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JTsMom
07-25-2008, 07:59 AM
We're kicking around the idea of a big WDW trip. I've been many times, but not for 10+ years. DH has been to Disneyland, but never WDW. DS has never gone- he'll be 3.5 at that time.

There are so many "if's" at this point, we can't really set anything in stone, but if all of the stars and planets align, our tentative plan is to have DH work a 1/2 day on Wed the 26th, spend the a few days (and Thanksgiving) at my mom's in Tallahassee, then drive down to Orlando on Saturday the 29th and spend the night, so we'll be ready to hit the parks on the 30th, which is the first day of Value Season.

We'd do 6 days in the parks, then leave for home on Saturday the 6th.


So here are my questions:
1. Are these good dates? I figure with it being Value Season, the lines *should* be reasonable, and the weather should be ok at that point. Does 6 days sound like a good length of time? We probably won't be going back for several years, so I want to have plenty of time. Is it overkill at that point? I've never gone for more than 3 days on any one trip, but we went frequently. I'm figuring about 2 days each in MK and Epcot, a day in AK, and a day at HS. I'm leaning towards a park hopper pass, so we'd have flexibility.

2. If we do those dates, we'd actually arrive the day before VS starts. Can we pay one night at regular rates, then switch, or will they bill us the regular rates through the whole stay if we do that?

3. We're leaning towards a moderate resort. I've never stayed on Disney property before- we always got places with kitchens and what-not, so I'm kind of torn there. I think it would be fun to just go Disney wild, plus not have to worry about driving and parking, but having a kitchen would be really nice....

4. Odds that we'll be able to swim?

5. Any experiences at Coronado Springs? I've been lurking on some of the Disney boards, and it seems to have some devoted fans.

6. What am I not thinking of? I have no experience at Disney with a child, and DS is a very strong-willed, high maitenence child- I want to make things as smooth and fun as possible for everyone.

TIA for any help/advice.

ETA: One more question- DS normally won't ride in a stroller, and he never tires out from walking. I'm leaning towards bringing it anyway, much to DH's dismay. Would you?

ETA again: Ok, I lied, 2 more questions! LOL Can I book a character meal without having reservations at a hotel? I know they book up really far in advance.

BeachBum
07-25-2008, 08:30 AM
I'll offer my $.02. :)


So here are my questions:
1. Are these good dates?
I think that sounds good. You might also be able to catch Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party one night. It requires a seperate ticket, but should be great. I think that HS is going to be more fun than you are expecting.

2. If we do those dates, we'd actually arrive the day before VS starts....
I think they recently changed their policy and I don't remember which way it went. I think you will have to call and ask. You might be able to book it under two separate reservations.

3. We're leaning towards a moderate resort.
To us, staying on property is just part of the magic. You can stay at the vaction club resorts (I'm not that familiar with them we haven't done it) and have a kitchen. i think you also get a kitchen at Ft Wilderness campground cabins.

4. Odds that we'll be able to swim?
Unlikely, IMO. But if you live somewhere cold it will still seem warm to you I guess.:)

5. Any experiences at Coronado Springs?
None here.

6. What am I not thinking of?
Plan for naps/ break in the middle of the day even if your child doesn't nap. Remember a lot of Disney fun is at night/evening.
We found tourguidemike.com worth the money for planning.


ETA: One more question- DS normally won't ride in a stroller...
You can rent them if you are finding out that you really need it. I would do that instead of lug it.

Can I book a character meal without having reservations at a hotel?
Yes.

egoldber
07-25-2008, 01:59 PM
1. Are these good dates? I figure with it being Value Season, the lines

Those are great dates IMO. Early December is a fabulous time. Good weather (typically) and short lines.


2. If we do those dates, we'd actually arrive the day before VS starts. Can we pay one night at regular rates, then switch, or will they bill us the regular rates through the whole stay if we do that?

I really don't know. I would call and ask.


3. We're leaning towards a moderate resort. I've never stayed on Disney

We are DVC members but when we go and are not staying in a DVC report, we stay at a moderate. They are fine. As a nice plus, they have small refrigerators in the rooms so you can keep snacks and drinks for the room.

4. Odds that we'll be able to swim?

It just depends. It can be 85 and sunny or 60 and rainy.

5. Any experiences at Coronado Springs? I've been lurking on some of the Disney boards, and it seems to have some devoted fans.

We stayed there last year. Honestly I was not that impressed. Its a HUGE and very widespread resort. We did not get our room request and ended up about as far as possible from the main building and pool which was pretty inconvenient. My fav mod with kids is Port Orleans French Quarter. Its very compact and easy with kids.

6. What am I not thinking of? I have no experience at Disney with a child, and DS is a very strong-willed, high maitenence child- I want to make things as smooth and fun as possible for everyone.

In that regard, the best thing you can do is NOT expect to see it all. Take your time and to enjoy things as they happen. Don't try to do too much and take breaks.

ETA: One more question- DS normally won't ride in a stroller...

I would bring a stroller. For a few reasons. I like being able to have a place to strap a kid in to keep them contained (especially nice in the airport)> Its convenient to have somewhere to stash all your stuff and snacks. Many kids can walk WDW easily for a day or two. After that they get footsore and VERY weary and cranky.

Can I book a character meal without having reservations at a hotel?

Yes.

JTsMom
07-25-2008, 02:32 PM
Thanks for the input so far. I called today and made a reservation for a charachter breakfast at Tusker House on our first full day there. I really wanted Chef Mickey's, but it was totally booked for the first week.

Now I have to figure out if we should just stay at AK that morning, or if we should go to MK, which was my original plan.

On question #2- I found out that the new policy is to charge for each individual night, so the first night would be at the regular price, and the other nights at the value price. Once we get things a little more nailed down, I have to get on the resort stuff. I'm so insanely excited!
:boogie: :cheerleader1: :ROTFLMAO: DH and I might have more fun than DS does. LOL

egoldber
07-25-2008, 02:42 PM
I would not book an inconvenient character meal just for the sake of a character meal. If you want MK that day I would find something at/near MK. If CM isn't available, how about the Pooh&Friends breakfast at the Crystal Palace. The breakfast at the Grand Floridian is also really fun. You get Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, and Alice and the Mad Hatter. This is a great one IMO and not very crowded and as a result I think you get really, really great character interaction. I am actually not a huge fan of CM.

But CM also does a character dinner, so you could see the same characters at that time as well.

JTsMom
07-25-2008, 03:01 PM
As of right now, the only character DS knows is Mickey, so that's why I was aiming for CM. I also read that it was really upbeat and fun, and I thought that would be perfect for him.

I saw Lori said in another post that Tusker House was one of her favorites, so I thought that might be a good alternative. The spot we took was the absolutely only one available the whole week, so I didn't have much of a choice.

I debated about breakfast vs. lunch vs. dinner, and the reason I thought breakfast might be good was that DS wouldn't be all worn out for it, plus it's quicker, and easier to cram a few bites into his mouth here and there, kwim? I'm just guessing though, b/c I've never been to one, so I'm not entirely sure what to expect.

We have tons of time, so I don't know why I'm so stuck on doing MK the first day, but AK is the park I'm the least excited about, so I kind of hate to do that first. Does it take a long time to get from AK to MK?

Of course, I am planning on doing a little Disney brainwashing between now and then, so maybe I can get DS interested in some of the other characters. DH wants to do something with Tigger, so maybe I can swap out CP for TH, and try to find something else with Mickey. Why is he at so few of the meals?

Also, I was just looking at some photos of FQ, and I like the idea of being along the river, but I'm seeing some bad stuff about bus wait times. Did you have any problems with that? I guess we could always just drive if we needed to.

If we aren't able to swim, will be doing that much walking that the resort size will be important?

egoldber
07-25-2008, 03:10 PM
I would hype the Pooh and go for CP. You are already in the park and it is so convenient. To get from AK to MK, even if you had an 8:05 breakfast, you wouldn't be there before 10 am. Breakfast is no more convenient than any other meal IMO. In fact, its harder, because you have to get to the restaurant inside the park (which can take 15-30 minutes from the parking lot).

Off the top of my head, Mickey is also available at O'Hana's at the Polynesian for breakfast (I forgot that one) and the Garden Grille in Epcot (which I also highly recommend as being low key and fun).

For "upbeat and fun" at CM you could substitute "noisy and crowded". Its so busy the characters really whizz by the tables IME.

I don't recall any issues with bus wait times at POFQ. I think that you need to wait for buses anywhere at times.

The size of the resort matters if you want to walk to the central building with the food court.

JTsMom
07-25-2008, 03:27 PM
Thanks for all of the help Beth- you make some really good points! You'd think growing up in Florida AND having passes to Disney for a few years I'd know some of this, but this trip is an entirely different ballgame. Plus, it's just been so long, and things are very different now.

Are 2 character meals overkill, or not really? Maybe I'll call about the Garden Grill one instead of TH and see if there is a better date. Even if that was on the first day, I wouldn't mind it nearly as much. The res I did make was at 10:20, which probably couldn't be worse, b/c there wouldn't be time to do much of anything before breakfast, and it would waste the entire morning.

I didn't think about the food court. Are any of the other resorts worth checking out? Does FQ have a playground? Right now, DS is at that stage where he doesn't need to nap, and if he does he's up until 10 or 11, but if we're in the car, or it's really quiet around here, he will fall asleep, so I don't know how/if trying to break in the middle of the day will work for us.

I feel like I need to go see everything, then come home and plan and go back. LOL

deenass
07-25-2008, 04:13 PM
We took DS just shy of his 3rd birthday. Before we went I got a "sing a long" Disney video (I beleive it was of Disneyland, but close enough for what I wanted). DS watched it a few times before we went.

It helped that he knew what Cinderella's castle looked like before he saw it at Disney (upped the "ahh factor" for all of us).

A friend said it's like reading the book before seeing the movie, it gives you an idea of what to expect and it definitely made it more "real" for DS.

JTsMom
07-25-2008, 10:41 PM
My brain is a pile of mush at this point, but I just did some re-arranging. The CM I spoke with encouraged me to book a bunch of meals and then cancel later when I figured out what I really wanted to do, so I did. Here's what we have now- obviously most are going to have to go- I can't see doing more than 2 meals.


11/30- 7:55 breakfast at the Polynesian, then MK. Good, huh? I think we'll keep this one.

We still have the 10:20 Tusker House one too-obviously 1 has to go.

Chef Micky 8:55 Dinner (This is never going to happen, but I took it just in case. No way will we be up for that.)


12/1 Crystal Palace Breakfast 8:05. Then we'd just do the MK again that day I suppose. DH wanted to do a Tigger meal if we got the chance. Should I swap it for the Grand Floridian one though?


12/3 Garden Grill at 7:15- we'll see. I could go either way on this one.



We're still debating the resort choice, but have it narrowed down to POFQ or CSR. We're leaning towards FQ. Both have availability.



After all of the planning I did today, if this trip doesn't work out, I'm going to cry.

Momof3Labs
07-27-2008, 05:34 PM
You definitely want a mid-day break. DS1 still needs one, and he's almost 6yo. He doesn't nap (hasn't napped at home for 2 years) but still needs the downtime.

Garden Grill is my favorite character meal, but they will only be doing dinner when you are there. Still worth it, IMO. Great character interaction! Tusker House isn't worth it unless you plan to spend that morning at AK.

And I wouldn't go to too much effort to get to Chef Mickey's. It's loud, crowded, the characters fly by your table. Come to think of it, they do that at Crystal Palace, too, but the food at Crystal Palace is MUCH MUCH better than CM.

I vote for POFQ (or even POR) over CSR. I haven't stayed at CSR but we've visited. We've stayed at POFQ and POR. Keep in mind, too, that there will probably be some discounts on your resort at that time. Depending on your budget, you might want to look into AKL if a code becomes available. We paid a discount rate at AKL in early Dec 2007 that was only $20 more than the rack rate at a moderate. The Swan and Dolphin have good rates available seasonally, and their location is spectacular.

JTsMom
07-27-2008, 06:27 PM
Hi Lori- glad you jumped in too. Now I have all of the Disney experts!:cheerleader1:

I hope you guys don't mind if I ask a bunch more questions. I can not believe how much planning there is to do for one of these trips!

We're pretty sure about choosing POFQ after 2 days of non-stop research. Beth, thanks again for suggesting that. I would never have even considered it if you hadn't. I've also scheduled a whole ton of ADR's, just to be on the safe side, and I figure we'll cancel what we don't want as time goes on. I'm paranoid like that. LOL

You guys have made me feel much better about Chef Mickey's.

1. Has anyone done the Ohana's one? How about Garden Fare vs. CP?

2. Can anyone steer me in the right direction with regards to making the actual reservations?

When DH called to book the ADR's, one CM told him that POFQ is booking up fast. I don't know if he was just trying to sell, or if that's true, but I want to book ASAP. We won't know until somewhere around 2 to 3 weeks if we are actually going or not. I've read on allears.net that depending on who you deal with, your deposit is different, and that it isn't due for 14 days after booking. Then the balance is due either upon arrival, or 45 days prior. Is that all correct?

We have AAA, so that comes into play as well.

So, who should I deal with? AAA? Disney? If a code becomes available, we can apply it after the fact, right? If so, I should go ahead a book the room only, right?

We would LOVE to be able to stay in a deluxe if we could get a great deal. Our dream choice is a monorail hotel (exp the Polynesian), but WL would be great too. We really want to try to keep the room close to $200/$225 max.

I've also read that sometimes it pays to get an annual pass, so I'm keeping my eyees open there as well.


3. Has anyone done the Hoop De Doo? Worth it or no?

4. How about the Dining Plan? I tried to add things up both ways, and I think it would be close dollar wise, but we'd do more fun stuff with the dining plan. The only thing that concerns me is needing to do that many sit down meals with DS. I figure if worst comes to worst, we could always just pack stuff to go, or lose out on those credits.

Also, with the dining plan, I'm thinking about doing 3 of the character meals. Is that insane? Do they take much longer than a regular meal?

5. If DS naps in the park, do you think we should still leave mid-day? We're a little concerned with all of the transportation time with the early park closing times.

6. How long does it take to wait and ride the bus from the parks to POFQ? Would we be better off just driving ourselves? We'll have our car.

7. Any pros/cons to POR as opposed to FQ?

8. If we wanted to, we could probably swing one more day- so 7 park days instead of 6. Is that overkill? I doubt we'll be going again any time in the next 3 or 4 years.


Thanks again to everyone for all of the help! I know I can't go wrong with the advice of the moms here!

JTsMom
07-27-2008, 06:39 PM
We took DS just shy of his 3rd birthday. Before we went I got a "sing a long" Disney video (I beleive it was of Disneyland, but close enough for what I wanted). DS watched it a few times before we went.

It helped that he knew what Cinderella's castle looked like before he saw it at Disney (upped the "ahh factor" for all of us).

A friend said it's like reading the book before seeing the movie, it gives you an idea of what to expect and it definitely made it more "real" for DS.

Just put it at the top of my netflix list. Thanks for the tip!

bnme
07-27-2008, 08:26 PM
I'll chime in, too. I think the dates you picked are great. We went in 04 and 07 the first week of December. It was mostly hot and swimming weather both trips. Though maybe one off day and cooler at night. Bring jeans and a sweatshirt for sure. And an extra layer just in case. My DCs really weren't riding strollers much when we did our last trip (3.5 & 5 at the time) but after the 2nd day of walking around WDW it was an absolute necessity for us to have 2.




1. Has anyone done the Ohana's one? How about Garden Fare vs. CP?

*I've done Chef Mickey's, Ohana, Hollywood & Vine and CP. I think Ohana was my favorite. I like the parade they do with the kids around the restaurant and they visit tables, too. It is family-style so you don't miss the action while at the buffet. And buffets can be a pain with toddlers.*

4. How about the Dining Plan? I tried to add things up both ways, and I think it would be close dollar wise, but we'd do more fun stuff with the dining plan. The only thing that concerns me is needing to do that many sit down meals with DS. I figure if worst comes to worst, we could always just pack stuff to go, or lose out on those credits.

Also, with the dining plan, I'm thinking about doing 3 of the character meals. Is that insane? Do they take much longer than a regular meal?

* We did the dinning plan on our last trip. It was a better deal then (included tax, tip & appetizer) but I think it can still work out to be a good deal in you do character meals for dinner and pricier restaurants.

Honestly, we only did it because others in our group were doing it. It was a bit of a pain to have those ADR's and not want to waste them by ditching plans and going to a CS instead. We ended up skipping a few. If you think you will stick to your plans and really want the sit-downs then go for it. But that is very hard to predict if you haven't been to WDW much and are traveling with a toddler. Which restaurants are you thinking of?*

5. If DS naps in the park, do you think we should still leave mid-day? We're a little concerned with all of the transportation time with the early park closing times.

*If your DS naps I would stay in the park. Unless you plan on being out until 10pm I think it is very hard to make leaving and coming back worth it (an exception would be if you are at a monorail resort)*

6. How long does it take to wait and ride the bus from the parks to POFQ? Would we be better off just driving ourselves? We'll have our car.

*I think the bus is more convenient if you happen to not get stuck waiting a long time. In general we have had good luck with the buses (always at Old Key West) but every now and then you may wait 30+ minutes or have very crowded buses.*

8. If we wanted to, we could probably swing one more day- so 7 park days instead of 6. Is that overkill? I doubt we'll be going again any time in the next 3 or 4 years.

*6 or 7 days in the park is a lot. We did 5 full days (not counting the travel days) and it was exhausting. We pretty much were in the parks all the time. Next time I would just do less park time, more pool/mini golfing/other slower paced things. So if you are going to use that extra day to allow for more rest and less pressure then go for it.

Thanks again to everyone for all of the help! I know I can't go wrong with the advice of the moms here!

HTH some! Have fun!

deenass
07-27-2008, 08:44 PM
I remeber seeing this as a child, when we took DS I told DH we HAD to go - I beleive the show was the same as it was MANY years ago and I LOVED it just as much. DS had a GREAT time!

Teh food isn't fabulous (fried chicken and such) but the show is a lot of fun! When we went reservations were first come first serve (I think seating is now done by price paid per ticket).

With a little one I would suggest sitting on the main floor.

egoldber
07-27-2008, 09:05 PM
1. Has anyone done the Ohana's one? How about Garden Fare vs. CP?

Do you mean Garden Grille? GG is served "family style" meaning they bring big plates of food to the table to share. CP is a buffet. I think family style is easier to manage with kids. But OTOH CP is right in the middle of the MK and its really fun.

2. Can anyone steer me in the right direction with regards to making the actual reservations?

Even if the hotel itself does not sell out, certain room rates do sell out. I would book as soon as you can. You can always modify later if you want or need to. We typically do the AAA rate. You can almost always cancel at least several weeks in advance.

I just call WDW directly and ask for the AAA rate.



3. Has anyone done the Hoop De Doo? Worth it or no?

I've never done the HDDR. I hear its fun but its never made it onto our must do list yet. :)

4. How about the Dining Plan? I tried to add things up both ways, and I think it would be close dollar wise, but we'd do more fun stuff with the dining plan. The only thing that concerns me is needing to do that many sit down meals with DS. I figure if worst comes to worst, we could always just pack stuff to go, or lose out on those credits.

The thing I don't like about the dining plan is all those sit down meals. Left to our own devices we typically only do a couple sit down meals and the rest CS or even *gasp* off property. Sometimes you've just had enough and want to get out into the real world. ;)

The other thing with the character meals is they kind be stressful. You're trying to eat, get your kid to eat, watch for characters, manager your camera, autograph book, etc. Sometimes its nice to just eat in peace.

5. If DS naps in the park, do you think we should still leave mid-day? We're a little concerned with all of the transportation time with the early park closing times.

It depends on how hot is it. If its hot, then getting away for awhile can be a good idea.

6. How long does it take to wait and ride the bus from the parks to POFQ? Would we be better off just driving ourselves? We'll have our car.

It just depends. If you happen to just miss a bus, then you could easily wait 20 minutes. The other bad time is right after a parade or at park closing. I did once wait 35 minutes after Fantasmic, but our wait did not seem any longer than the buses for any other property.

7. Any pros/cons to POR as opposed to FQ?

POR is a MUCH larger resort than POFQ and much more spread out. It is more similar to CSR and CBR.


8. If we wanted to, we could probably swing one more day- so 7 park days instead of 6. Is that overkill? I doubt we'll be going again any time in the next 3 or 4 years.

I would do it. The price difference between 6 and 7 day tickets is only a couple dollars. It gives you more flexibilty to just run into a park for dinner or breakfast.

JTsMom
07-28-2008, 09:41 AM
Thanks for all of the replies!



Do you mean Garden Grille?

Oops- sorry, I meant 1900 Park Fare- the one at the Grand Floridian. It has Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, the Mad Hatter, and Alice from what I understand. The CM who took my ADR was suggesting it instead of CP, but I thought CP might be better b/c it's actually IN the park, and we could get an early jump on the Fantasyland rides.



As for which ADR's we're thinking of, here's our tentative plan:
Day 1- Arrive, check out the resort, unpack, go to DTD. We wanted to do the HDDR that night, but the early times are booked, and 9:30 is just way too late for us to start a 2 hour dinner.

If we decide to do the dining plan though, I'll keep calling to try to get it. It also kills 2 of the sit down credits, so that would help a lot in that regard. Plus, it's our anniversary, so it would be nice to do something kind of special. DS loves music, so I think he'd be really into it.

Day 2- Ohana's, then Magic Kingdom. We also have Chef Mickey's scheduled at 9, but we'll likely cancel that- just too late, and we have enough others.

Day 3- Crystal palace, then MK again.

Day 4- DHS and 50's Prime Time Cafe for dinner

Day 5- Epcot, Garden Grill for dinner

Day 6-AK- no ADR's

Day 7-Epcot, Rose and Crown for lunch, San Angel (Mexico) for dinner
If DS is over the sit downs, I'll take him for CS at lunch. DH

Day 8-Leave for home

I also have a couple of back-ups scheduled in case we decide to do different parks on different days.

Momof3Labs
07-28-2008, 06:20 PM
I'd revisit the two day 7 ADR choices. Consider doing Tusker House (breakfast only - lunch was so-so) on your AK day. I'll have to think about other ideas for Epcot - Garden Grill is my favorite sit-down there. You could walk to Boardwalk, Beach club or Yacht Club easily for dinner from Epcot, if that provides you with some other options.

JTsMom
07-28-2008, 10:02 PM
Tusker House is totally booked the whole week, except for 10:30 on Monday for breakfast, and I really want to do MK that day.

ETA: If I'm able to sneak HDDR in there though, the 2 in one day would disappear anyway. Ooooh- or we could do a sit-down breakfast the next morning before we leave. Or maybe we should just skip the dining plan. The sit-downs are becoming a real downer.

bnme
07-29-2008, 07:03 AM
Day 2- Ohana's, then Magic Kingdom. We also have Chef Mickey's scheduled at 9, but we'll likely cancel that- just too late, and we have enough others.

Day 3- Crystal palace, then MK again.

Day 4- DHS and 50's Prime Time Cafe for dinner

Day 5- Epcot, Garden Grill for dinner

Day 6-AK- no ADR's

Day 7-Epcot, Rose and Crown for lunch, San Angel (Mexico) for dinner
If DS is over the sit downs, I'll take him for CS at lunch. DH

Day 8-Leave for home

I also have a couple of back-ups scheduled in case we decide to do different parks on different days.

If you are still trying to add a TS - Did you try to get a dinner on your arrival night? We did CM the day we arrived since we did not do parks and it was a fun way to start the trip. Are you having trouble getting something for day 6 or just want to leave it open? How about dinner at your resort (you probably can get in without an ADR)., A breakfast on the day you leave is a good idea. Also, if you are in a pinch when you are there you can get in a lot of places and maybe wait a half hour-just steer clear of the most popular ones.

Just our dinning plan experieince as an example:
Arrival -CM dinner
Day 1 - MK - Tony's dinner
Day 2 - AK - had a dinner at Ohannas but skipped it
Day 3 - MGM - H&V breakfast......went to dinner at Olivias at our resort (no ADR to make up for previous night)
Day 4 - Epcot - dinner at Spoodles
Day 5 - dinner at DTD (Irish place-can't remember name)
last day - breakfast at Olivias

..so it wasn't impossible to make all the ADRs, but if we had not been traveling in a group I would have skipped at least one more.

Momof3Labs
07-29-2008, 07:47 AM
Tusker House is totally booked the whole week, except for 10:30 on Monday for breakfast, and I really want to do MK that day.

ETA: If I'm able to sneak HDDR in there though, the 2 in one day would disappear anyway. Ooooh- or we could do a sit-down breakfast the next morning before we leave. Or maybe we should just skip the dining plan. The sit-downs are becoming a real downer.

How about eating breakfast or dinner at Boma on the day you do AK? If you plan dinner there, you can do AK park until mid-afternoon, wander over to AKL and explore it for an hour or so (not hard to do at all) and then eat dinner and head back to your resort. Or if you do breakfast there, plan a 7:30 or 8am breakfast and then head straight to AK. The Boma buffet is quite good (if you aren't a little adventurous in your eating, though, skip it) though we like dinner better than breakfast.

I did the HDDR years ago as a child but haven't taken our kids yet. They just don't enjoy sitting for two hours, even if there is entertainment going on. And in the evening, they tend to be tired at Disney and happier with something more low-key.

JTsMom
07-29-2008, 08:34 AM
If you are still trying to add a TS - Did you try to get a dinner on your arrival night?

Well, my first choice was HDDR, if that opens up, and that would use up 2 TS. If that doesn't pan out, we're going to take the boat to DTD and do Planet Hollywood (which I guess uses up 1- I was surprised to see that, but it's on the list).

Chef Mickey's only had a 9 pm seating, and that's just too late to do, then get up early for Ohana's.

Are you having trouble getting something for day 6 or just want to leave it open?

We were just leaving it open b/c Tusker House was booked, and b/c I think we'll probably only spend 1/2 day at AK.

How about dinner at your resort (you probably can get in without an ADR).


This is a definite possibility.

JTsMom
07-29-2008, 08:37 AM
How about eating breakfast or dinner at Boma on the day you do AK? If you plan dinner there, you can do AK park until mid-afternoon, wander over to AKL and explore it for an hour or so (not hard to do at all) and then eat dinner and head back to your resort. Or if you do breakfast there, plan a 7:30 or 8am breakfast and then head straight to AK. The Boma buffet is quite good (if you aren't a little adventurous in your eating, though, skip it) though we like dinner better than breakfast.

I did the HDDR years ago as a child but haven't taken our kids yet. They just don't enjoy sitting for two hours, even if there is entertainment going on. And in the evening, they tend to be tired at Disney and happier with something more low-key.



That's another idea. I'll talk to DH about it and see what he thinks. I think we're leaning towards only 1/2 day at AK, then trying to hit another park for PM, but maybe we'll be over it by that point. I figure in any case, if I book a bunch of ADR's, and we decide to cancel, we can't really go wrong. We hate the idea of being totally tied down with the TS, and would probably do a lot more CS if we don't do the dining plan. I'm having a hard time deciding if it's the right thing to do or not, but I can add it after I book my room, right? Or do I have to do them together?

egoldber
07-29-2008, 08:51 AM
In the middle of a long trip like that, we always plan a down day away from the parks. We'll do something like a water park or mini golf, or just hang around the hotel for a day. If you still want to use an ADR you could book a late-ish breakfast at a hotel or a dinner.

Depenind on the resort, I would probably still book an ADR for dinner. With the dining plan things tend to fill up.

MartiesMom2B
08-17-2008, 11:14 PM
Just wanted to say that we will be there that week too and are staying at POR. DH's boss went the same time last year and said that it was great in terms of crowds and temps. Since we have girls our meals are filled with princesses. Good luck planning!

JTsMom
08-19-2008, 01:55 PM
That's great to hear! Maybe we'll see you there! :)