Thoughts on my ADRs for October

[munchkin2]

Changed again! Thanks for all the help I think I am sticking with this and just want to leave it here so I had a 'copy' of it.


Arrive Sunday October 16.
-spend the day at the resort swimming/relaxing
-lunch - QS @ resort
-Dinner - T-Rex Experience 6:30

Monday 10/17
-EPCOT
-Breakfast - 1900 Park Fare 8:15
-Lunch - QS @ Epcot
-Dinner - Garden Grill 6:50

Tuesday 10/18
-ANIMAL KINGDOM
-Breakfast - Tusker House 8:15
-Lunch - Rainforest Cafe @ AK 12:30
-Dinner - Cape May Cafe 6:30

Wednesday 10/19
-MAGIC KINGDOM
-Breakfast - Crystal Palace 8:05
-Lunch - Tony's Town Square 12:30
-Dinner - Cinderella's Royal Table 6:45

Thursday 10/20
-Hollywood Studios
-Breakfast - Hollywood Vine 8:15
-Lunch - Mama Melrose 1:30 (with Fantasmic!!)
-Dinner - 50's Primetime Cafe 5:20

Friday 10/21
-Swimming/touring
-Breakfast - Chef Mickey 9:20
-Lunch - QS at resort
-Dinner - Captain's Grill 6:30

Saturday 10/22
-Leave
-Breakfast - Maya Grill 8:00

 

[wdwfan1]

Everything looks good, but we find that trying to eat three full meals at WDW is just too much food. We are DVC, so we usually have something light for breakfast in the villa. If we are having a big breakfast, lunch becomes something light.

Enjoy your first trip!

 

[munchkin2]

Everything looks good, but we find that trying to eat three full meals at WDW is just too much food. We are DVC, so we usually have something light for breakfast in the villa. If we are having a big breakfast, lunch becomes something light.

Enjoy your first trip!

Thanks! I think it looks a bit much too, but neither my niece nor I are big breakfast eaters so we will probably just pick at food then. And then enjoy lunch and dinners.

Can you 'take home' leftovers? The kids will graze all day if that's an option.

I am really nervous about making it to places and having enough time to enjoy Disney.

 

[dskib]

I think it looks okay, but that many sit down meals will REALLY eat into park time. What works for us is to have one counter service meal and one table service meal each day. Unless we schedule a character breakfast, we usually eat a small breakfast in our room- fruit, yogurt, cereal. Then we have an earlyish counter service lunch around 11:30, and a table service dinner around 6. We dont generally do more than 1 table service a day.

I also take a look at some of the free crowd calendars out there. For example, Mondays are typically busier at MK, so having 3 sit down meals may really take a lot of time out of an already crowded day.

Good luck!
Deb

 

[Mickey2013]

I agree with PP - 1 TS meal, 1 CS meal per day is plenty. Are you doing a dining plan? The regular DDP is usually enough unless you have many 2 credit restaurants planned (then you'd want DxDP) 2 sit down meals is a lot, 3 is overkill.

I agree again , check for crowd calendars www.wdweasy.com (FREE) or www.tourguidemike.com about $20 with the link at the top of the page. TourGuideMike has great planning advice! This will tell you which parks on which days are best and then you can plan your ADRs around them.

We packed food in our suitcase too - granola bars, box of cereal, fruit snacks, even peanut butter.

Good Luck!

 

[MickeyNicki]

You have some great places! THe only thing I worry about is will you be hungry enough to eat 3 TS a day...that is so much food.

Your HS day looks pretty tight...you will eat dinner just 4 hours after eating lunch. Can you move the dinner back a bit?

It is always better to have reservations than to not have them.

 

[munchkin2]

THANKS so much for the input guys. I went back and changed the days we attend after reading the links to the calendars. Thanks Mickey2013 for those! And going back and thinking about it the EMH don't really mean much to us, since the kids will be whooped by 9p anyways, so having extra hours won't help.

My mom is paying and is afraid she or the kids might starve so she wants the deluxe dining plan. I would rather be prepared now with having reservations and possibly cancelling them once we get down there and see how rushed we are. She doesn't want to have to pack any extras, so no food, etc. Whatever for me as long as she is paying, I just have to figure logistics out (like how to get place to place!).


What do you all think of the plan now?

You have some great places! THe only thing I worry about is will you be hungry enough to eat 3 TS a day...that is so much food.

Your HS day looks pretty tight...you will eat dinner just 4 hours after eating lunch. Can you move the dinner back a bit?

It is always better to have reservations than to not have them.

It does sound like a lot of food, but I am sure we will do more grazing at each place then actually eating everything. I just want to have to option to sit and rest for a bit and experience another part of Disney.

The only day I didn't change was the HS day, because of Fantasmic. 1:30 is the earliest lunch time they have and was told I have to be in line for the 7:30 show at 6:30 so I figured 5:20 would give us time to eat and get to the show. The kids will love the 50's cafe so even if they don't eat the atmosphere will make them happy.

 

[dskib]

I think the new plan looks great. As a rule of thumb, I compare the crowd calendars with the 'which days are busiest at which parks' section of wdw.com, and then I rule out EMH days. That tells me which days to go to which parks. We're going the exact same weeks as you! And my plan is very similar to yours except that we're skipping HS.

As for food, go for it!! You could always cancel the ressies if you're not hungry. Those breakfast buffets can be REALLY filling, so you might not be ready for a 12:30 lunch

Also - don't forget that the food and wine festival is in Epcot that week. I love walking through World Showcase at lunch time picking up international food at the kiosks instead of sitting down for lunch.

Have fun!! I'll bet we pass by each other a few times

Deb

 

[WDWAtLast]

On Monday, your Epcot day, you have lunch at T Rex, which is in downtown Disney. Are you not planning to get to Epcot until after lunch? Just checking-everything else looks great!

 

[hannahdrewmom]

T-rex is also not on the dining plan.

 

[mom2aandj]

I would take T Rex off of your Epcot day. Unless there's a specific reason you're wanting to leave Epcot, go to DTD, and then go back again? Otherwise, as a pp said there will be lots of cool F&W booths at Epcot that day.

We've done the Fantasmic dining package several times and you do not have to be in line at 6:30 for the 7:30 show. I mean, you CAN, but that's kind of the point of doing the dining package, to reduce the wait time. We usually walk up at 40-45 mins before the show and there is plenty of seating in the reserved section. You just want to make sure you're there prior to 35 mins to show start, as they will sometimes open the reserved seating to the general audience at that point.

 

[munchkin2]

As for food, go for it!! You could always cancel the ressies if you're not hungry. Those breakfast buffets can be REALLY filling, so you might not be ready for a 12:30 lunch

Also - don't forget that the food and wine festival is in Epcot that week. I love walking through World Showcase at lunch time picking up international food at the kiosks instead of sitting down for lunch.

Have fun!! I'll bet we pass by each other a few times

Deb

Thanks! I glad mine is similar. We have to hit all the parks and HS on Thursday makes the most sense with Fantasmic. Yeah, I am sure we might cancel a couple lunch reservations, but I would rather have them now then not. We aren't much on international food, so we probably won't do the food and wine festival.

 

[munchkin2]

On Monday, your Epcot day, you have lunch at T Rex, which is in downtown Disney. Are you not planning to get to Epcot until after lunch? Just checking-everything else looks great!

T-rex is also not on the dining plan.

I would take T Rex off of your Epcot day. Unless there's a specific reason you're wanting to leave Epcot, go to DTD, and then go back again? Otherwise, as a pp said there will be lots of cool F&W booths at Epcot that day.

We've done the Fantasmic dining package several times and you do not have to be in line at 6:30 for the 7:30 show. I mean, you CAN, but that's kind of the point of doing the dining package, to reduce the wait time. We usually walk up at 40-45 mins before the show and there is plenty of seating in the reserved section. You just want to make sure you're there prior to 35 mins to show start, as they will sometimes open the reserved seating to the general audience at that point.

My nephew LOVES dinosaurs so we HAVE to do T-Rex (even if it isn't on the dining plan, we are going to use the extra TS meal for CRT). I am still trying to get reservations for it for Sunday night since it isn't in a park, but so far only 9p and that is too late for them to eat. I am planning to sleep in that morning, maybe ride around a bit to familiarize ourselves with the buses and then hit DTD for lunch and then go to Epcot for the day. I think Epcot will be the least favorite of the parks, so I don't mind spending a little less time there. If I can't get reservations for Sunday this plan will be ok, but if I can we can just eat QS for lunch at Epcot on Monday.

Good to know about the lines at Fantasmic! How long does dinner usually last at the 50's Cafe. Would 5:45 or 6 give us time to eat and then get over to Fantasmic? I don't know how far away they are from each other.

 

[Disneyfreak616]

Sounds good to me! Are you sure you want to do 2 character meals on your MK day though? Seems like a lot of wasted park time IMO. Either way have an awesome trip!!

 

[JWG]

We'll see you there! We arrive on the same day as you. Not on dining plan so only doing one Table service a day using Tables in Wonderland.

Sunday dinner Garden Grill
Monday lunch Nine Dragons
Tuesday dinner Jiko
Wednesday breakfast Chef Mickey's
Thursday lunch Rose and Crown
Friday dinner 'Ohana
Saturday lunch Mama Melrose's
Sunday is still unknown, plan on Mickey's not so scary Halloween party
Monday dinner 1900 Park Fare

5 of these are new for us which is great. Chef Mickey's is a tradition but getting too expensive for what it is.

 

[Mickey2013]

Another tip..

If you are doing Deluxe Dining, plan for one 2 credit meal per day so that you will only need to sit and eat 2x - A late breakfast and an early dinner.

2 credit choices: You already have CRT in the plan. HDDR is a dinner show that gets FAB reviews. Brown Derby in DHS. Epcot-Le Cellier or Bistro de France. There are a few 2 credit in the Boardwalk area. What about the 2 credit at Contemporary?

Just some thoughts to help so that you are not doing too much sitting in restaurants. BTW T-Rex is a great arrival or departure day thing to do w/ DTD. Google T-Rex and call direct. That's the easiest way to get an ADR.

 

[mom2aandj]

My nephew LOVES dinosaurs so we HAVE to do T-Rex (even if it isn't on the dining plan, we are going to use the extra TS meal for CRT). I am still trying to get reservations for it for Sunday night since it isn't in a park, but so far only 9p and that is too late for them to eat.

you need to call TRex directly. They release very few tables to Disney dining. If you call them directly I'm sure you will have no problem getting something earlier.

 

[sjs314]

My nephew LOVES dinosaurs so we HAVE to do T-Rex (even if it isn't on the dining plan, we are going to use the extra TS meal for CRT). I am still trying to get reservations for it for Sunday night since it isn't in a park, but so far only 9p and that is too late for them to eat. I am planning to sleep in that morning, maybe ride around a bit to familiarize ourselves with the buses and then hit DTD for lunch and then go to Epcot for the day. I think Epcot will be the least favorite of the parks, so I don't mind spending a little less time there. If I can't get reservations for Sunday this plan will be ok, but if I can we can just eat QS for lunch at Epcot on Monday.

Good to know about the lines at Fantasmic! How long does dinner usually last at the 50's Cafe. Would 5:45 or 6 give us time to eat and then get over to Fantasmic? I don't know how far away they are from each other.

you need to call TRex directly. They release very few tables to Disney dining. If you call them directly I'm sure you will have no problem getting something earlier.

Yes call T-Rex directly as pp said and you should be able to get any time you want

1-407-828-8739

 

[munchkin2]

Another tip..

If you are doing Deluxe Dining, plan for one 2 credit meal per day so that you will only need to sit and eat 2x - A late breakfast and an early dinner.

Just some thoughts to help so that you are not doing too much sitting in restaurants. BTW T-Rex is a great arrival or departure day thing to do w/ DTD. Google T-Rex and call direct. That's the easiest way to get an ADR.

If it was me I would probably go with this plan, but my mom wants to make sure we get 3 meals per day. That is the part she is worried about starving if we only do 2 meals (late breakfast, early dinner) and a snack. And she wants to use the sitting down at a meal instead of having to go back to the resort for a break.

you need to call TRex directly. They release very few tables to Disney dining. If you call them directly I'm sure you will have no problem getting something earlier.

Yes call T-Rex directly as pp said and you should be able to get any time you want

1-407-828-8739

AW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you! I now have dinner reservations at t-rex on Sunday at 6:30. Exactly what I wanted.



I just have to say, you guys are AWESOME! I have changed my reservations a bunch of time, but I am so glad that I get to worry about it now and make it perfect and not have to stress about it when I get down there.

 

[Mickey2013]

Glad the DIS has been so helpful. Keep the questions coming.

And she wants to use the sitting down at a meal instead of having to go back to the resort for a break.

Honestly, if you are going with a 6 and 4 yr old, they NEED breaks mid-day or will be burnt out. WDW days are long. The kids will need breaks and they will need to have time off to swim and play too. You want to have FUN!

Good luck convincing Mom of that.