3 under 4. How may ts?

[ejrj]

Question for those of you with multiple little ones.

Let me qualify that we are not qs only people. We will be doing a mix of qs & ts. With the new cc rules though, I'm trying to really think through how may ts meals will be doable. I can't really look to what we do now as the kids are very young (2 @ 13 months, 1 @ 3) so obviously we don't eat out more than once a week, if that. I would like to do a signature or two and we like to have a real breakfast each am. Correction, Daddy does much better having had a proper breakfast.

So if you have traveled with lots of little ones, how many ts meals did your kids find reasonable? One a day? Two a day?

Thanks.

 

[MicRac]

We have a five year old and a two year old. We did deluxe dining and had anywhere between two to three table service meals each day and found it very relaxing with our children. We started with a big breakfast in the morning around 8 am or so then lunch around 1 and then supper at 8. The breakfast in the morning help to wake them up and be ready for the park and then a nice meal at supper time helped to make them sleepy so they went to bed easily.

 

[ejrj]

Thank you. I am debating upgrading to deluxe or just bumping our (then) 4 yo to an adult. If we do regular dp, I know we will still have oop for additional snacks for the twin two year olds and also a few oop meals so that we can do ts breakfast and ts dinner on a few days. If we just go for it with deluxe I think we will pay more than we would have spent the other way (by a few hundred) BUT we would also do more signatures/characters/etc. If I can decided if the kids will be able to handle lots of ts, then I can justify the extra cost...

 

[MicRac]

Something else we found was that the table service were less chaotic that counter service meal. We ate at ABC commissary and found that to be hectic with little kids trying to stand in line and watch them and then get the fixings and find a table its like going to a regular fast food chain which is not my choice for vacation. Being able to sit with them at the table and let them color with the kids menus and crayons provided was much nicer.

 

[moparop]

Thank you. I am debating upgrading to deluxe or just bumping our (then) 4 yo to an adult. If we do regular dp, I know we will still have oop for additional snacks for the twin two year olds and also a few oop meals so that we can do ts breakfast and ts dinner on a few days. If we just go for it with deluxe I think we will pay more than we would have spent the other way (by a few hundred) BUT we would also do more signatures/characters/etc. If I can decided if the kids will be able to handle lots of ts, then I can justify the extra cost...

If you bump the 4 year old up to an adult on the DDP, you also need to buy them an adult park ticket. Just want to make sure you are calculating costs accurately!

 

[ejrj]

If you bump the 4 year old up to an adult on the DDP, you also need to buy them an adult park ticket. Just want to make sure you are calculating costs accurately!

Thanks. We will travel in the fall when free DP is (hopefully) offered so it would just be the cost difference to up her to an adult ticket, as you mentioned. And that part to my shock was next to nothing!

 

[Hopefully]

Thank you. I am debating upgrading to deluxe or just bumping our (then) 4 yo to an adult. If we do regular dp, I know we will still have oop for additional snacks for the twin two year olds and also a few oop meals so that we can do ts breakfast and ts dinner on a few days. If we just go for it with deluxe I think we will pay more than we would have spent the other way (by a few hundred) BUT we would also do more signatures/characters/etc. If I can decided if the kids will be able to handle lots of ts, then I can justify the extra cost...

I'm confused. What do you think bumping your 4 YO to an adult will gain you? You will still have the same number of credits to use, but they will be all adult credits. The adult menus very likely will not have food available that the 4 YO likes. Does he like spicey food? Is he used to lots of sauces and more "exoctic" vegtables? Most folks, not all for sure, find that the kids menus work better for their kids. Maybe your 4 YO has adult tastes.
Just wondering.

 

[ejrj]

I'm confused. What do you think bumping your 4 YO to an adult will gain you? You will still have the same number of credits to use, but they will be all adult credits. The adult menus very likely will not have food available that the 4 YO likes. Does he like spicey food? Is he used to lots of sauces and more "exoctic" vegtables? Most folks, not all for sure, find that the kids menus work better for their kids. Maybe your 4 YO has adult tastes.
Just wondering.

Bumping her to an adult gains me a full menu of options rather than (at many places) chicken fingers, macaroni, etc. In addition to more options, I'm gaining larger portions - our twins will be 2 1/2 at the time of travel. Not old enough for dp but certainly old enough to require their own plates of food. And those girls (our younger ones) like 'exotic' foods. Last week at a middle eastern festival they devoured very heavily spiced food. So that has what has lead me to that thinking.

 

[summermac]

You could also consider doing more buffets. Kids under 3 are free but they do get a plate. And even your older child could choose adult food. The kids are not forced to only choose from the kid-friendly selections at the buffet like they are at regular TS meals. The free buffets were part of the reason why the DDP was such a cost savings for us on our last trip and won't be this time. Adding another child (who was free last time) is costing us $15 a day for DDP if we decide to add DDP.

Also, you could consider bumping one of the twins age up to buy them the DDP rather than bumping your 4 YO up to adult. Although yeah that's not such a good idea in hindsight I guess b/c you're going from FREE ticket to one child ticket. Never mind.

 

[NLD]

Bumping the four-year-old to an adult, when using a free dining discount, makes perfect sense. She then has the full range of menu options available to her. If she still wants kid food, she can still order it. But if she doesn't want nuggets or pizza, she has other options available.

We had free dining booked originally for our January trip and I did the same for my dd. We've since switched to a room-only discount, paying OOP for food, so it's not an issue for us now. But absolutely if we'd kept free dining, bumping her up to the adult plan would have been the way to go.

As for number of TS meals.... well, I'm one of those who doesn't even like one TS meal per day. So take that for what it's worth.

Two or three TS meals a day seems like a LOT for little kids, though. I know a PP said it worked well for their kids, so it's probably different for every family. And you know your kids best.

I just think that many TS is a lot of time in restaurants. When my dd is there, she wants rides... not sititng in restaurants, which we can do at home. If your little ones will take naps during the day too, now you're REALLY talking about cutting park time short.

 

[pixarmom]

I'll just add that two TS per day works really well for us. Our boys are older now, ages 4, 11 and 12. We initially thought CS would be best with kids and years ago, we would only book one TS per day. Over time, we learned that at least two TS per day works best for all of us. Lately, we've either eaten breakfast in the club lounge at our resort or booked a character breakfast, followed by a lunch ADR and a dinner ADR. It's actually not much more food than CS because we don't do the dining plan anymore so we have the flexibility to order light at any meal.

Multiple TS per day gives us a designated break time and forces some downtime. (And our boys have never done scheduled naps at WDW, so that downtime is really important for us - when we keep going without it, people can get crabby.) We don't have to stand in line, juggle plates or find a table. When it's hot or rainy, we have somewhere to sit and eat that is guaranteed to be cool and dry.

As for the time, we are usually in and out of TS restaurants as quickly as we want to be. Either we already know the menu or we review it in advance so everyone has a general idea of what they might like. We don't order multiple courses. We sometimes ask for the check as we're finishing our meal so we're ready to go as soon as the kids finish eating. So we don't feel like we're really much missing park time, and if we are, it's worth it to slow down and take a break.

This works for even our most "energetic" son. He had difficulty in restaurants at home to the point where we didn't go out to eat as much when he was a toddler. At WDW, he is always entertained and the service is relatively quick. As a result, he has been happy and very well behaved in WDW restaurants. It went so well that we started booking signatures and have really enjoyed that!

So I agree with the previous poster that it really depends on the kids and the family. And it's hard to know in advance what will work. But more TS with kids works far better for us than CS.

 

[Marthasor]

Two TS a day has worked wonderfully for us and DS 4. We typically eat breakfast in our room and then do TS lunch and dinner. I find this much easier than QS or buffets. At TS we simply sit down and the food is brought to us. With QS and buffets, my DH and I are constantly tag teaming for napkins, condiments, getting our own food, seconds, etc. It's not relaxing at all. I just traveled to WDW alone with my DS and QS and buffets were extremely difficult. I vote for 2 or 3 TS a day with children that age. it's your vacation, too. You need to relax and enjoy as much as you can.

 

[MusicMouse]

Instead of TS buffets for the kids, I would suggest TS restaurants that serve "family style". That way your youngest kids can still get all of the regular "grown-up" food that they can eat and you don't have to keep getting up to get things off of a buffet. I only have two small boys, and I always feel like I get very little time to eat because I have to go get food for everyone else!

 

[ejrj]

Instead of TS buffets for the kids, I would suggest TS restaurants that serve "family style". That way your youngest kids can still get all of the regular "grown-up" food that they can eat and you don't have to keep getting up to get things off of a buffet. I only have two small boys, and I always feel like I get very little time to eat because I have to go get food for everyone else!

Yes, generally speaking I've never been a buffet girl. And although I know we'd have lots of food selection (and plenty of it) I sort of foresee the buffets as being a chore in regard to up and down and what not. So, Ohana is family style, CRT, what other ones?

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Yes, generally speaking I've never been a buffet girl. And although I know we'd have lots of food selection (and plenty of it) I sort of foresee the buffets as being a chore in regard to up and down and what not. So, Ohana is family style, CRT, what other ones?

Garden Grill, Hoop Dee Doo Review

 

[hannahdrewmom]

Yes, generally speaking I've never been a buffet girl. And although I know we'd have lots of food selection (and plenty of it) I sort of foresee the buffets as being a chore in regard to up and down and what not. So, Ohana is family style, CRT, what other ones?

Akersuer House

We have little ones. I HATE cs. I end up having to hold the kids while daddy gets the food. Then we have to find the highchairs, navigate the crowds, wipe down the table. Then make sure the condiments are there and the utensils. It takes us FOREVER to get settled... and then we have to deal with the clean up ourselves.

We do dxdp and we tend to do family style when we can. The idea of upgrading your daughter to an adult would work well though. The kids meals are big we normally can share between 2 kids and still have food left. So it's likely you can share a kids meal and then some off your plates. BUT... if you pay oop for the kids meals (which average about $8) then you have a bunch more adult meals that you can you for you and DH and therefore add more meals to your overall plan.

 

[ejrj]

hmmmm....food for thought.



sorry. couldn't help it.

 

[CarrieR]

Liberty Tree Tavern is family-style at dinner.

I've never taken kids to WDW, but in the "real world," I prefer taking the kids to TS over CS any day. My nanny charges started eating at kid-friendly TS restaurants from a very small age, placed their own orders off the menu as toddlers (with assistance, of course,) and we worked hard on table manners and how to communicate with servers. I wanted them to be able to go out with their parents and for Mom and Dad to have an enjoyable time. Fast food is just way harder, IMO, with standing in line, sorting out the orders, everyone's food, etc.

A lot of that is going to depend on the temprament of your kids, though. Some kids simply cannot sit with "restaurant behavior," especially that many times in a day. So I think for me, the defining question would be, "How are my kids in a restaurant?" With kids who know and understand that it's an hour of sitting down, using soft voices, and staying in one spot -- and for whom eating out is a treat -- it might be a joy. For kids who don't have the personality to spend that much time in quiet play at the table, it could be a disaster to ask them to do it multiple times a day.

 

[meredith1]

Question for those of you with multiple little ones.

Let me qualify that we are not qs only people. We will be doing a mix of qs & ts. With the new cc rules though, I'm trying to really think through how may ts meals will be doable. I can't really look to what we do now as the kids are very young (2 @ 13 months, 1 @ 3) so obviously we don't eat out more than once a week, if that. I would like to do a signature or two and we like to have a real breakfast each am. Correction, Daddy does much better having had a proper breakfast.

So if you have traveled with lots of little ones, how many ts meals did your kids find reasonable? One a day? Two a day?

Thanks.

I applaud you for even contemplating all three. I have a 3.5 year old and 15 month twins. We are leaving the babies with my mom and taking our older daughter. When we get brave enough to take all three, we will take my parents with us as well.

I would just do early meals so if they don't do well they won't disturb others at nice restaurants and take a bag of distractions like paper and crayons....

GL and have fun!

ETA-we did get the DxDP this go around so we could take advantage of the character meals and signature dining. What the experienced moms here have said about QS and children makes complete sense....I can't imagine trying to juggle all that with three little ones-yuck!

 

[ejrj]

I applaud you for even contemplating all three. I have a 3.5 year old and 15 month twins. We are leaving the babies with my mom and taking our older daughter. When we get brave enough to take all three, we will take my parents with us as well.

I would just do early meals so if they don't do well they won't disturb others at nice restaurants and take a bag of distractions like paper and crayons....

GL and have fun!

ETA-we did get the DxDP this go around so we could take advantage of the character meals and signature dining. What the experienced moms here have said about QS and children makes complete sense....I can't imagine trying to juggle all that with three little ones-yuck!

Funny - our children's bdays must be pretty close to yours (we are 5/24/08 & 8/30/2010). We thought about grandparents coming but we are both only children and didn't want one set of parents to feel left out...nor did we think we wanted the whole crew with us this go round. We don't have family here in the States so we are very used to doing EVERYTHING with all three girls.