Overwhelmed with planning reservations.. help!

[jsphotography]

We have a girls trip planned for Oct 1-8 for myself, my mom, and my sweet 5 year old girl and I'm so overwhelmed with trying to figure out the best places to try and get reservations. We're staying at Marriotts Grande Vista, so not at one of the disney resorts. We will probably do breakfast in our room, as we are all pretty picky eaters and so I dont know whether to make lunch or dinner reservations. I want to do lots of the character meals, and we DEFINITELY want to see the princesses, and Cinderella is a must. We have the park hopper passes, so I'm temped to grab lunch or dinner outside of the park on the way to or from the hotel if we take a break from the park during the day, as Im assuming we will.

I have no idea whats worth making a reservation for, and if the counter service places are really that bad that you would want to make a table service reservation for each meal you think you MIGHT be in the park for??

here's what i'm thinking so far, please feel free to affirm or suggest something else that you think would be more worth our time and money.

Thursday (we arrive at 11AM): Epcot- Garden Grill for dinner
Friday: Epcot/Hollywood Studios- any suggestions? Maybe Akershus for breakfast?
Saturday: Magic Kingdom! CRT for breakfast; dinner at Chrystal Palace?
Sunday: visiting family, no parks :0)
Monday: Animal Kingdom; Chef Mickeys maybe? I'm not sold on that one.. any at AK that are a must-do?
Tuesday: Seaworld
Wednesday: back to MK or wherever else we want to see again, should i make a reservation if i dont know where we'll end up? i'm assuming MK

I'm pretty sure we want to do CRT instead of 1900, but I know we will want to see all the princesses so thats why I have Akershus in there too. Any other character meals we should try and book?

When I call to book to I just tell them where I want and the days I want and let them tell me the times available? I'm seriously so clueless when it comes to all of this!! Thanks for the help!

 

[kat3668]

Well First thing is..... you are lookiing to book reservations during the last week of free dining so being flexible will be a must as you are only able to book one reservation per day starting July 3rd and people staying onsite will be able to book up to 10 days. You may want to book CRT your first day (July 3rd) as this is a hard ressie to get even when you are staying onsite and have first dibs. Akershaus is a good second choice.
As far as character breakfasts crystal palace and Tusker house are 2 of my faves. Chef Mickeys is good too but realisticly i dont think you get it. Try by all means but don't be disappointed.
You may be better off like you said eating offsite for lunch and booking 1 meal at a park or resort.
Good Luck!
We'll be down that week as well and I'll be calling to get all our faves hopefully too. I have the feeling though that I may not get what I want either
free dining is getting crazier every year.

 

[brendaziz]

Since when is Garden Grill NOT a character meal???
Do you have links and info for that??

 

[onejellyshelly]

Congrats on the girly trip. That is the only way we do it. It is always myself, my mom, and DD4.

I would def. do CRT. If you do a breakfast or lunch (I would do breakfast) you will see a lot of princesses. I am going to try to get an early morning breakfast in Sept.

They are pleanty of good cs locations especially at Epcot and AK. My favoriate at AK is Flame Tree BBQ(So Good!). At Epcot you can eat your way around the countries via CS.

In Oct. I am not sure if you would need a lot of breaks. Last year I thought we would take breaks, but it is almost more hassle than just staying in the parks. But, it is up to you and your familys needs.

It is almost like a part time job planning a trip. But, don't worry. Just remember things will go wrong, and thats ok, those things are what memories are created out of.

If you need any help, just ask away.

 

[kat3668]

I know they got rid of the character breakfast here and I thought I read on the boards they were going to nix all the characters. Guess that has'nt happened or is not going to happen now. Sorry.

 

[onejellyshelly]

One other thing. Do not plan to eat a lot in Seaworld. It is super expensive and the food was horrible. I think we spent over $150.00 on a little breakfast and lunch. Bring your own snacks, maybe pack a sandwich for lunch.