Dining Reservations Part 3

Hi there Disney friends,

The last post I gave an example of a possible option for hitting the parks that focused on getting there early in the day. Some people are just not morning people so the thought of getting up at 5:30 a.m. to be at the buses by 7:00 a.m. in order to be in the parks by 8:00 a.m. if they are taking advantage of Extra Magic Hours (EMH) is a foreign concept. However, they would not even feel tired at 11:00 p.m. if they were planning of using EMH at night to close the park down. (One disadvantage of evening EMH is that it tends to be a little more crowded than in the morning because people who are not staying on site are not forced to leave--they cannot ride the rides, but they can be in the shops or just walking around taking in the sites.)

If that is you, then here is a plan. You could get up late enjoy your time around the resort maybe hit the pool then head over to  EPCOT. You could get there about 11:00 a.m. when World Showcase is opening or even a little later (especially since you plan on staying late.) You could then spend the afternoon touring World Showcase. This is where booking your dining comes into play. You could book a table service meal at The Garden Grill and meet Farmer Mickey and Chip n' Dale late in the afternoon. At this point you would take a break, unwind, enjoy a great family style dinner, and eat in one of the more unique restaurants at Walt Disney World (at least to me.) The Garden Grill slowly rotates while overlooking the ride Living with the Land. Once your dinner is complete, you could plan to stay in Future World (and take advantage of the fastpass system) to ride some rides. Then about 8:30 p.m., head back to World Showcase to enjoy the nighttime spectacular Illuminations. Then since you stayed in a rested, while many people are heading for the exits, you plan on staying around to soak in more the park without feeling rushed out.

A couple of notes. If you know your plan of attack, then when the 60 day window for fastpasses open, then you are good to go. Also, the reason the 180 day window is important is that if you book close to when the window opens, then you have the better chances of getting your preferred time slot.

Again, as a reminder, you can book dinner reservations without actually having purchased tickets or booked a room. However, to be able to book fastpasses, you will need to have purchased tickets and a room to book at the 60 day mark. If you are staying off site, you can book fastpasses at he 30 day mark.

I hope this helps you in making plans and if you have any specific questions or need help booking at Walt Disney World, please email me at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com.