How in the world do you plan all table service meals?

We are going to Disney in Sept. I am having a hard time trying to plan the meals. We hare a 5 yr old and 9 yr old. Those of you with small kids know it is not always the easiest thing to plan so far in advance. I%26#39;m not sure if we will stay all day in the park, go back to the hotel during the day or have to leave the parks early. So how do you plan every meal? Are there any table service restaurants that do not require advanced reservations? What if we are at the park and decide we want to sit down and eat? Or we just out of luck?

It just seems a little difficult to me to know exactly where and when we are going to eat. I know lots of you have been multiple times and have taken advantage of the free dining.....any suggestions? It is such a great deal-I don%26#39;t want to drive myself crazy trying to figure it out.

How in the world do you plan all table service meals?

I have a 7-year old and I just made a reservation for a character breakfast. You could do that. Are you using their meal plan? I don%26#39;t have the meal plan that Disney sells, but I know they asked me when I made the reservation, so you must be able to use meal plans for character breakfasts. Also I looked into the luau at the Polynesian and saw you can use the meal plan for that as well. So maybe use it for some special meals like that and then just do whatever for the rest. If you%26#39;re in the park there are plenty of counter service restaurants with tables, but probably if you want table service you%26#39;ll need reservations.

How in the world do you plan all table service meals?

definatly keep the dining plan..it saves us a bundle.And with the sit down dinners,we always try to set them a bit earlier around 5 ,that way you are not too pooped.Or some nights we plan them later,so we can go back to the room to freshen up first.You can also use them at lunch if that particular rest. is open for lunch.

well unfortunately since its such a great deal, its hard to pass up, but it is definitely a different type of trip, lots of plannning, lots of living by a schedule. We went last time, 2 yrs ago, with the dining plan, loved it, but am skipping it this time around.

So, try to plan out an itinerary, where you think you will be most days. It will be hot, so most likely you will be at resorts early in day, and late in day, you should plan to be back at resort by the pool midday.

so, plan a nice character breakfast one of the mornings, plan Chef MIckeys one night that you will be near a monorail, like M.K. Your kids will love it here. Plan Coral Reef at Epcot, kids will love the fish! Cape may (breakfast or dinner) is really nice at Beach Club, near epcot resort. There is a great breakfast at A.k, used to be called donaldsaurus, i would plan that the day at A.K. At mgm, maybe mama mel or hollywood and vine for dinner. At m.k, people recommend Liberty town, i%26#39;ve never been, oh, go to Crystal Palace, its suppose to be great with good characters.

What i would do is reserve a couple places in case your at a different park, you can always cancel, that would be the right thing to do. But definitely make ressies, as the nice popular places i%26#39;ve mentioned will be sold out soon and when your there.

good luck

We are going in August and have never had the dining plan before when we travelled to disney. We were there last May with my son%26#39;s choir. Many of the kids liked the hollywood and vines for the fantasmic guaranteed seating but at dinner there is no characters. The other place was the biergarten which was like dinner and a small show. I am also feeling very challenged with booking all the meals.

We%26#39;ve always gone to the parks from opening to closing. Kids were 3 %26amp; 9. Never taken a break mid day. Florida is too far away to hang out at the hotel. I can do that at home. The kids do not get cranky, they are excellent travelers. (I know not all kids are like that though.) I just assign each day a specific park. We%26#39;re going to do them all anyway, doesn%26#39;t matter what order they%26#39;re in.

After I plan WHERE we%26#39;ll be, then I plan where we want to eat. We have our favorite places. So I just fill in the blanks.

At MK, Crystal Palace %26amp; the Castle are musts. We%26#39;ll be there 2 days so, one for each night.

At MGM, we have 2 favorites, but it%26#39;ll only take one day to do the park. So, our table services will be lunch %26amp; supper.

I fill in the gaps with character breakfasts, etc. Even with the basic dining plan, there will be a couple of table service places we%26#39;ll have to pay for.

Some days, we%26#39;ll do a counter service breakfast or lunch. The only part of the day that will actually be on a schedule is the table service meal. The rest will be at our leisure.

If you going during a busy time of year, reservations are a must for table service places. If not, then you%26#39;ll either not be able to get in, or you%26#39;ll have to wait to eat at 9:30 pm ! There are plenty of counter service places if you just want to wing it. I would not give up that dining plan, especially if it%26#39;s free ! Your meals will really add up, food is expensive at Disney.

Unfortunately, like a previous poster said you have to make reservations for the table service or you will be eating a very late meal.

I also found it difficult to plan so far ahead. I choose sit down restaurants that were located in a certain park or at an adjacent hotel then tried my best to be sure we were at that park on that day.

I used a few table services for the character meals and did the breakfast so it didn%26#39;t really matter our day%26#39;s plan. We would just to wherever we wanted to go after eating.

And I cancelled some of my reservations after calling guest services in the morning to see what else was available that would better fit our plans.

Good Luck!

I just finished planning a trip for October - this morning was the day to make reservations for the last day of our trip. We%26#39;ve got a 5 and a 9 year old.

Here%26#39;s what I did: I wrote down the hours of the parks on the days we%26#39;ll be there, also noting EMH and special events (like Mickey%26#39;s Not So Scary Halloween Party.) Also looked at touringplans.com for the days to avoid certain parks, and the crowd level for the days we%26#39;ll be there.

We always like our first Disney park moment to be arrival at the Magic Kingdom (I know others feel strongly this is not a good idea - but it works for us). Since I knew the first full day of our trip would be in MK, I then looked at the other days, and sorted out when it would be best to go where. I built in a ';down'; day, also, with the pool and Downtown Disney on our list.

Then, once I knew what days we%26#39;d be in which parks, I sorted out where to eat.

Here%26#39;s what I ended up with:

Day 1: arrival MCO in late afternoon. Dinner at House of Blues in Downtown Disney.

Day 2: MK. Lunch at Crystal Palace at 11:30. We%26#39;ll be going back later in the trip, and starting early with EMH, so I%26#39;m fairly certain after the 3 pm parade, we%26#39;ll head back to the hotel. I made reservations for dinner at 8 pm at Raglan Road, Downtown Disney.

Day 3: We%26#39;re going to Animal Kingdom. Counter service lunch. We%26#39;ll head back to the hotel before the 4 o%26#39;clock parade. So, I made reservations at Akersus with the Princesses at 6:30. Afterwards, we%26#39;ll watch IllumiNations.

Day 4: We%26#39;ll spend this in Hollywood Studios. Again, early start with EMH. We%26#39;ll be ready for a break by 11:30, so I made reservations then for Sci-Fi Dine In. Then, we have the latest reservation for Hollywood and Vine%26#39;s Fantasmic package at 5:20 pm.

Day 5: This is our next to last day and our ';down'; day, and since we won%26#39;t be using any park admissions, I made dinner reservations at Chef Mickey%26#39;s for 7:30 pm.

Day 6: Finishing strong! My husband will take our son to Epcot in the morning (big Test Track fan!) Our daughter has an appointment at Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique in MK for 10:40. We%26#39;ll all have lunch at Cinderella%26#39;s Table (reservations at 12:15). We%26#39;ll all spend the afternoon in Epcot. We have dinner reservations at the Beir Garten at 6:15. Then, it%26#39;s back to the MK for Mickey%26#39;s Not So SCary Halloween Party.

Day 7: Exhausted, but happy, we fly home!

It was overwhelming when I first tried working it out - I felt for a long time like it as a jigsaw puzzle and none of the pieces fit, but I just kept moving stuff around until I had a plan that ';felt'; right to me.

Good luck, and hope this helps, at least a little.

It also depends on when you are going. You mentioned Sept, which is during the free dining plan promotion. During that, its almost a requirement to pre-book table service meals. At other times of the year, except for character dining and a few really popular places, you can get same day ressies easily although not always for peak times.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions...really a big help.

I%26amp;M%26#39;sMom-thanks so much. Our kids are the same age and we are staying about the same about of time so I appreciate the help. My daughter also has a reservation at the boutique-I did make a reservation for lunch at the castle after her makeover as well.

I%26#39;m going to sit down and try to make a schedule. Maybe once I start, it will be easier to fit the pieces together. One day at a time and maybe it won%26#39;t be so overwhelming :-)

O.K. first of all. If you are going in September during free dining I would hop on the booking or reservations. We as well are going in Sept. I made my revs the same day I booked. However, I called a yesterday to see if I could change a couple times and most the good time slots and the popular restaurants are already taken.

It was no small feet to plan the meals. I have a 7 and 4 year old. I did many things already mentioned like looking up the best days on touringplans. I also printed out a schedule of fireworks and parades at wdwinfo.com to make sure I didn%26#39;t schedule a meal during or too close to a parade or show we plan to attend. We personally prefer only one park a day. Park hopping is too exhausting for us. We even find it time consuming a exhausting to book dinner at hotels that are not in the parks. Scheduling dinner in a completely different location takes away a lot of your time and energy. We did schedule one out of park dinner at the Hoop de Doo the night we arrive. And as mentioned earlier it is a good idea to make backup reservations because you just never know exactly how your schedule will be.

Last year we ended up missing our reservation at 50%26#39;s diner because we were all hot and tired. So, in order to get our meal that evening we had to book at Concourse Steakhouse (not real popular) late at night and travel what seemed like forever for a less than exciting meal. We actually paid for our dining plan last year so we weren%26#39;t willing to give it up.

We are going for 11 days this time so we plan to spend just over a half day at the park each day. I have sketched in the plans according to whether or not we are viewing evening fireworks and booked accordingly (dinner or lunch). While everything may look good on paper it will never turn out quite as perfect. However, the better planned and thought through, the smoother it should be!! Happy Planning.