BEST time(s) for eating dinner?

[fairytinkerbell]

We will be eating continental breakfast @ hotel each morning. (offiste)
I figure we'll eat lunch around noon each day. Also, we don't know the hours for October yet, :confused so it's hard to figure out if I make dinner too early, then I miss out on park time.

I was going to make each dinner around 8:00 PM each nite, but now wonder if that is too late, and change it to 7:00 PM .

When do YOU eat dinner? What do you think is the BEST time?

Here is my schedule, to help you :
9/8 nites in October:

SATURDAY (first day/night) October 9
ANIMAL KINGDOM, TIL 6PM
THEN MAGIC KINGDOM - TIL CLOSING
lunch @ AK Flame Tree BBQ
dinner @ Liberty Tree Tavern (is this exciting enough for 1st night?) :
any other sugestions? (p.s. this is if MK is open late)

SUNDAY - MAGIC KINGDOM ALL DAY & NITE
Lunch @Plaza Restaurant
Dinner @ Ohana

MONDAY - MGM ALL DAY TIL CLOSING
Lunch @ Sci-Fi Dine-In
Dinner @ Boma AKL

TUESDAY - EPCOT TIL CLOSING
Lunch - Beaches & Cream
Dinner - in EPCOT - ? garden grill vs epcot country
(don't want to spend $100 in le cellier)

Wednesday UNIVERSAL STUDIOS TIL CLOSING
Lunch @ Universal -Suggestons??__
DInner @ Wild Jacks on Intl Dr (great bbq)
or at The Crab House?

THURSDAY TYPHOON LAGOON / MNSSHP!
Lunch - Typhoon Lagoon
Dinner - Liberty Tree Tavern - MNSSHP -going to)

FRIDAY
Free Day to Shop on 192 / Antiques up north
Titanic Exhibit -
Dinner @ Rainforest Cafe? or somewhere else in Downtown Dis?

Saturday -magic kingdom all day & nite
Lunch @ Plaza Restaurant
Dinner @ Last dinner - suggestions? LTT or Ohana??

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! DOUBLE DIGIT DANCE!!!

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

Without commenting on your schedule, let me tell you what my DS and I have done the last two years (and will be doing again next month).
We have a really BIG breakfast around 7:00am. By doing this we normally skip lunch except for snacks and drinks. Then we have a BIG dinner around 5:00pm. This gives us the energy we need to continue on.
You really don't want to take up too much time with lunch and dinner since this will take away from your park time. This is especially true in the heat when people normally don't get very hungry, just thirsty.
You may want to just schedule late lunches which are less costly than dinner and almost the same size. Or like we do, have an early dinner. Either way you will have more park time.
Our first few trips we made too many PS at various restaurants and it gets crazy trying to schedule your time. The way we do it now makes our lives a lot easier.
Just thought I would share our experiences. Have fun!!!!

 

[kdibattista]

We have a really BIG breakfast around 7:00am. By doing this we normally skip lunch except for snacks and drinks. Then we have a BIG dinner around 5:00pm.

That's exactly what we do.... we only eat breakfast and an early dinner and maybe a snack in between. Sorry.... I know that doesn't help you much!!!

 

[carone0318]

We normally schedule one sit down meal a day, usually a late lunch - that is unless we are doing a character breakfast or LTT or something like that. If you are doing breakfast everyday, I would settle for a late lunch as the other posters have suggested.

I would also suggest maybe doing O'Hanas the last night, you could already possibly have LTT 2 nights before hand, I think that that might be a little too much. Maybe try CP instead of LTT one night.

By looking at your schedule, you will definitely NOT go hungry !

 

[missypie]

You didn't mention if you had kids. DH and can easily eat a big breakfast and skip lunch but the kids just can't. They eat till they're "normal" full then stop...they really don't have a concept of eating a whole lot so they can skip the next meal.

When we were at Disneyland we did a character breakfast as our last activity before we left for the airport. I thought the food on the buffet was very yummy; I didn't make myself sick, but I sure ate more breakfast than normal. I didn't feel a bit hungry until about 4 pm. The kids, on the other hand, at one small plate of food and were asking for lunch by 11:30.

 

[carone0318]

I do have 2 children. On our last trip they were 6 and 2. I am not saying that they didn't get hungry, but I always had snacks with us, pringles, pop tarts, granola bars or something like that. It would usually hold them over until we ate, but if they wanted a hot dog or something, we would just stop at a concession stand and buy one, but by doing this, I wasn't dropping $60 every time we sat down and if I wasn't hungry, I didn't eat. The one sit down works well for us.

Again the key is to carry snacks for the kids and to feed them if necessary (I wouldn't starve my kids ) but like you said, adults can go longer.

 

[Chicago526]

I think the key is to only have 1 sit down meal a day because they do tend to take up a lot of time. You stop your touring to head to the restaurant, then it's 10 to 20 minutes to check-in and be seated, and it's another 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours to eat, pay and leave.

Personally, I try to make the PS meals either breakfast or dinner (5 PM to 6 PM, any later takes away from night time park touring and evening shows). Lunch PS's are tough to get to sometimes, as park touring can be unpredictable. You never know when that one character you kids wants to see will pop up, or you get stuck in line longer than you thought (or stuck ON a ride like I was at Six Flags this weekend. I was left "hanging" for 1/2 hour in the rain!).

My plan tends to be to eat breakfast in the room (unless it's a charactor breakfast day), have counter service for lunch and have a dinner PS. I hate having my "meal" be in the form of a snack from a vendor. Counter services meals don't take all THAT long, after all, and it makes a nice break where you can sit down in A/C and relax a little, and talk to each other about what you've seen and what you want to do next. Remember, you're on vacation! Stop and smell the roses (or chili-dogs, whatever!)

 

[fairytinkerbell]

THanks for your advice! If I eat at 6pm, and ends at 8pm, i only have 1 hour left if park open til 9pm, so should i eat at 8pm ??