Not Sure How to Do it All

[buddyjo143]

So many restaurants, so little time.

Going in July. Arrive Sunday the 2nd. Staying at POFQ. Plan to go to the pool and eat lunch at a resort QS and dinner at Boatwrights before going to Disney Springs at night.

Monday the 3rd breakfast at resort. Magic Kingdom with dinner at Jungle Navigation and fireworks.

Tuesday the 4th, breakfast at 'ohanna, on to Epcot with meals at Nine Dragons and Biergarten.

Wednesday the 5th is Animal Kingdom with Tusker House Breakfast, lunch at a Yak and Yeti and Rivers of Light.

We want to relax on the 6th with brunch at Trails End, pool, then dinner at Boma.

That's 9 TS meals with 6 QS meals. We haven't figured out fast passes yet and I am exhausted. How do we balance dining and rides? Should we plan other TS lunches or breakfast? We don't want to eat a lot at every meal but wonder if we wouldn't like air conditioning and lots of water at lunch.

Thought? Thanks.

 

[elaine amj]

Wow...are u seriously having a buffet breakfast at Ohana, then lunch at Nine Dragons, and yet another buffet dinner at Biergarten?

And then the next morning another buffet breakfast at Tusker House followed by lunch at Yak and Yeti?

I can pack it away...but this seems a little crazy.

Also, with a 5 night stay, u will be paying quite a bit extra out of pocket - unless u got the Deluxe DDP and not the regular DDP?

 

[KelNChrisKYDis]

This seems a bit ambitious. Not sure what your park plans are, but this is a lot of to and fro with dining. I can see your point with the reprieve from the heat, but regardless of your meal size, that seems like a good amount of tips to put out. I personally could not commit to that many TS meals.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Are you on the Deluxe Dining Plan? If not, then I'd cut back on the table service meals. I generally plan on one table service meal per day on average. So there might be one day with 2 table service meals but another day with none. With your current plan, I think you'll find you will be going to ADRs when you aren't hungry. When we go during the hotter months, we tend to be less hungry.

 

[brertoad]

I'd skip Boatwrights, I hated the place, mediocre food/selection, and horrible service. One of the worst experiences we've had at any Disney restaurant.

Are you paying OOP or Dining Plan?
If you aren't doing Ohana for the characters, then maybe consider Kona for breakfast.
Also, if you are traveling to Ohana wouldn't it make more sense to go to MK after, like on the 3rd rather than the 4th.

If wanting a character breakfast near Epcot, consider Beach Club's Cape May breakfast which is next to international gateway.

 

[Marthasor]

If you want to do rides and attraction, I would cut this down to one TS per day. Many QS places also offer indoor seating and air conditioning.

On Tuesday, you are wasting a lot of time heading to Poly for O'hana and then going to EP. I would drop two of your TS meals that day.

On Wednesday, if you want two TS at AK, I would do TH breakfast and Y&Y dinner (even early dinner). TH breakfast is huge.

 

[ArielDreams]

Even when we don't get the dining plan, we factor in 1 TS, 1 QS and 1 snack a day for meals. Otherwise, it's a LOT of food! Just reading your July 4th plan has put me in a food coma We usually mix our TS's between old favorites and ones that are new to us. I also prefer to plan QS meals as we go because we never know when we'll actually be hungry, where in the park we will be etc.

 

[Cinderella94]

July 4 is way too much, especially with your breakfast the next morning.

 

[Imamom2]

As others have said - way too much food. One sit down per day is plenty. You will want to do a few lite meals instead - especially in the heat. Think fresh fruit and QS meals. The buffets are a lot of food. If you do that for breakfast you can grab some fruit for the day but you will be walking around in the heat with a full stomach. Yuck. TS meals also eat up lots of time. There are plenty of places to cool off in the parks.

 

[GillianP1301]

My opinion on this is not in the majority at all, but I always state in these types of threads as an alternative viewpoint.

We do 3 TS meals most days on our trips and we do it for two main reasons. The first is dining is a big part of a WDW vacation for us and we consider the restaurants attractions in themselves. I can't imagine going to Disney and not trying to experience as many TS as possible, you would miss out on so much. Secondly, they are a fantastic way to guarantee you have a scheduled break with A/C, which is even more valuable in hot summer months (we travel in August). Many people will say "it's too much food" and that argument just doesn't apply for us because we pace our eating and we don't equate value with quantity of food, but rather quality and experience. Which means, we can have multiple TS meals a day and not over eat. Sometimes that means only 1 or 2 plates at a buffet or sometimes that means not finishing a huge portion meal. I will admit this took a bit of time to figure out because our first trip with deluxe dining we definitely overate a lot. The other major consideration for me is that children generally do better (i.e. less meltdowns) if their meal schedule is as close to home as possible which means 3 meals a day for us works best. Children generally don't overeat, they just eat until full which means they aren't going to stuff themselves at a buffet and have that last them all day like an adult would do. So really it comes down to how you view dining in general on vacation and how you define value in that dining experience. The answer will be different for everyone.

The line up you have looks good to me. If you decide to leave days with just 2 TS meals, you can easily make that work by filling in between with some snacks or QS options.

 

[LilyWDW]

That is way too much time wasted sitting at a table eating for me. I like my TS meals, but I also like having actual time to do everything else. Plus I find I do not eat nearly as much food when I am at Disney due to heat/fatigue/being busy.

 

[IrishNYC]

That's a lot of food. We limit ourselves to 1 TS per day, otherwise it's a time suck, and too much food.

 

[Regan117]

We eat three meals a day, both at home and on vacation. If you don't stuff yourself, I think this seems fine. We frequently do 3 TS meals a day because we just don't "do" QS at all. And we never have any trouble doing everything we want to do. *shrug*

 

[Maggie'sMom]

OP, how many trips have you taken to WDW before? If you've been on several trips and tend to go back every year or so, then I can see spending more time at TS meals. If this is a first trip, or you go infrequently, then I think you will be spending way too much time at TS meals with your current plan.

 

[Allie B]

I agree with others. We limit to one table service per day unless it's a pool day then I can see breakfast and dinner. I too want to do all the fabulous restaurants but it's just not possible.

 

[mickeymom22]

I don't know if you have been to WDW in July before, but speaking from experience, the heat might lessen your appetite. We have been in July and August, and the heat really zaps not only your energy but also your appetite.

I think one TS a day is a good idea. If you want reservations to guarantee AC, maybe switch them to non-buffet choices. Also, when you are at MK and Epcot take the monorail to one of the resorts and enjoy their QS, bar area, or just the lobby and take a break and soak up their AC. We try to always make reservations at Sci-Fi Dine-In on our HS day. It has the AC cranked and if you aren't totally hungry, you can just get a milkshake or share a sandwich and fries.

We have stayed numerous times at PO resorts. We really wanted Boatwright's to be a great place to eat, and sorry to say we tried it twice and both times it was not good. The food left much to be desired. I suggest take the boat to Disney Springs and enjoy a restaurant there. There are so many new choices there, but our "old" favorites would be Earl of Sandwich and Raglan Road.

Happy Planning!

 

[Disneylover99]

That's a lot of TS meals and you're considering more? I think one TS per day is more then enough or you'll never get as much done.

If you're looking to book even more TS restaurants for the air conditioning and water, just know, you can get both at Counter service locations.

 

[bumbershoot]

IMO it's only the most disclipined and healthy (no food issues) eaters who can do multiple buffets or TS meals in a row without making themselves utterly ill.

We can't do it; emotional eating is DH's problem and I start calculating value (already an issue since we are all vegetarian) and get angry at what we are spending vs what I can eat. My son now is the one where we make our money healthily though. Tall lean nearly 13 year old dancer; he can eat.

But paying adult price times 3 for buffets all day long wouldn't be mentally possible for me or dh (while listening to our stomachs), no matter how much ds might want it.


So, OP, you have to figure out if your family can do it. That ohana Epcot day sounds horrid to me. Can your family eat decently at each meal without stuffing yourselves and feeling sick, even while paying those prices? Or should you change it up?

We eat a few times a day at home, but it's certainly not as much food at each meal as we get at a restaurant.

 

[TwoMisfits]

So many restaurants, so little time.

Going in July. Arrive Sunday the 2nd. Staying at POFQ. Plan to go to the pool and eat lunch at a resort QS and dinner at Boatwrights before going to Disney Springs at night.

Monday the 3rd breakfast at resort. Magic Kingdom with dinner at Jungle Navigation and fireworks.

Tuesday the 4th, breakfast at 'ohanna, on to Epcot with meals at Nine Dragons and Biergarten.

Wednesday the 5th is Animal Kingdom with Tusker House Breakfast, lunch at a Yak and Yeti and Rivers of Light.

We want to relax on the 6th with brunch at Trails End, pool, then dinner at Boma.

That's 9 TS meals with 6 QS meals. We haven't figured out fast passes yet and I am exhausted. How do we balance dining and rides? Should we plan other TS lunches or breakfast? We don't want to eat a lot at every meal but wonder if we wouldn't like air conditioning and lots of water at lunch.

Thought? Thanks.

1st day - skip Boatwright's - eat at Disney Springs (better choices for both CS and TS)
2nd day is fine
3rd day is WAY too many meals - 2 buffets plus another sit down? I'd drop 2 of the 3 choices and eat lightly around an AYCTE buffet if you keep one of those...
4th day I would move Yak and Yeti to a 3pmish lunch/dinner combo (not sure when you have it planned) since Tusker House will again be a LOT of food
5th day is fine

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

As long as you don't plan to ride anything or see anything but buses and restaurants this will work great. Really on some days all you're going to have time to do is get from one restaurant to the next

This is a very busy time of year. You need to realize it will just take longer to get from the front of the park to your restaurant, or from your restaurant to a ride. A schedule that requires precision minute planning is probably going to fall apart.