Dining plan for small children advice

[disneyMumx3]

we will be traveling to DW with a 7, 5 & 2 yr old. We were going to get the mid-level, 1 QS 1 TS plan, but we are wondering if it's worth getting the all table service plan solely to avoid juggling kids and trays & searching for seats. Waste of $? Kids probably won't ear enough food to warrant it, but would we be able to also feed the baby (not dining plan eligible) with what we get?

 

[nherbert]

Unless you eat a LOT do not get DDDP you have to spend your entire time eating to feel like you have justified the cost. Particularly with so many kids, as they wont eat enough to make you feel it was worth it. You also have to book all those meals and it's a lot of scheduling. We did it once with a 5 year old and regretted it. The normal dining plan is fine. Yes QS is a balancing act but you will get into a system and learn how to manage it. Just don't go at peak meal times and it is so much easier. This also allows you to have a break when you need one as opposed to when you scheduled one.

 

[Nancyg56]

Run the numbers. First look at the restaurants YOU want to eat, and then crunch costs. We had teh DxDDP on one room with two kids, and it paid off for us. We booke TS lunches instead of CS and in teh heat it was perfect. The little ones relaxed and we enjoyed a meal without a lot of hastle.

You also should look at how you eat though, becasue the upgrade is about 100 per day. I woudl not do this if we would to use it.

 

[disneyMumx3]

Thanks for the input. I'll see if I can use one of those online dining calculators, but aside from the cost, I think all TS meals will take up a lot of time... I love how their eyes light up when we go to Disney, my eyes will light up more when everyone can carry their own food

 

[tabrizia]

I would run the numbers. For the first part of our stay we are doing the deluxe plan with an 8, 6 and 4 year old. We ended up wanting to eat at enough sit down restaurants it made sense. That being said it is just for 4 nights. The other 7 nights of our trip we don't have a dining plan at all.

For those 4 nights and 5 days though it will work for us since 2 of those days are not park days and 1 day is an early closing park day. If we were trying to fit everything in it would not work even for just 5 days.

That being said when we do quick service places with my 3 one of the adults takes the younger two to a table and the other adult orders and let's the elder child help carry things.

 

[Nancyg56]

Thanks for the input. I'll see if I can use one of those online dining calculators, but aside from the cost, I think all TS meals will take up a lot of time... I love how their eyes light up when we go to Disney, my eyes will light up more when everyone can carry their own food

If you have two TS a day. but mixup some signature dining or 2 TS credir meals into your itinerary, you may be surprised. We spent less time at a TS lunch a few times,mostly because we did not need to think about it. or we would book early TS breakfast, have a QS lunch and then a later dinner. I am not suggesting you do this, we never booked deluxe plan when Kady was younger, because when we crunched our OOP spending with it, the cost was more than our extra meals and apps. There were 5 of us though, with several years my DGD a Disney adult.

 

[blackpearl77]

If you plan on doing all character meals then it is worth it.

 

[disneyMumx3]

If you plan on doing all character meals then it is worth it.

I definitely think the meal plans are worth it for character dining! Unfortunately, we booked this trip less than 180 days out, so they were all filled by the time we started looking for reservations.

 

[mjkacmom]

Stick with what you have. We felt the regular DDP was worth it when we had our 4, 4, 6, 9, and 11 year olds, even though it was a bit too much food. There is no way we would use many more TS options than that. We'd split up, with only half of us carrying fod.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We always get the Deluxe plan. For us having a nice sit down meal is a good break from the parks. Its also helpful to not have to juggle around trays and find a seat and with kids that can be difficult especially with a toddler! I honestly think I would be ready to pull my hair out trying to get all the food on the trays and find a seat and get everyone situated. To me that seems like a lot of work, lol. Yes the deluxe is more money and a TON of food, but we basically shared a lot of stuff. It gave variety to our meals, lol. With our young son bc he wasn't on the dining plan when we ate at buffets it was no problem to just grab an extra plate of food for him. But he is a very hearty eater, lol, he does not like to share so when we ate at places that had menus we just paid OOP for him. Again yes its a lot of food and more pricey but it works for my family.

 

[DisneyOma]

we will be traveling to DW with a 7, 5 & 2 yr old. We were going to get the mid-level, 1 QS 1 TS plan, but we are wondering if it's worth getting the all table service plan solely to avoid juggling kids and trays & searching for seats. Waste of $? Kids probably won't ear enough food to warrant it, but would we be able to also feed the baby (not dining plan eligible) with what we get?

QS can fit five meals on one tray! The drinks may come on another tray, so at the most you would be talking about carrying two trays, or balancing one on top of the other. I saw a guy carry a tray full of drinks with the tray full of food on top. He put four large drinks at the four corners of the tray - great engineer!

 

[constantstar]

Balancing trays and directing kids at a QS is my least favorite part of Disney. :/ However, I couldn't justify the deluxe plan and DH would never go for the $. This trip I booked BOG lunch because they'll bring the meal to the table. Then I'm going to review menus and pre-plan the other meals a little so that one adult can get seated with kids and the other can handle the ordering and trays. Last time we all went to the counter to order together and it was chaos.

 

[kohlby]

Sit-down meals would have been much harder on us with young kids. We did mainly QS as it was so much easier - less planning and we could just get what we would eat. We could plan the day to what the kids needed. There were several times we ate dinner in our hotel room since they were done and needed to relax. As for carrying the food, that was never difficult. I would sit down at a table with the kids and my husband would get the food. He could easily carry it. Of course, as the kids became older, he needed help carrying the increase in food - but by then, the eldest could help carry. A 7 year old could even go up with one parent and help carry if needed - just give that child less to carry.

 

[Happyjen27]

I like sit down meals because it keeps my belly happy, eating QS constantly is not even close to what my body is used to. There ARE some great QS options if you look.

I like the sit down meals, so don't rule them out completely, but, they do take up a lot of time, and should be scheduled for late afternoons like after a nap, rather than in the morning or noontime when you could be touring, or when you've been up for 5 hours already and everyone is falling apart and needs a nap.

I don't really like the Dining plan at all because I like to eat how and when I like to eat, and not be tied into getting kids meals for my kids if they want an adult entree, etc. I liked not doing the dining plan because if we were getting run down, we could cancel some dining as long as we were 24 hours in advance. We actually did that toward the end of our trip, I could just tell we were petering out and needed a pool afternoon the next day instead of trekking to the back of MK to go to Be Our Guest, so I cancelled it. Best afternoon of the trip, chilling at the hotel, getting QS in the resort and eating in our room.

 

[Baklava]

We're doing the DxDDP because we use meals as our "rest" time. The 5 year old won't nap, so going back to the hotel is kind of a waste, but we need to be off our feet and relaxing mid-day and at the end of the day. Making that happen while we eat is a good use of time for us.

We've used the calculators and we'll come out ahead. We'll probably end up using some snack credits for take-home treats.