Rookie question about dining

[MandM55]

This will be our first trip. I am so excited. And we are staying onsite! I am planning planning planning. We will be there 9/29 to 10/3. I am getting stuck on lunch and dinner reservations.

How do you guys time everything? I am afraid I will make a reservation and be on the other side of the park when it is time to eat. There is so much to plan. I just figured out the fast passes. YAY

Is it really necessary to have reservations? Can we just walk up to any restaurant and get it?
We are florida residents and we do not have the dining plan.

I appreciate any help and advice.
Michelle

 

[Beauty & the Best]

I usually coordinate my dining reservations w/ the park hours and extra magic hours so I can decide where I'll be when, and then I make reservations for that park/area.

Yes you need reservations, particularly when you're going as it is free dining time.

If you don't want to make reservations, just do counter service for all of your meals. There are some excellent counter service places.

And there are some restaurants that you can usually find availability for as a walk up (like 9 Dragons in epcot, Restaurant Marrakesh in epcot, Tusker House in Animal Kingdom) but not during busy dining times (i.e. 12 noon for lunch)

Also, you walk up at ESPN and Big River Brewing on the Boardwalk b/c they don't take reservations.

 

[hsembrick]

Since free dining is going on it is very unlikely that you will be able to walk up and get in to any restaurant.
As far as planning goes, we personally try to make dinner ressies that way we have the whole day to do what we want and not have to worry about being somewhere by a certain time. On days we do have a lunch ressie
we try to watch the time and head
towards our restaurant an hour or
so before our ressie and try to do
a few things along the way.

We always make reservations based on which park we will be at on that day. We never leave the park to go eat somewhere else, we have tried it in the past but it just seemed like a waste of time for us. Now we just plan resort dining on the day we arrive or our down day during the middle of our stay.

HTH

 

[Beauty & the Best]

Also, I hope you are getting a room discount. They are available for FL residents

http://bookwdw.reservations.disney....Code=fy10q3summerroom&market=fy10q3summerroom

 

[winterman]

How do you guys time everything? I am afraid I will make a reservation and be on the other side of the park when it is time to eat.

I've never had a problem with that. I just make sure that our ADR is in the park that we will be at that day. I know what time I have to be at the restaurant and than make sure I'm NOT on the other side of the park when it's time to be at the restaurant. No different than planning for any other 'appointment' in your life.

Your time is running short. You need to get online or call NOW with the list of places you would like to eat at. Be flexible and have second and third choices in mind.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

If you want to eat at any table service restaurants you will need reservations during free dining.

Pick a restaurant in a park that you will be in that day (or at a MK monorail resort if you are at MK), it will not be hard to get to the restaurant on time, (you can be a little late).

 

[serene56]

Where are you staying onsite that you do not have free dining?

 

[MandM55]

We are staying at the All Star Music. We are florida residents and also have the give a day get a day cert. that we will be using to upgrade our tickets. According to a Disney agent on the phone that makes us ineligible for the free dining.

But thats ok. We will make due. I have already made reservations at the Coral Reef and The Plaza so I dont think we did so bad. The other days we will just use quick service or walk up to see if anything is available.

Can anyone tell me what restaurants are close to Magic Kingdom on the monorail? I figured I would check those out as well. thanks!

 

[grafxgirl]

We usually only make dinner reservations and do counter services for breakfast and lunch. It's nice to be able to sit down for a bit in the evenings and have a nice meal.

Reservations are a must!

I set the alarm on my phone to go off one hour prior to reservation time as a reminder, that way we can start to make our way over toward the restaurant without having to rush.