I need help! WDW dining is expensive!

[k&a&c'smom]

Everyone has given really good, thoughtful advice. I would add that you could drop Tutto Italia - it's incredibly expensive, and most cities have nice, cheaper Italian places, so it's not uniquely Disney. Rainforest Cafe, too, is easily accessible at other locations.

We've always enjoyed San Angel Inn, but it is very dark in there, I don't think I'd want to try to cope with small children and their food/drinks with so little light, lol. And, as so many have pointed out, you get the atmosphere with the market and ride.

Good luck, and have a wonderful trip!

 

[Moomduck1]

Forgot to mention that we were not particularly impressed with Pizza Planet. Backlot Express is better or the Commissary.

 

[MissionMouse]

The thing about eating TS more than one day is the time spent getting to the restaurant, arriving x minutes ahead of time, waiting to be seated and then the dining time. Then add in the travel time to get to your dinner ADR after your lunch may make your plans tight. The time between your meals may actually be shorter than your think and you may not be hungry. Personally, one character meal a day should be good.

On the other side it is hard to get ADRs after a specific point in time so it is better to have one than not. You can always adjust your plans after you determine what is working for you and what it not. Just call and release your ADR ...allowing another guest to pick it up or a walk-in possible.

 

[wheredreamsbegin]

I am thinking of dropping Chef Mickey's, San Angel Inn, Liberty Tree Tavern, and Rainforest Cafe. I've made peace with not eating at San Angel Inn and finding other ways of experiencing the ambience of Mexico. I'm OK with giving up LTT and RC too.

I was looking forward to kicking off our vacation with dinner with Mickey and the gang. We're seeing most of the gang the next morning at Tusker House too. (and possibly on Tuesday morning at Cape May Cafe too.) What are your thoughts on skipping Chef Mickey's our first night? Should I get rid of TH or CMC instead?

I'm also entertaining the idea of getting rid of Tutto too. It would be quite expensive for lunch. We have however always enjoyed our meals here. My husband particularly liked the truffle ravioli. I recently checked the menu on allears. I didn't see this dish on the menu. Has anyone see it/had it recently? Thoughts on getting rid of Tutto...

 

[Joan S.]

Hi, If you think your children would enjoy dinner at Chef Mickey's that first night I would go with it!! I myself like to start my vacation seeing the BIG CHEESE himself !! I would say you could cut out Tuttu Italia and try a CS instead. Also a nice thing about the DP is you KNOW how much food will cost ahead of time. And then you can figure out what your OOP will be. Joan

 

[teach22180]

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.

Just to give a different perspective, we love the breakfast buffets, but usually only eat one more meal that day. I prefer to eat mostly CS, and then we can get just a snack in the middle of the day and eat an earlier dinner. That just worked better for us than the small breakfast and then big dinner. I would think you have too much food in some of your days, but I have heard great things about starting your trip with Chef Mickey. I've never been there, though, so I'm just passing along third hand info!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

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!

Is there any place to find the new pricing?

 

[pinkerbell]

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

I have not read all the posts but think you have to many ADR's especially for having 3 children and in some cases having to go from park to park. This is way too stressful for us. We have been going every yr with our kids since our oldest was born, now 5 and 3. I suggest, get the dining plan (18 month old is no ticket no DP but can eat of of everyone elses) Do breakfast in the room, you may all be too tired to be rushing around for breakfast and I think you get a better value using a table service for dinner and a counter service for lunch, of course ther are the exceptions that are "special" to each family, but generally follow this practice. Getting in and out of parks, parking, getting to destinations is all very time consuming. Also, sometimes even with ressies there can be long waits. I think the dining paln will serve you well and keep you on a good schedule for the kids mine get cranky when they get too hungry.
You've got great choices so it will be hard to cut some, but maybe if you have a Rainforest Cafe near you that can go. etc, I always try to think what can I get comparable near where we live, if we can, I cut it, if we cant I keep it.
Good luck

 

[mandalyn]

We use the standard dining plan and have found that it was plenty of food, we didn't have to pay out of pocket unless we wanted another snack or hot dog. We also found that at most of the disney counter service meals were actually alot of food. We love the breakfest buffets, so we tend to make ADR for breakfast buffets on some days at the latest breakfast slot and that generally takes us till dinner and on those days we just eat CS for dinner.

 

[jblrn2b]

Wow. Your choices for restaurants are good. Are your kids well behaved in restaurants - I am asking because my youngest when he was 18 mths wouldn't sit for a long period of time and we just gave up eating out until he was about 3 - One of us always missed eating . My oldest at the same age could sit still for hours and we took him everywhere. Once we went to a nicer restaurant on CapeCod and received many looks coming in. After we ate, many commented on how good he was - same family - go figure.

Thats a lot of yummy restaurants but maybe a few too many. If you think you can eat at all or even 2 a day then I would get the Deluxe Dining Plan. Maybe plan a character breakfast and then a nice dinner? and just grab cs in between? Good luck. Have fun!!!

 

[eagillinois]

I would keep CM and drop TH. Chef Mickey's is a great way to start your trip. Also if you are sticking with one or more TS a day, I would do the DDP.
Hope you have a great vacation!

 

[wheredreamsbegin]

Wow. Your choices for restaurants are good. Are your kids well behaved in restaurants - I am asking because my youngest when he was 18 mths wouldn't sit for a long period of time and we just gave up eating out until he was about 3 - One of us always missed eating . My oldest at the same age could sit still for hours and we took him everywhere. Once we went to a nicer restaurant on CapeCod and received many looks coming in. After we ate, many commented on how good he was - same family - go figure.

Thats a lot of yummy restaurants but maybe a few too many. If you think you can eat at all or even 2 a day then I would get the Deluxe Dining Plan. Maybe plan a character breakfast and then a nice dinner? and just grab cs in between? Good luck. Have fun!!!

Thank you for giving us so much to think about. Our kids are generally well behaved in restaurants. We are really lucky. (plus, I keep a secret stash of stuff that I bring out for them to play with!)

I am going to cut down on the number of table service meals. I think that will make the days a little less stressful. Even well behaved children can be pushed to their limit.

 

[jblrn2b]

Thank you for giving us so much to think about. Our kids are generally well behaved in restaurants. We are really lucky. (plus, I keep a secret stash of stuff that I bring out for them to play with!) You are welcome.

I am going to cut down on the number of table service meals. I think that will make the days a little less stressful. Even well behaved children can be pushed to their limit.

Especially after having so much fun!!!!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Speaking from experience with little ones we usually only do one ts meal a day. Occasionally we will do two - breakfast and dinner. I would definitely do the dining plan though. It's only about $100 a day for your family - one character meal alone costs that much.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I personally would not give up CM for anything. It is by far our favorite, we go twice every trip (one breakfast and one dinner). It is the only restaurant we have gone to every single one of our trips. There is no character interaction like it that we have found (in our opinion). We have done almost all character meals at least once and it is wonderful!

As for CS meals, our favorites are
COSMIC RAYS!!!!! YUM!!!! in MK
Sunshine Seasons in Epcot
Flametree in AK
Nothing that great in HS

As for DTD, I can't tell you how great WPE is. Oh, what I wouldn't do to have that restaurant by us. Out of this WORLD!!!

 

[katieandemismom]

We did 4 days of deluxe dining (2 sitdowns each day) last fall, and it was too much. We didn't really enjoy the 2nd meal of the day, and it took so much planning to get to each meal that we didn't relax too much. Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[ms*mountaineer]

I think it's a lot of sit-down meals. If it were me - I would be still full from a sit-down lunch to enjoy a sit-down dinner on the same day. I like having a sit-down breakfast and a sit-down dinner - then just snack for lunch. We don't do that every day, but a few days on the trip is nice.

As far as the dining plan goes - look up the menus for all your ADRs online. You can find out how much the buffets cost and get a good idea what you'll probably spend at the other places. Then just add it up. Compare that to the cost of the DDP and you can see if the DDP is a deal for you or not. With as many TS meals you have planned, you'd have to pay for some of them OOP - you wouldn't have enough TS credits to cover all of them. In that case, you'd want to see which ones are the most expensive and use your TS credits for those - pay OOP for the cheaper ones.

 

[wheredreamsbegin]

We did 4 days of deluxe dining (2 sitdowns each day) last fall, and it was too much. We didn't really enjoy the 2nd meal of the day, and it took so much planning to get to each meal that we didn't relax too much. Good luck and have fun!!!

I'm sorry to hear that there were parts of your trip that weren't as relaxing as you might have wanted them to be. I am grateful that you have shared your experience. It makes me realize that no matter how difficult it is to give up ADRs, it will be in the best interest of my family at this time. I don't want to be one of those people that you read about in the guidebooks...the one who is yelling at their child to be quiet and to have a good time!

Thank you to all of you who have shared your favorite CS restaurants. Can anyone tell me anything about Pizzafari at AK? I read something on allears about wonderfully themed rooms. Can somebody tell me more about this?

 

[missycj96]

Hi - With little kids, you may not want to spend so much time sitting in restaurants - kids get restless. With DD I've become a CS fan, and we used to go to more TS restaurants. And Disney portions are big, so depending on how much you like to eat, it may be too much food. I'd recommend eliminating sit down meals back to back at lunch and dinner. If you want to do a TS breakfast and dinner sit down that will be ok - though expensive. The other choice is to do the sit down at lunch and then have a lighter CS dinner. Your Tuesday May 17, while yummy choices, is a lot of time spent sitting in a restaurant and a lot of food. Can you pick up lunch in the park on your epcot day? (epcot has some good CS choices). I went through and made some suggestions.

Enjoy your vacation!!

My comments are below:

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)

Could you skip lunch at San Angel and get counter service? I wouldn't give up Le Cellier, and Cape May will be fun for the kids. This day will be expensive and again, much time to sit at the restaurants. Good epcot CS is the Sunshine Seasons.


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

Again, could you choose one or the other? In DTD, for dinner, you can go to Earl of Sandwich and save lots of money plus have more time (and money) to walk around and shop. Another choice at DTD is Wolfgang Pucks CS.

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

I think that a sitdown TS meal at 8:25 and then again at 12:15 is a little close together (congratulations on the CRT breakfast!!). For a MK day, I like to have lunch at Columbia Harbor House.


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

 

[somethingblue]

Wow that is a lot of sit down meals!

Let me just tell you, even my boyfriend who is almost 18 and a BIG eater, is perfectly content with one counter service, one snack, and one sit down meal a day. Now, personally, I think that one sit down a meal a day, or maybe two occasionally, is plently. Also, there's no need to plan breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because chances are you will still be full from one when the other rolls around; there just aren't enough hours in the day.

I definetly reccomend the dining plan. You get one table service for every night you're there, same for snacks and counter services. Here's my edit of your itenerary.

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

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

Tuesday, March 17
Breakfast: Snack, or Counter Service
Lunch: Counter Service
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