CS Only...What's your experience?

[captaindavidhook]

If your planning on having a cs meal at Disney, you must eat at Columbia Harbor House in MK. That place is amazing. Hands down it's the best cs restaurant in Disney. Pecos Bill is very good too as is Sommerfest at Germany (Epcot).

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Until 2009, I barely ever ate table service and I never did the dining plan! It wasn't until our trip in 2008 though when my husband was desperate to eat a real meal (as he said) that I realized my way of eating kids meals was not the way everyone else liked to eat - even my kids!

So here's my take - eating mostly CS is just fine! BUT I do recommend eating at a sit down restaurant for one or two meals at least. It gives you a different menu to choose from and you get a chance to sit down and enjoy the meal and the company. You don't have to eat TS everyday and you don't HAVE to do any dining plan. But do figure out how many meals you will eat (CS/TS, etc) and see if the dining plan will save you any money. I wasn't going to do the dining plan because we were only eating 3 TS out of 6 nights but I did the calculations and it actually benefits us to get the dining plan (1 show & 2 signatures and it still is less to use the dining plan than paying oop).

 

[mom of princessx2]

I was just checking over allears.net again for menu items since reading this thread and I suggest it to anyone looking in to doing CS only! There are sooooooo many good foods, seriously - from wraps to pulled pork sammies, bagels with smoked salmon or pastrami, turkey clubs, burgers and dogs, apple slices instead of fries, chicken and ribs, thai noodles, curry chicken, egg rolls, danishes and muffins for breakfast, some really crazy yummy sounding salads if that's your thing - but one thing I hadn't know about is the "Picnic In The Park" at Animal Kingdom - that sounds so cool to try - go to Island Mercantile 2 hours before (from 8:30a-1pm) and order you food (it's listed on allears, sandwiches, sides and desserts with drinks or chicken and sides and desserts and drinks for up to 6 people in a reusable bag) then you pick up your food at a location, take it to the picnic location on the map and enjoy. IF anyone here has tried it, I'd liked to know how it was because that sounds kinda relaxing and in between a CS and TS meal. The cost is nice too.

We did the picnic in the park 2 times. Once in June 2009 right after they started offering it and the other in Dec 2009. When we went back in March 2010 they didn't have it and I was thinking the discontinued it. I would be happy to hear that the still have it.
We really liked it. It was a nice change from the typical CS and a good change for our DD's. We did the ham dinner both times which was great and my girls both love ham. We had mac and cheese, a tomato cucumber salad and some other side I can't remember. We ordered when we got to the park and picked up around 11:30. the first time we took our "picnic" over by the water where DeVine comes out. Quite relaxing!! The next time they had already put those tables away for winter so we ate in the courtyard by the bakery.

I would really be happy to hear that it is still available!!!

 

[sssteele]

If you turn left instead of entering the "Gooding's Plaza", you will come to a Winn Dixie on the right (behind the ABC store). Is there a Publix further down the road? We like Publix, and go there when we're staying at AKL, but the only one that we know of on "the other side" of WDW requires a right at "Goodings", and then a left in a mile or so. Have we missed one?

 

[Niki in NJ]

Our last trip to Disney we did CS eating only because we didn't have the money for food; however, we did miss eating TS just because we always usually do and it is a nice break at the end of the day to sit down to a TS meal for dinner. It is do-able though! We wanted to make sure we were still eating somewhat healthy and not eating burgers and chicken nuggets all the time, so we just did a lot of planning before we got there, scoping out the different CS places that offered foods we knew we would enjoy. It really did work out fine and we had pretty tasty food at some of the spots we went. We caved one night and did a TS dinner, but it wasn't expensive, so it was justifiable. Doing CS only does save a lot of money, so if you need the savings, do your research before you go, and you will be fine!

 

[MickeyNicki]

On our last trip this past Feb DH and I noticed that we missed out on eating at our favorite CS places....the last few long trips we did alot of TS and didnt think twice about missing CS. Now the menus for CS places are not just burgers, fries and chicken strips so we are excited to eat more meals at the CS locations.

We love Morocco, China, France CS..in MK we enjoy Peco Bills and of course the CS at the resorts are very good

 

[princesscharming]

On our last trip this past Feb DH and I noticed that we missed out on eating at our favorite CS places....the last few long trips we did alot of TS and didnt think twice about missing CS. Now the menus for CS places are not just burgers, fries and chicken strips so we are excited to eat more meals at the CS locations.

We love Morocco, China, France CS..in MK we enjoy Peco Bills and of course the CS at the resorts are very good

Ahh, so you actually missed the CS, not the TS. Interesting.

I am convinced there are great choices for CS, not just the burgers and fries route. Also, I understand that desserts can often be found at CS, and for cheaper. And WS is great because whatever TS cuisine is available, you can typically find a CS from the country too. So I think we'd be good there.

Do any CS offer appetizer type food?

I'll have to take another look at the Picnic in the Park. Although if we end up getting TiW, I know FTB takes TiW. That's a plus.

 

[Planogirl]

We usually do only two TS meals and the rest are CS. We like the time saved and also the lower cost.

If you want a restful place go to Columbia Harbour House and eat upstairs. That area has virtually a TS atmosphere and we always leave feeling refreshed. I also love the various places in WS with Kringla being my favorite. I love to get Kringla food to go and walk down to the American pavilion so DS can get his burger. I also enjoyed Morocco and Mexico during our last trip.

 

[blue65829]

Our last trip we did CS only because we were on the QSDP. DH had a lot of concerns before going that he would miss TS meals, but it ended up working out beautifully. I loved having the freedom to eat in whatever place I happened to be in, and DH ended up loving the variety/quality/quantity.

I highly reccomend Sunshine Seasons in Epcot, and Wolfgang Puck Express in DTD, but there was a decent variety of food everywhere, and I never felt like I was missing out on a full meal.

Some of the best food we've had in Disney has been at CS places.

 

[RachaelA]

We did the QS meal plan instead of the basic dining plan for the first time in December. It was free because of free dining and we went for a much shorter time so we had to fit a lot in. I didn't mind it for a short trip, but I could never do it on one of our normal longer trips (8-10 days). I like the chance to sit down and relax.

We ate at a lot of off times (10:45-11 for lunch some days), etc. so we didn't feel as rushed and crammed in with tons of people.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

We never purchase any form of the Disney Dining Plan and one reason is we don't like to make ADR's 180 day until we arrive at WDW, because my family is the type that might change our plans at the very last minute. Now saying that 9/10 times when in the parks or Downtown Disney we always have lunch/dinner at their counter service locations and one thing we like is not showing up a set time like we would when making ADR's for table service restaurants.

 

[MINILvr]

Another QSDP traveler here. We loved the flexibility of the QS and not having to be at a certain place at a certain time.

Our favorite meals were:
Combo plate at Cosmic Rays
Sunshine Seasons (did this twice)
Wolfgang Puck Express in DTD (Did this as we were leaving WDW--wish we had done it earlier in the trip, we LOVED it.)

 

[Eeyore's Wife]

We have been on a couple of counter service only trips. I don't want to eat burgers and hot dogs every day. Here are a few of my favorite restaurants and the "little something extra" they offer.

Gasparilla Grill at G.F. They have vegetarian lasagna, shrimp stir fry, and lobster mac and cheese!

Mara at Animal Kingdom. Dish up a bowl of African Stew, have a vegetable flatbread with pesto and olives, falafel platter, or fried shrimp platter. Follow all that with legendary Zebra Domes for dessert. You can also stay for the African storytelling, fire, and watch the animals from the overlooks.

Contempo Cafe at the Contemporary serves up a pretty yummy Spice Crusted Mahi sandwich.

At Pepper Market, in CSR, you can grab a kicking Caesar Salad with Blackened Shrimp or a Rib Plate.


At Captain Cooks you can grab a Tonga Toast for breakfast, have a pulled pork sandwich for lunch, grab a snack or dessert from a Dole Whip, and then have dinner of Stir Fry Noodles with Chicken.

At Everything Pop grab a Reuben Flatbread or Shrimp Lo Mein and finish off the meal with a hand made ice cream sundae.

And those are just counter service at the resorts.

 

[Liljam]

Thanks for the better info on the grocery stores and picnic in the park. We might try that if it is available in May. On Allears, the last update for it is 09 so it could be d/c.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Disney still does the picnic. You have to go to the Beastly Bazaar on Discovery Island. There you pick up a sandwich, dessert & drink, no more pre-ordering. The stuff is already made & in a case. At least that was the deal in Feb. They have discontinued the the chicken.

 

[mrzrich]

We ALWAYS go to House of Blues at least one time though.

Liljam,

Do you know about restaurant.com? If you sign up for their e-mails, they will send you promo codes to get $25 gird certificates for $2. (Without the Promo code they sell $25 for $10) House of Blues is one of the restaurants that participates. I used one of these certificates at HOB on my last visit. Server didn't bat an eye. He just took it, and applied the savings to my bill.

Here's the page with HOB. There are also some restaurants at Swan and Dolphin that participate.

http://www.restaurant.com/rdc_site2...src=&rn=&ct=&cs=0&ne=0&al=&nv=1&pg=1&bsp=1&=&

This week the promo code is: TASTY

But the code will probaby change after today because it is the end of the month.

 

[DCDisney]

A few weeks ago we ended up doing a mostly CS trip. I had lots of ADRs but 2 days into the trip my DH and I got colds and couldn't taste very much so we cancelled most of our ADRs after that and did mostly CS. We were somewhat happy with that. I think we need at least a TS every other day. I'm so glad though that we didn't get sick until after our Yachtsman's Steakhouse dinner though Normally we do at least 1 TS per day and probably average 1.5 per day.

 

[bluejasmine]

In the past I have done several trips where we ate almost all if not all CS but they were OOP. We enjoyed it, there are so many other choices in WDW CS than hamburger!

We already decided that when we bring my stepson in 2012 we will only come for 3 days, he just cant handle too much and we will do QC DP and maybe add a character meal OOP since it will be his first trip. Not only will it be cheaper but perfect for him so he has more park time.

Now for longer trips like we normally take Id rather do regular DDP and have the best of both worlds, BUT If needed to do QS for a time or money aspect I would do it in a heartbeat

 

[Liljam]

Thanks, mrzrich! I'm on my phone so quotes don't work so well, haha. Anyway, I might try that for a coupon. I know people who love the site for local restaurants too but I've never tried it.