Overwhelmed - Reservations

[DadOfTheYear]

Hi Everyone!!!

I am going to Disney the first week in Spetmeber. This is really the first time and we are taking our 4 year old girl and 2 year old girl. We have the dining plan. Anyway, I am completely overwhelmed with the whole dining thing. I keep reading everywhere that people book reservations for breakfasts, lunches and dinners and I dont want to miss out. I just got done booking the Cinderella Dinner for one night (which I think takes up two of my dinner passes). I have some questions:

1.) What other places should I make a reservation for? Character breakfasts?Dinners? I am so confused. We have a 3 day park hopper so one day will be for the park where Cinderella castle is and the other 2 will be elsewhere.

2.) IF the Cinderella dinner (or other places) cost two meal plan tickets per person does that only leave me with 1 ticket good for a lunch or breakfast for me, my wife and my 2 daughters? Do each of us get a ticket? This whole thing confuses me.

Thanks for the help and your time!!!

 

[~*~Michelle~*~]

I've heard Crystal Palace is a definite.

If you have a 3 day dining plan, you have 1 breakfast, 1 lunch, & 1 dinner for each day. So, say the first day you have dinner at the castle. You use 1 breakfast, 1 lunch & 2 dinner credits for that day. So, the next day you have 1 b, 1 l & no dinner & on the third day, you would have 1 b, 1 l & 1 dinner (or vice versa). Does that make sense? There's only 1 day you would have to pay for dinner but the other meals would be covered.

 

[pigletto]

Hi there
It can be really confusing can't it?
I am guessing you are on the basic dining plan correct?
There is a Frequently Asked Questions thread for the dining plan...
Here is the link
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1545287
It should tell you everything you need to know. If you are on the basic dining plan then Cinderellas Royal Table will use 2 of your 3 table service credits for each member of your party. That will leave you with one more table service reservation to make. The rest of your credits will be for counter service restaurants (where they do not take reservations) and snacks.
If you plan on paying out of pocket for any table service restaurants you absolutely want reservations.
Hope that Helps a little

 

[kam0202]

I just went through the exercise myself for the first time. We bought DVC unseen and will be going for the first time this May.

DDP is per person; if you click on the DDP heading before this thread you'll see someone has already summarized all of the information.

You get 1TS, 1CS, and 1snack per day of your stay. That is for each person in your party.

We made reservations at CA Grill one evening which costs 2TS per person. Because of this, one of the nights of our stay we will be paying out of pocket for dinner, or skipping it/having snack/counter service only.

Everyone says make sure you book ADR - I've booked my dinners only. For lunch I don't mind just going up to get CS either at the park or in the resorts. I hope this helps somewhat - again the beginning of this DIS topic has an overview on the entire DDP. Good luck!

 

[pigletto]

I've heard Crystal Palace is a definite.

If you have a 3 day dining plan, you have 1 breakfast, 1 lunch, & 1 dinner for each day. So, say the first day you have dinner at the castle. You use 1 breakfast, 1 lunch & 2 dinner credits for that day. So, the next day you have 1 b, 1 l & no dinner & on the third day, you would have 1 b, 1 l & 1 dinner (or vice versa). Does that make sense? There's only 1 day you would have to pay for dinner but the other meals would be covered.

On the basic dining plan you have only one snack credit, one counter service and one table service per day.

 

[SuzieN]

Do you have the basic dining plan or the deluxe one? If it's basic you each get1 table service credit, 1 counter service credit, and 1 snack credit per day. You can use your snack credits for cereal & milk, muffins, yogurt, etc...for breakfast at your resort, or you can actually use them for snacks! We always use them for breakfast. Cinderella's Castle does take 2 TS credits each so you would only be able to reserve 1 more sit-down meal for your 3-day stay. I think you need to decide which other parks you want to visit before you decide where you want to book. Check back when you decide which other parks you are going to and we will be happy to help you! [Cinderella's Royal Table is in the Magic Kingdom, in case you didn't know!]

 

[SuzieN]

I just re-read your post and I see you have a 2 year old. She will not be able to get the dining plan but she can eat from your plates and also for free at buffets so you may want to consider a buffet for your final TS credit.

 

[frannn]

First thing we need to know is if you are on the reg dining plan, or the deluxe. The reg plan allows you 1 TS credit, 1 CS credit, and 1 snack credit for each night of your stay per person. Your DD2 would not be on any plan, as she would just share off your plate, or have her own plate at a buffet. If you are on the deluxe plan, you would each get 3 TS credits and 2 snack credits (except for your 2 year old) per evening of your stay. If you are on a 3 day reg dining plan, then yes, you would only have one more TS meal (if you chose to stick with Cinderella's) for all of you. You could all eat at another character meal, or other table service meal that takes 1 credit. You also have 1 CS meal each (except for DD2) per day. There are many wonderful character meals for your girls, if you don't mind buffets, which take 1 TS credit. You could try for Chef Mickey's, which features the Fab Five, Park Faire, which has some of the characters from Cinderella, Crystal Palace, which has the Pooh characters, Playhouse Disney Play & Dine, which has Jo Jo & Little Einsteins characters, and/or the Princess Storybook meal in Epcot, which features about 4 different princesses. We usually stick to dinner for our TS meals, as we enjoy the food and value the most, along with the fact that we are usually ready for a good break at dinner time. If you want to call it an early night, you may choose breakfasts instead. If you want good meals for the adults, Le Cellier and Coral Reef are good choices. Just make sure you call for advanced dining reservations (ADRs) as soon as you know what you want, as many of these meals are extremely popular, and many times book up quickly. There are menus available on Allears.net, which is one of the best meal planning tools on the net. You definetly found the right place to come with WDW questions!

 

[GatorLady]

From allears.net - "-- The Disney Dining Plan: Choose to eat at more than 100 participating Disney restaurants. For each NIGHT of your package stay, each person in your party will get:" etc, etc......

Unless I am missing something, DadOfTheYear said he had a 3 day park hopper, not that he was staying three nights. He might be, or he might not. It is based on NIGHTS not days.

 

[DadOfTheYear]

Sorry everyone. It is the basic dining plan. Is it better to upgrade (Especially if they end up giving the free dining plan out)?
We also plan to visit Epcot and Animal Kingdom

 

[goldenears]

Everyone else seems to be answering your DDP questions, so I will throw out some restaurant suggestions.
Since you have already booked Cinderella's Round Table for dinner, you might also want to consider Akershus in Norway at Epcot. At dinner, Cinderella's Round Table does not have other princessess circulating the room. From what I have read on this board, Cinderella is downstairs taking pictures and the Fairy Godmother and a few mice do a little performance upstairs. Akershus would be a character meal that has some of the other princessess walking around and signing autographs (i.e., Belle, Jasmine, Aurora and Cinderella).
If you booked Akershus and assuming you are getting the regular dining plan, all three of your Table Service credits would be gone, leaving you with 3 Counter Service meals and three snacks.
You can use your snack credits for breakfast if you want (i.e., a bagel or a muffin) and then use your CS credits for lunch.
If you go to Animal Kingdom, Flame Tree BBQ is excellent for a CS.
We always use our CS at MGM to get turkey legs.
I have heard great things about the Tangerine Cafe at Epcot, but have never eaten there.
I hope this helps you out a little.

 

[GatorLady]

DadOfTheYear - How many nights are you staying?

 

[DadOfTheYear]

Thanks Gator Lady. I am actually staying Sept 4th through the 8th, so I would have 4 nights of stay.

 

[DadOfTheYear]

The princess storybook is only 1 TS credit and not 2? If that is the case I could then book this along with CInderella and then I would be out of credits? I will be leaving before dinner on the 8th and probably will be eating dinner not on site on the 4th so really I would only be paying out of pocket for dinner on the 5th?

Any advantages to getting the deluxe plan?

 

[GatorLady]

No, if you are staying 4 nights, you will have 4 TS, 4 CS and 4 snack credits for each person on the plan. (DD2 won't count for this.)

Therefore, if you do Cinderella's Royal Table you will be left with 2TS, 4CS and 4 snack credits left for each person for the rest of your stay.

Unless it is what Disney considers "signature dining" (2 TS credits) all other table service restaurants including other character meals (yes, Princess Storybook) are 1 TS credit. Since you are in the parks for only three days (you said you had a 3 day park hopper) I think you will be fine with the credits you have left.

Geez, now I think I'm confused too!

 

[DadOfTheYear]

I think I am starting to get it. Thank you so much.

Ok here is what I am thinking, please let me know if this looks good...

I am going to book on the 5th a breakfast at the Princess Story Book (1 TS @ Epcot), on the 6th at Cinderella's Castle (2 TS @ MK). That would leave 1 more TS for the 7th in which we will visit the AK. Any siuggestions on something (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) that is worth 1 TS?

 

[ms*mountaineer]

GatorLady is right - you are staying 4 nights so you get 4 TS credits, 4 snack credits and 4 CS credits - per person. If you use 2 TS for Cinderella's castle - you have 2 TS left. You can use them ALL in ONE DAY if you want to. There isn't a restriction that you have to use one each day. You could have a TS breakfast, TS lunch and Cinderella's dinner all in one day and use all your TS credits that way - then just pay out-of-pocket for any other TS meals you wanted. You get to decide how you want to spread out your credits.

 

[goldenears]

Sorry if I made things more confusing. I thought you were only staying 3 nights, so go with GatorLady's calculations.
If your girls like the princessess, then definately look into Akershus. As PP mentioned, it is only 1 TS.
Sorry..can't help you with the Deluxe Plan. I think it is A LOT of food though.
We have gone with the regular dining plan twice and have found it to be plenty of food.
Keep in mind....if your 2 year old eats a lot, you can still get the DDP for her. They will just put that she is 3 on your reservation. I also have a DD who is 2 and asked this question for an upcoming trip. If she doesn't eat a lot, then it won't be worth paying for the extra food when she can just eat off of your plates.

 

[GatorLady]

DadOfTheYear - I think Princess Storybook is a great idea. They will now (starting April 27th) be including a photo package with that meal, so it's even a better deal. In the AK, if you are up to another character meal, Tusker House does one (for breakfast only). Using your last TS credit for a dinner though, is a better use of the plan dollar wise.

 

[frannn]

If you are going to be eating lunch or dinner (other than your Cinderella's reservation) in MK, 1 CS credit at Cosmic Ray's can be used for a chicken & ribs combo platter, which can easily be shared between two adults. If you share, you will have a CS credit left over that you can use for another meal. Boma is a good buffet dinner at the AK lodge, or Tusker house is a buffet in AK park. I believe breakfast is a character meal with Donald, Daisy, and two others.