Are ADRs a good idea for families with young kids?

[annainohio]

We are taking our first trip with our 2 and three year old and I've made a bunch on ADR, but I'm questioning if it's a good idea, with the unpredictable way little kids are. I decided to get a meal plan so that we could go to a lot of buffets (that we either wise wouldn't go to) so that our 2 year could eat for free. I'm starting to think that is might be best to eat quick service meals so that we can deal with things as they happen and not be dictated by making reservations and trying to break even with the dinning plan. Any thoughts?

 

[Heidi K]

Our first trip with our oldest was when he was 2 1/2. We had about one ADR per day and I just based them on his normal meal times at home. It worked out fine. Just a tip, if you plan on making lunch ADRs and hope to make it back to the room for a nap, I recommend an early lunch (11:30 or so). It takes a little while to make it back to the resort using Disney transportation.

 

[Cobern]

You are in the same situation as me. I try to make them for around our regular meal times. That being said this last trip (January) we went for 7 days. I think my kids were only awake for maybe 2 or 3 of our reservations. I think Disney just tuckers them out more than we think. We are going again in May for 3 nights and I only made and ardor our first night since we will want to turn in early, so I made it at our hotel.

 

[powellrj]

We have been going to WDW since our oldest was 4 and he is now going to be 31, so thats alot of trips.

We have never been a huge fan of ADRs. We took a trip about 12 years ago where we had the dining plan and 1 adr a day. What we found is we ended up cancelling many of them. We may have decided we weren't hungry, weren't in the area of the restaurant or it was too hot or we were too tired to try to sit down and eat a meal.

Your family may be different, but I felt we were planning our day around our meals, not our meals around our day.

 

[Kristina4109]

This is a tough one - I think it depends on how closely you'll be sticking to your normal sleep/wake schedule. If you plan on getting up and going to sleep the same time each night, I think it would be safe to make a character breakfast ADR for when you usually eat.

I would play lunch by ear. You never know when your kid will nap, refuse to nap, or wake up. I'd stick to counter service for this.

Dinner - again, depends on how closely you'll be sticking to your normal sleep/wake schedule. If you'll be skipping naps or hoping he/she will sleep in the stroller, the kid may surprise you and stay awake the whole time and fall asleep during dinner. But if you know your kid naps well in a stroller or you're planning on going back to the resort for naps, a nice dinner at your regular time could work.

 

[dsneygirl]

It's trickier now with the credit card deposits. We have traveled many times with toddlers and had to cancel lots of ADRs on the fly. Nap time, sleeping in etc too precedence over dragging a cranky toddler to lunch or waking them up early to race to a 5pm ADR on the other side of property.

Also your kid will eat for free but do YOU want a buffet every day all week?

 

[luvmy2babies]

I have 2 children but just one of them would be considered "small". He's been at age 10 months, 2.5 and 3. I'm planning our next trip. He'll be 4. We've always had ADRs, but like others have said, they were as close to the regular meal time as I could make them. And they were usually character meals. We have only cancelled any on one trip. We cancelled 2 we had on one day because the day before my dd had stomach issues and wasn't up for it. I have never made more than one a day since. I mix it up with our credits. We have some breakfasts and some dinners and last trip we had a lunch ADR (we go back for breaks occassionally but not daily). Last trip we didn't get the plan and we just had 3 ADRs in the 8 days. I don't do arrival or departure day ADRs. This trip we will have one a day. I try to take them to a nice place once a month or so, but usually I start about 2 months out going to a restaurant once a week or week and a half. Hope it goes well whatever you decide.

 

[annainohio]

It's trickier now with the credit card deposits. We have traveled many times with toddlers and had to cancel lots of ADRs on the fly. Nap time, sleeping in etc too precedence over dragging a cranky toddler to lunch or waking them up early to race to a 5pm ADR on the other side of property.

Also your kid will eat for free but do YOU want a buffet every day all week?

That's a good point. And no, I don't, and I don't want to go to a bunch of character meals, either. First, I think it's a toss up as to if they will even enjoy them. I can easily see one of them being scared. And secondly, I find myself making reservations like those, not because I really want our family to eat there, but because I'm hoping to not waste money with the dinning plan. For example, I think our family would really like Via Napoli, but I have reservations for Tutto Italia Ristorante instead, because there's more bang for our buck.

After reading these responses, I've decided to cancel the meal plan and many of the reservations, because I don't want our vacation to be dictated by reservations and limiting our choices for the sake of breaking even on the meal plan. My kids would be just as happy eating PB&J that we bring with us for lunch anyway. Also, I found a website that calculates if the meal plans are the best deal or if paying out of pocket is, and for us it's paying out of pocket, by like $400.

I read this before, but someone mentioned that they think the meal plan doesn't save money or time. And, at least for me (and I'm cheap and a planner), I agree. I've spent hours planning things, wanting to get our money worth, and at the end of the day, it's not worth the stress on me, wanting to get a good deal, or on the family by rushing around.

In general, I try to ask myself, "if I buy this and the kids color on it/barf on it/ sleep to long and miss a meal, am I going to be really ticked off?" and I think as far as ADR and the meal plan go, I would be. This is also actually why I canceled our reservation for the My Perfect Disney Princess tea. I'll wait till my girl is really old enough to appreciate it. Also, something happens when I give I actual go to pay... It's made me think twice, which is why we are staying at a value resort and not WL, like my first plan.

Anyway, I feel really good about the decision. Thanks for the advice, everyone.

 

[tanyaandallie]

Our first trip with our oldest was when he was 2 1/2. We had about one ADR per day and I just based them on his normal meal times at home. It worked out fine. Just a tip, if you plan on making lunch ADRs and hope to make it back to the room for a nap, I recommend an early lunch (11:30 or so). It takes a little while to make it back to the resort using Disney transportation.

This is what we did when my kids were younger. However, when my kids were younger the penalty fee for missing and ADR was not in existence so not a huge deal if we had to cancel. We actually never had to cancel last minute, though. I personally liked having them as getting them last minute is tough if you are going during a busy time period.

I would be cautious about buffets. They seem like such a great idea with little kids but I actually found them to be a huge pain. You either have to drag both kids through the line with you while you and your spouse fill up plates for one adult and one kid each or one of you waits at the table with the kids and one goes first then you switch. It just got to be a pain and we ended up preferring a sit down dinner. We still did buffets and would do it again if it was one we loved but it was just not as easy as we thought it would be. Of course now that my kids are old enough to walk through the line and serve themselves it's a breeze.

 

[tourguide81]

I wouldn't have one for every day. But for any character meal or any restaurant you really want to try? Yes. I don't do the meal plan b/c I find it not a good deal and too inflexible for life w/ young kids.

We do more breakfast and lunch ADRs, less dinner. Dinners we tend to do a counter service after we head back out in the afternoon.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

YES! It is important in my family, especially when the children were little, to have a nice, leisurely, sit-down meal during vacation. Especially at Walt Disney World.

 

[lizard1]

YES! It is important in my family, especially when the children were little, to have a nice, leisurely, sit-down meal during vacation. Especially at Walt Disney World.

I agree. We usually book one ADR for each day of vacation. We do so because

1) We have a party of 8 and I like to have a guaranteed place that we can sit down TOGETHER to eat, which may not happen at CS places, especially if they are crowded.

2) My kids like to meet the characters and it saves us time because we don't have to wait in the lines for the characters we will see at the meals.

3)The meals contain so much food that if we have one sit down in the middle of the day (after eating breakfast in the room), we may not need to eat that much else for the remainder of the day and may be able to get buy with a few small items versus sitting down to eat an entire other meal.

We did decide that the meal plan is definitely NOT worth it. It is just too much food and not necessarily what we would care to eat (especially my son who would be a Disney child, but would prefer to eat off of the adult menu most of the time).

 

[MyAnna]

We have twin two year olds. Back in January , we did 15 sit down meals at wdw. Towards the middle of the week, they were crying for pb&j. (They eat whatever we eat, but when I cook at home, there's usually a meal or two that's familiar). That being said, when we go back in sept, we still plan on doing all the ADRs, because it was worth it to us not to have to eat Fast food for every meal, and it was nice to have a quiet place to sit. We will be better equipped with distractions for the table this time.

 

[buzznina]

With our 2 DD's it really is not worth it, it just takes too long. From the time we arrive at the restuarant (10 minutes before ressie), it's has never been under an 1-1/2 hours by the time we leave the restuarant. If it's a character meal, they hardly eat much because they are to excited about seeing the characters. If there is no characters, they and my DH start getting antsy after 45 minutes So now we may do 2 ADRs during a 7 day stay. So it really depends on the family.

 

[Aliceacc]

I'm sorry to hear that you've decided against the ADRs.

I love the meal plan, and that one table service meal per day. You have to eat, and that table service meal provides a more relaxed, less hurried opportunity to spend family time together. For me, that one table service meal a day is worth its weight in gold. No one is checking a watch or a phone, wondering when the next Fastpass kicks in. It's quality family time together where we can talk about our day... and that's what our family vacation is all about in the first place.

You know your kids. Choose times that they're likely to be up and well behaved. Consider a late breakfast, say 10 am. You can hit the parks at rope drop if that suits you, tour for a while, then relax at lunch. Or choose an early dinner, well after nap time, after you allow pool time. It's a nice way to begin a relaxing evening in the parks, or a nice prelude to some night swimming at the resort.

 

[Happyjen27]

The dining plan is no bargain if it's changing your behavior, I'm proud of you for figuring that out about yourself and your tendencies. Not everyone has those tendencies, so maybe the meal plan would work for them, but I think you've learned it will not work for you.

It didn't work for us either. We found ourselves eating in a way we don't normally eat, with desserts every meal and so on.

This past year, we still had a sit down meal every day, because too much QS makes my belly unhappy. But, we paid out of pocket, so I ordered what I wanted, which sometimes was just an appetizer and side salad. Sometimes it was a huge meal DH and I split. Sometimes we went to character buffets and ate and ate and ate.

As for younger kids and ADRs, do your kids ordinarily enjoy eating at restaurants? Mine did, so we made ADRs. However, not all kids enjoy eating at a restaurant, and so if they don't enjoy it, then don't do it. If you and DH still prefer to not eat QS each meal, you can always get take out from a nice place and eat in your room.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Now, my kids are older, but I personally found the one ADR we did to be a giant pain in the "you know where". Now, part of the problem was it was at lunch, so it ate up a huge chunk of time right in the middle of the day. If I ever do one again, it will be at the very beginning or very end of our day.

 

[dsneygirl]

The dining plan is no bargain if it's changing your behavior, I'm proud of you for figuring that out about yourself and your tendencies. Not everyone has those tendencies, so maybe the meal plan would work for them, but I think you've learned it will not work for you.

It didn't work for us either. We found ourselves eating in a way we don't normally eat, with desserts every meal and so on.

This past year, we still had a sit down meal every day, because too much QS makes my belly unhappy. But, we paid out of pocket, so I ordered what I wanted, which sometimes was just an appetizer and side salad. Sometimes it was a huge meal DH and I split. Sometimes we went to character buffets and ate and ate and ate.

As for younger kids and ADRs, do your kids ordinarily enjoy eating at restaurants? Mine did, so we made ADRs. However, not all kids enjoy eating at a restaurant, and so if they don't enjoy it, then don't do it. If you and DH still prefer to not eat QS each meal, you can always get take out from a nice place and eat in your room.

All good points.

We have also found that sit down lunches are easier to get with no ADR. A fave is Liberty Tree Tavern at MK, you can get a great lunch for just a little more than a QS. We have had walk ins right at open (11:30) or a later lunch (like 2pm) same with places like Prime Time, Rose and Crown etc.

These lunches aren't "good value" on the meal plan so tend to be way less busy than dinner. Most people won't "waste a credit" on a $18 burger when they can use it on a $40 dinner.

 

[crisi]

We always did. We NEEDED a sit down meal with our younger kids. Ours weren't big nappers at Disney (but early to bed) so a 6:00 pm ADR left us plenty of time to get to the restaurant, eat, and we'd be in bed by ten.

But we always chose restaurants close to the hotel. For us, we are DVC and home is BWV - so Epcot was always our evening choice. From the CR, I'd do CR restaurants and the other Bay Lake hotel restaurants. I wouldn't try hoofing it to the Cape May buffet or Boma for dinner - that didn't work well for us.

(Buffets get really old after a few days).

 

[SEA333]

I would ordinarily go with the "suck it up buttercup" line of parenting because I do not pay thousands of dollars for little kids to dictate where I am going to eat on vacation!

HOWEVER.....

We were there in November, and my DS 7 1/2, while never complaining, did NOT do well with our ADR's. I thought that because my kids are older (13, 9, and almost 8), and we generally do not eat dinner at home until about 7-7:30pm (due to sports and activity schedules), they would be perfectly fine with any ADR time.

The older kids were fine, but DS7 ended up just about eating his weight in chicken wings at Ohana the first night (8pm ressie) and seriously barely ate anything else the rest of the trip! LOL So, when it came time for Boma at 7pm after a whole day at DHS, the food was not a draw for him and he was TIRED. Like I said, he never complained, but he ended up laying down on the booth bench and dozing while we ate. The next night at Akershus, same thing...he wasn't really hungry and he just sat there kind of dazed-looking. Poor kid!!

I think that if he wasn't used to restaurants with us, if my expectations of his behavior wasn't as ingrained as it is by 2nd grade, or if he was younger, there may have been a tantrum or two involved with all of those ADR's. As it was, he told me later on the flight home that the "eating out" was the most boring part of the trip LOL, so I think that next time, I might try to get earlier ADR's, but with kids as old as mine, I am *not* willing to give TS up!

I would maybe do one or two ADR's but leave lots of room for change, especially with the 24 hour window.