Dining Tips: what will you do differently next time?

[RC Fan]

It seems like you learn a bit more every trip. When I returned form this past trip, I began making a list of what I would like to do next trip. Most of the list centers around dining. For instance, next trip I want to spend more time trying the little things everyone raves about, like the schoolbread from Norway, etc.

What changes will you make to your dining plans next trip?

 

[momofdbsdc]

I will probably schedule less table service meals. My children just did not seem to eat!!!! When we had counter service, they ate everything?! Weird! Oh, well, kids will be kids!

 

[Jrabbit910]

Last year I didnt even know about the boards and I wish I did because it would have been planned out alot differently. My advise is make a list of all the tips found on the boards that intrest you and your family, and do them.
I am planning out my days on Disney's website w/ all the helpful hints I found on here, this way I dont forget!

 

[RC Fan]

Next time I will get to Boma! I have had reservations there for the last three trips, but we always seem to be too tired by supper time.

Next time I will bring some 'business casual' attire so that I could go to say Shula's if I so desired. It seems quite a few places say business casual on the door, but don't seem to enforce it.

 

[Bob NC]

We have made massive changes in our behavior at WDW in regards to dining.

When I call CRO, they tell me I have made 17 trips, so I have some experience behind me.

We used to make ADR's for meal after meal after meal. Breakfast, sit-down lunches and dinners every day. Then we went on a big family reunion type trip. On this trip it just worked out that we ate more counter service and quick meals than ever before....Didn't do it on purpose, it just worked out that way. After this trip we realized that we saved hundreds of dollars, and more importantly, tons & tons of TIME. And ya know what? We didn't miss those loooong expensive meals one bit.

Sit down sometime and figure out the time you spend on getting to, eating, and getting back from all those ADR's. At times it felt like we were on an eating vacation with a little theme park activity thrown in.

We like to park hop, lots. Nothing I hate worse than in the middle of the afternoon deciding to go to AK, then an hour later you realize you have to be back at Epcot for an ADR.

Oh, and one more thing....Don't tell anybody, but the food, overall, at WDW is neither very outstanding or memorable.

 

[antmaril]

Oh, and one more thing....Don't tell anybody, but the food, overall, at WDW is neither very outstanding or memorable.

I totally agree with this. After all our trips to WDW, we have never had a really great meal. On the other hand, we've never had a terrible meal, either. I always described our meals as "fine". We just accept the fact that we aren't there for the food, it's the atmosphere we enjoy.

 

[ShannonP]

Bob, I couldn't agree more. We usually try to schedule a few meals, but just fly by the seat of our pants on the rest. If we're in a particular park and feel like a sit down meal, we'll try to get ressies. If it works out fine, if not, that's okay too. I figure I'm not there for the food anyway.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

What we learned:

One trip to CRT is all any girl really needs. My kids and I loved this. We had the first seating at lunch, a window table, and an attentive, professional waiter. Food was good (I think we had salmon in every restaurant in WDW) and the character interaction was just right.
That being said, we never need to do it again... Been there, done that, show us something new!

If you want to make the most of your park time and dining choices, think about renting a car! How nice it was to be able to leave Typhoon Lagoon, stop off at Earl of Sandwich, grab our order to go, and drive back to WL to eat poolside. And yes, the sandwiches were still warm and tasty. On another morning, we made a quick drive over to the Poly from WL for breakfast at Kona before heading to AK for the day. I know a lot of people like the fact they don't have to drive at WDW, but the time savings to me was worth the trade off.

Chef Mickey's is a GREAT way to get your group in the mood for WDW. We ate there our first night, and we're doing so again. No, the food is not gourmet but it's entirely edible. Besides, your kids are really only interested in the dessert bar. Why not? It's the first night of a lovely WDW vacation. My hint here is: pieces of whole fruit from the dessert bar are a great way to supplement your breakfast the next morning.

Meals on the DDP are a marathon, not a sprint. We learned quickly that getting a green salad for an appetizer was a better way to enjoy our meals without getting overly full. If an appetizer looked especially tasty, one of us would order the appetizer, two would order salads, and the three of us would share. Often times we had one dessert at the table, and took the other two back to our room.

Sci-fi Dine-in Theatre is a GREAT way to cool off at lunch on a warm day! We did not have ADRs, but we were seated immediately in a 'saucer' in the back. Those who had ADRs and were waiting for cars were subject to a 3-45 minute wait. The place was hopping. This is where my kids' love affair with glowing ice cubes began.

You are entitled to see a totaled food bill before your KTTW is given so that dining credits can be deducted. After your card is swiped, they will present you with a bill where the dollar amounts have been zeroed out. If you want to know what your food costs would have been, you'll want the original bill too.

If there's a restaurant where you'd REALLY like to eat, make the ADR. Every restaurant we went to they were turning away anyone without an ADR. This was at the end of free dining in October 2005, but I suspect this is getting to be the norm.

Plan your meals with the rest of your schedule in mind. I don't know about any of you, but my kids would be hurling if they started hopping on roller coaster rides after a buffet breakfast.

All that being said, we are so excited to be heading back to WDW in 3 days!!! My kids requested the following restaurant repeats from last year:

Chef Mickey's
'Ohana (make sure I got the apostrophe in the right place!)
Sci-Fi
Le Cellier
Kona Cafe

I am also trying Boma this year...

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

I'll stay longer so I can try more places!

I'll get DDE so I can save 20 %.

I'll share more meals with DBF so we can save some money and not waste food or overeat.

I've had some fabulous meals and I'm looking forward to more- like Jiko, Bistro de Paris, bluezoo, Narcoossee's, Le Cellier, etc. My ADR's have me pretty excited!

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

First off, review your DDP credits after every meal. Mistakes were made often, but we were able to correct them easily because we kept an eye on it.

Second, if you're eating at a non-buffet/all you can eat TS restaurant, allot 2+ hours from ADR time to leaving the restaurant. If the parks close around 9:00pm and you want to play in the parks after dinner, schedule your ADRs around 5:00pm instead of 6:00pm. Buffets take about an hour though, so those can be scheduled at 6ish and still leave time for playing in the parks.

 

[RC Fan]

I really enjoy the eating aspect of a vacation, and have always been very pleased with Disney dining. I don't mind the time required for TS restaurants as I am generally done with my park touring by noon in any case (I am not into the shows, and I do only the thrill rides).

As far as the DDP, I don't think it would make sense for me as I don't care for CS, and I am not a big eater. Generally I eat something off the appetizer menu. The DDE would probably be more advantageous for me.

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

I did commando touring on the trip, so the end of the day meal didn't bother me as I knew I would be able to fit everything in I wanted to and was well on my way to do so. However, many of my family members would leave the hotel at around 12:00pm, so I could see them feeling overwhelmed by the 2+ hours for some sit down meals. The key is to know what you want and then plan accordingly.

Also remember to always allot at least an hour to travel to your dining destination, especially if you have to park/resort hop. Even if it isn't taking that long, you never know when it might. I also liked to hop to the park where our dinner was a couple of hours before dinner so I could tour the park and not feel rushed by the upcoming ADR.

 

[Merylj]

Me and DD did the free dining last year for 10 days, it was fabulous! This year we are doing 14 days with the dining plan however we don`t want to spend so much time dining so we have more signature meals and breakfasts planned.
Last year we always asked for our check as we ordered our desserts and this seemed to get us out of the restaurants quicker.

 

[dtaylor98]

Next time I won't schedule table service dinners every night. This was our first time on the dining plan and we made reservations 180 days out and scheduled a table service dinner every night at 6. Next time I'd think of making some of the table service meals breakfast or lunch so we could return to the resort for a counter service dinner if we were tired.

 

[mikymouse]

Our family realy liked the dinning plan and thought one sit-down meal a day was a nice option but we had WAY too many snacks/Counter Service credits. I haven't deceided if we would do the DDP again but if we do then I will sign up for more signature dinning for 2 credits and then use counter service on our "off" days so we can have flexiability in the schedule. We might have to eat Mickey Bars for breakfast to use up all those snacks credits.. wow can't wait for the next vacation! Plus we will make sure to "save" our dessert credits and make ADRS just to eat dessert! We never had room for dessert after a sit down meal so we just didn't use them. I think we can leave those credited to our account.??? I hope this is allowed.. ordering just dessert. We did this at the Coral Reef last time and it was the perfect cool place to chill out with some goodies.

 

[Boncho]

I won't eat at Peco Bill's. We just wanted a quick meal in Magic Kingdom and thought we would try someplace we had never gone before --Big Mistake.
My son's hamburger was waaaaay overdone and dry needless to say and my sister and I had those chicken wraps and they were just wraps of goo with a little salad thrown in -- should have eaten at Columbia Harbour House!!!!

 

[blueroses]

Here's something I never considered doing that I will do next time: buy the refillable mug at my resort even though I don't drink soda. I stayed at WL and the queues at Roaring Fork in the morning were SO long (it was spring break). I really envied those folks who were popping in, filling their coffee mugs, and getting out while I stood in line with my cup of coffee and banana. Next time I will buy my fruit the day before when it's less busy and then just pop down for coffee. I know there is a coffee maker in the room, but my husband and I like to take it to go.

 

[tx2tn]

I will make fewer reservations for table meals. I will only get ADR's for my most favorite and I will make those ADR's later in the day like at 7:30 pm versus 6:00 pm.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I think our family has dining down pretty well. We always try some place new each trip, so the trick is to find one that everyone wants to try.

The one thing I wouldn't do is eat at Wolfgang Puck's sit down place again. We love sushi, and we love the QS WP's restaurant, but the Cafe just wasn't worth the extra cost for our family.

I will eat at Le Cellier again! In the past, I didn't think Canadian food was particularly exotic, and still don't think the decor there is anything to rave about, but the food was very good!

 

[lustergirl]

Last year I made the mistake of making our dinner ressies for an early time, like 4:30 or 5pm. We were still sooo stuffed from our counter service lunch that we skipped a couple of our ADR's. This year I made our dinner ressies later in the evening around 6:30pm. We are trying the Luau Show this year, saving our table service credit the first night that we are there for this 2 credit show.