[Syracuse DW]

Ok my wife and I have finally decided on 7 restaurants to eat at during our August trip, which was difficult but completed. The only thing left is to decide on what time to make the reservations? Any suggestions?

[Andrea]

Think about where you'll be before dinner, consider your travel time. Consider when you usually eat, and also whether or not you'll want to do parks after dinner, or go to DTD, or just go to bed.

Good luck!

[WDW_Hilltopper]

Depends on your itinerary,
at Epcot we ate about 7pm, so as to find a good spot for illuminations,
at MGM we ate about 5pm, we had fantasmic package.
the rest of the time we made them around 6pm, seemed to be just before or just as the crowds were arriving at the restaurants.

[Syracuse DW]

Here is the itinerary:

Sun - Coral Reef
Mon - Spoodles
Tues - San Angel Inn
Wed - Grand Floridian Cafe
Thur - Restaurant Marrakesh
Fri - Le Cellier Steakhouse
Sat - Artist Point

We might want to do somethings at the park after dinner but it depends on the day we had, I guess. Would also like to catch some of the night time celebrations(illuminations,etc...). Any thoughts?

[DisneyHog6]

If you don't mind eating a little early you can ask for the very last lunch slot, usually around 5pm. You get many of the same menu items but at a smaller price...

[Boss Mouse]

I try to time the dinners around a show/fireworks.

[Syracuse DW]

We are using the meal plan package so I'm not to concerned about the prices(dinner or lunch menu). I want to try to plan around shows/fireworks but I'm not sure when they all are. Any one have a link or when they are? Thanks.

[Boss Mouse]

I used the WDW link.
Also: http://www.touringplans.com/ has great information

[Princess Tessa]

yay Le Cellier!!! I'll see you there

[BuzzLightyear]

You can schedule Artists point for a little later, 7 ish, and catch the Water parade afterwards from the beach at th WL.

Schedule the GF for later also and catch Wishes. If you can see Wishes from the GF?

Any of your Epcot meals can be timed out to fit around Illuminations. Again I think 7ish.

Good Luck!

[palmickey]

If you go to the WDW web site on the calendar you can look at the show and parade times. That might help. Great dining choices!

[WishUponAStar]

Hey Syracuse! Can I ask what dates you'll be there in August? We're going to be there from the 19th-26th and were going to Le Cellier Friday too!

We finished doing all of our ADRs too and basically we just coordinated our times/restaurant selections with whichever park had the "extra magic" evening hours. Other than that we didn't coordinate with shows/parades. Every single one of our ADRs for dinner are 6pm.

[DisneyBride94]

Originally Posted by Syracuse DW

Here is the itinerary:

Sun - Coral Reef
Mon - Spoodles
Tues - San Angel Inn
Wed - Grand Floridian Cafe
Thur - Restaurant Marrakesh
Fri - Le Cellier Steakhouse
Sat - Artist Point

We might want to do somethings at the park after dinner but it depends on the day we had, I guess. Would also like to catch some of the night time celebrations(illuminations,etc...). Any thoughts?

I like all of those--but I've never been to the Coral Reef. San Angel Inn is my favorite...get there 20 minutes early and ask for a table near the River...it's fun to watch the boats go by. I love the food there. The margaritas are delicious!

So it looks like you've got 4 nights planned at EPCOT....are you staying at a hotel convenient to EPCOT? If so that should be cool... but you are committing yourself to being at those locations for 4 nights--which means you might be missing out on fireworks or parades or Fantasmic and such at other parks--unless you book very early evening meals...

Are you on the meal plan? Is that why you have booked 7 sit down meals and are planning them for dinner? Though lunch is somewhat less expensive than dinner, depending on how you want to use your time (time being to me more valuable than money) sometimes it is better to use your table service meal for lunch and use a counter service for dinner so that you get a midday break and then can grab a quick meal in the evening while trying to get to a show or parade...

Keep in mind that you can usually change ADRs...so if your pre-planned schedule needs tweaking during your day--you can usually call ahead to WDW-Dine and make some changes... especially with the less in demand restaurants... you won't be able to make changes with all restaurants... but with some you can...

We were on the meal plan for the first time during our last stay--we did find having ADRs for every meal a bit restrictive... we did do some tweaking as our plans needed modifying due to weather or EMH that we wanted to take advantage of... but all in all it was awesome... We love the dining options at Disney--we tried a few new places, and made sure to go to our favorites. We did squeeze as much value as possible out of our plan--but we also ate at some of the less expensive table service locales because we just enjoy them so much... and we ate at a few more table service restaurants then we were allocated on our plan so that we could fit them into our touring plan.

Mmmm...just noted Grand Floridian Cafe...I am not at all familiar with that one...never even heard of it... what's the draw there? Somebody tell me about that one so I'll be in the know. At Grand Floridian I've eat ant Park Fair and Narcooses (I love Narcooses).

Anyhow...I think it is highly adviseable to have your ADRs set ahead of time--but to allow yourself some flexibility as well to make some changes to make sure that you are able to enjoy your park experience as well as the dining.

FWIW: Le Cellier is wonderful foodwise--the best food I've had at WDW. I haven't been to AP in a while... the food and service were good...but I thought the atmosphere was a bit lacking... we ate there for our anniversary 3 years ago... I found getting there to be a pain in the neck.

I hope you have an awesome time! :)

[Syracuse DW]

We are going to there August 20-27, wish it was more perhaps a few months!!! Yes we're on the dinning plan and staying at the Wilderness Lodge. That's why our last meal, Artist Point, is at our hotel. This is to try and have a nice relaxing last evening at DW. I am definitely making my reservations tomorrow but yes I ubderstand I need to be a bit flexible with this. I just checked "Tour guide Mike" website and found loads of advice and planning facts. I was a bit cautious at forst to use the site because you have to pay but so far has been well worth the money. Thanks so much guys/gals for the excellent advice, much appreciated!!!

[Dana]

I usaually make my dinner pses from anywhere from 5-6pm. Rarely later and earlier if it's going to be a rest day and we skip breakfast.