*Dining @ Disney*--Character Dining 101

A Character Meal can be a magical experience...

 

My two favorite princesses at Cinderella's Royal Table in June 2012.

 

 

But it can also be a little overwhelming...

 

My princess, age 2, and Eeyore... both a little traumatized.

 

One of the best ways to meet characters at Disney World is at a Character Meal.  No waiting in line for over an hour to hug Mickey and take a picture with him... Just enjoy some amazing food and Mickey will come to you!  LOVE IT!  But, not all Character Meals are created equal.  And it may not be wise to schedule a character meal on your first night, when you had to leave for the airport at 3:00 am and your tiny princess only took a short a nap in the stroller and she isn't really keen on people in costumes... just sayin' :).

 

So, let's jump into some questions...

 

What's a Character Meal?  A Character Meal is either a buffet, family-style, or pre-plated meal (with a set price for adults and children ages 3-9), where four or so Characters visit each table to sign autographs, take pictures, and interact with you.  The Characters are different for each restaurant, and are subject to change.  The meals are typically all-you-care-to-eat (you can asks for seconds if you have a family-style or pre-plated meal). 

 

Do I need to make a reservation?  YES.  Seems like we've talked about this before :).  Reservations are key... I've known of people who've been able to get same-day reservations, but those were exceptions and not the rule.  You can make reservations through Disney World's website or by calling (407) WDW-DINE.

 

How much do they cost and are they worth the money?  The cost depends on each restaurant, time of day, and time of year.  A Character Breakfast at Chef Mickey's will run you about $30 per adult and $17 per child, not including gratuity or photo package, while a dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table will set you back about $70 per adult and $40 per child, but your gratuity and photo package are included.  Ouch.  Yes, they can be pricey.  But is it worth the money?  I certainly think so.  I love looking back at pictures of me and my sister cheesing it up with Donald and Goofy in the 80's and watching my children create those same happy memories is priceless to me.  And I HATE waiting in line.  Hate it.  Especially to meet characters.  Last June, I waited for over an hour in the heat with my little princess to see Rapunzel.  Not my idea of fun, although I think she would have waited 12 hours to meet her :):

 

The point is, Character Dining is a great way to enjoy some delicious food and let your kids get in some character time, without wasting half your day waiting in lines.


How do I decide which Character Meal to book for my family?  Take a look at allears.net's Character Dining page.  They have a great description of each meal, who the characters are, and you can go to the menus to see what the food is like.  Consider everything--characters, location, price, and food--when making your decision.  You wouldn't want to schedule a dinner at Garden Grill in Epcot when you were planning to spend the day at Magic Kingdom.  And you wouldn't want to book a dinner for your seven-year-old son at Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Fare.  Not that I made that mistake or anything :):

The only picture I could get of him remotely close to one of the characters.  Bad, bad mom.

Character Meals may require some advanced planning and extra money, but they have certainly been magical experiences for our family.  Not to mention, some of the BEST FOOD EVER!

Our boy, much happier with our Character Meal choice at age 9 and Pluto :).

*GEEK TIP: Schedule a Character Meal at one of the resorts on the monorail (Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Contemporary) and use the opportunity to get out of the Magic Kingdom during the crazy lunch and dinner rush and enjoy a nice relaxing meal (IN AIR CONDITIONING!) away from the crowds.  And BONUS... kids LOVE the monorail!



*Dining @ Disney*--ADR's and Table Service Restaurants

Remember yesterday when I told you to make your dining reservations NOW?  Yeah, I meant that :).  Making your ADR's, or Advanced Dining Reservations, as early as possible is key to a great Disney World Vacation. There are some amazing Table Service Restaurants at Disney, but the best ones fill up FAST.... and by fast I mean some restaurants run out of reservations for a given day 180 days in advance (which is the earliest you can schedule a reservation for most restaurants). 

HEY!  You haven't told me how to book an ADR, reservation, or whatever you call it... HOW DO I DO THAT?  Glad you asked :).  Disney now allows guests to make their ADR's ONLINE!  SO easy and convenient!  You can go to Disney World's website and click on "Things To Do" and then select Dining Reservations or just use this handy dandy link.  From there, you can pick your date and then narrow your search by dining experience, price range, type of food, time of day, and if they accept the Disney Dining Plan (fyi, not all restaurants in the DW Resort do).  Once you pick your restaurant and the time you want to dine, you'll be asked to sign in or create an account.  Then, you will typically be asked to give a credit card number to secure the reservation.  However, some restaurants (Cinderella's Royal Table comes to mind) requires that you pay in full when making the reservation.  Don't want to make your reservations online?  No prob!  Just call (407) WDW-DINE.  And when you're finished, the operator will probably tell you to "Have a magical day!" and if your like me this will fill you with joy :).

How am I supposed to know what park we're going to be at on each day of our vacation?  It's January and we're not going to Disney until July!  In the Favorite WDW Planning Resources post, I told you guys about touringplans.com and how you could use their Crowd Calendar to determine what park(s) you're going to visit each day.  It's important to do this as early as possible in your planning so you can make your ADR's when the time comes. A Disney World vacation is all about planning... lots of planning... you probably found this blog because you were wanting to plan or are currently planning a Walt Disney World Vacation.  I dare say that planning a Disney World Vacation is almost as much work as planning a wedding.  It's a LOT of WORK, but the payoff is SO worth it!  Your vacation only lasts a few short days (that will FLY by... trust me).  By taking some time NOW to decide which park you're going to visit, you're saving yourself hours of frustration during your vacation. 

What restaurants should we book reservations for?  There are SO many awesome restaurants!  Make sure you go to allears.net and check out the menus to see what sounds good to you.  Also, consult your Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and read their reviews of each restaurant.  But, if you want to know which ones I would book if we were booking a vacation right now... Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom, definitely.  Have you looked at the pictures of that place?  A-MAZ-ING!  And I've heard the food is incredible.  If you have a little princess in your family, Cinderella's Royal Table in the Magic Kingdom (in the castle!) is a magical experience.  We loved it!  Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort is a winner... great food, fun characters, and a chance to ride the monorail!  Garden Grill in the Land at Epcot had some of the most amazing food we've ever had at Disney... and two of my favorite characters: Chip 'n' Dale!  I LOVE THEM!  And, last but not least, I would book a reservation at Le Cellier in Canada at Epcot... Oh. My. Canadian. Cheddar. Cheese. Soup!!!  We've never been, but I've heard from several different people and websites that the food is incredible.  And from the outside it looks beautiful. 

Well... that about wraps it up.  Now, make those ADR's!!!

*GEEK TIP: When you go to make your ADR's (especially if you're calling), figure out ahead of time what time of day you want to eat.  Have a backup date or restaurant in case the first one is booked up.  Also, plan wisely.  If the only reservation you can get for lunch at Be Our Guest is 1:50 pm, plan to have a good snack around 10:30 to tide you over :).

*Dining @ Disney*--Disney Dining Plan

I thought we'd dive right in to one of the top things everyone asks about... FOOD! At Disney World, the options are limitless... They have everything from fast food to fine dining and it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the choices (and the prices :) ).  But, no fear, your DWTravelGeek is here with some info and advice to help you make wise decisions and make the most out of your time and money.

First up in our "Dining @ Disney" series is the Disney Dining Plan. If you are purchasing a vacation package through Walt Disney World, you have the option of choosing one of the Disney Dining Plans to add on to your Magic Your Way Tickets. For the sake of time, I'm going to just focus on the main two dining plans that most people purchase: The Disney Quick Service Plan and the Disney Dining Plan.

The Disney Quick Service Plan includes:

• 2 quick-service meals per person, per night (lunch/dinner includes entree, drink, and a dessert)
• 1 snack per person, per night
• 1 drink mug per person, refillable at any quick-service restaurant at your Disney Resort hotel

• And it costs (as of 1/16/2013... prices subject to change):
• Guests age 10 & up: $37.58 per person, per night
• Guests ages 3-9: $14.32 per person, per night

So, let's answer some questions:

1. How can I save the most with this plan?  Eat like a lumberjack :).  Don't use your meal credits for Breakfast (don't get me started--yet--on breakfast at Disney World.  People, just know that early morning is precious park time... bring poptarts from home and eat in your hotel room or on the bus... please?  Promise??? ).  Pick the most expensive item on the menu for lunch and for dinner.  Never use snack credits for drinks... pick something like a pretzel or cinnamon roll from the Main Street Bakery (yum!... you could even save it for breakfast!). Use that refillable mug like crazy. According to my calculations, you could save 10% if you did all of this. 
2. Could I lose money with this plan?  Yes.  If the idea of eating a 1/2 slab of ribs, cole slaw and chocolate mousse at noon in Animal Kingdom on a 90 degree day makes you a little queasy, then you will probably lose money with this plan.  If you are more likely to order a Barbecue Chicken Salad and skip the dessert, don't buy this plan.  If you have several kids between the ages of 3-9, this plan is probably not for you. Most kids meals are around $5 and they include a drink and sides. If the child has two kids meals and a Mickey's Premium Ice Cream Bar for a snack ($3.29), you end up losing about $1 per kid, per day.  If you are not careful, you could easily spend more than if you had just bought the food without the Quick Service Plan. 
3. Would the DWTravelGeek purchase this plan?  No.  For our family, I haven't been able to make this plan work for us, financially.  I've gone to great geek lengths to test this plan, and for us it just doesn't make sense to order more food than we can eat in order to save money.  If we order what we normally eat, we could lose about 7% per day. 

The Disney Dining Plan includes:

• 1 quick-service meal per person, per night
• 1 table-service meal per person, per night
• 1 snack per person, per night
• 1 drink mug per person, refillable at any quick-service restaurant at your Disney Resort hotel

• And it costs (as of 1/16/2013... prices subject to change):
• Guests age 10 & up: $55.59 per person, per night
• Guests ages 3-9: $17.16 per person, per night

Let's answer some questions about this plan:

1. How can I save the most with this plan?  A lot easier than the Quick Service Plan...   Don't use your meal credits for Breakfast.  Schedule your reservations AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (if you are within 180 days of your trip, and you haven't made any dining reservations yet, STOP READING NOW AND GO DO IT!) and schedule more dinners than lunches... IF, you MUST schedule a Table Service breakfast, get the latest time possible and consider it lunch.  Our family has gotten reservations at Chef Mickey's at 10:45 several times and then not eaten again until 5:00 with a snack in between. Pick LOTS of Character Meals for your Table Service Credits.  Most of the time these meals are buffets and the experience is incredible! (Have you made your reservations yet?  Why did you keep reading???)  Don't order the cheapest thing on the menu for lunch and for dinner.  Look at the menus on Allears.net and decide ahead of time what you're going to order.... pick the most expensive thing if it sounds yummy!  Never use snack credits for drinks... pick something like a pretzel or cinnamon roll from the Main Street Bakery (save it for breakfast the next day!). Use that refillable mug. According to my calculations, you could easily save 15%.
2. Could I lose money with this plan?  Yes... but only if you used your table service credits for breakfasts everyday, ordered the cheapest thing on the menu for your counter service meal, and used your snack credits for drinks.  So, don't do that! 
3. Would the DWTravelGeek purchase this plan?  YES, if we wanted to be committed to a table service meal every single day of our vacation.  We have done this, and it was certainly nice to have a long lunch or dinner in air conditioning where we could relax and take our time eating some delicious food.  But, on our last trip we decided to skip out on the Disney Dining options all together and make a food budget.  We scheduled two Character Meals that we really wanted to do and then ate at counter service the rest of the time.  This worked great for us, but we are the type of people who pack our days at the parks FULL and we strive to hit as many attractions as possible. Allowing over an hour for one of our meals once a day is a lot to ask of us :). 

That about wraps it up!  I hope this helped you make some decisions about your next Disney World vacation.  Got questions? Email me and I'll do my best to help!

*GEEK TIP: Eat breakfast in your room or on the bus (Hopefully you figured this one out from earlier in the post :) )... Pack some poptarts, mini muffins, granola bars, etc into one of your suitcases (or pack a small suitcase full of yummy things).  Then, when you get ready to go home, you'll have extra room in your suitcase for all of your souvenirs!

On Site vs. Off Site

I'm not going to lie, I'm a Disney Resort snob.  After one very failed trip to Orlando in 2004 where my husband, son, and I stayed at a hotel (that shall remain nameless) on International Drive, I swore, never, ever again.  And, I was a geek back then too, people... I did hours of research and read hotel reviews.  Was it cheaper than if we'd stayed at a Disney Value Resort?  Um... yes and no.  The room was cheaper.  But the cost of cab fare more than made up the difference in cost.  And if we had driven ourselves, we would have had parking fees at the parks ($14 a DAY).  And the room... I still gag thinking about the smell.  Have you ever left a load of towels sitting in the washer for way too long then dried them and tried to use them?  Yeah, that smell.  I cannot stand that smell.  And our entire room smelled like that.  The curtains, the bedding, the towels.  EVERYTHING.  We ended up changing rooms three times, and all of them smelled like that.  Maybe it's the humidity in Florida or something... But, oh my... that smell!

That's not to say there aren't great resort hotels outside of Walt Disney World.  And touringplans.com has a much less biased opinion than mine :). 

But, when friends ask me if they should stay in the Walt Disney Resort or outside, I say DISNEY every time because:

1. You are surrounded by all things Disney, 24/7!
2. You do not ever have to worry about how you are going to get around.  Our family has had repeated luck with the Disney Bus system.  Never waited more than 15 minutes for a bus and we were to the parks in no more than 20 minutes, even when we stayed at one of the All Star Resorts.  And the Disney Magical Express is amazing.  Skipping baggage claim and walking to the DME area where Cast Members await to greet us with Mickey hands...  LOVE IT!
3. If you purchase a souvenir in the park, but don't want to carry it around all day, you can have it sent to your resort to pick up later.  SO convenient!
4. Key to the World Card... one card to get you into your room, into the park, and for dining or purchases if you choose to add that option to your card.  And soon, everyone will get to experience MyMagic+! (If you've gotten to test out MyMagic+ in the parks, let me know in the comments!)
5. Disney Dining Plan... SO NICE! (Look for a post soon on when you should purchase the DDP, and how to get the most out of it!)
6. The resorts are AMAZING!  I've stayed in almost every resort category (Pop Century to Polynesian) except the DVC resorts, and I can honestly say I have LOVED every hotel we've stayed at.  Some more than others, of course, but each resort has it's own unique charm.  Each resort had a flurry of fun activities going on around the pool for the kids, and the food was wonderful! 

I could go on and on... the point is, I say stay at a Disney Resort if your main reason for going to Orlando are the Disney Parks. 

ONE EXCEPTION: If you are wanting to just do one day at Disney and then venture over to Universal or Sea World, then it's probably wise to stay off-property somewhere that's a little more centrally located.

*GEEK TIP: Ask around! Sometimes I've gotten the most useful information about hotels from friends who've actually stayed there.  They can tell you not only their experience, but how to get around, rooms or buildings you might want to request, food to try in the restaurant, etc.

Favorite WDW Planning Resources!

Have you seen the videos on youtube where parents tell their children they are going to a Disney Park?  The children scream and jump for joy... some even cry:

I love that video!

Deciding to take your family on a trip to Disney World is fun!  But then come the questions:

• Where should we stay?
• How much is this going to cost?
• What's the Disney Dining Plan and is it worth it?
• Which attractions will freak out my preschooler?
• When do I need to make dining reservations?
• Should we fly or drive?
• Should we bring our own stroller?
• What attractions will my teenager enjoy?
• How can I save money?

... and the list goes on. 

It's easy to get overwhelmed and for many people the idea of planning a trip to Disney World is not worth the effort.

Thankfully, there are TONS of Disney Geeks out there (like me!) who have done hours and hours of research and created countless websites and books to help you figure out the answers to your questions.

When a friend asks me for advice on how to plan their trip to Disney World, the first thing I tell them to do is to go out and purchase "The Disney World Bible"... er, I mean "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World" by Bob Sehlinger and Len Testa.

This 848 page book is amazing. And surprisingly easy to navigate. What's even better is the book has a website, touringplans.com, that accompanies the book along with a smart phone app called "Lines".  In order to access the webpage and app, you have to purchase a year subscription for $11.95.  Having purchased this book and used the online resources for our last several trips to Disney World, I can assure you it is well worth the price.  And if you purchase the book, you can get a discount off the web subscription by answering a few questions.  Probably my favorite feature of the website is the Crowd Calendar.  The research they have put into this feature is impressive.  Basically, if you are trying to figure out what time of year is least crowded, or which park is the best to visit on any given day, the Crowd Calendar has you covered.  SO awesome!

Allears.net is a great site to help you figure out which Disney Resort you'd like to stay at, read restaurant menus and read tips and suggestions from other guests.  They also post about deals on their main page and send out a weekly email to subscribers.  

I love using wdwinfo.com to see the park hours and parade/fireworks schedules.  They lay it out for you on one page... so helpful!

Now, if you're a Disney Geek (LIKE ME!) and you love to keep up to date with what's happening at Disney World, wdwmagic.com is the site for you. They have the latest news and rumors for Walt Disney World and some of the most spectacular pictures on the web.  When we were planning our last trip, we were on that site every single day looking for updates on the New Fantasyland. 

For booking a Disney Vacation, I like using Walt Disney World's website.  You can see if they have any current deals by hovering over "Packages" and clicking on "Special Offers".  

That about wraps it up.  I realize this is a ton of information and if you're planning a trip to Disney World, you may not feel like this has helped you much :).  Trust me, these resources are the best out there and once you dive in, you'll soon have some answers to your questions.

*GEEK TIP: Plan your trip one step at a time. Start with when and where and then move on to dining, planning your days, etc.  If you have specific questions, email me and I'll do my best to help!

And here's our youtube video explaining these resources in more detail:

*DEAL ALERT* for Spring/Early Summer 2013

Want to save up to 30% off at Walt Disney World?  Disney is offering specials on room-only discounts and vacation packages.  Click HERE to read all about the rules and restrictions and to book your vacation! 

*GEEK TIP: You MUST click on "Check Available Now" on the right side of the page in order for the discount to be applied.  If you just try to price a room-only or vacation package from the main WDW page, it will be regular price.  Disney only offers so many discounts per resort so if you are not able to get on offer at first, try changing your dates or resort.  Good luck!

Hello!

I'm so excited to start this blog!  For years, friends, family, and friends-of-friends have asked me for advice as they've planned their trips to Walt Disney World.  I have LOVED helping them and then hearing all about their amazing vacations when they got home.  That's exactly what I'm hoping to do with "Disney World Travel Geek".  I just want to share with everyone what I have learned about planning a family trip to Walt Disney World so that it might help them plan their own trip!

There are a few things everyone needs to understand before we get started:

• I am not a travel agent.
• I do not work for the Disney company or any other Disney related company.
• I am not a WDW or Disney expert.
• A lot of what I will be sharing with you can be easily found on many awesome websites and books (which I will refer you to as we go along).
• My goal is to help people plan their own trips to Disney, getting the most out of their time and money, by posting tips, tricks, my family's experiences and DEAL ALERTS!
• I do not live in Orlando.
• We don't go to Disney World all the time... Our family tries to visit Disney World about every two years.
• To me and my family, Disney World is the MOST magical place on earth. 

I'm still in the process of getting everything up and running, but be sure to follow me on the following sites:

• Youtube
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest

Or email me!

Thanks for reading!  And if you have any suggestions for posts or videos, let me know!