Can anyone eat this much?

[cam8n]

Hello, just looking for alittel advice, my family is going to disney in sept, and we have the dining plan, and we have been told that if you dont make all your ts meal reservations now you will not be able to get in to eat at a sit down restaurant. So me and my wife have been booking two and somtimes three meals a day just to make sure we have a reservation(breakfast, dinner and on two days lunches ) and were thinking that if we are not hungry we will just cancel it why we are down there. But this is hard to plan because we are just guessing when we think we will be hungry you know and what times of days to try and book these meals and so on. so I guess what I'm asking is, is it really this crazy down there with the dining plan that you have to pre plan every sit down meal or do you think this is alittel obsessive,
I keep telling her theres no way we are going to be able to eat at all these restaurants your booking but she insist you must be prepared. thanks for any info.
pj

 

[siestakeys04]

No i think she is doing the right thing. we went last year and made adrs for le cellier and still had an hour wait. There was only one sit down meal we did not eat and that was sci fi dine in. We were still full from lunch. Its good to make ressies in advanced so you will not be stuck eatting burgers the whole trip.

Also if it is a restaurant you really want to eat at maybe you can eat a snack during lunch and save yourself for dinner.

 

[allyphoe]

we have the dining plan

So you need to average one TS a day, for which you need an ADR.

my wife has been booking two and somtimes three meals a day just to have a reservation

it really this crazy down there with the dining plan that you have to pre plan every sit down meal or do you think this is alittel obsessive

Both. You need to plan your TS meals and make ADRs, or there's a good chance you'll be riding around on a bus or paying OOP for CS meals while TS credits go to waste. But you don't need to make ADRs for every possible meal, for every possible location - that just keeps other people from making ADRs for themselves.

We really liked lunches as TS meals. It's easier to get ADRs, and you get a midday break in the air conditioning. Breakfasts blew prime riding time, and if we took a midday break / nap then went to dinner, we often lost the whole rest of the day between a leisurely meal and transportation. And the kids (both about 2) invariably fell asleep waiting for dinner - nothing says a bad evening like a 6pm nap!

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

Yes, the restaurants will be very busy.

Yes, you need ADRs for the ones you want.

I'm not big on making mupliple reservations "just in case" you want to eat there. I think this is unfair to others who are trying to get reservations. I would try to narrow it down a little more and open up more reservations for other people.

 

[txmomto1]

You know you'll want to eat breakfast. make 1 ADR per day for a late breakfast, and then do an early dinner with your CS. It works for us, then have very few oop meals while there.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I know it seems a little odd to have to decide what you'll want to eat months in advance. But really it's not. Just decide which park you'll want to be at on each day of your trip. Then, look at which restaurants are either in that park or close by and decide which one you'd like to try. I actually find that planning my meals helps focus the day so you're not asking "so what do we do now?"

Remember, you only get 1 TS credit for every NIGHT of your stay. So a 6 day/5 night trip only gets you 5 TS meals. Please do not make multiple reservations for each day. That is part of the reason it's become so get get an ADR, people don't plan and just make

 

[lynninpa]

So my wife has been booking two and somtimes three meals a day just to have a reservation and were thinking that if we are not hungry we just will cancel it why we are down there.

Not cool. This is not fair to others trying for ADRs at a place you booked just because you might want to eat there.

 

[thunderbird1]

I think your DW has the right idea, although she might be taking it a little far by booking 2 or 3 meals every day.

On her side, you really do need to have ADR's if you want to eat TS and/or are on the DDP and want to be able to use up all your credits. I think it's good to have a few extras built into your schedule, so you can adjust as needed, but double or triple is overkill.

On your side, you'll never eat 3 TS meals a day on the DDP (for one, you'd never use your CS or snack credits), so it's not necessary to book that many. You probably will end up changing things around somewhat once you're there so, again, it's good to have a few extras built into the schedule to cover that.

Here's what I do: for the places we know we don't want to miss, I figure out where we'll likely be going that evening, and make a dinner ADR based on that--1 per day. For new places or places we're not sure about, I'll again figure out where we're going (or where we'll be) and make a dinner ADR for one restaurant and a lunch ADR for another. For our upcoming 14 day trip, I currently have 17 reservations, and plan to make 1 or 2 more before we go. While we're there, we'll undoubtedly make (and cancel) a couple more. But at least we're covered if we can't get in anywhere (or anywhere we'd like to eat) at the last minute.

 

[DizneyNutz]

Yes, the restaurants will be very busy.

Yes, you need ADRs for the ones you want.

I'm not big on making mupliple reservations "just in case" you want to eat there. I think this is unfair to others who are trying to get reservations. I would try to narrow it down a little more and open up more reservations for other people.

I agree, we sat down and planned where we wanted to eat, especially if we knew it was TS and the likelihood of getting in would be limited if we didn't make ADR's. I wouldn't want to hold a reservation unless I was pretty sure we'd use it.

 

[gigi1313]

i concur w/all the other posters... i understand making two ADRs for one day on your "up in the air" day but overall, you can easily figure out what day you'll do what if you look at the calendar, check the park hours, whether or not you will take advantage of or avoid EMH, and make a plan...

also, we found that a lot of the TS restaurants were a bit flexible in that if we had 7pm ressies and we called or showed up at 5pm and asked if we could dine earlier, they mostly accommodated us ('cept primetime in mgm)... so perhaps w/that in mind, you could cancel some of your ADRs more in advance than "just before their scheduled time" or worse yet, just after or not at all...

 

[cam8n]

I dont want some of you to get the wrong idea she is not booking three different restaurants and then we will decide which one! when there! she is just booking a early pre open breakfast and a dinner everyday and on two days she also booked a lunch at a sit down restaurant, we are there for 8 days. my thing is like this what if between breakfast and dinner i decide to grab a hotdog or turkey leg or whatever and when dinner comes around i dont want to eat a big table service meal I may not want to eat at all for the rest of the night, but what people are saying to us alot is better to have the adr's then to get there and be out of luck! so I can see why people say you might be taken away a adr from someone else but what else can you do? oh and for the record we are doing this with alot of planning you know trying to get adr for restaurants at the parks we are going to be at on that day, and as far as going over the table service meals allowed we are well aware of that and I think some of the places she booked are two ts meals like the polynesian show, so I know I will be paying for some. I just wish there wasnt such a craze to book everything because of the dining plan. it will be interesting, thanks for all the advice I'm glad I found these forums.

 

[DVCLiz]

The OP doesn't sound like he's making multiple ADRS for the same meal, just making 2 or 3 ADRs for a particular day - something I do every trip, especially if I'm on the dining plan. It's hard not to make that many ADRs if you want to be sure of having a place to spend those expensive credits on!!!

OP, I think people are misunderstanding you, so I'm glad you cleared that up for them in the above post. We've also cancelled ADRs if we knew we were running out of time, had something come up, etc. Thats' why you're able to cancel without penalty. Believe me, if Disney wanted to they could easily require a credit card at the time of reservation for ALL restaurants that take ADRs.

 

[cam8n]

I'm curious to see, just how many of these adr we will be able to make, I know the breakfast should not be a problem, its just trying not to over snack all day before dinner! plus trying to keep my wife away from the dole whip is a whole nother ballgame!! I'm leaning toward canceling the two lunches on are adr and just winging it for lunch while there, but for the hoo dee doo and the polyneisan shows as well as some character dinners if you dont book it in advance it sounds like theres no way to get in! I think for the hoop de and poly shows we had to give a credit card (not sure) so those we will without a doubt do, and the rest try are best and if we cant, try and cancel with as much notice as possible, ADR'S are giving me ADD! lol
pj

 

[HunnyPots]

Does your wife understand how the dining plan works? I am confused as to why she is booking two or three TS meals a day when you only get one TS and one CS meal, and one snack per day. It sounds as if she is not making good use of the plan.

 

[allyphoe]

The OP doesn't sound like he's making multiple ADRS for the same meal, just making 2 or 3 ADRs for a particular day

IMHO, making 2-3 ADRs for multiple meals on one day when you know you're only going to use one is exactly the same as making 2-3 ADRs for the same meal on one day when you know you're only going to use one. Either way, you're preventing other people from getting any ADR at all, on the off chance you'll be hungry when / where you've got an ADR.

OP, if you're planning on actually eating a pre-opening TS breakfast every day, and then not eating until a TS dinner, some of which are 2TS, you're going to end up spending a bundle on OOP TSs and having a zillion CS meals (and snack credits, if you're banning Dole Whips, too) left. By my count, you have at least 18TS credits per person scheduled for 7 nights!

 

[cam8n]

she likes to sit and order from a menu and relax a bit as I do to ,especially for dinner, the food from counter service is usally more like fastfood, not that we never eat it just not all the time, so if all go's well we will use are cs meals for snacks or light lunch and book breakfast and dinners. we booked most of are breakfast for pre park openings so 8:05 adrs so we should not be late for the parks for opening, some friends told us for breakfast your in and out in 45min? we will find out.

 

[cam8n]

yes we will prob have a ton of cs points left, the dining plane was just a bunus we were going in sept regardless, and like i was saying we are going to try and keep as many of the dinners as possible breakfast should not be a problem to make and we will do away with the two lunches we have booked, so if we eat a light lunch i hope we will be hungry for dinner , just dont like to be on a food schedule ya know?

 

[cam8n]

IMHO, making 2-3 ADRs for multiple meals on one day when you know you're only going to use one is exactly the same as making 2-3 ADRs for the same meal on one day when you know you're only going to use one.

I dont know I'm only going to use one. but should I only book breakfast and hope i dont want a sit down meal for dinner? if you dont adr you will not be able to get in.

 

[txmomto1]

Are you saying you'll use your DDP for one meal, then pay out of your own pocket for another each day? If that's the case, then it's fine. But if you are planning on going to only one ts meal a day, then you really should only make one adr a day, and just try to plan around it. The reason it receives such a passionate response is that so many people are unable to get adr's because people make reservations that they will never use.

 

[LegoMom3]

I dont know I'm only going to use one. but should I only book breakfast and hope i dont want a sit down meal for dinner? if you dont adr you will not be able to get in.

Regardless of whether you are eating a sit-down, table service meal or a counter-service meal, you WILL have PLENTY of food! I've never met a person who did the dining plan that came back and said "Gee I wish we'd had more food." !! Just break it up a little, maybe book a few breakfasts, a few dinners, and a few lunches (different one each day - doing two TS meals in one day is WAY too much!). Then use your CS meal where needed. As others have said, what we did was just look at park hours, have a basic plan for where we'd be and when, and then I booked our ADRs accordingly. Did we follow through on all of them?...No. On Day 4 my kids were too tired to trudge to MGM so I cancelled our Sci-Fi lunch (which made some walk-in VERY happy, I'm sure!). I never did re-coup that TS meal but we ate CS at our resort food court and everyone had enough to eat. The next day I cancelled a dinner at Wilderness Lodge because I knew we wouldn't want to leave the park (MK) even to go that short distance, and ended up getting a late lunch TS at Liberty Tree Tavern, right in MK. So, it is possible to make a plan, make the ADRs, and still have some flexibility.