Trip in 9 days with no plans...

[Skyegirl1999]

I’m from the Disneyland side of things, and a friend knows I know Disney and asked me for help, but I’m out of my depth and hoping someone here can help!

She’s honeymooning in Orlando and spending a couple of days at Disney. She wants advice for what to do for two days (one at MK and one “probably at Epcot”). She has a $500 gift card that they want to use to “eat somewhere nice” and wonders if there are other “must-dos” or unique experiences.

The trip is June 10-11. She had no idea that DW wasn’t like Disneyland and that she was supposed to plan things already. Had no idea about pre-booking FPs or making ADRs or any of that...

The only Disney World trip I’ve done involved spreadsheets and FPs booked at 60 days, so I have no idea what’s possible this late in the game. What should I tell her? Tips? Restaurants that are nice but won’t be booked up? (They don’t like seafood but like Italian a lot.)

 

[Capang]

1. Tell hr she needs an MDE account
2. Buy and link tickets
3. Search for an ADR got maybe V&A, something at Epcot, maybe peruse menus to see what appeals to them.

Last minute trips are very doable, just not the norm here on the boards

 

[focusondisney]

ARe they looking for “a nice meal” on those 2 park days? The only place inside the parks they can probably spend close to that amount would be Monsiour Paul with Hollywood Brown Derby & maybe Le Cellier coming in next. But I would suggest instead that they spend their 2 park days just doing the parks. They could save their nice dinner for signature restaurants at the resorts or Disney Springs. They could probably get 2 or 3 really nice meals for $500, depending on how much they spend on drinks. So many options that way: Citricos, Narcoossee’s, Flying Fish, Yachtsman’s Steakhouse, California Grill, Boathouse etc. Don’t know what their other plans for the week are, but any of those are nicer places they could dress up a bit & all feel special for a romantic honeymoon evening. And all accept Disney gift cards of course.

 

[DISdreamer1982]

I think they'll be fine. They're not going to get FP for SDMT or anything avatar but if they are flexible they'll get afternoon evening FP for things. Maybe a nice lunch time meal somewhere then FP later? They'll be able to get le cellier I would have thought too. Don't forget the lounges if they are set on Californian grill for example

 

[mousehockey37]

Disney World is a place that can be done on short notice. The corporate entities want your time and money budgeted well ahead of time though. That said, she'll be fine at this point. There's always the big rush at 180 days and 60 for dining and FP's, BUT... as people's trip get closer and start happening and they fine tune their trips, ADR's and FP's open up. They may just have to wing it if she can't find anything, but there's always hope of finding stuff the day before or the day of.

So don't sweat it, just start looking now and seeing what's available.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Definitely get her to set up MDE. Tell her to look at menus for dinner without getting her heart too set on any one. Check for ADRs but if she doesn't see one she likes, wait until the day before and look again. A lot of things come open then.

Have her pick FPs, preferably for morning or early afternoon and explain about refreshing. With a party of 2 they should be able to get some nice FPs on the fly and go from ride to ride later in the day.

 

[laurajetter]

Definitely get her to set up MDE. Tell her to look at menus for dinner without getting her heart too set on any one. Check for ADRs but if she doesn't see one she likes, wait until the day before and look again. A lot of things come open then.

Have her pick FPs, preferably for morning or early afternoon and explain about refreshing. With a party of 2 they should be able to get some nice FPs on the fly and go from ride to ride later in the day.

Actually, could you explain to me about refreshing? We're going in 2 weeks, have all our FP+s but I'm not sure I know what you mean about that, though it sounds like it might be important!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I agree with all the other PP's regarding setting up an MDE account and booking FP+ for MK and EP. In terms of restaurants, I would suggest looking at the menus at Cali Grill and Artist Point in the MK area and Monsieur Paul, Yachtsman and Flying Fish in the EP area. They should be fine. The "harder to get" rides in MK and EP will be 7DMT and FEA, but as two adults, they could easily do those at RD if they would like or even skip them, IMHO.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Thanks, everyone! I’ll pass on the info and advice, especially for restaurant options.

 

[wisteria1019]

It can be done and be done well. Sometimes the unplanned visit offers the best opportunity for true, toe curling spontaneous delights.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Actually, could you explain to me about refreshing? We're going in 2 weeks, have all our FP+s but I'm not sure I know what you mean about that, though it sounds like it might be important!

Refreshing just means don't be deterred if you look for a 4th FP and the one you want isn't available. Tap another time (or the same time if you have an Android phone). If you keep tapping you will see that different FPs and different times become available each time you refresh. So say you want to go on Jungle Cruise and the first time you check, it doesn't come up. Tap a time again. Keep doing this until any time comes up. Say 10 pm. Grab that FP even if that's not a time you want. Then modify it and keep tapping until you get a time close to the current time or a time that allows you to do some other attraction that doesn't have much of a wait in the meantime. You can start looking for your next FP as soon as you tap either your 3rd prebooked or latest extra FP.

 

[disneylover102]

FP+ should still be plentiful, most likely until day of, for everything except 7DMT, FOP, NRJ, and FEA. For these that might not be available, just keep refreshing, as stated earlier. Make sure they know to do RD as well, especially for Epcot (the Epcot tier system will make it so they can only choose one FP out of FEA, TT, and Soarin’).

 

[paradesintherain]

FP+ should still be plentiful, most likely until day of, for everything except 7DMT, FOP, NRJ, and FEA. For these that might not be available, just keep refreshing, as stated earlier. Make sure they know to do RD as well, especially for Epcot (the Epcot tier system will make it so they can only choose one FP out of FEA, TT, and Soarin’).

Although Disneyland has Soarin’ and Radiator Springs Racers is far superior to Test Track so might not be the biggest issue

 

[gharter]

As others have said, get her MDE account set up. See what FPs are available.
Restaurants:
I would suggest California Grill if available. Of not Artist Point, Flying Fish are good. Il Mulino at the Swan if htey like Italian. Jiko at AKL is amazing and one of the best restaurants at WDW IMHO.
EPCOT Monsieur Paul was amazing.
HS Brown Derby is very good.