Where do I begin???

[zeke11]

I am feeling overwhelmed by this!

I have been told that we positively will need ressies if we want to dine at any of the sit down restaurants. I've never done this before .... how in the world (no pun intended) do you decide ahead of time which parks you'll be at which day and what time for the restaurants?

Can anyone help me out with recommendations?

We'll be at the parks (including water parks) from a Tuesday to Saturday with kids ages 21, 17 and 13. What would be a good schedule? I'm wide open and totally confused!


Thank you,
Kris

 

[RMulieri]

If you have Park Hoppers on your tickets it doesn't really matter all that much, just pick places that interest you, at a good mealtime for your family.We usually make all our adrs around Epcot WS because we stay at the BC villas.If no park hopper and the schedule is not out yet.Look at last years hours to get a basic idea and pick places that way.Once your adrs are made if something conflicts or changes, just call and try to tweak.

 

[kelleigh1]

Also consider restaurants that are located at the various resorts, not just the parks. You don't need to be staying at a resort to dine at one of their restaurants, so if you don't have park hoppers, that's a good option.

But yes, even with just my husband and I, we always plan out where to eat. But we also do always get park hoppers.

With all your trips to WDW, I'm guessing you've done a lot of counter service or offsite dining.

 

[eagillinois]

We look at park hours and what are the recommended parks to be in at the beginning of our trip. We then match up our favorites restaurants at each park with the day we will be there. Towards the end of the trip, I only schedule dinners (usually at somewhere in Epcot WS.) We park hop so this gives the teens all day to do their thing and then meet us for dinner. We also have a few resort favorites (Chef Mickey's and Whispering Canyon Cafe) that we try to incorporate into MK days.
I know people complain they feel like a slave to their ADRs but I have never felt that way. We just try and balance what we like with where we will be that day and I have never felt stressed about it, in fact I am glad when I see people being turned away without ADRs that I took the time before to research and decide.

 

[TxRabbit]

It IS overwhelming huh?

It's hard to think that you need an itinerary for your vacation, but really, it's good to have a clue, even if you end up deviating from the plan.

People use EMH to help choice parks, whether it's to attend or avoid. Some people use things like the Unofficial Guide recommended days to pick parks. Some people just decide, I want to see this park first, then go here, then go there. Like the PP said, it's easier if you have park hoppers because then you can always go wherever you want to eat wherever you want.

Then you need to look at the TS you are interested in and figure which would be the best day to do that. For instance, dining at any of the monorail resorts makes good sense on a day that you would go to MK.

These might help:
Are you interested in character meals?
Are you interested in buffets? Or avoiding buffets?
Are you interested in signature dining?
Are you interested in dining at your resort?
Are you interested in dining at another resort? (It can require more time for transportation to get to another resort depending on where you are staying).
Are you interested in a dinner show?

Depending on how you answer these questions, you can start to narrow down the list of options.

 

[Tina G]

I subscribe to a site called touringplans.com. They predict crowd levels for all the parks for every day of the year. I plan our days according to that. For each day they list the best parks and worst parks. They do research to determine the anticipated crowd levels. For instance, we try to avoid the parks that are having extra magic hours that day as they will usually be more crowded. I write an itinerary for the trip and then make our ADRs according to which park we'll be in that day.

For your week, the crowd level is listed as a 7 out of 10 for evey day you are there. That means peak waits of about 60-90 minutes for the attractions. The recommended parks for the days you are there are:

Tuesday - Animal Kingdom, Disney Studios
Wednesday - Magic Kingdom, Epcot
Thursday - Animal Kingdom, Disney Studios
Friday - Epcot
Saturday - Magic Kingdom, Disney Studios

So looking at that, I would probably plan to do Epcot on Friday, Magic Kingdom on Wednesday or Saturday, and then you have more flexibility with Animal Kingdom, Disney Studios, and a water park. I have heard that the water parks are more crowded mid to late week as people tend to do them after they've already made the rounds of the parks.

Since you are only going to be at the parks 5 days and there are 4 parks plus a water park, it would make sense to plan one day per place and then make your meal ADRs for a restaurant in or around that park. The day you do the water park, you can then go back to one of the other parks at night.

 

[ancestry]

It is a bit much! I can totally relate to how you are feeling.

I finally just gave in and resigned myself to accepting the fact that our entire vacation will be planned around dining reservations, basically taking all spontaneity out of the vacation, since my husband insisted on doing the Deluxe Dining Plan.

It was either that or cancel the dining plan and pretty much stick to counter service or eating off site.

 

[septbaby]

One nice thing, given the ages in your group there are two places that don't take ADRs that will likely appeal to your crowd: ESPN Club and Beaches & Cream. You'll just have to show up and wait.

 

[zeke11]

Wow! Thats a lot of good info and suggestions, esp the crowd estimates and the recommendations of which parks on which days. That definitely gives me a base to start at.

Thanks a bunch!!

Kris

 

[zeke11]

If a restaurant is described as "quick service" does that mean no reservations?

Kris

 

[septbaby]

Yes Quick Service or Counter Service means walk up, order pay, find a seat, eat. No ressies, no waitress service for order taking.

I'd really suggest you consider at least one buffet. I think your crowd probably can do some damage and a buffet may be a really safe bet.

Trails End it the cheapest, but check the menu and location to see if it fits. Next will be any breakfast buffet. Personally I'm looking forward to trying Boma this weekend, $16.99 for breakfast; I loved dinner there.