Dining Advice

[xpanmanx]

Greetings,

We'll be spending a week at WDW from 05-JUN through 11-JUN 2005.

Our family of 5 includes myself and my wife, our 5.5yo boy, our will-have-just-turned-4yo girl, and a 20-month old boy.

Other stuff relevant to my questions (below): we're flying in by SWA. We'll take DME to ASMo. No rental car. We didn't buy PHs. We're currently planning on being in MK on Monday and Friday, and one day each in Epcot, MGM and AK. We're planning on spending afternoons at ASMo, napping and swimming, before returning to that day's theme park for dinner and the fireworks.

Our eating habits: quick breakfast (bananas, maybe pop tarts). Medium-sized lunch. Water and/or Kool-Aid in bottles, with light snacks throughout the day (fruit chewies, trail mix, etc, which we plan on packing in our checked luggage). Dinner is usually around 7:30PM and BIG. Dad can eat a horse, and mom can eat 1/2 a horse. The kids' consumption will vary wildly, but if they're in the mood, the 3 of them will put down the other 1/2 of mom's horse. Dessert is always anticipated, but does not need to immediately follow dinner, nor does it need to be at the same restaurant.

To start with, I have 3 or 4 questions about dining, which will likely explode into 3 dozen questions by the time I'm done Please feel free to comment on my musings, in addition to tackling my (hopefully simple) questions.

I've been quoted a price of just over $500 to upgrade our existing MYW base ticket to include the Plus Dining package. Is this a good value for us? Can anyone provide some relevant examples of the cost of non-packaged dining?

Character meals - because of the cost and the difficulty in keeping all 3 kids corralled, we're planning on doing just 1, and we'll use the buyouts from the Plus Dining plan to do it. But...today is 62 days from our arrival, so I'm sure that CRT is right the heck out (unless I get real lucky). What else would you recommend for our family?

Should I plan each day's table-service meal in advance, or will I be safe winging it? I'm sure the answer varies wildly, but how many days advance notice is required to secure seating for a party at "most" "normal" table-service restaurants?

Thanks for everything

 

[disney queen]

hhhmmm.......there is a lot of food/eating involved on the dining plans. since you said breakfast and lunch can be light, you might want to just pay as you go. you might be leaving a lot behind for the two light meals. as for as character meals, you might try for chef mickey at the contemporary; they serve both breakfast and dinner. if the princesses are really important, cinderella is at the 1900 Park Fair at grand floridian for dinner. also, at norway/world showcase is the storybook princesses meals. this is served for all three meals. liberty tree tavern in MK serves a character dinner. since you are going at a fairly busy, not super busy, time of the year, i would highly recommend PS for your sit-downs. have you checked the menus on www.allearsnet.com this will give you an idea as to the cost of meals. hope this helps.

 

[snuggles]

Welcome to the Dis!
I'd like to suggest that you eat your main meal at lunch. The prices are better and if you make it a late one, you could probably make out with a light dinner.

 

[quiltymom]

Here's my 2 cents worth... I'll post more detailed info soon in this section, but here's what I'd say. If you're doing one character meal, and you have both boys and girls, then I'd say the Crystal Palace in MK for dinner. It was the best buffet we had while we were there (be sure to try the Salmon and Chicken Pasta dishes!). Plus, it's Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore & Tigger -- sure to please everyone. And they have a little parade to let the kids march around the dining room.

If you want the Princesses, forget CRT. We thoroughly enjoyed the Princess breakfast in Epcot (Norway pavillion). The food was better (the cinnamon rolls were to die for!), the Princesses didn't rush by, and the atmosphere was more calm. We did do CRT, and was not impressed. It was loud, the food passable, and the Princesses practically ran around the room from table to table.

Hope this helps! As I said, as soon as I get my act together I'll post a thread about our dining experiences soon. We just returned last night so we're still unpacking, etc.