Hi Roger! How exciting to be planning your first visit to Walt Disney World! August is a fairly busy time in the parks, and it's quite possible that you'll have trouble getting into some table-service restaurants without a reservation. While Disney World has many counter-service restaurants at which you can dine without reservations, if your family would like to have some nice sit-down meals too, you should make some reservations.
I recommend that you take a look at the park calendars to determine the operating
hours of the parks during your visit, as well as the times of any parades or
shows you'd like to see. Use that information to decide which park you'd like to
visit each day, and then pick at least one restaurant in that park that you'd
like to try, and make a reservation for lunch or dinner. If your plans change,
you can always cancel the reservation, but you'll have it if you need it.
Decide where to eat by browsing the menus of the various restaurants either on
the
Disney website or at a site like www.allears.net to find restaurants with food
that appeals to your family. Once you've found some restaurants with the type of
food your family enjoys, you can narrow down your choices by reading the reviews
of other diners at allears.net or on the "Restaurants" forum at a site like www.disboards.com.
If you have kids, I recommend you schedule at least one character meal, such as Chef Mickey's or Cinderella's Royal Table. Some other restaurants
my family enjoys are 'Ohana, which has tasty food and fun activities for kids,
Teppan Edo, which has Japanese food cooked table-side, and the Sci-Fi DIne-In,
where you can watch campy drive-in movies while you eat in your "car." For finer
dining, we like Le Cellier, the California Grill, or Jiko.
Hope this helps! Have a wonderful time!