Walt Disney World Dining: Where to Make Your Advance Dining Reservations

Clients often ask me for dining reservation recommendations, and I have plenty! Being a bit of a foodie, I've tried many of the onsite restaurants, both in the Parks and in the resorts.

When you start planning your vacation, make a list of your top 3-5 restaurants for each Park and a few resort restaurants as well. As you make your restaurant lists, be sure to do your research. Check the menus (and children's menus, if this is a family trip!) to make sure that the food choices are to your liking.

Have this list handy when making your reservations, so that if you don't get your #1 choice, you can have an alternate restaurant choice handy.

When your "180 days" date arrives (180 days prior to arrival at WDW, you can make your dining reservations either online or over the phone).

O.k., now for my restaurant recommendations:

1. Animal Kingdom:
   • Tusker House - Character Dining (Donald Duck and Friends). A buffet assortment of salads, basmati rice, carved meats, cold cuts, desserts, and more. Something for everyone.
   • Yak and Yeti
     • Yak and Yeti Cafe. Quick Service Dining.  Egg rolls, honey chicken, teriyaki beef. Good quick service dining option for those on the go in the Park.
     • Yak and Yeti Restaurant. Table Service Dining. Asian fare including potstickers, dim sum, salmon and more.
2. Hollywood Studios:
   • Sci-Fi Dine-In  - While the Sci-Fi Dine-In features mostly burgers, being able to sit in a 1950's car while watching retro science fiction movies is the really cool feature here. Lots of fun at this unique eatery. Table Service Dining.
   • ABC Commissary - Offers Asian salads, seafood platters and strip steak. A little more healthy than the usual quick-service dining options.
   • Hollywood's Brown Derby - Signature Service Dining. Known for its Famous Cobb Salad, this restaurant also features port tenderloin, salmon, duck breast and more. Also try the Grapefruit Cake.
3. Epcot:
   • Coral Reef Restaurant - Table Service Dining. Features strip steak, rainbow trout, lobster and shrimp pasta, salmon, mahi mahi , and a sustainable seasonal catch. Be sure to ask for a table near the sides of the aquarium. While the fish are seen from all tables, being able to sit "close to the action" is a lot of fun.
   • Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles - There are some place at WDW that offer food I dream about between trips. The selection of desserts at this little cafe is one of them. Offering baguettes, quiches, creme brulee, chocolat tart, eclairs, chocolate mousse, and the ever-popular napoleon. Quick Service Dining.
   • La Hacienda de San Angel - Table Service Dining. While the food offered is very good ( tacos, carnitas, ribs, and more), the real star at this restaurant is the margaritas. After a hot day of walking around the Parks, what could be better?
   • Restaurant Marrakesh - Table Service Dining. I'm obsessed with their beef brewat rolls and shish kebabs. And the belly-dancing show is fun to watch.
4. Magic Kingdom:
   • Be Our Guest - While reservations for this restaurant can be elusive, if you can get in, be sure to try the braised pork. Or the rack or lamb or ratatouille. And the selection of cupcakes include lemon meringue and strawberry cream. Now open for breakfast and lunch, as well.
   • Cinderella's Royal Table - Character Dining (Cinderella and Princess Friends). My family enjoyed this character dining experience on our last trip. I have all boys, but I was able to bribe them into going with the promise that they would get swords as a take-home gift. As we walked into the castle, we took a quick photo with Cinderella, and were shown upstairs to the dining room. The food was incredible; this restaurant offers pork and beef tenderloin, swordfish, tomato risotto, and more. As we enjoyed our dinner, more Princesses came to our table to say hello, sign autograph books and take photos with the kids. At the end of the meal, we were presented with the photo of the kids and Cinderella that we had taken before dinner.
   • Gaston's Tavern - Quick Service Dining. If you are looking for breakfast and are on the dining plan, you can get a cinnamon roll, using a Snack credit at Gaston's Tavern. This cinnamon roll could literally feed an entire family, it's so big
5. Various WDW Resorts:
   • Animal Kingdom Lodge
     • Boma - Table Service Dining. I love to try new things, but am some times hesitant about trying new foods. Boma's buffet enables you to try new African flavors without committing to a whole plate of food. Includes durban-style roasted chicken, bobotie, pork ribs, beef strip loin, and a wonderful selection of desserts.
     • Sanaa - African/Indian Table Service Dining. We tried the Indian-style Bread Service on our last visit, and love the Naan bread with samplings of spreads to go with it. Be sure to also give the tandoori chicken, lamb shank, and shrimp a try.
   • Contemporary Resort
     • The Wave of American Flavors - Table Service Dining. This restaurant offers some of the most healthy choices in WDW property. They try to get all local products for that farm-to-table-style restaurant. The Wave features djon-crusted lamb chops, pumpkin marscapone ravioli, beef and pork tenderloin, and sustainable fish. The kids also loved the rainbow bread grilled cheese.
     • The California Grill - Signature Dining/ Features sushi, seared ahi tuna, flounder, lamb shanks, bison strip loins, shellfish mole, and swordfish. Try for a reservation around the time of the Magic Kingdom fireworks, and ask for a table by the window. or have a drink on the outside patio of the restaurant for the best views of the Magic Kingdom.
   • Fort Wilderness
     • rail's End - Table Service Dining. I think about this buttermilk-marinated fried chicken between trips. I've tried to make it at home, to no avail.
   • The Wilderness Lodge
     • Artist Point - Signature Dining. Food inspired by the Pacific Northwest. Jumbo lump crab cakes, salmon, filet mignon, diver scallops. Yum.

For more restaurant recommendations or questions, call Magical Storybook Travels at 585-880-6951 or nicole@magicalstorybooktravels.com

Summer Vacation Excitement

Spring is in the air, and the school year will soon be coming to a close.  It's almost time for SUMMER VACATION!

Do you remember your summer vacations as a child?

Mine were filled with bike rides. Swimming pools and popcicles. Hanging out with friends at the playground.

And yearly summer vacations to the seaside or national landmarks.

As you start to think about your summer vacation with the kids, keep a few things in mind:

1. Plan Ahead!  Whether its camping, a cross-country trek in an RV, a family trip to the seaside, or a trip to your favorite theme park, you want to make sure that you plan ahead. Do your homework about your chosen destination and make reservations ahead of time. Some times putting down a small deposit on your vacation will hold your spot; people who wait until the last minute can often find that there are no rooms available at your chosen destination.
2. Get your kids involved with the planning stages!  When my family starts to think about a family vacation, we call a Family Planning Meeting. Even though our kids are 10, 8, and 7 years old, we discuss a few possible vacation spots and let them have a say in our final chosen destination. Then as we plan out our vacation days, we get the kids to help with the research about local attractions and things to do. We check out the area's restaurants and their posted online menus, so that the kids know that there is enough choices for even our pickiest eater.
3. Budget!  While a small deposit can hold your spot, you'll also want to start budgeting for your summer vacation. (Even all-inclusive resorts will have a few more expenses that you think.)  While the adults start a vacation fund that covers gas, food, flights, resort fees, or whatever, get the kids thinking about their own spending money jar. Extra chores now can mean more spending money for treats and souvenirs on your summer vacation.

As you begin to plan your summer vacation, be sure to call your travel agent. Magical Storybook Travels can assist you in planning you next family journey together. www.magicalstorybooktravels.com/585-880-6951/nicole@magicalstorybooktravels.com

A Special Flight Program for Special Kids

My son Emerson was my guinea pig at the ROC Your Flight event.

There have been many stories in recent years about families getting kicked off flights, and many of these families include children with Special Needs.

Kids with Autism have difficulties with an overload of the senses - sights, sounds, smells. Imagine that the individual smells of all of those people on the plane hitting your nose all at once. (I have problems with this as well; I usually get seated next to someone who has doused themselves in perfume!) Imagine the man faces of security, flight attendants, other passengers all flashing by you at a rapid pace. Imagine the sounds of the flight attendants making an announcement over the loudspeaker, the noise of the crowds, the beeps of the metal detectors bombarding your ears. Kids with Autism take all of this in at once, and have no filter to make sense of it all.

And the whole airport and flying experience may be out of their regular routine. No school, away from home , perhaps trying something new for the first time, it can certainly set off kids with Autism, and they sometimes do not know how to channel this anxiety and stress, causing meltdowns.

Being a parent of a child with Autism myself, I understand the anxiousness parents of children with Special Needs feel as they contemplate traveling. "We would love to take a trip, but I don't know how he/she would do on the flights? What if something sets him/her off getting through security? Getting on the plane? What if we get kicked off the flight?"

Some parents won't even take a vacation, because of all of these fears. Which is so sad, because these are the families that need a vacation the most.

A local agency in Rochester, New York that services families with Special Needs, the ARC of Monroe County, offers a wonderful program that introduces the experience of going through security at the airport and boarding an airplane. Since I serve many families with Autism at my travel agency, Magical Storybook Travels, I recently attended the "ROC Your Flight" event at the Rochester International Airport. I brought along my son, Emerson, as a guinea pig, so that I could document the experience for this article.

Emerson attends the ROC Your Flight Program, presented by the TSA and the ARC of Monroe County.

My son, Emerson, has Sensory Processing Disorder and Speech Apraxia.  He's 7 years old, and since our family travels frequently, he's a little expert in flying by now, but he was willing to attend with me, so that I could see the experience through a child's eyes, as well as an adult's eye.

The presentation was approximately an hour and a half. The first part, which lasted 45 minutes, was a presentation from a TSA Agent and a representative from the ARC of Monroe County.

The two spoke of travel planning, what to pack, and regulations about TSA checkpoints. They also answered questions like "How do you get a child in a wheelchair through metal detectors?" and "What about liquids, like medicine or feeding tube formula?" and "How does the TSA handle flyers who do not like to be touched during the security process?"

Handouts from the ROC Your Flight Program

The TSA and the ARC of Monroe County also provide handouts about the TSA website, a list of prohibited items, and information about how to enroll in the TSA Pre-Check program.

This part of the presentation is very informative for parents, and many questions can be answered directly during this portion of the program. This part of the program is not interactive for the children, and if you have a child that will have difficulty sitting for a 45 minute period, you may want to bring something that will help them with that. Perhaps a hand-held game or a video?

After the presentation part of the program is completed, it's time to get the kids ready to practice going through security. Since those attending the program are required to pre-register, the TSA already has the names of the adults and children, so no need for a boarding pass. Adult attendees must bring a photo I.D. to participate.

Heading to Security

The children walk through the queue towards the TSA agent for check-in.

Emerson meets the TSA Agent for check-in.

Once checked by the TSA Agent, children are shown to the conveyor belts and can practice getting a bin, taking off jackets and carry-on items, and sliding them towards the scanners. Once this is done, the kids can walk through the metal detectors with the assistance of an adult.

Emerson puts his jacket and backpack in the bin.

Children under 12 do not have to remove their shoes, but if they do, they can practice this as well.

Once everyone is the program has cleared security, the group walks to the gate of the "practice plane." Here we are greeted by a Delta representative at the gate.

A friendly Delta representative greet us upon arrival.

The children are then allowed to walk down the ramp to the awaiting airplane. This may be a scary prospect for some children with Autism, so being able to practice his ahead of a real flight is very helpful.

Walking down the ramp to the airplane.

Once on the airplane, the children can find seats and practice putting on their seat belts. One of the flight attendants comes by and passes out pretzels or cookies (If your child has a food allergy, you may want to bring an acceptable snack to give your child at this point).

Emerson finds his seat on the airplane.

When the children are ready to leave, they practice deboarding the plane and walking back up the ramp to the terminal again.

Back in the terminal, the ARC of Monroe County has a special take-away for the children - Wings!

Getting his Wings!

The "practice" portion of the program, from security to gate to plane and back again, takes 45 minutes.

ARC of Monroe County holds the ROC Your Flight program several times a year and stresses that children can participate multiple times, if they need to go over the process more than once. Pre-registration is required, so be sure to sign up in advance.

Many children with Autism do well with prior practice of a skill, before the actual event. The ROC Your Flight Program aims to provide just that -- PRACTICE.

If you have questions about this program, please feel free to contact Magical Storybook Travels for more information. 585-880-6951 or nicole@magicalstorybooktravels.com