Sit-down dinning for all meals?

[alcie27]

Im' not sure if I'm posting this in the right area so please move if it's misposted. Myself, DH and two girls (ages 5 & 1) are going to WDW with my parents and sister the week of Thanksgiving. Because of the dining plan my mom has decided that since we get a sit-down meal three times per day we should use it. I'm worried that we'll spend all of our time eating and that the girls will get bored. However, it could be a nice break. How long does it typically take to eat a sit-down meal at WDW? Will we end up spending all of our time going from one restaurant to another?

 

[Surfingstitch]

It all depends on the sit down meal you are at.

The meal can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Which sit down meals do you have planned?

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Without even knowing where you plan on eating, I would say 3 sit down meals a day, every day, is waaaaaay to much time spent on dining.
I assume you are using the Deluxe Dining plan?
There are far better ways to use your 3 meal credits per day and not spend the majority of your vacation sitting in restaurants.
You can do a character meal for the kids, then spend 2 credits at a signature dining place for a wonderful meal. You could also do one of the dinner shows (2TS).
At that age my kids would never have the patience to endure 3 sit down meals a day.

 

[goofy53073]

I think 3 TS meals per day is way too much imo! Our kids are 6,5 and 2 and we usually only book one or two TS meals per day. They woudl rather be riding rides and explorong than sitting in restaraunts all day. I agree you can use extra credits towards thigns like CRT or HDDR etc...

Stacey

 

[disney queen]

that's a lot of food. and i agree--a lot of time sitting in a restaurant!

 

[TaraPA]

Only you know your family - but 3 TS meals in one day would be WAY too much for us. There were some days we didn't even want 1 TS a day. Not only are you using up a lot of park time in a restaurant, think of the time spent getting to & from there. If you don't have ADR's & you're going THIS Thanksgiving, you might be out of luck getting any at all, or any that you like, or at a good time. The ones you do get may have you hopping from park to park or resort to resort to get there, and that can eat up an hour just doing that. T-giving week is super busy - it's going to take longer to get from point A to point B, and if the park closes due to capacity on T-giving (not sure if it even does on that holiday) you're out of luck anyway, even if you have an ADR.

 

[GovieMom]

We found that even one TS takes a big chunk out of the day! Since you're going during a busy holiday week, it will take time just waiting to get seated, on top of the time it takes to eat, the time it takes to get to the restaurant, etc. Three TS's per day sounds like you're going to Disneyworld just to eat, instead of going for the attractions.

 

[brergnat]

Uh, no. No way. No how. WAY too much food, first of all, and then WAAAAAYYYYYY to much time spent eating AND getting there in the first place.

We felt "tied down" with just the REGULAR dining plan. I won't ever do it again.

Your kids are too young to be forced to spend up to 6 hours/day SITTING AT A TABLE EATING.

Are you staying in the same ROOM as your parents and sister? If not, you don't have to be on the same plan as them. THEY might enjoy 3 TS meals/day, but I assure you, YOUR family won't. You could do the regular or QS dining plan, and join them for a few of their TS meals...

 

[golden6911]

I agree that with young kids, three sit down meals is just asking for trouble. When we went with our 2 and 4 year olds in 2006, we did about 5 sit down meals for 7 days of the trip, the rest CS. Almost all of those meals were character meals also, which kept the kids entertained. This trip, since the kids are a bit older we are doing about one TS meal per day.

 

[tloveswdw]

I'd tell her to plan for one family meal, and tell her to enjoy herself... you all will be enjoying the parks.

My kiddos seem to handle restaurants really well, we've been lucky, but I cannot imagine more than one true sit down a day.

 

[vicki_c]

I agree with everyone who said it's too much.

And for planning purposes, I usually factor in 2 hours for most table service meals. They don't always take that long, but a few seem to and I have never gotten in and out of a TS meal in less than 1 hour.

So 3 sit downs x up to 2 hrs = 6 hours of dining time. I wouldn't do that even if it was just me and DH, but definitely not with our kids and they are 8 and 10.

You can still use your credits on the DxDP -- book a few signatures or dinner shows-- those take 2 credits.

I wouldn't do the DxDP because I think it's too much time wasted to use all your credits.

 

[alcie27]

Here's what she has reservations for, I think we're going to join them for only a few TS meals. It's a little sticky because they're paying for the majority of the trip and we're staying together in a 2 room villa at AKL Kadani. But I can't imagine trying to keep both girls happy during a 2 hr meal. Can anyone give me an idea of how long meals at these places will take?

Sat:
D-Biergarten
Sun:
B-Ohana's
L-The Wave
D-Akershus
Mon:
B-Boma
L-Tusker House
D-Liberty Tree
Tues:
B:1900 Park Fare
L:Tuttio Italia
D:California Grill
Wed:
B-Hollywood and Vine
L-Brown Derby
D-Yachstman Grill
Thurs (Thanksgiving):
B-Boma
L-Trails End
D-Bistro de Paris

 

[TaraPA]

Wed. is the only day there are 2 TS meals in the same park - I think she will be spending the majority of her vacation on Disney transportation to & from all these places, and inside these places while eating! That's fine if that's her goal for the trip - but I think your girls will enjoy more fun in the parks, not so much moving around from park to resort back to another park. During T-giving week this will take major time!

 

[vicki_c]

Not so much about the times, but some other comments:

Bistro is very much an adult restaurant, and most say while not prohibited, it's not really a welcoming place for kids.

I think that that's just a terrible looking schedule for a family with kids. A good rule of thumb is still 1.5 for most places for dinner, probably 2+ hours for the signatures (Cali Grill, Yachtsman, Bistro, Brown Derby although a signature - probably closer to the 1.5).

And the answer also highly depends on the reservation time. I think as the hour gets later, so does your wait as the restaurants start to run a bit behind on seatings.

And the jumping from place to place! There will be no park time in this schedule! Here's an example, without knowing your times, I'll just make some guesses:

8 AM Boma
Maybe finish around 9
Transportation to AK - arrive around 9:30
Lunch @ Tusker at say noon?
Finish up lunch by 1:30, considering extra crowds for T-giving week

Leave wherever you are (resort or park) at least 1 hour before dinner reservation which is at the Magic Kingdom - say that's at 6 PM

Finish dinner around 7:30 PM.

With such young kids, I would think you would want to take breaks at your resort, at least some of the days (I would do that everyday, but others don't).

Without any breaks, it looks like you have 2.5 hours for park touring in the morning, and maybe 3 in the afternoon = 5.5 total.

I count up about a minimum of 6 hours spent dining & driving and I think I'm actually being a bit generous -it will probably take longer.

 

[lemondog]

I honestly don't think it can be done, unless all you're going to do is eat. We are a DxDDP family and we do 2 TS meals a day and 1 CS, or skip the CS and do a signature meal. We're also breakfast lovers so we take advantage and try to do lots of character breakfasts. I just finished mapping out our hopefully ADRs b/c I have to make them next Tuesday, when half the world will be trying. Agh! We did something similar to this last time and it worked very well. Also wanted to add that we drive so we have our own car which makes it WAY easier and quicker to get to our ADRs. Another key - do not feel the need to eat everything on your plate, otherwise you'll never want to eat your next meal! LOL

Arrival Day:
L - CS in DTD
D - Ohana

Day 2:
B - Chef Mickey's
L - CS
D - Biergarten

Day 3:
B - CS
L - LeCellier (or Chef de France if I can't get LeCellier)
D - Boma

Day 4:
B - Ohana
L - snack
D - Brown Derby

Day 5:
B - 1900 Park Fare
L - CS
D - Crystal Palace

Day 6:
B - Tusker House
L - snack
D - Yachtsman Steakhouse

Day 7:
B - Crystal Palace
L - CS
D - Tony's

Departure Day:
B - Kona

 

[TaraPA]

I was also going to say that Bistro de Paris has no childrens menu. It's definitely an upscale adult restaurant (however children are not excluded). Let your mom go have her fine dining there while you enjoy watching your daughters in the parks!

You are in a tough spot if she is paying the majority, but I think you need to make it clear, gently, that your immediate family might like some alone time to explore. If she's offended that you don't want to spend every waking hour with her, try spinning it as an advantage to her - why would she want to spend hours in line waiting to see Mickey? Why would she want over-tired grandchildren whining on a late bus back from a 2-hour sit-down meal? Maybe then she'll see it as she needs some alone time!

 

[stitch34]

Well, we LOVE doing tons of meals.... with three kids ages 7, 7 and 9.
August trip we did 18 table service and one food court for a 7-night stay - and upcoming trip have 15 table service and 2 food courts planned for a 6 night stay.
For us, we love it - kids love the character meals (majority of our meals are character!), and we find it to give us a really nice break time. Instead of leaving the park to head back to the resort, it's easier and quicker for us to stay put, take a dining break and then are ready for more parks after that!

BUT... it IS a lot of eating. Way too much to be honest. We usually do a 10:30 breakfast, lunch between 2:30 and 3:30 and then dinner anywhere from 6:00 till 8:30 we plan it. We stay at the parks till pretty late.

I try to work it so if we have a really filling meal scheduled - like a favorite buffet where we know we'll eat a lot - to schedule the meal before it to be a light meal.
With kids... they pick at their food, not huge eaters, so eating so close in time to the previous meal, they are ready to eat again.

But it does take away from park time bigtime. Oh, can't do this ride now, don't think we'll have time to do it and get in on time to check in for our ADR... stuff like that.
Depends on how long you take in restaurants. us, we're like food arrives, we're ready for the check. Character meals we're long done and then sit there waiting for the remaining characters. I usually budget and hour 15 to an hour and a half per restaurant - which includes wait time until we're outta there.

Add in wait time for your table, too. Usually we wait 10-15 minutes per restaurant - our August free dining trip we waited on average 30, 35 minutes PER MEAL!

your meals listed.... looks like you have a good bit of jumping around from park to park to resort to resort. Don't forget to add in sufficient travel time. That is really the biggest time waster right there.

Kids should be good at the character meals or buffets - but otherwise, many restaurants over the same kid meal selections over and over again - may be a bit much for them.

I'd say skip some of the meals - who was it you were going with? Inlaws, parents? Let them have a couple nice meals together and you guys do your own thing for a bit perhaps?

But having done tons of meals and our family loves it - I admit it really is way too much. We're the type of family who eats out ALL the time and really look forward to all our fav Disney restaurants and liking to try some new places each trip, too. Also, having an autistic son in a big special needs stroller - trying to push him and deal with the other kids while trying to carry a tray through a food court and pay - nope, ain't happening, so table service for us! We mainly do so many meals just because we have too many favorites we want to fit in each trip - would be better to take longer trips and spread out the meals more!

 

[stitch34]

Oh, and don't forget, all those table service meals - just because have dining plan and can get three per day - remember, those tips for all those meals add up QUICK!

 

[TDC Nala]

is your mother aware that Bistro de Paris is not on the dining plan? Nor is it the most appropriate place for small children. Some confuse Bistro de Paris with Chefs de France, which is family friendly and on the dining plan.

Also, not sure how your mom is, but will she take offense if you go on a dining plan she paid for and then don't attend the meals and use the credits? If it's a DVC reservation, someone's definitely paying for that dining plan. If so, maybe you could convince her to switch for the basic plan and pay OOP for the extra meals she wants.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

is your mother aware that Bistro de Paris is not on the dining plan?

Also, not sure how your mom is, but will she take offense if you go on a dining plan she paid for and then don't attend the meals and use the credits? If it's a DVC reservation, someone's definitely paying for that dining plan. If so, maybe you could convince her to switch for the basic plan and pay OOP for the extra meals she wants.

That sounds like a much better plan to me.

Also, have you looked into Tables In Wonderland? That could be helpful. Not sure if you have AP's or not though.