that NEVER happens again!

 

[carone0318]

I plan on (1) PS per day, whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. I make the PS based on the park we will be in that day. I do not micromanage the rides I will ride or anything like that, but when you have small children, you need plans. Especially in WDW where most other people have small children and everyone wants to eat dinner at 5pm or breakfast at 8:30. I don't have to waste time going from one restaurant to another to see who has an opening, we go where our PS is and we are in. I also look at the menus and basically can guess what dh and I would eat and base my budget for that restaurant on those selections or I take the most expensive thing on the menu and plan for that, money wise. Everyone's style is different and it has nothing to do with "eat to live as opposed to live to eat." I am all the more happy for those who do not make PSs because it makes it easier for me to do so. To each his/her own....

 

[AreWeThereYet]

I ALWAYS plan but usually some event changes the plans and we don't get to do all the restaurants we (er...I) had planned on before leaving for the trip.

I like to make sure that I have dinners planned for at least a couple nights. We will only go to the parks a couple times this year so we will just do counter service those nights. Also, we are staying at the BCV so we can eat as many meals in the room as we like.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by carone0318
I make the PS based on the park we will be in that day.

So here's another question from a non-planner to you planners. How do you decide in advance what park you will do each day? I know that EMH comes into play if you are staying onsite. But other than that, how do you decide?

As I've said, we decide what to do each day based on a lot of factors including the weather, the crowds, our energy level, and other things that we couldn't possibly know in advance. Some trips we'll do a park every day. Other trips we'll do a park 4 days in a row then take a day off. Still other trips we'll do a park for 2 days then decide we need a break and stay out of the parks on the 3rd day. Its just not something we can know in advance.

If you plan out each day in advance, do you usually stick with that plan or do you find yourself changing the plan as you go during your trip?