Omg I Need Adr Help Please

[danielle916]

I am so upset right now i can cry!!!!
I haven;t been to WDW since 1987 and I know TONS OF THINGS CHANGED....

We are going in May, and i only made three reser. for char. meals, but now i'm being advised that i should make ADR's for my entire stay....

I am so clueless, I don't know what or where to go...
the other thing is we have three small children so we were just going to wing the whole trip....
Now i'm being advised that i shouldn't do it that way, i should really have a game plan...

I desp. need help please!!!
This is what i have planned so far:

day 1: breakfast ress. at cinderellas castle (MAY 16TH)
lunch and dinner not reserved "yet"

day2: breakfast ress. at epcot w/the princesses(MAY 17TH)
lunch and dinner not reserved "yet"

day3: breakfast and lunch not reserved "yet"(MAY 18TH)
dinner ress. at chef mickey

day 4/5/6 NOTHING RESERVED!!!!!! (MAY 19TH, 20TH, 21ST)
NO BREAKFAST LUNCH OR DINNER

HONESTLY I HAVE NO CLUE WHERE TO START.....WHAT TO SEE, I WANNA CRY, I HAVE A FEELING I AM GOING TO LOSE OUT ON SEEING A TON OF STUFF
Can anyone help me please

 

[Terri C]

I know how you feel It can be overwhelming to say the least. Are you on the dining plan? The only ADRs you need are for TS restaurants. You can wing it with CS. And you still have time. Check out the menus on allears and see what appeals to you and your family. I would just go with whatever looks good to you. You may not be able to get some of the most popular places but I bet you can still get something you and your family will love

Take a deep breath...it will be ok

Terri

 

[Maggi May]

Hi Danielle916,
It is overwhelming, especially with all of the great restaurants discussed on this board.

You have a really good start, with 3 reservations already. Honestly, with 3 small children, you may not want to make too many plans for each day. Your kiddos may have the most fun at the hotel pool or playground, and may not want to stick to a strict schedule. I think having one reserved meal a day is just fine. Even before we had a child, my DH and I realized that trying to make 2 table service meals a day was too much.

Are you staying on property? Perhaps you could reserve a couple of meals at your hotel. And, dining at other hotels is a great way to soak up their atmosphere -- how about dinner at Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge) or a meal at the Whispering Canyon Cafe (Wilderness Lodge)? Also, if you're going to the Animal Kingdom for the day, there are two very good counter service restaurants - Tusker House and Flame Tree Barbecue. For that day, you may not need ressies. Most of the Epcot countries also have nice counter service options -- Mexico, Japan, and Morroco come to mind.

 

[MinnieGi]

You are just fine!!! With three small children I would NOT schedule all my meals - it would drive you and the kids crazy!!! Besides with three small ones I suspect you will be using counter service also which does not require any ps times. I think your plan looks great.

Now I do however think you should have a game plan down for your days. It can be a loose framework of what your day will look like but at least it will be a plan. You can also scrap the plan when you are down there if it does not look like it will work that day.

A good place to start is by reading and asking questions on these boards. Have you sent for the free Disney planning DVD? This will help you visualize what is available to do and help your kids pick what they most would like to do. The pack also has park maps which will be helpful studying before you go. Also the ages of your children will determine alot of what you see and do.

 

[Lynne M]

Hang in there! You're doing fine so far. As others have said, sometimes a too-rigid schedule isn't a good idea with little ones. And there are zillions of counter service places, so you won't starve if you can't get into a table service place.

Since you haven't been since 1987, head right over to your nearest bookstore or to Amazon and get "Birnbaum's Walt Disney World". It's the official guidebook, and describes every resort, every attraction and every restaurant in WDW. It's nicely organized, and will give you a good overview of what's changed since you were there last. Then, if you want more information, you can move on to the Unofficial Guide to WDW. That's chock-full of useful tips that'll help you feel more on top of things.

Oh, and you can check out the menus for the majority of WDW restaurants at:

http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

You're going to have a wonderful trip! Enjoy!

Lynne

 

[danielle916]

You are just fine!!! With three small children I would NOT schedule all my meals - it would drive you and the kids crazy!!! Besides with three small ones I suspect you will be using counter service also which does not require any ps times. I think your plan looks great.

Now I do however think you should have a game plan down for your days. It can be a loose framework of what your day will look like but at least it will be a plan. You can also scrap the plan when you are down there if it does not look like it will work that day.

A good place to start is by reading and asking questions on these boards. Have you sent for the free Disney planning DVD? This will help you visualize what is available to do and help your kids pick what they most would like to do. The pack also has park maps which will be helpful studying before you go. Also the ages of your children will determine alot of what you see and do.

i do have the dvd thank you, its the old version tho...my kids ages are 4yr/2.5yr/and my baby will be 1 when we go...
i didn't want to spend too many dinners at TS because i don't think the kids would sit all through dinner

 

[MinnieGi]

i do have the dvd thank you, its the old version tho...my kids ages are 4yr/2.5yr/and my baby will be 1 when we go...
i didn't want to spend too many dinners at TS because i don't think the kids would sit all through dinner

I absolutely agree TS dinners can be tough on little ones. We just came back and our kids are 5 yo and 17 months. We did do a few TS dinners and they were tough for then 16 month old DS. Quick dinners were key. DS has the best appetite and sitting potential in the morning so I really like your plan with two breakfasts.

Best of luck and keep reading these boards and asking questions, you'll learn so much!!!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We've always travelled at a busy time (July) with three small children. I found it helpful to schedule at least one ADR every day. This way I wasn't going from restaurant to restaurant with three hungry, tired kids. You can always cancel them if your plans change.

Here are some suggestions of places that my kids enjoyed:

Sci-Fi at MGM
Liberty Tree Tavern at MK
Crystal Palace at MK
1900 Park Fare
Rainforrest Cafe in DTD

Good luck, take a deep breath, and have fun!

 

[jennifer293]

We will be there for 9 nights in July and I have every single night reserved. I will have a 6 yr old and a 2 yr old with me. We went last year as well and had every night reserved we never had a problem. I made sure all of our ADR's were scheduled about 30 minutes before their regular dinner time so that they were not starving by the time we got our food. We never had a problem. TO be honest I had less whining and crying out of the both of them while we were at Disney compared to when they are home..I can truly say Disney is a magical place if it can keep my kids from WHINING!!!!

If you are doing breakfast, lunch, and dinner I would probably only schedule on TS per day...SO if you do a TS for breakfast I would do CS for lunch and dinner..For 2 reasons: 1 the cost is gonna be outrageous, and 2 there is sooooo much food I bet by the time you eat breakfast you are not even gonna want to think about lunch, and may be a little hungry by dinner time.

I know we skipped breakfast all together most mornings (kids had cereal or pop tarts in room) because we were still so full from the night before. We ate lunch at about 11:30 at a CS place and then we had dinner at a TS place at around 5:30pm and this worked out WONDERFUL for us.


Don't stress out about it.!!! This is supposed to be a happy thing!!!

 

[CarolA]

So??? DO you really want THREE sitdown meals a day? If you do, then yes you will miss seeing a TON of stuff because you will see resturants! LOL!

If you know where you are going each day make a reservation at someplace that sounds good in that park. You can always cancel.

I would only do ONE ADR a day. It's a lot of food and a LOT of time (I generally do one ever few days and do counter service the rest of the time.)

 

[Paisleyjane]

I am of the free and loose crowd. Study up, maybe print out some menus from allearsnet.com so you know what different CS places serve, but wait and see how your days are going. I am a big believer in if the kids just want to stop and watch the ducks swimming around in front of the castle, I let them, this is VACATION, after all.

 

[LVSWL]

We eat out breakfast in our room and make 1 ADR for the day either lunch or supper and then do counter service for the other meal. Try not to stress about this. If you already have breakfast ADR's then consider that you won't be that hungry for lunch so counter service will be fine for lunch and something lighter for supper will even be fine for supper like the Plaza in MK for supper or Mama Melrose in MGM or Morocco in Epcot. Morocco has a kids menu. Make sure that you check on Allearsnet to look at the menus, lunch is different than dinner in many cases, both in selections and in price, but it's most important to go when you can get things your family wants.