Why Do You Like Sit-down Restaurants at WDW?

[MIGrandma]

We rarely ever eat at a sit-down restaurant when we're at Disney. I just don't want to take the time. I'd rather grab something quick at counter service and get eating out of the way so we can get back to enjoying the parks. So, convince me. What's so great about the sit-down restaurants?

[beroh2253]

I think we have been there so many times now that the park rides are only half of what we enjoy and eating a sitdown is the other half. We don't have to get on splash mountain 50 times per trip now but we must get to Le Cellier, Coral Reef and Kona once each trip.That plus the airconditioning.

[ReneeA]

We typically go to WDW on site every year for 7-10 days at a time. That's a long time to eat 2 or more fast food type meals a day. It may not be so bad if we went for shorter trips, I guess.

Since we go for longer trips, we like to take an easy going approach - afternoon breaks, long stretches at the pool every day and then head to dinner before returning to a park for the night. I like to have a nice dinner, so that's why we go with the DDP. It works with our vacation style.:)

[RACHELSMOM1]

During peak times the CS restaurants get crowded, by the time I get the food, hubby tries to find a table with 3 starving kids. go sit, then I have to go back for condiments, etc...we are there for at least an hour or more, not a relaxing time, compared to a nice sit down where we relax, food comes to us after we are seated at a nice table and a waitress/waiter is there to help us. No comparison, and the time there is the same as CS.

[islandtimect]

Our family was like yours - not wanting to take the time for a sit down meal on days in the parks. But the more we visit, the less we have to see the park commando style and can relax at a sitdown meal. We've enjoyed the unique settings for some character dining - eating inside the castle or while watching fish swim by are attractions unto themselves! The menus usually offer healthier options. But the biggest reason we enjoy sitdown meals is to relax away from the heat, noise and crowds.

[RMulieri]

After getting up for rope drops, doing the parks steadily all day, we like to sitdown ,have a nice relaxing meal and be waited on.

[TDC Nala]

I visit so much that the parks are no longer my main focus, it's now the food.

[mousiemom]

this always works best for our family because we our early risers so we get a lot done during the morning, have our CS @ the parks and go back to the resort rest a little bit, maybe taking another shower, and enjoy our sit down dinners and sometimes, if we all feel like it, we go back to the parks to watch the nightime shows. we look forward to our dinners at night. we usually talk about the days events and what took place.

[MJAJmom]

With our 2 young boys, I like having a sit down meal to take a little break. I don't like to wait in a long line at CS place, then fight for a table while carrying trays of food and trying to corral 2 little guys behind me. For us, it's just a nice break, a more convienent meal, and I think a little better food quality and selection. Plus we love character meals.

Some TS meals are quicker than others (like Plaza, Sci Fi) and others are a little more formal and may take a little bit long. We can get in/out usually between 35min to 1hour. We don't do 2TS credit, signature dining -- just not practical with youngsters.

We are heavily mixed on TS meals with a few CS meals mixed in. It works great for us, and makes us very happy. Others would be miserable with our strategy. Thankfully, WDW has numerous dining options to satisfy all our opinions!!!

[MIGrandma]

Thanks for the replies. Maybe I prefer counter service meals because there are usually a few years between visits to WDW. If I was able to go often, like some of you get to do, my views on that might change.

My last visit, for a week this past spring, we rarely ate anything in the parks. We had our breakfast at the food court at POR and we had our dinner there too most of the time. But now it will probably be several years, again, before we go to WDW again. :(

[Colleen27]

We rarely ever eat at a sit-down restaurant when we're at Disney. I just don't want to take the time. I'd rather grab something quick at counter service and get eating out of the way so we can get back to enjoying the parks. So, convince me. What's so great about the sit-down restaurants?

Hmm... Air conditioning, getting off our feet, not hunting for a table, enjoying better food, just about everything. And getting to meet characters without waiting in line in the parks is priceless!

We go rather often, almost every year, and usually stay at least a week so there's no big rush to make the most of every minute in the parks. Enjoying food that we can't get at home is just one part of a more "stop and smell the roses" approach to Disney.

[bangzoom6877]

I don't mind a CS lunch since the time the CS locations open for lunch corresponds with my children's normal lunchtime at home, so when we get there it is easy to get a table, DH lets me know what he wants (or just tells me to get him something I think he will like), he waits with the kids at the table and I go up and get our food.

However, for dinner, it's another story. Generally wherever we are on vacation, we go to a sit-down restaurant or a buffet restaurant for dinner. We are the people on cruises who eat in the regular dining room every night, not at the buffet at poolside. We are the people on road trips who would eat at a Red Robin or something of the sort, rather than go to McDonald's or Wendy's for dinner. And we are the people who schedule a dinner ADR every night at Disney World.

The reasons we prefer a TS restaurant for dinner are air conditioning, not having to find a table when it is crowded (we go in the summer, pretty crowded then), having better food, the ambiance (we love character meals), etc.

What we do is get to the park before rope drop so we wait in fewer lines. We take a break and go back to the resort by 2PM, then either return to the park for a dinner ADR between 5 and 6, or go to a dinner ADR at that time at a resort hotel. It makes the trip much more relaxing for us, prevents our little guys from having meltdowns, and it is a welcome break at the end of the day to sit down to a nice meal.

TS is not for everyone. I know plenty of people who prefer doing all or most CS meals and prefer to spend every minute in the park from the moment it opens until the moment it closes. I also know plenty of people who do not like to get up early on vacation, so they get to the park at 11 or 12 and stay all day, and they prefer to do CS because they are busy waiting in long lines and going on rides. And there are some who schedule just a couple of character meals for the experience you cannot get anywhere else. Everyone is different.

I love good food on vacation. It is the one time, besides the holidays, when I allow myself to really indulge. IMO, you could get good food at both CS and TS at WDW, and there is plenty of variety with both too. It's really just a matter of preference. I enjoyed all of it!

[My2Angels]

The sit down meals can be really fun!
My kids love the character meals, Chef Mickey's, especially.
1900 Park Fare was hilarious with the step sisters, and I will never forget my daughter getting to dance the waltz with Prince Charming on her 7th birthday! Unforgettable.
We love Whispering Canyon for all the antics and the kids love the pony races.
We love Ohana for the fun atmosphere and again the kids had a blast doing the limbo and dancing around the room while the host sang and played his ukalele.
To us, the sit down meals are just as much of the magic of Disney as the parks!:goodvibes