Newbie and completely overwhelmed! Help...

[jillmb]

I have been lurking here for weeks and I am SOOOO overwhelmed by all of the info that's here! I have a few questions, I figured I'd post them here and hope for some replies...

We are a family of 5 looking to go end of September/Beg. of October. Of course want to take advantage of the FD. My biggest concern is how do I know where and when to book the ADR's? I have not been to Disney in over 20 years, have no idea about the restaurants, how do I know where we'll be that day and where and what time we will want to eat?? Also, how accurate are the ADR's, such as if I book at 6:00 dinner, is it really 6:00 or do we still have to wait on line? What if we're a few minutes late, do they cancel your reservation? I think I just hate the thought of having to be somehwere at a certain time, when I don't know what the day will bring, kwim??

Also, about the tickets....Is the park hopper the way to go or not worth the extra $? I want to add the water parks as well, so I know it will be a lot of $.

And where to you usually book your trip? In the past I have always booked things on my own, but since I am so clueless about Disney, I feel like I will miss something! Is it best to just book on the Disney website? Is that also called "Disney Travel" that's what someone recommended I do. Is it ok to just do it online or since I am so new should I call and speak with someone in case I miss something?

Ok, I think these are my main concerns! Any advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Jill in NJ

 

[Metro West]

 

[NedsTJ]

Welcome!
First of all....breathe....and again...let it out slowly. You've come to the right place, LOL. Ton's of info, thousands of posts...and what? you can't find what you're looking for? It can be overwhelming!

I'll help where I can...ADR's...I've always tried to arrive 10-15 minutes ahead of time. The few times I was late (10-15 minutes) it wasn't a problem for us, they sat us right away. Others might have had different experiences.

We try to plan 1 resie meal a day...seems to work best for us...and gives us the flexibility to do what we want. As for booking the ADR's...I've always called wdw dining in the past...this year (for our trip next week...woot!) we've made them online and we'll see how that goes.

Again, welcome to the dis!

 

[bobbie68]

Hi jillmb,

Welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I understand it can be overwhelming I will try to relieve some of the stress. I suggest you go to the dining section of this site, it has all the menus of the restaurants and the ones on the dining plan. This is what I used to see where we wanted to eat. It has great details of menus and prices. I would suggest if you don't want to do TS meals then book a value resort with QSDP plan. If you want to try the regular DP I would maybe do 1 TS a day. That is what we do.

We only go with the park hopper and water park option. You will hear different opinions to this. For us we like the benefit of being able to go to a different park if one is to busy, if our DD gets bored, it makes making dinner ressies easier. You have more options. We usually hop no more than 2 times day. We find it not that time consuming and it is fun.

Last year we started with the water park option and went to Blizzard Beach. We had the best time, we went twice and are going back this year again. Also, with this option you can play mini golf or go to Disney Quest, which is a big arcade at Downtown Disney.

As far as booking the trip. Honestly, I got fed up with travel agents. I like to control what I do and be able to change things as I want to. If you sit down and organize you will be fine. First pick a time of year, then choose your resort, pick out your ticket options and decide if you want the free dining plan being offered this fall. I would then call Disney with that information book what you want. You can find all the resorts and tickets options on Disney's site or on here. I never do the reservations on line, I call. However, I did do my dining ressies online this time.

I would be happy to help you, you can always send me a pm if you want.

Good luck Don't stress planning is half the fun.

 

[pepe of ohio]

Disney is not as overwhelming as some make it. We've done 43 trips and each trip got easier and easier.

Our take on WDW: We're not TS dining people, hate schedules and time tables so we don't bother with any dining plan. We enjoy breakfasts, and there's not much differences in them other than character ones which we're not interested in. Lunches, well we found that in the humid heat, eating 3 meals a day is a burden and way to much, especially with all the walking so we pack a picnic lunch and some drinks from our grocery stop and enjoy it at the pool during our mid-day break. We don't stay in the parks rope drop to close, gets way to hot and crowded and we enjoy the resort. Dinner: TS restaurants and Disney food are too expensive and over rated so we opt for different meals all over the property, say a meatball sandwich from POFQ, pulled pork from ESPN Club, maybe buffet from FW Trail's End.....meals are various and can be attained without an ADR quite easy. We never know where we'll be, what we are doing or how hungry we are so we skip the dining plans and ADR's.

We've always book by phone thru Disney CRO, we either use AAA discount or AP discount and book room only.....usually the better discount. Never used a TA, we want to be in control of our reservation and don't do on-line and rather call and get a knowledgeable CM and ask for deals and options....they have been quite helpful to us in the past. As for tickets, if we don't have AP's for the year, we'll go with the hoppers, so much easier to do the world, if one park is jammed, we hop to another and we like to break the day and 1/2 day at one park and 1/2 day at another, AK only takes a 1/2 day for us. As for the Water parks and more.......we never bother adding that. Our stays are 9-12 nights and we get as much enjoyment out of the free resort pool than trucking over to a water parks and waiting in huge line for a slide or 2, we've been there and done that and rather just do the pool at the resort but if we do fancy one day to hit one...cheaper to pay out of pocket for the one time and DQ is a waste..again usually packed with children and hard to get to a game. But, to each their own.

Disney can we very tiring, especially in the late summer and early fall heat and humidity and the parks can take the stamina out of the best...we don't plan alot but go with the flow and what our bodies dictate and just take Disney in little bites and relax and enjoy when we can, works for us.

 

[magicaldisney]

 

[jimmalru80]

Hello and welcome to the DIS!!

 

[emilyjason]

Welcome

This is Emily living in Van Nuys, I’m a furniture designer and love to make designs of youth furniture, occasional tables, reclining sofas, and stationary sofas.

 

[disneyjunebug]

Welcome!

I know how it can be overwhelming, but there are lots of people here to help!

You didn't say how old your kids are. Its possible to do without the park hoppers, but that will limit where you can eat on what days, if you want to eat in a park. If you have preteens to teenagers, definitely get the water park option.

Since there are 5 of you, that limits your resort choices also. All Star Music has family suites that will hold that many, but you might want to look into Moderate or Deluxe properties.

If you don't want to fool with Table service on your first visit and ADRs, then just get the Quick service plan.

We are just a family of 3 and we use the DDP when we go. We like the break that a table service gives us. Our child is only 7 now, so we don't get the waterpark option....yet. We get a snack or some breakfast bars that we brought from home for breakfast, Quick service for lunch in the parks or at our resort, take a break about 3:00 for naps/swim, go back and eat dinner, than parks again at night. (the nap is for my husband; the swim for me and boy).

The main thing is you know your family and how they would react. My DH would rebell if I tried to make him stay in the park from rope drop to park close. This is his vacation too, and he loves being more relaxed.