Complete Disney Noobie, be nic

[disneygirl76]

Hello all I'm, glad to be here, planning first trip ever to Disney for the family, will be first time visit for me and the kids, wife went during the stone ages so I guess that still counts.

On a whim, after finding out that my kids had some time off in Oct from school, I booked a week at Disney, as we have being trying to find the perfect time to go, just to darn hot in the summer for Orlando, so anyway.

I'm doing the Free Dinning, FD seems to be the acronym for the Disney Pros. well, I'm finding it hard to use the dinning service, because of the requirements to make reservations. I was able to book 3 dinners, and at fairly good times, I was shocked. The dinner show and the Akershus were requirements, but I booked tusker House because they had openings, and we'll all be doing AK that day as well.

Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
Tusker House Restaurant
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

Here are my questions, 1) I need a table service dinner for Thursday and Monday night, and I'm having a heck of time, they all seem to be booked I find it hard to believe that places are book but yet I was able to book the other's with out issue on weekends, can I play it by ear for dinner, and just eat at my resort, CRS, so we don't have to revolve our day around dinners? Are there table service places that do walk ups? The maya grill at CSR, did have openings, but we may like to eat some where else, same goes for Monday. 2) Seems Ak closes at 5:00, but our reservations are at 5:30, how does that work, should we get to the park before it closes, or will they let us in if we get to the park at 5:05 for example.

I have other questions relating to transportation, and how to ensure that we are able to get to our destination, with out much hassle, but i'll post in the transportation section. Thanks

Welcome!

Do you know where you will be on Thursday and Monday? Some Table Service have walk ups b/c they are not hugely popular but still good meals. With Free Dining, it is more of an obstical to secure those ADR's b/c so many people are dining. I'm not sure what food types you like but Epcot is a good spot for walk ups.

Some suggestions for a good meal that you might be able to secure:

Grand Floridian Cafe - located at GF so great if you have a day at MK. Excellent food and a hidden gem in my opinion.
Kona Cafe - located at Poly - great for breakfast and dinner.
These two are monorail resorts so if you have a MK or Epcot day, this would be good.

Inside MK - Try Tony's and Plaza. They get busy b/c they are inside the MK but we have always been able to score ADR's here.

Inside Epcot - Mexico and Morocco and Japan and China all have great places for walk ups. Again though, specific to taste buds. Not for everyone.

Because of the cancellation rule for securing ADR's with a cc at certain restaurants, if you are really hoping for a specific place, say Chef Mickey, then while you are there, call and try and get a ADR the day before b/c you have to cancel the day before now or you will be charged.