Infant and dining

[toyotaae86lg]

Hello all,

January/February 2019 trip is coming up. What kind of dining do you all do with an infant? In past years we took my oldest DD at ages 2,3 and 5 where I usually planned one table service meal a day. We will now have an additional 6 Month old on this trip so in your opinion is it easier to just do all quick service meals throughout the day or should I stick with my one TS a day. I already have them reserved for this trip but if the consensus is that QS is more convenient I can cancel just as easily. Thanks for the feedback

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Hello all,

January/February 2019 trip is coming up. What kind of dining do you all do with an infant? In past years we took my oldest DD at ages 2,3 and 5 where I usually planned one table service meal a day. We will now have an additional 6 Month old on this trip so in your opinion is it easier to just do all quick service meals throughout the day or should I stick with my one TS a day. I already have them reserved for this trip but if the consensus is that QS is more convenient I can cancel just as easily. Thanks for the feedback

I assume you have counted the 6 month old in the table serve count. one thing to remember if the baby makes you a party of 6 the auto tip will be added to bill even if baby doesn't eat. we did a table meal a day with our 4 month old granddaughter. I would do what you planned. I didn't find counter serve any easier and you have to find table with food and a baby while you have table to come back to at buffets

 

[QueenIsabella]

We didn't find TS to be difficult at all with a 6mo. Ours slept through half of them, but he wasn't on solid food yet. You do have to list the infant in your head count, even if they eat nothing--a high chair still takes up room. We used a baby sling to carry the little guy around, and just wore it during meals. I don't remember QS being any easier--quicker, maybe, definitely cheaper. But as the PP pointed out, you're typically carrying a tray and managing the infant (stroller? carrier? On your hip?).

TS also provides you with a place to sit and relax, and also feed the baby while waiting for your food (or the characters to circulate).

 

[LSUmiss]

Good to hear this. We are going with a 6 1/2 month old in less than 2 weeks & this was exactly my thoughts on QS vs TS.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Good to hear this. We are going with a 6 1/2 month old in less than 2 weeks & this was exactly my thoughts on QS vs TS.

have a great trip and take lots of pictures. unrelated but if you can make a photo book of the trip of what baby does. this would be beside the family book. helped grandson "remember" his baby trip

 

[YesterDark]

It's just like eating out anywhere else. If you're good going to a restaurant now, you're going to be ok at Disney.

The key to a happy family with young ones is plan your day around breaks. So plan a time in the morning, lunch, afternoon, dinner and evening to just sit down somewhere. Personally when I went down last year, I did brunch at Chef Mickeys, a train ride in the early afternoon, Crystal Palace in the evening, sat down an hour before fireworks started and got a spot. It makes things a lot easier on you and everyone else.

 

[toyotaae86lg]

Thank you for all the responses!! I completely butchered my original post. I only have two DD's one that is 7 and now the newborn will be 6months at time of trip but you guys gave me the info I needed. I will keep my reservations and learn to build my days around rest periods. My wife and I have already discussed the chill factor and relaxing nature of this trip compared to past trips with my first daughter where it was go go go.

 

[Gafnorin]

Yes table service meals are sooo nice to get out of the heat and the crowds and there are babies and kids everywhere. Have fun!

 

[kboo]

We didn't find TS to be difficult at all with a 6mo. Ours slept through half of them, but he wasn't on solid food yet. You do have to list the infant in your head count, even if they eat nothing--a high chair still takes up room. We used a baby sling to carry the little guy around, and just wore it during meals. I don't remember QS being any easier--quicker, maybe, definitely cheaper. But as the PP pointed out, you're typically carrying a tray and managing the infant (stroller? carrier? On your hip?).

TS also provides you with a place to sit and relax, and also feed the baby while waiting for your food (or the characters to circulate).

My kids are 4y apart, but we took our younger DD at 3 and 5 mo - we wore her a lot during meals. TS meals were actually a lifesaver. QS was hard with an infant and stroller. Not to say we didn't do it, but it was much easier to eat and enjoy it when all we had to do was sit down and look at a menu and the food would come to us. I feel like my older DD, now 7, only got better at going up to the buffet herself within the last year. Before that, buffets were difficult too because DH would be managing his and DD's plates, then they'd sit down with the baby and I'd go up to get my own food. When our younger DD was an infant, she slept through a lot of meals, which we had at times that made sense for our older DD.