I will be going down to Orlando on 11/19 and staying until11/25 we will be going to all the disney parks and both universal parks I will be traveling with my husband his thirteen year old son, my thirteen year old son and our 4 year old son I have not been to Orlando since i was 6 years old. We will be staying at the Country inn Calypso Cay in Kissimee. I never realized how much planning i should have done untill i found this forum. We will also be going to the Pirate Dinner show one night. other than that i have not made any reservations anywhere. I tried to the other night for thanksgiving dinner but everywhere is booked. Please HELP!!!!!!!
Uh Oh
- Thread starter JILL34
- Start date
Lora
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 25, 1999
- Messages
- 1,467
Keep trying. Lots of people shuffle things around as it gets closer. You may not get the most popular things, but you shouldn't be stuck without ADR's at all. I just made two ADR's yesterday for mid-October. I didn't get my first choice of days/times, but I'm satisfied.
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2000
- Messages
- 24,579
Welcome to the Dis, Jill34! We are glad you found us. 
Did you check for all times? Would maybe a big lunch work better as your Thanksgiving Meal? Or even breakfast?
One year we were in Disney over Christmas and we opted for a big breakfast (All you can eat) and then knowing we wouldnt be hungry for a full meal later, we didn't book any other meals, but just picked up counter service.
And I agree with the advice above, keep trying!!!! Good luck!
Did you check for all times? Would maybe a big lunch work better as your Thanksgiving Meal? Or even breakfast?
One year we were in Disney over Christmas and we opted for a big breakfast (All you can eat) and then knowing we wouldnt be hungry for a full meal later, we didn't book any other meals, but just picked up counter service.
And I agree with the advice above, keep trying!!!! Good luck!
mytwinklestar
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2006
- Messages
- 295
Welcome! I agree w/ previous posters... keep trying. You will get lucky and catch someone's cancellation. My niece just booked a Thanksgiving trip. She has asked me many questions about what to do, etc. knowing I am addicted to the Dis now. I know she probably has NOT made dining arrangements for Thanksgiving. Going to give her a call right away. Thanks for the reminder and best of luck to you. You all are going to have a FANATISMIC time!!!
You certainly have a full schedule for your week, so I will suggest that your first stop should be www.allearsnet.com, to check out the menus at the various parks. This will give you full descriptions of the menu items as well as prices so you can pick places that will fit with both your tastes and your budget. There are excellent counter service restaurants (CS) at all of the parks, with the notable exception of MGM. Counter Service there does not get very good reviews. Several CS places offer 1/2 chicken or 1/2 chicken & ribs ( Tusker House and Flame Tree Barbecue in Animal Kingdom, Cosmic Rays at Magic Kingdom, and Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney, for example). If one chicken would ordinarily feed your family, then this would be an option to order 2 of these, and maybe an extra order of potatoes/fries to share with the group, and break up the burgers/hot dogs/ chicken nuggets that you will see at a most CS.
Other CS like Peco's Bill and Columbia Harbour House (both at Magic Kingdom) have wraps and sandwiches that are very large, and could often be split with another person for a lighter lunch. The boys would probably enjoy the double burgers at Peco's Bills or Cosmic Rays, they both have toppings bars with a huge selection.
Epcot has all of the restaurants at World Showcase. Most of the countries have both a Table Service and Counter Service option.
Over at Universal, I can highly recommend Louie's, for pizza. It is a Counter Service restaurant, but lots of seating. We ordered a large pizza for our family of 4. The cost was about $16 total, and I think we had a couple of slices left over. You can also order pasta and pizza by the slice.
With only one day for each park, I think that it is imperative that you schedule which park you are going to BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME. There is a lot to see and do, so knowing what park you will be attending, the opening and closing times of each, and what time the parades, shows, and fireworks take place is IMPERATIVE to you maximizing your enjoyment, and reducing your stress! If you have the "hopping" feature on your tickets, that might help as well.
On the Disboards Home Page, select "Theme Park" from the taskbar. From the new window that opens, select "Park Hours" from the Theme Park Information section. This will tell you which parks are open later during your visit, which might help in planning (particularily if your are hopping between parks).
Many people find that they are able to do rides and attractions with little wait time by utilizing the following strategy: Avoid the parks with the Early Magic Hours (once a week, each park will open an hour early for onsite guests only; it's a different park each day. Each park will also stay open 3 hours later, for onsite guests; again it's a different park each day). By avoiding the extra magic parks on their specific day, they are able to get more done at one of the other 3 parks because they are generally less crowded, at least at opening. To further complicate things, they recommend that you GO to the park that had extra magic evenings the night before (since many onsiters took advantage of that park the night before, and those who are up early will probably go to the park that is open early in the morning!).
Once you figure out your park schedule, check out the menus at allears, and see where you would like to eat. You may have more luck finding table service if you try booking for lunch. A late lunch (3:45) could be an early dinner! Buffets will be certainly less expensive at lunch, and will fill those growing boys! If you can't get reservations for lunch, at least you have the menus for the counter service so you can have an idea where you want to go. It will be crowded, so try eating at 11, or after 1:30 if you chose counter service. Don't forget to take advantage of your fastpasses. You can get the fastpass, and go have lunch or dinner while you are waiting for your fastpass return time. One of you can get the fastpasses for everybody while the others wait in line for another attraction (Most people don't mind if one person is joining their family in line!)
Also, pick up one of the Disney planning guides at your bookstore (the Unofficial guide, etc) will help you to plan which attractions are "must see". If each person in your group picks out ONE thing in each park that they most want to see, even if you only do those 5 things, your trip to that park will be a success!
Other CS like Peco's Bill and Columbia Harbour House (both at Magic Kingdom) have wraps and sandwiches that are very large, and could often be split with another person for a lighter lunch. The boys would probably enjoy the double burgers at Peco's Bills or Cosmic Rays, they both have toppings bars with a huge selection.
Epcot has all of the restaurants at World Showcase. Most of the countries have both a Table Service and Counter Service option.
Over at Universal, I can highly recommend Louie's, for pizza. It is a Counter Service restaurant, but lots of seating. We ordered a large pizza for our family of 4. The cost was about $16 total, and I think we had a couple of slices left over. You can also order pasta and pizza by the slice.
With only one day for each park, I think that it is imperative that you schedule which park you are going to BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME. There is a lot to see and do, so knowing what park you will be attending, the opening and closing times of each, and what time the parades, shows, and fireworks take place is IMPERATIVE to you maximizing your enjoyment, and reducing your stress! If you have the "hopping" feature on your tickets, that might help as well.
On the Disboards Home Page, select "Theme Park" from the taskbar. From the new window that opens, select "Park Hours" from the Theme Park Information section. This will tell you which parks are open later during your visit, which might help in planning (particularily if your are hopping between parks).
Many people find that they are able to do rides and attractions with little wait time by utilizing the following strategy: Avoid the parks with the Early Magic Hours (once a week, each park will open an hour early for onsite guests only; it's a different park each day. Each park will also stay open 3 hours later, for onsite guests; again it's a different park each day). By avoiding the extra magic parks on their specific day, they are able to get more done at one of the other 3 parks because they are generally less crowded, at least at opening. To further complicate things, they recommend that you GO to the park that had extra magic evenings the night before (since many onsiters took advantage of that park the night before, and those who are up early will probably go to the park that is open early in the morning!).
Once you figure out your park schedule, check out the menus at allears, and see where you would like to eat. You may have more luck finding table service if you try booking for lunch. A late lunch (3:45) could be an early dinner! Buffets will be certainly less expensive at lunch, and will fill those growing boys! If you can't get reservations for lunch, at least you have the menus for the counter service so you can have an idea where you want to go. It will be crowded, so try eating at 11, or after 1:30 if you chose counter service. Don't forget to take advantage of your fastpasses. You can get the fastpass, and go have lunch or dinner while you are waiting for your fastpass return time. One of you can get the fastpasses for everybody while the others wait in line for another attraction (Most people don't mind if one person is joining their family in line!)
Also, pick up one of the Disney planning guides at your bookstore (the Unofficial guide, etc) will help you to plan which attractions are "must see". If each person in your group picks out ONE thing in each park that they most want to see, even if you only do those 5 things, your trip to that park will be a success!
Also, forgot to add, if you don't already have your Pirates Adventure and/or park admission tickets, you can get them at a very good discount through the link from the mousesavers newsletter. Most of us here on the board signed up to receive the newsletter when it comes out on the 15th of the month via email (it's free). There are links to (2) reputable discount ticket sellers that give us special "mousesaver" discounts. You will get a substantial savings on your tickets.
Universal Orlando has a special right now, 7 days admission to both Universal and Islands of Adventure, for only $85. I know you don't need 7 days, but these tickets are cheaper than buying (2) 1 day admission tickets. The added bonus is if the teenagers aren't thrilled with, say Magic Kingdom, you have the flexibility of adjusting your plans to allow them to spend more time at the thrill rides at IOA, or going for an additional morning or two before heading to the WDW parks, without having to buy more tickets!
These tickets MUST be purchased in advance (at least one day ahead of your first visit) to get the discount.
Universal Orlando has a special right now, 7 days admission to both Universal and Islands of Adventure, for only $85. I know you don't need 7 days, but these tickets are cheaper than buying (2) 1 day admission tickets. The added bonus is if the teenagers aren't thrilled with, say Magic Kingdom, you have the flexibility of adjusting your plans to allow them to spend more time at the thrill rides at IOA, or going for an additional morning or two before heading to the WDW parks, without having to buy more tickets!
These tickets MUST be purchased in advance (at least one day ahead of your first visit) to get the discount.
Thanks for all your help I was finally able to get a reservation for a character breakfeast on Friday after thanksgiving at Animal Kingdom. I think thats the night we will go to the Pirate show also since the park closes early. has anyone been to the animal kingdom character breakfeast. I will keep trying for thanksgiving reservations we were planning to go to the Magic Kingdom that day for the thanksgiving parade.
Mrs. Potts
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 24, 2000
- Messages
- 95
We went to Donald's Breakfast at Animal Kingdom a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. Lately the reviews I've read haven't been so good though. Enjoy. If you have an earlier ADR, it is fun being in the park before everyone else.
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