Planning Dining

[Guatemom2]

For our past few vacations we have always done an all-inclusive resort on an island. This is the first time we need to pay for and think about our dining. I am having a hard time trying to figure out where to make reservations at, how to plan our days, since it seems it should be planned around where you will be eating? We have the dining plan so it seems to make sense to pay for our breakfast and then use our TS for dinner? I would like to do few character meals for the kids but no sure where else to eat (non-character meals).

On our arrival day I was thinking of not going to a park and maybe hang at resort and swim, then do Downtown Disney and do the Hoop de Doo show? But then I think should we do at least 1/2 a day at a park depending on when we arrive, as I haven't booked air yet.

This Disney planning is a bit overwhelming!

 

[WDWmazprty]

Yeah, we usually save our TS fir dinner since dinner is usually more expensive. However, we usually do 1-2 breakfast buffets as TS (I.E. Crystal Palace, Chef Mickeys, etc.)
Also our check-in day is usually not a park day , but we usually drive so we're exhausted and like to wind down first.
The best way to plan is to mentally go through your trip each day from arrival to departure and think how you mighy want to do things. That will help you put things in the order you want them and kind of give you a feel of when and where you want to be on a certain day.

 

[Weather_Lady]

My advice would be: if you're arriving before lunchtime, spend your first half-day in a park (my pick would be the Magic Kingdom). If you're arriving after lunchtime, spend the evening outside of a park: the Hoop-de-Doo is fun, and there are several great restaurants at Downtown Disney (my favorite is Raglan Road, with the live Irish step-dancing in the evening).

And yes, you are totally right that the best use of the dining plan is out-of-pocket breakfast (for my family, it's cereal or Pop Tarts we brought from home, eaten right in our hotel room with the in-room coffee maker, no cash needed), counter service lunch and table service dinner (1-credit restaurants only -- if you're doing a 2-credit, pay for it out of pocket because none of them cost enough to be "worth" 2 credits except for perhaps the dinner shows and Cinderella's Royal Table).

If you want some planning advice, hop on the "Trip Planning" forum and post a thread telling us how many park days you plan to spend, whether you have parkhopper tickets, and the ages/genders/interests (pirate or princess?) of your travel party members. Members will give you suggested itineraries with parks to visit and restaurant recommendations. If that would overwhelm you instead of helping, however, just check out the information on the wdwmagic, easy wdw and yourfirstvisit websites, all of which have some good suggestions on how to plan your Disney days.

 

[75disney]

Planning a Disney trip is a lot of fun, but it can be very confusing as well.

First, plan your itinerary. Decide which parks you will be on which days. If park hopping, decide where you will be in the morning and then later in the day. This will help you decide for where to make your ADRs each day.

Next, think about your family's eating habits. Are you used to having a big breakfast every day? Is your big meal of use day lunch or dinner? This will help you in deciding when to schedule ADRs.

Third, take a look at the menus. I recommend going to www.allears.net. This site has a complete list of every restaurant's menu, including prices. It even lists the menus for snack stands.

Fourth, consider whether you want to use 2 TS entitlements at a Signature restaurant (like CRT, Hoop Dee Doo) or if you prefer to stick to 1 TS restaurants.

Finally, pick the restaurants that your family will enjoy and plan them into your itinerary. Be sure to go on the Disney website at 6AM 180+10 or call Disney Dining at 7AM 180+10 to guarantee that you get what you want. Many of the popular restaurants (BOG, O'hana, Cali Grille, CRT) book very quickly.

Good luck planning.

 

[harryk]

When are you going, where are you staying, children (m or f, ages, how many?). All this needs to be factored in to get reasonable suggestions. There are so many members on this site that you will get many good answers to your questions once this information is provided.

 

[Guatemom2]

We are going first week of May 214. Staying at Art of Animation. We hae an 8 year old boy and 6 year old girl. Both are pretty good eaters. Arrive on a Monday, leave on Saturday.

 

[Brandon Bowman]

We are going first week of May 214. Staying at Art of Animation. We hae an 8 year old boy and 6 year old girl. Both are pretty good eaters. Arrive on a Monday, leave on Saturday.

Do you have an idea of what parks you will be going to? Do you have Park Hoppers and were you planning on park hopping?

Depending on if you want to splurge you can save a bit of money by not doing Buffets but if they are a must Crystal Palace is much better than Chef Mickey's (imo)

If you want to avoid crowds I would suggest this order for the parks:

Monday 5th-Arrive/Downtown Disney
Tuesday 6th-HS
Wednesday 7th-EP
Thursday 8th-AK
Friday 9th-MK
Saturday 10th-Half day at park?/Depart

 

[Guatemom2]

We do have the Park Hopper's.

 

[harryk]

We are going first week of May 214. Staying at Art of Animation. We hae an 8 year old boy and 6 year old girl. Both are pretty good eaters. Arrive on a Monday, leave on Saturday.

You may begin making dining reservations 180 days prior to getting there for meals. Take advantage of it in that you will be entering the graduation season and many will be going to the parks.

 

[KB LUVS MGM]

Don't get overwhelmed, just have fun with it. I enjoy the planning so much. It helps pass the time waiting for day 0!!

 

[Brandon Bowman]

We do have the Park Hopper's.

On your departure day you will probably want to check out more of DD or just relax (depending on when you leave) and ditto goes for arrival day.

Considering you stuck with this plan:

Monday 5th-Arrive/Downtown Disney
Tuesday 6th-HS
Wednesday 7th-EP
Thursday 8th-AK
Friday 9th-MK
Saturday 10th-Half day at park?/Depart

You could easily build your meals around this. My questions are:
Do you want to have a few sit down meals or something fast?
What resort are you staying at?

 

[zurgandfriend]

My advice is go to a park, I have been to Disney many times and sitting by the pool I have heard many people who just arrived regret that they didn't.