Sick of Eating LOL!!

[mrs_incredible]

Hey all!! We've been back for over a week now. Just getting caught up on our day to day stuff. Had a great vacation - 7days @ POP with the dining plan and let me say that we were SICK OF FOOD by the last day LOL!!!! It was a GREAT deal. We got our moneys worth and we were able to do things we never would have gotten a chance to do w/o the plan. Our TS rest. were:
Ohans's
Garden Grill
Whispering Canyon Cafe
1900 Park Fare (breakfast)
Sci Fi (lunch)
Hoop De Doo

We were so full after our TS meals we would just pick at our CS food and really only used our snacks for water (but brought home lots of mickey rice krispie treats!)
The ONLY downfall to the dinig plan was the amount of time we spent on our meals. We would leave the parks at least an hour before our reservation time and then spend about 1 - 2 hours at each TS meal. All that teime really added up. I know we wasted a lot of park time at all the meals. We didn't get to do all we wanted in the parks because of our meals. Just something to think about. Would I do dining plan again? Not sure but ONLY because of the time lost. Definitely a great deal! TTFN!!!

 

[Sammie]

Thanks for posting. This has been our biggest concern. Also the park concern bothered us.

I know how time consuming Full Service can be. Especially since we like to change clothes before we go. And then you always have to wait to be seated. Etc.

 

[mrs_incredible]

Glad I could help. I honestly never even took in to consideration the time to do a table service meal. Our last trip we only did 2 TD meals, so it was kind of refreshing to sit down and take our time and enjoy the experience. This time toward the end of our trip, we were literally dreading the meals. We knew that once we left the parks to eat, we were not going to have time to come back. Or if we ate dinner in th park, we could pretty much plan on the park closing right after dinner. With all the different types of foods affered at the counter service places, we probably would have been totoally satisfied with eating at those placesonce or twice a day and only doing a couple of table service meals. Hope this helps...........

 

[Mike N Kathy]

Thats why u should make late ressies....U dont HAVE to eat at 5 oclock

 

[Katy Belle]

Thanks for the report! This has been my big concern. When we went to WDW in 2004 we didn't go to many of our dinner reservations because we wanted more time in the parks! So now I'm considering just doing TS in the parks. I'm going to run the #s now to see if the dining plan still makes sense. Ugh. Its so hard to figure it all out!
Katy

 

[Amy&Dan]

This is exactly why we won't be doing the dining plan! We ate a lot of table service last trip when we travelled with family and it started out fun but a week later felt like seven consecutive days of Thanksgiving! And it took so much time out of our schedule. But it is a great deal.

 

[vascubaguy]

The time issue can be a big part of the dining plan and a major drawback if you are trying to maximize your time at the parks because you are only there for a short time.

However, you can use the plan and schedule things so they play more in your favor. For instance, instead of scheduling all of your TS for dinner, use more of them for an early breakfast. If you are going in the summer time, you can use your TS for lunch to get out of the heat for a couple hours. Or, get the ADRs for dinner between the parade and fireworks. Or for that matter, get an ADR at a TS location where you can view the fireworks during dinner! (Ohana or CA Grill).

The most time consuming thing is travel, so it's always best to try and plan to dine at a restaurant that is in the park you will be visiting that day, or at least at a nearby resort.

BTW, to the OP, I know EXACTLY what you mean about eating WAY too much on the DP. We had some CS credits left and actually come home with LOTS of those mickey rice krispie treats as well.

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Time spent on meals and preparations for meals instead of enjoying time at the parks is an interesting discussion.

DH and I are not on the dining plan, but we're beginning to feel the same way others have mentioned. Last trip, we stayed at an off-site timeshare and cooked ourselves a nice breakfast every day. We sort of "winged" lunch in the parks and made ADRs for almost every night for dinner. I know we missed rides dealing with all the evening ADRs. Unfortunately, ADRs are getting to be almost required these days to eat at the places we want (Le Cellier, Jiko, Artist Point).

While I love planning and love Disney, I am getting a little tired of dealing with all these ADRs. Once we decided to just skip them entirely, eat where we can...big mistake. We couldn't get in anywhere good. This was in May, a generally slow time of year, too. I think we ate at Earl of Sandwich four out of seven nights for dinner, the other nights in our room or Wolfgang Puck Express.

I think Disney did a good thing offering very good CS at AK. We're generally able to find very tasty, satisfying, economical and nutritious choices -- with nice ambience -- at AK without the headache of ADRs.

 

[dgaston]

We like to use a TS or 2 for a late breakfast at places like Donald's Breakfastosaurus or Crystal Palace. You can also use TS at Signature Restaurants like California Grill, highly recommended. HTH