How Often Do You Eat in Restaurants when on Vacation?

[DAWGPOUNDAJ]

I was just curious, but how often does everyone actually dine in a sit down restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner when on vacation? My husband and I realized that on our last 4 vacations that we had only eaten in a restaurant 3 or 4 times on week long trips. The rest of the time we eat in our room or grab stuff on the go (like muffins, apples, deli sandwhiches, etc.). I was just curious about how many people do not do this and actually eat at places like the Sci-Fi Diner, The Rainforest Cafe, The Crystal Palace, etc. for a lot of their meals, and how long their trips normally are.

So for a week we usually only eat in a place about 3 or 4 times.

 

[dmslush]

We have at least one sit down meal a day. It is the one time of the day that we can all just focus on each other, still be fresh enough to have a great conversation, and refuel for the rest of the day.

 

[Mady/Sophiemom]

We enjoy at least 1 sit-down meal per day. A couple of days, we will have 2 sit-downs, esp if one is an early breakfast. We just enjoy, sitting and eating vs/ counter service. We have 2 DD, so I'm sure that factors into things. As they get older, I'm sure we won't stop as much.

 

[zurgswife]

we usually eat most meals at our villa at the Boardwalk..but maybe 2 meals in a week we eat out...

 

[CamColt]

We usually do 1 sit down meal a day. Once in a while it ends up being 2 if we are trying to fit a lot in. I dont think we have ever done 3 per day

 

[beattyfamily]

We usually eat at least one sit down meal a day, sometimes two, breakfast and dinner...we hardly ever book a sit down lunch.

 

[newholidayx2]

most of our 14 days in Aug Im planning on 1 PS per day
there are a few days we'll have 2 PS
and a day where I dont have any planned - like day 13 we're planning late lunch at Big River where they dont take PS

 

[sheri236]

we usually have 2 sit down meals per day--lunch and dinner. it gives us and our kids a chance to relax for a little bit during long disney days!! we usually grab a quick breakfast at the resort quick service restaurant.

 

[pennyplanner]

We eat breakfast in the room and get an early counter service lunch. Dinner is our only "real" sit down meal. We stay at the WL so we don't have a kitchen at our disposal.

When we timeshare exchange around the country, we don't always eat out. I have to say, it just gets tiresome but NOT at WDW. I love every dining experience out there.

I can't help it, I am Disney addicted!

--penny

 

[scrump]

Our trips are usually 6 to 7 days, and we will typically out at sit down restaurants at least twice a day, occasionally three times a day. We are definitely restaurant people, even if it means going into restaurants during off-peak times and ordering just an appetizer or a dessert. I love to soak up the atmosphere of a restaurant!

 

[DAWGPOUNDAJ]

Do any of you who do at least one sit down meal a day find it hard to make it to your PS reservations on time? I'm just curious because whenever we are on vacation we just get up and go! We decide that morning, depending on what mood were in and on the weather, on what park were going to, and that sort of would make PS hard for us. Though this is the first year we are trying it. What I am concerned about is what if we decide to go to the Magic Kingdom one day, but our PS is at Epcot? We won't run over there for it so would there be a way to cancel it then? I guess we are just not very used to keeping strict schedules (our jobs are not strict schedules either so on vacation our lack of time keeping gets even worse!) and I would feel awful if there was no way to cancel it and free up the space for other vacationers then. Plus, what if you are on a ride and late to your PS? How late can you be before you lose it? Thanks so much again!

 

[mommytutu]

DH was insisted that we do one sit down meal a day and there was one day in there when we did two sit down meal because he just HAD to have lunch at Beirgarten. We had PS for everything. We really enjoyed doing one sit down meal a day because it gave us a chance to sit and relax and cool off.

And we were about 10 minutes late(Test Track took forever) to Chef Mickey's one day, but they just fit us in the next available table so it wasn't a big deal. And I just couldn't imagine going to Disney World and not knowing what park I'm going to be at on what day. When I plan I know what park I'm going to be at, what are our must rides/dos and I know sorta what order we should do these things in, and where our PS arrangements are. And I make sure everything matches up so we don't spend a lot of time running from one side of the World to the other. I feel like with my planning we get the most out of our vacation time and money and I LOVE planning it all!

 

[Bracho]

Every meal is in a sit down dining room for us. When I'm on vacation, I want to sit down, relax, and have a good meal each time I need to eat, which is at least twice a day.

 

[lajones81]

We always eat breakfast in our room, but most of the time, we have 1-2 sit down meals each day.

 

[Cookie Princess]

We plan one or sometimes two sit down meals per day. We often enjoy a sit down meal at lunch to take a breather from the walking and heat at the theme parks. We have also found that it really doesn't take much more time than the counter service restaurants which can be a zoo between noon and 1:00.

 

[Mady/Sophiemom]

Do any of you who do at least one sit down meal a day find it hard to make it to your PS reservations on time? I'm just curious because whenever we are on vacation we just get up and go! We decide that morning, depending on what mood were in and on the weather, on what park were going to, and that sort of would make PS hard for us. Though this is the first year we are trying it. What I am concerned about is what if we decide to go to the Magic Kingdom one day, but our PS is at Epcot? We won't run over there for it so would there be a way to cancel it then? I guess we are just not very used to keeping strict schedules (our jobs are not strict schedules either so on vacation our lack of time keeping gets even worse!) and I would feel awful if there was no way to cancel it and free up the space for other vacationers then. Plus, what if you are on a ride and late to your PS? How late can you be before you lose it? Thanks so much again!

Yes you can call and cancel. Some restaurants have a 24-48 hour window to cancel, but the CM will let you know that when you make the PS, if that is the case.

We have always been able to tweak our PS once we are down there. Some we have changed times, or cancelled all together, and made new ones. But we have always went in less busy times. I wouldn't try it on Spring break, or Christmas. I think the summer months are even a bit more difficult.

Have a great trip.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I'm with Bracho--we eat out every day of our WDW trips. Both breakfast and dinner, and virtually always at a "sit-down" restaurant

 

[buckeye]

I think we might be getting skewed results because people who frequent this board probably are more into restaurant dining than the general population.

We maybe do one PS, sit-down meal per TRIP. We aren't big eaters! We can get healthy food at counter-service and still sit down and relax. Don't see the need to overeat and overspend more than once a trip! We save our calories for a few yummy snacks or an alcoholic drink here and there!

 

[judben821]

We always eat at least 1 sit down meal a day. We usually have breakfast in our room except for our 2 character breakfasts that we always do. Lunch is usually a counter service. Dinner is typically our sit down meal.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

We have at least one sit-down meal a day. Usually breakfast and/or dinner. We try to do counter service for lunch.