Disneyworld - Fort Worth,TX

We've been to Disneyworld a couple of times and had the meal plan. We had the Medium Plan, with one walk up meal, one sit down meal and 1 or 2 snacks. The meal plan is well worth it. It is great to know that one of your meals you won't be fighting with the masses for a table, you have reservations and will be seated. You will have PLENTY of food, in fact don't forget that one of your snacks can be used to purchase water. You can also ask for a water instead of the desert that comes with your walk up meal if you prefer. Yes, that is 2 drinks with one meal, 1 for the meal 1 for the road. You can also hold on to your snack credits and by sovenier snacks at your hotel gift shop (this only applies to certain items).

If you go with the sit down plan start planning, you have to make reservations like 3 months in advance (I'm not kidding!!). I would recommend highly taking the time to go to Ohana, which is in the Polynesian Hotel. Wonderful Hawian food served family style.

Have Fun.

M

If you do the 1 park a day passes, then you will need to make sure that that park matches up for whatever meal reservations you have that day, if the reservations are within a park. If you get the park hopper pass, you don't have to worry.

You need reservations for all meals on Disney property, that includes within hotels. There are a few times mid day like 10a, 4p and 9p when you don't.

Disney food is expensive. A bottle of water is $4. An ice cream is $4. You are allowed to bring food in to the park. There are grocery stores that will deliver food / cases of water to your hotel.

When you pack, pack 2 outfits per day. It is HOT there in August. We went in June (100+) and always went back to the room and showered just before dinner.

I thought Downtown Disney was a waste. We went mid-day and it was HOT, and half of the places were closed. If you do Downtown Disney, go in the early evening, like 4pm.

If you stay on Disney property, you can use their bus system for free. You need to allow about 40 mins to get from place to place. There are always a bunch of buses around, but each route only runs about 20 mins and they fill quickly.

If you stay on property, there are special 'guest' hours at each park. These times are just for guests of Disney Hotels. Animal Kingdom has early hours and special safaris for seeing the animals feed. Magic Kingdom has late night Friday hours. Epcot has a late night mid-week dance party...

If you LOVE meat, you should plan an evening meal at Ohana's (Polynesian Resort). The put you on meat overload! They also have a character breakfast that is popular.

ETA: Not by experience, but here are some links and tips
http://www.examiner.com/article/disney-travel-101-walt-di...

http://magicalmemoryplanners.com/2011/02/grocery-delivery...

http://www.mrgrocers.com/

http://www.mousesavers.com/walt-disney-world-vacation-dis...

Downtown, boardwalk etc. you do not need passes for. You really need to book now. I did not do the packages. I went thru Disney n booked, hotel and passes that way. We always did the one table service meal (nice to sit)
One quick meal and one snack. Because of the time we would go, always got dining free. I would book the dining with hotel n passes. If you do package it includes things that you really do not need. Not worth it. I like to have everything paid for. That's why we like the dining plan. Even if we had to pay we would get it. You need to make restaurant reservations soon.
The value hotels (Pop Century) my favorite. You do not say how many kids and ages. If you go to Allears.net, everything you always wanted to know about Disney World is there. Me use for all restaurants too.

P.s. there are many ways to use dining plan. I think you can use a quick service for breakfast if you wanted. With the dining plan, we never used it for breakfast. Had a bagel or cereal , coffee n juice. Lunch quick service are very generous portions as are dinners.

Try to have a plan so you do not waste wandering around trying to figure out what to do.

Most of all, have fun. We go to Disney first week of December every year.
We are retired but kids at heart lol.

you don't need passes for DTD or the Boardwalk. Boardwalk is connected to Epcot and DTD you can take disney transportation to. You should probably book now I would think as summer is busy there. IF you will want to have any sit down or character meals I would think you would be better with the regular dining plan. Start researching the restaurants so that you will be able to book reservations to exactly what you want 90 days out. You can change them around but its good to have a solid plan.
I love WDWinfo.com for planning out Disney. They have all the menus and the fourms are great.

We did the meal plan and it was great! However, the one issue we had was a picky eater. The children's meals were simpler than the adult meals, often a cheeseburger and fries or a hot dog and fries while the adults could order a mushroom burger or something like that. My daughter didn't WANT the kid's meal, she wanted an adult meal (more choices). She threw some fits when we got to the counter and she was stuck with the kid's choices.

Other than that, it was more than enough food. We ate breakfast in our room or just had a bagel or donut at the park. Then we used our quick service for the rest of the meals. We had more than enough snacks and drinks! And I felt like we did save money.

We've been several times and never opted for a meal plan. I think a lot of that is waste and I don't like limitations when I am on vacation.

I always book about a year in advance for hotels, dinners, shows, etc.

We always stayed a the Polynesian, never stayed anywhere else, and when we checked in, we purchased passes that were good for all parks, as many times as you wanted to go, and they were valid until midnight of the checkout day. I forget what type of pass it was called.

Have fun

We are planning a trip for March. You are a brave lady to go in August. That is one of the busiest times. It is also super hot. With the crowd being so large it as least 10 degrees hotter. You can check on pinterest for some tips too.