Not Sure How to Do it All

[greentea]

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. I agree with those who suggested getting dinner at Disney Springs instead. Lots of options there!

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

Tuesday the 4th, breakfast at 'ohanna, on to Epcot with meals at Nine Dragons and Biergarten. This feels If it were me, I'd rather have the option to skip lunch and go with a light snack or QS. I'd probably swap Nine Dragons for Sunshine Seasons QS. Lots of air-conditioned seating, and the drinks are self-serve so you can easily refill water as much as you want.

Wednesday the 5th is Animal Kingdom with Tusker House Breakfast, lunch at a Yak and Yeti and Rivers of Light. I really like Tusker House breakfast, and it keeps me full for a while. How far apart are these breakfast and lunch reservations?

We want to relax on the 6th with brunch at Trails End, pool, then dinner at Boma. Will you have a car? This would be a pain in the butt to do with the buses I think, especially twice in a day. If you're driving, sure. Still, that's two buffets in a day, so consider how you eat/the cost of the buffets. If you're still a bit full in the evening and want a light dinner, another buffet may be kind of pricey if what you want is a light meal. I do like Boma though.

Since you're worried about balancing dining and rides, I would possibly cancel a few of the TS meals to open up your schedule. There are plenty of places to get some air-conditioning breaks. But clearly there are previous posters who really enjoy 3 TS/day! For me, that's too much scheduling.

 

[pixie08]

Skip Boatwrights, eat at DS.

Cut out Nine Dragons. It is just so-so and with Ohana all you can eat and Biergarten buffet it is just too much. There are indoor CS in EPCOT. Sunshine season, electric umbrella, Cantina San Angel angel, Les Halles, Liberty Inn.



I can see the appeal for having a reservation on July 4th because of the crowds though. If it were me I wouldn't choose Chinese food though in between those two. How about Via Napoli for a slice (you can split a pie and call it a day), Chefs de France for a salad or Spice road for tapas if you are adventurous eaters?

For AK day I would just make sure Tusker and Yak and Yeti are spaced out well or do YY for dinner or a very late lunch and just do snacks or light lunch.

 

[buddyjo143]

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.

Thank you! You get me and the most important factor I was forgetting. I am the meltdown you talked about. If I am not fed at 7 - 12 - 5 (or there about) I get very grumpy. Sometimes it's just quiet and passive and sometimes it's downright angry.

We are also quality and I will control the quantity. In fact, we are going on our first Disney cruise in October because Disney does dining and hospitality well, in our opinion.

 

[buddyjo143]

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?

We are on the DDP. So many people seem to want to maximize the value. We just wanted to try new places.

Just because it is all you can eat doesn't mean we will. We do like a character breakfast and Tusker House gets us in the park and seating at Rivers of
Light that night.

 

[buddyjo143]

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.

We do have the DDP. We are trying to plan spacing between meals and long days in the park.

 

[wezee]

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.

 

[GillianP1301]

Thank you! You get me and the most important factor I was forgetting. I am the meltdown you talked about. If I am not fed at 7 - 12 - 5 (or there about) I get very grumpy. Sometimes it's just quiet and passive and sometimes it's downright angry.

We are also quality and I will control the quantity. In fact, we are going on our first Disney cruise in October because Disney does dining and hospitality well, in our opinion.

Honestly I am prone to hangriness as well so a more regular eating schedule benefits me as much as my son.

Sounds like your eating style will fit the dining plan. Enjoy!

 

[rg35]

We have gone end of June/start of July the last couple of years. Our general plan is that we have always eat breakfast in our room and have TS for both lunch and dinner on park days. We like to sit down and relax, and it's a nice break for the kids as well. We haven't done park hopping on the last few trips though, so we aren't traveling around to get from restaurant to restaurant. I also can't say that the heat/weather have any influence on my appetite.

On non-park (pool) days, this is when we do our breakfast ADRs (Boma, 1900 Park Fare), eat QS at the pool restaurant and then usually do a TS dinner at the resort or Disney springs.

It's probably a lot of eating, but with all of the walking one does at a Disney park, I never come back having gained any weight.