Ive been planning WDW trips for many years now, and I know from past experience that dining reservations, in whatever form the Disney food deities have chosen in any given year, are a GOOD thing. In years past, I worked out a park itinerary about 120 days out and made my Priority Seating arrangements around the 90 day mark.
Good thing I found the DIS. Cause, as it turns out, there is no such thing as Priority Seating anymore. There are Advanced Dining Reservations, which, freakishly enough, are identical to the outdated Priority Seating system. Dont ya just love the Disney Marketing Machine?
But the critical information I received from the DIS was this: forget 90 days, I now have to make some decisions
180 days in advance! AND, thanks to the Dining Plan, in which we are not participants, the DIS tells me I really must get a move-on and make those ADRs as close to that 180th day as possible.
And, that day has already passed.
Will I be doomed to a vacation spent in the bowels of the resort food courts? Shall Leo miss the opportunity to squish his mac&cheese covered hands into the head of his favorite dining characters? Will DM and I ever get close to an adult beverage?? Not on your life. Time to get crackin missy.
I cant just call and make a bunch of ADRs willy-nilly-like with no ideas as to where we ought to be each day that would go against all of my rigorous Unofficial Guide training. So I must gather my data and at least figure out which parks well visit each day. Time to consult with Obi Bob
(thanks again to TwinkieMama for coining the name!). This actually turns out to be fairly easy. Obi Bob tells me which parks to hit and which to avoid each day, and POOF!
Ive got a working plan.
Now, the decisions get a bit more tricky. DM, if youll recall, is not a big fan of noise and crowds. While on vacation, Leo will only eat items in the beige food family: mac&cheese, nuggets, fries, applesauce. I love any occasion when someone else is responsible for the preparation, delivery and clean-up of a meal and I like an interesting atmosphere. So, after a perusal of menus at All Ears Net and carefully considering the ability of each restaurant to keep Leo occupied while we eat, I settle on the Preferred Eating Establishments List:
Sci Fi Dine-In
Garden Grill
Liberty Tree Tavern
Ohana
Kona Café
(Remember I still thought wed be at the Poly, right?)
I called with my list and preferred times 11:30 lunches and 5:30 dinners and hoped for the best.
Guess what?
I got them ALL!!!
Now, you dont really think that was the end of the food planning, did you? No sireee. LOTS of time left before our trip to move things around.
I canceled the Sci Fi dinner and made a new one for lunch. I canceled that and made it for dinner on another day.
I canceled the Garden Grill dinner and made one for lunch on another day.
I canceled LTT and made one there in Sept. I canceled that and made it for Dec. again.
I canceled Kona and made one for Grand Floridian Café. I canceled that, too.
I heard from other DISers how wonderful Boma was, so I canceled Ohana and made an ADR for Boma.
I made one for lunch at Rose & Crown. I may or may not have canceled it. I cant remember. But we wont be eating there.
Im pretty sure the folks at the Disney Travel Co. have me flagged as a Troublemaker of Highest Degree. BUT, guess what? Again
.
I got everything I wanted at the times I wanted!!! And the official line-up is (drum roll please)
.
Sci Fi dinner
LTT lunch
Boma dinner
Garden Grill lunch
Those babies are written in stone; there shall be no further changes to them. But I can still make more
Up next: To brave Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party or not??
He won't even get into ours at home now. The water temp's 75. Seriously.
You know it!
Thanks for joining in the craziness! I'm looking forward to continuing your Pre-Trippie, too 
See, with all the recent celebrity postings on the DIS, lots of folks were excited to see their special celebrity loves. Not so much me. Until Tim Gunn showed up, I was pretty unimpressed with the celebrity showings and was hoping for an appearance from Jim!
But I'm sooooo glad it's not just me doing stuff like this!!!
Oh no...make the voices stop!!!!
and welcome! no, no I understand completely - I once considered moving to another state but couldn't beare to leave my proximity to WDW! 
