Disney Planning - Part 3: All Things Dining

Nothing really compares to dining at Disney World.  The food is both amazing and plentiful.  But, like so many this at Disney, to get the most out of the experience, you need to do some planning.  If you are just joining me on this adventure, be sure to check out my post on pre-planning here.  You can also check out my post on having a Disney planning meeting with everyone going here.  As you approach the 180 days (6 months) mark from your trip, the next step is to make Advanced Dining Reservations or ADRs.  If you choose to stay on-sight, you can make these reservations 180 days before the day you check-in and make them for up to 10 days of your trip.  If you are staying off-sight, you can make them 180 days before the date on which you are making the reservation.  This is yet another perk of staying on-sight.  You can begin making reservations at 6:00am eastern time on that date online and at 7:00am eastern by phone.  Here are some of my answers to questions I hear frequently.

Who Needs a Dining Reservation?

If you would like to eat sit-down meals, you need dining reservations.  By sit-down meals, I am referring to meals where someone takes your order at a table and brings you food.  You can certainly sit down and stand-up meals, now called quick service.  The difference is ordering at a counter versus a more traditional restaurant.  Don't get me wrong, you can get some super delicious quick service meals at Disney; however, if you really want to experience the best of what Disney dining has to offer, schedule some table service meals.  If you are using the Disney Dining Plan, you will probably want to schedule one per day.  You get a lot of food.  I would not advise putting table service meals back to back.  The exception would be if you choose a meal that cost 2 credits, such as Cinderella's Royal Table or one of the dinner shows.  In that case, you would likely have a day without a table service meal.  Regardless, if you want to sit down for dinner, make Advanced Dining Reservations.

How do I decide where to eat so early?

I know that in real life we don't decide where we are eating 6 months from now, but in the world of Disney it is essential.  You don't just walk into a sit-down restaurant and Disney and expect to get a table without a reservation.  Even for a small group it is rare and for a large party like ours...forget about it.  Start with what parks you are visiting on which days.  You can waste a lot of time park hopping just for a dining reservation.  Your best bet is to schedule your sit-down meal that the park you will be visiting that day.  Consult the Disney calenders to see if there are Extra Magic Hours that may influence when you visit each park and decide on an order.  Once you have that, you can start choosing restaurants.

There are a lot of choices for dining at Disney.  Consider what is important to you and what kind of eaters your group is.  Even if our group splits up during the day, we like to eat sit-down meals together.  It is a great way to catch up if we have not been together all day.  Make sure you choose places that everyone will enjoy.  Menus for all the restaurants are available on the Disney website.  For us, we are traveling with a toddler who will eat pretty much anything, a tween who is super picky and a couple of adults who would fall in the moderately picky category as well.  We are also all character fanatics, so we are always looking for places to dine with our favorites.

Where is the best place to eat?

This is a loaded question.  There are so many options.  They are pretty much all delicious.  How do you possibly choose?  You can read a dozen blogs like mine and find a dozen different reviews and answers.  Below I will discuss each restaurant we choose and why.  I will also talk about a few that we have done in the past, but choose to forgo this time and why.  Hopefully it helps narrow it down for you.

O'Hana at the Polynesian Resort:  This is one of our favorites.  You can go for breakfast and dine with Lilo and Stitch, but we prefer dinner.  Dinner includes all the meat you can eat cooked in a fire oven at the center of the restaurant, plus super yummy sides.  We like to start a vacation here on our check-in day when we usually don't go to a park.  Get checked into your hotel, hop on the monorail and take it all the way around and then get off at the Polynesian.  You get some great glimpses of Disney from the monorail and a great meal.  This is a can't miss place!

Crystal Palace:  This little gem of a buffet is in the Magic Kingdom right off of Main Street USA.  If you eat here for dinner, you can dine with Winnie the Pooh and gang.  The atmosphere is nice and the place is huge!  The buffet is pretty good and can leave even the pickiest eater satisfied.  Plus, a buffet means that my little man can eat for free since he is under 3.  We have eaten here every trip and always love it.  Even my step-sister, who has been serenaded by a particularly funny waiter here consents to returning.  The Winnie the Pooh characters are soft and cuddly too.  All in all, it is just fun.

Coral Reef:  I have read many mixed reviews on this place, but after eating here for the first time on our last trip, we decided to do it again.  The food is good and the dessert is great!  I will never forget the little piece of chocolate mousse heaven I ate here.  The atmosphere is pretty cool too with a giant wall taken up by aquarium at the Living Seas in EPCOT.  Last time we visited, a giant sea turtle was swimming right next to the glass.  It was awesome.  My little guy love aquariums and fish, so I think he will be enchanted.  There are no characters here, but you can try to spot Nemo and his friends through the glass!

Hollywood and Vine:  Nestled within Hollywood Studios, this one is new to us this trip.  Since, I have not eaten here, I cannot vouch for the food, but we are going for the characters.  At breakfast, you can dine with some Disney Junior favorites like Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Doc McStuffins, Handy Manny, and Sophia the First.  Since we are traveling with a tiny Neverland Pirate, this is a stop just for him.  Luckily, everyone we are traveling with loves him like we do and are willing to have breakfast with his pals. 

T-Rex:  T-Rex is located at Downtown Disney and is a similar experience to Rainforest Cafe.  You are immersed in the prehistoric world of dinosaurs with giant animitronic dinos and scenery all around.  We have done Rainforest Cafe on a number of occasions and decided to change it up and give T-Rex a try.  Plus, little man has a thing for dinos.

Sanaa:  Some of the more adventurous eaters in our group are super excited about this stop at Animal Kingdom resort.  It is one of the newer restaurant at Disney.  It is supposed to be a South African restaurant, but the menu has many options for pickier eaters too.  The husband and I are also super excited about the wine collection, which is boasted as the largest collections of South African wines outside of South Africa.

Chef Mickey's:  Located at the Contemporary resort, it is one of Disney's classics.  You can enjoy breakfast with Mickey and Pals while the monorail zooms by overhead.  Again, this one is new to us, but we are excited to finally give it a try.

Other notables from previous trips:

50's Prime Time Cafe:  This little place at Hollywood Studios will provide your family with stories and laughter for years to come.  Last time we ate here was over 10 years ago and we still talk about it.  The food is delicious comfort food, but the real treat is the staff.  You are whisked back in time to the 1950's at Mom's house.  Your waitress will act as your mother, encouraging you to eat your veggies even if they have to airplane them into your mouth, standing you in the corner for not asking to be excused before leaving the table, etc.  It is truly a hoot!  However, once we had done it once, we decided to try other things.

Teppan Ido:  This is a Hibachi style restaurant in the Japan pavilion in EPCOT.  It is delicious and the chef's put on a great show, cooking your food on a giant flat top right at your table.  We LOVED it and would have done it again, except that the toddler had a major melt down last time we went to a restaurant like this at home and we decided it might be the wisest choice this trip.

Tuskar House:  A great character meal in Animal Kingdom and a delicious buffet.  We ate here for lunch on our last trip and felt that it was the best buffet we had during the whole trip.  You can meet the classic Mickey characters here too, making it a fun stop at animal kingdom. 

Garden Grill:  Situated in The Land pavilion in EPCOT, this place used to be a must do for us.  The restaurant rotates through various agriculture scenes and you are visited by Mickey and friends decked out in farmer attire.  The food is served family style and our first few trips left us very satisfied, the last couple of times we were unimpressed with the food and decided not to return this time.

Wolfgang Puck's:  This is a bonus pick.  It is at Downtown Disney and the Husband and I ate here last time we went.  We ate in the downstairs area which is a little less upscale; however, we had some super delicious sushi, one of our favorites.  It is yummy, but not super kid friendly.

We have always traveled with boys, so princesses have not been a top priority.  However, if you are seeking a princess dining experience, your choices are Cinderella's Royal Table in Magic Kingdom (which will cost you 2 table service credits per person) or Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in EPCOT (which only costs one credit).  We have not done them, but heard good things about both.

Do I Need Reservations for Every Meal?

You do not need reservations for quick service meals.  It might be helpful to have an idea of where you want to eat ahead of time for planning purposes, but you can decide on the fly.  The only exception is if you would like to eat at the new Be Our Guest restaurant in Magic Kingdom.  Be Our Guest offers a quick service lunch and recently began allowing guests to make Advanced Dining Reservations for this experience.  The line can get lengthy so a reservation would be recommended here.

Good luck on making your dining reservations.  Remember to have some back-up options picked in case you get in the middle of making reservations and find one of your choices unavailable.  If a reservation is not available for dinner, try lunch.  Make sure you pay attention to when characters are available though.  Some restaurants only offer character dining at specific meals.  Next up, I will talk about how we are preparing our toddler for the trip.  See you then!


  

Disney Planning - Part 1: Pre-Planning

Okay.  I know that title sounds crazy.  You are saying to yourself, "Elizabeth, are writing about planning to make a plan?"  And the answer is, yes.  This series of blog posts is going to serve as a walk through of my process for planning a multi-family trip to Disney World.  To give you some background, we are planning a trip to Disney World at the end of July 2015 with my Dad and step-family.  There will be 9 people going total.  Of those 9, 7 are adults, one kid will be 10 and my kiddo will be 2 (almost 3, which is important later).  If that sounds anywhere close to your family trip or even if it does not, this series is for you.  Going to Disney World is a big trip and quite frankly takes a lot of planning.  So, put on your Type A hat and join the ride.

So a big part of planning a multi-family trip is that you all have to get together to, well, plan.  For us this is taking place at our Christmas gathering, which is about 7 months out from our trip.  You want to have this planning session more than 6 months out from your trip because at the 6 month mark you can make dining reservations, so you want to know where you want to eat prior to that date.  To help this meeting to be the most productive, I have taken some time to pre-plan (you know, planning to make a plan).  I have highlighted things that are important for my family to do and see.  I have picked some of our top restaurant picks and scoped out different resorts.  That way, I already have some ideas of what may work or not when we get together. 

This is my first trip to Disney as a parent.  My sweet little toddler has no idea of what wonders await him.  But, I will warn you, I am learning how to do Disney as a parent as I go.  I will update you on what I learn as I go.  I am no Disney novice though.  I have been several times as a teen/adult and I am glad I have some experience to pull from when planning a trip for my little family.  The first thing I started researching was what options we have for resorts.  My child historically does best in hotel situations when he has a separate sleeping space from us.  Also, if someone has to take little man back to the hotel for a nap or early bedtime, I didn't want them to have to sit in a dark, quiet room while he sleeps.  With this in mind, I found three pretty good options:

Disney's Art of Animation Resort:  This is the newest resort and I am intrigued by the theming.  It is a value resort so it falls in the lower price bracket.  The sections are themed for The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, Cars, and The Lion King.  I happen to live with a pretty big Nemo fan (2 if you count my husband), so the adorable rooms and huge Nemo pool seemed very exciting.  This resort also has family suits in 3 of the 4 sections that sleep up to 6 people.

• Pros: Exciting themes, very nice pool, suit style allows for a separate sleeping space for at least napping.
• Cons: The suits and regular rooms are not close together, the suit would be crowded, and my little dude would have to share a bed with someone.  

Pop Century Resort:  We have stayed here before and quite frankly, it may be the best resort for your money if you want a traditional hotel room layout.  We really liked the resort and the cafeteria style dining area cannot be beat.  The resort has some fun themes and still has a large pool and some fun icons around the grounds to explore.  The sections are decades, but everything is pretty close together so you can see anything on the grounds even if you are not in the decade of your choice.

• Pros:  Most cost effective, great cafeteria and food, and the privacy of our own room with just our little family.
• Cons:  We have stayed here so it would not be new, no separate sleeping space, and it is pretty far from the parks especially if you are using the Disney transportation.

Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs:  Okay, this is my top pick right now.  These are just too cool.  The houses are elevated 10 feet giving the feeling of being in a treehouse.  All around is green and wooded areas.  The 2 bedroom villas sleep 9 (perfect, right?).  We could all stay together in what feels much more like a house than a hotel.  One of the rooms has bunk beds, perfect for cousins! Saratoga Springs also has fantastic pools with water slides and whirlpools.  There is also a full service spa if you are into that.  Splitting the cost of a villa turns out to be very near the cost of either of the other options.  Plus, did I say they are treehouses?

• Pros:  They are treehouses (cool factor), we can all stay together, separate sleeping areas, and amenities of an upper level resort without the extra cost.
• Cons:  Slightly (maybe 100 bucks) more per person in overall cost, no cute character theme, and we all have to stay together.

Let me clarify that last con.  Going on a multi-family trip is great.  I will write a whole post about why I love going to Disney like this.  But, depending on your family dynamics, a week of never getting away from each other might not sound so fun.  Gage that before committing to sharing sleeping space.  Also, everyone has to be 100 percent committed when you make the reservation.  We have had trips where someone has planned on going, but was unable to afford it come time to make the payments or had to back out for some other reason.  If you calculate your cost based on splitting a room like the treehouse 8 ways and 1 person backs out, everyone else's cost goes up.  These are things to discuss at the meeting with everyone.

Now I have some picks for resorts so I moved on to looking into restaurants.  It is not as important to research your quick-service meals at this time.  You really only have to nail down your sit-down meals ahead of time.  Since we are traveling with a small child, character meals are a must.  We decided that the character breakfast at Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood Studios was a must for our family.  This meal features the Disney Junior characters like Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Sophia the First.  If you have a child under the age of 5, you must do this.  Another top pick for us was Coral Reef which is located in the Seas pavilion in EPCOT.  There are not any characters here, but you eat with a view of a huge aquarium full of all sorts of wonderful creatures.  Plus, the food is delicious.  T-Rex at Downtown Disney also made our list despite not having characters because of the immersive dinosaur theming for my dino-loving little dude.  Finally, Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom is a delicious buffet with the adorable characters of Winnie the Poo.  We have also considered Chef Mickey's but it requiring 2 dining points may prevent that from being an option this time.

Finally, I spent some time researching the ins and outs of traveling to Disney with a toddler.  I have made a list of rides he will be too short to ride (not many) and highlighted what I would consider are the most important rides and attractions for us to see at each park.  The bottom line is, it is virtually impossible to see everything in a week at Disney so you have to prioritize.  Some of the interesting logistical things I found about taking a 2 year old to Disney are:

• Children under 3 are free at Disney (yay!)  There are implications to this.  My little guy will get a magic band, but he will not get a dining plan.  He can eat for free at buffets, but will have to share or we will need to purchase him a meal at any other meals.  
• Since he is under 3 and does not have a park ticket, he cannot do the Pirate dress up activity (the boy counterpart to the Bippity Boppity Boutique).  
• He will not have his own FastPass+ reservations, but as long as he is with an adult with a reservation, he can tag along.
• There are wonderful Baby Care Centers in all the parks that offer much more than rocking chairs and changing tables.  There are also little tables and chairs with coloring books and toddler sized potties.  These may be a lifesaver when we have a hot and overstimulated toddler on our hands.  

Some great places to look when pre-planning is of course the Disney website.  Also, check out the Mom's Panel on the Disney website.  I learned more about the ins and outs of taking a toddler to Disney from this Q&A page than anywhere else.  Look for other blogs too (other than this one) on Facebook and Pinterest.  Nothing is more helpful than hearing other people's first hand experience.

So, happy pre-planning!  Look for an update after Christmas detailing the ins and outs of the big family planning session.