Planning Our Disney Vacation - Part 2

At 180 days from  the start of your trip, guests staying at a Disney Resort can book dining reservations for the whole week you are there. Knowing there were some pretty special places we wanted to eat, we wanted to go ahead and get these booked right away. James has never been to Disney and I wanted to eat at places I hadn't before, but with all the choices, that was not going to be a problem!

The first thing we had to do was decide what park we were going to and when. We decided to skip Animal Kingdom this year. We are already going to the NC Zoo sometime this summer, and with all that we wanted to do in Disney (and have some downtime too), we decided that will be a park for another trip. We also chose not to pay the extra money for a park-hopper pass (where you can visit multiple parks in one day) so that meant we had to eat at the park we chose for that day, or a nearby resort. That is another great thing about the Disney Dining Plan, not only are the park restaurants included, but all resort restaurants are too! NOTE: Some are "signature" dining and require two table service meals, but if you plan correctly its totally doable.

I have mentioned before that dining begins the day you arrive, and ends at midnight the day you leave. We plan to leave super early and we plan to be in Disney by mid-afternoon and we figured we would just find a resort with a quick service meal available, and maybe ride the monorail around the parks. For this we chose the Contempo Cafe in the Contemporary Resort. I am so excited to show James this resort, because the monorail goes through this hotel! My Papa had always said he would take us back to Disney and the next time we'd stay there. One of these days I will stay there!!

Sunday we will be at Magic Kingdom. My favorite of all the parks. I am so excited to see the new Fantasy Land! In fact, we will be eating at Be Our Guest Restaurant for lunch. This is in Belle's castle. For dinner, we will be eating at Tony's Town Square Restaurant for 2 reasons. 1) Its our anniversary and Lady in the Tramp has lots of memories for us 2) the porch of Tony's is prime viewing spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade.

Monday we will be at Sea World. I know that some "Disney Fanatics" think that a trip to Sea World is a waste of time. But James and I both love visiting anywhere with sea animals and plus there is a whole penguin experience (I am obsessed with penguins). So we will eat breakfast at the hotel (quick service) and dinner at Captains Grille and the Yacht and Beach Club Resort. This was James' pick. He loves a good steak and he saw this restaurant as one of the choices. It will be a first for both of us so I am excited to check it out!

Tuesday we will be at Hollywood Studios. Not sure what our quick service / lunch will be but we are doing the Fantasmic Dining Package so that we will have prime seats for the Fantasmic Evening Show. Our dinner reservations are at Mama Melrose, an American Italian Restaurant. The last time I was at Hollywood Studios we were too busy to eat anywhere so this will be a treat!

Wednesday is Epcot and we don't have any reservations that day. This is because when I called, the person on the phone got the dates confused and our reservation for the Rose and Crown Pub and Dining Room did not take. We chose this place because you can sit outside and have a great view of Illuminations, Epcot's firework show (see a pattern here ;)) When I called to get this fixed, I was told there were no more reservations but if I went and explained at the front desk what happened, they would be sure to seat us, as we were only a party of 2.

Thursday is our rest day. And I think we will need it!! We will be attending Mickey's Backyard BBQ at the Fort Wilderness Resort that evening. This meal requires 2 table service meals per person, but since we aren't eating a table service meal on Saturday, we should be fine.

Friday we are going to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (read about that here). We will get to the park at 4pm that day, and have reservations at Cinderella's Royal Palace at 515 pm. This also is 2 table service meals per person, but since we leave the next day we will only eat a quick service that day. We will probably resort hop in the afternoon to find a place to eat for lunch.

Saturday we are leaving :( Again, we might resort hop one last time, eat at our hotel, or in Downtown Disney.

I will be sure to write reviews on all the places we go and eat once we get back. I can't believe we still have 5 more months to wait :(