Anyone Ever Just Do All CS?

[aubriee]

For us a large part of the enjoyment of WDW has been the TS restaurants. Even on my solo trips, I've always eaten alot of TS meals. In fact, last May I had the DxDDP and did only TS meals (a late breakfast/early lunch TS then a Signature meal every night). Our trip in Sept we again had the DxDDP and did only TS meals, so it's been awhile since I've even eaten a CS meal . However, I am going back in May and am seriously considering doing the new CS DDP. I love the idea of being able to choose the park I want to go to that day according to which bus pulls up first, of not making ADRs, and of not having to be anywhere at a certain time. I'm just curious if anyone had done an entire trip eating only CS.

There are several CS restaurants I do enjoy (Sunshine Seasons, La Kringla bakery, the French Bakery, Wolfgang Puck Express, Pepper Market, Columbia Harbour House, etc), but I just don't know if there are enough CS places for an entire 9 days. I'm not fond of hamburgers and hot dogs . Can someone make me a list of good CS restaurants for 18 meals? Any resorts (besides CSR) have CS restuarants that are worth making a trip for? I know I could always pay OOP for a few TS meals, but I'm not a breakfast eater and hate to lose the DDP credits.

Where are your favorite CS restaurants? Help me find some gems I don't know about.

 

[MidgeD79]

We've been to WDW about 10 times with 2 ADR's. Before we leave, I print out the cs menus at all of the parks. Then each morning I look at the menus for the park we're going to check and pick 1-2 cs places. My only "need to have" is a/c because we usually go in the summer and it's HOT. My absolute favorite cs is Cosmic Ray's in MK. It can be crowded if you go between 11-2 so we plan accordingly. Have fun!

 

[pigby]

For us a large part of the enjoyment of WDW has been the TS restaurants. Even on my solo trips, I've always eaten alot of TS meals. In fact, last May I had the DxDDP and did only TS meals (a late breakfast/early lunch TS then a Signature meal every night). Our trip in Sept we again had the DxDDP and did only TS meals, so it's been awhile since I've even eaten a CS meal . However, I am going back in May and am seriously considering doing the new CS DDP. I love the idea of being able to choose the park I want to go to that day according to which bus pulls up first, of not making ADRs, and of not having to be anywhere at a certain time. I'm just curious if anyone had done an entire trip eating only CS.

There are several CS restaurants I do enjoy (Sunshine Seasons, La Kringla bakery, the French Bakery, Wolfgang Puck Express, Pepper Market, Columbia Harbour House, etc), but I just don't know if there are enough CS places for an entire 9 days. I'm not fond of hamburgers and hot dogs . Can someone make me a list of good CS restaurants for 18 meals? Any resorts (besides CSR) have CS restuarants that are worth making a trip for? I know I could always pay OOP for a few TS meals, but I'm not a breakfast eater and hate to lose the DDP credits.

Where are your favorite CS restaurants? Help me find some gems I don't know about.

I agree with you - we were on the DDP In August and felt a little 'restricted' and want to eat much more CS meals on our 14 night May stay - we even had a few CS credits left over in August. We are going to pay for a few TS meals - maybe around 5 or 6 (such as a couple of character breakfasts, at least one fine dining experience and a couple of places not on DDP - like the new T-Rex restaurant) so I don't think that DDP would be beneficial to us this time.

I have written a list for ourselves to see if this option is feasible - based on 2 meals a day (we don't eat more than that), we need to find around 22 CS options!

In AK, we love Yak and Yeti, Flame Tree and Pizzafari (mainly for DD)
In HS, we love Starrin Rolls, ABC Commissiary, Backlot
In Epcot, there are loads - especially Chip shop in UK, Tangierine Cafe, Norway, China, Japan, French Bakery (sorry can't remember all the names), Cantina
In MK, we love Columbia Harbor House, Pecos, Cosmic Rays
In DTD we love Wolfgang Puck Express, Earl of Sandwich
On the Boardwalk there is the Bakery and Spoodles pizza window
In our 2 resorts, ASMu and BC - there will be Beaches and Cream, take out pizza, foodcourts at All Stars and of course there is McDonalds on the corner.

We will have plenty choices from this lot and hope the list is a little bit helpful to you too.

 

[MickeyNicki]

DH and I used to do just CS only, back in the day before I knew about the Dis and all the wonderful TS places in WDW

I think it has been about 6 years since we have done all CS on our trips. Now we make sure to have all TS dinners and maybe a few breakfasts thrown in here and there

 

[koolaidmoms]

We found the meal plan took up far too much of our time. By the time we arrived 5-10 minutes early, ate and got ready to go back into the parks sometimes it was over 1 1/2 - 2 hours! Yes, we chatted and enjoyed our meals but we found we were spending far too much time eating and getting to and from the restuaurants.

We love CS restaurants and are actually going to use them on the next trip in December with only one ADR.

When does the new meal plan that includes 2CS meals instead of 1 TS and 1CS start? I saw it advertised but saw nothing as far as dates.

 

[michelle1]

I wasn't aware of a new dining plan but would definitely be interested. We have done strictly counter service with the exception of a couple of character breakfasts and find there are plenty of good choices. We do TS when we are on the free dining but when we are paying oop we do more CS for sure.

 

[glesgalass]

We only had 1 TS this year, and that was Tusker House breakfast. I'm vegetarian, my husband doen't eat dairy or any meat other than chicken, and both my boys are vegetarian. We ate only CS the rest of the time, it was very do-able. Our favourites in MK were Pecos Bills(sp?) the vegetarian taco salad was great, my husband had the chicken wrap(enouch for two!) and the kids had an adult veggie burger. It was excellent food. Tommorowland Terrace was fantastic, too. Unfortunately we only found it the day before we left, and only because of the worst weather of the whole fortnight. that was actually our favourite meal of the whole holiday. In Epcot, the CS at Morroco (sorry can't remember the name) was fabulous, as was sunshine seasons, too. I could go on picking the odd meals here and there for you, but the fun for us was choosing to suit us - also, don't ignore the vegetarian options on many of the menus, some of them were fantastic, and anyone with a good palate should be able to appreciate them.

We did this for two reasons - we were off site, and couldn't do DDP, and we ended up being pretty tight for cash just before we came over, but we never fell deprived or hungry, and had a pretty balanced diet.

We are going back for 3 weeks next year, courtesy of free dining, and will be doing the basic dining plan, but I'm worried that will be too much TS for us! I'm hoping I'll still be able to trade down some of the TS to 2 CS and snacks credits, as it has been this year. I would have been happy with the QS dining plan, and just paying OOP for the odd Character Meal.

 

[B-Ride]

For us a large part of the enjoyment of WDW has been the TS restaurants.

It is this comment that worries me. We are like you and look forward to our dinners in the TS records almost as much as some of the attractions. Every morning when we get up the kids ask me "Where are we eating tonight?"

I know we could never go back to eating only CS as we did before we discovered the Dining Plan. Certainly my wife wouldn't stand for it.

Why not a compromise? Pay OOP and eat mostly counter service but book at least 3 or 4 of you favourite TS restaurants. Personally I don't thing the CS Dining Plan saves you much money anyways.

 

[disney1990]

For us a large part of the enjoyment of WDW has been the TS restaurants. Even on my solo trips, I've always eaten alot of TS meals. In fact, last May I had the DxDDP and did only TS meals (a late breakfast/early lunch TS then a Signature meal every night). Our trip in Sept we again had the DxDDP and did only TS meals, so it's been awhile since I've even eaten a CS meal . However, I am going back in May and am seriously considering doing the new CS DDP. I love the idea of being able to choose the park I want to go to that day according to which bus pulls up first, of not making ADRs, and of not having to be anywhere at a certain time. I'm just curious if anyone had done an entire trip eating only CS.

There are several CS restaurants I do enjoy (Sunshine Seasons, La Kringla bakery, the French Bakery, Wolfgang Puck Express, Pepper Market, Columbia Harbour House, etc), but I just don't know if there are enough CS places for an entire 9 days. I'm not fond of hamburgers and hot dogs . Can someone make me a list of good CS restaurants for 18 meals? Any resorts (besides CSR) have CS restuarants that are worth making a trip for? I know I could always pay OOP for a few TS meals, but I'm not a breakfast eater and hate to lose the DDP credits.

Where are your favorite CS restaurants? Help me find some gems I don't know about.

Yes, we have done trips with all CS. I was amazed at the variety of food that you can get at Disney by just using CS. And you never have to eat a hamburger or French fries.

 

[Fantasmiss]

Hi,

I'm not a breakfast eater either, I normally just get a fruit bowl in the resort and eat it while waiting for the bus. On the rare occasion I do eat breakfast I have waffles and eggs etc.

But my favourite CSs?

Pretty ordinary list I think:
MK-Cosmic Ray
EP- Sunshine Seasons OR walking through World Showcase and getting small meals along the way from the different countries!
HS- Toluca Legs Turkey Co. (Bad and sssslllloooowwww service, but good food!)
AK- Flame Tree BBQ

For guests with food allergies:
Premiere Food Court at All Star Movies, there's a chef assistant there called Mary, she's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! She bakes and cooks special food for guests with food allergies and intolerances, you get so many choices and her food is GREAT! Her choc chip cookies, banana cake and brownies are the best in the world and a real treat for people who most often can't eat any cakes or dessert in cafes/restaurants at all... Mary is a real treasure!

Please please forgive me, I'm not usually a know it all who corrects people, but it's not "La kringla bakery", but "Kringla Bakeri og Kafe"! Norwegian doesn't have the "La" at all

There are several CS restaurants I do enjoy (Sunshine Seasons, La Kringla bakery, the French Bakery, Wolfgang Puck Express, Pepper Market, Columbia Harbour House, etc), but I just don't know if there are enough CS places for an entire 9 days. I'm not fond of hamburgers and hot dogs . Can someone make me a list of good CS restaurants for 18 meals? Any resorts (besides CSR) have CS restuarants that are worth making a trip for? I know I could always pay OOP for a few TS meals, but I'm not a breakfast eater and hate to lose the DDP credits.

Where are your favorite CS restaurants? Help me find some gems I don't know about.

 

[Hootch]

at the restaurants. I'm trying to work through the numbers for our June trip. Several of the Epcot CS restaurants are not included (Kringeli Bakeri, Sunshine Seaons, Yorkshire and Sommerfest are and work for us) , Coronado Springs is not included and DTD has almost nothing. Like the normal plan some of these could be added later.

http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/m...fic/eng/nontheme/tickets/2009Quickservice.pdf

 

[Pumbaa_]

Plan on all the same restaurants that participate this year participating next year. It just takes them awhile to get all the contracts in place.

If a place is not participating, you can always adjust. BUt they usually participate year after year

 

[MaxsDad]

We have never done a full CS week and won't be next time but we will be close.

We are doing the QSDP and paying out of pocket for three TS meals that we really wanted to do: CP, LeCellier and Chef Mickey.

The rest of the week for us will be CS and I agree about eating hamburgers and chicken fingers all week it would get old. I used the menu guide at wdwinfo.com to make a list of CS meals in all the parks so that when we get there we have a decent idea of what each CS has so that we can mix up our meals for the week. Hopefully not much has changed on the menus, some of them are about a year old, but if I get to a CS and it is different from what I have, then I will just have a hamburger.

We found that having a TS and a CS meal on the deluxe plan was just too much food for our family, we usually eat light. With the QSDP way we can do a CS breakfast a couple of snacks throughout the day, maybe some granola bars in the backpack and a CS dinner.

 

[aubriee]

Hi,
For guests with food allergies:
Premiere Food Court at All Star Movies, there's a chef assistant there called Mary, she's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! She bakes and cooks special food for guests with food allergies and intolerances, you get so many choices and her food is GREAT! Her choc chip cookies, banana cake and brownies are the best in the world and a real treat for people who most often can't eat any cakes or dessert in cafes/restaurants at all... Mary is a real treasure!

Please please forgive me, I'm not usually a know it all who corrects people, but it's not "La kringla bakery", but "Kringla Bakeri og Kafe"! Norwegian doesn't have the "La" at all

Hey, no problem. I have no idea why I call the Norwegian bakery La Kringla. I just always have . Hey, at least I'm not like my grand daughter. She's always called Epcot 'Apricot' and even at 12 y/o, still does sometimes, if she's not paying attention and is talking too fast.

I didn't know about Mary. That's good information.

Thanks everyone for the ideas. I'm still debating the CS DDP, but may have to slip in just a few TS ADRs. I don't think I've ever been to WDW that I didn't eat at Le Cellier.

 

[pepperderr]

Last year we paid OOP for every meal. We had CS for every meal that I can remember although I don't remember the names of the resturants. We never once had chicken fingers or pizza or a hotdog from CS although one time a food vender was closing for the night and gave us free hot dogs and boy were they good. We had chicken cesar salad, we had sandwiches at earl of sandwich, we had chicken parmesan, we had turkey from that turkey leg company, ds had veggie lasaguna and I can't remember what all else we had.

I am considering the CS plan for next year when we go again and am interested in what people have to say about it and the resturants available too.

PEPPERDERR

 

[tndisneyfan]

I think POP food court would be worth a bus ride. They have lots of selections. I've also read great things about Coronada Springs food court.

Our last trip we stayed 10 days and only didn three TS, so it wasn't all CS but mostly CS. We did eat our fair share of burgers but that was by our choice. There are lots of different food out there you just may have to plan a little.

 

[LuvMickey36]

I just booked us @ AKL this nov/dec. for 10 nights & went with the QSDP. We have always done the reg. dining plan, but this past year we realized it was a pain sometimes. It takes up a lot of time and if you are having a great time @ AK then realize you had to leave to get to XXX for our ADR. That is hard to explain to a 5yr. old.

Now that my ds is older I know we don't have to do the 5-6 character meals & the few other "fun" restaurants that the kiddos love. We decided that the QSDP is the best for us. We will eat a quick breakfast @ the AKL club lounge most mornings. Have lunch & dinner @ whatever park we are at. We will probably use the snack credits this year. We normally end up the last day buying a bunch of rice crispy heads from goofys candy shop.

We will still pay OOP for 4-5 TS that we really enjoy. If you plan ahead you can have a great experience with CS. I don't eat beef & never have a problem finding something to eat @ CS.

Some of my favs are Yak & Yeti CS or Flame Tree BBQ @ AKL
Coronado Springs Pepper Market is great! Pop Century is good.
Cosmic Rays & Pecos Bills @ MK
We enjoy Pizza Planet @ MGM.

Have a great trip!

 

[llpieper80]

Last Year we didn't do a dining plan.. we did all CS with the exception of Teppan Edo at Epcot WS one evening. We paid about 1K OOP for the week. I figure if we re-create the trip - we will be saving about $400 with the QSDP - so i've booked if for my 4/3 trip in March!

 

[redrosesix]

We stayed 8 nights last year and had CS for all but 2 meals (one outside Disney and 1 character dinner) Since I'm not a fan of fried food, I can tell you there are plenty of other things to eat besides burgers and chicken fingers. We had no choice then since we were staying in Disney through a group booking (DDP was not an option), but we are using the QSDP on our next trip. I just don't want to be tied down to reservations, and since we're going at a busier time of the year, we would need those to eat TS.

However, I didn't realize until we went to the Crystal Palace on our last night how much I appreciated real silverware.

 

[maigheann]

Before we leave, I print out the cs menus at all of the parks.

How do you do this? Are all the counter service menus really in one place on-line? Do the menus change a lot week to week?

Maggie