Itinerary Suggestions Anyone?

[jennwndrlnd]

I posted this on another thread but was told I might get some good recommendations by posting on this one.

Our extended family will be going to DW from 8/30 to 9/6, we are staying at POFQ the duration of the trip. We are attempting to split up tables for dinner as much as possible to save some money on the gratuities for one in our party (and the rest of us will be discretely helping out), and are using the free dining plan. Any suggestions would be great as far as things we should do (one person in our group will be turning 70 on this trip, another will be 58, and another 14) so that should be kept in mind as far as time/walking/etc... We aren't going to be together the entire 7 days however, although we are going into the parks together and have some planned dinners with each other.

The trip includes a five year old girl, 2-39 year olds, a 37 year old and her dd11 and ds12, along with the above mentioned 3 bday people.

DAY 1-late arrival for some
MK dinner planned at the Crystal Palace

DAY 2-
MK EMH, staying for Spectro and Wishes
CS- Columbia Harbor House
TS- The Wave (trying to get Ohana but as of now completely booked)

DAY 3-
DHS EMH, staying for Fantasmic
TS- Hollywood and Vine
Willing to change that meal for recommendations of a better place, and also looking for CS suggestions.

DAY 4-
AK
TS- 1900 PF Cinderella dinner and most likely heading to DTD afterwards
Again, any suggestions for CS?

DAY 5-
Epcot, staying for Illuminations
CS- Tangerine Cafe
TS- Princess Dinner in Norway

DAY 6-
Epcot
CS- Sunshine Seasons
TS- Coral Reef

DAY 7-
MK, they are closing early this night (7 p.m.) but had to switch this day and day 5 since we couldn't get into CR except on Thursday.
CS- Cosmic Rays ??
TS- Chef Mickeys
DTD afterwards?

Day 8-
leaving early

I would love to get over to DisneyQuest at some point for ds14, and also to the Bippity Boppity Boutique for dd5 and take her to the Wonderland Tea Party, but I don't know where to put it in (day 5???). We are a park heavy family and *sigh* don't get into the parks until around 10 with 9 being the earliest. We stay up too late, usually not leaving parks until closing and then we can't get moving in the morning. Any recommendations would be great, and we are also looking for something special to do for the 3 bday people without breaking the bank.

 

[squirrel]

Coral Reef - personalized menus and you can try to get a diver. They are free.

 

[janloz]

Substitute 50's PT for Hollywood and Vine.

Flame Tree is good CS in AK.

Be sure to tell hotel that you are celebrating bdays. When we went in 2006 for DH and DD bdays, they left balloons in room with signed photo from favorite characters for free. Call ahead and remind day before bday. Also have bdays added to ADRs and remind at check in.

 

[septbaby]

Substitute 50's PT for Hollywood and Vine.

I would keep H&V and book the Fantasmic package. We ate there, had the pkg and enjoyed our meal/meal experience. Especially with a group of your size, age range and the fact that you've planned a long DHS day the perk is worth it.

I'm sorry that you don't feel the WDW servers are worth an 18% Gratuity, even with Free Dining.

 

[KatMark]

I agree with one of the previous posters. I would switch H&V to Prime Time or anything other than H&V. After two bad experiences there, we would not recommend to anyone. If you are doing Fantasmic package, try to get Mama Melrose or Brown Derby (although Brown Derby is 2 table service and we weren't that fond of it either).

I would try to make rope drop or at least extra magic hours one or two of your days. You will be amazed how much you can do in that one hour extra in the morning.

 

[jennwndrlnd]

Thanks for the suggestions!

And septbaby- I do feel that most of the servers are very deserving of 18%, but as I discussed in another thread we have a single mom with two kids coming along with us and have been asked to make shortcuts for her wherever we can. Three percent is a very small cut, but it is the difference between her children picking up a couple of souvenirs or not. I don't want to get into exact specifics about it, but believe me we are doing all we can to help her with this trip since it could be a once in a lifetime thing for her to do with her children.

 

[septbaby]

You don't have to justify your choices to me. Go and make it magical!

 

[jennwndrlnd]

I am going to change the H&V ressies to someplace else since I've read some not so stellar reviews in the past couple of days. Mama's is booked full so I'm considering Sci-Fi because we don't want to leave the park.

I've booked BBB for Monday morning and we DH is going to take DS to Quest while I am having DD "princessified".

Still haven't booked the tea, but we have decided to change it to the afternoon tea at GF instead of DD just going to the Wonderland Tea.

I believe we are going to try to get into Yak and Yeti one night also. The reviews I've read for The Wave haven't been very good so that makes me nervous.

 

[DrDeb]

sorry but i have to defend H&V never had a bad meal there and i like the Fantasmic pkg--

 

[septbaby]

I am going to change the H&V ressies to someplace else since I've read some not so stellar reviews in the past couple of days. Mama's is booked full so I'm considering Sci-Fi because we don't want to leave the park.

Definitely change H&V if you really want to. However, you'll get "not so stellar reviews/comments on Sci-Fi, Mama Melrose...you get my point. Narcoossee's is AWESOME and you'll find bad comments about that place too. If you want FP and 1TS you have two choices, if one is booked full then you have one choice. If you give up the package certainly you have more dining options, including CS.

With the 70 yo, I just think the FP is ideal. In my family they'll either whine you silly or have enough health concerns that I wouldn't want to be in line with them for 30-60 mins! (a line where you aren't supposed to leave or hold spots in).

 

[DiszyDean]

Not to turn this into a tipping thread but it is pretty discouraging to hear that the server is deserving of an 18% tip but we will tip them less in order to save money for souveniers. Basically what you are saying is, let the server pay for my souveniers. I would say that you should tip as you normally would and budget accordingly.

 

[jennwndrlnd]

Not to turn this into a tipping thread but it is pretty discouraging to hear that the server is deserving of an 18% tip but we will tip them less in order to save money for souveniers. Basically what you are saying is, let the server pay for my souveniers. I would say that you should tip as you normally would and budget accordingly.

Most of us will be doing that, and we've already discussed picking up where the one party will be leaving off. So no, basically what I am saying is that my family will be paying for their souvenirs without embarrassing her to do so. (BTW what did the servers do last year when tip was included with the free dining plan? How many times did you lay down extra money for gratuity when you felt they deserved more? We certainly did more than once, but when we were ignored after telling them we were on the free plan we mentioned it to the manager and left it at that.) It goes a bit deeper however, I don't know if you've ever spent a week vaca with your in-laws at Disney but this is what our families are going to be doing. We definitely need that time apart seeing how everyone is already talking about not splitting up during the day- which is something my family can't fathom since we've already been told that several people will not ride any coasters or anything that "jostles" them. We also have the youngest child, and another with an Autism spectrum disorder, so dinner will be a time for us to regroup as a family and talk to them about any issues they have had during the day, etc...

I appreciate the input on H&V and am glad to know that some of you have had decent meals there, although the recent TR's have been pretty bad. The park seems to be booked up at this point. We weren't able to get the FP in the first place, which is why I figured it isn't going to hurt to switch restaurants if we are able.

 

[LeesyUD]

Not to turn this into a tipping thread but it is pretty discouraging to hear that the server is deserving of an 18% tip but we will tip them less in order to save money for souveniers. Basically what you are saying is, let the server pay for my souveniers. I would say that you should tip as you normally would and budget accordingly.

I agree - if you have a $100 bill in a restaurant and tip less (3%) to save money, you are only saving $3.00. Even if you have that high of a bill every day, over 7 days that is only a difference of $21. If she has a few children that is not going to go very far. I also think that tipping a server less to save for things for souvenirs is discouraging. And to be honest it distracted me from reading the rest of the post in a way bc I became so bewilder by it. Especially if the server has worked very hard. I would recommend to the people that need to save that money to cut out one of the sitdown meals and do an extra counter service. I think maybe they should consider budgeting in other ways. Or let the other people at the table chip in a little extra to make up for that person that does not have as much money.

I do have a suggestion for a counter service on day 4, and that is to take the bus over to AKL and have lunch at the Mara. It is only a 5 minute ride and might be a nice afternoon break. I loved eating there when we stayed at AKL. They have things that everyone would like plus some very different options. And you could spend a few minutes checking out the animals there.

Also if you are looking for a CS at DS I would recommend pizza planet. I personally think it is the best CS at DS.

 

[jennwndrlnd]

Or let the other people at the table chip in a little extra to make up for that person that does not have as much money.

That is exactly what we are going to be doing if need be as I said in the post above yours. I will be upfront here and say that I am bewildered that the situation has people that, not knowing the entire situation, seem to zone in on that one tidbit. Disney is not a vacation everyone can afford so they don't go. This trip is being paid for by the family for this person and her children, all she was asked to help with are tips and anything extra (Quest, teas, parties, souvenirs, etc...) that she might choose. She is trying to work extra shifts to cover those things but yes will most likely only be able to leave 15% per TS. When did 15% become insulting? Especially for a meal that is over-inflated most of the time in the first place. Flame away if you like, but you have to admit that not every single mom with two pre-teens is out eating $60 meals for 7 evenings and comfortably paying for that and leaving an $11 tip. If laying out $21 over the course of our trip will help her out then of course that is what we will do, there is a simple way to do that without embarrassing her and also have individual time with our immediate family units and that was to book separate ressies. I do appreciate the itinerary suggestions.

 

[jennwndrlnd]

Coral Reef - personalized menus and you can try to get a diver. They are free.

Great idea! I did call about this over a week ago and haven't had a response. I probably didn't leave enough info (after reading a thread about it) so I will give them another call. Crossing my fingers that this works out!