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Disney World Planning Thread 2018

  1. erinbaderin

    pomelo / 5573 posts

    @HappyBaker: Yay! Glad it went well! Also kind of glad to know it was hot, we go in three weeks (!!!!) and I'm all over the map on what kind of clothes to pack.

  2. HappyBaker

    nectarine / 2242 posts

    @skinnycow: it was so much better than I thought with a baby! He went on every ride with us except Teacups and Alien Swirling Saucers (we skipped all the rollercoasters because my other two were too scared). I forgot our baby carrier which would have made things easier, its a lot of in and out of the stroller since you have to park your stroller and then walk to whatever ride, but there was stroller parking everywhere so it wasn't too bad. He definitely didn't nap as much as normal but there was so much to look at he wasn't cranky at all. When we went back for the fireworks my other 2 kids crashed and he was the only one awake and happy at 9:00pm! I feel like if you just don't stress about naps it will be fine. They have baby care centers but I never ran into one or needed one.

    @erinbaderin: They said this was unseasonably warm for them, so I'd definitely check the forecast right before you go! I was SO glad I brought shorts for everyone for all the days, as initially I was planning on just bringing pants and short sleeves.

  3. HappyBaker

    nectarine / 2242 posts

    @Adira: We brought in our own food for lunches and most snacks, and had dinner at Chef Mickey's one day. We would stop and eat our lunch or snacks inside one of the quick service restaurants so we could cool off. Pinocchio Village Haus was a great spot to eat because you can sit in an area where you can watch It's A Small World load, my kids loved waving to everyone that went by. We LOVED the Cinnamon Buns at Gaston's Tavern, we brought our lunch in there and just got one GIANT cinnamon bun to split between us and it was a great dessert! We had Fastpasses for -- Day 1 (Magic Kingdom) - Peter Pan, Meet Cinderella/Elena, and Enchanted Tales with Belle, Day 2 (Magic Kingdom) - Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and Day 3 (Hollywood Studios) - Toy Story Mania, Beauty and the Beast, and Frozen Singalong. My kids favorites were Enchanted Tales with Belle (my daughter got picked to be the Beast and it pretty much made her life!), Toy Story Mania, and Buzz's Space Ranger Spin. Toy Story Land was a big hit with them because they love the movies. Strollers for every kid were a MUST, I'm so glad I listened to others advice and got one for the big kids too!

    ETA we also got same day Fastpasses for Small World, Dumbo, Buzz Space Ranger Spin and Disney Jr Dance Party

  4. erinbaderin

    pomelo / 5573 posts

    @HappyBaker: I think I just read your review on Touring Plans! Can you tell me what the lineup like to meet Woody and Jessie and Buzz was like? Our plan is to do them, then Saucers, then go meet Mike and Sully. Oh, and what was the Incredibles thing like? Was there a lot to do in that area or was it a quick thing?

  5. HappyBaker

    nectarine / 2242 posts

    @erinbaderin: ha yes I just posted! I’m so sad all the planning is over!! Buzz wasn’t as long, Woody and Jesse are together and the line was like 30-40 minutes, but we didn’t get there for rope drop since they tend to open HS before 9. I think meeting them first is a good idea, Saucers would have been super quick if the whole ride was working! Mike and Sulley was also 20-30 minutes which sucked but they were my kids favorite that we met because their costumes are just SO cool!

  6. HappyBaker

    nectarine / 2242 posts

    @erinbaderin: also you could try to meet Buzz at MK which isn’t as busy I don’t think, then you could skip him at HS!

  7. charm55

    apricot / 286 posts

    @HappyBaker: welcome back!! I’m glad you had a great trip. Thanks for the reviews and tips. We leave in 2 weeks and I am so excited.

  8. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    Okay, our dining reservation window opened this morning, and I got most of the things I wanted but dropped the ball on 1 reservation.

    So we are doing the "free dining", and we get 1 table service a day (it's a 5 night trip, so we get 5 table services total--you can actually use none one day and 2 another if you want). I booked Akershus for 8:15 am to hopefully get onto Frozen early. So that's on our Epcot day. I booked Be Our Guest at 8:15 am to get into MK early, and I booked the parade package at Tony's Town Square for lunch. I booked Tusker House for 8:15 am to hopefully get only the Safari ride quickly and *maybe* fastpass Avatar FOP. For HS, I booked the Fantasmic! package at Hollywood and Dine, which also has the Minnie mouse characters. Does all that sound good?

    The only place I dropped the ball was I thought I would book our 5th sit-down reservation at maybe Trattoria on our last morning before we leave, but my husband didn't want to rush around to leave early on our last day and suggested doing that sit-down reservation for dinner the night we arrive. But by the time we decided that, most everything good was booked.

    So I ended up booking Boma for the night we arrive. I've heard it's good, but it wouldn't have been in my top 5 choices. I would rather book the new Storybook Dining at wilderness lodge or Ohana for Dinner. I'll keep checking back in case one of those pops up, but are there any other 1 credit restaurants that any of you would recommend?

    Our girls will be 4 and 6, if that helps.

  9. erinbaderin

    pomelo / 5573 posts

    Have you set up reservation finders with Touring Plans and Mouse Dining? They’ll alert you if something becomes available. It really works - I got a 5pm Sci-Fi reservation today and we leave next week.

    Where are you staying? I’ve heard great things about 1900 Park Fare.

  10. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @erinbaderin: We're staying at Art of Animation, but we'll have our car, so we can basically do anywhere that's not in a park (since our tix will start the next day). Are there any 1 credit good places at Disney Springs?

  11. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @erinbaderin: oh and yes, I set up an alert in MouseDining. Which alert did you get first? Or were they similar? Do you need a paid subscription for Touring Plans?

  12. charm55

    apricot / 286 posts

    @Anagram: your choices look awesome! We did Boma on our arrival day last year and I really enjoyed it! The desserts were great. Sanaa is also delicious.... I’m still craving the bread service. We did Trattoria last year too, and I know we are in the minority but it was a one and done for us.

    Other non-park 1 credits I like are Ohana, Raglan Road, Rainforest Cafe, and Splitsville (surprisingly delicious food for a bowling ally!)

    We are trying Storybook Dining next week - I’ll let you know how we like it! We also are doing Art Smith’s for the first time which I have heard really good things about. It’s a 1 credit at Disney Springs.

    We leave tomorrow and I’m so excited I can hardly stand it !

  13. lindseykaye

    pear / 1992 posts

    @Anagram: We have dined at Boma and the food was really fantastic!

    If you stick with Boma I suggest going to the resort early ahead of your reservation and enjoying the hotel grounds. There's a kids playground you can use, and you can just walk around looking at the animals. Also there is a fireside story time which was pretty fun to do while we waited for our reservation.

    We have also done an arrival night dinner at the Polynesian Resort so that by after dinner we could go out to watch the MK fireworks show. Again we arrived early, explored the hotel grounds a bit, had a drink at Trader Sam's Tiki Terrace, and had dinner at Kona Cafe (Ohana was booked and we liked the menu variety better) before going out by the pool to see the fireworks. Super fun!

  14. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    I need an update from the families who suddenly got the "higher crowds" alert. How was it IRL?

    Because now Stars Wars Land is opening during our week and the crowd calendars are predicting much higher crowds now. =( My fastpass window won't open until later but now I'm mildly worried just because our last DW trip was moderate/low crowds and such a good trip. Any thoughts?

  15. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @charm55: And how was Storybook dining?

  16. skinnycow

    pear / 1728 posts

    @Anagram: Yeah, Star Wars will be impacting our trip as well. Everything I ready previously was predicting a December 2019 opening so I scheduled our trip for November thinking we'd be in the clear!

    I'm pretty confident that with proper planning I can work around the crowds but it's still annoying. We'll probably only go to Hollywood Studios one morning to hit Toy Story Land and then get out of there.

  17. erinbaderin

    pomelo / 5573 posts

    @Anagram: It was not bad, actually! In general I think we saw mostly 7s and 8s, although our Hollywood Studios day was a 10. It was busy, but not unbearable, and I hate crowds. Having a touring plan, being flexible, and having low expectations helped. Also getting there before opening - we arrived at 9:05 to Hollywood Studios and consequently meeting Woody and Jessie, which I’d planned to take about 15 minutes, took almost an hour.

  18. charm55

    apricot / 286 posts

    @Anagram: Storybook Dining was awesome !! The characters were phenomenal - especially Grumpy and the evil queen. The atmosphere was great with lots of songs, dances and lighting effects. My kids were in awe. The entrees and appetizers were really good, desserts were just okay. It’s a steal on the dining plan at just one credit if you are on that

  19. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @erinbaderin: Oh man! A 10 at Hollywood studios!! That's crazy...it's my least favorite park. ALthough maybe Toy Story Land will make me like it better. I don't care that much about Star Wars, so we're going to avoid all that.

    We're going to be there the 25-30th, and Star Wars opens on the 29th (so they say right now), and luckily I'd already gotten dining reservations and planned to be at HS on the 26th. So we'll be at Magic Kingdom on the 2 days that Star Wars is first open. I keep looking up all the projected crowd calendars on different sites and for some reason the day we have scheduled at Epcot is the highest projected Epcot crowd day that week, and I can't figure out why. But I have breakfast reservations at Akershus, so I'm not going to change anything. Ugh, crowds. Hopefully it won't be that bad.

  20. charm55

    apricot / 286 posts

    @Anagram: Hollywood studios has always been my least favourite park but Toy Story Land is really awesome!! If you can be there during the last hour of operation it’s so quiet. We were there on a 8 level day, went for the last hour and everything was a walk on except Slinky which had a 25 min wait. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

    Also my girls loooveed the revamped Disney Jr dance party

  21. erinbaderin

    pomelo / 5573 posts

    @Anagram: It was my least favourite too, but I’m not sure how much of that is the park’s fault and how much of it is just the combination of us showing up late (we got lost walking over so I was already frazzled and stressed), our dinner reservation falling apart, and my not loving Fantasmic. I did like Toy Story Land, although we weren’t there much - we saw Woody and Jessie, did Midway Mania and Swirling Saucers, and caught the Green Army Men.

    I found that even busy, Epcot wasn’t bad because there’s so much space - wise walkways, spread out countries, etc. Our kids really loved doing the passport and the Kidcot station, which gave us a good reason to tour all the countries.

  22. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @charm55: I still have an alert set for Storybook Dining—I guess we’ll see if something pops up. I’m totally jealous you went!

    What is the Disney Jr dance party? Is it the show? Have the changed it recently?

  23. charm55

    apricot / 286 posts

    @Anagram: it is the show, but it’s all new characters (Vamperina, Doc McStuffins, roadster racers) and has a new storyline with lots of cool effects. I was really surprised at how much they liked it because they didn’t really care for the prior version.

    The other fun thing that had this year was lots of pop up dance parties... these were a super fun way to interact with the characters without waiting in lines. There’s one at AK (Hakuna Matata dance party), Incredibles party at HS and a new Move it Shake It at MK.
    We really had such a fantastic trip. I never think it can get any better, but every year it does.

    Did you decide where you are going to stay?

  24. erinbaderin

    pomelo / 5573 posts

    @charm55: Seconding the Hakuna Matata dance party especially, my kids loved it. The Incredibles party was a little underwhelming, it seemed much more low-energy - maybe because it was down at the end of a dead alley?

  25. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @charm55: I kept the original AOA family suite reservation with the "free" dining package. I've run the numbers a million times, and getting a room only discount and going cheap on the foot (like counter service and packing some quick things for breakfast in our hotel room) IS cheaper, but now that I've booked all our dining options, I'm kind of excited about trying them all. My older DD is in a great stage from trying anything--she eats well in sit down restaurants, will ride anything and is never scared, and is just generally laid back. My youngest is the wild card. She'll just be turning 4 before our trip, and I think she'll be tall enough for all the 40" rides....but she's still kind of a PITA in sit down restaurants and doesn't do as well walking a lot. She also still naps and really, really needs the nap. When she doesn't nap, she's ready for bed by like 6 pm. Which is not cool on a vacation. So I'm not sure if all these sit down restaurants will be good for her a not, but I'm excited about them.

    I keep going back and forth between living it up (well, living it up in terms of me and DD1) and keeping our current reservations and scaling it back (which would probably be better for DD2 and my husband since he always loves to save money).

  26. charm55

    apricot / 286 posts

    @Anagram: I have cousins who absolutely love AoA...I’ve never stayed there but it looks to have amazing kid appeal and the food court is apparently really good!

    I love having one sit down per day... I find it forces us to rest and recharge. An hour in AC with full bellies makes everyone happier. My youngest sounds like yours, ... but she did actually really well for most of the meals! Anything with some sort of entertainment (Biergarten, Sci Fi, Storybook Dining, Teppan Edo, Raglan Road..) really helped to keep her attention.

    We’re in the process of buying DVC ... my Dh and I (mostly my DH to save $$ 😆) have been talking about scaling the restaurants back year and skipping the dining plan. But I really love the table services. So we’ll see.

  27. lindseykaye

    pear / 1992 posts

    @Anagram: We've stayed at AoA twice. Once in a family suite and once in a standard Little Mermaid room. Both times were wonderful and they've done a really amazing job with all the themes around the resort grounds. My LO wanted photos next to all the oversized statues of characters on our walk to/from the dining hall our first day and it was really cute.
    We were in a Finding Nemo family suite and it was really well decorated and comfortable - plus they were adjacent to the Big Blue Pool and very close to the food court and main building for transportation.

    Thinking about sit-down reservations for our trip this fall... we'll be going to Epcot during Food and Wine and that's been enough for us in the past without table service reservations but I'm wondering if I should make one for the reasons @charm55: mentioned (AC, rest/recharge). Our kids will be a month shy of 7 and 10-months old at the time. Our dining reservation date is coming up in a couple weeks so I am trying to figure all that out now!
    I love the *idea* of the Coral Reef Restaurant but I don't love the menu, and I've wanted to eat at the San Angel Inn at Mexico since I was a kid (it always smells amazing on our way to the boat ride in there).

    But... I just don't know what our schedule needs will be by then with a 10-month old and when the best time would be for this. Maybe I'll just pick something for now and if closer to the trip we need to modify we can. I don't think we'll book anything too coveted unless someone has a suggestion I may have overlooked!

  28. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @lindseykaye: I think in your position, you are right that sticking with a flexible schedule will probably work out best. When we went last time, my kiddos were 2 and 4, and while a 2 year old is way older than a 10 month old, 2 year olds don't have a lot of patience for lines or sit down dining, so I planned accordingly and we only did 1 sit down reservation---and it really worked out perfectly! I focused all my energy on optimizing the FastPasses and on making sure we had a plan that included going back to our resort for a mid day nap. And because that nap took time away from the parks, spending even more time doing a lot of sit down dining didn't make sense. So we did quick grab n go stuff in our suite, or we did counter service meals.

  29. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @charm55: Since you've just been and have similarly aged kids, tell me what my priorities should be for Fastpasses. My window doesn't open until like June, but I like to be prepared. To review, here's my current plans:

    Sunday, Day 1: arrive and check in and hang around the resort. I have a dinner booked at Boma, but this is where I'm looking to switch to Storybook Dining if something opens.

    Mon. Day 2: Hollywood Studios. Early Morning Magic (where I assume we'll ride Slinky Dog, Alien saucers, and Toy Story Mania a few times). We have a reservation for Minnie's Seasonal dine for 5pm that evening, which includes the Fantasmic! reserved seating. But what's my plan for the rest of the day? You mentioned the Disney Jr show being better. My kids also liked Frozen sing along. They love princesses, so would probably also like Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid, but that is a lot of shows. Are there any other "can't miss" attractions? I think my youngest will be 40" tall by August. What should my FP be?

    Day 3: Epcot. 8:05 am reservations at Akershus. We plan to go early and by done by 9 and go directly to Frozen. What should my FP be? Should I plan to fastpass Soarin or Test Track? Or should I try to FP Akershus, so my kids can ride twice?

    Day 4: Animal Kingdom. We have an 8:15 am reservation at Tusker House. I'm iffy on keeping it. I guess if we do, it makes sense to go to the Safari at 9am or whenever we're done with breakfast. What should my FP strategy be? Flight of Passage if it's available?

    Day 5: Magic Kingdom. I have 8am reservation for BOG, with the intention to ride everything we can in the first hour or so after 9. I also have the Festival of Fantasy Dining package at 12:20 pm. What's my FP strategy? I know Mine Train and Peter Pan usually have the longest lines. I think last time I was able to FP Mine train, Belle's enchanted house, and something else...maybe Ariel's ride? And we did Peter Pan at Rope Drop, which was good because later lines were long.

    Day 6: Magic Kingdom again, but we only have a half day. Need to leave MK around 1 pm. I booked BOG for an 8am breakfast again, just so we could get in before rope drop again. So we have a second change in MK to fast pass whatever we want.

  30. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    Also, I just signed up for Touring Plans, but I'm a little annoyed because it doesn't seem to account for things like Early Morning Magic, or the Fantasmic! or Festival of Fantasy dining packages. Am I missing something?

  31. erinbaderin

    pomelo / 5573 posts

    @Anagram: We also just got back with an almost 3 (W) and just 5 year old (B - he was 40”, W was not, so we skipped a lot of the big rides just to minimize how often W got left out) and here’s what we did:

    At HS, we FPP’d...um. Toy Story Mania, I think Frozen, and...something. Beauty and the Beast wasn’t running, and I didn’t love the Little Mermaid - it was really short and super disjointed. We did the Muppets because I had good memories of it, and my kids enjoyed it, but weren’t blown away. Oh, Star Tours! It was my 5 year old’s favourite ride of the trip. We got a 4th FPP for Alien Swirling Saucers, the Stormtrooper parade was a huge hit, and we met Woody and Jessie, Mike and Sully, and Olaf.

    At Epcot we did Frozen a few times. B and my husband went on Soarin’ but weren’t blown away. We did Spaceship Earth. Getting an extra FPP to the character spot was pretty easy. We didn’t do Test Track but I wish we had. Nemo was pretty cute. We got a 9am FPP for Frozen but did meet Anna and Elsa first to cut down on the wait.

    AK - we did FPPs for Safari, Navi River Journey, and the Lion King show. Skipped FoP because the boys weren’t tall enough and from what I understand it takes like 30 minutes even with FPPs, so it seemed like it would be too much to do rider swap. I actually loooved Tusker House - we did it at 10:30 as a kind of brunch/morning break.

    At MK we FPPd Peter Pan, Mine Train, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, Jungle Cruise, and Buzz Lightyear. Haunted Manaion terrified my boys, but they liked everything else - Buzz was a huge hit, we ultimately did it three times. They also liked the Peoplemover a whole lot. We also had an early BoG and then went straight to Winnie the Pooh and walked on, but then spent 30 minutes waiting for Dumbo, so who knows. Meeting Gaston was a highlight. The dining package was great, we got to the area at 3pm and still got seats right on the curb.

    You’re right that Touring Plans doesn’t account for stuff like that - I just put in a 60 minute break for a meal, and then added Fantasmic and the Parade to my plan.

  32. charm55

    apricot / 286 posts

    @Anagram: Your plan looks great! Our Fps are always tricky because my oldest is a total thrill seeker, where my youngest gets scared on the tea cups, lol.

    Hollywood: If you're doing EMM the hardest part is over. I would still get a FP Slinky dog for the evening - it's really cool in the dark! Other than Toy Story Land there's not much that needs FPs.. we FP Rock N Roller coaster (because my husband and I love it) and Tower of Terror (for said thrill junkie daughter). Frozen Sing Along would be a good choice too. The new Disney Jr show was great but you don't need a FP for it. I'm like @erinbaderin: ...Little Mermaid Show is a pass for me. Beauty and the Beast is a good show, and we met lots of characters at HS this year. Edna was really fun! There's a new Cars show opening very soon - not sure if it will have or need FP.

    Epcot: Definitely FP Test Track. It's very prone to breaking down and if you have a FP it will convert to anytime FP that you can go back whenever to ride it. Soarin is pretty easy to grab as a 4th FP, or see in standby. I would do Akershus, ride Frozen, head over to Soarin, then continue on your day.

    AK : 1000% FP FOP - it's absolutely incredible. You can rider swap- so your DH and LOs could FP Navi River while you ride FOP, then you can take them for a snack or whatever while he rides FOP. My oldest was tall enough and probably would have loved it, but I didn't get her a FP for it because of the way the ride is set up - if they get scared they're kind of by themselves on a motorcycle so no easy way to comfort them. But next year I'll have her try it. We usually also FP Kali River and the Safari.

    MK: There's so much to FP that you can't go wrong. We pretty regularly FP Seven Dwarves, Peter Pan, Enchanted Tales, Big Thunder, Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh...One change I noticed this year was that the Princess Hall meets all had really short waits. We usually FP that but definitely didn't need to this trip. Peoplemover, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Magic Carpets are their other favourites. We did the Monsters Inc show for the first time this year and we all really loved it! The parade package is one of my favourites! The ravioli is soooo good.

  33. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @charm55: wow, so even your thrill seeking oldest didn’t ride Flight of Passage? I’d just assumed my oldest would go on it. In terms of other roller coasters—DD1 has liked everything she’s ever been on, but it’s all been fairly tame. She rode Mine Train and Barnstormer and Thunder Mountain when she was 4 and loved all those. She’s ridden 2 of the kid friendly roller coasters at Sesame place (the newest one is maybe a smidge more thrilling than Mine Train) and loved those—but I’m not sure if she’s ready for more. She thinking she is—but Space Mountain/Rockn Roller Coaster/Expidition everest and I guess FOP—how do you rank those in terms of scariness? Which did your kiddo like?

  34. charm55

    apricot / 286 posts

    @Anagram: In retrospect I should have got her a FP because I think she would have loved it, but I wasn't sure about the seat configurations. You're by yourself on this motorbike with 3D glasses on that really immerse you. The ride itself isn't scary - but it can be a bit intense. Next year I will get her one for sure.

    This year she did Everest for the first time (she has been waiting YEARS and was pumped she was finally tall enough). She loved it! I'll wall you a link to the video my husband made this year. Her face on Everest cracks me UP because she looks petrified but she really did love it Meanwhile my youngest looks petrified on the PEOPLEMOVER, ha!

    For scariness I would rank
    Space Mountain (be aware it's 1 behind the other so you can't sit beside her but it's more jerky than scary)
    Everest (scariest part is when you go backwards. It does go considerably faster and bigger drops than Big Thunder/Space)
    Rock N Roller Coaster (definitely the scariest - goes upside down and really fast. My DD wasn't tall enough for that one yet so she hasn't tried it yet).

  35. T.H.O.U.

    wonderful clementine / 24134 posts

    @Anagram: my oldest chickened our on FoP. She didn’t like space but loves Mine Train.

  36. lindseykaye

    pear / 1992 posts

    Dining reservations are coming up in a couple days and I am second-guessing our arrival night dinner plans. I'd love to get some more opinions
    (also this has gotten long but I am basically typing out my own brainstorming lol)

    Current plans are to go to Port Orleans Riverside resort and have dinner there at Boatwright's Dining Hall. Then take the free boat ride out to Disney springs to ride the carousel and get dessert - dole whip for me at Marketplace Snacks and either ice cream at the Ghirardelli store or a cupcake for LO at Sprinkles.
    This follows our usual arrival night plans to go to one of the themed resorts for dinner and exploring. We've done this at Animal Kingdom twice (Boma and Sanaa) and the Polynesian Resort. Both of those felt like they had more to do at the hotel like seeing the animals at AK Lodge and going to the tiki bar and staying for fireworks viewing at Polynesian. We *may* stay at this resort at some point in the future. I've always wanted to do the royal guest room for my LO but haven't yet... and I'm thinking in a few years we will do this for my youngest.
    Pros:
    Nice to walk around the resort grounds with the themes
    Check out hotel before staying there
    Relaxed pace
    Cons:
    We may stay here later on so part of me wants to 'save' this restaurant for then
    Could be boring to walk around grounds
    Food reviews are mixed on TripAdvisor

    Another option is to skip the resort dinner and just do Disney Springs for the evening. Possible restaurants are Art Smith's Homecoming, The Edison, or The Rainforest Cafe. We'd still do the carousel, maybe the little train, and get dessert elsewhere than the restaurant.
    Pros:
    One destination
    Better food (maybe?)
    Haven't been to the new Disney Springs since it was Downtown Disney years and years ago

    Cons:
    Don't get the boat ride (but maybe we can do a loop anyway with enough time)
    Lots of stores where LO will want us to buy her all the things

    What would you do? (LO's will be almost 7 and 10 months)
    And if you'd do Disney Springs - which restaurant? The food at Art Smith's is right up our alley but doesn't have a lot of options for our super picky older daughter. Rainforest Cafe feels gimmicky for us as adults but I know that older daughter will love it and it has more food she will eat. Part of me wants to take her now while it's still kind of amazing. Also we tried to do Rainforest Cafe during a previous trip to Animal Kingdom but I had made the reservation for the wrong day

  37. ShootingStar

    coconut / 8472 posts

    @Anagram: There’s a setting you can switch for EMM and EMH. When you set the timeframe of each plan it’ll say something like, “early morning magic is available at 7am this day, do you plan to take advantage of that?”

    We went over Christmas when it was a 10 I all 5rnoarks every day and touring plans was a life saver. My best advice is to rope drop and do a few rides right away and get to your first fast pass at 5r end of the window.

  38. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @lindseykaye: I'm no help with the restaurants, because I haven't eaten at any of them at Disney Springs. Not to throw more chaos into the mix, but if you are considering Rainforest Cafe, would you also consider T-Rex? I was kind of debating about where to go our first night (I still may change our plans), but that was on my radar.

  39. skinnycow

    pear / 1728 posts

    @lindseykaye: I would do Disney Springs. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside a few years ago and loved it but there's not much to do at the resort (though it is beautiful). We ate at Boatwright's and it was good but nothing special.

    I've heard great things about Homecoming! Raglan Road at Disney Springs is also one of favorites.

  40. mdf106

    clementine / 828 posts

    @lindseykaye: I would eat at Disney Springs, but I don't have a particular restaurant recommendation. I stayed at Port Orleans, and I would skip Boatwright's Dining Hall, I think it is only worthwhile if you are staying in Port Orleans. Also, the ferry ride sometimes has a very long wait.

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