.

[Goofy'sPal]

Going on my second Solo trip in Sept. I did the regular dining plan last time. I remember it is a lot of food. Im doing regular dining plan again. This time with free dining. Still might get a extra snack and breakfast hear and there but u do get a lot of food with dining plan. Some find it helpful others do not. I my self like the dining plan

 

[Lyndarella]

To save $ I make sandwiches while I am there. Also, I bring instant oatmeal from home, coffee, and snacks. I know where the largest kid meals are and other low cost items like mini corn dogs and soup... I do have favorite QS and TS spots as well, but try to save $ when I can, so I can take more trips!

 

[anne m]

To save $ I make sandwiches while I am there. Also, I bring instant oatmeal from home, coffee, and snacks. I know where the largest kid meals are and other low cost items like mini corn dogs and soup... I do have favorite QS and TS spots as well, but try to save $ when I can, so I can take more trips!

when i go on my next trip in January, i want to do kids meals for cost and size. Can you let me know where are the largest kids meals?

 

[SueDonym3]

I like the regular DP. Not because of savings, though I usually go when free dining is offered. I have also paid for it when it is not-simply because I like having my vacation pre-paid. I agree with PP who said they paid more OOP. Vacation style for me-I usually take granola bars and use the refillable mug for my morning caffeine buzz. I like a counter service for lunch and a nice TS for dinner-dining at Disney is part of the experience so I like to try different restaurants. As for comfort level-I recommend try eating out in your hometown and see how comfortable you are. If it is too much-stick to counter service or the bar. If you are ok with it then plan some TS meals. If you get really brave-try a character meal-they can be fun, even solo.

 

[Businessgypsy]

To avoid waiting for a table I just sat the bar and ate, which the bartender didn't seem very happy about, particularly when I just asked for water I did tip him 20%.

I love eating at the bar! Sorry about the bartender being a douchenozzle, but it does provide an opportunity to punish him back by laughing, asking inane questions and being a general nuisance. You can leave - he can't! We're wearing weird clothes, hugging giant anthropomorphic mice and paying for a life of fantasy - eating alone shouldn't be such a stretch for us

 

[wolffie777]

I've eaten at the Kona Island Sushi Bar twice in the past month. You can order off the Kona Cafe menu. Once I sat at the bar against the windows overlooking the entry garden area and the monorails. Last week I sat at the actual sushi bar. Both times I had Scott as my waiter and he was great. He remembered me, too, but probably because I chatted him up AND tipped him well. Again, easy to get a seat without reservations because of dining solo.

 

[raddisneyfan]

I go solo again in December and I did the regular DP once. I don't like the TS part of the DP because it always includes dessert instead of appetizer or salad. So, I basically do my own thing, but tend to do 1 TS a day. Here's my ADR plan for December.
Sat--Dinner Kona Cafe Polynesian
Sun--Lunch Sanaa AKL
Mon--Lunch Yak & Yeti AK
Tue--Breakfast BOMA AKL
Wed--Fantasmic Dinner Package Hollywood Brown Derby HS
Thu--Candlelight Process Dinner Package La Hacienda de San Angel EP
Fri--Dinner The Wave CR
Sat--Lunch Spice Road Table EP

I have a tendency to cancel things as I go along, but I feel I need something out there just in case.

I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter what your plan.

 

[cijay]

I am often okay with dining alone in informal table service, I don't know how well I will do at the dining rooms on the cruise next year. As for the parks, you'd never know it if you saw me but sometimes I forget to eat all day! I think I just think...okay, if I eat, then I'll have to use the washroom in about an hour...and by then I could be in a line up somewhere and have to leave. LOL

 

[Accident]

Going solo I tend to do more foodie snack things than when I'm with a group. I find the meal plan doesn't fit how I go solo well. After I initially book without a meal plan, I'll schedule adrs and see what I can get. From there I kind of know roughly what my trip is going to look like and can sort out if the meal plan makes sense and alter my reservation if it does. In reality, I tend to eat more smaller meals during the day instead of grabbing lunch or dinner. Outside of MK, a lot of places have a bar you don't reserve a seat to be at. It's really easy to walk in almost anywhere, sit at the bar, grab a quick appetizer (with or without alcohol, doesn't matter), and the next time a place strikes my interest, repeat.

 

[Dr. Seaker]

Personally I end up eating more when I'm solo (I just came back from a 2 week commando and gained about 15lbs).

I don't do dining plan because i don't snack (so I'm leaving a lot of $$ on the table) and I don't like to be restricted to WDW only...there's a lot of good restaurants at USO and Orlando in general.

I'll do a table service a day (sometimes 2)..eating at the bar or outside most times (it feels odd being at a 4 top in the dining room solo). I'll also do some good QS if I have a limited time frame (Be our guest, Yak and Yeti QS, Harambe Market, Fire Eaters Grill, Yellow Dog Eats, etc.). I don't cheep out on food tho (if I'm by myself) cuz I'ma foodie and it adds a nice dimension to a solo trip.

 

[Goofy'sPal]

Just came back from a great solo trip if u have questions

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

Two years ago my cousin and I got a free DP when visiting for a week.
I'm a big girl and one of my favorite things to do at WDW is eat! The DP (regular, not deluxe) was plenty for both of us and we even had a few snacks left over at the end of our trip.
(Took some things with us for the flight..)
I don't usually eat breakfast, though, so maybe it would have felt different if I did.
Some days we ended up eating two QS meals instead of one QS and one TS. That also saved us paying the 18% gratuity...
Next time I go (considering solo in the near future) I'll definitely hope to land another free DP and if I don't I'd consider paying for one.

 

[BagOLaughs]

I've done the quick service dining plan and it is a lot of food! We didn't need to purchase any other meals.

 

[gleap003]

i have done the dp with my family and i have gone with out it also. i like it and i go to places i wouldn't go because of it.
but in saying that this is been with my family I'm going in march solo and I'm probably going to still do the dinning plane. i just like it and if you like to eat at places that are pricey and can use your credits wisely you will at lest feel like your getting a deal.

 

[SaraJR]

so this made me think of this funny story so i went with my partner and one day i off with a friend and he went to the espn bar alone he had fun but said they sat him in the direct middle of the room and that part was awkward for a bit

 

[Dug720]

Out of curiosity, I just looked at the dining plans, and even the basic (1CS, 1TS, 1 snack) was like $1500!! I NEVER spend that much on food when I'm alone!! Typically I'm looking at MAYBE $100/day for food on a solo trip, and that's if I'm extravagant on snacks/beverages (more likely to happen in EPCOT because World Showcase), so for a 5-njght trip that's like $500 tops for food. I can definitely save that extra $1000 for something else!!

I would take a good look at the menus of the places you're thinking of eating, think about your eating pattern when traveling and/or in theme parks, and do a rough price-out to see what you come up with before committing to a dining plan (I know I could still add it if I wanted to - that's how I know what the price for mine came out to).

Like several others on here have posted, I might do 1 TS meal a day (in my case it's often a character breakfast around 8:30 or 9 since I'm not OMG MUST BE AT ROPE DROP - I can eat my fill at the buffet), and then the rest of the day is little snacks here and there. I will get the refillable mug, and I'll carry a refillable water bottle into the park with me (as long as they keep allowing that) - and more often than not, I'll bring Luna bars to eat for breakfast on non-character buffet mornings (occasionally I'll do a "linner" at one of the World Showcase restaurants) and to throw one in my bag to have later in the day.

 

[Dug720]

I am often okay with dining alone in informal table service, I don't know how well I will do at the dining rooms on the cruise next year. As for the parks, you'd never know it if you saw me but sometimes I forget to eat all day! I think I just think...okay, if I eat, then I'll have to use the washroom in about an hour...and by then I could be in a line up somewhere and have to leave. LOL

Solo on the cruse is AWESOME!!! I had requested a solo table for my cruise last year - didn't initially get it, but I tried it for a night. They seemed to have seated the three solos together - me and two guys who got along FAMOUSLY and spent the whole dinner talking real estate and conservative politics and other things I didn't really pay attention to because either a) I am not into the whole real estate thing, and b) I am FAR from conservative so that would have just been awkward... so I read on my nook between courses that first night until I could escape without it being too obvious I was escaping. The next night I was at Palo (DEFINITELY do that solo - it is AWESOME!!!! They treat everyone fantastic there, but as a solo you are ROYALTY!). I'd thought I'd give Cabanas a try the following night, but it was like they said "What are Beth's least favorite things on the MDR menus? Let's put them all on the Cabanas menu!" so I headed to my assigned dining room while first seating was going on and spoke with one of the managers to see if I could get moved to a private table. She was SOOOOOO accommodating - she said to just see the manager at the podium when I got there and s/he would see me to my new table. I had to change servers, but my new ones were AWESOME!!! I actually never needed my nook when I was alone because my assistant server, my server, and my head server were always over talking with me when they weren't with their other table (it was three families all together at one LONG table - so they only had two "groups"). In fact, my assistant server still asks my sister (who works on the cruise line) about how I'm doing! And the best part was I had the same head server I'd initially had, so I was able to explain to him that it was NOT my initial assistant server and server but the tablemates - he said he totally understood, that he'd observed the interaction the first night and if I hadn't requested the change on my own, he was planning to meet me the third night and ask if I wanted to change tables.

 

[MrLight]

A hundred a day?! I didn't even spend $20 a day on food!

 

[Dug720]

A hundred a day?! I didn't even spend $20 a day on food!

I said AT MOST. I do one sit-down meal per day, so that is going to be more than $20 right there. Most days are much less. I'd rather over budget and have money left than under budget and be scrambling at the end of the trip.

 

[Accident]

I never get the dining plan, it just doesn't save me money and I can do more trips if I pay out of pocket for the same cost. I personally like using the solo freedom to bounce around quick. I've done some sit at the bar sample something at signatures. There's some interesting food things like the gourmet hot dogs at GF they recently started that are on my radar. I'm fine with quick service if i'm hungry depending onhow i'm snacking that day (or if it's food and wine or I'm pub crawling with other disers) but I do try to get a table at 1 or 2 places I've never tried before depending on how long I'm there. the shorter the trip the less likely i'm going to sit down. The really pricey places, going solo is generally the only time I can even consider affording them but those are rare (but moritmotos is on my list now that it's opened).

As far as what I do when dining, that tends to be the day I'll lug around my smaller tablet and do some reading while at dinner. Generally it's in the form of disney blogs because every single trip, i've discovered something special happening that was announced with no warning that I don't want to miss. I can go into some more details on what I've discovered if anyone cares, it might be a little off topic for this..