reservations with park hopper. am i confined to stay close to the restaurant that day

[yankeeslover]

im making my reservations for my august trip...all my dining reservations are around 7pm... and for the most part all my restaraunts are off of the monorail(chef micks,1900 park fare, ohanas,cape may).. my question is, i have no idea yet what parks we will be going to what day... since my reservations are all mostly around the monorail does that mean i have to plan parks around MK or epcot these days? or is travel fast enough around disney where we can go to a different park this day and just leave alittle early? we will be using disney bus system..... i dont mind planning dining reservations 6 months early, but im having a hard time planning my daily park schedule... especially with a 5 yo who i have no idea what park she is gonna like or not like yet...... and also, my travel day has me landing in orlando around 9:30 am....figure get to resort(movies) around 11am or so, i have dining reservations that night at chef micks at 6:30, will we have enough time that first day to knock out animal kingdom? probably figure around 4.5 hours give or take for animal kingdom.... we are going to mk after chef micks so my daughter can see the light parade and the fireworks, and maybe do some extra magic hours that night if she is up to it(more energy then me) but im not sure what i want to do for the whole time before my chef micks reservations. i was gonna try to cover animal kingdom that day..thank you much..

 

[TDC Nala]

did you make those reservations before October 26? If so you can skip it without penalty should it come to that.

If you made the reservations after October 26 you will be charged if you don't show up. So you will need to make sure you can make it to that reservation.

If you want to go directly from AK to Chef Mickey's you can take a bus from AK to the Contemporary.

If you want to go back to the resort first, you will have to take a bus back to your resort, then a bus to a park (MK would be recommended) and then if you take the bus to MK either walk or ride the monorail to the Contemporary.

If you need to go from resort to resort you should allow yourself at least an hour traveling time. From park to resort, 30 minutes to 45 minutes. This is going to cut down on your park touring time, because you also have to wait for your bus to arrive.

I can't remember if the AK/Contemporary bus also stops at Blizzard Beach so you would have to remember to have enough time for that extra stop, if they do.

Or, you can take a taxi from wherever you happen to be, to the Contemporary, to save time.

 

[Harlemgirl720]

It is tough planning meals around parks. I usually try to stick to the park I will be going to and then make reservations at that park for a meal. But with Park hoppers in the mix, its really not that difficult. You can do AK that day you arrive and then take the Contemporary Bus from AK for Chef Mickeys.

Going to MK is a great idea if everyone is up to it. You may be tired from traveling that day so just play it by ear.

 

[teddygurl28]

if you have park hoppers then no, you dont need to stick to one park a day based on your dining choices.

traveling to resorts for eating can be easy or tricky. if for example you are going to animal kingdom for the day and stay til closing (im assuming its 5pm) then you can take your time exiting and then take a bus from AK directly to the contemporary, and that travel time wont be so bad.

if though, you want to go to your hotel room in between, then you would probably want to leave the park between 4 to get to your hotel, then grab a mk bus by 6 and either walk or take the monorail to the contemporary.


travel time within disney is tough to work out. once you leave your resort most parks are about a 20 minute ride. the only issue is you need to wait for the bus you want, which may cause of wait of up to 20 minutes. so if you want to be on a bus by 6pm, you need to really be at the bus stop just after 530

so basically its leaving an hour before the ressie time to get there. this is based on the dining being around the mk since you can take a bus directly to the mk and walk or take the monorail.

for cape may, i would just concider being in epcot during the afternoon and just walking trhough the international gateway and going to the beach club resort that way ,,but since you mentioned the ressie times are around 7 you could always spend the first part of the day at another park, if your child enjoys it more somewhere else, and then just prepare to be at epcot at say maybe 5 so you can walk around and do a couple of rides there before going to your ressie

 

[mickeynut1]

I always make our ADRs 180 days out and we plan our days one at a time once we're there. If we decide to go to MK and have a dinner ADR at Boma, we just make sure we leave the MK early enough to get to AKL. With that said, we always use Disney transportation and have yet to be late for an ADR. We never know what park we will feel like going to on which day, so we decide where we want to go that morning and everything always falls into place. I wouldn't worry too much about staying close by your ADR; as long as you allow sufficient time, you will be fine .

 

[Huff]

I always check the park hours and show schedules for the week of our stay. I then plan ADR's around the shows I wish to see. I end up with several nights where watching Illuminations is possible, or Fantasmic, Wishes, Electric Light etc. That doesn't mean we spend the entire day at those parks nor that we must see those shows on any given day.

On our last visit we had one ADR at Cape May. We went to Studios that day, then took the boat over to Cape May, had dinner, then took the boat over to Epcot to watch Illuminations.

We often plan an ADR at Kona or Ohanas for 1 hour after Wishes or Electric Light. That allows us to see either before heading to Poly for dinner. Optionally we can watch wishes from the Poly beach then head to dinner.

Big thing is that we don't plan exactly which park for each day, just leave possibilities to see the shows we want on a few of the days so we have flexibility. This is exactly why we get hoppers. Many ADR's are at Epcot but we do not wish to go to Epcot that many days.

 

[mbonaccorse77]

I agree, I would try to stay at the park you are at that day. We tried to do the park hopping and restaurant thing last year and let me tell you, it was EXHAUSTING. On our second outing, i learned that we just stay put. Have you checked out touringplans.com? I use them to figure out what park i am going to on which days and THEN i do the restaurant reservations. Now, if you have your heart set on a certain one, then by all means, do what you need to do.. either way, GOod luck and hope you have a great time!

 

[Huff]

I agree, I would try to stay at the park you are at that day. We tried to do the park hopping and restaurant thing last year and let me tell you, it was EXHAUSTING. On our second outing, i learned that we just stay put.

We're the exact opposite. I hate having to preplan out what parks to go to each day and be confined to what restaurants to dine at based on that park. Generally we pick what park to spend most of the day at when we get up each morning, then head to dinner that night and hop to whichever park is open late after. Also, many ADR's are at Epcot but we do not wish to visit Epcot for so many full days.

Also, I dislike all of the TS restaurants at Studios and also wish to enjoy many of the great restaurants that are at resorts rather than in the parks.