Complete Disney Noobie, be nic

[Daniel Bailey]

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

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'd keep stalking the website if there aren't any dining options that suit your interests for the noted days. Unfortunately, things can book up solid well in advance. Dining reservations open up online 180 days out at 6am ET...so many people booked months ago. While some people wait for free dining offers to be released, many book 180 days out in anticipation of it...meaning some things are gone right on day 180. In fact, popular things like BOG and 'Ohana dinner may have very few openings even right at 6am on day 180 since guests staying onsite can book 180+10.

In light of this, I wouldn't play it by ear b/c the pickings will be very slim during a free dining period. So maybe book a back up plan and keep hunting on the website for something better. People often thin out their reservations in the last 45 days before travel. I've found the last 3 weeks to be the best time to score better reservations. Narrowing it down to what you really want on those days will also help in the hunt. Then search by meal if flexible and search many times per day. You might even want to search all restaurants just in case something else good pops up that could also work for you guys.

As for the ADR after park closing, I know I've seen other threads addressing this, but I can't remember the answer for the life of me. Sorry

Good Luck and Welcome

 

[JillC LI]

If there is someplace you are dying to eat, I suggest you keep calling daily to try to get reservations, and even call on the morning of the day you want to go because there could be cancellations. Also, yes, you could do a walk-up and see if they will let you wait, but there is no guarantee if they are packed. You will have a better chance of doing a walk-up to some places than others. Is there some place in particular you want to go?

 

[Daniel Bailey]

I've already booked the must have places at this point, I really don't have any other requirements, just needs to be a table service so that I can use the dinning plan. It seems that all table service restaurants take reservations, I'll go ahead and book a table at the maya Grill at CSR for both those nights, but I was hoping to be more spontaneous.

 

[HollyAD]

I agree with waiting and seeing what you can get last minute. I was able to get Be Our Guest about a week out from out trip due to cancellations I assume. Other places opened up as it got closer to our trip. Good luck. I have never had to try to get reservations during free dining.

 

[zurgandfriend]

The restaurants in the resorts are usually good, I can recommend Kona Cafe - Polynesian, Whispering Canyon Cafe - Wilderness Lodge, Grand Floridian Cafe - Grand Floridian and Captain's Grille - Yacht Club. You may want to check availablity at those. Also Sunshine Season in the Land Pavillion of Epcot and Cosmic Rays in Tomorrow land of Magic Kingdom are very good quick service that I would recommend.

 

[HollyAD]

I agree with the above post...look for some good choices in the resorts. Restaurants at the Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and Polynesian are only a monorail ride away from Magic Kingdom. Wilderness Lodge is a boat ride away. All are interesting places to visit as well.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

Honestly the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show seems to get pretty bad reviews. Are you sure you want to do that?
Maya Grill gets mixed reviews so before you book it twice please read the reviews and decide if you really want to waste a meal on a place that is deemed just so-so.
For a first time trip I recommend eating in the parks that you plan your day in or surrounding hotels.

MK: Crystal Palace is a great character meal and should have openings.

EP: Thumbs up on Akershus!

AK: Tusker House seems to be ranked better for Breakfast than Dinner. Check the menu, as Tusker House has lots of African inspired cuisine which may not be for everyone.

HS: Sci-fi, Mama Melrose, and 50s prime time are great table service meals that should have some to no availability left. Hollywood studios is only a boat ride away from the Epcot resorts (Boardwalk, Beach Blub, and Yacht Club) which are home to Kouzzina by Cat Cora, Beaches and Cream (walk up, no reservations), Big River Grille, and the ESPN Club.

Also dont forget Downtown Dinsey has some great restaurants that should have plenty of open times for dinner.

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

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

Consider doing breakfast. If you go to Crystal Palace at rope drop, you can almost always get a walk-up reservation. We were even able to get a spot and be seated within 10 minutes during spring break by being there for early hours. Coral Reef is another place that usually has reservations available. We were able to get reservations for Sci Fi in Hollywood Studios three weeks before we left for our trip; same for San Angel in Epcot in the Mexico pavillion. We were able to get walk-up ressies at Rose and Crown in Epcot early afternoon also.

 

[75disney]

Congrats on your first trip to the World. There is nothing as exciting, yet confusing and at times frustrating, as planning a trip to Disney.

Here is some advise for planning your meals. First, figure out which park or parks (if park hopping), you will be in each day. Second, see which restaurants at those parks or the near by resorts have availability for that day and time you wish to eat. Being first timers, it may be easier to eat in the park, but if you wish to eat at a resort (and they offer many good restaurants to choose from) pick one near that park. You can lose alot of valuable time getting from one place to another. For example, on the day of your Spirit of Aloha meal, go to the MK and you are only a monorail trip from the Poly. Third, book your restaurants in advance so you don't waste time trying to do walk ups. As many others have already said, keep looking if you have a special restaurant in mind that you can't get into right now. Book a suitable alternative; you can always cancel if something better opens up. Fourth, have you tried to book a late lunch at one of the choices that are booked for dinner. A sit-down lunch can be a nice way to break up a hectic park day and refresh yourself to keep going.

In terms of your current ressies, I would recommend Tusker House for breakfast. If you have young children with you, it is a character meal for breakfast and lunch with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Daisy. I am also trying Maya Grill for the first time on my next trip. We are staying at CSR and the restaurant is convenient after a long day of travel. I would eat there one night and then try something different for your other open night.

Good luck with your plans and keep check the system for openings.

 

[Daniel Bailey]

Honestly the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show seems to get pretty bad reviews. Are you sure you want to do that?
Maya Grill gets mixed reviews so before you book it twice please read the reviews and decide if you really want to waste a meal on a place that is deemed just so-so.

I 've read the reviews for the Aloha dinner as well, but most are related more on the value, than any thing, most say it's not worth the price. some say it's a little long. I'm there for the show and from what I hear the unlimited(I'm sure with in reason) adult beverages which accompany the meal. And having the free dining plan really helps, flying in late the first night, so I have an extra table service to carry over to the next day so we can do the show on the dining plan, we'll do a quick service for dinner on arrival. So it works out for us.

I'm sure my 5 and 8 year old will love the show. For breakfast, we plan to eat at the hotel, I upgraded to business class for the free continental breakfast at CSR, and the free adult beverages in the evening. The menu is fine at the tusker house, I like the look of venue, and I really want to do something different, even if we don't like, we want forget it.

I just booked the crystal palace for dinner on my last night, so thanks for that tip, I completely forgot about this one. so that's 3 character dinners for us.

and I based our park visits based on Disney's extend magic hours, so those days are set, with some wiggle room on the last day, we are not doing HS as of yet, I want to see everything in the magic kingdom, so I've dedicated roughly 3 days to it, then one for AK and one for Epcot.

And I think we'll do the downtown Disney for the other dinner, since I haven't worked it to the schedule yet, this will give us an evening there, I'll see what I can find now.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

I hope so, I have wanted to try the show myself but heard such negative reviews about it, I always opted for Hoop Dee Do Revue instead. It offers free adult beverages too

You should also check out Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge, it is buffet style as well, offers similar food to the Tusker House and it ranked very high among us Dinsey lovers. It is only a short bus ride from AK. Boma doesnt have characters though**

Universal Studios? Or Hollywood Studios? I was referring to Hollywood Studios which is a Disney Park.

I wish I scored free breakfast at CSR! I'm Pepper Market is awesome! I love me some CSR

 

[Daniel Bailey]

I hope so, I have wanted to try the show myself but heard such negative reviews about it, I always opted for Hoop Dee Do Revue instead. It offers free adult beverages too

You should also check out Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge, it is buffet style as well, offers similar food to the Tusker House and it ranked very high among us Dinsey lovers. It is only a short bus ride from AK.

Universal Studios? Or Hollywood Studios? I was referring to Hollywood Studios which is a Disney Park.

I wish I scored free breakfast at CSR! I'm Pepper Market is awesome! I love me some CSR

Yes, I had to make a correction, I thinking HS but typed universal, my mind is racing with all this Disney info.

 

[Daniel Bailey]

I was using the table service mainly for dinner, you know to get your money's worth, but like others have suggest, it would be easier to use the table service while actually at the park and do lunches, then we have some flexibility using the quick service meals with the meal plan where ever we want, so I changed the crystal palace for lunch instead of dinner on the same day as the dinner show instead of on the last day we are at Disney, this way, should we have had enough of MK, we can do HS with out having to worry about dinner reservations at a different park.

Argh, this dinning plan, and trying to use it really make this all more complicated.

Also, I'm going back to the dinner show, maybe the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue may be a better choice as the show is shorter, giving us an hour back in our day.

With kids, we'll get our day started early, go back to the hotel and rest up for dinner or late after noon entertainment.

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

I'm likely in the minority but I like the show at Spirit of Aloha and find Hoop de Doo incredibly annoying...more like bad dinner theatre. If you want to save the hour try to book Hoop de Doo first then cancel Aloha after you know you have it.

If you want to be spontaneous for dinner you can but that may also require some patience. You may find you can eat dinner but not for 2 hours for example...will the kids manage with that?

The other option is to make your decision of park or resort (or Downtown Disney) that you want to eat at and call Disney Dining from your room when you get up. See what will be available at for dinner time and make your dinner reservation that morning. That gives you a little flexibility but you will also make sure the kids (and adults) are fed at a reasonable hour and not getting cranky.

 

[Daniel Bailey]

Thanks for all the great suggestions, helped me focus on a better plan, In order to be more flexible with the dinning plan and limit having to be some where at a certain time, I'm going to book more table service meals for lunch now instead of dinner at the parks where we plan to go that day, easier to do lunches since we'll be heading back to the hotel right after to take a breather, and then we'll use the quick service meals for the evening when the kids are less predictable in their moods. We'll do the dinner show, debating if I should switch, and we'll attend Akershus Royal Banquet Hall for dinner as well. And now, I have one available Park day to fill.

Can anyone confirm if they serve sangria at SOA? they seem to only list that for HDD, and that could be the deciding factor, seems the draft beer is bud and budlight, not on the top of my list. lol.

 

[tare]

I'd keep stalking the website if there aren't any dining options that suit your interests for the noted days. Unfortunately, things can book up solid well in advance. Dining reservations open up online 180 days out at 6am ET...so many people booked months ago. While some people wait for free dining offers to be released, many book 180 days out in anticipation of it...meaning some things are gone right on day 180. In fact, popular things like BOG and 'Ohana dinner may have very few openings even right at 6am on day 180 since guests staying onsite can book 180+10.

In light of this, I wouldn't play it by ear b/c the pickings will be very slim during a free dining period. So maybe book a back up plan and keep hunting on the website for something better. People often thin out their reservations in the last 45 days before travel. I've found the last 3 weeks to be the best time to score better reservations. Narrowing it down to what you really want on those days will also help in the hunt. Then search by meal if flexible and search many times per day. You might even want to search all restaurants just in case something else good pops up that could also work for you guys.

As for the ADR after park closing, I know I've seen other threads addressing this, but I can't remember the answer for the life of me. Sorry

Good Luck and Welcome

Couldn't have said it better my self!!!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I agree with HouCuseChickie, keep stalking the website. Sometimes things pop up when you are on your vaycay too you could always call or check when you are down there.

 

[JillC LI]

I recommend Cosmic Rays at the MK for dinner. The chicken and ribs combo is great, and you can see a "live" show by Sonny Eclipse while you eat.

 

[CheshireCat12]

I scored an reservation at Whispering Canyon about 3 hours before eating! So it can be done last minute too if you change your mind about something. I called Dining and asked about various restaurants on my short list and they told me what was available that night.