Does anyone plan their trips around their meals?

[Orsba]

When we started planning our upcoming trip, we didn't start by asking "where do we want to stay" or "what do we want to see", but "where do we want to eat"! We then fit our theme park days around the restaurants we wanted to visit. I have to admit to being an obsessive planner, but that's half the fun of a trip. I am so excited to visit restaurants I have never seen, as well as see some old favorites. Does anyone else make restaurants a focus of planning!

 

[Scottwdw]

We do it slightly different....we usually pick the days we want to be at what park. Then, we ask what are the places to eat in the park. Then, what restaurants are near our resort for late dinners or character meals (or that are easy to get to).

Usually the park or event comes first and then we plan where to eat. But isn't it fun to plan either way?

 

[TooBoyz4us]

Yep, that would be me

Planning for us is a big major deal. Last week we made a notebook sheet for every day we would be in Disney, and spread them out all over the floor. Then we crawled around listing everything we would do on each day.I had a seperate list of all the restaurants we HAVE to visit, so we then took that and made sure we fit them all in.

We will also be on the silver plan, so in addition, we were making sure we would get our wish values out of each meal.

I honestly feel a bit obsessive with my Disney planning! Ofcourse, no one other than my DH and all of you here would ever understand

 

[din]

I am so glad to hear we are not the only onces to do this.... we plan our meals and make PS as soon as the windows opens. There was actually once we change the schedule because the PS was not available....

Never leave home without PS....

 

[jel0511]

For us the restaurants are just as important as the parks!!! What we do is schedule our character breakfasts and plan on being at that park for the morning. Our dinners are scheduled regardless of where we are during the day. We ALWAYS come back to our resort around 2PM for a swim and nap. Then we get up, get showered and dressed then off to the dinner of our choice. Sometimes it's back to the same park as the morning, sometimes it's a different park, sometimes it's off-site. It all depends!! I've already made all my PS's and even my ressies for Tchop Chop. We do leave some flexibility and don't schedule any lunch PS's. We much prefer a sitdown dinner to a sitdown lunch, so we mainly do counterservice for lunch. It helps when you're eating such large dinners to have a small lunch.

 

[Micca]

I agree that the restaurants are a major part of the WDW experience. It's the "eating" portion of the "eat/sleep/&breathe Disney" philosophy.

 

[mrslane]

Great post! I spend time reading menus before I plan much else. I've done most of the attractions at WDW but dining always offers something a liitle different. However, it's difficult to try new places if I love a traditional restaurant. DH cooks nightly so I look for restaurants that are different than what is available here at home. DH and I will park hop like crazy to get back to a restaurant we love - mainly EPCOT WS restaurants. Is it weird to print out menus and read them over and over?

 

[tiggersmom2]

I swear eating has got to be one of my MOST favorite things (right up there with sleeping ) We plan our whole WDW trip around where we will be eating.

 

[BCV23]

I plan sort of like Scottwdw except we're currently past character meals. I plan morning parks first and then breakfast and lunch. Our evenings are more often planned just around dinner.

My new dilemna is what to do if the varied EMHs take hold. We've always avoided parks with EMH. I really don't want to schedule a nice lunch or dinner in a park only to find it jammed with folks doing that EMH.

 

[EmmasGrammy]

We do the same thing. Get the PS's at the first available window (2 yr, 180 days, 90 days, 60, days) then check the EE hours/parks and then make our schedule acordingly!! I am a plan-aholic and at times I drive my family NUTS!!! But I have been dissapointed in the past when we didn't have PS's and the wait times were over an hour! A little excessive planning, make for a smoother, more enjoyable vacation!!

 

[Eeyore2003]

OH, I feel so glad that I'm not alone. I think for my upcoming trip in July, my SIL thinks I obsess over where to eat. To me it's just plain FUN, to try all the different places and then of course go back to our favs. Come to think of it, I've already mentioned to my husband how much fun it will be to pick new resturants for December!!! I haven't even thought of parks or rides!!! AND NOW, I just read about a PB&J Shake at the Sci FI!!!

Does that sound yummy!!! For me it's "so much food", "so little time" and "so little room". I can only eat "so" much and just "so" many times!!!

 

[jimmalru80]

Another vote for the "plan around the meals" routine. We use every window when available and make sure we mix in some new places with some old faves. DS and one of our twin DD's are very open minded when it comes to food selection, and our other twin DD is the resident carnivore. DW and I love the opportunity for the family to enjoy some really outstanding meals. We will be going in July (on the Silver Plan), and have begun to make our PS's this week. Looking forward to a great week of WDW dining.

 

[Gluman11]

yup....................

 

[alacazander]

Yes totally and I'm also a planner so that is part of the fun for me! I know we will see each park and do DTD but figuring out your eats schedule is so much fun! You feel part of that Disney magic working!

What fun!

 

[suzywindy]

Thank you all so much for making us feel so much better. We do plan our days and food for PS. We do have a system since we go during the holidays and choose to go to the MVMCP on a Sunday and that day we go to DD, etc.

But I have to admit - we take the planning to a whole new level than most of you. My DH actually does a chart on the computer of days, meals, parks, etc. Then we visit it each weekend and make "adjustments". Then right before we go - he shrinks down our plan onto business size cards. That way our group carries them around and we know where to meet for meals if we decide to do different things. Of course our PS Confirmation numbers are also on these cards.

It makes us happy all thru the year to look at our plan and keep tweaking. Last week when the dates came out for the Very Merry we were so happy to check our chart and the day we picked to do it is one of the days they are offering.

When 2 weeks ago the GF Cafe finally decided to open for dinner - we had to adjust our schedule.

To us - it is part of the fun and then the ultimate is when we get to GO!!!!

We must start planning two trips a year - but there is always something that happens where we cannot. Just happy to do it once a year for now.

 

[BCV23]

Oh, I've always done charts, too. For 21 years now! They used to always be on notebook paper. Recently, I did it on the computer for a couple of trips, but I'm back to my good old method...just prefer it. I make copies before we leave for everyone. Got to love planning those PSs.

 

[emmasammy]

My family makes fun of the spreadsheet I build that has all our PS seating numbers, dates, times, parks etc on it (with colored columns of course). I make copies for the number of days we will be there all scheduled by day. Next trip will be in 28 days for 10 days. YIPPEE! My family makes fun of me and ask me if I scheduled in times to go to the bathroom and make phone calls (funny) since I schedule everything else. But you know what...we get to do all the things we want and can always defer if we want too but we never do. Everyone always has a great time and no one is standing around saying where do you want to eat?

 

[BCV23]

Originally posted by emmasammy
My family makes fun of the spreadsheet I build that has all our PS seating numbers, dates, times, parks etc on it (with colored columns of course). I make copies for the number of days we will be there all scheduled by day. Next trip will be in 28 days for 10 days. YIPPEE! My family makes fun of me and ask me if I scheduled in times to go to the bathroom and make phone calls (funny) since I schedule everything else. But you know what...we get to do all the things we want and can always defer if we want too but we never do. Everyone always has a great time and no one is standing around saying where do you want to eat?

Oooh, colored columns...how pretty. May I copy your idea?

My family teases me, too, but in the end everyone gets to go to the restaurants they like best and we make great memories.

 

[CarrieAP]

Yup, like a fine symphony it must all flow together and the meals are a critical component. Having 2 small children and an annual trip to save for, we rarely go out to eat. But when we're in Disney I do so love sitting down to a scrumptious and relaxing meal. I do though find it hard to try new places when we have so many old favorites. Guess I just need to plan longer trips!

 

[Baileymouse]

He he he - have you met my DH? On our last trip (Oct./Nov 03) we had to stay at BCV because DH needed to be close to the food & wine festival. We had PS at all of his favorites in Epcot all lined up before we did anything else. It was a riot! We were taking his parents for their 50th anniversary, and he wanted them to eat well, lol. Dinners were scheduled at Akershus, Marrakesh, San Angel Inn, and Chefs de France. Lunches were eaten at the various stands around the park. My husband isn't happy unless he eats his way around the world! Worst part - he never gains an ounce. He's a beanpole!