Overwhelmed!

[JenniJ]

180 days arrive on 6/1. I have no idea what are park stratagy is. How am I to book ressies when I don't know what park and when?

Plus, there are SO many resturaunts, I am so lost!

We will get QSDP but are hoping for either FD announcement in Nov or FD PIN.
Our party is 2 adults, one 17 yr old and a 2 yr old. We only booked room only ressies but will make it a package soon. My DH wants to know how many days will will be attanding the aprks before committing.

Any advice. DH wants to just wing it when we get there, but I know from past expiences and from my sis (who worked for Disney) and from this board, that that ussually ends up wasting a lot of time. not to metion making for one crabby family around meal times!

 

[Linda T.]

What I do, is go to the park hours section, and I plan what parks we're going to etc. for the days we are at Disney. And then I book my restuarants around my park itinerary. That way we know what parks, parades were going to along with the restaurants for the week we are there. Hope this helps.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

You really should start to figure out which park on which days. I know its early, but thats the only way you will be able to do your ADR's which you must do! If you have to change stuff around later, then you can try switching ADR's around by calling back or going online.

Check the calendar on the official website and work your ADR's in. Also, here is a list of all the eateries and menus:

http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

Whatever you do, don't wing it! You won't be able to get into a lot of restaurants! You don't want to risk it. ADR's are necessary!

 

[Pakey]

We've got over 20 trips under our belts and wing many of our meals. You can go to Guest Services at each park and they can tell you what's available for the day. If you are not using dining credits, the places not on the dining plan have superior food and are usually easy to get into.

 

[TillyMarigold]

I think you need to decide how many days you're going for, first.

Then decide how often your family likes to do sit-down meals on vacation.

Then figure out which days you're doing what--I don't take into account "best days," I do it based only on what order feels right (like, I always start with the Magic Kingdom) and if there's any shows or other things only available one day.

Then I say, "Are there any restaurants I really want to eat at?" I try to come up with just a few of those, fewer than the number of TS meals I want (for this vacation, we had 3--one I picked, one DH picked, one was a signature we both wanted to try). I also try to do a mix of dinners and breakfasts, because I love sit-down breakfasts.

Then I say "Okay, first day I'll be at the MK so I want to either eat in the park or at a monorail resort ... next day at Epcot so either World Showcase or an Epcot resort or *maybe* a monorail resort ... " that sort of thing. And I match up the list from above with the park plans. I don't mind traveling a little bit for dinner and I always buy hoppers so I don't mind eating in Epcot on a Studios day or vice-versa.

Then I see if there are any days that I haven't matched up with a restaurant and take a second look at the options in the area of where I'll be. It's also always an option to eat at the resort I'm staying at or somewhere easily accesible from there, rather than base it on the park.

And always, always, *always* remember that just about everything at Disney is pretty good, very good, or excellent, so there's nowhere that is likely to ruin your trip if you go there ... and there is also nothing so amazing that your vacation will be ruined by *not* doing it. So relax. That goes for things besides restaurants too, of course.

Oh, and unless you're dying to eat at Le Cellier (and see the point above about there being nothing that will ruin your vacation by not doing it), you don't really need to make your reservations at 180 days. For this last trip, I made my first reservations 4 months out and my last about a month out. The only thing I couldn't get into was Tusker House breakfast at 1 month out ... but I got 'Ohana instead, which was great.

 

[sndral]

If you plan to get QSDP you won't need any ADRs unless you plan on paying OP for any sit down meals.
I took a look @ mousesavers historical discounts chart and it looks like a free dinning offer for the general public that ran through 12/17/09 came out last year on 9/27 - so if they do the same this year looks like your hope for FD may happen.
My ADR date is 6/2, so like you I'm awash in choices, fortunately the Dec. park hours are out now - which helps. I have a chart with EMH evening hours, special event days, etc. and a list of where I really want to eat and then it's just fill in the slots. I like eating @ resorts as well, especially during Xmas, so I try to schedule those when the park the resort is near is open late to simplify WDW transportation issues.
Have fun, and remember you can always call them back and rearrange things - not that I ever have, it's not like it's written in stone.