ADR reservations become available tomorrow morning at 5am. My alarm is set and I have my excel spreadsheet all planned out…but I started to really question myself this morning so I thought I would post it here and see what everyone thought.
May 4 through May 12 - Me, DH and DD 5 staying at Beach Club Villas and we have the standard DDP. We have been on several trips together and with our other children but this is the longest Disney trip to date and will be a celebration of DD starting kindergarten that August.
May 4: Travel day/ Disney Spring/ Epcot (We land at 9am)
L: Disney Springs Polite Pig
D: Garden Grill (We’ve never been…is dinner good or should we be doing breakfast?)
May 5: MK Day
B: PPO BOG
L: QS in park or at a resort (then taking a break)
D: Snow White (If possible)
May 6: Morning HS/ Evening Epcot
B: Pastries from Boardwalk Bakery
L: Woodys Lunchbox
D: La Hacienda (Hopefully with a illumination view)
May 7: AK
B: Snack credits/ groceries from the room
L: Tusker House (w/ ROL package)
D: Satu’li Canteen
May 8: Resort/ Disney Spring
B: Room/Snack Credits
L: Delux Burger
D: Food Booths at Epcot
May 9: MK
B: Room/Snack Credits
L: Pecos Bill
D: CRT (We’ve never done this before - DD5 loves the princesses)
May 10: Epcot morning/ HS evening
B: Snacks
L: Food Booths
D: Mama Melrose (Fantasmic Dinner)
May 11: Resort/DD5 gets to pick
B: Bon voyage Breakfast
L: Hurricane Hannahs
S: B&C for ice cream
D: Food Booths
May 12: Travel day/ MK (Flight leaves at 4:45)
B: Finish up snack credits
L: QS but not sure where (If we can’t get Snow White on May 5 we will do that here instead)
We also have been considering dessert parties for HEA and Illumination but not sure about where to fit them in. Thanks!
It looks good, I would book a few extra ADR’s, just in case you switch around any days. I always book a few 8am breakfasts because they won’t be available later, maybe a duplicate CRT too. Good luck tomorrow
Echoing what @Tate said, I would try and book B&C for a lunch or dinner, maybe dinner on a day when you’ve said “F&G booths”. We love it and it gives you another option, rather than just getting ice cream to go. You could even do the Kitchen Sink
It looks good! I like how you are choosing food booths at Epcot.
If you do a party for HEA, pick the party after the show, that way you won’t be full. We seriously looked at the Illumination one because it looked pretty cool. However, Illuminations is easy to see all around the WS. Having a ride on FEA is a neat thing if you really want to ride it.
When you go to reserved, start out with CRT and Artist Point first, because they fill up quickly.
And don’t panic if the dining packages for Fantasmic and ROL aren’t available straight away. They sometimes don’t load right at 180 days out.
B & C can also be hard to get because it’s so small. That’s another reason to book it as a holding reside just now, and cancel later if you decide not to go.
Don’t count on arriving to Disney Springs much before 12:30.
For GG I hear people rave about breakfast, not sure I’ve heard a lot about dinner. Personally after a later - large - lunch like Polite Pig, I would make sure this is a later dinner
You’ll be able to get Snow White. It really doesn’t seem to have taken off quite the way I thought it would. PLENTY of availability for my trip in April and for friends traveling then who I’ve helped with dining.
Make your La Hac reservation for about 75-90 minutes ahead of the show, and let them know you would like a fireworks table and are willing to wait. Also, the show is changing, and we don’t yet know to what. That may impact this plan.
This is a really delicious day!
Time your CRT for about 2 hrs before fireworks. You’ll exit and be ushered right in front of the castle. Great experience. The show should also be seen from further back, but being up close is a fun time too!
Know that the F! dinner requires you to check in for the show about 90 minutes ahead of show time.
Hmm I thought I had read somewhere you can get a 430pm which I think would work for an early dinner. I can make it lunch but I am not a huge fan of the quick service options at HS. Thanks for catching that!
It looks like you could book it until 5 today but I noticed shortened hours in 2019. You can check by going to the booking page, and going to Mama Melrose and it will show you the hours for each date.
We were there their past May that week. I had no issues getting my ADRs, including PPO BOG on our first park day. Just wanted to give you some hope of getting what you want!
I am really wondering if I should move Garden Grill to be a breakfast…I like to get the best bang for my buck and with DDP the dinner is “worth more” so to speak. BUT the food looks better at breakfast.
This is why the dining plan can be challenging: instead of just focusing on the face that everything is paid for ahead, folks get caught up in making sure they get their money’s worth. IMO it’s worth it if you enjoy all of your meals, wherever they are and whatever they cost.
Of note it’s only worth thinking about that when you have too many reservations and want to figure out which to pay for out of pocket
I agree! Last February I did a package with the dining plan and just concentrated on enjoying myself knowing that it was mostly (I added apps in a couple of times, and had a meal OOP once or twice) all paid for when I went. I didn’t want to spend my time ON vacation (or even before) doing math to make sure I was “sticking it to the man”.
I had a wonderful time. (And I still couldn’t tell you if I came out ahead.)
