Let's review the 8-7 Months Out Bullet List...
It's similar to Part 3 however this one requires you to start getting down to the details and really planning down to the second of each day - dramatic, I know, but I promise you don't have to do it this way, but it certainly helps get a clear idea for your plans.8-7 Months Out
- Begin finalizing daily itineraries for each park/rest day; narrow down the top 5 must-have FastPass options - you can only book 3 per park to start, but having a few extra faves is important as a few may already be taken once you're ready to book.
- Daily itinerary planning includes every thing from wake-up time to lunch time and even dinner/bed time. Where will you be within the park at certain times, what rides will you plan to ride (non-FastPass), and what are some must-do things? If you have children, will they nap in the park in the strollers or will you go back to the hotel for rest time? These are some things you'll want to keep in mind as you start getting down to the final details.
First, let's narrow down our dining reservations and FastPass reservations. (for Table Service this is especially important as you will need to prepare for your 180 day mark to start booking the reservations).
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Quick Service peeps - skip down to the **** as this next part is for Table Service
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Dining Reservations for Table Service. It's important that you super narrow down your choices. Here's the thing, with the Table Service, there are 2 different plans.
Plan A; Disney Dining includes:
2 Meals - 1 QS & 1 TS
2 Snacks
1 Resort-Refillable Drink Mug
Plan B; Disney Deluxe includes:
3 Meals - Any combo of QS or TS
2 Snacks
1 Resort-Refillable Drink Mug
If you chose Plan A, you have 1 Table Service meal per day from check-in to last day (check-out day not included). This means you have to pick at least one restaurant to sit down and eat. I highly recommend looking into popular places that book up quickly because these will likely have characters you can meet during the meal and that makes for a lot of awesome memories for your little ones.
If you chose Plan B, you should definitely use at least 2 credits towards sit down meals this way you ensure you are getting the most bang for your buck. Being that this is the most expensive plan, don't waste your money planning QS meals when you could save it and just opt for the QS plan or the Plan A. Plan B is really for those who are foodies and don't have children that would prefer riding rides. I know for my family, we want to do as much as we can while on our vacation, so spending two meals sitting around waiting takes that time away from us. Keep this in mind when you're planning - will your kids be with you and will they want to sit down, wait for food, and miss out on rides or other activities?
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Now, let's discuss the QS plan.
2 QS Meals
2 Snacks
1 Resort-Refillable Drink Mug
Let’s breakdown the credits a little more. First, you need to know the ages and who gets what.
Kids Menu - ages 3-10
Adult Entrees - ages 11+
Children under 3 are free so they don't get a ticket, FP reservations, or dining.
Now, if you’re using the QS dining plan and your stay is for 6 days and there are two adults and one child (over the age of 11+), then this means you’re going to get 12 QS credits per person PLUS 12 snack credits per person; total that’s 12 times 3 equals 36 adult credits for meals and 36 credits for snacks.
Now, it’s important you track your credits because every time you grab something and tap your MagicBand, you’re charged. Another thing to keep in mind, if you have a child 3-10 in your group, and on the dining plan, they will have to order from the kids menu. Back to our scenario: 2 adults and 1 child (but this child falls in the 3-10 years group), you will technically get 24 adult credits and 12 kids credits. So be very careful and make sure that you plan wisely. When you order, be cautious which size you're ordering. I have heard of people making mistakes and ordering adult entree sizes and then ended up with all kids credits by the end of their vacation. When I plan dining, I plan every detail. Here's my planning example:
Monday, August 31
Park: Magic Kingdom
6-6:30a Breakfast: Cereal or pre-packaged option
this is what we bring with us and buy from our grocery store
1-2p Lunch: Cosmic Ray's
2 adult entrees & 1 kids meal
mobile ordering, hubby will pick up while I take kids to find a place to sit for Parade
Parade starts at 3:45p*
8-9p Dinner: Tomorrowland Terrace
1 shared entree & 1 kids meal
after final ride, before fireworks, plan to sit down and eat with a view of the fireworks from Tomorrowland
*fireworks start at 9p
This is just a rough draft of how I plan, but you can see that I make sure to notate the time of day, where we will eat, and what sizes we will order. Don't worry about over-planning like this yet, we will do that soon - instead just focus on how you'll spend your credits. Will you want Breakfast and Dinner, or Lunch and Dinner, etc? How many snacks will you allow yourself to eat per day? Some people like to save their snacks for MK and Epcot where the good snacks are, will you do that or will you decide to eat your 2 snacks per day at each park?
Additionally, you need to know that credits do have a dollar worth, so to get the most out of the money you spent, here is the dollar worth for credits per Dining Plan.
- Quick Service credits are worth $18
- Table Service credits are worth $41
- Snack credits are worth $5
So what does that mean? That means DO NOT, I repeat...DO NOT order something less than the credit worth otherwise you’re just losing money. A few dollars is fine, but if you’re ordering QS and the meal is $9, you just lost $9 worth of food. My suggestion is, use cash on small snacks. Let’s say your child wants an apple and it’s $2, don’t waste a snack credit on that - USE CASH! Save your credits for all the yummy and creative Disney snacks. There are also some hacks, for example, all Starbucks drinks are 1 snack credit so don’t opt for the Grande or Tall, go straight for a Venti. Even if you don’t drink the whole thing, at least you got your money’s worth.
Here’s an example:
In Magic Kingdom, were going to compare two restaurants.
Be Our Guest vs Cosmic Ray’s
At Be Our Guest for Lunch for $18.99, you can grab a huge meal including asparagus and mashed potatoes.
However at Cosmic Ray’s for Lunch for $9.99, you’ll end up with a very small meal and since it was $9, and your QS credit is worth $18, you lost out on a larger meal & $9!!
What if you don't think you'll eat it all? The best part, you can easily just charge one credit and share!
So, be sure when planning your QS or TS meals/snacks do your research! I always go to my app, or the website, and pull up the menus for the restaurants that are on my dining plan. I spend time making sure that my family and I are using the money we’ve spent (or technically got for free) on food that makes sense. After all, Disney has some amazing chefs, why settle for something you could easily get at a local restaurant, when you can eat at creative places like Satu’li Canteen and be immersed into Pandora?! It just makes so much more sense to plan wisely. And sure, you can wing it! You can read my posts and think, “woah! This girl is an over-planner,” but one thing’s for sure, I make my money work hard and our vacations are AMAZING!
Oh, and to help you, here's a step-by-step to QS Mobile Ordering - save these steps!
PS: you CAN download the app and start playing around with the mobile ordering to get a feel for it.
1) Open Disney World App
2) Click on the three vertical lines on the bottom right-hand corner
3) Tap on the 3rd box on the left hand side "Mobile Food Orders"
4) Sign-in to your account; if you aren't already
5) Click "create new order"
6) Select your restaurant; be sure you watch which park you're ordering from
7) Select the restaurant
8) Click on "order food"
9) Build your order
10) Pick up order when it's ready
11) That's it!
I'm dividing this Part 4 into one other post since this one was so long. Stay tuned, tomorrow, I will be dishing the details on Fast Pass selections - I told you we had a lot to cover.