Anyone "over" ADRs and TS?

[paintnolish]

The past few trips we have used the dining plan and it's been fun and yummy, but I am not an obsessive planner and hate being tied down so far in advance! Also, it TS takes up so much time, especially when I had to wait over an hour for 2 of my ADRs. WDW offers so much more than burgers and fries for CS, I am thinking of going with the QS plan next time. Anyone find that option a better choice? I worry about missing my fave TS, but I think I will enjoy the freedom. Plus, some of my fave things to eat are "snack" credits!

 

[djm99]

Count me in. I will NEVER be held down to making ADR's again. It took too much time away from the vacation. You know you've over “did it” when the kids CRY because it's time to go eat. That's where I was during my last August 2007 vacation. By day 4 - that got old REALLY quickly. They (my daughter, niece, and DH) just wanted to grab something to go. The TS meals became too much. So with that said, we will try the QSDP this go around. Grab something and go. Besides, DH really likes the two snacks options per day and the included refill mug. We always seemed to pay OOP for snacks (during that 2007) trip. This go around we will have 6 snacks among us; I'm hoping that will prevent OOP monies for snacks.

 

[disneynuts777]

Never

Half the fun of our vacation is our ADR's.

 

[tnd]

For us, eating is a very important part of the experience of the trip. I also can't imagine ruling out character meals for my almost 4 year old, he loves them! FWIW, we never waited more than 15 min for an ADR and haven't really found them to be the huge waste of time other people seem to think they are. I think part of it is because we are on a pretty strict 3 meal per day schedule, and my son does well with the breaks. We're just not commando tourers anyway. I could see that when my son gets older and wants to do all the parks more actively, that we would cut back on the TS meals. But for now, it's very important to us.

 

[snykymom]

For us, eating is a big part of the experience, too. But that's why I don't do the dining plans! I make the ADRs I think we'll need, but if we decide for whatever reason that we don't want to make it (including that it takes too long for them to seat us), we don't go. And I don't have to worry that we'll have "wasted" a TS credit or any other such nonsense.

For me, the DDP takes the flexibility out of the vacation. While it may save me a couple of bucks (and based on the way we eat, I'm not even sure of that!), it's not worth the anxiety.

 

[Pakey]

We have never been fans of the dining plan as all flexibility goes out the window with it. And yes, we have scaled back on our TS meals in the last few years due to a combination of the need to plan so far in advance and the elimination of variety of choices in the restaurants. We now enjoy the places not on the dining plan and eat more CS.

 

[HGD24]

We don't use the DDP. We do make a couple of TS ADR's per trip, but not because we want to plan that far ahead. We do it because we have some restaurants that we like or want to try and we know better than to just show up with no ADR. Sometimes we've cancelled an ADR if we find that we're not hungry enough for a TS meal. To us, we're more go with the flow vacationers - going to a certain park because we have an ADR there or leaving a park because we have an ADR elsewhere is just not our style.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We are over big TS breakfasts and buffet TS dinners...we are really into Signature Restaurants right now....totally worth the price

 

[ROEDISNEY]

For us CS for Bk & CS is okay but no way for dinner. We enjoy a good sit down dinner. Can't eat a lot of CS.

 

[dd50]

We are doing the DDP this time for the first time to see how it goes. I am meeting my grown DD there from CA with my grandchildren. I still have 3 teens and hopefully they won't be complaining about it taking to long. We usually only do CS and enjoy that.

 

[disnut8]

We're "over" the table service places. The OP is correct - there's so much more to eat at Disney World than burger and fries. Having to plan around a dining reservation just really cuts into how we tour. But that's not saying we don't have great meals. We just came back and had a fantastic sit down late lunch at the Big River Grille. Walked right in, had great food, fantastic service and a nice break from the heat. We also enjoy Flame Tree BBQ at Animal Kingdom. And even The Studios, which used to be the worst place for counter service meals, is getting a lot better with a pulled pork sandwich available at a couple of places.

I just don't want to go on vacation and have to think about how many credits I have or don't have. I wanna eat what I want when I want and why I want.

 

[paintnolish]

I guess I should say I am over DDP, especially when it is not free. We always used to do a few TS OOP and still can. A PP is totally right about the whole "wasting" a TS credit. One night my stomach was bothering me but we still went to CR-I made that ADR over 90 days ago and there was no way I could get another! We stay at CSR and loved the Pepper Market and think I would be just as happy enjoying the other wonderful CS places, too, like Tangeriene Cafe, WPE (honestly, one of my faves!), Sunshine Seasons, Cosmic Rays, etc. Also, my kids are very active and love rides, so they were bummed to stop sometimes for an ADR!

 

[jparc]

We are going with free dining this year so we are doing all the TS we normally would not do. We did th meal plan many years ago but never bothered purchasing it again.
Normally we do mostly counter service which we usually even share. We usually just do 3 ts meals at the most.
It's just too much food for us-- but its free this year so what the hey!! I think if we were paying the quick service plan would be the way to go for us.

 

[bubblycoconut]

When I first started planning our trip I thought I was "over" the ts meals but it ended up being the exact opposite. I decided to start each day off with a ts breakfast. I figure it will be a good way to get the day started. I'm thinking about making adrs for dinner each night too but I'm not sure yet. I've made some dinner ressies for our nonpark days but with the earlier closing times I'm leaning away from having dinner ressies for our park days with the exception of a few places we really wanted to try.

 

[Pongo23]

We are only doing TS because of free dining, and I'm honestly not even that excited about it. We usually only do 2 or 3 TS meals, and now to have one every day of our trip is a little overwhelming! But, we're really not restaurant people anyway, so I'm sure we're in the minority. I'm sure we will find a way to enjoy it, though!

 

[WUVmyDISNEY]

After my last trip in May, I can say I am pretty much over the dining plan. At least the traditional one. If we got it again, it would only be th QS. I would still do at least 2 TS breakfasts and 1 dinner. I know when I add it all up, we do "save" money by doing the DP, but in reality, we rarely ever order dessert due to being full (not just in Disney) so that does drive the bill up, but it's with something I would not typically order anyway. My next trip which is planned for December, will be the first time in the past 4 trips that we are not using the DP. If we were somehow able to get it free, I would rather have the QS.

 

[dawnball]

We're doing QSDP this time for that very reason. We have a lot of trouble finding enough TS restaurants to do one each night of our trip. For the upcoming visit (11 nights) we have 2 TS plans. Our arrival day, and then one mid-visit. That seems like "enough".

, it's rare for us to go to a "real" restaurant even one a week at home. If I don't want to cook - we stop at the local taqueria or snag a salad somewhere.

I can get better, cheaper restaurant food at home, so my general opinion of Disney food is "Meh."

 

[williamson_ja]

I think this is definitely a personality thing. I absolutely LOVED being on the dining plan last year. Of course, we went for free dining and are not that "well off". We're regular middle class folks that hardly EVER eat out. This is partly because we live 25 miles outside of a normal town (our town has 350 people) and the closest town doesn't even have an Applebees or Olive Garden. There are no restaurants here. So, I can say that my experience getting to do some of those things that we would not have normally been able to do was really a great part of our trip. We are going for free dining again this year and are really excited about it.

Another part of eating TS that we liked was that it gave us a chance to relax, get out of the HEAT and talk about the fun we had that day. It was just very relaxing to us.

On the other hand, we are bringing my parents with us who live in a big city and eating out isn't a big deal to them. They are not excited about having to make reservations to eat and trying to figure out what they are going to want to do that day 90 days in advance. They would rather have maybe 1-2 sit down meals, and not be tied down to having to be somewhere for reservations.

Oh well. Each one of us finds our own way to find the Magic of Disneyworld.

 

[pbbaby]

We just got back yesterday after 10 days, no DP. We have used it in the past, when all the kids and their families go. This time it was just the two of us. We actually cancelled 2 TS ADR after we looked over the menu and saw the jump in prices. Good Grief. DH has always loved going for TS but even he flinched and he hates being tied down to a time and place and trying to be hungry at a specific time. We did walk up to one TS and get right in the last night.
I miss the days of calling in the morning and getting ADR.
Disney is changing, I'm afraid