Disney Help Please---so overwhelmed

Most likely we are going to disney the end of Feb. 4 nights/5 days...we will arrive early on the first day, and leave late on the last day. I dont even know where to start!! We are going to stay at the contemporary, and get the dining plan with one sit down meal, and one quick serve. My boys will be 5, 4, almost 2 and 7 months.

Just reading about the parades is overwhelming!! I know they will LOVE the parades and fireworks, just not sure which ones to do and when. And do confused about dining. I don't even know where these good places are located! If anyone could offer any help I would really appreciate it! I was looking into getting the park hopper.

Also, can you book ahead of time, and then cancel if another booking where you want to eat becomes available? I just went to reserve chef mickeys, but it said I had to put in my cc info, and that they would charge if we don't show up.

Thanks so much for all of your help!!!

Message edited 1/8/2013 10:11:32 AM.

Re: Disney Help Please---so overwhelmed

You can definitely book and cancel a dining reservation. Some places (like Chef Mickey's) require a credit card guarantee. If you don't show up and don't cancel within 24 hours, your credit card will be charged $10 per person. You must cancel 24 hours prior to your reservation or be charged.

The one thing the system will not do is allow you to have two reservations on the same date at approximately the same time - so no double-booking.

Re: Disney Help Please---so overwhelmed

Disney Help Please---so overwhelmed

I found that all places in the dining plan that accept reservations required a credit card guarantee. You can't book more than one reservation for the same time but, you can place multiple reservations on hold. I found that there were a lot of openings the week before we went for the more popular places.

We went in September with my 2 3/4 year old and 6 month old at the time.

We tried not to pack too much into a day and followed older DS' lead to avoid meltdowns. We did 1/2 day at the park (usually morning) and 1/2 day at the pool. Unfortunately, we didn't see any parades but, DS had a great time. We spent most of our time at the Magic Kingdom (4 1/2 days) and then did a half day each at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios (on the days we had the breakfasts there before the park opened).

I did 2 character meals for breakfast since DS is better in the morning. I really liked Tusker House in Animal Kingdom (Donald, Mickey, Goofy and Daisy) and we did Hollywood and Vine at Hollywood Studios (Jake, Oso, Handy Manny and June from Little Einsteins).

We only did 2 reservation dinners in Downtown Disney - one at the Rainforest Cafe and the other at the TRex Cafe. Both DS's loved both places although TRex (Rainforest Cafe with Dinosaurs) can be a bit noisy.

Re: Disney Help Please---so overwhelmed

You can get a schedule of all the parades/fireworks online.

Basically each park has a main parade each day and then Magic Kingdom has a few smaller parades offered a few times a day. Magic Kingdom and Epcot each have fireworks (not every day) and Hollywood Studios has Fantasmic (which my young boys found way too scary/dark).

I put everything into an excel sheet, the operating hours, the parade info and then figured out that way which park to go to each day.