How Many is TOO Many???

[Shoos]

We are headed to WDW for 9 days with DD1 & DD2.5 Since TS's are impossible to get as walk ups we have ADR's for at least 2 TS's a day....a lot of time 3 a day. Looks great on paper but I expect that is a LOT of food and potentially a lot of $$$. So the question is How many TS's are Too Many???

 

[TDC Nala]

I have a week there and am making sure I book no more than one TS per day. I do not want to return from the trip weighing 10 pounds more than I did at the beginning.

 

[vicki_c]

My family does <1 TS per day over a week long trip - we might have 5-6, split up among breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Some families do 1 a day, some do 2 on lots of days.

I don't know ANY families with young children that would do 3 TS meals a day. You won't have any time left for touring the parks. Each TS meal probably averages 1.5 hours factoring in waiting times at some places, a few character meals, etc.

Do you have the dining plan or the deluxe dining plan, and are trying to use up your credits?

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I really think two a day is pretty sufficient. Maybe either lunch and dinner TS with a small breakfast in the room, or a large breakfast at a somewhat later time and then a TS dinner as well.

I was just thinking of what normal eating times may be...and three would take up a lot of time.

Say breakfast at 8 am. Give breakfast an hour and a half to be safe (since I know there are a lot of character meal breakfasts and you may want to stay to see all of them).

Now lunch at noon, we'll say it'll only take an hour since a lot of people have smaller lunches.

That leaves dinner at 6. I believe dinners at Disney can take anywhere from an hour to two to three (depending on if you do any dinner shows or signature dining).

So your looking at what?...4 to 6 hours of the day on meals? Not including any travel time or time you might spend waiting to be seated.

I guess you just have to look at it that way. Are big, lengthy meals something your family is really looking forward to? Or do you think they'd rather have a bit more time to do shows and rides?

 

[blanq]

I think "how many is too many" varies depending on the person/family; there is no right or wrong.

I can say that for my family, we generally average one TS meal per day. Maybe twice a trip we have a brunch/breakfast TS and a dinner TS, but we usually offset that by having a couple of days where we have no TS. For us, our thought process is two-fold: 1) we just can't eat that much food, and 2) we don't like the time that a TS experience takes us away from doing other things. That said, we all enjoy a good TS experience and agree that eating is an enjoyable part of every vacation.

 

[kim_d]

We have done the deluxe dining plan twice. 8 nights in January (it was a 2 week split stay) and once for 7 nights in June.

We loved the deluxe dining in January. I think b/c we had 2 weeks so we didn't feel rushed. However, in June while we still enjoyed it we felt that we spent a lot of our time traveling to ADRs and eating.

My children are 6yo and 4yo and have been to WDW like 10 times so we never feel like we have do everything and we enjoy the TS experience. However, you do have to take into consideration your children and how well they do at restuarants, the travel time involved in getting to multiple ADRs and the expense. Even with the dining plans you still need to include tip- which with 2-3 TS per day can get very pricy.

 

[LilGMom]

We always have one TS booked per day and we are a family of four (Me, DH, DS8, DS4) and have been doing it that way every since the oldest was a toddler. We go a couple of times a year but we still don't want to take away too much park time for eating. One thing to look at, like a PP said, is the travel time. If you are relying on WDW transportation you might have to factor in another 2 hr. for going to and getting back from your meal (sometimes more time than that). We found that when we tried to have 2 TS per day that we'd end up cancelling the second one most of the time because we had been snacking throughout the day and didn't feel like a big meal, didn't want to stop going onto attractions or the kids didn't want to slow down enough to eat a TS meal.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

1 tb service a day works for us for dinner. We do CS for Bk & Lunch.
We did do 3 Tbs for or 25th Ann it was a lot of food.

 

[sharadoc]

WOW! Do your little ones like to go to restaurants? Seems like a lot of work with little ones that age, but that's just me.

We don't do ONE a day, maybe one every two days at most. The waiting to be seated, waiting for the food, waiting for the dessert, waiting for the check, etc. drives us crazy. Plus we don't want to be weighted down by a lot of food.

Buffets are basically the best for us. Other than waiting to get seated, there's no more waiting and you can stay for as long or short as you want.

For an example, we went in January for 10 days. We ate at CMs on Sunday, Grand Floridian on Wednesday and Whispering Canyon on Friday. We felt SO full by Friday that we almost didn't go out to eat, but it was raining and we were already back in our room, so we tried it. I think I was up half the night feeling too full.

Will this be your only trip, or will you come back again? If it was me, I'd save some of that $$$ and just plan another trip in a few months!

Honestly, the food isn't that great - but the character experiences and fun themes are worth the time, at least once. Good luck deciding!

 

[Tink888]

For me personally any TS more than twice a day is too much. Too much food, too much money and too much time spent in restaurants instead of touring the parks.

Really though, it's a personal decision and just depends on your touring plan, how much your family can eat and how much you want to spend on food. On one hand, with the ages of your kids, they might get bored spending all that time in the restaurants and on the other it might make nice breaks for them throughout the day without having to go back to your resort.

http://www.allearsnet.com has a restuarant section with menus and prices to give you an idea of what it's going to cost you and figure on spending about an hour at each TS. Check WDW's site for park hours to get an idea of how much time you'll realistically have in each park as well.

 

[kaytieeldr]

allearsnet.com has a restuarant section with menus and prices

So does the DIS http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningmain.cfm

 

[Shoos]

Wow. I guess our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. I just thought 2 little ones might need a break in air conditioning a few times a day. I don't expect them to last in the parks all day, but 5 hours a day spent on meals doesn't appear to be the solution. I guess we will cut back our ADR's to 1 or 2 a day.

Thanks everyone for the input

 

[DisneyJen0504]

I think 1-2 is a better idea. You can go to Counter service places that are air conditioned if that is one of your concerns.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

For us we do 2 or 3 TS a day, my son is a slow eater so my husband and I can actually enjoy our meals. My son does not like any of the CS offered so we tend to pick a TS or room service. It depends how your kids acts in restaurants...my son loves to go out to eat and at Disney he loves the character buffets so we do alot of them.

 

[winterman]

We are headed to WDW for 9 days with DD1 & DD2.5 Since TS's are impossible to get as walk ups we have ADR's for at least 2 TS's a day....a lot of time 3 a day. Looks great on paper but I expect that is a LOT of food and potentially a lot of $$$. So the question is How many TS's are Too Many???

Seems like you are asking a lot of your kids - to sit and behave for 60 to 90 minutes, 2 or 3 times a day. I'd go with 1/day. Get the other meals at counter service places.

 

[MHSweb79]

When we do the regular dining plan (1TS, 1CS and 1 snack credit per day) we always have a few CS and LOADS of snack credits at the end of the week. The hot weather will dull your appetite and we found that there was too much food, and that's not even the deluxe plan.
ALSO, we learned to go back to our resort after lunch for a nap/ swim, or otherwise air-conditioned break. We'd hit the park of the day at opening time, tour until lunch, then break until 4 or 5pm before heading out to an evening park. We found we actually started getting MORE out of each day by taking a break - we had so much more energy for the evening and we enjoyed everything a little bit more.
With very young children, I would recommend the afternoon rest over 3 sit down meals, which can be stressful for tired little ones.

 

[MJAJmom]

Thankfully, everyone is different and has different plans that work for their family!! Try not to follow somebody else's plans, adjust accordingly to your family's needs and it will all work out. Sometimes it takes 2 trips to Disney to experience the dining alternatives and touring strategies to know what works/doesn't work. Planning can be exhausting!!

With my 2 boys, DS4 and DS6, we enjoy having a TS meal and also doing several character meals. So we usually have 2-3 TS meals a day. Generally, nothing takes more than a hour for us, maybe even 30 minutes for a quicker TS meals (like Sci-fi, Plaza, 50's Prime Time.). If you do appetizers and desserts, then it make a take a little bit longer.

I don't find that the TS meals cramp our touring time. I prefer not fighting to find a table at a CS meal while dragging my kids through the line, so a TS fits my style better with littler ones. They behave fairly well at the table.

This June trip, we did the DxDP for the first time and I loved it. For our plans, it was cheaper to do this. We need some breaks from touring throughout the day, and a TS meal is a nice break for us.

Have fun planning and exploring the dining opportunities.

 

[squirrel]

One a day is good for me. Last year on a day we didn't go to a park we had 2TS-breakfast and dinner.

This year we have one TS each day, except one as we are doing a 2TS credit at HDDR.

 

[djp0630]

I would definitely do about 1/day with little ones. I am going with a 1 year old & 3 year old in Sept. and am averaging 1/day. I have 2 days where we are doing 2 TSs, but then I have 2 days with none. Mine are mostly buffets/family style meals.

 

[candielips]

I would love to DXDP but our DD is only 2 & w/ another one on his way in 4 months, we keep our TS to 1 a day.

I just thought 2 little ones might need a break in air conditioning a few times a day. I don't expect them to last in the parks all day, but 5 hours a day spent on meals doesn't appear to be the solution.

Take them into the air conditioned shows. That is what we do and it provides us w/ the chance to rest our feet.