Staying offsite- how much Disney Dining do you do ??

[Zoebear]

We will be at Bonnet Creek for 10 days and I'm trying to decide on character meals for that time. Last year we did DDP and hit most all the major character ones.

I just booked Cinderella's breakfast at MK to surprise my DD. When her sister turned 10 we went to the castle for breakfast on her actual day. Although we weren't able to get there in Feb. for DD2's actual day, I thought it might be nice to surprise her with a birthday celebration.

Now to decide on one or two more........Crystal Palace and Mickey's Backyard BBQ are on my mind ...

When staying offsite, do you do much Disney dining ?

 

[MomofKatie]

We are "stay at the parks all day" types, so we do lunch at inside the parks CS orTS every day. Breakfast, whether on or off site, is always in the room (we drive and bring lots of breakfast food from home). Dinners are about a 40/60 split between onsite and off. Depending on how late the parks are open, which park we are visiting that day, and budget, we either eat TS or CS onsite or go to fast food or TS offsite.

For a 7 night trip, we usually do 2 or 3 onsite TS, 4 or 5 offsite CS or TS, and the rest onsite CS.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

We're going for 2 weeks this summer, and are doing 4 TS meals. My younger DD will be 8--I'm figuring this will be her last chance for princess meals (we only go every other year). So, we're doing both Akershus and CRT. We're also doing Chef Mickey's for DS5. Than, my older two kids (DD15, DS14) both requested Boma. Our gang really likes their diner buffet.

In general, we aren't big restaurant people, but if we eat any other sit-down meals, they wil be off-site. Mostly, though, my kids prefer to eat Mom-cooked meals at the house. Um, thanks.

 

[osprey6]

We eat off property every chance we get. For our recent stay, we did two days in the parks. We had breakfast in our room both days, and one day went to Earl of Sandwich for dinner.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

We usually do one TS meal at a Disney restaurant each day-the rest of dining is in room or offsite.

 

[ttfn3]

We tend to do CS when we are in the parks to get the maximum ride time. Plus, I think the TS at the parks is expensive for the quality of the food.

When we stay offsite, we don't go to the parks every day. This trip, we ate CS on our park days - Pecos Bills at the MK (love the toppings bar!). Epcot has some great CS food in the world showcase and we prefer to eat when we are hungry (vs having a scheduled time to eat). One nonpark day this trip, we went to Ohana's for dinner. Another nonpark day, we went to Downtown Disney and ate lunch at Earl of Sandwich. Another favorite is Raglan Road. We like to eat at places that are different than what we have in our hometown.

We did Crystal Palace last year, and schedule a late lunch time. We enjoyed the food, and ate enough that we only had a lite snack for dinner at Epcot later that night. It was pricey, and fun to do once.

 

[shalom]

We eat CS while at the parks or the resorts anyhow. I hate being tied down by something like an ADR so we've never done table service, but I'm going to try for a walk-up at the Garden View Tea Room this year, have to see how that goes. No one wanted to go to the parks with me this time so I was going to do a character meal or two -- 1900 Park Fare for the step-sisters at least -- but then eldest son said he'd go to Epcot with me that day, so I'll be snacking my way through World Showcase instead.

 

[Upatnoon]

We will be at Bonnet Creek for 10 days and I'm trying to decide on character meals for that time. Last year we did DDP and hit most all the major character ones.

I just booked Cinderella's breakfast at MK to surprise my DD. When her sister turned 10 we went to the castle for breakfast on her actual day. Although we weren't able to get there in Feb. for DD2's actual day, I thought it might be nice to surprise her with a birthday celebration.

Now to decide on one or two more........Crystal Palace and Mickey's Backyard BBQ are on my mind ...

When staying offsite, do you do much Disney dining ?

Breakfast in room, counter-service lunch at the parks, Dinner in room or offsite (sometimes Downtown Disney)

Eating table service or buffets onsite is very costly compared to what you will pay offsite.

Some people want to go out to eat for every dinner, but don't discount the relaxing effect of just hanging out in your room at Bonnet Creek and having a pizza. Unlike a hotel room, you've got a full kitchen and lots of space to spread out and enjoy yourself.

 

[NaLisa]

We had breakfast in the condo each morning--mostly cereal and fruit for the kids, bagels and fruit for me & DH.

Took snacks into the parks for DDs each day--party mix, granola bars, fruit snacks, etc.

Usually grabbed lunch in the parks--TS at CP and Akershus, CS at Sunshine Seasons, Peco's Bill, Cosmic Rays, Flaming Tree and one day snacking around the World at Epcot. All of those were good and the CS was reasonably priced (by WDW standards). Our one day at DHS we grabbed some stuff from Starring Rolls and Bill & Min's--we weren't impressed. Like everyone else, I wish there were better dining options in that park.

Ice cream, popcorn or some other bought snack in parks most days.

Dinner was usually at condo. Bought a rotisserie chicken and served with salad and bread one night, then used chicken for quesadillas another night. Also had frozen pizza (always hated these until I tried DiGiorno recently) and a Stouffer's frozen pasta entree with salad. I wasn't up for a lot of cooking while on vacation and after spending a lot of time in the parks, so these convenience items worked well for us.

Other than the WDW parks, we didn't dine out other except at WPE in DTD. DH had researched and found a few offsite places he would have liked to try, but once we were back to the condo, we just wanted to swim and relax instead of getting dressed and hopping back into the car to head to a retaurant.

 

[kathy884]

We usually just do one Disney TS meal on a trip with an offisite stay. Usually too that is on a non theme park day. (e.g. -- We've done Boma before just to get over to the AKL. Got there early to see the animal and grounds / wander around). Last trip (this past March), the MK was open till midnight and on our MK day we booked dinner at Ohana to have a little rest from the park at the Polynesian Hotel. We were at the park at 8 a.m. rope drop -- so a little break around 5 p.m. was great. We spent a little time in the lobby after dinner and hung out a little just sitting at the beach before heading back to the MK to close the place down -- actually left at 11:30 p.m., a half hour before closing. It was a nice place to relax and rest our feet a bit. DS was never into the characters and never wanted to do a charcater meal, but my brother on offisite stays always booked one of these per trip for his kids. For DS who is into marine mammals we were more likely to do something like Dine with Shamu at Sea World for a special dining experience -- a little talk by Orca trainers and a chance to see Orcas a little closer.

Like other posters mentioned, we on offsite condo stays usually did breakfast in -- often for dinner did something like the fruit, salads, chicken from the grocery store, etc. We also sometimes with our large group of 10 bring a dozen or more sandwiches, fruit, etc. to the parks too and have that for lunch rather than counter service. Ordering pizza one night too at our condo after a busy theme park day is something we sometimes do too. Our kids aren't that big on eating out, and we liked being able to eat at the condo.

 

[kathy884]

We also last March did the Mama Melrose Fatasmic dinner package on the day we did DHS. I liked the fast pass for Fatasmic, but wouldn't do it again (overpriced mediocre Italian food). Plus we had to wait 30 minutes to get seated from our reservation time, and then dinner took a hour and a half (longer than we were hoping). This extra event meant we missed the Stunt show, Beauty and the Beast, and only got to see American Idol on the big screen outside. It was still a great day at DHS and we got to do all the other things except these that we wanted to do, but I think I'll stick more to Disney Deluxe hotels for TS in the future and do this on non-park days mostly.

 

[hsmamainva]

When we stayed off-site in February, we ate all our breakfasts in the condo (except for one character breakfast at Tusker House) and we ate all of our dinners at the condo (sometimes we cooked, sometimes we brought in carry-out food, such as chinese or pizza).

We ate all of our lunches at the parks via counter service. It was easier to do that than to leave, drive back to the condo, eat, and then drive back.

 

[Zoebear]

Thanks to all. Great ideas. I think I'm refining our plans. Any other quick meals @ condo ideas would be welcomed!

 

[TotoToo]

A character meal as a treat - and NOT for the food quality - is nice. Beyond that the vast majority of "food" offered at Disney barely meets the definition and is over priced, bland at best pablum. There are great restaurants all around Orlando - if you eat out best to find & visit those as food is what they do best - Let Disney do the entertainment only.

The few good restaurants within the world are those that are independently operated as true restaurants NOT Disney staff. Even those are usually over priced for what you get vs an off site operation. You can always eat at the condo too if it has a kitchen - much fresher & cheaper than any Disney stuff.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

Any other quick meals @ condo ideas would be welcomed!

This next trip will be my first at WBC resort, but when I was a DVC owner did many meals in our villa. Our tradition on arrival night was to throw one of those Stouffers lasagnas in the oven, make a salad and bake some garlic bread. Since the lasagnas are so huge, we would have leftovers to reheat for late lunch when we took our afternoon break from the parks.

We also did breakfast in the villa unless we were doing Cindy's breakfast (at the time the only princess meal). I like my fried egg and cheese sandwich in the morning.

Typically, though, we did counter service lunches in the park.

 

[isla bonita]

When its a park day I make a late lunch at TS.

We eat breakfast at the rental home.

Dinner is late take out or something at the rental home by the pool. Taco Bell or a sandwich.