Portion Size - am I the only one...

[Granny square]

I think one of the reasons people can split a lot of these meals shown here is that they eat more often than we do, have desserts or drinks which are all very filling. When we get a CS meal, that is our 'big' meal of the day, and we don't eat a lot more than that - just something very light later, plus we don't drink (alcoholic or sodas) which are all loaded with calories.

That is the case with us. In happy to have a tiny lunch because they have such great snacks. There is something in every park we traditionally get.

A far as buffets, the cost is a factor. Paying that much money to eat a small serving of mediocre food is not worth it for us. At least not now that we have older kids. Lol the crystal palace characters hold no lure.

Now if they had an Ariel buffet, they could probably be convinced...

I think people should eat what they like on vacation. It is part of the fun. Some people have metabolisms that can deal with big meal. Mine doesn't so I still make some choices. And my mom is a tiny chemo survivor who still deals with nausea. We are a perfect sharing pair!

I apologize if I suggested that other's choices were bad. I hate when people do that!

 

[Kay1]

I appreciate all the pix. I think they're very helpful to people who are considering sharing (which we never do). I think Disney portions are just average except items that come with fries. Sometimes there are just too many fries or too much pasta with a dish.

Thanks again for the photos.

 

[nanienamou]

I'm pretty certain that people who share eat more often, but smaller portions.

I've had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy, so DH and I always share since I can only eat 3 onces or so of food at a time. On the other hand, I have to eat often. We like it like that, because we share a variety of appetizers and snacks, so we get to taste lots more things.

 

[disney1990]

We often share but it is because we don't want to be too full for snacks later on.

My feeling exactly. Plus, we get to try more things.

 

[preschoolmom]

I think if it were just DH and I, we wouldn't share - but with three kids - there is a lot of sharing going on. We generally order 2-3 CS meals for 3 kids and I, and we split it all up. So, like a previous poster said, 2/3 a meal per person? Or 1/2-2/3 a "meal" per person?

My DH orders and eats his own - but for something like pizza - the kids will each eat two little sections.

We eat a lot more dessert and snacks on vacation than at home, though

 

[preschoolmom]

No,you're not the only one! The portion snobs drive me crazy! The worst part is that most of them won't admit to the possibility that maybe THEY are the unusual ones. It's never, "I'm a very light eater," it's always "OMG what kind of a trough-gobbling hog would you have to be to choke down a whole Disney portion?!?" Or, "The DDP makes no sense - how could a human being who east that much even exist?" Or,"The DDP doesn't make financial sense for us because we're not disgusting gluttons."

Absolutely hilarious!

 

[VillianDiva]

I keep reading about 'many of the CS meals being large enough to split'. Can you give me some examples please. I really would like to know.

We were just at Disney, ate at several of CS places as usual, but didn't find any with 'huge' portions. We love Sunshine Seasons, Flametree BarBQ, Cosmic Rays to name a few. The chicken meals would be large enough for two children maybe, but not two hungry adults. The 'half chicken platters' we have had were 'very' small chickens, 2 half cup sides and that was it. We never get sodas or desserts, so that's not that many calories for a normal adult, and we're not really large eaters and we're normal weight.

The pork chop meal was average, also the rib platters (not very much meat on most ribs). Anyway, we consider them small - average, but definitely not large.

I'll be honest, I'm splitting with my 12 year old and while in DW we snack SO much! So, that might be why we tend to not be hungry enough to eat a full meal by ourselves.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

We find the portion sizes to be fine, not to big, generally not too small. We only do Disney on the DDP, and we generally grab an app too. We don't share when we do our TS (we only travel as two adults and we find it tacky for us to split one dish at a TS), but we do trade bites here and there so we can sample what the other got. We do share our CS meals, but it has nothing to do with portion size but with the fact that the number of places we LOVE to eat now exceed our CS credits and we refuse to pay OOP, so we split our meals so we can hit twice as many places. The only exception is Earl of Sandwich because, well... I love their sandwiches. He can eat his own damn sandwich. LoL!

The only time I struggled a bit with the food on the DDP was during the DDP golden days of each person getting an app, an entree, a dessert, and one specialty non-alcoholic drink per credit. That's not to say I didn't eat it all, just that I struggled...

I agree with the previous posters who said that some people can be pretty judgmental about other's dining habits. There are times when I say that I think the portions are fine for one while others split it that they give the "Well WE don't do the DDP because WE don't eat THAT MUCH. I don't know how ANYBODY could eat that much food..." It's the DIS backhanded way of saying "Hey, make sure that you stop when fork meets plate, Hogzilla." My personal favorite is "I could never do the DDP, it's just so wasteful." And I'm all over here saying "Well I'll take their DDP portion, I can put it to good use..."

I used to get really irritated by it, go off on the "I'm 5ft 7 and 130 pounds and a size 4, I run 2 miles a day and go to the gym 6 times a week, I'm hardly some shut-the-buffet down garbage disposal who expects huge portions and demands tons of food" rant, but in the end, whatever. So you want to order a dish and share it 15 ways and be glad you didn't waste food, overeat, overindulge, or spend a lot on food. That's not the vacation I want. I like food, I love the DDP and how it allows me to eat a ton of it while not breaking the bank (I can't afford to eat like this at home, physically or financially, so DDP is an awesome fit for us), and personally, if at some point I'm not riding through the Mexico ride repeatedly groaning about how full I am from dinner at San Angel, then honestly, I feel like I've done something wrong. And I'm not even joking, I know that I can eat to the point of stomach explosion at San Angel, but then, if I ride Mexico twice, Captain Eo once, then Living with the Land once, Nemo, then maybe Spaceship Earth, I can do a lot of sitting, still be entertained, not have to walk far... And by the time we get off of Living with the Land, I'm not feeling disgustingly full anymore so I can hit up Club Cool, and by Spaceship Earth I'm ready for some tie dye cheesecake.

That's a great evening for me. Check that, that's a perfect evening for me.

The only time I made a food choice I regretted at Disney was a 2:30 lunch at Le Cellier and a 6:30 dinner at Whispering Canyon. Now that was too much food. We ate to the point of fullness at Le Cellier and weren't really hungry for Whispering Canyon, but the food looked SO GOOD and we took the all-you-can-eat thing as a command and not so much a courtesy... Dear God, we wanted to die. But we still got through two skillets (we had to if we wanted to try all the different types of meat) and all of dessert. We didn't eat until noon the next day, though.

On this last trip, I did break down and grudgingly share with my 2-year-old, but only because he was so stuffed on snacks his grandfather bought him that I knew he wouldn't eat much. Otherwise, I'd have relegated him to his own plate with his own meal.

 

[North of Mouse]

That is the case with us. In happy to have a tiny lunch because they have such great snacks. There is something in every park we traditionally get.

A far as buffets, the cost is a factor. Paying that much money to eat a small serving of mediocre food is not worth it for us. At least not now that we have older kids. Lol the crystal palace characters hold no lure.

Now if they had an Ariel buffet, they could probably be convinced...

I think people should eat what they like on vacation. It is part of the fun. Some people have metabolisms that can deal with big meal. Mine doesn't so I still make some choices. And my mom is a tiny chemo survivor who still deals with nausea. We are a perfect sharing pair!

I apologize if I suggested that other's choices were bad. I hate when people do that!

Definitely wasn't trying to single out you or anyone else, but just in general really trying to see how some could see the portions as huge, while I just didn't get it.

After the last several posters, I understand now that a lot of people eat more often, add snacks/drinks in between, and that is a good reason to split a meal (it's not really intended for a 'meal' per se, but more as a savory snack - at times anyway).

No problems, we all have different eating habits, especially varying when on vacation. The DDP would never work for the way we eat on vacation, while it's perfect for others.

 

[gtpoohbear]

I definitely think that how much you snack has a lot to do with it. We almost always eat 3 TS meals/day, which most would think is WAY too much. But we almost never snack in between at all, so by the time the next meal comes, we are HUNGRY! Even without sharing (other than sometimes with my 2 year old), we rarely left any food on the table.

I know some people really enjoy snacking as part of the experience, but to me it just feels like a tedious waste of time, especially in the parks. Of course, I'm sure most people feel the same way about TS meals. But that's the great thing about WDW. We can all make it the vacation that works for us, in our own way

 

[shalom]

I know some people really enjoy snacking as part of the experience, but to me it just feels like a tedious waste of time, especially in the parks. Of course, I'm sure most people feel the same way about TS meals.

Agreed. I probably spend as much time with eating as most people who do the DDP, but for me it's broken into ten and twenty minute chunks sitting somewhere quiet, preferably with a water feature handy. I am too excited at WDW to want to sit much longer than that. And I don't wait in lines or have any obligation to be at a particular restaurant at a particular time (unless I'm dumb enough to agree to meet the family somewhere ). And TS restaurant managers would probably frown on my habit of picking up my plate and wandering around nibbling while I check out the local flowers or architectural details.

Hubby and my kids all pretty much share my style; my parents and siblings, otoh, love lingering over big TS meals. Now that I think on it, could be just as well we've never been able to schedule a WDW trip with my side of the family...

 

[tarheelmjfan]

The comparison to typical chain restaurants was a good one. WDW portions aren't large at all compared to Olive Garden, Red Lobster, etc. We think most chain restaurant portions are ridiculous. It all comes down to how much you're used to eating. If you can eat a full portion & stay at a healthy weight, lucky you. I think we're all secretly envious of you.

 

[WDWFANCBIIIME]

I keep reading about folks sharing entries because the Disney portion sizes are huge. Am I the only one who does not think so?

I am not a huge eater and I am in great shape. My husband and I usually eat breakfast in the room to avoid the high calorie options for breakfast (whole grain bread and peanut butter sometimes with a side of fresh fruit that I get from the hotel). For lunch we are usually by the pool at the hotel so we usually eat counter service from the pool bar.

When we go to a TS restaurant we order an app and we each get our own dinner. Almost never desert (we may get ice cream later). I have never found the portions to be huge. If we are at a Signature we sometimes get two apps or an app and a salad and soup in addition to dinner.

We rarely snack unless we are at F&W and then we sub that for a meal. We may snack around the world for dinner a few (OK lots of) nights of our trip.

Am I alone?

I'm a 19 year old I eat A LOT and I can agree to a point...

When I did the regular DDP I was hungry the whole time I was constantly spending extra money on Snacks either from the Poly, Baby Cakes NYC, Art of Animation ext...

But every other time I have done the Deluxe DDP and I am always walking around STUFFED!!! One day I had the Scallops, 22 oz ribeye, press pot tea and a dessert, at Le Cellier and then 4 hours later had the Mussels, Scallops, and Dessert at Flying Fish

When you are on the Deluxe it can sometimes be a little much

 

[worm761]

We don't split meals. I just don't think that I would be full after eating half a CS meal. A TYPICAL CS meal. Not the half rack of ribs and half chicken CS meal. But a sandwich and chips/fries...not enough to feed two adults. I may not finish all of my meal but I can't live on only half.

We are also a 3 meal a day at home family. So I am used to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With an occasional snack thrown in.

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

No,you're not the only one! The portion snobs drive me crazy! The worst part is that most of them won't admit to the possibility that maybe THEY are the unusual ones. It's never, "I'm a very light eater," it's always "OMG what kind of a trough-gobbling hog would you have to be to choke down a whole Disney portion?!?" Or, "The DDP makes no sense - how could a human being who east that much even exist?" Or,"The DDP doesn't make financial sense for us because we're not disgusting gluttons."

LOL I totally agree! I often wonder if SOME of the people saying they split every meal are really doing that or just saying they are so no one thinks that they are "trough-gobbling hogs" LOL

 

[bumbershoot]

No,you're not the only one! The portion snobs drive me crazy! The worst part is that most of them won't admit to the possibility that maybe THEY are the unusual ones. It's never, "I'm a very light eater," it's always "OMG what kind of a trough-gobbling hog would you have to be to choke down a whole Disney portion?!?" Or, "The DDP makes no sense - how could a human being who east that much even exist?" Or,"The DDP doesn't make financial sense for us because we're not disgusting gluttons."

That's funny, but I think you're reading too much into words that aren't being said.

I've said that the plan makes no financial sense for us because we don't eat in the way the plan works, but I certainly wasn't saying or thinking or hinting that people for whom it does work are wrong in any way. I WANT the dang plan to work for us! It's driving me bananas that I can't make it work.

I went through and wrote everything out, what we might eat, and if it will add up, and I can't get the numbers to come out.

And while we are on Weight Watchers, even when we weren't we didn't eat much differently while at Disney (b/c I don't track while at Disney). For us (me and DH), we have noticed that we just eat less b/c of the heat. Someone mentioned eating milkshakes b/c of the heat; I would be throwing up half an hour later if I had a milkshake in the heat. But I'm a person who gets iced lattes most of the way through the winter and cold part of the spring.


It's good to know *yourself*. That's why I (and others) post in DDP "is it worth it" threads, to help people think about how they might eat. You don't want to waste money just b/c you haven't thought about how your family eats.

My son doesn't even help make the money worth it, because he bounces back and forth between kid meals and adult meals. But not at the QS places where it would work out.


Anyway, don't read so much into it! People might be eating at totally different places, with totally different dishes. And they might just eat differently than others. I know that I, when on WW, eat a whole lot more than many others of my size on WW, because I eat alllll of my points that many others don't (weekly and earned activity points). I can't make it through without enough food on the plate.

But at Disneyworld it just doesn't work for me. And that doesn't mean that someone for whom it does work is anything negative to my mind at all. And I bet I'm not alone in that.

...My personal favorite is "I could never do the DDP, it's just so wasteful." And I'm all over here saying "Well I'll take their DDP portion, I can put it to good use..."

For some of us it would be wasteful. Worse, for my husband, he would know that he has "entitlements" (especially before they took the appetizer off the normal plan) and would WANT to eat them, even if he didn't want them. He would want the desserts even though we almost never get them onsite (we get a box of Haagen Dasz bars at Publix to have back at the room). He would think strongly about the soda (though that craving has diminished to a large extent, which is good, because his system really cannot handle normal soda). He would eat it and hate himself for eating it, and it would set him back by a lot, both physically and emotionally. If only they would let us share our entitlements, and if only we could always travel around people who would eat those entitlements!


....and personally, if at some point I'm not riding through the Mexico ride repeatedly groaning about how full I am from dinner at San Angel, then honestly, I feel like I've done something wrong.

FWIW, that's how DH and I felt for nearly our entire vacation in February. That included a cruise, but we remember two breakfasts* during the cruise, we had dinners b/c got entree and salad only except for the last night, two of the nights we had lovely Indian curries instead of the food from the menu. We had cappucinos and a couple desserts from the concierge lounge and went to the coffee bar once. During the land part of the trip, I remember the table service meals b/c we pick our favorites and stick to it, but I remember one day at Magic Kingdom, I desperately WANTED to eat at Columbia Harbour House, but we couldn't because we were so dang full from a meal more than 6 hours before. It was SO disappointing. The overriding feeling i had during that trip (and DH agrees) was of being ridiculously full and except for the Tusker House day NOT knowing why.

And I lost a few pounds by the end of our trip, but was full to the brim the entire time. It's mystifying.

But it's still not judging others who can eat a whole lot more, when I say that. Trust me, I love my food, especially now that I'm on WW. I only want to eat food I love, and I don't want to feel sick at the end of my meal. And that has nothing to do with anyone else at all.





*I edited that, I remembered the second breakfast! I had cream of wheat and fruit on our disembarkation day. I had the same, plus a really bad pastry that I regretted, the first morning of the cruise. And a bunch of coffee. The important thing here is that I had EXACTLY what I wanted to have; I wasn't depriving myself. I never make Cream of Wheat at home b/c I forget it exists, but they had it and YUM.

 

[shalom]

The overriding feeling i had during that trip (and DH agrees) was of being ridiculously full and except for the Tusker House day NOT knowing why.

The "why" may be the fact that Disney crams an incredible amount of fat and sugar into the most innocuous dishes. I cook at home with real butter and real cream and regularly use old cookbooks that recommend adults "eat at least one egg per day, drink at least two cups of milk, and get 1/3 of your calories from butter" (by "milk" they mean whole milk, so this is not the modern recommendation of a 1/3 or less of your calories from fat) -- and I still halve the fat in a lot of Disney recipes.

Much as I like Kona's pineapple macadamia pancakes, it can't be denied that the pancake recipe is basically cake batter poured on a griddle. Which is the sort of changes I've found in most of the Disney recipes I've tried -- even with things I normally think of as sweet or high fat, they'll plus it up to a whole new level. Personally, I like it better when they plus it up with something a little unusual, like adding pickled ginger in an Asian salad, but it can't be denied that their versions of more typical dishes are highly appreciated by a lot of people.

I suspect that even people who eat roughly the way they eat at home are consuming more calories than normal. Which probably works out pretty well, most of the time, since odds are they're using more calories, as well.

 

[Granny square]

The "why" may be the fact that Disney crams an incredible amount of fat and sugar into the most innocuous dishes. I cook at home with real butter and real cream and regularly use old cookbooks that recommend adults "eat at least one egg per day, drink at least two cups of milk, and get 1/3 of your calories from butter" (by "milk" they mean whole milk, so this is not the modern recommendation of a 1/3 or less of your calories from fat) -- and I still halve the fat in a lot of Disney recipes.

Much as I like Kona's pineapple macadamia pancakes, it can't be denied that the pancake recipe is basically cake batter poured on a griddle. Which is the sort of changes I've found in most of the Disney recipes I've tried -- even with things I normally think of as sweet or high fat, they'll plus it up to a whole new level. Personally, I like it better when they plus it up with something a little unusual, like adding pickled ginger in an Asian salad, but it can't be denied that their versions of more typical dishes are highly appreciated by a lot of people.

I suspect that even people who eat roughly the way they eat at home are consuming more calories than normal. Which probably works out pretty well, most of the time, since odds are they're using more calories, as well.

Really good points that I hadn't connected. I cook with real food also but we cannot eat around the clock at wdw either.

 

[Sparkly]

I can barely finish a typical nuggets and fries meal. I tend to mostly be hungry at mealtimes because of all the walking round the park! We're not especially big snackers though, we mostly bring things like crackers and maybe candy in.