14 nights/13 days 2A/3C/1I regular dining plan...will our stomachs explode?

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I'm stressing over eating a TS every day!!! We have ADRs, I'm just worried we won't want to eat ever again after 2 weeks on the dining plan. My other issue is that this may be our only trip to WDW and don't want to pass up on eating at several TS experiences.

My choices

1) Eat our 5 must eat TS over the 2 weeks, the rest CS. $1750 aprox

2) DDP week one, OOP week 2 with 3 ADRs and the rest CS. $1800 aprox

3) 2 weeks of DDP, plus an OOP must of T Rex and afternoon tea with my girls (also included in other option calculations) $2150 aprox

All calculations include tips. OOP CS would be 4 adult meals shared between the 6 of us.

 

[MsPeggySue911]

I would say do the dining plan the whole time.

I am going in October and we plan on doing one table service meal per day. It will be the first time in my life where I have gone OUT TO EAT 10 days in a row and will probably never happen again in my lifetime so I made our ADR's and am going to just try to enjoy it.

I made sure to make our dinner res at 7 to 7:30 so we don't lose any park time from any of the parks.

 

[tinka-belle]

We've done the DDP for two weeks and found it just right. Since we often split a large CS meal for lunch we end up with a few extra CS credits but use those for breakfast now and then (not big breakfast eaters) or a late night CS that we split for a snack (nachos, individual pizza, etc.)

Even though you have one TS meal per day, there is no law that says you can't order an entree salad or something light now and then. You can get fruit or sorbet at most TS for dessert. Forget about ordering steak or the most expensive thing on the menu if you're not too hungry that day. Order what you want to eat, not what will look good on a "see how much money I saved" trip report.

We order our fair share of steak etc. during the two week trip, but balance it with some lighter fare too. We enjoy a couple of buffets each week, but try to space those ADRs a few days apart since we do tend to try nearly everything that looks good on those dinner buffets. Sometimes we book a signature meal and use 2 TS credits, doing a "snacks & CS day" to balance it.

No need to explode after two weeks of DDP if you don't eat a heavy meal every day.

 

[squirrel]

I'm heading back for another 14 nights of DDP in October.

In the past I have booked one 2TS credit meal and had one day of CS meals. This year I'm not doing a 2TS meal. I do have a non-park day with a TS breakfast and a TS dinner. I like to keep our MNSSHP day and night free from TS meals.

I share my CS meals most of the time with my niece (4.5 yrs).

 

[sukhakuli]

We're going for the same length of time you are, and with 3 kids on the dining plan as well. Right now I'm planning on the regular dining plan, and then breaking things up with several signature meals. So we're doing CRT, some dinner shows, and LeCellier/Yachtsman/California Grill (not sure if we're going to do them all, or just one or what yet). Those 2 credit meals eat up your table service credits fast! So we won't have a sit down meal every day. But, we're staying in the Ft Wilderness cabins, so we'll have a full kitchen, also, and that will help get us out of restaurants as well. I have small kids also, and it gets really old for them to eat out all the time! I am going to try my best to book places that keep the kids entertained while we eat, but even then, they get sick of it.

I wasn't going to get the plan, but then I priced out about 4 days of what we would probably end up buying for meals, and after those 4 days the dining plan was going to save us about $100 (not including tips, or tax for the OOP), so we decided to give it a shot.

 

[Halloweenluv03]

I like to keep our MNSSHP day and night free from TS meals.

I was thinking the same thing for our honeymoon. We're going to do DTD in the morning and then the party that night. Since we're going Spirit of Aloha, we don't really need that TS for the day. And it's in the middle of our stay, so it will give us a break from TS, although I think my hubby to be would enjoy TS for every meal!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

For our MNSSHP day I booked the latest Cape May breakfast since we are staying AT BC. Okay I added a 3rd 2TS meal to our 2 week trip and spaced out the buffet/AYCE meals. DH and I will likely not order a dessert at most meals or we will share.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

some years we have done ddp others not but we have always eaten 2ts per day as we are a big breakfast and big dinner with little in between kind of family.

To be honest most ts (with the exception of buffets and family style meals) are not that large and you only get entree and dessert. Often we take our dessert with us to eat later in the evening.

one snack per day will happily buy you a portion of fruit or a soft drink or ice-cream. It's not a lot of foodIMHO - equally if you do a few signature meals you will use your 2ts per day and have other days where you have no ts allowance.

Not sure what you expect to eat but one takeaway and one sit down meal doesn't seem a lot and most people have to add to it either by oop or grocery order if you want breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

[squirrel]

I do a lot of sharing of CS meals. That's how we stretch them. I don't eat a lot in one sitting and I'd rather share it than throw half away.

The first two years I took my oldest niece to WDW. She's lactose intollerant so we didn't share as many meals as she had to have special pizza and waffles. Some days we had popcorn and a slushy drink for lunch-seemed to happen at DHS at least twice, not sure what we did the other days. We just needed a little something to make it till dinner as we weren't that hungry.

I think we found the heat just zapped our hunger and we just mostly drank water/powerade.

The second year I packed Cheerios for breakfast in the room to save time as it took so long to get a Chef and then have my nieces' waffles made. We would have a hot breakfast on our non-park days.

I still bring Cheerios for breakfast as it's faster than going to the food court. I like to be at the parks as soon as possible.