I can't be the only one...

[Peggy B]

My husband thinks I am insane for picking out what meal I am going to order at each of the restaurants we are going to months in advance. I know with all the super planning we have here, I can't be the only one that does this, right?

My first year of planning my husband thought I was insane for planning meals 180 days in advance. After the trip he was so impressed and had such a good time he doesn't pick on me anymore. He even tells co workers talk to my wife she can give you all sort of advice.

He also knows now that my planning 180 days in advance is the only way he got 3 Le Cellier reservations in one week.

 

[brytorlyn]

I not only know what I will be ordering I have pretty much decided what DH, DD19 and DD9 will order...

I have even decided what desserts we will order! I know everyone's likes and dislikes and can look at most of the menus and if there are 5 or 6 dessert choices I can pretty much tell what the three adults will like and we usually eat these things as a group...passing the plates around the table and trying everything.

I don't force anyone to eat what I pick but for example DD19 doesn't eat fish and isn't big on chicken so if there is a steak/beef on the menu she is all over that. Recently she has developed a liking for lamb...but DH is big on that and we never order the same things in restaurants that way we get the most variety so she would probably still order beef and DH lamb. Other possibility is I order beef, DD orders lamb and DH goes with seafood.

So now you can see that YOU are fine.....

but I am nuts!

 

[vllygrrl]

I not only know what I will be ordering I have pretty much decided what DH, DD19 and DD9 will order...

So now you can see that YOU are fine.....

but I am nuts!

I'm right there with you! I have an actual spreadsheet with what I expect we'll be eating each meal...I've been married to DH long enough that I can pretty much look at a menu and tell you exactly what he's going to order. I put the spreadsheet together because we're going to be doing all signatures for dinner this trip (10th anniversary vacation) and I was just too excited. Besides, it helps me budget for tips, right?

 

[yankeepenny]

I pick TS places by the menu. I want at least 2 choices for ordering, and go from there. I pick way in advance and, no unhappiness in the magic world.

for CS i used the try it once way of doing it.
I must admit, DHS is STILL a problem for me for CS.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

No I don't mean picking the restaurants, but picking the MEAL at the restaurant, like what you are actually doing to order!

Sorry I guess I worded that wrong!

I pretty much know what I want at each place. Most of ours are buffets or family style eating since we have quite a few character meals on our list, but the ones that aren't I know what I'm ordering.

Yay glad it is not just me!

I actually write them down in advance because I want to make sure I'm not stuck with 4 cheesecakes for dessert or 3 steaks in a row or something. LOL My husband is always sick of things by the end because he doesn't plan in advance. I did that once, and ended up eating the same dessert a bunch because of the way the selections are. Like the first night I liked a lot of the options but went with a chocolate cake because it sounded good. Well the second night the only option I liked was a chocolate cake! So I ended up with it again and the next night because of the same thing. So now I plan in advance! LOL I had the same thing happen with pork!

Oooooh! Good idea. I hadn't got as far as desserts in my choices, but I definitely don't want to get stuck with several of the same if I don't have to.

 

[dixonsontour]

YES - i've got it narrowed down to pretty much what entree i'll order and which dessert for our 14 TS!

Gives me time to concentrate on DD aged 4 and help her decide.

I did this last trip and had the best meals - I spend far too long on here so know what looks good to me.

 

[beroh2253]

Me and DW have the menus printed out and kind of know what we are going to order months ahead but sometimes change our minds when we get there. I San Angel (this seem to always be our kick off the week restaurant) you need to know what to order ahead of time since it is so dark inside you have to read the menu by candlelight. We even look ahead at the Food and Wine Fest menus so we know which Countries to head to first.

 

[CajunMomof3]

I plan which park I will be each day of our trip. 180 days in advance..based on the touring plans website for best/worst park to be in that day.
I do that so I can THEN plan which TS we will eat at each day. 180 days in advance. So I draw the line at picking out my actual meal!

Now having said that, some of our ADR'S are buffets and/or family style..(Ohana, LTT, BOMA)

People in our circle who don't "get" disney are just amazed at the way we "plan each moment" of our trips...little do they know THAT'S how we manage to have such a great trip each time...planning!

You pretty much described me to a "T"! Details like parks first, then puruse menus to pick TS menus (we do the DxDDP so there are alot of ressies to make), then actually make the ressies, change a few as the trip gets closer, go to WDW and have a blast with no further planning needed! Oops, forgot to mention that DH creates a one page summary with weather and parade times for each member of the party....

I usually know what I am going to order and have a pretty good guess what the DH and DSs will order, but I have never written it down, though. Maybe I should have as I am looking at our ressies for Nov and see that we are eating at Mam Melrose's one day and Tony's the next...

 

[nooneshome]

My husband thinks I am insane for picking out what meal I am going to order at each of the restaurants we are going to months in advance. I know with all the super planning we have here, I can't be the only one that does this, right?

I bet you still look a the menu before you decide. I always check the menus before we leave on a trip and have a pretty good idea what I will be ordering but I still look it over again. Kinda like when you go to your favorite restaurant and you look over the menu when you know you are going to order your favorite dish.

 

[ilovepete]

Well my DH will be glad to know I'm not the only "crazy" one hehehehe.

 

[cw21726]

Well I think you're nuts

Seriously.

 

[grace&philipsmom]

I don't actually choose my meals in advance, but before making our ADRs I usually look through the menus to make sure there is at least one thing each family member will order. Although sometimes they surprise me and pick something completely different when we are there!

 

[ilovepete]

Well I think you're nuts

Seriously.

Well you wouldn't be the first one so that is OK.

 

[Stitchnut]

Wow- I thought that I was a planner, but this is really organized. Yes to planning which restaurant to go to each night, but no to preplanning what you want to eat. Do you preplan your meals and then once there change your mind???

 

[dopeyone]

I wish it were that easy! I look at the menus months in advance and I'm still the last to order everytime! It's always the same for me..No matter how much preparation i partake in or how much i think i know what i want, when it comes down to crunch time I lose it, my nerves go out the window...The server always has to come back at least once, after they ask "are you ready to order".. Right! I haven't even narrowed it down to the final 3 picks yet! All the while my wife is giving me that "here we go again " look..finally everyone orders, if the server gets to me before everyone else i ask to go last! Meanwhile i'm scanning the menu for any last minute insights..at this point i usually have it narrowed down to 2 items...the server looks at me and like Ralphie from "A Christmas Story" when he finally meets santa, I blurt out..I'll have the Tuna Oscar!(as an example) As soon as the server walks away, I ALWAYS say I should've got the ________ whatever choice 2 was. And as always the wife rolls her eyes at me and says "you always do that"...I can't help it I'm so indecisive when it comes to "crunch time" to order. Well that is how are restaurant scene plays out over and over and over !

I have my ADR's for My Dec, and Feb. trips, but no matter how much I look at the menu The same scenario as above will play out as always!!! I need Help!

 

[ilovepete]

Wow- I thought that I was a planner, but this is really organized. Yes to planning which restaurant to go to each night, but no to preplanning what you want to eat. Do you preplan your meals and then once there change your mind???

I don't usually change my mind unless the menu changes, nope.

I plan our meals at home, too. But a lot of people I know do that. I don't see it as that different? But maybe it is. LOL

 

[vllygrrl]

I don't usually change my mind unless the menu changes, nope.

I don't either, however I do leave open the possibility that there may be a special that day that sounds particularly fabulous...but that doesn't usually happen! I just reviewed the menus and meals I have picked out again yesterday....changed nothing! I'm riding the same crazy train!

 

[sophie832]

We're paying OOP for the DDP, so I decided to pick out what I think I'm going to order as well as what I think the DH might order (he refuses to participate in such insanity) in order to see if we'll be getting our money's worth on the plan. Even before that, though, when we were doing the free dining promo (we've switched discounts a few times), I was reading off the menu choices to him so that we could decide where we wanted to eat.

Do I think I'll definitely stick to what meals I pre-chose? No, but for the most part I think I will. We'll see how well I know my DH when he orders his food

 

[catne]

the menus at Disney restaurants change OFTEN! Some seasonally (so 3-4 times a year) and some change it up even more often.)

If you're using allears & wdwinfo...well, expect the info to be wrong, even if it says it was updated this same month. They're getting info from volunteers who may or may not be feeding them the correct info.

And we've even found Disney's own website menus to be totally out of date...again, if the restaurant is not submitting updated menus, the official website can't be correct, lol.

We have never, in 35 different restaurant visits, found the menu IN the restaurant to be exactly the same as what was on the various websites. So we just use the sites to give us an idea of what type of meals we might expect to get there...