Just booked Christmas 2018

[Twinmumlowe]

So on a total spur of the moment (and given the price hike of WDW tickets!) we’ve just booked DLP for Christmas 2018, going 20/12 and back Xmas eve.
We’ve decided to keep it secret from our boys as an awesome Christmas present although I’m so stupidly excited it’ll be a challenge 😂🤫
So my questions are...
1. We’re staying at DC and we’re self catering so planning to take lots of snacks brekkie bits etc to cut costs - but obviously we’d like to have some good dinners out - where’s recommend? We’re a family of 5

2. We don’t have a dining plan so can we book restaurants still? If so should we? And how do we?

3. The boys will be 10 and 8 (twins) what character meal meets would you recommend?

4. Recommend me your Christmas DLP must do’s please

Tia for any help 🤗

[Elodie]

Oh wow, I’m so jealous! We did this last month, arriving on 19th December and leaving on Christmas Eve. It was the most magical holiday we’ve ever had!

DH wanted to not tell the girls at all - just set off and see when they figured it out. We ended up telling them early, but keeping it a secret that we were staying in a Christmas room in the DLH, right up until we checked in!

Anyway,
1) We love the buffets, pretty much any buffets at any level. The girls weren’t so keen on Agrabah as they were the year before for some reason. We’ve enjoyed meals in Restaurant de Stars, Plaza Gardens, Inventions, and La Cantina at Santa Fe (have never actually stayed there, but the children love the buffet there so it’s well worth the walk to Santa Fe for us). For table service, we really enjoyed Annette’s and Auberge de Cendrillon. We weren’t impressed with Blue Lagoon (now Captain Jack’s) but I think it was just because they were very rushed and pretty much throwing our plates on the table, etc.

2) Yes, you can, and yes, I’d recommend it. We booked our restaurants for 19-23 Dec exactly 60 days before 19th Dec, i.e. as soon as we could. We still couldn’t get all the days and times we wanted. Auberge de Cendrillon was fully booked up until our last day, which we managed to book (64 days in advance.) And we had to switch around our days and times for Inventions. So, if you’re wanting to eat in the most popular restaurants, I would book as soon as your 60 day window opens (or even try your luck a few days earlier.) Standard buffets were fine for booking 60 days in advance, but I think I’d still want to have them booked for peace of mind. You need to call dining reservations 60 days before 20th Dec. (I think the number might be on a sticky thread on here, but if not, I’ll try to find it for you.) Alternatively, there are certain meals that you can book now and pay in advance. We couldn’t do that because we wanted to use our dining plan vouchers, but that would be an option for you.

3) I’d recommend the Plaza Gardens breakfast, but Inventions dinner was our absolute favourite. Apparently characters are coming back to Cafe Mickey too, which we enjoyed in summer 2016.

4) Christmas must-dos - we loved the Christmas parade, Goofy’s Incredible Christmas show at Studios closing time, Mickey’s Christmas Lights, meeting Santa, my youngest loved the Small World Christmas set up, and my 10 yr old happily came on it every single day for her sister’s sake! Obviously that all depends on what’s on this year, and we also really enjoyed lots of non-Christmas shows, parades, meets and rides, etc.