Last time I wrote about my upcoming trip in June, I went over the hotel selection and spent some time looking at Port Orleans - Riverside, which is where we will be staying. Not long after making the hotel reservation it was time to make dining reservations. One morning in early December (180 days exactly from the first day of the trip) I was up at 5:00 AM Central time to try to get all these reservations for nine. At the time I thought reserving for nine was going to be difficult, but I had no trouble getting any of these reservations. All our reservations this time are for dinner, and most of the reservations are places we've never eaten before.

On the evening of our arrival, we'll head over to the Contemporary Resort and dine at Chef Mickey's, one of the two reservations at places we've eaten in the past. This will get us time with the main 5 characters without having to wait in line at Epcot's Character Spot, Town Square Theater, or Pete's Silly Sideshow. To be honest, I'm still interested in seeing Mickey's side of Town Square Theater, so we may take a look inside there anyway. The food at Chef Mickey's is good and everyone can eat as much as they want. As far as beer is concerned, Chef Mickey's uses the standard bar menu; the selection isn't the best since about half the menu consists of lagers such as Bud Light and Corona. Perhaps, if anything, a Young's Double Chocolate Stout might work well here.

Our second evening's meal will be at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. We'll spend time with another bunch of characters (Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, etc.) and have another buffet. Since this is a Magic Kingdom location that isn't Be Our Guest Restaurant, no beer is served here. This is another one for the kids, but we should still enjoy ourselves.

Dinner for the third evening will be at Via Napoli in World Showcase's Italy pavilion. If you recall Jenn and Pat's article on the craft beer program taking place at the Italy pavilion, you may have noticed my comment at the bottom. I had read over the Italy beer article a day or two before Jenn and Pat published it, was very impressed, and made sure to include Via Napoli in these dining reservations. None of us have been here before, but everyone in my family enjoys Italian food. As for beer, I'll probably play this one by ear because the selection seems to change with the seasons (and the supply).

We have three more dining reservations, but I'm going to save them for another day. We also plan to eat at a location that doesn't take advance reservations one evening. A couple of these locations are especially interesting for beer drinkers, but you'll just have to check back for those!