What to do?

[rrnkp]

We are taking my 6 y/o Daughter to Disney World at the end of June. We are going for 7/D and 6/N, staying at the All Star Movies we have purchased the dining plan, park hopper and of course I have some questions.

1.With the dining plane you get a sit down meal and a counter service meal.
Is a buffett considered a sit dowm meal or a counter meal?

2. WHich character meals are best to attend, on the dining plan?

3. Should reservations be made for all meals (character or regular )?

4. People request that you plan your days- any suggestions will be helpful in doing so( this is our first time doing this).

5. Any recommendations on where to dine IF advanced reservations are required?

Any info that anyone on this board has will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[rrnkp]

We need to know- what are the best times to make dinner reservations?

this question goes with the questions previously posted.

Thanks

 

[Hoosier Mom]

We are taking my 6 y/o Daughter to Disney World at the end of June. We are going for 7/D and 6/N, staying at the All Star Movies we have purchased the dining plan, park hopper and of course I have some questions.

1.With the dining plane you get a sit down meal and a counter service meal.
Is a buffett considered a sit dowm meal or a counter meal?

2. WHich character meals are best to attend, on the dining plan?

3. Should reservations be made for all meals (character or regular )?

4. People request that you plan your days- any suggestions will be helpful in doing so( this is our first time doing this).

5. Any recommendations on where to dine IF advanced reservations are required?

Any info that anyone on this board has will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I'll try to help.

I believe the buffets are a table service meal.

Not sure what the best character meal is. We signed up for the Garden Grill. I think it has Chip, Dale, Mickey, and maybe Pluto (not sure). I made reservations for all our table service meals. You don't need reservations for the counter service ones.

As far as where to dine, I read all the Disney menus on allearsnet.com and decided from that. Also you can read the restaurant reviews there.

As far as planning which days to do what, I read here on the DIS that days with extra hours tended to be more crowded. So I sort of planned around not going to whatever park had extra hours that certain day.

Also I recommend getting a guidebook or two to read. I have Birnbaums Official Guide and also the Passporter. Both are excellent as far as planning your trips.

Have fun!

 

[Hoosier Mom]

We need to know- what are the best times to make dinner reservations?

this question goes with the questions previously posted.

Thanks

I think whatever your preference is would be fine. I heard if reservations are earlier, then chances are you'll be seated on time. We made ours for 11:20 am and 4:30 pm, but we are early risers and eat light breakfasts and we go to bed with the chickens! (we have a toddler)

I heard that if you dine at Rose & Crown (Epcot) at 7:45 in the evening, you can time it to see the Illuminations.

 

[beattyfamily]

We are taking my 6 y/o Daughter to Disney World at the end of June. We are going for 7/D and 6/N, staying at the All Star Movies we have purchased the dining plan, park hopper and of course I have some questions.

1.With the dining plane you get a sit down meal and a counter service meal.
Is a buffett considered a sit dowm meal or a counter meal?

2. WHich character meals are best to attend, on the dining plan?

3. Should reservations be made for all meals (character or regular )?

4. People request that you plan your days- any suggestions will be helpful in doing so( this is our first time doing this).

5. Any recommendations on where to dine IF advanced reservations are required?

Any info that anyone on this board has will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

First of all:

I'll give you my opinion.

A buffet (character meal) is a sit down meal. Counter services places are quick, fast food and have no waitresses.

I think any character meal that is not 2 table service credits (I think the only one that is 2 TS credits is the Castle) are good. It just depends on which characters you want to meet or where you want to eat. We enjoy Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace and my girls loved the Princess breakfast at Epcot as well.

I would make a few reservations just to be safe because with the popularity of the dining plan, many restaurants are booked solid. As you go through your vacation, you may decide to cancel one or two but at least you had them just in case.

I usually plan out my trip but I loosely follow it. I usually base my plans on the extra magic hour in the AM. We like to get to the park early so this works for us. Then we leave when it starts to get more crowded, usually around 1:00p. Then we rest and then head to another park in the PM. I also base my planning on seeing Spetromagic parade and Wishes and other special things like that.

When are you going?

Let us know if you have anymore questions.

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

We are taking my 6 y/o Daughter to Disney World at the end of June. We are going for 7/D and 6/N, staying at the All Star Movies we have purchased the dining plan, park hopper and of course I have some questions.

Congrats!

1.With the dining plane you get a sit down meal and a counter service meal.
Is a buffett considered a sit dowm meal or a counter meal?

It counts as a sit-down (or table service) meal.

2. WHich character meals are best to attend, on the dining plan?

My family loves the Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom, and are also doing 1900 Park Fare and Chef Mickey's when we go in June. LTT is family style, so you don't have to go to the buffet, and the characters come around several times! Most of the character meals are quite nice, though. Allearsnet.com has a list of which characters appear at which meal.

3. Should reservations be made for all meals (character or regular )?

I would say yes. Walking up without a reservation, particularly in the busy summer months could have you waiting for 40-75 minutes or not get seated at all.

4. People request that you plan your days- any suggestions will be helpful in doing so( this is our first time doing this).

The Unofficial Guide has been very helpful to me in my planning. Tour Guide Mike is another helpful resource, though a very different style!

5. Any recommendations on where to dine IF advanced reservations are required?

Try the dining reviews on this board, or the full menus over at AllEarsNet. Really quite helpful!

We need to know- what are the best times to make dinner reservations?

We made ours before we'd even booked our room, lol. You can call now, since you're going in June (up to 180 days out, actually!) or you can call once you get to your hotel. You are more likely to get the times and locations you want if you call earlier.

Hope that helps!

 

[zookeeper]

Our first night in Disney we ate at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. It's a buffet (the best food at a buffet IMO) and my DD5 got to see Cinderella, Prince Charming,etc. It was a geat way to start our trip. Also, it gave the kids a sneek peak at MK. After that first night we did all our table service around 1:00-2:00 in the afternoon. For us, that was the best time to have our big meal of the day. We also went to Crystal Palace(loved it), Chef Mickey's (loved it) and we ate at the castle (loved it, but it was only 1 credit then and I doubt we'd do it for 2 credits). Although, the food wasn't fantastic, we did go to Sci-Fi at MGM just for the concept. My kids loved sitting in the cars and watching the movies throughout dinner.

FYI- the dining plan is A LOT of food so be prepared to have some GREAT meals!!!

Have a fantastic time!!!