Tentative Dining and Park Plan for Xmas 2016

[Deleted]

ADRs open in less than a month for our trip!  But the park hours aren't posted yet.  I even paid for a Touring Plans subscription thinking they would have a crowd calendar but, alas, it's not available yet.  So based on last year and just general preference I present my desired parks and restaurants for the busiest week at WDW.

I will likely change my mind like 8 times in the next month.

12/23 - arrival day, dinner at Ohana, maybe watch fireworks from the beach afterwards if kids are up for it
12/24 - xmas eve, MK day (EMH?), pre-opening breakfast at Crystal Palace, dinner at 1900 Park Fare (at Grand Floridian), tour decorations
12/25 - xmas, pool day, dinner at Boma
12/26 - AK day, sleep late, lunch at Tusker House, wing it
12/27 - EPCOT Day, Garden Grill breakfast (pre-opening), Biergarten for lunch, babysitter night, adult dinner somewhere in the World Showcase, maybe Mexico
12/28 - HS Day, Hollywood and Vine pre-opening breakfast, nap, maybe back for Fantasmic
12/29 - MK Day, BOG pre-opening breakfast, early day
12/30 - departure day

I'm debating doing three MK days and swapping out AK or HS but we had a lot of fun at the latter last time.  We don't do marathon park days because no one is that ambitious. We are traveling with a large group so I don't want to overplan before I know what everyone else is doing but I wanted to make sure to try to get some good ADRs. 

WDYT?

[Deleted]

That's 8 table service restaurants so we'll aim for getting 7 of them or comparable. Too ambitious?

[curbsideprophet]

Touring plans has crowd info for Dec. The 24-30th are listed as a 10 for MK. There is a little variability in the other parks 24-26. After that all parks are listed as 10s.

[ribollita]

How big is your group? Some of those could be really difficult to get for a big group, example OHana on your first night. It may be easier to book it for a later night. 1900 PF should be easier if you want to swap.

I really prefer table service most of the time so I do not think 8 is too many at all. We always have 1 and usually 2 adrs per day.

[ribollita]

Also, I'd consider Sanaa if you are staying at AKL. Loved it.

[curbsideprophet]

I would not want to do a PPO breakfast on an extra magic hours morning. Do the restaurants open an hour early in those mornings? We tend to avoid the park with EMH so I have not paid attention. If I did go to a park with morning EMH I would NOT spend that hour eating breakfast. It seems like for that day that would mean a 6 am breakfast to get breakfast in before the EMHs start (if it is even open that early).

I would also consider moving the rest day to later in tenge week. I would take advantage of the slightly lesser crowds at one of the other parks that day. I also do not know if I would have a sleep in morning after your rest day. I would try to break those up a bit.

Will you have park hoppers? It looks like you will have a five day park ticket, is that correct?

[Deleted]

May 31, 2016 8:01:23 GMT -5 ribollita said:

How big is your group? Some of those could be really difficult to get for a big group, example OHana on your first night. It may be easier to book it for a later night. 1900 PF should be easier if you want to swap.

I really prefer table service most of the time so I do not think 8 is too many at all. We always have 1 and usually 2 adrs per day.

Oh I'm only booking for my nuclear 4. I don't know what everyone else is planning so all non-scheduled meals are variable.

[Deleted]

May 31, 2016 8:31:03 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

I would check the crowd calendars and decide which days to do which park from there. That is always how i have planned and its always been spot on. I don't think I would do Biergarten for lunch at Epcot if you are already doing a sit down breakfast. Epcot has a pretty good food court area in one of the buildings where Lion King and a few other rides are (i forgot the name). I would just eat there and play lunch by ear.

We really liked Biergarten last time when my first was about the same age as my second son will be this time. But it's probably too much.

And yes curbsideprophet, we will have Park Hoppers but I'm not sure how much hopping we will be able to do with naps and stuff.  I was thinking we would see if the kids are up to any nighttime hopping and take it from there.  Or if we do some babysitting swaps with other families.

[Deleted]

I would not try to wing anything when all parks will be at a 10. I would get hoppers and go to each park for RD and plan to stay in the parks as long as you can handle it. I would not try to get back into a park in the afternoon unless you are sure it is open. Stage 3 & 4 closures do happen at that time of year due to crowds.

The music isn't very loud on the poly beach anymore for Wishes.

[kittycatlove]

May 31, 2016 8:36:21 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

May 31, 2016 8:31:03 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

I would check the crowd calendars and decide which days to do which park from there. That is always how i have planned and its always been spot on. I don't think I would do Biergarten for lunch at Epcot if you are already doing a sit down breakfast. Epcot has a pretty good food court area in one of the buildings where Lion King and a few other rides are (i forgot the name). I would just eat there and play lunch by ear.

We really liked Biergarten last time when my first was about the same age as my second son will be this time. But it's probably too much.

And yes curbsideprophet , we will have Park Hoppers but I'm not sure how much hopping we will be able to do with naps and stuff.  I was thinking we would see if the kids are up to any nighttime hopping and take it from there.  Or if we do some babysitting swaps with other families.

We really enjoy Biergarten as well. I might do it for dinner instead since it's a lot of food.  Still do Garden grill for breakfast and then grab a quick lunch in between  somewhere.

[ilikedonuts]

You won't get Ohana on night 1. I'd move that to later in your trip.

[Wines Not Whines]

I think you'll be fine as long as you're flexible. If you want a sit-down meal every day, I'd try to book everything the first day you can. We were able to get O'hanna reservations over Christmas week last year. Our most difficult reservation was BOG. I think we ended up getting it via a cancellation the week before our trip. Good luck!

[peggy]

Unless you want to be standing in really long lines or not do basically anything, I would not plan to wing it that week at all. Make sure you have your ADRs booked (you can always cancel 24 hrs in advance, better to over book IMO) and definitely make sure you get your FP+ squared away.

You can always change these plans the day before or day of, but you can't go back in time and wish you made reservations.

[ribollita]

May 31, 2016 13:27:49 GMT -5 peggy said:

Unless you want to be standing in really long lines or not do basically anything, I would not plan to wing it that week at all. Make sure you have your ADRs booked (you can always cancel 24 hrs in advance, better to over book IMO) and definitely make sure you get your FP+ squared away.

You can always change these plans the day before or day of, but you can't go back in time and wish you made reservations.

I totally agree!