So much food, so few meals. Question's for Disney food veterans!

[almacdonald]

May 12-22 will be our first trip to WDW and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all the restaurant choices! I have a few questions for all you eatin' vetrans out there.

1) Do we absolutely NEED to have ADR's for table service meals? I don't want to have to plan my whole trip around where we're going to eat that night. How could you possibly know 180 days out what time you'll be hungry that day or what you'll be in the mood for?

2) Are most snack carts/counter service/restaurants covered by the dinning plan? I'd hate to have to pass up a restaurant that looked good just because we had a paid meal waiting for us.

2.5) For adult couples only.... Did you find that the dinning plan made financial sense? Did you save any money or wind up with way too much food?

3) My boyfriend's birthday will be during or trip and I promised him I'd take him out for dinner. Now, he'd eat absolutely anything put in front of him so food type isn't a limiting factor. We do however like restaurants with "atmosphere". Any reccomendations? Something easy to get to from the parks prefereably!

TIA for any advice!

 

[budbeerlady]

I would ADr if it is some place you really want to eat. Even in early Dec we saw people turned away from ts.

 

[PrincessAurora]

May 12-22 will be our first trip to WDW and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all the restaurant choices! I have a few questions for all you eatin' vetrans out there.

1) Do we absolutely NEED to have ADR's for table service meals? I don't want to have to plan my whole trip around where we're going to eat that night. How could you possibly know 180 days out what time you'll be hungry that day or what you'll be in the mood for?

2) Are most snack carts/counter service/restaurants covered by the dinning plan? I'd hate to have to pass up a restaurant that looked good just because we had a paid meal waiting for us.

2.5) For adult couples only.... Did you find that the dinning plan made financial sense? Did you save any money or wind up with way too much food?

3) My boyfriend's birthday will be during or trip and I promised him I'd take him out for dinner. Now, he'd eat absolutely anything put in front of him so food type isn't a limiting factor. We do however like restaurants with "atmosphere". Any reccomendations? Something easy to get to from the parks prefereably!

TIA for any advice!

1) I am incredibly anal and plan my entire trip around where we are eating for dinner and sometimes lunch every single day. This effects which parks we go to, etc. To me, the food is the thing. There will be places (especially signature places and some Epcot dining where you will not get in or have to wait hours for a table without a ressie). I look at menus on Deb's site ahead of time to get an idea of what to eat.

2) Most of the places are covered under the dining plan.

2.5) If you like to eat a signature places, order appitizers with your dinner with dessert and eat more than $35 in food per day total, then this is a deal for you. If you mostly eat counter food or burgers with one nice dinner, it would be better to pay out of pocket.

3) The foods with the best food are at the deluxe resorts. However the ones on the monorail are pretty easy to neotiate from MK and back. Citricos, California Grill and Artist Point are all accessible from MK.