plans on dinning...?

[drivencrazy]

Our first trip to DW will be in May... we have bought the dinning plan, do I really need to figure out where we are going to eat before we go? And if so how do we go about making reservations? What else do I need to know about the dinning plan? Any and all suggestions and info would be great! Thanks!

BTW... ages of the kidos are 12, 9, 4 & 2

 

[lisadisney2003]

Yes, you really do need to make some decisions. The dining plan included basically one table service meal per day so those are the restaurants to decide in advance. I find a good place to start is to decide which parks you will be at on which days. From there, decide which restaurants at those parks and/or hotels in the area of the park you would like to try. You might check out allearsnet.com. They have menus for all the restaurants to help give you ideas.

Best Wishes!

 

[all4fun]

I agree with the above post. Plus you might want to factor in which days have extra magic hours into your planning as well. If you're staying on property you will probably want to take advantage of EMH. If you're off property (non-disney hotel) then you won't be able to do EMH so you might want to avoid the EMH park because it will get crowded earlier.

This page has the dates and all the info about EMH:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/earlyentry.htm

Also there is a Dining forum here on The Dis with an FAQ thread on the Dining Plan if you haven't already found it.

 

[ellyn2000]

You'll need a pretty good idea of which park you'll be in which days. Then you can look for restaurants that meet your needs. Look up menus here or on allears.net. Disney.com also has info on the table service and counter service locations in each park, resort and Downtown Disney. You can then call 800-828-0228 and make your ADR's (advance dining reservations) 180 days prior to your arrival day if you are staying at a Disney resort. Good luck and have fun!

 

[Love the Mouse]

I agree with the above posters. What I did on our past trip in September, I really did my research. I guess you can say I am a picky eater, and when I am on vacation, especially at Disney, you have so many choices.

I looked at all of the menus and printed out all of the places that I thought I might like to go and eat. If the menu didn't really appeal to me, then that was one place that I could cross off of my list.

I hate being in the middle of Disney and DH says, "Ok, where do you want to eat"?, and I have no idea because I don't know what they all have. This eliminated my problems for me.

As far as making reservations, check the menus and make them as early as you can. I know when we were just there, Le Cellier in Canada in the world showcase fills up quickly. It is a steakhouse, so if you want to dine there for instance, do it early!

Have fun. The Dining plan is definitely worth it. We just did it and definitely got our money's worth. Each night for dinner, our bill came to well over $100 for the 2 of us (we shared with DD(2)), not including our lunches and snacks.

Michaela

 

[janets]

While it may still seem so far away, dining ressies can be made 180 in advance. Most people will tell you that certain places, like LeCellier in the Canadian Pavilion at EPCOT will go very quickly. So take a look at menus, think about what you might like and get a starting point for restaurants you might like to try.

If the park hours come out before your 6 month mark, then you can factor in the extra magic hours if you choose to take advantage of them. I would definitely recommend early hours since you can get a lot of the park done before the crowds get heavy and the heat starts to increase.

We always take a break during the day and head back to our resort for a swim and rest. So getting back to somewhere for dinner is never really a problem. But if you don't have park hoppers, then you will only be able to get back into the park you started at earlier that day. With park hoppers, you can start out at MK, have dinner at EPCOT, then head to MGM if they have late hours.

Many people plan their park days and then their eating around that. I tend to decide where I want to eat and then get there for dinner. Since we have annual passes, it's never a problem. And we don't usually spend all day w/o break at a park.

Also, be aware that your 4 yo will be on the kids dining plan (if your 9 yo won't be 10 before the trip, that one too, and if the 2 yo turns 3, then that's a kids menu too). There have been changes to the kids menus at many of the table service restaurants. By the time you go in May, most of the kinks will be worked out, but you should be aware of them if you have potentially 3 children eating from that kids menu. You can find many threads on this topic on the Disney Restaurants forum.

 

[ChairborneRangr]

If you wait until you get there, you won't know about some of the gems - you'll just end up wandering over to the closest sit-down restaurant. Dining plan lets you go for some of the really great dining experiences. finishing your day at Animal Kingdom with dinner at Boma at Animal Kingdom lodge is great. There are two character options at Magic Kingdom but you might prefer to grab a boat or monorail and head over to the Polynesian for dinner at Ohana. Or maybe Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary will be more fun.

Also, you need to be aware of which meals are signature dining experiences that will use two table service credits per person. Is it really worth using 2 dining credits for the princess meal at Cinderella's Royal Table when Cinderella's Gala Feast at the Grand Floridian or the Princess Storybook Dining at Epcot only require one credit. For our family, this was an easy "no way!"

You may have this link already: www.allearsnet.com/pl/packages07a.htm

This gives a great grid of the dining options and clicking on the restaurant name will bring up the menu.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Reading that this is you 1st trip, first of all congratulations!!!! If you are like many of us on the DIS it won't be your last! As it is your 1st I would definitely do your research. Get each kids top 2 or 3 must do's while at WDW and plan accordingly. Don't plan each minute or "commando plan" as some call it but plan the day as far as this day we will be at MK, tommorrow Epcot, etc. Be willing to change your plans!

Dining plan was 1 table service - sit down meal, 1 counter service - think McDonalds Value meal with dessert, and 1 snack credit per day. All credits are totaled at the beginning of your stay and can be used as you wish - 2 snacks in 1 day, 2 table service in 1 day, etc. At the end of our stay we had 16 leftover snack credits and got stuff to bring home with us - rice crispie treats, waters, and such. At table service there was so much food we often asked them to package desserts to take back to the hotel with us - they always did this with no issues. Also, remember counter service comes with a dessert as well and we brought home several prepackaged brownies for later consumption.

As others have posted you can make your reservations 180 days in advance and certain reservations will go that fast - but do not give up if you don't get them on the 1st shot, people cancel and by calling repeatedly you can get those ressies. When we went it was CRT for the Princess breakfast - and I think I called 30 times before I got it.

Visit allears.net and browse through the menu's. This way you can totally cut out some restaurants while finding some restaurants that you feel fit your style. Don't go for the most expensive go for what you like!
Do you have to make every reservation? No, I don't think so but if there are particulars that are a must do...a certain character meal, a certain restaurant... then I would definitely make those reservations so that you KNOW you can get into that place. When we went Disney was doing a special promotion and most of the restaurants were completely booked and unable to handle walk ins. But we did get a seating at Whispering Canyon Cafe w/o prior reservations so it does depends on where.

Plan on eating where you are going to be that day. Alot of people waste alot of time because they planned on eating in Epcot when they are spending the day in MK. Now if you are splitting the day between 2 parks anyway, fine but to go to another park just for Dinner you'll end up wasting alot of time better spent on the rides, shows, etc.

Most of all relax and have fun. Take lots of pictures and enjoy seeing WDW through your childrens eyes. It is truly a magical experience!!!

 

[drivencrazy]

Thanks for all the great info... I will be spending some time now looking at where we want to eat!

As for the kids... 12, 9, 4 and 2 are the ages they will be when we go.

We did get the park hopper pass and are staying at the All Star Music Resort so I will be looking into what parks have the extra hours and when.

Another question... since we do not have to buy the dinning plan for the 2 year old, does she still get to choose what she wants and get her own plate, snack... or do we just plan on shareing with her or paying out of pocket for her??

Just read more about the dinning plan... would it be worth putting our 2 year old on the plan? She right now is a pretty good eater and usually doesn't mind sharing but if we were to buy her something everytime we ate would we save $$ paying 10.99 a day or not?

I know that we still have lots of time to plan and get things taken care of... just want to make sure that we all have lots of fun and don't miss out on something that is a must!

As for planning... having 4 kids, we know that plans are always changing and we are up for just about anything... but would like to have a outline of what to do and where before we go!

 

[ptmmg]

I would not buy the 2yo the dining plan there is so much food plenty to share!!! we went in late august with my 4 kids the baby was 2 so he was free. We did a lot of character meals which were a big hit,
Even my older kids 16 and 14 enjoyed the characters!
we went to
Chef Mickeys
Hollywood and Vine for the character breakfast very fun!!!!!
we did CRT but paid oop for that I didn't want to waste 2 credits
Ohanas
Crystal palace with the pooh characters was awesome!
The coral Reef
Whispering Canyon very fun place they had my 14 ds sweeping the whole restaurant I couldn't stop lol
Mama Melrose
The california Grill
I think thats all!!! I did make adrs for all. remember you can always cancel if things are not going the way your day was planned but its better to have a nice place to eat without a long wait especially with a large party and children!

Are you staying in a suite at the all stars? We planned on doing that also but the suites were not included on the free dining when we went. so we ended up going with the CR because it sleeps 5 and the 2yo didn't count we figured next time we go he would count and we would have to get a suite or 2 rooms and there is no way we could afford 2 rooms at the cr so we took advatage of it while we could!
enjoy your trip these boards are a great sourse of info!!!

 

[Love the Mouse]

Another question... since we do not have to buy the dinning plan for the 2 year old, does she still get to choose what she wants and get her own plate, snack... or do we just plan on shareing with her or paying out of pocket for her??

We did not buy our 2 year old the Dining Plan, but on a few occassions we did buy her her own meal. Just a thought that didn't cross my mind was this...I don't mind sharing with my DD at all, but there were times that I was getting ready to order and I didn't get what I really wanted because I was sharing with DD. Then when I got the chicken because of sharing with her, she didn't even eat it except for a few bites.

The children's menus are not all that expensive, so if you did decide to buy her a meal it would be an extra $5 or so. Like I said, we only did this a couple of times on our week long trip.

Michaela

 

[ndgqmiller]

We just took our first trip Oct 6-14th so let me tell you, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN! We had reservations for every night. I have told this story before but on our second day at DW I was in line at the service desk at the POP and there was a lady that did not have any reservations and could not find any openings, what she did find were very late 8:00 or 8:30 seating. So make sure you have ADR. The atmostphere at the resturants was half our fun. Here were our favorites
Breakfast @ Chef Mickeys (great for all ages)
Dinner @ Liberty Tree (Good homestyle cooking and great characters)
Coral Reef dinner (good atmostphere and excellent steak)
Cinderella's Royal Table lunch My daughter 6 loved it and food was good
Hope this helps and we can't wait to get back and explore the world!

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Another question... since we do not have to buy the dinning plan for the 2 year old, does she still get to choose what she wants and get her own plate, snack... or do we just plan on shareing with her or paying out of pocket for her??

I copied this from Allears:
Children under 3 do not need to purchase the plan. At table service restaurants, there is no charge for children under 3 who share from an adult's plate. However, if you order from a menu for a child under 3, you will be charged the menu price. At buffet and "all-you-care-to-eat" restaurants, there is also no charge for children under 3 who share from an adult's plate. However, if you order from a separate children's or ala carte menu for a child under 3 (rather than eating from the buffet or all-you-care-to-eat offerings), you will be charged the price reflected on the menu. At counter service restaurants, you will be charged the menu price if you order a meal for a child under 3.

Really we thought there was too much food with appetizers, entree, and dessert so I think if you paid OOP for the 2YO it would work out to be less $$$,

 

[all4fun]

Another question... since we do not have to buy the dinning plan for the 2 year old, does she still get to choose what she wants and get her own plate, snack... or do we just plan on shareing with her or paying out of pocket for her??

Just read more about the dinning plan... would it be worth putting our 2 year old on the plan? She right now is a pretty good eater and usually doesn't mind sharing but if we were to buy her something everytime we ate would we save $$ paying 10.99 a day or not?

Kids meals are $4-7 per meal so if you're going to be purchasing snacks and meals for her anyway I could be a savings. Keep in mind that if you go to a lot of buffets you wouldn't have to pay OOP for those (or use a dining credit) so factor that into your planning. Also keep in mind the snack credits are good for snacks up to $4 value and even a bag of chips will cost you about $2.50. We have a very picky eater and we still thought it was worth having ds on the meal plan (of course he's 3 so we have no choice. But he's beyond picky and prbly eats less than most 2yr olds). The dining plan is also very flexible -- you don't have to use any certain number or types of credits per day. So if on your last day you have 4 or 5 snack credits left, you can use them all on items that will travel (I've heard of people doing this). Just some "food for thought" pun intended, lol.