Ok, so here are the very initial plans that we have come up with for the purposes of dining reservations. What do you all think? I bow to your greater knowledge!

Wed 20 - Fly in morning. Arrive around 4pm. QS meal in evening.

Thurs 21 - All day Epcot, TS Dinner at Le Cellier.

Fri 22 - All day MK, EMH PM Epcot, TS dinner at Cap'ain Jacks.

Sat 23 - Animal Kingdom in morning, TS lunch at Yak and Yeti, afternoon in MGM, QS and drink at AKL in evening.

Sun 24 - Water Park in morning, EMH PM MK, TS dinner Grand Floridian Cafe

Mon 25 - Lie in after late night, shopping in mall for day. EMH PM MGM, TS Dinner Mama Melrose for for half party, TS Dinner Tony's Town Square for other half.

Tues 26 - Animal Kingdom in morning, water park in afternoon.TS dinner Raglan Road half of party, TS Dinner at Chefs de France for other half.

Wed 27 - Magic Kingdom in morning, including TS Breakfast at Crystal Palace. Grand Floridian Spa in afternoon, including afternoon tea (OOP). Downtown Disney for shopping in the evening. (Maybe QS dinner in downtown disney if hungry)

Thurs 28 - Epcot in the morning, animal kingdom in afternoon Magic Kingdom in evening, TS dinner (2 TS credits) at California Grill

Fri 29 - Day for anything we might have left to do! TS Dinner at Planet Hollywood

Sat 30 - Downtown disney am for bag drop off and last min shopping. QS lunch. Fly Home later afternoon

Sun 31 - Arrive home :(

Thanks in advance for any advice. I am slightly concerned about the heat at the end of august and so most days will include hiding somewhere over the hottest hours of the day, which is perhaps why we have more time in some parks then others may do.

Two last questions - 1) has anyone worked out yet if a party of 5 has to pay an 18% tip on everything, actual meal and extras or not?:D

2) Can anyone reccomend a good mall that is close enough to Disney not too cost a fortune in a cab/taxi? Not particuarly worried about reduced priced designer kind of malls at the moment, although if there is a fantastic one let us know!

Thanks again.

Without consulting a park schedule, it looks like you may want to. ;) You are planning several TS dinners after EMH events, so make sure you really want to eat that late.

Also, AK closes somewhat earlier than the other parks, so I'd recommend a very early lunch at Yaki & Yeti (http://www.mouseplanet.com/guide.php?pg=BFB402) so you can enjoy either Boma or Jiko at AKL, or choosing another spot for dinner. Just my 2c, but I would not pass up either of the two great AKL restaurants for the Mara, the hotel's QS location.

Not sure what type of transportation you have, but be sure to leave enough time on the 26th to get from the water park back to the hotel to change for dinner, and then to get to Epcot and ALLLLLLLL the way back to Chefs de France.

AVP

thanks for your 2c - always appreciated! I think on most nights when we are doing dinner and extra magic hours we will eat about 6 then head to the park for the EMH.

Although we would like to do Jiko we decided that we would prefer to eat at the Californian Grill having made the desicion to make the best use of the dining plan by only going to one restaurant that uses two credits - otherwise we'd definatly be going to Jiko and the Coral Reef! Having looked at the menu for Boma we decided that we weren't actually that worried and there were other places that we would rather eat.

However we really want to go and have a look round AKL! I've hear it is especially good during the evening? Can we definatly go and look for animals even if we aren't staying at the hotel? :)

Sounds like a great trip!

Just beware that you are doing a lot of park/resort hopping and you really need to plan on 45 minutes to 1 hour to get from place to place (that includes getting to a bus stop, waiting for a bus, a bus ride, and getting through the turnstiles at another park)

You are going to be exhausted (but in a good way) when this trip is over.:fez:

However we really want to go and have a look round AKL! I've hear it is especially good during the evening? Can we definatly go and look for animals even if we aren't staying at the hotel? :)

Yup. You can visit any of the hotels without having to stay there. You could easily spend a day hotel hopping, wandering around the grounds, shopping and eating. I haven't done the night at AKL thing, but I understand that they have night vision glasses that you can use to spot the animals that are still out - cool!

My $.02 on some things.

I'd personally do counter service at AK-not Yak and Yeti. You could do counter service Yak and Yeti if you want to check out the new place then do a TS dinner at AKL. You said you don't want to try Boma's; and you'd like to try Jiko's. Ok- do Jiko's-get that TS by not doing Yak and Yeti and either not doing the Planet Hollywood TS(pay OOP if you really want to go) or paying OOP for that breakfast at Crystal Palace. For Planet Hollywood: You can save some $ by using your AAA card if you or someone in your party has one; if you doing a Disney package(I assume you are by the TS and QS stuff-but maybe I'm wrong) there's a $15 voucher in there too. Or just doing QS at Wolfgang Puck Express-fabulous use of a counter service credit and portions are big enough to share. Another good counter service at AK is Flame Tree BBQ-great view of EE if you go around the back of the building to the tables there.

Ok-so glad to hear that you weren't doing a TS AFTER EMH's-that had me confused.

Are you doing Mama Melrose's in the Studios for the Fantasmic Package? If so, and you'd like a 1TS rather than a buffet, then Mama's is the only way to go. If however, you are simply looking for a ts at the Studios, I'd give '50's Prime Time a whirl rather than Mama's. Service was slow(more than 2 hours from sit down to finish); loud and food was average at best.

As far as the tipping goes, my take from the literature is parties of 6 or more so 5 would be under that limit.

As AVP says-allow plenty of time to get everywhere. Particularily that water park day. The water parks are where we ran into our longest waits.

I also think that you may want to reconsider all the "hopping". As far as eating at Tony's be careful the food is awful. I would consider the Plaza Restaurant instead.