No DDP - how to plan??

[Stltaxgirl]

This is our families first trip. We don’t intend to get DDP. We are two adults and 4 kids ages 9,7,4, and 1. We are going in Sep so ADR reservations aren’t until March. I’m just not sure if we should stick to 1 table service and 1 quick service meal a day. And when do most people (those with little ones) do the table service (lunch or dinner). I’m just at a loss for how to begin planning our ADRs. Thanks.

 

[10CJ]

Well, having no dining plan makes it easy. You can do whatever you want. We typically aim for 1 table service a day. Sometimes we might have a breakfast and a dinner or all quick service and a dessert party. It just depends on the day which meal it is. However with young kids I would not make any ADRs too late in the day. a 9pm reservation would have never worked for us.

Have you decided what restaurants you want to try or decided how often you want to visit each park?

 

[ForMyBoys]

Hi! So we perused the menus on-line and chose our table service menus based on that. We also wanted a couple character meals so made sure to pick a few of them. I estimated the cost and then purchased Disney gift cards at a 5% discount from Target over time to pay for our meals. We never planned the quick service ahead of time as we generally just find what is close to us around the time we are hungry and have time.
Our first time we weren't sure what to do, but we realized that we highly prefer a table service for a late lunch so that is what we stick too. We also do pretty much all our table service meals in the parks as we don't like spending time traveling to resorts, but I know many love visiting the resorts.

I will also say that unless you are going at a very busy time you can usually get table service reservations within days of visiting the park or even same day. You likely can't get the hard to get ones, but there is usually one available. The only restaurant we try to book early is sci-fi dinner since my boys really like it and its hard to get the lunch time we want if we don't do it way ahead of time.

Which parks are you going too?

 

[chris benton]

First of all, you have LESS planning to do without the plan.
I'd simply choose a restaurant that you want to eat in, at a time that your group will be hungry. You can get a sense of which restaurants will need you to be on top of an adr - there's only really a few. The whole "Must Make Adr At 180" farce is pretty laughable, imo. I mean, Cinderella's RT is a whole "thing," and for some reason, plenty of ppl adore BOG, - I get the ppo thing, but not much else about it - just opinion.

You'll be JUST fine.
I'd urge you to get sense of which restaurants are the ones you would like to eat at, though. Some of them are garbage, and some are pretty decent.

Also, do a search for the Reservation Finder on the touringplans site. I usually never worry about adr's and get anything I want with no issues.
Research the restaurants, tho. Quality control is haphazard at WDW. Another thing to pay attention to is portion sizes. Some of the QS meals are massive. Research the sizes of the meals if possible - just ask questions here, if nothing else. plenty of ppl will chime in on their experiences.

You'll be just fine.

 

[Stltaxgirl]

Thank you all. So helpful. I forgot to mention we are staying for one week and thought we would do something like MK for 2 days and the other ones for 1/2-1 day. Also we figured based on other vacations that we would get up early and have lunch and then probably go back to the resort (we are staying at BLT so we are close to MK) for a few hours to nap/rest then go back out for dinner and the evening. Also since we have a villa we plan to eat breakfast in our room. We may do one breakfast out.

I’m mostly just not even sure how to plan where we will be and what restaurants to go to. I was thinking table service for lunch because it’s cheaper and it would be a nice break in the middle of the day but then again going to table service after a break might be good too.

 

[WaterLinds]

For a first visit I think havin a look at a guide book can be a big help, just for a complete overview, and then everyone here is always wonderful for filling in the details! The Unofficial Guide (from the Touring Plans team) is pretty reliable, and I can always get my hands on it at our library.

We have two young kids (7 and 3) and although I pre-booked ADRs for a lot of meals I can guarantee we won’t use them all—some days last trip we didn’t do any table service, and were totally happy. The kids are itching to get out and do Disney stuff, the adults are tired, sitting through a long meal is not always fun (but in September you may appreciate the break in the AC!). Every night we reviewed our plans for the next day to see how everyone was feeling and if any pre-booked meals still appealed. We changed a lot of plans the night before (and a lot of even hard to get ADRs opened up the night before, too, so lots of folks changing plans!), usually cancelling a meal rather than adding one.

We found our best window for a sit down meal was actually sort of “brunch” time—and if you’re considering any character meal buffets, I’d highly recommend a late breakfast seating when paying OOP (lunch prices are much higher). We’d have a light breakfast in the room, tour while crowds were low, then go sit and eat while the lines were long. Hit another FP or two after brunch and then head for the pool/nap break. Then either a light early dinner at the hotel (we really liked the pizza at POFQ, I think we did that twice for dinner!) or grab something QS when we’re back in the parks later.

We also relied a lot on snacks, especially on hot days when no one was hungry enough to eat a full meal at once. We packed our own, but also supplemented with the many tasty snack options in the parks. That would have left us too full for a sit down dinner many nights!

 

[Nancyg56]

Thank you all. So helpful. I forgot to mention we are staying for one week and thought we would do something like MK for 2 days and the other ones for 1/2-1 day. Also we figured based on other vacations that we would get up early and have lunch and then probably go back to the resort (we are staying at BLT so we are close to MK) for a few hours to nap/rest then go back out for dinner and the evening. Also since we have a villa we plan to eat breakfast in our room. We may do one breakfast out.

I’m mostly just not even sure how to plan where we will be and what restaurants to go to. I was thinking table service for lunch because it’s cheaper and it would be a nice break in the middle of the day but then again going to table service after a break might be good too.

The first thing I do is make an outline for our trip. I use Touring Plans crowd planner as my guide and then WDW easy or easy WDW (I never remember) to see if the two planners are sort of close, although neither is really accurate any more.

Once I plan park days, then I plan meals. I do not liek to run hitter and yon to eat, so breakfast/lunch is usually at the resort or in or near the park we choose for the day. Dinner can be anywhere unless I plan to be in the park at night and want to dine there.

WIth a basic outline planning meals is much easier.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I would honestly plan for 1 TS ADR per day. I'd mix it up with lunch & dinner. I try not to plan too many ADRs in a day. Although the good part is that if you change your mind, you have until the day before the ADR to cancel without penalty.

 

[rwdavis2]

IMHO, the most important thing to plan is what parks you want to do each day. Then look at what restaurants are there or in a close by hotel. We never plan around meals. Most restaurants are not worth getting excited over.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Step 1 is to plan out which park(s) you’ll visit each day. The last thing you want to do is make random ADRs all over the place and spend your whole day traveling around to get there. Once you have an idea of your schedule, look at the options for each park and see what menus appeal to you. What works for my family is 1 TS per day. We like to eat a quick breakfast in the hotel to hold us over for the first few hours of touring. Then sometimes we do QS for lunch and TS for dinner, or vice versus. If your kids are into characters, character meals are a great way to meet them without waiting in line. But, they are pricey. I would suggest one or two character meals if paying out of pocket. My favorites are Garden Grill at Epcot and Tusker House at AK. Some other places I would recommend for kids your age:

MK - BOG lunch is a QS, good food and you get to see the castle without spending a fortune
DHS - Sci Fi, good burgers and shakes and super cool atmosphere
AK - Tusker House for a character meal. AK also has some of the best QS options
Epcot - Biergarten is fun for the kids , there are also tons of great QS options and good booths during the festivals

In Disney Springs my kids liked T Rex and Raglan Road. There are also the resort restaurants. The new Storybook Dining at Wilderness Lodge gets great reviews.

Good luck and enjoy your trip whatever you decide!

 

[goofyintoronto]

Well, having no dining plan makes it easy. You can do whatever you want. We typically aim for 1 table service a day. Sometimes we might have a breakfast and a dinner or all quick service and a dessert party. It just depends on the day which meal it is. However with young kids I would not make any ADRs too late in the day. a 9pm reservation would have never worked for us.

Have you decided what restaurants you want to try or decided how often you want to visit each park?

I second this. With young kids, I wouldnt plan more than 1 TS per day. I would also avoid late dinners. You never know with young kids, anything could happen.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

When my boys were little, we would be at park opening every day and typically do our sit down at lunch or mid afternoon. We would often leave the parks around 3 or 4. They were done at this point unless they happened to nap in the stroller. We kept their bedtime the same (around 8 or so.)