Where to even start?

[O2H O2H]

We used to live right next to DL and had PAP's. Although we went at least once a week, it was very low stress. I brought in almost all of our food or occasionally we'd pop in for dinner and a few rides, and then home. Or a couple of rides with the kids, then naptime. Occasionally all day, but we always knew we could come back 1000 times, so there was no pressure.

I am now planning a 6 night WDW trip mid-December. I have been to epcot once, years ago, and the kids have never been at all. This is completely different! I don't even know where to start thinking about what restaurants to get ADR's for, what to ride, what to see, where to stand for what parade, or what fireworks, what shows to go to, etc. I am having a hard time envisioning time tables. We are staying at AoA, and I will have an ECV.

Anyway, my boys are 8 and 10, and I will also have my husband and 19yo dd. My dh wants to do one date night restaurant alone, but we won't have dressy clothes. I was hoping to do the Hoop de Doo, maybe spirit of Aloha, definitely Fantasmic or Illuminations. Possibly the candlelight processional? Feeling iffy about any character meals. DH is pretty set on getting a deluxe dining plan, so I will be able to do a fair number of table service meals. I was thinking that we would do 2 days each, Epcot and MK and 1 day each AK and HS. MAYBE upgrade to a 7th day if our flight home is later.

My 180 days is in about 2 weeks, and I really want to know what I need to know before that. Feeling a lot of pressure about this. How do you know what and where and what time to eat in someplace that you have never been, over 6 months from now?? lol

THANKS to any who can offer some help!!

 

[kimber11]

Hello,

I would start out by picking which parks you will be at each day and that way you can know which area you will be in on each day. Then do your research, I use tripadvisor and also like to look at each restaurant menu that we are considering. Your kids are a little bit older but I think that character meals are always so much fun and even as adults we love going to them. We have never done a 2 credit table service meal so I cannot really give you any suggestions if you will be on the deluxe dining plan. One day I would like to try some of them though for sure. Le Cellier in Epcot always has great reviews, Artist Pointe I believe is one of the highest rated restaurants on site, California Grill is another one with great reviews and apparently a good view or the fireworks, so I would research those a bit more as well as Narcossees.

As for 1 TS credit meals I feel would be a must do or that we really enjoy as a family would be

Chef Mickey's for breakfast
Be Our Guest dinner at Magic Kingdom
Rainforest Cafe for lunch or dinner at Animal Kingdom
Ohana for dinner

That's just my opinion, but if you ask everyone else and everyone will have a different list. So my advice is to do your own research and see which restaurants you think will appeal to your family. Happy Trip Planning

 

[snolin]

I've done the deluxe dinning and regular dinning plans, I find with the deluxe you spend a lot of unnecessary time in restaurants eating more food than your even hungry for. I would suggest down grading to the regular dinning plan that way you can enjoy the parks and still have a table service meal everyday.

 

[ses1230]

My first recommendation is to get a good guidebook to read. My favorite is the Unofficial Guide.

I start by picking my park days first and then decide on what ADRs I want.

The December calendar is up and a preliminary crowd calendar and park recommendations are on easywdw.com , they should help you decide on parks.

For restaurants I would look at menus here on the DIS or on allears. On the restaurant review board here there are tons of reviews with pictures also. Some favorites of mine are:
MK: LTT lunch (TS), CHH or Pecos Bill (CS), Sleepy Hollow
Ep: Biergarten, Via Napoli, Le Cellier (TS), Sunshine Seasons or Tangierine Cafe (CS)
HS: Brown Derby or 50s PTC (TS), Starring Rolls (CS)
AK: Yak and Yeti (TS), Flame Tree BBQ (CS)

There are also many good restaurants at the resorts. The Deluxe plan is a lot of food and you will be spending a lot of time in restaurants to get any value from it, I might rethink that.

For rides you will have to familiarize yourself with the new Fast Pass + system and there is a great thread by dis-er mesaboy2 about that: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3143281

 

[O2H O2H]

Thank you for your reservations so far. I am feeling a bit less overwhelmed tonight. I don't think I realized that planning ADR's was going to be like a full-time job (which I have to be careful about, bc we are trying to keep it secret from the kids).

The main reason that we are planning to go with the deluxe dining is that DH is determined that he wants to do this trip basically the OPPOSITE of what we have always done. I've always brought all of our food and water (when we lived near DL), and on occasion we would have a snack. He apparently felt very "nickel and dimed" by this, and basically wants to order and eat whatever he wants for the week, without having to worry about the cost. We will also have 3 times when we will be using 2 credits for 1 meal. Mainly, though, he does not want to "have any unnecessary hassle". <shrug> We are kind of doing this bigger than we normally would, or likely ever (or at least for a LONG time) will do in the future.

I am fully aware, and accepting that it will not be the most cost-effective way to do this, at all. But it seems to be the way that will make everyone the happiest, and that cannot be underestimated, esp. in this case. I am planning 1 TS meal/day except the day that we do the character breakfast, and then will go on a date night that night.

I did order the touring guide, but have been doing lots of planning in the meantime.


So far, looking at: Mama Melrose Fantasmic Pkg, Hoop de Doo Revue, Garden Grill, Spirit of Aloha, Teppan Edo, Tusker House, Be our Guest, California Grill (date night).

 

[redheadjamie32]

I am relatively new here - but I spent a lot of time (ok most of my time) between here and the disney food blog site for restaurant reviews and menus. I looked up the best ways to maximize The Disney Dining Plan. Thought about what we like to eat as a family (we have 4 children so character meals - a must for us) and kind of went from there.

I do know you can watch Fantasmick (spelling??? LOL) without paying for a dinner package so if you want pizza planet just take it and sit down close to the show.

Epcot was the hardest for me especially when my husband's favorite foods are Mexican and seafood so I was really stuck between The Coral Reef and The San -Angel Inn - alas the Inn is the only place to have both seafood and mexican on the same plate. They win. I made no other food plans for that day because I was convinced I'd want to "eat around the world" and that's what happened. it was amazing.

From what I understand BOG is the most sought after reservation in the world. You would think LOL there's no other place in Orlando or Kissimmee to eat.

My biggest piece of advice is to calm down, relax, and think about the food you like to eat - the food you'd like to try (Boma is the most amazing restaurant in the "World" so put it on your short list) and who you'd like to meet (Cinderella puts on a heckuva dinner at 1900 Park Fare) and go from there. There is a list of restaurants for every park on the main Disney World website so if one of 'em strikes your fancy - reserve it!

 

[Mambo Junkie]

Just so you know: I planned and planned, did the trial runs, etc, and was up at 4:30 this morning and the website didn't work for me. Kept getting an error message and watching times slip away. I was on the phone at 7:00 exactly, waited around 15 minutes, and got every reservation I wanted. The only time I had to compromise on is BOG at 7:15, but otherwise got every time and place we wanted. So, do not despair if all does not go off as planned. I got the hard to get reservations first, then worked on the more readily available bookings.
The Candlelight Processional is also a very nice event but it is a 2 meal reservation. For my husband's and my date night last time we went to Narcoossees and we booked so we would be having dinner while the fireworks are going off at the Magic Kingdom. We also had the electrical water show.People were dressed everything from casual to dressy. We were middle of the road. (Husband nice shirt and pants, me a 1 piece cotton dress. Nothing fancy, but more than shorts and tee shirts.
If you have never eaten there, Liberty Tree is also a great dinner/lunch option. We have chosen that for a late lunch on the day we have the 7:15 BOG reservation.
Since you have boys, check into the Pirates League. Not too expensive, and a fun outing for them. I booked it for my granddaughter, but got the mermaid package.
We found that for snacks we could go to the bakeries and get pastries for breakfast them next morning or late night snack, and the quick lunches are huge. We got sandwiches at the Boardwalk and split 1. The desserts we split 3 ways. One night we used 2 quick lunch tickets and got a whole pizza.
Everyone has given you great options here. Once you get the hard to get reservations out of the way, relax and enjoy! Christmas at Disney is a magical time!

 

[babydoll65]

I understand what your saying about the delux dining plan. We tried this a couple of years ago because my husband felt the same way but after that trip he said it was WAY too much food and too much time away from the parks. The difference between the delux and the reg dining for your family of 4 adults and 1 child is around 1500.00 ( delux=2820.00) (reg=1260.00) since you were going to spend the 2800 anyway it probably would be better to purchase the regular dining and have the extra on hand to cover any few extra ts and tips. You'll probably come back with extra money. If you get a chance, make sure you try VIA napoli in epcot. If your kids like pizza, they will love this place.

 

[ses1230]

Since the OP is new to Disney I just want to add a few thoughts.

I do know you can watch Fantasmick (spelling??? LOL) without paying for a dinner package so if you want pizza planet just take it and sit down close to the show.

Pizza Planet isn't that close to the Fantasmic theater. If you want to take something to eat with you that's fine but if you are waiting in the standby line you should be in line 45-60 minutes before show time, so you would end up eating in line. Also if you do the Fantasmic package on the regular dining plan you get an appetizer, so that is a plus.

The Candlelight Processional is also a very nice event but it is a 2 meal reservation.

This is also a question of waiting in line. Depending on the narrator the SB line could be hours long. We went to see Neil Patrick Harris and the SB line started as soon as WS opened at 11am, with the first show being 5:15pm. The package also includes admission to a reserved Illuminations viewing area.

 

[PFopma]

I agree with many others. The Deluxe Dining plan is way too much food. I think you would be fine with just the regular plan. Again you know your family and how they like to eat. I took my 17 yr old nephew 2 years ago and we had the regular dining plan and even he could not eat all the food. Also if you had to make more ADRs because you would want to take advantage of the Deluxe Plan I think that would add more stress. You can always pay out of pocket for an extra meal. I just looked at the price comparison and even paying for a few extra Table service meals I am sure you would save a ton of money going with the Regular Plan. We usually pay OP for breakfast because that will just consist of a pastry or cereal and coffee/juice. Then have the counter service for lunch and TS for dinner. If you use a TS for breakfast then use your CS credit for dinner.

I also would start by planning a rough itinerary - which park on which day. Unless you are using park hoppers you would want to coordinate your park ADRs with your park days. Also there are so may wonderful restaurants in the resorts - make sure to include a few of those. We never have a table service meal at Animal Kingdom but I often book an ADR at one of the Animal Kingdom Lodge restaurants especially Boma. Not sure if you are driving or using Disney Transportation but you can get to another resort easily by switching at a Theme Park. Hollywood Studios is close to your resort and it is pretty painless there to switch busses.

Also don't completely overlook character meals because your kids are older. I did breakfast at Ohana with my 17 yr old nephew and we both loved it!

Good luck with your choices and planning.