When and where reservations...late start!

[LondensMiMi]

We are taking our granddaughter the first week of May and are going to purchase the deluxe dining plan. We will have 4day hopper tickets and check in on May 3 Checkout May 6. We will want dinner reservations each of the four nights (including checkout day on the 6th) Please help with these questions: I am so confused!

Can we check in early, early on the 3rd to get our park tickets and immediately go to the parks and be able to use our dining tickets?

Which restruants are the best and what times are the best to make reservations for each park?

We would like to do at least one really nice dinner and or/show, but want to be able to take advantage of the extra hours in the parks....how do we know when and where to be and actually have a shot to get the reservations at this late date? Our dear grandaughter is seven but not a princess fan...she prefers Pirates!

Thanks soooo much for helping!

 

[vicki_c]

Yes, you can check in early and access your park tix and dining credits.

I would highly recommend that you don't add any dining plan until you make reservations that use up the credits you are paying for. May dining reservations have been open since November and it would be a shame to pay for the dining plan and then not get your money's worth from it because you couldn't get enough reservations.

You can online to the Disney site and see what restaurants have availability for your dates as a starting point.

 

[MONDOdsb]

A few things to note...

If you are staying for 4 days / 3 nights, your Disney Dining Plan can be purchased for 3 days (you cannot purchase additional days on the Dining plan to my knowledge, and are only allowed a 'day' of meals per night you stay.) You can of course use these credits any time during your 4 day stay.

Normally I would suggest that you not purchase the Deluxe Dining Plan, as you may find you are spending the majority of your time getting to and from meals and at meals (likely 6 hours of each day?) In your case, where you wish to eat four days off of the plan it may actually work, however, as you will be granted 9 meals per person.

I agree with Vicki in that you should check availability of reservations before purchasing the plan, as many will be already gone. The main thing to understand is that in most cases with only a few months notice like this you may be eating meals out of peak time (dinner may be at 8pm, breakfast may be at 10am, etc.) so you may need to be flexible on your meal times.

Good luck on your trip!

 

[LondensMiMi]

Thanks for your help here...we do plan to spread the meals to all four days and are thinking that table service will be a nice way to get a little rest in the midst of all our touring. We don't mind later or earlier dining hours...we especailly prefer later for the evening meal. The problem...deciding what is the best choice/securing the Res and making that fit our touring plans!

 

[deannanb]

I would start by deciding which parks you want to go to on which days - and then pick places to eat around that. Once you have those, either call the reservation number to see what is available or look online to see what you can find.

If you do the Deluxe plan you can use some of your credits for signature places and shows. Look at the Luau or HDDR for one night for dinner. And maybe California Grill for another dinner.

You could use your snack credits for a lunch or breakfast.