How many meals do you eat when in the parks?

[auroralark]

On my last trip, I was trying to save as much money as possible, so I didn't eat much at all.

It was a short trip, and in July, and I tend not to be very hungry when it's hot out. I ordered food from Garden Grocer and ate mini-wheats and a granola bar for breakfast. I ate one sit down meal a day. For lunch or dinner (whichever one wasn't a sit down meal) I just ate more of my breakfast foods or some of the other snacks I brought. Occasionally I bought a special snack or a piece of fruit. But food is really not a big thing for me, and I wouldn't have eaten this way on a longer trip. (We were also touring the parks commando style.) I didn't even get a Dole whip that time.

 

[Phoenixblue]

I think this will be the hardest part of my challenge. With home so close it will be hard eating out everyday. I am thinking I need more input from everyone as to what to do.............

We try to keep to our home eating schedule as much as possible... but we have little kids. For us it helped avoid the meltdowns and such. But we are also all Foodies, love to try new things and eat new places... even the kiddlets. So we plan TS as much as possible. We get to take a break from the heat and bustle, enjoy trying new food and take in the atmosphere.

Even though it will be close to home, think of it like you are going far way and plan it that way .. how would you plan it out if you were going to Disneyland?

 

[tlcoke]

I've been on the Dining Plan my last couple of trips with the exception of DAP.

I tend to eat once or twice a day while at WDW. CS Breakfast and TS Dinner around 7 pm. If I get hungry during the day, I usually get a snack of some type. There are some days I only eat 1 meal, just depends on my mood.

 

[Cherinva]

For us, we grab (at the Hotel) Coffee and a danish for breakfast, have CS lunch and TS for Dinner. On the occasion, we will book a TS Character Breakfast. We get there so little, that once we get in the parks, we stay...open to close.

 

[SamSam]

We usually have toast or something similar in our room for breakfast, often just a sandwich in our room for lunch, then we pull out the stops for dinner.

Jiko's, California Grill, Narcooses, Brown Derby, Sanaa, Poly Sushi Bar, are a few of our favorites.

Of course, we're staying DVC and on our longer trips we work mornings in our villa, so the way we eat works for us.

 

[wishspirit]

I have just realised the fatal flaw in my WDW plans! One very small eater with one large eater!

I have issues with eating on holiday, I just get too over excited to eat! Luckily my boyfriend know this and knows to shove high calorie stuff down me for the first few days 'till I calm down. Refillable mugs of poweraid are my main source of food plus a few snacks for the first couple of days. Chips are my main weakness, so I might try and pick some up from somewhere early. Anyone know where?

However my boyfriend LOVES eating and trying new stuff. He is very sympathetic to my over-excited stomach, but it can mean he gets frustrated and hungry in the process!

How are we going to deal with me (who can feel sick at the smell of food if I am anxious) and him wanting to try everything?

 

[freesone]

We rarely have 3 full meals, especially with the dining plan. Breakfast is usually just something quick in the foodcourt, then will have lunch and dinner(and snacks).

 

[Ava]

For us, we grab (at the Hotel) Coffee and a danish for breakfast, have CS lunch and TS for Dinner. On the occasion, we will book a TS Character Breakfast. We get there so little, that once we get in the parks, we stay...open to close.

This is what I have done in the past, for the most part. Eat breakfast at the hotel before heading out to the parks, then have a CS lunch & either CS or TS dinner in the park. Like you said, I get there so infrequently that I have always stayed in the parks all day. Next trip will be my first trip with a little one, so I feel like that will change a bit.

 

[esddk]

We did 3 meals a day on our last trip in January but definitely felt on some days it was an effort to get them in. I don't know what we were thinking.

 

[stepdisney]

Last year at Kidani, we had breakfast in the room (toast, tea, cereal for the children, etc.) We made it quick and painless. We had lunch around 11:30 CS a snack around 3:00 and dinner most nights between 6 - 7:00. Mostly just like we do at home.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Well, we all know that Sean loves to eat and therefore LOVES the dining plan. Before I lost 119 pounds on Jenny Craig, I had no issue with getting the premium (this was a plan a few years ago) or deluxe (current plan). Now, I find it harder than ever to eat all of the food, but manage as best as I can.

Because we typically get the deluxe, that equals three credits per day for either CS or TS and two snacks. We usually do two sit down meals in one day. We use up the extra credit by having all of our dinners at signature restaurants. The other TS is for lunch as we usually only do a sit-down breakfast once during the week we are there. Depending on the time we had out to the parks (we go during peak seasons so we had out late and do the nighttime EMHs), we may grab something small for a CS in the morning, but not usually. Snack credits are used primarily for water and popcorn (my arch nemesis). We have found this to work best for us.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Well, we all know that Sean loves to eat and therefore LOVES the dining plan. Before I lost 119 pounds on Jenny Craig...

Wow! Good for you!

At DLR the dining plan is just silly and pointless so no tempation there. We try to stay at a place that offers free breakfast. It makes it faster to grab something and go in the morning. Last summer we stayed at Embassy Suites South which has an amazing free breakfast!

At the parks we might never eat at a table service the entire trip. Last time we were there for a week and did two. Also we often have a snack for lunch instead of a full meal. Our favorite is to get a waffle cone on Main Street and have that for lunch.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Tell me about the dining plan at DLR. I know nothing about it. Why is it not worth it?

 

[kaligal]

Two. Three restaurant meals is just too much food and too much time.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Tell me about the dining plan at DLR. I know nothing about it. Why is it not worth it?

I have never used it but apparently all you get are coupons worth $5 or $10 (maybe higher amounts, not sure). But people in the DLR forums who have used it said if you buy something for $4 and use the $5 coupon you don't get change. But if you buy something worth $6 you still have to pay $1. So you don't really save anything and you could loose something. A few people use it because they want to pre-pay for it and be done with it. They don't want to think about budgeting at the parks for food. But really, if you have to budget money, this isn't the way to do it. Others suggest just putting the amount you want to spend for food on a gift card. However, we charge all our food and then get money back on our CC. I don't want all that money sitting on a gift card ahead of time when I don't have to pay it yet. Anyway, there was some talk about them trying out a change to the plan but I don't know what happened with that. Unless it changes, it is really not worth it.

 

[rotlex]

We always get the dining plan. (In figuring it out, every year, it more than pays for itself for us....we like to eat on vacation)!

Generally though, we do two meals, a counter service, and a table service, per day. We usually do the buffets\character meals, so we are pretty darn full with just that. Throughout the rest of the day, we pretty much fuel ourselves with Mickey ice cream bars, and anything else we don't normally partake in whilst outside "The World"

 

[ms*mountaineer]

Some days we do a sit-down breakfast for a character meal - and we usually do a sit-down dinner. On the days we don't have a sit-down breakfast we might just grab muffins or pop-tarts before heading to the park. During the day, we will do counter service for lunch - but we never buy 4 CS meals for the 4 of us. We usually get 2 or 3 things from a CS place and there is enough to share.

 

[aGoofyMom]

Left to me and DH, we can nibble our way through the day (granola bars) etc and have one meal (CS or TS) later in the day. Of course without kids I tend to be in the parks a lot. With DD, I was told to scale it back or else. Once it was established that we can always come back, I managed.

DD is very regimented - likely from being in daycare since age 1. She gets put out if she doesn't have 3 meals a day. We have had to be specific with her when "lunch" consists of some fruit or a cookie to hold you over until a big dinner or after a big late breakfast. I am the one you will see handing my kid a Mickey bar and telling her that it is her lunch.

We have done the Dining Plan and while it doesn't always work for us, it did teach me that averaging one sit down meal every day is a good break for us, and a great way to see characters without waiting in line. I ask what characters are a must for everyone. If I need to sort out which park and restaurant on which day, I use crowd calendars OR any special occasions involved.

I am watching Teresa'a progress with interest as I have a friend who is asking for my help - 3 kids, the oldest being 8-10 years older than the 2 young ones, and she is going to be on a strict budget. I am not sure if I can get her to use Dreams Unlimited. I am going to have her listen to the show to see if that convinces her.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

I usually wake up very, very hungry. So... I always do a good size buffet breakfast around 9 am. I prefer my buffet breakfast kind of calm, so it is usually NOT a character breakfast. Then I will have a sit down dinner about 4 or 5. If I snack in between that, it might be a fruit cup.

Keep in mind, I don't have childrem, and I vacation solo. If I had a family my schedule might be different.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We eat breakfast in the room, eat lunch and dinner in the parks. Sometimes lunch is just various snacks in the park if we aren't that hungry. But my kids alway want dinner. We also don't share meals anymore. DH, DD and DS want their own meals. Usually I get a kids meal at the CS places but everyone else wants adult meals.

We sometimes snack in the parks, sometimes buy snacks at the resort.

We don't do the dining plan.