How many TS meals do you do at Disney?

[bangzoom6877]

10 nights planned for July 13, 2010 (a year from tomorrow!)...looking at 12 TS meals. No TS dinner ADR the first night (probably will go to Pop Century and do CS dinner with the rest of the family who is staying there). All other nights, 1 TS dinner (9 TS dinners total, one of which is definitely gonna be CRT). In addition, probably 3 character breakfasts thrown in for fun for the kids! Not planning to leave WDW at all! We already bought our tickets (to lock in the price before it goes up, which will probably be in August). Got a 7-day base ticket. 2 days in MK, 2 days in DHS, 3 days in Epcot. One of the 3 days in Epcot will be a later day where we get up whenever we feel like it, head to WS when it opens at 11AM or shortly thereafter (my kids are little so getting up when they feel like it is at the very latest 9AM!), eating around the world and enjoying things like shopping and entertainment in the countries. Heading back to BWV to relax a little, back to Epcot for a TS dinner in the WS.

Hahaha, this trip is still a year away and I have a lot of it already mapped out!

The non-park days will be spent at the resort relaxing by the pool, doing some activities with the kids at the Community Hall, going to DTD for some shopping and eating, etc. You know, a true vacation with some relaxation days thrown in!

 

[PghLybrt]

If we do 7 days then at least 14 TS meals. However ther would be more for a few breakfasts too. This is vacation, I do not want to cook!

 

[thumpermom]

I find this thread very interesting!!!

For a 7 days trip, we MAY make 4 ADR’s, and probably cancel at least one or two. We prefer to see how we feel.

Breakfast is usually coffee and breakfast bar in the villa with maybe one breakfast TS during the week, lunch CS depending on where we are, then 2 -3 TS for dinner. The rest of the time, we just wing it. We always have lots of snacks in the villa, too.

Our favorite “wing it” plan is to, in the evening, head to one of the many lovely lounges on property and have adult beverages and appetizers! YUM!! (Adults only, of course!) Our TIW card works great for this!!

 

[TDC Nala]

I hardly ever do week long stays and if I'm by myself I probably wouldn't do any CS at all. I'm usually no breakfast, a snack, then large TS dinner. Especially now that WDW has nothing to do at night except dinner.

Last trip was 2 nights accompanied by friends (it appears other people actually WANT to eat during the day) and I had 3 CS meals, one TS and a dinner show.

 

[TDC Nala]

The Deluxe Plan gives you 3 TS meals a day and no counter service. You can use your TS meals for a CS meal, but if you're paying $70/day/person, you probably wouldn't be wise to do so. The Signature Restaurants would alleviate some of the TS credits because they take 2 credits each/meal. But again, they aren't always a good choice for the dining plan from a value standpoint.

Not exactly - you get 3 meal credits per night, not per day. Most guests stay more days than they do nights, so they will not get 3 TS a day out of these credits no matter how they use them.

The above advice is true if you are getting the deluxe dining plan with an eye to maximizing its value - the absolute best value is to use all your credits for one-credit TS meals, however many of them you have to get to over the span of your stay.

If you're just booking the deluxe plan because you like the convenience of prepayment, and not to work maximum value out of each credit, then yes there are plenty of 2 credit restaurants to work in.

 

[ParrotBill]

We also have a Kona breakfast tradition. It is the only place we have eaten at every trip for 8 years.

Rowbear, I'm with you on the seafood comment. I eat fish and other seafood everywhere I can at Disneyworld because they don't know what seafood it in Upstate New York.

I like your comment on the place you've eaten every trip for 8 years... for us the only one I can be sure of is Fulton's Crab House... which is in keeping with the seafood theme!

 

[ShuisFan584]

Recently, our trips seem to always be 8 nights. We usually make 3 ADR's in advance, and sometimes we'll add on one more ADR while we're already there. So we usually only do 3-4 TS meals. We don't like having a set schedule and when we have a planned meal, we have to schedule the day around our ADR. We're more into CS meals and stopping to eat whenever we feel like it. We've also used our kitchen a few times to cook something for lunch or dinner, since we seem to stay at a 2br the majority of the times we've gone.

 

[dis2cruise]

we will be at okw in mid august we also are bringing my ds and dd's friends with us. During the 8 night stay we have 7 ts for lunch (saves us some $$)
1 ts for dinner and we also booked the wishes dessert party as a surprise . One night we will go off property (I know the shame ) and the rest of the evening meals will be at our villa which most of them will be pre-made and frozen from home.

 

[Anal Annie]

I voted "other" 'cuz I liked that choice!! Actually, for 7 days we usually do ABOUT 2 or 3, but maybe 4 TS meals if you count the Fantasmic package and / or a character meal. Breakfast is always in our villa unless we do a character meal but I think we're done doing those. DS is "past that" now.

For our upcoming trip in August I have a lot of cancelling to do when we get closer. Since we go on the first day of the Free Dining thing this time I felt compelled to book everything I could grab but I really HATE making ADR's so far in advance 'cuz I don't like to plan our days around meals. But so for example I booked Tony's in MK for 2 diff. evenings 'cuz I don't know when we will be there for sure. I also booked 1 lunch and 1 dinner at San Angel Inn on 2 diff. days 'cuz I don't know yet when we will be in Epcot. Then I also booked Tusker House for lunch on 2 diff. days 'cuz I don't know about that yet either (both are on morning EMH days). Finally, I booked the Brown Derby for the Fantasmic pkg. but it's NOT what, where or when I wanted to go so I don't know if I will keep it or not...and it interferes with the Owners Locker wine evening! That makes 4 ressies that we will likely keep but possibly only 3 if I nix the F! one. I will call & cancel what we don't want a few days before our trip when I have a better feel for what we want to do.

 

[get_us_to_WDW]

We almost always travel with a large group of extended family (12+). We usually buy the dining plan and have one TS meal each night for dinner. We set up the ADRs 90 days out - then we all know that we will gather for a nice meal daily. With the DP and the ADRs it is all pre-paid and pre-planned so there's little to no thought involved once we arrive at WDW and no splitting the check at the end of the meal - just show up and enjoy! We all (at least all the adults!) enjoy this aspect of our trip.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We generally have one TS meal a day, and sometimes two. We tend to do 2-3 signature meals a trip and often repeat a couple of our TS places in a 10 day trip.

 

[psu4glory]

in a 7-day trip, we'll typically do 4-5 lunch/dinner ADR's, and at least one TS breakfast at crystal palace...

in fact, we've been so many times and have tried so many places that, these days, almost all of our ADR's are every-trip-must-dos (crystal palace, le cellier, o'hana, boma...) why mess up a good thing - right?

 

[FindTheMickeys]

I guess I am just a cheapskate I really don't like to pay TS prices... When visiting the World, we usually eat breakfast in the room. Lunch is at whatever park we are in because it is cheaper than a dinner, and then easy breezy meals for dinner in the room. For example: Loaded baked potatoes take 6-7 minutes in the microwave, then load 'em up with whatever you want. Spaghetti takes about 30 minutes to heat the sauce and cook the pasta. Salad is a good one too. I just love a large loaded salad in the heat of the summer So, in the last 3 years, we have done 3 TS, a whole lot of CS (I love Pecos Bill's burgers - YUM!!) and a lot of in the room meals...

 

[DVC4me4Ever]

We try to eat 2 meals a day in the room. Usually I would say breakfast and lunch are those 2 in room meals. But on days where we are at the parks that is not always the case.

For a 7 day trip we would only make ADRs about 3 times. I do not like having committments when on vacation. We enjoy vacationing more relaxed and having ADRs ties down how our days unfold. We do however eat at TS even if we did not have ADRs to eat there. We walk in and wait our time and that is fine with us as well.

My normal life requires such a structure and time commitments that when I am on vacation I choose to not feel those pressures...maybe I am more the exception than the norm!!! Love having the option though!