Am I the only one not doing HB?!

[joscorpio]

We're going for 4 days / 3 nights and will probably only do the Cafe Micky meal. For the other meals, I'm quite happy to eat breakfast at the hotel (Sequoia) and then grab a McD's or other fast food.

I'm traveliing with my 6 year old son, so don't fancy proper sit down restaurants. We live on an island that doesn't have McD's etc, so to us it'll be a treat!

I think it'll be cheaper for us to pay as we go with food rather than HB, especially as the basic HB limits us where we want to eat.

Am I the only one?! And are the rest of you thinking I'm a fool for admitting this

Jo x

 

[cap'njack.]

Not at all Jo!

It's all personal choice. If you aren't planning to use the buffets or the restuarants then HB would be a waste, if however you are (and most people do) then it just represents better value for money than paying when you are there.

 

[euapap]

I also haven't decided if we will get the HB. I am not sure if we will really want to spend time in dinners every day or we will want to eat as quick as possible so that we have time for the rides and park itself.

Can you book a HB at the hotel and eat at restaurants at the park?

 

[DLPdaft]

Hi Jo,

If you want to do counter service at DLRP, then HB won't suit you, and I'm sure lots of others do exactly the same thing .

The reason we do table-service meals is because we visit McDonalds here at home often enough as it is, and we prefer to have our main meal after the parks close. So, if I dont' want to go to McDonalds, the only other real options are the deli place in the Village (with the possibility of not getting a relaxing seat to eat there) or snacks in the bars of the hotels (expensive for what they are).

I think of my table-service meals as a treat in themselves while we are at DLRP, a part of my holiday if you like .

 

[monno2]

At this moment in time we haven't got HB either (going end of May).
Haven't booked direct with Disney (went through Expedia) so will maybe ring up the week before and enquire as to whether we can (if I can convince OH it's worth it!). Folks on here seem to think we can but I'm not convinced!
Guess it all depends on what food you want and whether the rate at the time will be worth it.

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

I agree, sitting down for a TS lunch or dinner is a main highlight of our trip esp as i always end up doing the more expensive meals so HB saves me a lot of money.

But if your planning on CS and Mcdonalds your not better off buying HBV vouchers.

 

[mommy2ash]

we didnt get half board on our first two visits but will be getting them next time round. i was really disapointed with the counter service options in dlrp. the quality was quite poor and i had often to wait twenty minutes in a queue of three or four people. however in the park i would eat at toad hall and my dd liked caseys for chicken nuggets.

if you plan on eating mcdonalds and the like then obviously half board is no use to you. and there are plenty of people who dont get them.

 

[poppyolivia]

My goodness your son is going to love you so much.....my kids love to eat like that on holiday and trust me we have done it before but this time since we seemed to have got a good deal compared to the previous years we thought we would go HB.....we loved it but hey next time we might do the mcdonalds etc thing again.....

no matter what, you are going to have a braw time!!!!!

 

[poppyolivia]

At this moment in time we haven't got HB either (going end of May).
Haven't booked direct with Disney (went through Expedia) so will maybe ring up the week before and enquire as to whether we can (if I can convince OH it's worth it!). Folks on here seem to think we can but I'm not convinced!
Guess it all depends on what food you want and whether the rate at the time will be worth it.

yeah for us the euro played a big part in it.....for £13 an adult forthe HB voucher we could eat at places that were 25€ per adult!!! I felt like we were stealing!!

for 2 adult mcdonalds meals and one happy meal we were about 20€.

 

[Roon]

Hello we never get the HB vouchers as son and hubby will only eat at Planet Hollywood. Doesn't matter what you do as long as you enjoy what you do.

 

[disneydaydreamer72]

I don't like the idea of being tied to a reservation time so thats why we haven't done HB before, though I know you can just turn up if it's during quiet season. Also found that my boys usually didn't want to have a big meal-they were happy to eat little and often. Although I don't know if this worked out any cheaper, I didn't feel like food was being wasted or that I needed to force them to eat more to get our monies worth in the buffet restaurants.
Have discussed HB with my friends as we are going in June but have decided that, as we only have two days at the parks time is of the essence so we will stick to fast(ish) food counter service
Have a look at the menus on http://www.magicalkingdoms.com/dlp/menus/index.html to give you an idea of which restaurant sells which type of food.It might help you decide

 

[Sid74]

Hi,

I've just got back from 3 nights, 4 days at the Hotel New York, and apart from 1 hot dog, a couple of hot chocolates and a cookie, I didn't buy any food at all! And I'm not a small delicate person.

I found that I had plenty to eat at the breakfast buffet and didn't even get hungry until tea time, when I had something from the crisps or biscuits that I had taken with me. This is despite the fact that I walked all around both parks twice a day.

So, unless you want to have a sit down meal, don't worry about it.

 

[poppyolivia]

Hi,

I've just got back from 3 nights, 4 days at the Hotel New York, and apart from 1 hot dog, a couple of hot chocolates and a cookie, I didn't buy any food at all! And I'm not a small delicate person.

I found that I had plenty to eat at the breakfast buffet and didn't even get hungry until tea time, when I had something from the crisps or biscuits that I had taken with me. This is despite the fact that I walked all around both parks twice a day.

So, unless you want to have a sit down meal, don't worry about it.

No way!!! I'd never last

 

[Roon]

No way!!! I'd never last

Nor would I. The evening meal is all part of the experience for me. Food, Mmmmmmmmm

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Hi,

I've just got back from 3 nights, 4 days at the Hotel New York, and apart from 1 hot dog, a couple of hot chocolates and a cookie, I didn't buy any food at all! And I'm not a small delicate person.

I found that I had plenty to eat at the breakfast buffet and didn't even get hungry until tea time, when I had something from the crisps or biscuits that I had taken with me. This is despite the fact that I walked all around both parks twice a day.

So, unless you want to have a sit down meal, don't worry about it.

You ate 1 hotdog a day, a cookie and a few hot chocolates and you survived ???

I could not survive on that.

 

[scottishgirl87]

We weren't gonna get HB as there's only 2 of us (adults) and I didn't see if it'd be worth it. However, we both decided we wanna eat at California Grill and for the HB Premium voucher I paid £36 (each night) for we'll get a meal of €55 which is basically half the voucher paid for already.

 

[pyebibby]

We did five days eating just the breakfast at Sequoia and then either Casey's (though my children didn't like the chicken nuggets there), pizza planet or McDonalds, which they loved. The holiday was for them so I did what they liked, also we don't have McDonalds near us so it's a treat. I also brought snacks from home, breadsticks, apples, biscuits and crisps to snack on inbetween.

 

[euapap]

SO the HB is worth it if you want to eat everyday a decent lunch?

If you don't have a HB how much is usually the bill at planet hollywood for 2 adults and a 2yo ? (ie a starter, 2 main dishes, a soft drink)

also the options for dinner are limited, and you have to use it at lunch.
If you have breakfast at the hotel will you be able to eat at 1 o'clock again? (in Greece we eat at 15,30 lunch, so after a big breakfast there is no way of feeling hungry before 18.00)

and another question. What about <3 year olds? They take whatever they want for free? Do they have a chair?

 

[A Small World]

I dont think half board can be used at Planet Hollywood anyhow - somebody correct me if Im wrong please

under 3s can eat free at buffets but you would need to pay for them in a table service restaurant or for 3 yr olds

There are places you can use the voucher for dinner but we often eat about 2-3 if we've had a big breakfast (if we want to est somewhere we know is closewd in the evening)

All the hotel restaurants and village restaurants are open in the evening its the ones in the park are closed when the park closes early

 

[euapap]

I dont think half board can be used at Planet Hollywood anyhow - somebody correct me if Im wrong please

under 3s can eat free at buffets but you would need to pay for them in a table service restaurant or for 3 yr olds

There are places you can use the voucher for dinner but we often eat about 2-3 if we've had a big breakfast (if we want to est somewhere we know is closewd in the evening)

All the hotel restaurants and village restaurants are open in the evening its the ones in the park are closed when the park closes early

the park closes at 19.00 in May. The restaurants serve lunch until about 16.00??