Everyone has a different and unique approach to planning their own trip to the Walt Disney World Resort. Some plan around their desire to do different attractions or attend special events at various times throughout the year. Others just go with the flow at just naturally let it happen. While everybody's approach is certainly respectable, over our years of travelling to Disney World, my family has discovered the best way to plan a Disney vacation is to plan around where you will be dining each night. Given, this strategy is contingent on whether or not you have the Disney Dining Plan or even if you simply plan to eat at a table-service meal each night or not. However, just as every attraction and show has a special magical memory just waiting to be unlocked, every restaurant at Disney World can provide some special memories as well.
Let me first start off by saying that I implore you to always get the Disney Dining Plan. There are various options for what type of plan you can get, but the plan that my family always goes with is the the basic plan which includes one quick-service meal, one table-service meal, and one snack per day per person. Some vacation planners have this idea that the Disney Dining Plan is more expensive than it actually is, but here's one of the main reasons why I say to plan around your dining: everybody's got to eat. No matter how many people are travelling with you in your party and no matter the budget, food is a necessity. Therefore, because everyone has to refuel everyday, why not enjoy the phenomenal dining Disney has to offer? You're going to have to pay money anywhere you go to get food, so just go ahead, get the Dining Plan, and enjoy Disney's culinary cuisine. Just as The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean are so exclusively Disney, the Disney restaurants are exclusively Disney too. You'll never dine better than when you dine at Disney World. That's why it's so beneficial to plan around your dining because if you take that approach, one major factor is checked off before you even begin your trip.
Another reason why planning around your dining can truly help you in the planning process is because you will quickly find out that once you know where you're eating, the rest of the day almost plans itself. For example, if you're at the Magic Kingdom, and you know that you have a reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table at 5:30, you know not to schedule a Fastpass or mentally schedule seeing a particular show from about five until seven. That reduces your stress because now, there's less options and therefore the planning becomes less overwhelming as well.
With that being said, I will also highly recommend you make reservations if you do in fact desire to eat at a Disney table-service restaurant. One of the biggest mistakes I have seen from people on a vacation to Disney is going into a restaurant expecting to walk right in and get a table. While that surely happens sometimes, it is a rare occurrence. Making reservations, once again, helps you out in the planning process. With Disney, you can reserve a table for their table-service restaurants 180 days in advance of your vacation start day, which means that nearly six months in advance, you've already done a majority of your planning, allowing you to enjoy the buildup to your vacation and the trip itself.
Now, here are some good tips to keep in mind when planning your trip around your dining.
Take advantage of unique Disney dining experiences like character dining.
Nowhere else in the world can you eat with Mickey Mouse himself than at Disney World. Disney's character dining is absolutely superb and amazingly fun. Plus, the food served at these restaurants is exquisite. Restaurants like Chef Mickey's at Disney's Contemporary Resort and 1900 Park Fare at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort are two of the most premium restaurants in the country, and while eating this delicious food, you can meet, take pictures with, and get autographs from characters like Goofy, Donald Duck, and Cinderella. Your trip to Disney should be special, and having a character dining experience, regardless of your age, is so worth it.
Plan around which park you're going to be at each day.
If you're staying on Disney property, you can take advantage of Extra Magic Hours, which is when each day, one of the four parks is opened earlier or later than the original opening or closing time, which means more of a chance to experience everything Disney World has to offer during your trip. When Disney releases the operating hours for the week you're visiting (usually about six or seven months in advance), look at the days each park has EMH and plan to visit that park on that day. Once you establish that, look at the restaurants in and around that park. For example, if you know you're going to be in Epcot one day, don't plan to eat at the Magic Kingdom that night because that's going to end up being a huge chunk of time taken out of your day. If you're going to be at Epcot, dine at one of the many wonderful options at Epcot in order to maximize your time in the parks each day.
Look at the menus beforehand.
As you can tell from everything I've said, choosing your dining destinations requires some attention and research. One of the big tasks to complete before really doing anything is to look at the menus for each restaurant. For example, if you know that you're not a fan of Southern cuisine, odds are that you won't enjoy Primetime 50's Cafe at Disney's Hollywood Studios. You always have to be looking for ways to maximize your Disney experience, and eating at restaurants that cater to your preferences and menu options is one key way that accomplished that goal.
Just writing this, I am slowly getting really hungry because I'm thinking about all the delectable meals I have had over the years at Disney World. Now, understandably, everybody has their own method to planning a Disney vacation; this is just my own personal preference. I will tell you, though, that I've never had a disappointing Disney trip by following this approach. There's just something extra magical about eating with royalty or dining on food that you can never get anywhere else. I look forward to many things about my trip to Disney every single time, but perhaps number one on the list is allowing Disney to do the cooking.
-Cody Fleenor
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