Planning

[sharonwel]

This will be our first time in disney, very excited but a little overwhelmed with the planning. Should I be making dining reservations every day? What are the restaurants not to be missed? I have children ages 8, 6, and 2. Also is the park hopper option worth it? I am so confused...lol

 

[toomanycars]

This will be our first time in disney, very excited but a little overwhelmed with the planning. Should I be making dining reservations every day? What are the restaurants not to be missed? I have children ages 8, 6, and 2. Also is the park hopper option worth it? I am so confused...lol

Ok planning for your Disney trip can be a fun part of your trip. How many days are you there? Staying at a Disney resort? How long before your trip? Do you have boys, girls or both? Without overwhelming you with questions. Post a little more about your trip and many DISers will jump in.

 

[sharonwel]

We are staying at the saratoga springs resort for 7 days, and going in August. My two oldest children are boys and my 2 yr old is a girl. Thanks for your help!

 

[toomanycars]

We are staying at the saratoga springs resort for 7 days, and going in August. My two oldest children are boys and my 2 yr old is a girl. Thanks for your help!

OK, this is what I would do first. Pick your dinning and make ADR's now.
here is the online link. http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/reservations/dining/
If you are on the Disney Dinning Plan (DDP) then yes to ADR's each day. If not and you ok with QS (quick service) vs. TS (table service) then. My kids love Chef Mickeys.

 

[chipscamping buddy]

Welcome to the DIS!

Having spent much time at the parks, I love the park hopper option, but most people have very little use for it, especially with good planning. There is so much to do at every park, that there really is no reason for a first time visitor to skip over to another park. Park hopping takes 30-60 minutes out of your day that you could be spending having fun. I recommend against it, if you actually finish everything in a park, there is still likely plenty of non-park things to fill the rest of the day, or you just go back to some of your favorite things.

Plan out what kind of meals you want to do. How many character meals, regular table service or will you be happy with counter service that day. Cape May is fun for a character breakfast, as is Chef Mickey and Ohana. Chef Mickey does give the extra cool factor of being in the Contemporary and being able to see the monorail coming through. We also love the Garden Grill in Epcot. Other very fun restaurants are the Biergarten in Germany and Prime Time in HS. For counter service, Cosmic Ray in MK is super.

 

[sharonwel]

Thanks for the tips! I have made reservations at Chef Mickeys and the Crystal Palace. I'll probably make a couple more and then use counter service as well. Thanks again!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I agree with the pp. I would look at the table service restaurants on the website and pick ones that you think your family will enjoy. However there are some restaurants that make you the center of attention and some kids (and adults) feel uncomfortable with this (including mine). These include Prime Time & Whispering Canyon there may be more but these are the only ones I can think of right now. Again this all depends on your family everyone is different!! Just wanted to give you a heads up. Have a magical time

 

[sharonwel]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[bluejasmine]

It can be overwhelming but I promise all the planning will be worth it!

If you think that you would like a sit down dinner each day then make ADRS for each day if you think your family will be happy just doing a few just book what you want according to where you will be that day.

Example lets say you just want to do 1900 Park Fare breakfast, Teppan Edo and maybe Cape May dinner.

Book 1900 PF on a morning you will be going to MK that way you can hop on the Monorail and head to MK right after breakfast

Book Tepan Edo for one a day youll be in Epcot

Book Cape May for a day youll be at DHS so you can take the boat over to BC.

Park Hopper does make it easier if you plan on visiting more than one park each day OR you want to have dinner at Sci Fi but you'll be at the AK park for most of the day.

This trip we didnt spend the extra $ on PH and so all my meals are planned around the parks I chose for each day. I chose certain days for certain parks by park hours like when they have extra magic hours or when they have fantasmic.

Try and be flexible with your times as well, with it being your first trip I wouldnt do too many TS b/c it will eat up alot of park time.. There are many very well themed CS with great food in WDW!

I say do a TS on your arrival day and end the trip with a TS as well!

Good luck!

 

[sharonwel]

Thanks so much for the advice. I guess I really just need to nail down which days we will be at what park and go from there! Thanks again!!

 

[aaarcher86]

It probably depends what you and your kids are most interested in. I know for us, autographs and pictures with the characters are the big deal each trip. I much prefer doing character meals to get the autographs/pictures versus waiting in line for X amount of time.

Our personal strategy is to do a TS (table service/sit down) breakfast and dinner each day... preferably with characters. That way I can knock out nearly all the main characters and focus on the ones I'm not expecting. For our October trip we'll see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Chip/Dale, Princesses, Stitch/Lilo, Tigger/Pooh/Eeyore, Piglet, Mad Hatter, Alice, Mary Poppins, Stepmother/Stepsisters, Little Einsteins, Oso, Handy Manny, etc. all just during meals. It saves us a ton of time, and my kids aren't patient lol.

We enjoy park hoppers because we tend to change our minds midday in the things we want to do.

Whatever will make the trip the most enjoyable for you is the way to go. There are tons of board members that prefer to plan their park days and eat whenever/wherever they please. There is no right or wrong, but if you are going in August and want a few TS meals start booking them!