Hello again, Dan!
You've come to the Mom's Panel for our advice, so I'm going to tell it
like it is: You're about to commit the #1 first-timer mistake: not making Advanced Dining Reservations. Yes, you can do Disney spontaneously, but if you don't have a plan--even a loose one--you'll waste precious time and regret that you didn't get the value out of your vacation later...
Although I hesitate to tell guests this, there is no penalty if you do not use an ADR, afterall, you WILL make a standby customer happy (probably another first-timer family who doesn't know the drill....). Veteran guests to Disney
do make ADRs and, therefore, many
popular restaurants will not have no-shows. Unfortunately, most first-time visitors don't know these restaurants and will spend precious time trying to traverse the myriad of choices only to find a table at a not-so-popular restaurant. (And 'not-so-popular' can mean lots of things: too expensive for the average guest, quality of food, so-so atmosphere, etc.)
My suggestion is to use the itinerary I just created for you in your previous question and make one reservation a day either in the same park or in a resort nearby. You will at least have a choice for a nice meal (buffet, Character experience, etc.) every day. If you need help on some suggestions, feel free to come back and visit
me via my bio page.
If you still want to live (or should I say 'eat'?) dangerously, check out the new ap for supported Android, Blackberry and IPhones that will give you real-time ADRs near you, unveiled on the
Disney Blog this week.
Wishing y'all a magical vacation with minimal wait times!
Whitney