I need help! WDW dining is expensive!

[wheredreamsbegin]

I need help! Over the last few months I have spent a lot of time reading about WDW restaurants and drooling over dining reviews. I have been very excited about the itinerary I created for our upcoming trip. I was happy with my ADRs. Then I started thinking about the potential cost of all of those meals. Now, I have several questions:

1. Are there reservations on my itinerary that could/should/can be cut?
(Are there too many character meals? Are there TS meals in Epcot that I have planned that could be replaced with a good CS in Epcot?...)

2. Should I keep what I have and go with the DDP?
(I'm worried that the DDP would be way too much food. But, if the price is comparable to what I might spend OOP, maybe it's worth it.)

I should mention that I will be traveling with my DH, DD5, DD3, and DD18months. Here's our itinerary:

Sunday, March 15
Dinner: Chef Mickey's (6:40)

Monday, March 16
Breakfast: Tusker House (8:05)
Lunch: Flame Tree BBQ
Dinner: Sci-Fi Dine In (5:55)

Tuesday, March 17
Breakfast: Cape May Cafe (8:45)
Lunch: San Angel Inn (12:00)
Dinner: Le Cellier (5:55)

Wednesday, March 18
Lunch: Hollywood and Vine (12:15)
Dinner: Rainforest Cafe (5:45)

Thursday, March 19
Breakfast: CRT (8:25)
Lunch: Liberty Tree Tavern (12:15)

Friday, March 20
Lunch: Tutto Italia (12:00)
Dinner: Beaches & Cream

Saturday, March 21
Breakfast: 1900 Park Fare (10:00)
Dinner: Crystal Palace (5:20)

Sunday, March 22
Lunch: Earl of Sandwich

 

[disneyag]

ONe way to save money would be to eat breakfast in the room--bring granola bars/poptarts/etc and buy milk/coffee from your hotel. Purchase a refillable mug if you or hubby drink lots of coffee.

Also, look at your breakfast times. If you have a Tusker House breakfast at 10, you WON"T be hungry for lunch. Make an earlier dinner ressie and you won't need the Flame Tree BBQ.

 

[dawnedwards]

We always go with the dining plan. We tried the Deluxe one last year and found that 3 TS a day were too much and using the Deluxe Plan on CS meals was a waste of money.

What we are doing this year is getting the regular dining plan, using the TS credits for our most expensive TS meals, using CS for lunch and then paying OOP for the least expensive TS meals.

It works out that it is best for us to pay for DD(4) character breakfasts with her credits and pay OOP for her dinners, but better for us to pay for our breakfast with Cash and save our credits for dinner.

It is a bit of work, but I consider all disney planning fun.

The menus with the prices can be found on allears.net and probably on this site as well.

We are limiting ourselves to 2 character breakfasts and a TS each night with CS for breakfast. We will also be traveling with a 20 month old and a good tip to keep some costs down is that kids under free are no charge at buffets and all you care to eat so that saves us from paying for the baby and having to worry about ordering something that he will want to share.

Hope this helps.

 

[MickeyNicki]

They have raised the prices to most CS and TS places so the menus online are not really accurate. I think DH and I might to the deluxe dining plan in Oct.....may work out better!

 

[dogodisney]

IMO that is a lot of table service meals for little ones. You probably won't want a big lunch and a big dinner. Keep in mind that if you get a dining plan, you have to pay for the 5 and 3 yr olds to be on the plan also.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I need help! Over the last few months I have spent a lot of time reading about WDW restaurants and drooling over dining reviews. I have been very excited about the itinerary I created for our upcoming trip. I was happy with my ADRs. Then I started thinking about the potential cost of all of those meals. Now, I have several questions:

1. Are there reservations on my itinerary that could/should/can be cut?
(Are there too many character meals? Are there TS meals in Epcot that I have planned that could be replaced with a good CS in Epcot?...)

2. Should I keep what I have and go with the DDP?
(I'm worried that the DDP would be way too much food. But, if the price is comparable to what I might spend OOP, maybe it's worth it.)

I should mention that I will be traveling with my DH, DD5, DD3, and DD18months. Here's our itinerary:

Sunday, March 15
Dinner: Chef Mickey's

Monday, March 16
Breakfast: Tusker House
Lunch: Flame Tree BBQ
Dinner: Sci-Fi Dine In

Tuesday, March 17
Breakfast: Cape May Cafe
Lunch: San Angel Inn
Dinner: Le Cellier

Wednesday, March 18
Lunch: Hollywood and Vine
Dinner: Rainforest Cafe

Thursday, March 19
Breakfast: CRT
Lunch: Liberty Tree Tavern

Friday, March 20
Lunch: Tutto Italia
Dinner: Beaches & Cream

Saturday, March 21
Breakfast: 1900 Park Fare
Dinner: Crystal Palace

Sunday, March 22
Lunch: Earl of Sandwich

Just some thoughts...............

Just wanted to say that ESPECIALLY with young kids, I think you may want to consider any easy breakfast at room or resort food court (which gives you ability to split stuff for the kids) since it appears cost is a concern
a counter servuce for lunch
and a sit down only 1 time a day

Remember that EACH of the sit down meals is minimum 1 1/2 hours IN addition to travel time and checking in (15 minutes early)
So two sit downs is more than 3 hours out of your day, now I think that it may be okay for adults, but young kids maybe not so much.
It is a lot of "eating time" and a lot of "keeping kids in their seats" time. (even at character places, like Crystal palace ( they come TO the kids, not the kids TO the character)

Whatever you decide have a great vacation!

 

[bcrook]

I think it is so much fun to plan the trip and meals. Everything on your itinerary would be enjoyable. But, I agree, one TS a day is probably enough. Keep that Cape May Character Breakfast though, it is a pure delight. That Tuesday schedule looks really packed. Le Cellier is fantastic. The kids will like Sci-Fi Dine in. Have a great time!

 

[wheredreamsbegin]

So, is it safe to drop San Angel? The main reason I wanted to eat here was for the atmosphere. We can still go inside the pyramid if we're not eating there, right?

Dropping that ADR would make Tuesday a little easier.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Moomduck1]

Yes, definitely go inside the pyramid! There is a ride inside.

 

[bcrook]

You can wander around the market inside the pyramid, take the boat ride inside the pyramid through the dining area, and enjoy the atmosphere. IMO San Angel is not as interesting to the kids. We find the CS Cantina de San Angel reasonably priced for a little snack, but the food at the CS is nothing like the TS inside.

 

[soontobewed07]

I agree I think you may have to many ADR's and they are very close together. I always assume a TS meal is going to take 1.5 to 2 hours. So by the time you finish one are you really going to be ready to eat again? We try to make one TS a day we travel with DS 22 months unless we are having a non park day and then we may do Boma or Kona for breakfast and then a sit down TS around 6.

You may also want to drop H&V???

 

[RMulieri]

2 sit down meals per day is alot. I would cut either lunch or dinner but definitely not 2 TS meals a day.I would drop Hollywood and vine lunch and do a breakfast and skip rainforest cafe.I would also do the dining plan. The prices on most food has gone higher then what is posted on some of the websites

 

[mareed]

I think that's too many table-service meals with kids as young as yours. Especially too many buffet meals because those seemed so difficult for me when my kids were younger and we had to get their food. It left very little time for DH & I to eat because we were constantly taking care of the kids' food. (Chef Mickeys, Tusker House, Cape May Cafe, 1900 Park Faire, Crystal Palace) At these character buffet meals, when you add in needing to be at your seat when the characters come around so you can get autographs and pictures, it's a very stressful meal! I'd pick 1 or 2 to do at dinner or a late brunch and skip the rest. I definitely wouldn't use the ones that are during morning park hours (Cape May and CRT, I think).

If you're economizing on cost, I also recommend a quick, easy breakfast in the room. This also frees up morning time for park touring before the parks get insanely crowded. The time you're going is going to be a pretty busy Spring Break week as many schools are out during that time.

We enjoy the table service meals at WDW, but didn't really start doing many of them until our kids were older. We now make a lunch reservation that serves as our mid-day break. When our kids were as young as yours the best thing for us was packing pb&j sandwiches for the kids to eat while we ate at counter service restaurants.

Good luck making your decisions.

 

[buckirj1]

If you cut out the breakfasts you could make an enornmous impact on your budget without much of an impact on your experience. Character meals and big breakfasts are vastly overated, not to mention overpriced.

 

[Moomduck1]

Your dining choices are really great, but IMHO I also think that you have way too many sit down meals. We found when the kids were smaller, they didn't eat a lot of the food, so we ended up sharing meals and counter service places are much easier to do that. Also cheaper. And the kids wanted to spend a lot of times on rides and meeting characters, so we didn't want to "waste" the time at a table service, unless we were going for the "attraction itself" of the restaurant, and not really the food.

Mar 15 - nice choice! The kids get to see a lot of characters right off the bat.

Mar 16 - I agree with another poster about eating breakfast in the room. We'd bring a box of cereal and throwaway bowls/spoons and buy milk from the hotel gift shop. Flame Tree is awesome. I personally would skip the Sci Fi and go to the Prime Time instead. The fun of the Sci Fi is eating in the fake cars, but that would be hard for you as the seats are in front and back of each other, and you can only fit 2 in a seat. So you'd have to end up at a table, which isn't as fun as the fake cars.

Mar 17 - Way too much food. And both Epcot restaurants are pretty pricey. The food at San Angel seems to be pretty spicy. We have never eaten there. LOVED Le Cellier though. What we did when the kids were smaller in Epcot was to eat at different counter services while walking through World Showcase. That way if DD wanted Chinese she could have it. DH and I could split a taco platter in Mexico. The American pavillion always has "regular" food for fussy eaters. Or else there's a great food court in the Land where everyone could have lots of choices of food. Less waste and less money.

Mar 18 - Personally, I'd skip Hollywood and Vine and just have something from one of the counter service places at MGM, if that's where you are. it's pretty good there. Rainforest Cafe, or the new T-Rex at Downtown Disney are both good. Some people don't like them, but we do.

Mar 19 - I think the kids will really enjoy eating at the castle. Good choice! Haven't eaten at Liberty Tree Tavern. We usually like the Columbia House or Cosmic Rays were there are lots of choices. But I'm not saying don't eat at Liberty Tree. I just have no experience.

Mar 20 - I haven't eaten at the Italian place, so I can't say. Beaches 'n Cream is one of our favorites. They don't take reservations, so try not to go at "prime" time or you'll have a long wait!

Mar 21 - seems good

Mar 22 - LOVE the Earl of Sandwich!!!

Your plans aren't bad. It's just a lot of food, time and money. If it were me, I'd have breakfast in the room most days except if doing a character breakfast. I'd have no more than 3 character meals. Maybe 4 if my kids were really into the characters. And maybe one other table service meal. Some say one table service a day so that you can rest, and that's not a bad idea. You can always do more table service meals as the kids get older and would appreciate them more.

Hope this helped!!
chris

 

[dismagiclover]

It works out that it is best for us to pay for DD(4) character breakfasts with her credits and pay OOP for her dinners, but better for us to pay for our breakfast with Cash and save our credits for dinner.

It is a bit of work, but I consider all disney planning fun.

That is a fabulous idea I've never considered. Is it difficult for the servers to have to split payment like that?

 

[wheredreamsbegin]

I really appreciate all of the input.

We CANNOT drop H and V as much as I would love too. My kids are huge Little Einstein fans. For us, the character meals are worth our time. I would rather eat while waiting for characters than stand in a line.

We have done the castle breakfast and H and V in the past. My girls want to do both again. I really want to try Tusker House because we all want to meet Daisy. I've heard great things about Cape May. We have friends dining with us at most of the buffets. That will make taking care of the kids a little bit easier.

I'm beginning to get the point about doing only 1 TS a day. I'm just trying to figure out which TS should be dropped. I'm not worried about finding CS in Epcot (although I'd love to hear specific suggestions...what should I eat?). I'm a little more concerned about MK and DHS. What is the concensus about Pizza Planet?

Thanks again for all of your help. I LOVE food. I LOVE reading dining reviews. I suppose I just need to be a little more realistic about the ages of my kids and how enjoyable all of that eating will be for everyone else. Hopefully we'll have many, many trips to WDW in our future. There will be plenty of time to eat!

Please keep the input coming!

 

[Perditamarie]

I would not do more than 1 TS a day w/kids...you will never eat your food while it is warm and that is way too many restaurants and not enough time in the parks!

We ate at San Angel Inn and were disappointed. The ambience there is great however...check out the market, do the boat ride and make a mask at the Kidcot funstop....you won't miss the food one bit. The churros at the CS can be tasty if they are fresh, though!

At Epcot, we love the Sunshine Seasons CS food court in the Living w/the Land building...where Soarin' is. A lot of very fresh choices.

I would also consider dropping Rainforest Cafe...I don't think its on the DDP and they have crazy long wait times. Earl of Sandwich at DTD is excellent and a CS option. Or there is the new T-Rex Restaurant that is similarly themed to Rainforest but w/Dinos (owned by same company) and a Dino build-a-bear store (so probably Waaaaay more expensive once the kids see that!).

We like Columbia House and the Pinnochio Village Haus in MK for CS. For DHS, we like the food area by ToT and the bakery for CS.

 

[maxie]

On 2 days you have 2 character meals planned (the 19th and the 21st). That is a lot of stimulation for young children. I think it's overkill. I would choose two character meals for the trip and stay with that.

 

[Moomduck1]

The fish place right next to the Rose and Crown pub is great. Hubby and I had fun last time "eating around the world". We stopped at several different countries and bought something from the counter service place and then split it between us. So we more or less "grazed" our way though the World Showcase rather than sitting down and eating one or two meals. It was a lot of fun for us and we got to try different foods without filling up.

We saw Daisy in front of the Sorcerer's Hat at the Studios in January. She was with Minnie.

When my kids were younger, they always wanted to do the same things when we'd come back to Disney. It made it hard to try new things and find new "favorites". I was glad when they finally got over that! I'm sure yours will in time too.