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WDW - Fooood
And we’re back for Part 2 of How to [Over] Plan Your WDW Vacation. :D
This part is centered on the Holy Grail of getting all my favorite WDW restaurants in a single Spring Break, which means I kind of have to figure out which park we’re going to on which day 6 months in advance of said day, because that’s when the Disney reservation system opens for restaurants.
I know, I know. It’s crazy. But here’s the thing: *you* really don’t have to get this obsessive, especially if you’re not going during times when schools are on break. I, however, have a husband who teaches and I still have a kid in high school, so I’m stuck going when the crowds are high. And I’m always much happier if I have good restaurants on the plan, so if you’re good with counter service (which is really very much improved around the World) or if you just want someplace where someone brings you your dinner, you probably don’t need to go to this extreme. I usually just think of it as gaming my vacation—I do it almost everywhere (you don’t want to see the spreadsheet I had for the trip to NYC this past summer) but WDW rewards my obsessiveness and creates a vicious cycle.
All that being said, though, if you want to get crazy, here’s how I do it.
First off, reservations for restaurants open 180 days prior to the date of dining. You’ll need to have a MyDisneyExperience account (MDE) set up at Disneyworld.com, but you don’t have to have a ticket or a room reservation attached to the account to book dining reservations.
If you do have a reservation at a Disney-owned hotel, however, you can book up to 10 days of dining reservations in one fell swoop, starting at 180 days from the first day of your room reservation (which in effect gets you up to 190 days advance booking.) If you don’t have a room res, you just have to log in every morning and book that day’s restaurants. (And yes, I have done this, because there are times when I’ve gotten some ridiculous, off-property room bargain and booking daily is a small inconvenience for saving $300/night.)
So this means I have to pick which park I’m going to be at which day, so I know which day to try for the super-hard reservations. And to do that, I turn to the statistical geeks at touringplans.com. There are lots of websites that are happy to tell you their strategies for how to beat the crowds, but Touring Plans are the kind of crazy!people who look at all the strategies and then run a series of statistical analyses based on a decade of recorded wait times (posted and actual) and tell you if it actually works.
Think of it as sabermetrics for your vacation.
I know Touring Plans has free content, so a lot of this stuff may be available w/o a subscription, but I’ve been paying for their stuff for a long enough time that I don’t remember where the cut-off line is, so if you can’t find what I’m talking about, sorry! (but it’s ~$10 for a year’s subscription and it’s totally worth it IMO.)
So, I go and look at their Crowd Calendar for the dates of the trip, which gives their estimates as to how the crowds are going to be at each park each day. (They take into account Extra Magic Hours and special events happening at one park, etc.) Then I just poke at the numbers until I can get the happy medium of lowest crowd estimates across the spectrum.
So my spring break table looks something like this:
Hollywood Studios is going to mess me up this trip, because D is leaving on Wednesday and I think he’d rather see the new stuff at AK & hit the coasters at Universal rather than doing HS again (though he does love Tower of Terror and RockNRollerCoaster at DHS. We may hit them on Saturday, which I currently don’t have a park picked out b/c we’ll probably get in late Friday night and won’t feel like dealing with a park.)
And here’s your first Not-So-CrayCray tip: if that sounds like way more than you want to deal with, then do this: if you are not staying at a Disney-owned hotel (or the Swan/Dolphin), pick one of the parks that doesn’t have early Extra Magic Hours (EMH), whereby on-property guests can get into the park an hour before published opening. (Or stay a couple of hours later than closing, but late EMH is not as much of an issue for some reason.) Any of the other parks is probably going to be fine.
If you are staying on property, think super-hard about whether you’re going to want really take advantage of early EMH. Some people are okay with walking out of the room no later than 7:15 to be at the park for the 8 a.m. EMH and it is truly amazing how many rides you can blast through that early. BUT for whatever reason, even if they don’t go early, people still go to the park with early EMH. That park always ends up the most crowded.
TL;DR: if you think you really are going to hit the early hours, pick the early EMH park. If you’re looking at this in horror, thinking, “OMG, WHY WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT ON MY VACATION?” go for a different park. (Also, if you’re going over a holiday, that early EMH might actually be 7 a.m., so for real, check things out.)
(I have teenagers, so the getting up early part of the equation doesn't really happen. So, we are at non-early-EMH parks all week.
Super-advanced ninja tactics include combining early EMH with 3 FastPass+ rides at 9, 10, and 11, in one park, and then skipping out to lunch and a nap during the afternoon, having picked up a bonus FP and dinner reservations in one of the other parks for the late afternoon/early evening. Park warriors sneer at the nap portion and add in late EMH at whichever other park, so that you can get your maximum Disney on, from 8 a.m. to 1 or 2 a.m. (Guess which type I’m married to…?) We will cover FastPass in an additional post, because this one is already nearly incomprehensible and I haven’t even gotten to the food part.)
Ok, back to my assessment of the Crowd Calendar. I’ve tentatively worked out this big picture:
Day 0: Arrival day (which may in fact be super-late on Day -1, but either way, nothing big on the schedule)
Day 1: MK
Day 2: AK
Day 3: Universal (Diagon Alley, I am coming to youuuuuuu.) Tickets for both USF & Islands of Adventure, sigh, but I am not going to miss riding the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade, which is why they built DA and Hogsmeade in separate admission areas. Bastards.
Day 4: Epcot
Day 5: Hollywood Studios
Day 6: Revisit favorites.
Day 7: Depart
I'm trying not to book too many heavy meals (says the woman who is holding reservations at Flying Fish for the same day she is going to be eating her way around Epcot for the Food & Wine Festival next month, *koff*), so I'm trying for one counter service and one table service. Also, we have a full kitchen so we'll mostly be eating breakfasts in the room. I think.
Also, since there is now a $10pp fee for no-shows or canceling within 24 hours (which I am fine with, as it cut down on the ADR-squatting *tremendously*), the hack is not to cancel but reschedule if necessary, and *then* cancel, when it is not within 24 hours. That saves the tactic of calling and throwing yourself on the mercy of the castmember at Dining for the truly unexpected disasters like sprained ankles and such.
Arrival day
Dinner - California Grill, 7:30ish for dinner. This gets us there a little before the sun goes down, so we get to watch the sun set over Bay Lake and the lights come on at MK. Fireworks are currently listed at 9 pm, but I think it's more likely they'll shift to 10. Either way, nothing says WELCOME TO VACATION like standing out on the 14th floor observation decks watching the MK fireworks with a glass of good wine in hand.
MK
Lunch - Be Our Guest (which needs an ADR even though it's counter service at lunch) because the lunch menu is better than your average CS and the atmosphere is like you stepped into the movie.
Dinner - Jungle Cruise Skipper's Canteen, which is on our list of New Places To Try. I'm thinking 5-6ish, just because the park is still a little crazy crowdwise at that point, so it's good to have someplace to duck in and be a little chill.
Animal Kingdom
Lunch - I think we’ll go try the new street market in Harambe. I might also make a Yak & Yeti reservation because I love the theming of the place and the food is pretty decent (much better than Nine Dragons in Epcot) and then we can decide when we’re there.
Dinner - Tiffins, which is another place on our NPTT list. 7:30ish so we can catch the 'nighttime' safari ride right at/after sunset and then go get dinner. They seem like they’re getting ready for the Rivers of Light nighttime show, so I might have to rebook if they’re doing a dinner/show package.
Universal - Three Broomsticks for lunch, TOOTHSOME FOR DINNER. (Y’all, it’s chocolate and steampunk! It’s like Willy Wonka without the cranky, manipulative owner.)
Epcot
Lunch is going to be eating our way around the Flower & Garden food booths. Or if someone to whom I am married objects, there are always burgers at the American Adventure.
Dinner - We're debating between Monsieur Paul or Le Cellier. I’m leaning to MP, because I feel like LC is only ridiculously hard to book because it is so small, not because it is astronomically better than everything else. The last time we went, it ended up being our least favorite dinner of the trip. It wasn’t a bad meal by any stretch, but I think there are so many other places that hit the food part equally as well and have a much better setting. (FWIW, the HoB’s favorite steak on-property is at the Yachtsman Steakhouse, even above LC and the Boathouse.)
DHS
Lunch. Given its position in the week, and the building crowds, I am very tempted to throw a curveball in here and decide that we're going to hit this park early and hard, and then decamp until night-time for the Star Wars fireworks/Fantasmic, thus freeing me up from having to deal with the counter-service here (which kinda sucks). If I did that, we could leave around lunch and go... anywhere. I might just get an ADR at PrimeTime for lunch and then also get something at Disney Springs at one of the OpenTable restaurants, or possibly just go for some of the newer counter service places that have opened up there. Dinner - SciFi because the theming is just so fun. Or, if they sort out the timing issues between Fantasmic and the SW fireworks, we might do the dinner/fantasmic package at PrimeTime so we can do both the fireworks and Fantasmic and only have to wait for the fireworks.
Favorites Catch up Day
BabyBoy says MORIMOTO ASIA (yes, in all caps) at Disney Springs and I can't argue with that.
Okay, so now you’re looking at me and saying, “awesome, but I didn’t know I had to do this, and my trip is next month and now you’re telling me I’m stuck with horrible choices, I hate you, and I hate Disney.”
Be strong!
Here’s what you do: the Disney hotels have a 5-day cancellation policy, and the restaurant reservations tend to open up a little bit then, too, as people cancel. So, check for reservations as soon as you can, but really start hitting the reservation page at the 5-day mark. Also, even once you’re at WDW, if you’ve decided you’re going to the Magic Kingdom in a couple of days, and you’d really like to see if Be Our Guest lives up to the hype, keep checking the website for any cancellations, but *really* start hitting that page the day before you want to go, when people start canceling to avoid the $10pp cancellation fee.
People cancel reservations all the time—B and I sat on the bus from Disney Springs to the Polynesian on New Year’s Eve one year, both of us with the reservation page open on our phones and just kept hitting refresh and managed to get dinner reservations for 12 at 8 pm on NYE (which is the most bonkers day of the already bonkers holiday season.) I’m not saying you can get a 7:30 dinner for 20 at the castle the day of, but you might…
Counter Service
MK
Columbia Harbor House (the salmon at dinner is actually not bad, and except for on the most severely crowded days, the seating area on the 2nd floor is quiet and almost peaceful, and you can sit and watch the crowds go by below)
Sleepy Hollow (waffles with Nutella and fresh fruit, YUM + seating along the moat next to the castle)
Be Our Guest, lunch only (but you still need a reservation)
Epcot
Sunshine Seasons, The Land - Even the oldest kid can find something that is not a burger or chicken nuggets here (the mac and cheese is very nice for him, plus they have soup and a range of non-burger options.)
La Cava Tequila, Mexico (light snacks + tequila flights and real margaritas)
Tangeriene Cafe, Morocco
Katsura Grill, Japan
Yorkshire County Fish Shop, UK
Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles, and L’Artisans des Glace (croque glace, which is a brioche filled with your choice of ice cream (caramel fleur de sel) and sauce (chocolate), then sealed and heated, omg), France.
I will also admit to a sneaking fondness for just letting the HoB get meh burgers at the Electric Umbrella so I can sit out on the patio with a diet Coke and watch the fountains dance, but that’s just our little secret, okay?
Hollywood Studios
Giant cupcakes for breakfast at Starring Rolls
Milkshakes at Min and Bill’s Dockside Diner.
Other than that, I will walk the 15 minutes down to the Boardwalk if I don’t have reservations at HS. (BabyBoy insists on getting turkey legs at one of the places down by Tower of Terror, but I don’t know if that’s still a thing.)
AK
Pizzafari
Yak & Yeti walk-up window
The bar in Harambe
I have heard really good things about the new street market in Harambe, so we’ll see about that. A lot of the carts around the park have interesting and good options, too, but they change a lot.
Resorts
Grand Floridian
Gasparilla Island Grill – The food is better than your average counter service place and the patio seating has a direct view of the castle and the fireworks, with the music piped in.
Mizner’s Lounge - evening only, and it’s a limited tapas menu, but the food is really good. They will even bring really good gluten-free bread to sop up the butter & garlic sauce that goes with the shrimp. Even on New Years Eve when it's wall-to-wall people, they are awesome here.
Wilderness Lodge
Territory Lounge – nice cocktails and tapas
Polynesian
Trader Sam’s Tiki Bar - the menu is the same out on the patio if the wait to get inside is insane, as it frequently is. You miss the theming and the crazy happenings when somebody orders a specialty drink, but you get a view of the volcano pool and Bay Lake, which is fairly relaxing if it’s not a hundred degrees.
The sushi bar on the second floor (not the bar outside of Ohana, but on the other side of the atrium.)
Old Key West
The Gurgling Suitcase – the tiiiiiiny bar by the main pool/boat dock. Pulled pork ‘nachos’ over fresh-fried potato chips, yummmmmm.
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Victoria Falls – the bar one level down from the lobby
Boardwalk/Yacht/Beach Club/Swan/Dolphin
Boardwalk Bakery – breakfast pastries
Crew’s Cup Lounge – at the Yacht Club, surprisingly good burger-type options
Picabu – at the Dolphin, which is the secret weapon for late night, as the grill is often open past midnight.
ESPN Grill - exactly what it says it is, but sometimes it's good to know where to go for burgers and the game
Art of Animation food court - it's a madhouse during breakfast, but once everyone gets out and to the parks, it has great options for a food court. If we're staying across the lake at Pop Century, we will gladly make the walk over to eat here.
Helpful links:
Touring Plans Crowd Calendar
AllEars.net's Menu Index (crowdsourced but often more helpful than official WDW)
This part is centered on the Holy Grail of getting all my favorite WDW restaurants in a single Spring Break, which means I kind of have to figure out which park we’re going to on which day 6 months in advance of said day, because that’s when the Disney reservation system opens for restaurants.
I know, I know. It’s crazy. But here’s the thing: *you* really don’t have to get this obsessive, especially if you’re not going during times when schools are on break. I, however, have a husband who teaches and I still have a kid in high school, so I’m stuck going when the crowds are high. And I’m always much happier if I have good restaurants on the plan, so if you’re good with counter service (which is really very much improved around the World) or if you just want someplace where someone brings you your dinner, you probably don’t need to go to this extreme. I usually just think of it as gaming my vacation—I do it almost everywhere (you don’t want to see the spreadsheet I had for the trip to NYC this past summer) but WDW rewards my obsessiveness and creates a vicious cycle.
All that being said, though, if you want to get crazy, here’s how I do it.
First off, reservations for restaurants open 180 days prior to the date of dining. You’ll need to have a MyDisneyExperience account (MDE) set up at Disneyworld.com, but you don’t have to have a ticket or a room reservation attached to the account to book dining reservations.
If you do have a reservation at a Disney-owned hotel, however, you can book up to 10 days of dining reservations in one fell swoop, starting at 180 days from the first day of your room reservation (which in effect gets you up to 190 days advance booking.) If you don’t have a room res, you just have to log in every morning and book that day’s restaurants. (And yes, I have done this, because there are times when I’ve gotten some ridiculous, off-property room bargain and booking daily is a small inconvenience for saving $300/night.)
So this means I have to pick which park I’m going to be at which day, so I know which day to try for the super-hard reservations. And to do that, I turn to the statistical geeks at touringplans.com. There are lots of websites that are happy to tell you their strategies for how to beat the crowds, but Touring Plans are the kind of crazy!people who look at all the strategies and then run a series of statistical analyses based on a decade of recorded wait times (posted and actual) and tell you if it actually works.
Think of it as sabermetrics for your vacation.
I know Touring Plans has free content, so a lot of this stuff may be available w/o a subscription, but I’ve been paying for their stuff for a long enough time that I don’t remember where the cut-off line is, so if you can’t find what I’m talking about, sorry! (but it’s ~$10 for a year’s subscription and it’s totally worth it IMO.)
So, I go and look at their Crowd Calendar for the dates of the trip, which gives their estimates as to how the crowds are going to be at each park each day. (They take into account Extra Magic Hours and special events happening at one park, etc.) Then I just poke at the numbers until I can get the happy medium of lowest crowd estimates across the spectrum.
So my spring break table looks something like this:
| Day 0 (Arrive) | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 (Leave) | |
| MK | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
| Epcot | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| HS | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 9 |
| AK | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| USF/IoA | X |
Hollywood Studios is going to mess me up this trip, because D is leaving on Wednesday and I think he’d rather see the new stuff at AK & hit the coasters at Universal rather than doing HS again (though he does love Tower of Terror and RockNRollerCoaster at DHS. We may hit them on Saturday, which I currently don’t have a park picked out b/c we’ll probably get in late Friday night and won’t feel like dealing with a park.)
And here’s your first Not-So-CrayCray tip: if that sounds like way more than you want to deal with, then do this: if you are not staying at a Disney-owned hotel (or the Swan/Dolphin), pick one of the parks that doesn’t have early Extra Magic Hours (EMH), whereby on-property guests can get into the park an hour before published opening. (Or stay a couple of hours later than closing, but late EMH is not as much of an issue for some reason.) Any of the other parks is probably going to be fine.
If you are staying on property, think super-hard about whether you’re going to want really take advantage of early EMH. Some people are okay with walking out of the room no later than 7:15 to be at the park for the 8 a.m. EMH and it is truly amazing how many rides you can blast through that early. BUT for whatever reason, even if they don’t go early, people still go to the park with early EMH. That park always ends up the most crowded.
TL;DR: if you think you really are going to hit the early hours, pick the early EMH park. If you’re looking at this in horror, thinking, “OMG, WHY WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT ON MY VACATION?” go for a different park. (Also, if you’re going over a holiday, that early EMH might actually be 7 a.m., so for real, check things out.)
(I have teenagers, so the getting up early part of the equation doesn't really happen. So, we are at non-early-EMH parks all week.
Super-advanced ninja tactics include combining early EMH with 3 FastPass+ rides at 9, 10, and 11, in one park, and then skipping out to lunch and a nap during the afternoon, having picked up a bonus FP and dinner reservations in one of the other parks for the late afternoon/early evening. Park warriors sneer at the nap portion and add in late EMH at whichever other park, so that you can get your maximum Disney on, from 8 a.m. to 1 or 2 a.m. (Guess which type I’m married to…?) We will cover FastPass in an additional post, because this one is already nearly incomprehensible and I haven’t even gotten to the food part.)
Ok, back to my assessment of the Crowd Calendar. I’ve tentatively worked out this big picture:
Day 0: Arrival day (which may in fact be super-late on Day -1, but either way, nothing big on the schedule)
Day 1: MK
Day 2: AK
Day 3: Universal (Diagon Alley, I am coming to youuuuuuu.) Tickets for both USF & Islands of Adventure, sigh, but I am not going to miss riding the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade, which is why they built DA and Hogsmeade in separate admission areas. Bastards.
Day 4: Epcot
Day 5: Hollywood Studios
Day 6: Revisit favorites.
Day 7: Depart
I'm trying not to book too many heavy meals (says the woman who is holding reservations at Flying Fish for the same day she is going to be eating her way around Epcot for the Food & Wine Festival next month, *koff*), so I'm trying for one counter service and one table service. Also, we have a full kitchen so we'll mostly be eating breakfasts in the room. I think.
Also, since there is now a $10pp fee for no-shows or canceling within 24 hours (which I am fine with, as it cut down on the ADR-squatting *tremendously*), the hack is not to cancel but reschedule if necessary, and *then* cancel, when it is not within 24 hours. That saves the tactic of calling and throwing yourself on the mercy of the castmember at Dining for the truly unexpected disasters like sprained ankles and such.
Arrival day
Dinner - California Grill, 7:30ish for dinner. This gets us there a little before the sun goes down, so we get to watch the sun set over Bay Lake and the lights come on at MK. Fireworks are currently listed at 9 pm, but I think it's more likely they'll shift to 10. Either way, nothing says WELCOME TO VACATION like standing out on the 14th floor observation decks watching the MK fireworks with a glass of good wine in hand.
MK
Lunch - Be Our Guest (which needs an ADR even though it's counter service at lunch) because the lunch menu is better than your average CS and the atmosphere is like you stepped into the movie.
Dinner - Jungle Cruise Skipper's Canteen, which is on our list of New Places To Try. I'm thinking 5-6ish, just because the park is still a little crazy crowdwise at that point, so it's good to have someplace to duck in and be a little chill.
Animal Kingdom
Lunch - I think we’ll go try the new street market in Harambe. I might also make a Yak & Yeti reservation because I love the theming of the place and the food is pretty decent (much better than Nine Dragons in Epcot) and then we can decide when we’re there.
Dinner - Tiffins, which is another place on our NPTT list. 7:30ish so we can catch the 'nighttime' safari ride right at/after sunset and then go get dinner. They seem like they’re getting ready for the Rivers of Light nighttime show, so I might have to rebook if they’re doing a dinner/show package.
Universal - Three Broomsticks for lunch, TOOTHSOME FOR DINNER. (Y’all, it’s chocolate and steampunk! It’s like Willy Wonka without the cranky, manipulative owner.)
Epcot
Lunch is going to be eating our way around the Flower & Garden food booths. Or if someone to whom I am married objects, there are always burgers at the American Adventure.
Dinner - We're debating between Monsieur Paul or Le Cellier. I’m leaning to MP, because I feel like LC is only ridiculously hard to book because it is so small, not because it is astronomically better than everything else. The last time we went, it ended up being our least favorite dinner of the trip. It wasn’t a bad meal by any stretch, but I think there are so many other places that hit the food part equally as well and have a much better setting. (FWIW, the HoB’s favorite steak on-property is at the Yachtsman Steakhouse, even above LC and the Boathouse.)
DHS
Lunch. Given its position in the week, and the building crowds, I am very tempted to throw a curveball in here and decide that we're going to hit this park early and hard, and then decamp until night-time for the Star Wars fireworks/Fantasmic, thus freeing me up from having to deal with the counter-service here (which kinda sucks). If I did that, we could leave around lunch and go... anywhere. I might just get an ADR at PrimeTime for lunch and then also get something at Disney Springs at one of the OpenTable restaurants, or possibly just go for some of the newer counter service places that have opened up there. Dinner - SciFi because the theming is just so fun. Or, if they sort out the timing issues between Fantasmic and the SW fireworks, we might do the dinner/fantasmic package at PrimeTime so we can do both the fireworks and Fantasmic and only have to wait for the fireworks.
Favorites Catch up Day
BabyBoy says MORIMOTO ASIA (yes, in all caps) at Disney Springs and I can't argue with that.
Okay, so now you’re looking at me and saying, “awesome, but I didn’t know I had to do this, and my trip is next month and now you’re telling me I’m stuck with horrible choices, I hate you, and I hate Disney.”
Be strong!
Here’s what you do: the Disney hotels have a 5-day cancellation policy, and the restaurant reservations tend to open up a little bit then, too, as people cancel. So, check for reservations as soon as you can, but really start hitting the reservation page at the 5-day mark. Also, even once you’re at WDW, if you’ve decided you’re going to the Magic Kingdom in a couple of days, and you’d really like to see if Be Our Guest lives up to the hype, keep checking the website for any cancellations, but *really* start hitting that page the day before you want to go, when people start canceling to avoid the $10pp cancellation fee.
People cancel reservations all the time—B and I sat on the bus from Disney Springs to the Polynesian on New Year’s Eve one year, both of us with the reservation page open on our phones and just kept hitting refresh and managed to get dinner reservations for 12 at 8 pm on NYE (which is the most bonkers day of the already bonkers holiday season.) I’m not saying you can get a 7:30 dinner for 20 at the castle the day of, but you might…
Counter Service
MK
Epcot
I will also admit to a sneaking fondness for just letting the HoB get meh burgers at the Electric Umbrella so I can sit out on the patio with a diet Coke and watch the fountains dance, but that’s just our little secret, okay?
Hollywood Studios
Other than that, I will walk the 15 minutes down to the Boardwalk if I don’t have reservations at HS. (BabyBoy insists on getting turkey legs at one of the places down by Tower of Terror, but I don’t know if that’s still a thing.)
AK
I have heard really good things about the new street market in Harambe, so we’ll see about that. A lot of the carts around the park have interesting and good options, too, but they change a lot.
Resorts
Grand Floridian
Wilderness Lodge
Polynesian
Old Key West
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Boardwalk/Yacht/Beach Club/Swan/Dolphin
Art of Animation food court - it's a madhouse during breakfast, but once everyone gets out and to the parks, it has great options for a food court. If we're staying across the lake at Pop Century, we will gladly make the walk over to eat here.
Helpful links:
Touring Plans Crowd Calendar
AllEars.net's Menu Index (crowdsourced but often more helpful than official WDW)
no subject
Do you ever get to go to the parks and just wander & enjoy? Lol
So- I noticed some big differences here in CS mentions. Wondering how much this is influenced by traveling with your horde.
no subject
But seriously, I know everyone thinks we’re on this sort of deathmarch, but it’s more that if I can say, ‘okay, next we’re going to Big Thunder and then I have FP+ for Splash, and then lunch!’, it’s a nice stroll over to the ride and no one is bickering (and by that I mean, D & I aren’t ‘discussing’ things, not the kids!) So, that’s enjoyable. And really, the only time D *ever* sits and does nothing is at Beach Week, and even then he’s usually playing 10 games of bocce and football and capture-the-flag every day. It’s best if I keep him busy. *g* When I was planning our honeymoon, everyone’s advice was to ‘go on a cruise—you can sit and do nothing and chill after the stress of the wedding.’ (It was the 90s—cruises were v. v. trendy then.) What we actually did: got married in SC, drove back to DC 2 days later, packed up 2 condos, D went to ATL w/the moving van, I stayed and worked out my notice (during which time Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm, which meant we were practically strip-searched going in and out of NAVSEA every day), I took the last carload down with me (books, of course), moved into the new apartment in the city I’d been to 2x, I job-hunted while D studied for and took the GA Bar exam, and then the day after he finished, we got on a plane and flew out to New Mexico to eat and shop and ski the triple black diamonds of Taos. Notice the distinct lack of chill in all of that.
(I’m not sure where it comes from, because when we vacation with his family, they’re all ready to sit by the pool all day, while he’s booooooored by the first afternoon. And a bored!D is a recipe for divorce. But yeah, we went to Costa Rica with his family and they all slept by the pool while he was making friends with his high school Spanish and borrowing snorkeling gear and taking the kids out on the rocks—and those were the ‘downtime’ days, when I didn’t have anything like zip lines or horseback riding planned. The man’s energy is off the charts.)
And yes, that MDE app has saved our butts a couple of times, in exactly the same way you said. Because when it’s hot and there are too many people and everybody is cranky, being able to get that reservation while you’re waiting in line to be told they’re not taking walk-ups is a LIFESAVER.
Tell me your CS faves!
no subject
We were down in April this year and went to Universal for the first time. Mostly for the HP stuff, which was great. I was really surprised how awesome the Hogwarts Express was. All I knew was it was a train between the two parks and all I could picture was looking out the window at the backlots between two Florida theme parks. Boy was I surprised. It was so cool we actually rode it twice.
I really liked Islands of Adventure, Universal not so much, but it was a good time and I found the theming in both parks impressive even outside of HP. The Seuss land was a big hit with my seven year old and the Simpsons/Springfield area tickled me to death. We only spent one day bc we went to Legoland and three WDW parks on that trip so it was a full week. I would really love to go back and ride some of the big roller coasters like the Hulk, which was closed when we were down, but the twin dragons in Hogsmeade was a great ride and I LOVED the theming in the line.
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I am really looking forward to the Harry Potter stuff--my sister-in-law is not into the crazy rides, so she has already said she'd be happy to spend all day in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley with me while the boys and my brother go turn themselves upside down.
When you were there last April, did you buy the Universal Express Pass? I can't decide if we should do that or not--it's not actually Easter week when we're down, but it is spring break so I'm not sure if it would be worth it.
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