? for the planners, did you plan your daily meals

[shorty2313]

including where you would have breakfast and lunch? I am hearing alot of people say they book their table service meals, but did you also plan ahead of time,where you would eat for breakfast and lunch, assuming most of your reservations were for dinner? Thanks, I am trying to plan everything ahead of time, but part of me is saying we don't need to plan our counter meals. What are your thoughts? This site rocks by the way. Thanks!!

 

[akalittleeva]

For us, we just winged breakfast - something in the room or a snack/CS credit at POP food court. For our CS, I just researched the CS's for each park and didn't plan it out specifically for each day - but I sort of had a pretty good idea of where I'd like to eat - whenever we got hungry, if we felt like trekking to our preferred CS, we did, if not, we tried something nearby, so I guess we just winged that as well...mostly...

 

[thunderbird1]

First of all, welcome to the DIS! You're going to learn so much.

We don't plan CS meals. For one, I just don't care as much about where I eat CS meals, though I do usually have an idea of one or two places I'd like to eat. Also, since our TS's are so carefully planned and scheduled, I generally prefer to just stop for a CS where ever we are when we get hungry.

Having said that, since we come from so far away, we usually have longer stays (10 days, minimum), so if we miss a restaurant one day, we can make up for it another. If we were only there for 4-5 days at a time, I probably would plan at least a couple of CS meals, to make sure I didn't miss them.

I'm always amazed at those who can plan each and every meal and snack stop on their vacation. It takes a far more organized mind than mine to be able to do that (as evidenced by the clutter in my house and the weeds in my yard).

 

[Snow_White]

I try to have a rough idea of the CS places I'd like to eat at during our trip, but I am very flexible as far as that stuff goes. Other than having a rough idea of "must-do's", we just sorta wing it for the mornings/afternoons (not the evenings though, since our dinner reservations are all set).

 

[jpaulgor]

I do have a plan, but I don't care if we follow it or not. My plan is to get to the park as early as possible. Eat something if we want to. Take a lunch break back to CSR and eat lunch at Pepper Market. Then after a sufficient break, go to wherever our dinner ressies are and spend the rest of the day.

Now, if we decide not to take the lunch break every day and just eat a CS at the park, I will not cry about it. We will just go with the flow, but our dinner arrangements are fairly strict.

 

[nikky luvs mickey]

i must admit i am planning obsessed and yes i have planned my cs and even my snacks. we are on quite a schedule between meals and park hopping but the family is used to this and we still have a great time.

 

[brymolmom]

I do plan our CS meals...but I won't necessarily follow it if we end up on the other side of the park. IMO - with kids and the DP - it is a good idea to research the CS menus. Because the kids CS menus offer very few choices (sometimes only Mac n cheese or PB&J) - it is important to me that we hit the CS places where the kids will be offered the most variety. Of course, mom and dad need to have good options on the menu too. But I'm mostly just planning on hitting as many different and varied children's menu options as possible.

If we miss a couple/few during our trip - no big deal. We could always just let them eat ice cream for lunch while dh and I have adult meals if it comes to that here or there. It is vacation after all.

 

[PDJPrinceCharming]

I make sure I have all my TS ADR's taken care of & what day I wanna do PH OOP. Then I plan my CS meals based on the park i'm in & the time i'll be there. It's a little neurotic sure, but I know where I am eating every meal of my trip & they are all places i've never been able to eat before(couldn't get in the castle for my birthday last year even on last minute desperation call) so it's all gonna be new to me & then when I go back next year, i'll hit my favorites & some new ones. I plan a lot, it's quite fun to me.

 

[JimMIA]

We plan our TSs only. We schedule almost all of those for dinner, because we like to have a nice dinner at the end of the day. We schedule the dinners somewhat later because we don't like to be rushed to get to an ADR, and the dinner is our final event of the day anyway.

We generally know what CS places we like in the various parks, and we choose those based on what we want to eat at the moment, or sometimes simply on which one is closest. The only time we actually plan a CS is if we are using a "heavy" CS to save a TS credit for a signature dining.

 

[ballarinamom]

We didn't want to eat burgers and pizza everyday. I had a daily schedule with park hours, EMH and plans for breakfast. I had too many things to think about while preparing everyone in the morinings AND making rope drop everyday. I looked at it each night before bed just so I couldfeel prepared. I did research the menus on allears and asked DH about his thoughts. I had several choices at each park which allowed for some flexibility for our lunch CS but we were not surprised by the menus. I have a spreadsheet someone sent me which was quite useful in keeping everything straight if you would like it

 

[auntie]

I did plan our Table Service meals. Of course I didn't want to take a chance that I wouldn't be able to secure ADR's once we arrived. It wasn't a big deal..it was 7 meals. We even did wind up making a change once there. However you can't count on it. Skipped the Lilo and Stich breakfast at Ohana's. We love that movie and thought it might be fun. Mixed up the dates for the ADR. However we did go to Poly anway and got right into Kona for breakfast..and after evaluating what we refer to as the "Screamin' Mimi Factor" at Ohana's..we were just as glad we "missed" it. We were able to use 2 Table Service credits and made an ADR for Brown Derby while we were staying at the WL. I've never used the plan before..or made that many ADR's..usually just one or two in the past. However with the popularity of the plan, and from what I had read here on the boards...I figured I didn't want to loose my TS's and if we kept our ADR's fine..if not I'd cancel.

As for counter service..we would plan that day to day. I had an idea of where or when based on which park or what we might be doing that day. I found this worked best for us. Planning every morsel that was going to go into our mouths...well, that seemed a bit to OCD to me. Of course we are adults(youngest is going to be 16 later this month).

 

[GreatLakes5]

I maintain my list of snack ideas - especially the ones that I know I won't think of "in the moment"

At each park I have our CS picked out - sometimes it's a lunch, sometimes a dinner - but I try really hard to be flexible and most of the time I succeed & we'll do something else. I do like to find CS places that will give us more than burgers for options and in Epcot there are so many places in various countries that the list just jogs my memory.

I would suggest keeping some menu reminders for counter places.

 

[Tess'smom]

We only plan our table service meals well in advance. We don't plan out our CS meals. However, we know each trip that we will eat sometime at Cosmic Rays, Columbia Harbor House, Tangierine Cafe, Sunshine Cafe in Epcot, Pizza Planet for my DD and Earl of Sandwich. Oh, I guess that does kind of mean we plan them out doesn't it.

 

[bookgirl2632]

I didn't have a strict plan for CS. We ate breakfast in our room and used our CS credits for lunch. On days when our dinner ADRs were earlier, we ate an earlier lunch. In each park, I knew which places we wanted to eat at and we chose depending on where we were. For instance, in MK, I knew that we all liked Pecos Bill and Cosmic Ray's. But I also wanted to try Columbia Harbor House. When lunchtime hit one day, we ate at CHH because we happened to be right there.

 

[Praying Colonel]

We stop at a Publix on the way into WDW and get breakfast stuff so we can eat in the room.

We have 2-3 CS places we like in each park (well, down to 1 now in AK thanks to Tusker House closing) and when it gets to be lunch time we figure out which one we're feeling that day.

What we do plan is when we're going to eat. We always try to eat around 11:30 so we can avoid the lines. Plus eating a little earlier helps if you're on the DDP--gives you a little more time to "digest" before your TS meal later.

 

[HaleyB]

I do plan our CS meals but we have a child with severe food allergies and two vegetarians in our party, so we need to. It is easy, and really tends to save us time, which is more important than almost anything.

That said we do not always follow the plan.

I am pretty familiar now with the CS options in each park so it is easier to wing it when I need to. I follow touring plans (I make my own based on tour guide mike and UG info) so I have a really good idea what part of the park we will be in at lunch time.

Snacks I don't plan out, except that I 'plan' to have an ice cream sandwich from the bakery on Main St

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Well, I am one of those obsessive planners and I have breakfast, lunch and dinner planned out, I even have it all typed up in Word (table format) and have printed out 3 copies, for DF and I and my mom We don't intend going back to Disney World for a few years (whne Law school finishes) so i wanted to make sure I try all the places that look appealing. I will be somewhat flexible but I am hoping I don't have to be As for snacks, well, I am very flexible about this, but I have noticed some places that are a must stop (Goofy's Candy Co) for one.

 

[extremesoccermom]

I am one of those over planners that has everything planned out including a couple of ideas of what I want to eat. Of course I do this at home also. The start of each month I sit down with my calander and plan our meals for the whole month. However, I am very flexible. DD13 is MR and ADHD so sometimes we have to change the plan to deal with her mood or attitude. So far this is what I have planned:

So far I have planned:
Arrive late Wed Buy Mugs, Microwave Popcorn snack in room
Thur
Breakfast at Crystal Palace with Pooh 2 TS
Lunch Cosmic Rays 1/2 rib - 1/2 chicken 1CS
Dinner Mama Melrose 1 TS
3 TS 1CS
Friday
Breakfast Rainforest Gift Card Share a Viper Pizza
Lunch Flame Tree or Sunshine 1 CS
San Angel 1 TS
Epcot Late Entry so probably 1 CS late
4 TS 3 CS
Saturday
Breakfast at Food Court 1 CS
Lunch at Food Court or Wolfgang 1 CS
Dinner Turf Club at SSR 1 TS
5 TS 5 CS
Sunday
Breakfast at Food Court or AK 1 CS
Lunch Pecos Bills 1 CS
Dinner Tony's Town Square 2 TS
MK open late probably 1 CS late
7 TS 8 CS
Monday
Breakfast Kona Cafe 1 TS may need to do OOP for DD depends on her mood
Lunch LeCellier Steakhouse 2 TS
Leave around 5 on Magical Express grab 2 CS to go meals
10 TS 10 CS
Plus I still have 10 snacks to fit in somewhere.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Not so much of a plan but an IDEA.

For instance, based on my daily plan (which park, which rides) I estimate that we will still be in Tomorrowland at lunch time, therefore, I make a note that the closest (and best) CS place is Cosmic Ray's.

However, I also have my note that if we have already made it over to Adventureland, Pecos Bill's is the closest (and still good) CS place.

If for some odd reason I find myself in the middle of Fantasyland and I am hungry for lunch, I know that I will either walk down to Tomorrowland or I can stop at CCH but I will not go to Pinochio's again (nothing wrong with it, just not my first or second choice for food).

I try to do that for each park - guess which area we'll be in but have an idea of some other places if we move to a different part of the park.

 

[tndisneyfan]

We had Pop Tarts or pastries in the room for breakfast and made an ADR for a TS dinner. We never really planned our CS lunches though. We don't have a strict touring plan, so it would've been difficult to try to plan CS. We just ate whatever was close when we got hungry.