what should I make reservations for now??

[audrey13]

We are taking DS (4) to WDW for his first visit in May. He is going to love it. We are staying 7 nights at CBR, so we will have 6 full days in the parks. I still have a lot of reading/researching to do to figure out what we want to do on what days (I'm thinking we will do MK, AK, MGM and possibly Epcot) but I'm worried that I should be making advance reservations for things now or we'll miss out on good stuff.

What should I make reservations for now? I don't want to overschedule ourselves too much, but if there are a few things we should be sure not to miss (events, shows, character dining, good restaurants), I'd love to know so I can get on the ball and make reservations. Any suggestions?

(I know it is too late for the Cinderalla royal table breakfast but thankfully DS wouldn't care about that one. )

Thanks!

Audrey

 

[ryka]

We are going in August and already booked our character meals. You can book those up to 180 days before you go.

 

[sanjoe]

Not on dining plan this trip. Does anyone think getting in without reservations at a TS establishment will be a problem for lunch or dinner? I just don't know which parks we will be in on which days and certainly don't know what we will feel like eating. My fear is that we will have to settle for something that we dont' really want becasue everything else is booked with reservations. Can I just phone in reservations once in a particular park on a particular day? Does anyone have a dining reservations phone #? We are leaving in less than a week...

 

[Cinderella94]

We too, will be at CBR in May, staying for 8 days.
We have booked a table service dinner each night because it's better to be safe than sorry....we can always cancel later. Seeing as we'll probably do the dining plan though, I'm sure we'll keep all of our ADRs.

Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort is a great choice for a character meal. It's very close to the MK so it would not take a big chunk of your evening time to eat dinner over there. I do suggest an ADR though.

I just called about 3 nights ago for the week of May 13th & got all my ADRs made....got each restaurant I wanted for the day & time I wanted too....so it's not too late.

Have a great time!!


***THIS IS REALLY DAISYDUCK123 ACCIDENTALLY LOGGED ON AS HER DD.

 

[Mike N Kathy]

We were there in Feb and u really have to put in advance for any TS meals ..we had all our ressies and we saw people being turned away like crazy and if not waiting 2 hours for a table...And they werent happy at all..You guys will be much happier if u make all ur ressies b4 hand and if u dont want to go u dont have to but at least then u will have them

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I would absolutely make dining reservations! The park hours are posted, and if you need menus you can look on www.allearsnet.com for all of the restaurants. Call Dining at 407-WDW-DINE. Walking up is a HUGE gamble. Since dining can be reserved 180 days in advance it will be hard to get a seat anywhere if you just show up. I have reservations for 14 table service meals in August, and we will not miss a single one.

If you are doing a tour (with a 4 year old the Family Magic Tour is the only one offered) that needs to be booked by calling 407-WDW-TOUR.

If you are on a AAA package you need to reserve story time 90 days out. Other recreation things are 90 days, too. I'm not as familiar with golf tee times, etc. but I know the fishing boats are 90 days.

Good luck getting it all mapped out!

 

[jenndisney]

(I'm thinking we will do MK, AK, MGM and possibly Epcot) but I'm worried that I should be making advance reservations for things now or we'll miss out on good stuff.

First of all....DO NOT skip Epcot. Your son will love it! Talking to Crush. The maskes in all the countries. (also make sure you watch the woman make the animals out of sugar in Japan) You will be suprised. Also this trip is for you also!

Now, on to your question. We plan out which day in which park atleast for the time we want our sit down meal (we get park hoppers, so we can always change parks). We alternate between lunch and dinner for our sitdown. I love looking forward to a forced break. Check out the restaurant board for recommendations on great places to eat for your family.

Here are my thoughts for you (not knowing what your family likes):
MGM -- your son may like SciFi. We like it. Food is fun and atmosphere is GREAT!.
Epcot -- hard to pick just one. We love eating around the world. So many great places.
MK -- here we seem to do more counter service. We just hop on the monorail and head over to Epcot for our meal.
AK -- We love tusker House, but it is a counter service, but the best food.

I do think you will want to atleast plan out what parks for what days. You will be glad you are not waking up each morning discussing for 30 minutes, what are we going to do today.

 

[audrey13]

Thanks so much for the advice! I'm going to sit down tonight and figure out what park we will do on which day so we can make some dinner reservations. I can't believe how far in advance everyone makes their plans! We thought we were on the ball getting our hotel and flights more than two months out. LOL!

Are there any other events that require reservations? I gather that the parades and evening light shows/fireworks don't (except fantasmic??). I'm looking into the pirate cruise at CBR also.

Audrey

 

[clonetothebone]

Fantasmic! doesn't require a reservation unless your are doing the dining package which your choices are MaMa Melrose's ,Brown Derby or Hollywood & Vine. If you are just going to see the show you just show up 1 1/2 to 2 hours early and hope your kids have patience. One suggestion is to purchase sandwiches from a counter service joint and take them in and eat while you are waiting.

 

[MAKmom]

Not on dining plan this trip. Does anyone think getting in without reservations at a TS establishment will be a problem for lunch or dinner? I just don't know which parks we will be in on which days and certainly don't know what we will feel like eating. My fear is that we will have to settle for something that we dont' really want becasue everything else is booked with reservations. Can I just phone in reservations once in a particular park on a particular day? Does anyone have a dining reservations phone #? We are leaving in less than a week...

I did this our first trip...bad idea. If you do planning now it will really pay off.

Find out when Extra majic hours are for your dates. I use a folder write down each day with day & date. Then pick which park you will go to morning & night. Then we make a reservation for lunch & dinner. We LOVE TS in WDW. Its a big part of our trip.

In most cases its no big deal if you change your mind. BUt you have a nice place to eat. This planning also avoids the " what do you want to do converstion & fights with older kid" I let everyone pick 2 places to eat each trip.