Minimal Planning of Meals Strategy

[CougGuy]

Heading down to DL over Veteran's Day weekend with a group of friends and our kids (4 adults/5 kids total) - we are staying at the Disneyland Hotel. We'd rather not be overly schedule driven based on our meals by having PS reservations at specific restaurants at specific times but would rather be a little more spontaneous. Does anyone have a strategy for sucess doing this? We are willing to do early/late meals if that helps and don't have a "must go to restaurant" (although we'd like to hit the Blue Bayou in Pirates one day for a lunch/dinner.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[denyd]

Aside from the character meals, the only place you might want to get a PS is Blue Bayou. As a alternative, you can try walking up during a parade/show period. There are only a couple of table service locations in the parks with the rest split between cafeteria type and window ordering. What's probably best for a group your size is to pick a couple of places in each park for meals and when your group is hungry go to the nearest one.

Just a quick caution, watch the closing times, some places shut before 7pm and if you wait to have dinner until after the parade, you'll only have a couple of choices.

On a my favorite meals list is the Chinese Chicken Salad in the Pizza Port, and the Chicken Strips at Dips N Chips. For snacks the Pineapple Whip (best dessert in the parks) in the Dole stand by the Tiki Room and the strawberries and chocolate in DCA. Also, though the food is typical McDonalds, the toys at the Burger Invasion are worth more than the price of the happy meal and with Pizza O'Mow Mow (sp?) next door the adults have a pretty good selection to pick from when the groups rejoin to eat.

Outside of the park (Downtown Disney) there's a Rainforest Cafe, ESPN Zone, House of Blues & Ralph Brennan's (Cajun) Kitchen. Somewhere on this site is a link to menus.

I gotta go, I'm getting really hungry

 

[Albertan mom]

That is what we did on our last trip. No set meal plans.
We ate when we were hungry. It worked!
We tried to eat at 1130,as opposed to 12 noon when it would be busier.
We at a snack around 3.
We ate supper usually outside the park, on Harbor Blvd. Or we ate in the parks if we were watching fireworks or a parade.

We love the no-planning way of eating!!
Though this time we want to the Blue Bayou and one character meal, so will get reservations for those!!