Hi liners! I need some help! My family of 5 (4 Disney adults and 1 child) are going to WDW late August 25th-Sept 1st. We got a great deal with Darcy of MVT for Poly and we’ll be celebrating my daughter’s graduation from high school. We learned from our November celebratory trip that we would rather have time in parks for rides than too much time spent at TS (particularly at MK) but I know my family (and myself) if we don’t sit and eat and rest we (ok mainly my youngest and I) get hangry. Also, now that we’re going in late summer I’m really wanting to take a midday break to avoid scrambling to find a sheltered QS table at lunch and also to get out of probable afternoon rain showers.
I’ve been researching weather forecasts and it looks like pop up thunderstorms occur anytime between 2-6pm. Those that have been there during this time do you think that’s pretty accurate? My first question for those of you with experience during this time- when is the best time for a TS meal in this heat? My thoughts are given the August heat and storms and us paying OOP a late lunch (anywhere between 1:30-3:30pm) would get us a reserved table in AC and out of possible storms for a bit. We would be refreshed and able to score additional afternoon FPPs and continue until closing. I would love some advice!
Secondly, since we are paying OOP these are our dining plans so far based on my touring plan:
8/25 arrival day We are most likely going to arrive from GA between 12-2pm so two possible opts- 'Ohana room service where we share twilight feasts or Trail’s End Buffet ( I figure I can make an ADR but I don’t think this is a really hard one to get since it’s out of the way-thoughts?)
8/26 MK day QS for lunch and dinner (thinking CHH-lunch & Sleepy Hollow or Casey’s for dinner-bc I want to try the waffle sandwich) how hard is it to find seating in the evening?
8/27 Epcot Rose & Crown for late lunch and a QS somewhere in the evening (Les Halles or Sunsine)
8/28 MK (TP shows MNSSHP and not buying tickets) Liberty Tree for 1:30-2:30pm lunch and then 1 QS dinner in park or around one of the monorail resorts
8/29 HS for RD and Epcot last half of day- I don’t know if I should make an ADR at Beaches & Cream (if I can get an ADR) or 50’s (although can I ask them not to “play” bc I dont like to be yelled at while I’m eating but WDW prep said it’s a great value OOP bc you can split meals and the food is good) or should we do Via Napoli in Epcot (I think I’m the only one who semi-liked it out of my family so I feel bad about doing this one again). What restaurant would you guys recommend? Dinner this day would be QS in Epcot.
8/30 AK day Yak & Yeti TS for lunch (I plan on getting a Landry’s card for this) and FTBBQ or Sautuli QS
for dinner.
8/31 MK (assuming MNSSHP we are not buying tickets) CRT for late lunch 1-3pm and QS at resort.
Do you guys see any restaurants that maybe are not a great value or that I should switch around? ADR’s start 6am tomorrow but I can’t seem to leave these alone. It’s so hard without Hard ticket events and hours being posted yet. But I’m thinking none of these but CRT is truly hard to get unless free dining gets released in April. TIA for any advice/tips!
For your MK day on the 28th, I personally wouldn’t want to eat a heavy Liberty Tree lunch in the heat. Why not save your sit down meal for the evening when you’ll be out of the park anyways?
For the 29th, Food and Wine might have started by then so might leave room for that in the eating plans. I’d go ahead and make the Beaches and Cream reservation – hard to get. Can always drop if you change your mind later.
Why not just actually go to Ohana on your arrival day? I wouldn’t all of those smells in my room and then try to go to sleep.
My DD said the same about LTT- I thought maybe we could order a salad or burger instead? But it would be nice to have at dinner instead. Maybe we can do 'Ohana TS instead of room service and QS instead of LTT?
I was going to do Twilight Feast to save money from 'Ohana TS.
Let me look at the numbers. Thanks!
We were there last August 17-26. I think we might have got lucky because we were expecting lots of pop storms like you mentioned, but it barely rained. If it did it was for only a few minutes and it felt like you barely got wet, it was more like a refresh from the heat. We had a LTT ADR that we ended up cancelling once we were there because of not wanting to have such a big meal mid-day. We mostly did QS in park at 11 and left parks around 1230 for rest and then headed back out for 5pm ADRs. The parks were cooler at night and less crowded.
That’s good to hear bc that’s what I wanted to do! I hate eating TS midday bc I want to “play” and so do my kids. My DH and kids have said they don’t want to leave the parks at midday- but I’m thinking the heat will wipe us all out and rest/nap/pool time and QS would allow us a more enjoyable and flexible day on our vacation. Thank you!
I wasn’t sure about leaving mid-day either, but it seems like that’s what most people suggest. It worked well for us. We were with our 4 and 6 year old and they were great. We were at parks for RD most days, rested, then went back out and left parks usually right before closing to try and “beat the rush.” We did HEA and Fantasmic for two “late nights” with the little ones and “slept in” on those following days to swim then head to parks earlier in afternoon or for our 5 ADR. One of the days we were at MK for RD and stayed until about 2 and did not go back out that night. We stayed at POR so took boat over to DS for dinner and did a little shopping. Crowds were really light everywhere at that time. After going this time of year I felt like the sacrifice of the high temps was worth being there with lower crowds. Just stay hydrated and rest and you should be ok. About 7 years ago I went the week between Christmas and New Year’s and the crowds were crazy and it was pretty cold, even for us being from Massachusetts!! We definitely preferred our August trip over that one so much we are headed back again same time this year.
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That’s really good to hear! We just came back from the week after Thanksgiving and the weather was beautiful and I love Christmas time in Disney but with the my eldest going to college and needing to save money I was more than willing to deal with heat! I’m hoping with Frogg Toggs and refillable water bottles and rechargeable fans I just bought we’ll be ok.
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