Planning Our Dining for the WDW Princess Half Weekend

When it comes to Disney, we’re planners. Due to how quickly runDisney events sell out, we signed up for our races within 15 minutes of registration opening, which meant we knew in mid-July that we’d be going back to Walt Disney World for the Princess Half Marathon weekend in late February. Which then started us down the path of planning our full trip: how many days would we stay, which parks would we go to on each day, and several other choices to make. Yes, I already have a spreadsheet for our trip…like I said, we’re planners.

We’ve decided on the days we’ll be there now, but we’re waiting to book our resort package until the spring package sale prices are released. This usually happens in October, so we’re going to patiently wait a bit longer to book our room, park tickets and meal plan. (But believe me, I’d rather have it all planned already.)

The schedule for the parks is published well in advance. If you’re staying at a Walt Disney World resort, it’s worth looking at the schedule to see which parks have Magic Hours that day, giving you an extra hour before the park opens to the public or an hour after the park closes to the public. I love Magic Hours – we’ve had great luck in using that time to easily get on more popular rides without the long lines.

But there was one thing I was especially looking forward to as a result of knowing our schedule this far in advance: dining reservations.

There are dozens of great restaurants at Disney World, so planning out your dining this far in advance may seem crazy. However, it’s really a good idea to get your table service dining reservations as soon as possible. For our last two trips, we made our dining reservations about 2-3 months before our trip, and while we were lucky to get reservations everywhere we wanted, the times available were lousy. Having dinner at Be Our Guest is magical, but less so when your reservation is at 9:20pm and one of your kids falls asleep at the table before she can even take three bites of food.

So this time, we started as early as possible. You can make dining reservations up to 180 days in advance for Walt Disney World. Now, what you may not realize is that you don’t need to already have your park tickets or hotel in place in order to make a dining reservation. You can have all of your dining plans in place before you have any other element of your vacation planned other than the dates you’re planning to be there.

We’re planning to have the Disney Dining Plan again this year, which is a pre-paid meal plan that covers one quick-service (walk-up) meal, one table service meal, and one snack per person each day. What I like the most about this plan is that it also covers character dining – those experiences can often be pricier than a regular meal, but there’s no up-charge if you’re using the meal plan. (The exception is Cinderella’s Royal Table, which requires two table service credits per person.)

Here’s a peek at which restaurants we’re planning to visit during our Princess Half Marathon vacation:

Sanaa – This will be our first visit to Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Villas. I’ve heard so many good things about this restaurant that I can’t wait to check out the fusion of African and Indian flavors. And thanks to the magic of Disney, Aaron will be able to have naan again in a gluten-free version. While I’m looking forward to the food, I also can’t wait to check out the scenery: this restaurant sits on the edge of the African Sunset Savannah, offering views of animals like zebras, giraffes, gazelles and more.

T-REX – After the half marathon on Sunday, there’s a post-race celebration in Downtown Disney that evening, so we wanted to find a late lunch option nearby. We’ve been to a few of the Downtown Disney restaurants, but wanted something new that might wow the kids. T-REX looks like it will do the job. Dining surrounded by dinosaurs, including a 15 ft. T-Rex, should be a lot of fun. Cordy is already looking forward to the Chocolate Extinction dessert.

‘Ohana – This isn’t just a breakfast at the Polynesian Village resort. It’s also a character meal with Lilo, Stitch, and friends. Last year was our first ‘Ohana breakfast. Mira loves Stitch more than any other character, so after Stitch took her hand and let her lead the parade with him around the dining area, of course we knew we’d be coming back! The food is amazing, too: a platter filled with a rainbow of fruit, bacon, sausage, eggs, fried potatoes, breads…and did I mention it’s all you can eat? We’ll be enjoying breakfast here on Monday after the half marathon weekend, and I’m sure we’ll all be happy to fill up on plenty of good food while visiting with Stitch again.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall – This is THE place to dine with the princesses at Epcot. (And the only place for this many princesses at WDW when we’ll be there – Cinderella’s Royal Table will be closed for renovations.) We’ve been to this restaurant twice for breakfast, but this time we’re going in the afternoon to check out the Norwegian lunch menu. Cordy and Mira love the Princess Storybook Dining – each of the princesses visit every table for autographs and photos. We’ve never felt rushed with any of the princesses and they do their best to create a personal experience for each kid. I also enjoy looking at the beautiful interior of this restaurant – it really feels like you’re dining in a medieval castle.

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant – Imagine having a meal in a classic car, parked at a retro style drive-in theater, while clips of 50’s sci-fi B-movies play on the screen with the stars twinkling overhead. That’s exactly what you can experience at this Hollywood Studios restaurant! This is one of Aaron’s favorites – he loves old sci-fi movies, and the way they create a nighttime, open-air atmosphere inside a building is amazing. The tables look like cars, all facing the movie screen, complete with (dimmed) headlights and tail lights. Our first visit to this restaurant was on the trip for our first anniversary in 2004. The food is great, the glowing ice cubes are fun, and it really feels like you’re in a completely different place.

That’s what we’ve got so far, and I’m very excited! It’s a good thing I’ll be running a 10K before we start all of this eating!