Hellobee Boards

@mdf106: @skinnycow: Thank you! This is super helpful and I'm glad I re-thought our plans. Disney Springs for the whole evening it is.

@Anagram: Actually this is great because I didn't even have this restaurant on my radar and it looks pretty awesome and similar to Rainforest Cafe.

I think I'll consult with DH first about restaurants, but despite the food being probably better at Art Smith's or The Edison - we really go for the kids (and LO1 for this trip in particular) so I'm leaning towards the highly themed, decked-out, options. We're not doing a character meal or anything so this is likely our only sit-down table service meal of the trip too. Once I have his opinion we can ask LO1 which she would prefer - rainforest or dinosaurs.

@Mrs. Snowflake: Awesome! LO just finished a dinosaur unit in school so she may be especially into dinos right now I'm super curious now which one she'll pick - either way I'll be sure to report back about it!

Question about Disney Jr Dance Party at Hollywood Studios. Anyone do that? I just booked a fast pass for it since you can meet Mickey and my 4yo loves Disney jr. Is a FP even necessary for this type of thing?

@charm55: oh ok. The pic they have with the show shows them dancing with the kids. Maybe we’ll pass then.
Hollywood studios seems kind of meh overall. But he wants to do toy story land so badly so I’m sucking it up.

@SweetiePie: Hollywood Studios was my least favourite, for sure, but it does have some great stuff. Midway Mania was a lot of fun, and I hated Swirling Saucers but the kids loved it. The Frozen show was really funny. Star Tours was my newly-5 year old’s favourite ride of the whole trip, and the Storm Troopers parade thing was very very cool. Also you can meet Mike and Sully!

@Anagram: if you have the regular dining plan, they can order any meal, child or adult, at the Quick Service restaurants. The credits are all pooled as quick service credits and there is no distinction between the two. At the table service restaurants they need to order off the children’s menu and the credits are pooled separately. You can check the app to see how many snacks, quick services, adult TS and child TS credits you have left throughout your stay. They also print it out at the bottom of each receipt.

If you have the Deluxe Dining plan, children have in practice, been allowed to order off the adult menu. There are some reports that lately they have been occasionally putting a stop to that, though. We’ve only ever done the regular dining plan so I can’t say for certain what the policy is.

@charm55: @lindseykaye: Gotcha. Interesting. I've been kind of planning how to maximize our snacks, so we aren't buying a bunch of meals outside the dining plan. But knowing that we have (essentially) 20 adult QS credits for 5 days among the 4 of us, plus our 20 Table service credits, and the 40 snack credits, I think we'll be fine. Seems like it would be pretty east to do something like, spend 2 QS credits on breakfast and supplement with snack credits, repeat that process at lunch, and then have the Table service meal for dinner--that kind of thing. And then there are still additional snack credits to use each day.

Charm, how much do you usually have to buy, off-plan? Do you usually have snack credits left at the end of the week or do you use them each day?

We realized the night before our last full day that we had 22 snack credits left - and this is with 4 people eating on 3 dining plans! (W was under 3) We also went through a lot of popcorn buckets, and we did bring some snacks like granola bars and applesauce pouches for on the go snacking. Our plan for our next trip is similar to yours - get the kids to share one adult QS meal plus some kind of snack credit side, and use that to stretch how far our QS credits go.

@lindseykaye: I’m pretty sure T-Rex only gives some of its reservations to Disney, you could try calling. It also belongs to the restaurant chain Landry’s and I think you can get a free card from them and get extra availability (or possibly front of the line access even without reservations?).

@Anagram: anything in a souvenir cup isn’t included. You can usually get that drink in a regular cup though. For example at Ohanas, the lapu lapu (served in a pineapple) is not available on the dining plan, but they will make the same drink and put it in a regular glass and include that.

Same with any of the kids drinks that have the glow cube characters... they are not included... however occasionally a server would throw one in my kids’ apple juices and make their day.

We are thinking about a trip next Spring—our first one. My in laws have a Marriott timeshare so we could stay for free for 7 nights. I know this impacts our fast pass time down to 30days prior and I always said that we wouldn’t go without staying on site—but not having to pay for lodging means we could go now instead of saving for another 1-2 years. Anyone have thoughts on this? Would we just miss out on all the best rides? We live in california and go to Disneyland yearly (which requires little to no planning) so the thought of planning a Disneyworld trip is soooo overwhelming!

@MommySLP: you’ll still have a great time! We have stayed offsite a couple of times, and while I prefer on site, I wouldn’t hesitate to stay off again if it was the difference between going and not going at all.

You will still be able to get FPs for 95% of the rides. The only ones you will have a harder (near impossible) time with are the major headliners (Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Slinky Dog Dash, Flight of Passage, etc). Disney offers paid events (either early morning or late at night) where you can access these rides with little to no wait. Early Morning Magic either at Hollywood or MK might be a good option for you if riding those headliners are important.

When staying off site it’s important not to go to a park that has morning extra magic hours - the first couple of hours are the best in the park to get a lot done, and if on site resort guests have a head start on you then you’ll show up early to an already full park.

Have fun!!

@MommySLP: There’s no touring advantage at HS for PPO breakfasts. BOG breakfast is great for getting on mine train... we do it every year, but we are the dining plan. It’s expensive if you’re paying out of pocket. If you’re going to pay $30 per person for an OK breakfast, I might look into paying a bit more (I think $60?) for early morning magic which includes over an hour of exclusive park time and a breakfast on top of that.

Has anyone been to homecomin restaurant in Disney springs? Thoughts?

@charm55: awesome thanks! My in laws are going with us so trying to find a place they would enjoy too (my MIL loves fried chicken). It’s on my list!

@Hypatia: I have never pool hopped because my kids can have just as much fun in a basic pool as they can in an elaborate setup so it’s never been worth the hassle for us. Also I’m a rule follower, lol. Some pools are more strict and will have cast members walking around scanning magic bands to check that you are a guest of that resort, especially on busy days. If you went when it was less busy , like the morning or evening then you’d probably be ok.

We are new DVC members and interestingly pool hopping is one of the DVC perks. I still don’t think we will bother though, but maybe one day...