Anonymous wrote:Just go, walk around and have a nice time. Don't stress it. You will never see everything in one trip so if you enjoy it plan to go back.

DO NOT do this.

My sister did and she hated it. She was anti planning and “no stress”. They couldn’t eat lunch or dinner anywhere but the food stands. Every place was reservation only. They ended up back at the hotel ordering Uber eats for Chipotle.

Planning for Disney IS stressful, but it’s supposed to minimize the stress once you’re there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go, walk around and have a nice time. Don't stress it. You will never see everything in one trip so if you enjoy it plan to go back.

This is crappy advice. Nowadays you have to book restaurant reservations at least six months in advance. Otherwise you’ll be eating chicken nuggets every night.

We went last January over the inauguration weekend and did zero planning. Stayed on site but never dealt with fastpasses or dinner reservations. We waltzed into dinner anywhere we wanted at 6 each evening. I honestly think not planning is fine, so long as you aren't telling the kids in advance what's going to happen. To be fair, we weren't there on a holiday weekend so I'm sure that helped a lot.

We planned the first few times we went and were miserable running back and forth trying to get to everywhere our allotted times. Someone commented don't plan. The next few times we didn't plan and it was so much more fun. If you go at an off time it isn't that crowded and so much more pleasant. We'd walk up to popular rides or worst was a 20 minute wait that other times we have gone with a 2 hour wait. We fast pass as we go on the app if we need it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, here’s our meal plan for our upcoming trip (slower week in the winter). DD is 4 and we are staying in the MK:

Day 1: Fly in, brunch/lunch at Chef Mickey’s (we booked a character experience during this meal), dinner at California Grill to see fireworks

Day 2: Princess breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table, fast lunch, dinner at Hoop Dee Do Revue (major family tradition)

Day 3: Disney Jr character breakfast in Hollywood Studios, lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe, dinner at Art Smith’s restaurant in Disney Springs

Day 4: Breakfast at the casual place in our hotel, lunch at Tusker House (I think; wherever they do the Donald Duck lunch in AK), early dinner at Coral Reef in Epcot so we can go on the Frozen ride after

Day 5: Breakfast at Chef Mickey, fly home

Both of these are double dining credit items - meaning they count as two meals each.

Also - we’ve never booked three meals in one day. First off we can’t eat that much food and second of all your whole day would be spent eating. You can do this but be aware that you don’t have to and most people just do one sit down restaurant a day , with two sit downs every so often.

You don't want to do sit-downs with kids - just do the lousy quick service and a nice dinner if they are not tired (or lunch like you are saying). We always rent a car and try to go off as there are so many cheaper better local places a few minutes away. Meal plan is not worth it. And, you want some flexibility. It is really stressful when you have everything planned to the last minute.

Talk to a free Disney planner!

Outside the parks:

Trattoria al Forno at the Boardwalk (boat ride from HS and Epcot)
Breakfast - Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Ariel and Prince Eric

1900 Park Fare at Grand Floridian (on the monorail)
Breakfast - Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, The Mad Hatter, Tigger, Winnie the Pooh
Afternoon - tea with the characters of Alice in Wonderland
Dinner - Cinderella and Prince Charming

'Ohana at The Polynesian (on the monorail)
Breakfast - Lilo and Stitch, Mickey and Pluto

Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary (on the monorail, walking distance to MK)
Breakfast and dinner - the fab five
(For some reason everyone recommends Chef Mickey's, which is the only reason it's not taken offline to update it ... something it is badly in need of)

Cape May Cafe at The Beach Club (walking distance to Epcot's World Showcase)
Breakfast - Minnie, Goofy, and Donald

Mickey's Backyard BBQ at Fort Wilderness Campground
Dinner - Mickey and friends


In the parks:
Magic Kingdom:
The Crystal Palace (book 180+ days out for pre-park opening breakfasts, otherwise bookings are available much later)
All meals - Pooh and friends
Cinderella's Royal Table (book 180+ days out)
All meals - Cinderella
Be Our Guest (book 180+ days out)
Dinner - The Beast

Animal Kingdom:
Tusker House
All meals - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy

Epcot:
Garden Grill
All meals - Chip, Dale, Pluto, and Mickey
Akershus
All meals - Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Ariel

Hollywood Studios:
Hollywood & Vine
Breakfast - Doc McStuffins, Handy Manny, Sofia the First, Jake from the Neverland Pirates
Dinner - Minnie and friends (seasonally)

Magic Kingdom - Crystal Palace for character meal with Winnie the Pooh and friends

Epcot - Via Napoli

Animal Kingdom - Tusker House - character lunch with Mickey and friends

Anonymous wrote:OP, here’s our meal plan for our upcoming trip (slower week in the winter). DD is 4 and we are staying in the MK:

Day 1: Fly in, brunch/lunch at Chef Mickey’s (we booked a character experience during this meal), dinner at California Grill to see fireworks

Day 2: Princess breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table, fast lunch, dinner at Hoop Dee Do Revue (major family tradition)

Day 3: Disney Jr character breakfast in Hollywood Studios, lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe, dinner at Art Smith’s restaurant in Disney Springs

Day 4: Breakfast at the casual place in our hotel, lunch at Tusker House (I think; wherever they do the Donald Duck lunch in AK), early dinner at Coral Reef in Epcot so we can go on the Frozen ride after

Day 5: Breakfast at Chef Mickey, fly home

Both of these are double dining credit items - meaning they count as two meals each.

Also - we’ve never booked three meals in one day. First off we can’t eat that much food and second of all your whole day would be spent eating. You can do this but be aware that you don’t have to and most people just do one sit down restaurant a day , with two sit downs every so often.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go, walk around and have a nice time. Don't stress it. You will never see everything in one trip so if you enjoy it plan to go back.

This is crappy advice. Nowadays you have to book restaurant reservations at least six months in advance. Otherwise you’ll be eating chicken nuggets every night.

We went last January over the inauguration weekend and did zero planning. Stayed on site but never dealt with fastpasses or dinner reservations. We waltzed into dinner anywhere we wanted at 6 each evening. I honestly think not planning is fine, so long as you aren't telling the kids in advance what's going to happen. To be fair, we weren't there on a holiday weekend so I'm sure that helped a lot.

OP, here’s our meal plan for our upcoming trip (slower week in the winter). DD is 4 and we are staying in the MK:

Day 1: Fly in, brunch/lunch at Chef Mickey’s (we booked a character experience during this meal), dinner at California Grill to see fireworks

Day 2: Princess breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table, fast lunch, dinner at Hoop Dee Do Revue (major family tradition)

Day 3: Disney Jr character breakfast in Hollywood Studios, lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe, dinner at Art Smith’s restaurant in Disney Springs

Day 4: Breakfast at the casual place in our hotel, lunch at Tusker House (I think; wherever they do the Donald Duck lunch in AK), early dinner at Coral Reef in Epcot so we can go on the Frozen ride after

Day 5: Breakfast at Chef Mickey, fly home

Go to yourfirstvisit.com

Get the unofficial guide from the library and read it.

Easywdw.com for touring plans.

We love the Cinderella dinner at 1900Park Faire.

If you don’t want to do the work then hire a Disney travel agent. Dreams Unlimited is the company behind the dis boards. Small world travel or undercover tourist can help too.

Allears.net is where I went to figure everything out. It has a ton of information and there are plans you can get so that you can se where historically which parks are less crowded than others.

Who are all these people recommending Chef Mickey’s? It’s one of the worst if not THE worst. Tusker House or Akershus would be far better choices.

OP you can (and should) book dining 180 days before arrival day and fastpasses (3 per day, same park) 60 days out.

We prefer to do the table service meal for lunch because by that time everyone needs a bit of a break. Chef Mickey's and Tusker House are my favorite character meals (but I have boys so no princess phase). Don't stress. You don't need to book too far in advance, but you will want to have something penciled in once you figure out what day you'll be in what park. I also really liked the restaurant that's in an aquarium (Epcot). People book placeholders and then change reservations all the time, so if you don't get your first choice keep checking back.

The attractions my 4 and 7 year old loved (we’ll, the 4yo didn’t love the rollercoasters):

Magic Kingdom: Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Peter Pan, small World, Buzz Lightyear, Peoplemover, Winnie the Pooh

Epcot: Frozen, Soarin, the 3 Caballeros ride in Mexico

Animal Kingdom: Navi River Journey, Kilimanjaro Safari, Festival of the Lion King

Hollywood Studios: Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, Jedi Training, Frozen Sing Along

They liked pretty much everything, but the above is what they wanted to do multiple times. Sometimes it’s surprising-the Mexico ride is no one’s favorite, but my daughter loves it. Ditto for the peoplemover.