Walt Disney World With Kids (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [103]
This multimillion-dollar sports complex hosts competitions and tournaments, with facilities to accommodate 25 different kinds of sports. It’s the spring training camp of the Atlanta Braves and the summer training camp of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You can have lunch at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Club, a huge sports bar with multiple screens and interactive games.
Activities at the Wide World of Sports vary widely, so call 407/939–4263 or visit www.disneyworldsports.com before you leave home to find out what will be going on during your visit. If there’s something that catches your fancy, admission is $14 for adults, $10 for kids ages 3 to 9, but visit only if there’s a specific event going on that interests you. Otherwise, save your time and money. There isn’t a whole lot to do here.
Full-Service Restaurants at Disney
You’ve come to ride, but you also need to eat. The good news is that the variety and quality of the on-site restaurants have vastly improved in the 23 years I’ve been doing this guide. The bad news is that the size of the crowds has also increased, making it more of a hassle to get into the restaurants.
Unless you want to eat fast food for every meal, you should make your dining reservations before you arrive, preferably when you book your hotel. Sure, there’s a chance you can get a last-minute reservation if you’re visiting during the off-season and if you’re not picky about the time and the place and if you reserve early enough on the day of. But who wants to waste precious morning time—the best time of day to ride the rides—trying to navigate the reservations system? Your best bet is to make advance reservations so you don’t have to think about where you’re eating every night.
The standard Disney Dining Plan includes one table-service meal, one quick-service meal, and one snack per person per day. If you plan carefully, you can have plenty of culinary adventures by using two of your table-service credits to experience (a) princess character dining; (b) a dinner show; or (c) one of Disney’s signature restaurants, such as Citricos, the Flying Fish, or the California Grill. When you purchase the dining plan, you’ll receive a brochure outlining all of your options.
“We were all about the credit combining,” says a dad from Texas. “The days we were in the Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom, we only ate fast food, so each member of our family had two table-service credits left over. We combined those for our breakfast in Cinderella Castle, which turned out to be a major cost savings. I almost passed out when I ran the numbers for how much that breakfast would have cost us otherwise.”
It’s certainly possible to upgrade to the deluxe or wine-and-dine plans, but if your kids are young it’s unlikely you’ll want to spend that much time in restaurants. “In order to make sure our investment in the deluxe plan paid off, we scheduled lots of table-service meals,” wrote one mother. “By the second day my husband was complaining that he felt like a slave to all of our reservations and we ended up canceling quite a few, which was disappointing. But we decided as first-time visitors we’d be better off spending that time in the parks.”
At the other end of the spectrum is the quick-service plan, which includes two quick-service meals and two snacks per person per day. This plan is about 30% cheaper than the standard one, and some families prefer it, especially those with preschoolers who like to snack at regular intervals and who quickly grow impatient at full-service restaurants.
Once you’re in Orlando, your dining plan info is loaded into your ticket/resort ID card, and the system keeps track of how you’re doing—in fact, each time you use the card your server will give you a receipt showing the remaining balance. Remember that your number of meals is tied to the number of nights you’re staying. If you remain all day on your last day, you’ll probably run out of meals.
Insider’s Secret
The Disney Dining Plan has been a runaway success—so much so that it’s more important than ever to make advance reservations