Need help with dining , please.

[Dixie501]

I am at a lost when it comes to planning our dining. We are going April 28-May 4 and we added the dining plan. How do you plan where you will eat when ? and how do you cancel if you change your mind so you will not be charged the $ 10 per person ? This is our first trip and I'm so excited but at a loss at the same time.

 

[Havana]

To maximize our vacation time, we eat at the park/hotel we will be near for lunch or dinner. Making a spreadsheet with park hours helps to determine where you want to be on each day. It does take some time to get it sorted out, but will save you a lot of time when you are at WDW, especially if you are relying on Disney transportation.

 

[pepe of ohio]

To maximize our vacation time, we eat at the park/hotel we will be near for lunch or dinner. Making a spreadsheet with park hours helps to determine where you want to be on each day. It does take some time to get it sorted out, but will save you a lot of time when you are at WDW, especially if you are relying on Disney transportation.

I agree with this...we use Disney transportation and even though we don't do dining plan and very few ADR's.....we know what foods we like in parks....and can be there and eat....as for resorts...we don't bother much traveling to resorts to eat...we usually stay at the WL, and their restaurants, plus boating to FW and CR gives us ample dining with very little travel.....we eat what we're close to.....we're not foodies and TS meals don't interest us much...no matter where you're at..there's food but if you have certain places you "have " to eat....do it while you're in the area.....not chasing all over to eat..

 

[tzolkin]

Definitely make a spreadsheet with the park hours.
(I always do it even if we're not doing dining)

We always get park hoppers, so we just plan what we're going to do for part of each day (ex. morning EMH at MK or Illuminations at Epcot). Then we're free to go to another park or do whatever the kids are in the mood for the rest of the day.


We did 4 meals at resorts last trip (2 at Grand Floridian, 1 at Polynesian, and 1 at Contemporary). We planned these all for days we were also going to go to MK. It was very easy to take either a boat or the monorail to all of these resorts and just as easy to return to MK if we wanted to after dinner.

 

[MHSweb79]

To simplify: You need to know which parks you'll be in on which days in order to make your dining plans.

You can access park hours on this site (or Disney's site, or Easywdw.com). Decide whether you are going to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours for Disney resort guests - this alone will steer you to most of your park days. If you're staying off-site OR do not have park hoppers, I highly recommend the park recommendations on the calendars at Easywdw.com - he advises avoiding all EMH. (Off-site guests cannot use EMH and without park hoppers, you would find yourself stuck in a very crowded park for the entire day. We arrive for morning EMH then hop to a different park for the afternoon -works great.)

Are particular parades or entertainment important? You'll need to note which days they are offered.

Once you get an idea of where you'll be, then choose restaurants that are either in that park or at nearby resorts. So if you'll be in MK on Tuesday, you could eat at MK or the Contemporary, Grand Floridian or Polynesian. If you're in Epcot or the Studios, you could eat in those parks or at the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht/ Beach Club or Boardwalk. At Animal Kingdom? You can eat there or at the Rainforest Cafe, which is just outside the gates. If you're ending your park day early, then you could eat dinner at Downtown Disney.

I would do this ASAP as dining reservations tend to go quickly. With a park day/ plan made well ahead of time, you should not need to cancel your ADR's at the very last minute.

 

[ToddyLu]

You need to start with park hours, EMH days and think about what days you will want to eat in EPCOT due to weekends being busy that time of year for F&W. So if you want to eat at Coral Reef on a Friday night--you need to go ahead and do it because folks will be coming in for the weekend and Friday night will be busy.

I would be happy to send you a sample of my spreadsheet for our last two trips, if you think it will help. They are excel. Just send me a PM....and then if you have questions about why certain days or times you can just ask.

 

[MHSweb79]

Did we scare off the OP? Come back - we're not insane, we're just trying to help!!!!

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify that the F&W (Food & Wine Festival) is in the fall; the Flower & Garden Festival is in the spring. Both events will draw extra visitors to the Epcot-area restaurants.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I am at a lost when it comes to planning our dining. We are going April 28-May 4 and we added the dining plan. How do you plan where you will eat when ? and how do you cancel if you change your mind so you will not be charged the $ 10 per person ? This is our first trip and I'm so excited but at a loss at the same time.

You don't need a spread sheet, just need to know which parks you will be at on which days.

I never recommend the hopper ticket option to people who are new to touring Disney, you don't need it. I would recommend 5 to 6 park days for a first visit - 2 days MK, 2 days Epcot, 1 day Ak and 1 day DHS. If you are staying on-site, you don't really need your car, the Disney transporation is good, especially with it being your first time and not being familiar with Disney property. I'd also recommend either dropping the day at Universal, or at least adding one other day to WDW.

Pick up a copy of The Unoffical Guide to Walt Disney World and check out their companion website, www.touringplans.com. I use their crowd/best days calendar to plan all our park days and then once I know which park we will be in on which days I can make my Advance Dining Reservations around those parks or in resorts close to those parks. I highly recommend the Basic Disney Dining Plan if your party is going to eat at least one sit down/table service/character meal per day. ADRs open up 180 days before your check-in date.

These are tips I give to anyone new to touring WDW:

1. Make sure you have Advance Dining Reservations as a lot of table service restaurants do not take walk-ups or busy crowd seasons or during free dining promos. A number of the character meals and popular restauratants will already be booked up or have limited availability.

2. Get to the parks at opening. You really can get a lot done in the morning because so many other people sleep in.

3. Eat lunch around 11:00 or 11:30 a.m. before the fast food places get busy. Then when while everyone else is eating lunch, you will have lower crowds.

4. I buy a ton of the two for a dollar ponchos at the dollar store and keep them in the backpack. That way you can throw them a way after use and not worry about keeping up with a wet bulky poncho the rest of the day. Bring throw away ponchos to wear on Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom, if not you WILL get soaked.

5. Other things I put in the backpack each morning are Tylenol/Motrin, small first aid kit, camera with extra batteries, small hand towel, hand sanitizer, wipes and a bottle of water.

6. Most single service items under $4.00 are considered a snack credit on the dining plan. A Turkey Leg is NOT a snack credit.

7. At Magic Kingdom always head to Fantasyland first, if you are not doing Fantasyland on a particular day then head to Splash Mountain first, then Big Thunder Mountain; at Epcot always ride Soarin' first and get a Fastpass for later after you get off of the ride; at Disney Hollywood Studios always ride Toy Story Mania first, then head over to Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror; and at Animal Kingdom ride Expedition Everest First then head to the Safari.

8. Favorite fast food restaurants at MK are Pecos Bills and Cosmic Rays; favorite fast food at Animal Kingdom is Flame Tree Grill and Pizzafari. If you are there while it very hot, go to Pizzafari.

9. If there are two lines going into an attraction, always take the line that goes to the left.

10. My best tip would have to be USE THE FASTPASS SYSTEM. Our rule of thumb is if the wait is 25 minutes or less, we wait in line. If the wait is 30 minutes or more, use a Fastpass. It is not highly publicized, but your Fastpass does not expire until the end of the day. You can never use it before the return time stamp on the pass, but you can always use it after. We try to collect Fastpasses during the early part of the day and then use them later in the afternoon when the parks become more crowded.

Click on this link and it will give you an excellent overview of Fastpass. It is from Doconeil here on the Disboards and super helpful:

http://www.oinc.net/disney/fastpass.php

If you still don't understand, just let me know your specific questions.

11. I like the Photopass. You can pre-buy it before your trip for $99.00. When you enter the parks you will see the staff photographers, they will take your pictures and give you a Photopass and you can use that for the rest of your trip. Each time you see a photographer have them take your picture and they will scan your picture. Then when you get home you can pull up the pictures, with the code they email you after purchase, and pick the photos you want on a CD. They will then mail you the CD and the copyrights to the CD and you can take them to Walmart or Walgreens or wherever and get them developed. They also have a lot of cool software that you can use to edit your photos before you have them put on the CD.

My favorite Disney planning sites are:

www.disboards.com
www.allearsnet.com
www.wdwinfo.com
www.intercot.com

 

[Dixie501]

Thanks for all the information. My father in law passed away and so I just had a minute to check the boards. We have to go out of town for his services so hopefully when we get back I will have time to read through all of your great information and get my planning finished. Thanks again Dixie

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Oh, so sorry to hear that! And so sorry for your loss.

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

So sorry for your loss. I can't imagine what you must be going through.

That being said, PrincessTiffany and I usually are on the same page. We think alike! I agree with her entire post, except we prefer to sleep in and stay late at the parks. I think late night EMH is amazing. We are night owls though.

What I do to determine how many times we will be in each park is to first decide what are my must do restaurants.

We made a list like this:

Cinderella's Royal Table MK
O'Hana at the Polynesian near MK
50's Prime Time HS
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater (not a must do, but a maybe) HS
Fantasmic Dinner Package at Mama Melrose HS
Teppan Edo EP
Akershus Princess Storybook Hour Breakfast EP
T-REX DTD (AND it was added to the DP!! Yay!!!)

So basically I know I need at least two days at MK, HS, and EPCOT. I am not eating at AK, but we will go to DTD that day after park close, so I have a day set aside for AK and DTD. The next thing I do is consult touringplans.com to see crowd levels and predicted park hours so I know when the best time to assign those park days will be. Then I know that on one MK day (probably CRT day) I will make the BBB appointments, and on the other we will do MNSSHP. I also know that the day I eat at MM, I will be seeing Fantasmic. From there it is super easy. If I have bonus days I can change up my ADR's or add more, like Sci-Fi b/c it isn't a must do. We do at least two days for every park but AK. My mom and I would kill each other if we had two days at AK together, just take a look at my pre-trip title!!!

I have not done Cosmic Ray's for CS, but we ate at Pecos Bill's several times last trip b/c of the toppings bar. It was so easy to share our dining entitlements (can't share TS, only CS) so we could stretch them further. The toppings are fantastic when we buy a wrap and share it, then pile on the pickles and such! Yum!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

That being said, PrincessTiffany and I usually are on the same page. We think alike! I agree with her entire post, except we prefer to sleep in and stay late at the parks. I think late night EMH is amazing. We are night owls though.

Well you know what they say, "Great minds think alike!"

 

[LovesTimone]

So sorry about your loss.

When I start my planing, I take into the plan who is going, I say this because DH and I tour much differently when it's just us ~vs~ with the DD's when they were growing up ( small children,middle school and teenage years as they grow up so do what they want to do.),~vs~ when we travel with family and friends for a celebration and now that my my Dd's are both grown up we will be traveling next year, with DD and DH and grandchildren so the pace and what we do will be completely different. With that said what and where you eat comes into play.

We prefer DDXDP, it works for our family, even when the kids were small with all the character meal $$$, it works for us.

I make a list of any special celebrations.. and where the person of honor wants to eat. And any special request a day at the water park, star wars, whatever... and I do ask where do you want ot eat. We have our favorites, so I try to have a mix of some fav's and new place's to try.

Then I check the park hours, and note any special happenings, ie: food and wine, flower festival, whatever. Take down parade and firework times.

I map out the week what parks on what days , and where are we going to be at night. We take a break mid-day to rest, lay by the pool, and get out of the heat in the summer. The parks are open late so a mid day rest works for us. Then I just dive in so to speak. When making ADR's make sure you have a back up choice if the restaurant you want is full, or if it is the one place you have to dine, try other days, and times. Then you will have to rethink other plans.

It is a lot of work, but well worth it... I say this because my family just say what are we doing today, I give then the run down and we are off. They have no idea how many hours I spend making sure that everything is perfect.. but when they say WOW mom this is a great trip , or we are having so much fun, or we are all eating together and everyone is talking and laughing...... priceless

Have a magical journey