How many meals a day do you PLAN, as in PS?

[BluOrchid2]

Our first trip, we planned 2 meals a day, almost every day. Ended up canceling about half of them. So when we went in March, we only planned one meal a day, and liked that much better. Still canceled a few of them, though.

Our daughter is just 2, and we never know how tired/cranky she's going to be at a certain time of the day, so that demands flexibility. Still, I really liked being able to just eat fast food wherever we were at the moment. Can't beat those Casey's hot dogs!

 

[becka]

For a typical 7 day trip we usually make 10-11 priority seatings. At least one a day and a few of the days we would do two (usually a breakfast and then dinner). We have only ever cancelled 1-2 in the past. At the time it was just me and DH and we wanted at least one sit-down every day.

We are going with DS this next time and I will probably make about the same number of PS. I would still like to do 1 sit-down meal a day but more of them may be breakfast since DS tends to be in a better mood in the mornings. We will cancel if we have to but since we will be trying to keep to his normal schedule as much as possible hopefully it will not be too much of an issue.

 

[ahutton]

We rarely do more than one sit down meal in any given day. I've found with the kids (1 & 3) that I need more flexibility than ever before. If there is a specific meal that is a "have to do" I'll make a PS, or if there is a large group as they are harder to seat. Other than that I'll usually go for same day or walk up seats. It worked well last time, and I'm sure that is what we'll do this trip.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

One a day for us, and only one character meal per trip. I get Chip and Dale'd out!

We usually plan on a late PS for lunch, primarily to get away from the crowds for a while.

 

[MikeWazowski]

It really depends on where you plan on dining at. You will defenently want to get a PS at Character meals (Chef Mickeys, 1900 Park Fare).

We try to get a PS at every restaurant that we plan on eating at, but when we arrive at probably more then half we find the restaurants are usually not full.

Breakfast and Dinner times usually get booked the fastest. We always book way to many resaurants. It seems like after the fourth night of eating out, we start to get sick of it. Try getting a sit-down meal for each day.

 

[Belle5]

On days off from theme parks (when we're going to water parks, boating or swimming at the hotel pool) we make 2 PS's--one for breakfast and one for dinner. On them park days we usually either have a lunch or dinner PS. (One or the other.)

 

[CamColt]

For our 6 day August trip, we are going to book 2 PS for the trip. We also plan to eat at ESPN(no PS), possibly Planet Hollywood, and probably do the FDP(cant book that until later). The rest will be counter service

Now for our Christmas trip, I hope to do a few more sit down meals since we will be taking it slow and trying to do new things on this trip(Im usually a creature of habit). This will be an 8 day trip and according to my current plan(subject to change a million more times) Im planning on 6 PSs, possibly ESPN and Beaches & Cream(no PS), and maybe FDP...then the rest we will fill in with counter service.

 

[Harambe]

I do around five PS's a trip, including one character breakfast and one dinner show. That PS, for Hoop Dee Do or Luau I make as soon as I can. The earlier you book a dinner show, the better your seats.

I made too many PS's the first time we went. We kept most, but my DH felt we were too much a slave to the PS's! ANd I agreed.

For our next trip, I am picking all park restaurants (with the exception of Boma). While the resort restaurants are probably better food, it is more difficult to get to them using Disney Transportation.

 

[kdibattista]

We do not have kids yet so I would say it's definitely easier for us to plan. We do know what parks/activities we want to do on which day so we go from there. We normally book breakfast (around 10:00) and then a late lunch/early dinner (3:00 - 4:00). We get pretty lucky and only end up cancelling a few.

 

[cinmell]

We will be in WDW for 10 days and we have 6 PS planned. They are either breakfast or dinner, one lunch. The only time we are doing 2 in one day is Princess Storybook and Garden Grille in Epcot.

 

[Julia M]

I think it also depends on what time of the year you are going. You can always cancel, or not show up for them.

When we went during spring break, it was crowded, even early in the a.m., to the point we were so overwelmed (we are Disneyland veterans, but always go off season). My husband, who had kind of ridiculed all my PS's, really appreciated them quite quickly. We had b'fast at Crystal Palace, and when we checked in, no on was getting seated unless they had a PS. It was SO crowded. We totally appreciated the chance to sit down and get away from the crowds.

However, we skipped a PS at 1900 park Faire on a non park day. The kids were exhausted, and we chose to let them sleep and grab a quick breakfast snack before the Pirates Cruise. We also cancelled a PS at Rose and Crown. We had planned to stay until late, but our kids were begining to fall apart. On our way out, we told the hostess at the podium we needed to cancel. Again, I was disappointed, but I was still glad I had the PS.....if things had been okay, the hostess was telling people there were hour waits!

So, I guess what I'm saying, in a round about way, is make the PS's you might want, especially in busy season. If it doesn't work for you, cancel if you can or just don't show up. But, you may be glad of the break it can afford you, without a big wait time.

Julia

 

[Hollymom1229]

I make at least one a day for either lunch or dinner, and then a couple for character breakfasts. My fiancee and I have no children so for us it's just nice to know we have somewhere to eat when we get hungry. We have a vague plan in mind and it works really well.

 

[travelitis]

Usually 1 per day does it. We have to hit some character meals, and we find that breaking up the day with a sit-down meal is very refreshing. We opt for late b-fast or late lunch. We like to have 1 a day, but we have had 2 in the same day. Ideally we like to catch b-fast in our room & have a character lunch. Then we don't want supper, so we find this is a better value for our family than counter service. We spend just a little more for 1 character meal than for 2 counter service meals, but we get atmosphere, characters, relaxing break, and a more nutritious and tasty meal. If we do a character b-fast, then we might have a dinner at a place like 50's PT that is ala carte.

 

[KayleeUK]

Usually one a day - either make sure we have a good breakfast or dinner

 

[goofy4tink]

Because we're going in the heat and humidity of August this time, we decided to do a lot of sit-down eating. So, we have about a total of 11 meals planned. Most are late breakfast seatings and very early/late lunch seatings. That way we only eat two meals a day. And do some snacking around the parks too!! Also, if we do the character meals, it seems to take the sense of urgency away from those character sightings in the park!!!

 

[MinnieGi]

We also have a 2yo DD and flexibility is key! I always end of cancelling ps's when we are down there even though I rarely ever do more than one per day. Still its nice knowing that we have the option of going to the sit-down or if we need to bypass it we can cancel. We usually do our sit-down at lunch time and then head back to our resort. Dinner we either go off-site, eat counter service, or sometimes do a restaurant that does not have a wait. We also usually do not do more than one ps per day b/c I just can't eat that heavy at every meal. Usually one filling sit-down lunch and a lighter dinner is what we like.

 

[sm4987]

I usually only plan 5 PS and leave the rest to chance during the vacation. I really only plan the breakfasts because that is one meal that I know the family will eat.

 

[gonga]

We make p/s for dinners only. We don't plan our days in the parks so lunch is whenever/where ever we feel like eating. I find there are too many variables in the day - it may rain, you're not hungry, kids are tired, one park that you planned on may be too crowded, etc.. I have found that by planning dinners only you get the most out of your vacation. You can do as you wish without feeling stressed about making a p/s for lunch! There are so many lunch options in the parks to suit everyone's needs that you will never be disappointed.

 

[Kitten516]

We will make up to 3 a day. One for each meal. It really depends on what we are planning, and what parks we are going to. We do not have kids so it is quite easy to work around them. We have shown up really early for some PSs but we normally do not cancell them or skip them.

 

[disney daft dad]

HI Disney daft mum here.....we usually only do 2 or 3 in a 20 day trip!!! We normally do a lot of counter service meals.... however we are going to WDW at Christmas this year and so far I am looking at 8 PS's and I still have 10 days unaccounted for!!!!! OMG... back to the drawing board I think.....We also have a young.ish daughter and she's not really into sit down meals...wastes too much park time according to her and her dad.

I have had to really plan all our meals for 12/24,25,26 and I've diaryed O'hana's for my birthday...somewhere in between we'll doing 1900 park fayre for Teri (total Cinderella fan!!)

Had it not been xmas though I would not have planned so many restaurants...prefer the flexibility of "on spec" or "same day ressies"

There you are..that's my plan's such as they are

Val