Intro and info request

[S2nKat]

Helllloooooo There,
I am new to these boards and thought I would introduce my hubby and myself.
DH - 46 - Disney nut, I affectionatley call him Goofy!.. hehehehehe
Me - 34 - Also big Disney nut - Fav characters - Eyeore and Tink - mainly cuz their stuff is usually purple and purple is my FAVORITE color, but I love all Disney characters!!

Our Fav Disney animated Movie at the moment is CARS - we are big NASCAR fans. I do believe we are on a mission to collect all things CARS, you would think we had children with as many Disney items we have in our house, especially CARS stuff, but alas we do not have children ...yet.. We are the only Kids in our house other than our 2 fur-kids.

Anyway - onto more details of our Disney experience. We live in Southern California and both of us have grown up going to Disneyland our whole lives. We currently have the So Cal resident AP and we go about once a month except July when we are blocked out. We both have been to WDW before - once together and once before we met. DH went with OGF in 1994, stayed offsite. I went with OBF in 1994 and stayed offsite and no we did not know each other then, just a coincidence that we there the same year, guess that is destiny .. Anyway in 2002 we made a trip to Florida to Daytona in May and took a side trip to visit Epcot. We have been trying to plan a trip for the last couple years to go to WDW and experience it for the first time in the total DISNEY Experience of staying onsite and such. We plan to look into possibly joining the DVC.

We currently have a trip planned - FINALLY - to go to WDW 1/26/08 for 7 nights. We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge with MYW package with the added Deluxe Dining Package.
Any advice we should know about would be good. We are currently have ADRs at the following

1/27 - Chef Mickeys-B & California Grill-D hoping for window seat res is at 740p
1/28 - The Hollywood Brown Derby -L
1/29 - Chip n Dales Garden Grill Cafe-L
1/30 - Donald's Safari Breakfast
1/31 - Hoop-dee-doo-revue
2/1 - Biergarten-L
2/2 - Crystal Palace -B....going home tonight

We are also scheduled the tour about the history of the Steam Trains at MK.

Does anyone have some advice or comments?? I want to make the most out of this vacation

So that is about it.
We can't wait to go.......Disney World here we come... YYAAAAAAA~!!!!!:D

[emmah]

- to go to WDW 1/26/08 for 7 nights. We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge hellooo there; hey, we are going to be at the wilderness lodge at the same time! we arrive on the 29th for ten days, but its our very first trip to WDW so I have nothing useful to add about your dining reservations, except to say that we have booked a couple of the same places (different days) and are looking forward to it immensely!!!

[littlej]

Helllooooooo there,
Good start to your ADRs, but if you have the deluxe package, you have a long way to go!! Here's my advice, I'll keep it brief: call back and book as many Signature Dining experiences as you can for dinner. They're the ones that cost 2 table service credits per person, like California Grill. And for heaven's sake, make one of them at Artist Point!! OMG, the food there is wonderful, and it's a lovely, quiet, elegant restaurant. You won't be disappointed.

Read up on this forum. Since the dining plan program started, it's near to impossible to walk up to a restaurant and get seated without an ADR at WDW. I know it makes things less flexible, but if you paid all that money for the deluxe plan, you don't want it to go to waste. Personally, my DH and I could never eat enough to make it worthwhile. We always get the regular plan of one snack, one counter service, and one table service per night.

[danyoung]

As littlej alluded to, that deluxe dining plan is really a large amount of food! I like a good sitdown meal at WDW, but I found out real quick that I can't do a big lunch and a big dinner on the same day. Perhaps you have things scoped out to where you're still getting a good deal. But it would be a shame to either let any of your points go to waste, or worse, wind up at a terrific restaurant for dinner and have absolutely no appetite.

Also, I'd get on the phone NOW and fill out the rest of your dining. Since people have been booking January meals since August or so, many of the finer restaurants and times will not be available to you. Get on it quick and book what you can as early as you can!

Welcome to the forum!

[S2nKat]

Thanks for the tip of booking more meals, but honestly I don't know what else to do. With this whole dining thing it feels like I have to make my trip all about eating and not about enjoying the World as whole.

We get in on 1/26 at like 6p or so into MCO and don't know if it is a good idea to book a dinner reservation for that night since we have an early Breakfast at Chef Mickey's, the dinner that night at California Grill. Plus what is we are delayed and I can't call to change or cancel...

I think I will try to make a few more reservations for dinner, even though I have some lunches booked. Other than Artist point at the Wilderness Lodge, does anyone have any other recommendations for dinner???

[danyoung]

I'll give you a few suggestions by location -

Epcot - Coral Reef, Le Cellier, Bistro de Paris

Studios - Brown Derby

Animal Kingdom Lodge - Boma for the buffet, Jiko for a nice sitdown

Wilderness Lodge - Artist Point

Polynesian Resort - 'Ohana

Or just pick some place that you haven't visited yet and experience something new!

[S2nKat]

Update on post....
Here is the new set of Dinner reservations... This will leave us 5 coupons each, I figure we can use Quick serves and give us a little flexibility any other suggestions would be appreciated

ADR's Confirmed
1/26 - Artist Point @ Wilderness Lodge - 840p - Signature Dinner 2 TS coupons (hopefully this is late enough to make it)

1/27 - Breakfast at Chef Mickey's 7:40a
1/27 - Dinner - California Grill at 7:50p - Signature Dinner 2 TS coupons

1/28 - Hollywood Brown Derby - 1130a - Signature Dinner 2 TS coupons
1/28 - Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater 530p -

1/29 - Chip n Dales - 1p
1/29 - Rose&Crown Pub 7:20p -

1/30 - Donald's Breakfast Safari 9:05a
1/30 - Ohana @ Polynesian 7p -

1/31 - Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue @ Ft Wilderness - 715p - - Signature Dinner 2 TS coupons -Cat 3. (balcony or side)

2/1 - Biergarten - Germany Epcot - 1p

2/2 - Crystal Palace - 9:15a

[scoobydooby]

Sounds lovely (and filling!) but just a thought. If you want to do all the big attractions at Animal K you're going to find it tough or que for much longer than you might otherwise if you spend the first part of the day eating in the park. This is a spread out park with several quite long shows so it's a busy full day anyway to get it all in.

[Kwahati]

I would recommend Citrico's at the GF for another very nice dinner (2 TS credits) and you could always do a room service (either in lieu of a meal or for a midnight snack if the mood moves you) to use up another 2 TS credits each... Or there really is quite a bit of good counter service around WDW. Even some of the cheaper stuff is fantastic...it really is nothing like the food scene at DL. Have a great time!

[HauntedGabe]

It is our first time on the meal plan too but we have been in a great deal of these for years. We will be at POR 17-23 Nov. and keep checking to see if Yak & Yeti, AK will start taking res. or a soft opening for our trip. It is going to have a sit down and counter service. If it isn't open for us maybe for your trip...unless it is like Spaceship Earths timetable. Saw it in August when we brought our son down for Disney's College Program and it is a giant and looked so cool even then. Japan's brand new rest. is his favorite, just re-opened. Now I'm Hungry!

[Drince88]

I wouldn't hold your breath for a Yak and Yeti opening in November. Last week they were still doing exterior construction.