2 meal or 3 meal plan

[CruznLexi]

We are planning a trip with our 2 nephews next Jan 11/17 plan to stay at Pop which dinning plan the 2 or the 3.
Lexi

 

[Matt'nMeg'sMom]

How old are your nephews? Appetite seems to be the deciding factor.

I used the basic Dining Plan during our stay at the All Star Music. I have a family of four: two adults, and two kids who were 7 and 4 at the time. They eat like BIRDS. Rather than waste a valuable meal credit on a non-eater: we bought less food, shared our meals, and easily stretched the DP to three meals a day.

As a family, we had four snacks, four counters, and four tables per day. We budgeted our meals like this:

Breakfast Two counters (large adult breakfast platters) and a snack (large fruit cup). We used refillable cups for milk. We never ever bought a carton of milk -- the coffee "creamer" in the beverage stations is milk.

Lunch: Two counters (large adult meal combos with drinks) and two snacks (fruit or side dishes)

Afternoon: We'd share a snack, like a large french fries or something.

Dinner: Four tables.​

We found out that as long as we only bought two counters as a time, we could order from the ADULT menu. If we tried to buy four counters at a time, the cashiers would limit us to the two adults and two kids meals as stated on our key-cards. It was better to split the counters up across b'fast and lunch.

We always had food left over, and everyone was always full.

 

[CruznLexi]

my nephews will be 11 and 17 and can put a lot of food away. That was my thinking for the meal plan for 3 meals. If it was just hubby and I we would do the 2.
Lexi

 

[Jimdvc]

my nephews will be 11 and 17 and can put a lot of food away. That was my thinking for the meal plan for 3 meals. If it was just hubby and I we would do the 2.
Lexi

My guess is that a 11 and 17 year old will soon get frustrated with being told "no we can't get in line to ride the cosmic master blaster, that you talked about all winter, we have an ADR at Pooh's grand buffet, in 55 mins, so we need to be able to get there so we can eat our chicken and salad".

2TS meals a day will consume well over 4 hours of your time with getting there early for the ADR, waiting, not being able to get in line 30-45 mins prior to the adr time, travel time to the place you are eating.

I urge you to going with one TS a day. I assure you the CS lunch is enough for 2 people. Portions within WDW are much larger then any of us eat while at home.

 

[robemcdo]

My guess is that a 11 and 17 year old will soon get frustrated with being told "no we can't get in line to ride the cosmic master blaster, that you talked about all winter, we have an ADR at Pooh's grand buffet, in 55 mins, so we need to be able to get there so we can eat our chicken and salad".

2TS meals a day will consume well over 4 hours of your time with getting there early for the ADR, waiting, not being able to get in line 30-45 mins prior to the adr time, travel time to the place you are eating.

I urge you to going with one TS a day. I assure you the CS lunch is enough for 2 people. Portions within WDW are much larger then any of us eat while at home.

I agree with Jimmy above. One sitdown is hard enough to incorporate into your day. With three meals you will be like the icon above....BEACHED

 

[Pumbaa_]

Moving to the DDP board for more views.

The other thing to consider is changes to the plan for 2009. If there are any changes that may change what you want.

I agree with the PP, 2-3 meals a day is alot of time. Will you di signature dining too?

 

[stagemomx3]

It's not quite as simple as 2 meals or 3 meals. With the 2 meal plan you are limited to only 1 table service, and the other has to be counter service. On the 3 meal plan all 3 can be table service or counter service. Plus you get 2 snacks instead of one.

We decided on the deluxe plan because we wanted to pre-pay for more of our meals, and I didn't want to be stressed out all the time about which meals to use our credits for and which ones to pay oop. Plus I don't want to have to freak out about snacks during the day.

 

[Dogslider]

We have opted to go with the Deluxe Plan this time. I am sure it will take up a little more time for eating this way, but I hate the thought of standing in CS lines while others go in search of a table.
We will be 2 adults, 2 17 yr olds, 7 yr old and a 5 yr old. I have to disagree about the counter service meals always being big enough to share. Most in our group can eat a whole cheeseburger at home and do so on vacation too. The last thing I would want to add to the waiting in line, finding a table thing is having 6 people agree on 3 meals to share and then deciding on who will share with who. Just not worth it to us.

 

[disneyfan2]

We used refillable cups for milk. We never ever bought a carton of milk -- the coffee "creamer" in the beverage stations is milk.

Wow, is this new, last time i had to ask for milk to use with my cream, they went to the back room after 5 min they returned with small portions of milk. so it was not worth the wait. If they offer milk, then i would buy the refillable mugs again. Was this like that, the entire week? i wonder if it was a fluke?

 

[CruznLexi]

I liked the plan because (3) no worries about food. We would probably do 2 counters and TS a day. We might use 2 for the Hoop De Doo but if they get hungary there is food such as counter service. Plus I like they mug that is a $50 savings right there and save the money for tips and soviners.
Lexi

 

[accountingbabe08]

we loved it. We used it for lunch and dinner one day the others. were breakfast and lunch. I traveled with my two sons 18 and 15 and my daughter 7 . we are not wealthy by any means we like it because we can go to places like Chef Mickey's and Teppan Edo chef mickey's was my first ever 29.99 per person buffet or a 29 filet mignon. we might do at home chile's for a birthday but eating out is not something we do on a regular basis. Even paying the tips wasn't bad. we enjoyed our dinners very much. In october I will do Dxddp again. the plan cost us 698 for 3 days. with the mugs, meals and snack we would have spent 1135. without the plan

 

[PFLOYD]

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[TLSnell1981]

We are using the deluxe....mostly because we don't care much for Disney's CS and because we do a lot of character meals. We use our meal time for a little R&R. We have always still had time to ride what we wanted. My kids can EAT.....A LOT. They also enjoy being able to order anything their hearts desire.

 

[tejasranger]

We just got back Feb 2nd and we used the deluxe dining plan because my husband is handicapped and the 3 sit down meals were easier for us.

 

[Matt'nMeg'sMom]

Wow, is this new, last time i had to ask for milk to use with my cream, they went to the back room after 5 min they returned with small portions of milk. so it was not worth the wait. If they offer milk, then i would buy the refillable mugs again. Was this like that, the entire week? i wonder if it was a fluke?

I don't know if it was a fluke. We stayed at the All-Stars, and the beverage station had a "coffee creamer" dispenser in it. It was milk.

 

[Melissa_E]

We did the three meal a day plan and only ate two real meals. What we did was scheduled an early breakfast, usually before the park opened so we could be in the park before rope drop, or at a resort early. That worked out really well for us, we got great pictures and had something in our stomachs to keep us energized for the day.

Then we would either split a CS for lunch if we needed or just buy a bunch of snacks to share. We would then do a TS dinner. We had a number of these right in the same park we were in. It wasn't hard to get to our ADRs at all.