Restaurant Reservations Critique/Suggestions

[charlesredmore]

So, my wife and I are planning an anniversary trip in September. It will be our 20th. We are hoping to get free dining (though not relying on it), and we have upgraded to the deluxe plan because we wanted to do some signature dining. I haven't really looked at a lot of breakfast options, or using table service credits at lunch, so I wanted a critique of our plan. Do you think it will be to much? Are there better options or strategies? Thinks like that.

Day 1 (arrival) Ohana for dinner
Day 2 MK-Epcot Breakfast: Crystal Palace Lunch: Snack credits at food and wine Dinner Chefs de France
Day 3 AK Breakfast and Lunch: Tusker House Dinner: Tiffins
Day 4 Dis springs-MK: Breakfast: at resort (all things pop) Lunch: House of Blues Dinner: Liberty Tree
Day 5 MK Breakfast: Crystal Palace again Lunch: Skipper Canteen Dinner: BOG
Day 6 Epcot-Boardwalk Breakfast: Garden Grill Lunch: Via Napoli Dinner: Flying Fish
Day 7 all over the place lol Breakfast: Trattoria Alforna Lunch: 50's Prime time Dinner: Hoop De Doo
Day 8 Dis Springs: Skip Breakfast Lunch: Raglin Road Dinner: California Grill

What do ya think?

 

[Wild4Walt]

You've got some great choices there. My only question - why Crystal Palace twice? It it's because you love it, then that's awesome and keep them both. If it's for ease of getting to Epcot, you could also check out Wave at CR. It's an easy walk from the bus stops at MK.

 

[disneyvoice]

For us that would be WAY too much food. Keep in mind that it is extremely uncomfortable to tour the parks when you are stuffed, and eating three table service meals a day drastically cuts down on the time you have for rides and just enjoying being in the park. When we go we skip breakfast and eat lunch about 11:00. If we do a TS for lunch we don't want anything more than a snack later that day or we split something from a QS spot, or split and appetizer and get a few drinks at a bar somewhere on property. If we are planning a TS dinner, we just eat a very small QS lunch around 11:00 so we are actually hungry by dinner. We find that with the heat and being tired from walking around, we just don't have much of an appetite - since you will be there in September it will be VERY hot and humid. As much as we love the many TS options at WDW, we just can't eat that much food. The one time we got the dining plan, we ended up wasting a lot of money on it. We had a ridiculous number of snack credits left over and about a 25% of our QS credits left over as well.

You've picked some great places, however between doing three TS meals a day and all the traveling you will have to do to get to the various restaurants, I don't think you are going to have time to do much of anything besides eat and travel. Since you are there during F&W I would recommend not planning any ADRs for your Epcot days and instead just wander around and eat at the various booths. We were there last month during F&W for a week and didn't have one ADR; we spent almost every day at Epcot trying out the food. I would also try to limit how often you are going from one park or location to another to eat.

 

[charlesredmore]

[QUOTE=" My only question - why Crystal Palace twice?.[/QUOTE] We were thinking, good breakfast and getting into the park early, but I'll check out those other two. Thank!

 

[charlesredmore]

For us that would be WAY too much food. Keep in mind that it is extremely uncomfortable to tour the parks when you are stuffed, and eating three table service meals a day drastically cuts down on the time you have for rides and just enjoying being in the park. When we go we skip breakfast and eat lunch about 11:00. If we do a TS for lunch we don't want anything more than a snack later that day or we split something from a QS spot, or split and appetizer and get a few drinks at a bar somewhere on property. If we are planning a TS dinner, we just eat a very small QS lunch around 11:00 so we are actually hungry by dinner. We find that with the heat and being tired from walking around, we just don't have much of an appetite - since you will be there in September it will be VERY hot and humid. As much as we love the many TS options at WDW, we just can't eat that much food. The one time we got the dining plan, we ended up wasting a lot of money on it. We had a ridiculous number of snack credits left over and about a 25% of our QS credits left over as well.

You've picked some great places, however between doing three TS meals a day and all the traveling you will have to do to get to the various restaurants, I don't think you are going to have time to do much of anything besides eat and travel. Since you are there during F&W I would recommend not planning any ADRs for your Epcot days and instead just wander around and eat at the various booths. We were there last month during F&W for a week and didn't have one ADR; we spent almost every day at Epcot trying out the food. I would also try to limit how often you are going from one park or location to another to eat.

Yeah, I'm worried about having to much food as well. After thanksgiving dinner, my wife said "i'm so stuffed". I said "Yeah, now imagine going and getting on a ride". lol We are in our 40's and are not taking our kids. So we are not going to be focused on the rides. We just want to hang out, do some dark rides. Tour epcot, shop, basically try and do a laid back Disney Trip (if there is such a thing).

So our thinking is: 1:We want don't want to worry about money and want everything pre-paid (I am budgeting for tips though). And we wanted to do several Signature restaurants.

I think if we don't go crazy at the buffets, and order more light dishes (fish, etc) at the table services. We might survive the flood of food lol.

 

[starousse]

We're big on food, but that's way too much, with not enough time in between meals. In my opinion, I would get rid of one of your Crystal Palace Breakfasts, the GG Breakfast, House of Blues lunch, and choose between Tratoria breakfast OR 50s Primetime lunch. You're not going to want to eat a big lunch after a big breakfast. Your dinners look good.

 

[charlesredmore]

We're big on food, but that's way too much, with not enough time in between meals. In my opinion, I would get rid of one of your Crystal Palace Breakfasts, the GG Breakfast, House of Blues lunch, and choose between Tratoria breakfast OR 50s Primetime lunch. You're not going to want to eat a big lunch after a big breakfast. Your dinners look good.

I can see that point, but what should I do with the extra credits? Just use them at quick service, or add more signature dining?

 

[mdelano4]

DW and I did a trip without the kids recently. We love food, but that schedule would have made the trip a disaster. It was first trip there alone and we loved all the walking, browsing and attractions.

You have some great restaurant choices, but in my opinion (for what it's worth) your schedule is too ambitious (cant imagine the buses will cooperate with you) with too much food.

I'd cut it down to one table service a day and stop to smell the roses. Have a great trip!!

 

[starousse]

I can see that point, but what should I do with the extra credits? Just use them at quick service, or add more signature dining?

When we did the deluxe plan, we did either a character breakfast or table service lunch and then a 2 credit signature for dinner.

 

[agavegirl1]

Sounds like you will be going during Food and Wine. DH and I go in October. We could never manage 3 TS per day and sometimes 2 was pushing it. I would add a couple more 2 credit meals in there with some snacks and QS thrown in. That is just our preference though. Your restaurant choices look great.

 

[alldiz]

I am an eater and too much food and time eating.... day 6 jammed me.

When we did deluxe....
Either late bkfst or early lunch with a signature dinner. Even 2 table service seemed like a lot of restaurant time every day.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have never done dining plan because it’s way too much food. But if concerned about budget why not just put aside the money you would have paid for the dining plan and budget that amount for food. We eat cereal or eggs in room, we always have a full kitchen. But even without a kitchen you can generally do a decent breakfast. Share a sandwich at lunch and then enjoy a nice dinner usually with a bottle of wine. Instead of dining plan we get tables in wonderland which is good for 13 months. By the time our latest one expires in April 2018 we will have been to WDW Three Times and will have more than paid for itself.

 

[alldiz]

We have never done dining plan because it’s way too much food. But if concerned about budget why not just put aside the money you would have paid for the dining plan and budget that amount for food. We eat cereal or eggs in room, we always have a full kitchen. But even without a kitchen you can generally do a decent breakfast. Share a sandwich at lunch and then enjoy a nice dinner usually with a bottle of wine. Instead of dining plan we get tables in wonderland which is good for 13 months. By the time our latest one expires in April 2018 we will have been to WDW Three Times and will have more than paid for itself.

I hear you current prices it’s hard to justify.... and TIW card includes alcohol;-)
Kerri

 

[Euby]

I have to agree with the others. That is a lot of food. Most of the portions can be split between 2 people.

There are several websites that have tools you can use to see if the dining plans are cost effective. I’d really recommend checking one of them. You may found out that not using a DDP is better.

 

[PixieT78]

We lean towards 2 meals per day, with a protein bar for breakfast if we don't have an ADR somewhere and then snacks as we want. I think in our upcoming trip we are doing 3 meals one day, but only one is TS and not a buffet.