where to start? Dinning reservation or something else

[Cgulati]

Hi all,
We are a family of 4, with 3 yr old and 9yr old. Was planning on 6 night/ 7 days vacation with 2 days for MK, 1 day each for AK, HS and Epcot. Keeping 1 day spare to do whatever the kids want in Walt Disney. (Still to decide whether -*Is 5 nights enough or should I keep 1 more extra day.
*Plan for dinning options first before booking a package? Can you buy meal plan separately if u r not staying at Disney?
*Look for character dinning first?
*For dinner reservations, do people usually come to the hotel to change, take shower and then go or just plan for going from the same park to the dinner- Asking this as important to know if you are staying offsite then parking of 22/day would have to be considered as well.
*Can you pack lunch and snack with you and just do dinner at the resort?

Thanks for any input. Its a lot of information and planning for the first timer.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

First, decide where you want to stay - on vs. off site and make your reservation. Asking here, most are going to agree with more time vs. less time, so 6 nights rather than 5 sounds good.
Second, plan which days you want to be in which park.
Third, at 180 days out, book your dining reservations. You can't get a meal plan if staying off-site. This may not be a bad thing depending on where you want to eat. Want lots of character meals? The dining plan will save you money.
We don't ever go shower and change for dinner unless it's dinner at our resort, and even then we don't necessarily do that.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Honestly, you're much better off asking this on the Theme Parks Advice or Restaurants forum.

 

[powellrj]

You can’t buy a dining plan unless you are staying at a wdw hotel.
If you want a character meal or a popular meal you need to make a reservation as soon as you can. If you just want a counter service meal you don’t need a reservation.
We never go back and change clothes before we eat and yes you can bring in your own snacks and lunch in a smaller cooler or back pack.
Here is a list of dos and don’ts of the park that tells you what you can bring in.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/park-rules/

 

[Christine]

Here's what I do and I stay both off-site and on-site:

1. Book trip/hotel.
2. Decide which park you you will go to on which day. Crowd calendars online can be helpful for this, although their accuracy these days is hotly debated. But they are useful in determining which parks open up early to resort guests. So if you are staying off-site, you generally want to avoid EMH parks.
3. Once theme park plan is in place, start looking at dining options that mesh well with your touring plans. For instance, if I am at MK on Tuesday, that might be the day that I decide to have brunch at Crystal Palace and dinner at Citricos (accessed by monorail). For a waterpark day, I may decide to have dinner at Raglan Road at Disney Springs that evening, and so on.
4. As to how much you go back to the room, it really depends on your touring style. We are the type that are at the parks by rope drop, occasionally have a brunch, but hit it hard until dinner. Dinner will usually be on the early side, and then we go back to the room and collapse. If you like to be in the parks until closing, going back to the room, freshening up and having dinner, then hitting the parks again, might be a good idea. Just depends. I find going back to the room a big time waster so I avoid it.