Please critique my plans!

[as1]

Hi everyone!

I’m planning a trip for my family this coming November and would love any comments from all you Disney World vets out there. We are from Los Angeles, are Disneyland annual pass holders, but this trip is a first-time experience for our family of four. We have two kids, 4 & 8. We like the idea of eating mostly at full service dining locations and using meal time to take breaks from the parks, and recharge our batteries a bit.

All dining reservations are currently booked, and we will have an annual pass for WDW/Disneyland. Fastpasses of course have not been booked yet, so the ones listed below are a wish list only.

Any help is genuinely appreciated!!



Sunday Nov 25 – travel/arrival

Lunch: Ragland Road

Afternoon: Check into Boardwalk Villas (1 Bedroom Villa, Standard View), return rental car at Swan/Dolphin, buy Tables in Wonderland card at Epcot International Gateway Guest Relations, receive grocery delivery @ Boardwalk

Dinner: Flying Fish

**we will be driving up from Ft Meyers on the I-4 that morning, and I’m not sure going to Disney Springs is going to work for lunch. If anyone has any recommendations for a place to stop on the way, that would be great!


Monday Nov 26 – EPCOT

Breakfast: In Room

Fastpasses: Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land

Lunch: Via Napoli Candlelight Processional Dinner Package

Dinner: Rose & Crown

Candlelight Processional @ 5:00pm
Illuminations @ 9pm


Tuesday Nov 27 – ANIMAL KINGDOM

Breakfast: In Room

Fastpasses: Na’vi River Journey, Kilamanjaro Safaris, Festival of the Lion King

Lunch: Tusker House- Rivers of Light Dining Package

Dinner: Tiffins

Rivers of Light @ 6:15


Wednesday Nov 28

Breakfast:In Room

Activities: Sleep in, Swim, Relax

Lunch: In Room

Dinner: Yachtsman


Thursday Nov 29 – MAGIC KINGDOM

Breakfast: In Room

Fastpasses: Peter Pan, Big Thunder, Space Mountain

Lunch: Columbia Harbor House OR Pecos Bill

Dinner: Skipper Canteen

Happily Ever After @ 9:00


Friday Nov 30 – HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Breakfast: In Room

Fastpasses: Slinky Dog Dash, Rock’n’RollerCoaster, Star Tours

Lunch: 50's Primetime Café

Dinner: Brown Derby

Star Wars Fireworks @ 8:00pm


Saturday Dec 1

Activities: Sleep in, Swim, Relax

Brunch: Trattoria al Forno

Activities: Shopping at Disney Springs

Dinner: Homecoming


Sunday Dec 2 – MICKEY’S VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS PARTY

Breakfast: In Room

Lunch: In Room

Dinner: Liberty Tree Tavern

MVMCP 4pm-12am


Monday Dec 3 – EPCOT

*sleep in, start late in Epcot

Breakfast: In Room

Fastpasses: Frozen Ever After, Mission Space, Turtle Talk

Lunch: Spice Road Table

Dinner: Le Cellier


Tuesday Dec 4 – ANIMAL KINGDOM

Breakfast: In Room

Fastpasses: Flights of Passage, Expedition Everest, Finding Nemo

Lunch: Yak and Yeti

Dinner: Jiko


Wednesday Dec 5 – MAGIC KINGDOM

Breakfast: In Room

Fastpasses: Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion

Lunch: Columbia Harbor House OR Pecos Bill

Dinner: Be Our Guest


Thursday Dec 6

Brunch: Boma

Leave morning and early afternoon open, 3:30pm depart for MCO

 

[tommygunn]

Hey have a great time in wdw! I dig your choices for food and hotel but A few general comments:

In my opinion, doing a table service more than 1x per day takes an awful lot away from the parks. Especially when it’s a lunch and dinner. Also, that’s a ton of food. I prefer do table service dinner and make lunch a quick service and there are a ton of good ones. My family will often split the quick service meals too since the portions are rather large. If you really want to do 2 quick services consider a character breakfast for a day or two instead and then a dinner.

Regarding your stay, I love the boardwalk but consider the beach or Yacht club. Same location and the pool is 100x better so kids might dig it more if you get a warm day.

 

[KenHutch]

I like your schedule and for most part love the restaurants you choose. I would suggest you do a few reviews on Rose & Crown. For many years it was our go to Epcot spot but in early June we had a disastrous meal there. This involved both subpar service and some incredibly bad food. I tell everyone that they should take any review with a grain of salt but they have taken the steak off the menu and the corned beef I had was barely edible. I admit I hold corned beef to a higher standard (I am Jewish) but the shepherds pie my girls ordered came out cold. But we may have caught them on a bad day.

 

[Kirk]

Hey have a great time in wdw! I dig your choices for food and hotel but A few general comments:

In my opinion, doing a table service more than 1x per day takes an awful lot away from the parks. Especially when it’s a lunch and dinner. Also, that’s a ton of food. I prefer do table service dinner and make lunch a quick service and there are a ton of good ones. My family will often split the quick service meals too since the portions are rather large. If you really want to do 2 quick services consider a character breakfast for a day or two instead and then a dinner.

Regarding your stay, I love the boardwalk but consider the beach or Yacht club. Same location and the pool is 100x better so kids might dig it more if you get a warm day.

I was thinking the same thing as I read through your itinerary. My grandkids really get into the character meals so we always do a couple and you can pretty much find your favorite among the choices. Ohana breakfast with Stitch is the boys fav and Cinderella Castle breakfast is the girls. Another experience to consider is one of the dinner shows. I like the Luau at the Polynesian but my daughter never misses Hoop-Dee-Doo at Ft Wilderness. Have fun!

 

[Alesia]

I would strongly encourage you to reconsider doing so many table service meals. It's just too much food and too much time for most people.

 

[cannmom]

TS meals can take a lot longer than you think they will sometimes. Two a day every day may be too much. I also wouldn't do a TS meal for dinner on the night you are doing the Christmas party. If you want to eat at Liberty Tavern maybe try a late lunch that day and then just grab counter service or snacks that evening at the party.

 

[GillianP1301]

I think your plan looks amazing. I disagree with previous posts that 2 TS meals a day is too much. In my opinion, you have to eat anyway, might as well make it a nice meal. Plus you get the benefit of a built in break. We do 2 - 3 meals a day, mostly TS and wouldn't do it any other way.

You have made some awesome restaurant choices. You only have 1 character meal and with young kids those can be a lot of fun. I'm assuming you've gone for food experience/quality over character interactions for a reason though. But if you it wasn't deliberate and you'd consider others, I recommend Garden Grill at EP. The food is good and served family style as opposed to buffet, which I much prefer because you get fresher/hotter food that way. And the character interactions there have always been amazing for us.

We did LTT on a party night and it worked out quite well. We got an ADR at about 5:00 and we were done and out at 6:00 with still an hour to go before the party started to use up a few last minute fastpasses.

 

[Rich M]

I agree your plan looks very well planned out for sure. As a Disneyland vet and now a Disney World novice I think you did quite well. Personally I think the 2 TS meals if spread apart enough will be fine. Do rope drop to get the most out of your day and have lunch early after getting about 4 hours of park time. Then maybe go back to your room and enjoy a rest and then head back to the park for dinner and more park time. I think the things that people use to Disneyland have to remember is the humidity can be a game changer and also the time it takes to get around is a huge difference from Disneyland. Personally I think the Counter Service meals at Disneyland are way better then Disney World so I think your TS plan is good but only you know how much your family will eat. Most people don't want to eat as much with the heat. Have a great trip and be prepared to want to come back many more times.

 

[monkyby87]

I've only ever really done one table service a day since it takes time to get to the place, perhaps wait for the reservation, and then the actual meal. They can sometimes become more of an event than you mean them to be. But everyone has different experiences. Having said that, I do agree with some people here that it will be a lot of food you have.

 

[VTNuke]

Whiskey River for lunch on your first day. Pretty good food. They open at 11:30 and are right next to/attached to the Boardwalk. Their beer cheese soup is really good. You won't need a reservation. Seems like it can fit into your first day schedule pretty well. FYI, it's typically faster to walk to Epcot than to take the ferry.

 

[VTNuke]

Also, don't be afraid to hit the Contemporary or Grand Floridian for lunch or dinner one of your MK days. They have some pretty good restaurants and it can be a nice break. You can walk to the Contemporary.

Crystal Palace is pretty good for breakfast and lunch. We typically do that and Tony's one of the days.

Le Cellier will probably be your best meal, although Yatchsman is close. Flying Fish has been up and down for us. Sometimes it's really good, sometimes not so much.

The Rainforest Cafe and Tusker House are the two we typically do at AK.

Don't be surprised if the Star Wars fireworks, which are awesome, are replaced with a Christmas show with the Disney Elves.

 

[as1]

I was thinking the same thing as I read through your itinerary. My grandkids really get into the character meals so we always do a couple and you can pretty much find your favorite among the choices. Ohana breakfast with Stitch is the boys fav and Cinderella Castle breakfast is the girls. Another experience to consider is one of the dinner shows. I like the Luau at the Polynesian but my daughter never misses Hoop-Dee-Doo at Ft Wilderness. Have fun!

THANKS to everyone for all the feedback!!! It seems like a common thread is that two table services per day may be too much. I'm hoping that with 7 park days, we will have time to take it slower, but we still may have over booked meals. Brown Derby, Yak and Yeti, Boma and/or Rose & Crown would probably be the first ones to be cancelled. (Brown Derby not because I don't want to go, but because it will be a pretty early reservation to catch a good seat for fireworks with the early park closure, and I'm not sure we want to eat dinner at 5:30)

I should have mentioned that the Trattoria al Forno Brunch on day 7 is a character meal, so that along with Tusker House would be two total. We may have to snag an O'hana/Garden Grill reservation as some of you suggested, as one cannot have too many character meals! We just did Goofy's Kitchen out in DL for my son's birthday last weekend and it was a huge hit!

If anyone has any thoughts on Fastpass selection I'd be open to that too!!

 

[as1]

I think your plan looks amazing. I disagree with previous posts that 2 TS meals a day is too much. In my opinion, you have to eat anyway, might as well make it a nice meal. Plus you get the benefit of a built in break. We do 2 - 3 meals a day, mostly TS and wouldn't do it any other way.

You have made some awesome restaurant choices. You only have 1 character meal and with young kids those can be a lot of fun. I'm assuming you've gone for food experience/quality over character interactions for a reason though. But if you it wasn't deliberate and you'd consider others, I recommend Garden Grill at EP. The food is good and served family style as opposed to buffet, which I much prefer because you get fresher/hotter food that way. And the character interactions there have always been amazing for us.

We did LTT on a party night and it worked out quite well. We got an ADR at about 5:00 and we were done and out at 6:00 with still an hour to go before the party started to use up a few last minute fastpasses.

thanks! Garden Grill is definitely on the wish list, but there are too many options at Epcot, it's hard to narrow down! We have LTT reservations at 4:45, so we are following your plan almost exactly. I'm glad to hear it worked out well for you. I'd heard that the 4-7pm period on party nights can get a bit hectic, so hoping this works out well for us too!

 

[sharonabe]

I just have two logistics comments:

Illuminations will be at 9:30, not 9:00 due to the CP performance.

Star Wars Spectacular probably will NOT be shown at HS during your trip. It is replaced with Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam. Your kids will LOVE it, so I'd keep the plan the way it is, but know you won't see Star Wars, but you will see Wayne and Lanny!

 

[GillianP1301]

thanks! Garden Grill is definitely on the wish list, but there are too many options at Epcot, it's hard to narrow down! We have LTT reservations at 4:45, so we are following your plan almost exactly. I'm glad to hear it worked out well for you. I'd heard that the 4-7pm period on party nights can get a bit hectic, so hoping this works out well for us too!

That's my view as well, missing out on the hectic hours between 4:00 and 7:00 when party guests are entering while regular day guests are still there. In my opinion, the only exception for me advising an ADR during this time is if you are wanting to use that time to line up for the more popular meet & greets (i.e. Jack & Sally, 7 Dwarfs). Personally, that's not a priority for me so I always go for a nice meal during that time instead. It's also nice to be fully fueled from your meal and ready to tackle the 5 hours of the party. Enjoy LTT, it was a good experience for us the times we have been there.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I just have two logistics comments:

Illuminations will be at 9:30, not 9:00 due to the CP performance.

Star Wars Spectacular probably will NOT be shown at HS during your trip. It is replaced with Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam. Your kids will LOVE it, so I'd keep the plan the way it is, but know you won't see Star Wars, but you will see Wayne and Lanny!

This is very true. Once Candlelight Processional starts, Illuminations will always be at 9:30. Adding on to that, I will say that expect park hours to change with a month or sooner to your trip. Most likely MK will also change to a later closing as well

 

[as1]

I just have two logistics comments:

Illuminations will be at 9:30, not 9:00 due to the CP performance.

Star Wars Spectacular probably will NOT be shown at HS during your trip. It is replaced with Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam. Your kids will LOVE it, so I'd keep the plan the way it is, but know you won't see Star Wars, but you will see Wayne and Lanny!

Good to know! My daughter is a big Star Wars fan, but

I'm glad she's not aware of the Star Wars fireworks. W​

hat she doesn't know won't hurt her!