So lately, I have been knee deep in making all the necessary reservations I can possibly think of for our trip to Disney World next month and boy has it been a whirlwind.
It can be a bit gut wrenching to strategize on which restaurants to make reservations to based on personal preference and location as well as fast passes that will help reduce traveling time to and from the parks and various Disney locations.
So let me start off by saying that I had entirely full intentions on limiting any plan making for this trip in order to not feel obligated to make any reservations I previously made. But once dinner reservation after dinner reservation was made, next thing you know, we had a schedule set up for going to specific parks each day.
It is extremely important to make any and all dinner reservations in as far of advance as possible due to them getting booked up extremely quickly.
Day 1
So for the first night, the only night I could get reservations for this particular restaurant mind you, my wife and I will be dining at Cinderella’s Royal Table inside the castle at the Magic Kingdom which works well given we wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom first anyways. With that being said, we elected to make fast pass selections for Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
Day 2
On our second day, we really wanted to go to Hollywood Studios so we elected to make fast pass selections for Star Tours, Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania! However, at night, we will be meeting up with friends back at the Magic Kingdom for a character buffet dinner at the Crystal Palace. This shouldn’t be a problem given that we do have a park hopper option to go from park to park as many times as we would like per day.
Day 3
Our third day gets a bit more complicated. Originally we had planned on having a day at Epcot with having a little lunch followed by dinner at Chefs de France inside the France section of the world showcase. Given we have fast passes for late afternoon for Test Track, Epcot Character Spot and Spaceship Earth, our entire morning is pretty wide open. However, due to late scheduling changes, my wife and a few of her friends will be having Afternoon Tea at the Garden Room at the Grand Floridian Resort given it was the only day we could find reservations for this particular venue. With that said, I think we are going to do our best to get Animal Kingdom out of the way in the morning given we usually only spend half a day there anyways, followed by a trip to the Grand Floridian and then monorailing on over to Epcot to close out the day with rides and dinner.
Day 4
For this day, the group decided this would be the best day to take our Disney sabbatical by checking out Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. For Dinner however, we are going to take the cheaper route and cook dinner ourselves afterwards. If there is any time left at the end of the day however, we are going to check out Animal Kingdom at night considering it is a brand new concept to be open so late. So just as a precaution, we made fast passes for Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris and DINOSAUR.
Day 5
My wife and I are going to head back to Hollywood Studios where we will have lunch in the extremely cool Sci-Fi Dine-In restaurant and will enjoy the following fast pass attractions: Toy Story Mania!, Star Tours and Tower of Terror. As for dinner, we are going to meet up with friends again at Disney Springs at Raglan Road Irish Pub, mostly due to its variety of gluten free options. However, once dinner is over, and possibly a little shopping is done, we are going to head over to Magic Kingdom for the late hours of the night given that Magic Kingdom hours are extended to midnight this particular day.
Day 6
For Day 6, originally this was the day we were planning on going to Universal Studios but due to one of our friends leaving early, we rescheduled. With that being said, we had previously set up fast passes at the Magic Kingdom in the even we left Universal Early. As it sits, we currently have fast pass selections for Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train; all after 5pm. Therefore, I rescheduled a previous lunch reservation at Napoli within Italy at Epcot’s World Showcase for my all time favorite pizza! This is the one day where the first half of the day is still wide open for us to do whatever the heck we want! At night, my wife and I are scheduled for an amazing Wishes Dessert Party at the Magic Kingdom for all you can eat dessert and amazing viewing angles of the Magic Kingdom’s Wishes fireworks show.
Day 7
For our final day, despite going there for the past 2 days, there is no better way to spend your last day at Disney than at the Magic Kingdom. We also have reservations for breakfast at Be Our Guest followed by fast passes for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Splash Mountain and Peter Pan’s Flight. We hope to eventually make dinner reservations at Ohana at Disney’s Polynesian Resort.
With all of this, it is extremely difficult to pick all your dinner spots and fast passes without having a plan in motion. After lots of meticulous thinking and luck with dinner reservation times, it seems like we will make the most out of our Disney Vacation.
There is also nothing wrong with just having quick service meals on the go while you are between fast pass rides and attractions.
Also do your research on which parks have extra magic hours every day and try to plan around that because the Magic Kingdom at midnight is one of the best times to go ever given all the children are tired and asleep and on their way back to the hotel!
My wife and I are extremely excited for this wonderful adventure and it will be even better having friends join us for the ride!
Pedicam 