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Thanks, I'll check those out - 50s Prime Time sounds intersting to me - I may just do counter service that day and let everyone eat wherever they pick. We are going to have a large group (10) so I'm having to coordinate most everything.
or hop the boat to boardwalk and do the ESPN zone. Not that the food is great, but if you and the kids are sports fans they might enjoy it.
I just stumbled across this at MouseSavers.com - has anyone else done this? Unless I'm reading it wrong it's a no-brainer for us as I was estimating about $700+ spent on Disney restaurants during my upcoming trip and we'll be back multiple times this year
http://tablesinwonderland.com/
Yes I have a TiW card and it is a great deal. However I believe that you must be a Florida resident, annual passholder or Disney Vacation Club member to get one.
You are correct and I should have mentioned that. We are getting an Annual Pass this year so I'll be sure to buy this at the same time. I think this will save us several hundreds over the course of the year.
Don't they add the 18% gratuity to every TiW transaction? So it basically covers the tip for every dinner?'Godsbrother said:
We did it before kids and did the land and sea and really enjoyed it. I prefer doing Disney first and then spending the 3 or 4 days relaxing before the trip home. We will certainly consider the land and sea at some point as the kids get a little older.
I haven't. Sorry. Let us know how it was though
We have one and they do add gratuity. You can pretty easily calculate your OOP expense by looking at the menu and whatever the price is, you are going to pay very close to that with the TIW card. We have done the Free Dining a number of times but when we went and only used our TIW card we saved a ton of money vs if we had paid OOP for the dining plan. If you use the dining plan, your meal includes (and you are paying tax and tip on) meal, drink, dessert for every person. With the TIW card, we found we saved quite a bit bc we drink water, buy an app to share, sometimes split a meal and almost always share dessert or skip it all together. It is nice to have the flexibility. Our TIW card expires in May and a couple of weeks ago my husband said we needed to go get one last trip in with our TIW card. Fine, twist my arm. Who am I to argue about saving money! (that and I really need an excuse to carry my Disney Dooney & Burke purse I got for Christmas!)
I've been to a few. Went to Arabian Nights and Pirates, thought they were both OK, would not have done without kids. Very cheesy, a bit boring. Went to Slueth's murder mystery several times, enjoyed it every time. Not sure about ticket deals, I think I got through mousesavers
Done 5 times, they are great. Entertainment better than any other cruise line (assuming you like Disney, which you have to to be on the ship)Food OK, service good.Characters around the ship to take pictures with and get autographs. If want autographs but don't want to wait in the lines, first day of cruise drop off item to be signed at Customer Service, they return item to your room last day of cruise with bunch of autographs. We did this with a photo matte, makes for a great souvenir. Seen others do with t-shirt or pillow case.Besides doing stuff with the kids, there are adult-only section of ship - restaurant, night club, pool, etc.
Hmmm. For the money this thing costs I was hoping for more than ok food. :-/
Yea they only check one pass.
You could always check undercover tourist for ticket deals. Looks like they have some deals on those show tickets.http://www.undercovertourist.com/1 week until we check into the Bay Lake Tower.
We'll be there pretty much the exact same time, 4/7 - 4/14. We're a group of 10 so renting a big house. Did the same thing 2 years ago and it worked out pretty well, nice to have a big place and a pool to veg and get away from Disney craziness for a while.When we went last time, didn't have any reservations because we didn't know about the system and how early you had to make them until it was too late. This year we're only booked for two meals:One morning for breakfast at Crystal Palace so we could get into MK earlyOne dinner at O'Hana since I heard so much about it on here (will be the night of both my and my son's birthday, should we order the Disney cake plan?)
Nice - we have dinner reservations that week at 'Ohana too. It will just be my wife and I though - leaving the kids with my MIL and SIL. I actually have a 2nd dinner reservation for 'Ohana that week for 10 so PM me if you need one.You may want to check in to that Tables in Wonderland membership I mentioned just a little back in the thread. If you have 10 people and will be eating at other Disney restaurants beyond your two reservations you can save a good amount.
I'm driving my wife crazy with the planning. I'm like several of you and like Disney way more than a grown man should.
'Ohana.....'Ohana.....'Ohananot convinced yet?'Ohana
I'm convinced. That's not the problem. The people that have to give me green stuff have to give me more than the people who want to take my green stuff. I hate green stuff. Although the only thing I have to pay for is food. Glorious glorious food....
This is so me. We did April, Sept, Nov. this past year and I said, okay that's it for a while no more trips. Then after the Holiday madness I start getting the Disney bug again. Then my husband said, well we have our TIW card so we might as well get one more trip. Of course I still want to go in November so we will see if we do both. I'm never going to take any other big trips anywhere else at this rate bc I keep wanting to go to Disney.
I used Touring Plans as well but this past year I started cross checking with EasyWDW. I still tend to default to TP's suggestions. Easy WDW is free though and if you don't want to pay the ~$10 for TP, it is nice to have something to help. Also, I can't remember if we have posted this link before but a great site/blog (and app) for characters is Kenny the Pirate.
Well it's all relative. Food is better than Carnival Cruise Line, but not as good as Celebrity. Food in adult restaurant was better than others (but have to pay extra).
Fast pass: Only the tickets that have been scanned for entry will work for FP so you would just be able to get two at a time. LeCellier: I would do the 7:10 just so you can take your time. I would suggest leaving LeCellier, go to France where they have great desserts in the bakery, get your desserts to go and then head back to the bridge to find a spot to watch Illuminations. Depending on where you are staying or parked, you can leave the International Gateway Exit and avoid the insane crowds to the front of the park. We almost always valet our car at Beach Club and use the International Gateway. APs: We had APs for 1 year. Your best bet is to just figure up how many trips you will take and for how many days. We were doing an annual trip in September so didn't have APs bc our trips didn't fall within 365days of each other. Once we knew we were going back in November, we knew we would be taking 3 trips between Sept.2011, Nov.2011 and Sept.2012. 8 day park hoppers are $355. 3 trips would be $1065)so obviously getting the AP was a much better deal. Even if you are taking 2 trips within 365 days that add up more than the cost of the AP it may be worth it. Where is may not be worth it is if you use the Free Dining promotion and the cost of your trips is close to the cost of the APs. The Free Dining promotion means you pay rack rate for the room but you can save more depending on the make up of your part and how many per room, etc. With the AP, in order to take advantage of the FD promo you have to buy 2 day base tickets for everyone in your party. It is really just a numbers game. Also keep in mind that you can stay off property and still get free parking with the AP, get 10% all merchandise purchases and are eligible for the TIW card. We didn't renew our passes in Sept. bc we weren't planning on anymore trips but that didn't happen and we already went in November and now are planning another April trip so we probably should have. Luckily we have a couple different sets of old tickets around here that we will use for April and still have our TIW card that expires in May. Hope that helps.ETA...I just realized you said you have 18-20 days planned. Let's say you go the cheapest route and use all of those in two trips (more days at Disney = more cost effective). Example with 1 adult ticket for a family that wants to start having an "Annual Trip":Trip 1 on April 1-9th, 2013: 9 days, park hopper $365Trip 2 on March 20-20, 2014: 10 days, park hopper $375 (this price will be higher though bc ticket prices typically increase in June so you get even more savings)Total cost: $740AP cost: $574Shorter more frequent trips are going to save you even more.
Tables in Wonderland - Cap, you are in FL, right? You are elligible then to get it. Sounds like a good deal and will help me offset the cost of my passes.
I probably spent 1500 in food there last year and I'm just learning about this now. Ugh.
Thanks! I figured as much on the FP. I guess if I wanted to be sneaky I could exit and then come back in with the other pass. My understanding is that with these any family member can use each others as all the bio-scan stuff is tied to each one.
Your plan is exactly what I was going to do! My wife loved the crepes and I really liked the ice cream stand at France. Thanks for the tip on using the other exit - is parking at the Beach Club free for annual pass holders?
We are almost certain (unless something unforeseen happens) that we'll come out better with the passes. We are in the Atlanta area and can drive down in about 7-8 hours, my Dad is an hour from Orlando so worst case we could stay there and drive to and from the park. We could do multiple trips REALLY cheap if we had to. Thankfully we don't so we can enjoy the dining and probably stay on-site at least once. One thing you mentioned was a concern of mine - not being able to do the dining plan with the annual pass but according to this link you can add it. Not sure if it's true as I've not seen that anywhere else. I still think we would come out well ahead though.
Gives you a good reason to go get a 'Ohana reservation. Let us know if you have any issues with it after you've used it.
Already got one for May and the Beast castle for mid-April.
We're pretty much doing Ohana quarterly now. Get done with one meal, book the next one.
Already got one for May and the Beast castle for mid-April.
My buddy who just took his family said we have to eat at Be My Guest so we are going to do lunch (no reservations) and get there early. He also said to make sure and stop at Gaston's Tavern for a LeFou's Brew - said they were really good.http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/09/a-sip-of-lefous-brew-from-gastons-tavern-in-new-fantasyland-at-magic-kingdom-park/
We went there a couple weekends ago. Great pork leg and the cinnamon roll was amazing. They had this weird apple cider stuff that cost 10 bucks that we passed on. But they looked amazing. I'm regretting that decision to pass.Already got one for May and the Beast castle for mid-April.
You can add the Dining Plan with the APs. The issue is if you want to use the Free Dining Special Offer (usually in the fall) you just have to add 2 days worth of tickets to your package even if you already have the APs.
AKA LeFous Brew. It was meh in my book. best thing there was the cini bun, but they come out cold.We went there a couple weekends ago. Great pork leg and the cinnamon roll was amazing. They had this weird apple cider stuff that cost 10 bucks that we passed on. But they looked amazing. I'm regretting that decision to pass.Already got one for May and the Beast castle for mid-April.
Next time tell them you don't want the special mug. It is like half the price. And very goodWe went there a couple weekends ago. Great pork leg and the cinnamon roll was amazing. They had this weird apple cider stuff that cost 10 bucks that we passed on. But they looked amazing. I'm regretting that decision to pass.Already got one for May and the Beast castle for mid-April.
We have procured our reservations for Ohana and Be Our Guest for April. I'm getting excited!
My first drink I didn't love it but after mixing the foam with the cider, I loved it. We made a special trip back to MK for another one a few days later. I used to randomly crave pineapple dole whips...now I want a LeFous Brew.
1. Fast pass - they have to have been scanned into the system to work.2. Le Cellier - I would do the 7:10. It's a great meal and you are going to want to enjoy it and take your time with it. By 7:10 there will already be people getting seats for the show. By the time you are done with dinner around 8:15 8:30ish, you will at least have enough time to find a spot you like before it starts.3. Annual passes - we do them when we know we are going twice in a year because the second trip is basically free. If you are going for more than 10 days I'm pretty sure that it break even. But the extra bonus is the stuff you get as an annual pass member. Check out those little perks because they add up. There is also the premium annual pass which we have, that gives you access to the water parks and Disney Quest as well. If you are going for what amounts to 3 weeks I would look into them. They are much more expensive than regular ones, but if you do the math and look at everything extra you can do (like play golf for a massive discount or free depending on other stuff) it's worth it.
We have dinner at Ohana at 8:20 on 4/21Wife turns 40 on 4/22.
The food is really good at Boma. Have fun and enjoy. As I hinted at in my review a few pages back, if the AKL was on the monorail it would be just as great as the rest of the premium resorts. The location and lack of bussing kills it for me though.
