To dine or not to dine...what's your opinion

[mousefan215]

I'm a MAJOR planner...every trip I've made to the world has been thoroughly planned out and dining ressies made as far in advance as possible, etc. etc....Our upcoming trip I'm thinking about going a different route and do the whole "Go with the Flow" thing and not make ANY dining ressies I know, I know...Am I CRAZY!!!!

I even thought about just doing the QS dining plan. Our last trip my hubby and I were not very happy with the restaurants. We found the service to be sloppy, the food mediocre, and we would still leave dinner paying around $20-$25 dollars for tip and tax. We really enjoyed the dining plan when it first came out, but now, not so much.

So in your honest opinion, are we crazy for not making any ressies? Should we try just winging it? Or should we at least get the QS dining plan and make a few TS dinner ressies?????

Please give me your opinion

 

[Pakey]

I'm a MAJOR planner...every trip I've made to the world has been thoroughly planned out and dining ressies made as far in advance as possible, etc. etc....Our upcoming trip I'm thinking about going a different route and do the whole "Go with the Flow" thing and not make ANY dining ressies I know, I know...Am I CRAZY!!!!

I even thought about just doing the QS dining plan. Our last trip my hubby and I were not very happy with the restaurants. We found the service to be sloppy, the food mediocre, and we would still leave dinner paying around $20-$25 dollars for tip and tax. We really enjoyed the dining plan when it first came out, but now, not so much.

So in your honest opinion, are we crazy for not making any ressies? Should we try just winging it? Or should we at least get the QS dining plan and make a few TS dinner ressies?????

Please give me your opinion

We've been going more and more this way with each vacation. There's actually quite a bit of good CS food at WDW, especially now when you compare it to the less than stellar TS food (less variety is the issue more than quality). We've been very happy with just booking a few special meals (where I still feel the food is better than what I can get at home every day of the week) and winging it the rest of the time. It's amazing how that extra flexibility has made the vacations more relaxing. We will never go back to the regimen of planning our days around ADR's.

 

[janeapplemeadow]

I wasn't on a dining plan when I went in August, but still made 5 TS ADRs at table service resturaunts. There was only one Cali. grill that I was pleased that I went. The others were O.K., but I think we would have been just as happy to have tried more counter service places. On my next trip I will probably pick only one TS and wing it for the rest of the meals.

 

[AnnetteF]

We are longtime visitors and miss the old days when we could walk into pretty much our choice of restaurants on a whim and be seated, maybe sometimes with a reasonable wait time, but we were seated. On our last few trips where we had made ADR's, we felt like eating was driving our vacation. We don't like to plan which park on which day and maybe we don't want to be in a park at all - or maybe we do. If you don't mind the fact that you might have to eat CS, go for it. Sometimes you will get lucky and be seated without an ADR, like we were at Biergarten, and enjoyed it so much more because it was where we wanted to be at the time. We've also discovered some great CS options. We love the Roaring Forks at WL and also, the Beach Club Marketplace has some unbelievable sandwiches. My DH was so disappointed one night that we were going to get our dinner from there (this was during free dining, and on this night we were out of luck for anything else, and didn't feel like walking to another CS place). Well ... he had a roast beef sandwich from there which he raves about to this day. They warmed it and it was unbelievable.

 

[goofy53073]

Since you are going in January, I would say just wing it Sometimes having no plan is the best plan at all! Only make an ADR if there is someplace you MUST visit.

Stacey

 

[MissionMouse]

...We found the service to be sloppy, the food mediocre, ...We really enjoyed the dining plan when it first came out, but now, not so much.

We found the TS experience not to be the same as it use to be and knew the dining plans with its fixed revenues with variable expenses would require changes to streamline operations. Now their running their park operations like a cruise line.

We are longtime visitors and miss the old days when we could walk into pretty much our choice of restaurants on a whim and be seated, ...

Yes, I remember those days when quality of TS offerings attracted sit down dinners. Those days are long gone and I think you can start to see streamlining of operations as offering are becoming standardized at many locations to catered to afforability marketing campaigns. This year we have see Disney sacrificing food on a larger scale than ever to attract guest under their Free dining-rack rate room marketing campaigns. You can now observe streamling in the club offerings too..many have become more generic in offerings, abandoning themed offerings.

 

[WUVmyDISNEY]

Our most recent trips include 4 Disney Resort trips since '07 with our 5th coming up. This is the first time we are not on the DP. Yes, when we added up the savings had we gotten for all of the food against what we would have paid OOP, it was "worth" it. But in reality, we wouldn't have even ordered dessert most times and I think we actually would have saved money had we not gotten the DP without feeling like we missed anything and at the worst, we'd have broken even.

I do have 2 ADRs booked for our upcoming trip because I have to have my Kona breakfast and my DS birthday meal at Chefs de France.

Other than that, we are going to wing it and I am not worried about it at all. I really like some of the QS places such as Capn Cooks in the Poly has great pork sandwhiches and BC has super good burgers. I may try to get a walk up at Liberty Tree at MK or Garden Grill in Epcot but if not, we'll find something else and be fine with it.

I have always had luck at Kona at my exact times so you can always try a walk up there.

 

[ppony]

It really depends on if you're willing to truck around from place to place if you want a sit down and are okay w/ getting turned away w/o getting angry. Not saying you would but I've seen it. Dinner especially. At the end of a day too everyone is tired and hungry. I think most of us wish it was possible to eat where ever and whenever we want, but it's just not going to be possible in a #1 toursit destination in the era of the internet. I don't think anyone knows where and when they will want to eat or what they'll feel like. It's just becoming part of "the beast" (pardon the pun) of vacationing in an ever increasing in popularity place.

We always book any place we HAVE to eat at. We always book dinners becuase we always want them to be sit down. After that, we usually book some breakfasts and virtually no lunches. I'm more willing to see if we can get into a few places walking up at lunch when counter service is usually the easy fall back if we can't or don't want to sit down. But in the evening, my dogs are barking and I'm HUNGRY! I need that for sure place I like to sit down.

My DH won't plan anything but sure does appreciate that I do once he's there an enjoys the fruits of my labor.

OH but I wanted to add to the OPs original post, I agree, we agree that the food has been FAR less to write home about than you pay for. I've been happier at TGIFridays with half of the places to be honest.

 

[gokenin]

I have asked this before and have never gotten a very good answer. What are all these fantastic, original, out of the world meals that people used to have at Disney? I do not know of any resturant other than V&A that have even ever gotten high ratings on any national dining surveys it is an amusement park it has never been a Foodie destination. So again I ask what are all these dishes that people would go to Disney to exclusively eat and bypass the parks?

 

[ppony]

I have asked this before and have never gotten a very good answer. What are all these fantastic, original, out of the world meals that people used to have at Disney? I do not know of any resturant other than V&A that have even ever gotten high ratings on any national dining surveys it is an amusement park it has never been a Foodie destination. So again I ask what are all these dishes that people would go to Disney to exclusively eat and bypass the parks?

I'm not going to say anything in a snide way I promise!
I think it really gets down to how sophisticated your palette is and how difficult you are to please because of it. That's not said in any bad way I promise. I'll beat myself up here in a minute. We sat at a CRT breakfast years ago and we hated the food. I'd have been happier at Denny's! And some peopel LOVE Denny's. But the couple right behind us said "This is some fine quality food right he-yah". (Really, that's how they spoke )
To be honest... my palette pretty much sucks. And I think more people than not do not have a foodie palette. I try all these foodie places and will continue to do so, but honestly, I'm just so rarely over-the-top impressed that an average meal tends to do me just fine. I've never been over-the-top impressed at WDW restuarants at all but I've been VERY happy and FULL. Also, to be 100% honest, I'm WAY too picky to have my food opinion matter much. Picky in a bad way too. I don't like things like mushrooms, seafood, etc. I wish I did! I don't like SO MANY things most people like. It stinks! Especially for DH. He's got a much better palette than I do and loves seafood and I'm always the fly in the ointment picking something or someplace to eat. . I try new stuff all the time and I have hopelessly tried over and over to eat seafood becuase my DH lives on it. No dice. I just don't like it.
That said though, I still feel more WDW food is mediocre but wadda ya do? We can't eat at V& A's w/ the kids. We were able to go to Blue Zoo when our oldest was in Simba's club but we can't right now w/ a toddler. SO, short of driving out into the unknown, greater Orlando area...I don't know what else to say. We have to eat while there but I promise, I never skip a park just to eat so-so food.

 

[mousefan215]

I have asked this before and have never gotten a very good answer. What are all these fantastic, original, out of the world meals that people used to have at Disney? I do not know of any resturant other than V&A that have even ever gotten high ratings on any national dining surveys it is an amusement park it has never been a Foodie destination. So again I ask what are all these dishes that people would go to Disney to exclusively eat and bypass the parks?

I guess when I said I used to enjoy the eating at TS restaurants on the dining plan I wasn't really referring to the food quality...more so the service, or lack there of, and the fact that the offerings are getting pretty slim in the choice department. I have been going to disney since 1997 and I think the food has been pretty much the same every time I've been...mediocre with a slim chance of a meal being wonderful. For me it's more the atmosphere that you are paying for and not necessarily the food.

I do like having a place to take a load off at the end of the day and relax but this trip I'm just wondering if it's worth it or not. I would really like to just say,"Forget all the planning and lets just go and play it by ear!" The jury's still out on whether or not I'm going to do that....keep the opinions coming!

 

[Nadjalu]

I would say it depends on how you are going to handle it if you can't go with the flow. I know being a planner myself I would wonder if I didn't plan anything how I would feel to get down there and not be able to get in anywhere. Would I want to kick myself???
That said, there is always the plan of planning and then throwing it out the window when you get there. That way you have planned your "flow" lol.
Some days go with the flow and if there is something you really don't want to miss you will have that covered to.

 

[mousefan215]

I would say it depends on how you are going to handle it if you can't go with the flow. I know being a planner myself I would wonder if I didn't plan anything how I would feel to get down there and not be able to get in anywhere. Would I want to kick myself???
That said, there is always the plan of planning and then throwing it out the window when you get there. That way you have planned your "flow" lol.
Some days go with the flow and if there is something you really don't want to miss you will have that covered to.

LOL... planning the "flow"! I love it! Spoken like a true planner!

 

[gokenin]

My dining planning consists of making dinner reservations for the nights I go. I go with friends mostly when I go and we go our seperate ways in the morning and we get together at night to catch up with what we did during the day. I dont know if I would insist on a sit down meal every night if we were together every moment of every day as you would be if you are a family with little kids.

 

[ppony]

Speaking of "planning the flow". In all our trips to FL with the excpetion of the one coming up, we always go to Sea World. My DH loves fish. But every stinkin time we go, it rains like MAD, until we leave. No kidding! Every. stinkin. time! And that is always the ONLY day on our trip that is rained out. SO, the last time, we planned to NOT plan our Sea World day and look at the forecast once there and decide then when we were going to go. It worked like a charm! Mother Nature didn't get her stuff together to rain on us until the last few hours we were there. She tried! We "outsmarted" her!

 

[mousefan215]

Speaking of "planning the flow". In all our trips to FL with the excpetion of the oen coming up, we always go to Sea World. My DH loves fish. But every stinkin time we go, it rains like MAD, until we leave. No kidding! Every. stinkin. time! And that is always the ONLY day on our trip that is rained out. SO, the last time, we planned to NOT plan our Sea World day and look at the forecast once there and decie then when we were going to go. It worked like a charm! Mother Nature didn't get her stuff together to rain on us until the last few hours we were there. She tried! We "outsmarted" her!

So by not planning to plan, maybe we can out smart mother nature! Good plan!

 

[cbg1027]

Well, here's my two cents:

If you will be happy with CS the whole time, I like the go with the flow idea.

But if you feel like you want any TS meals.....you need to make some ADR's. Waiting for an hour or more just plain sucks. And at 90% of the TS places, that is what you'll be stuck doing if you don't have an ADR.

You know what I would do? Get the QS DP. Make a few ADRs for like 1 meal every other day. You can use your QS DP credits for breakfast on the days you have a TS meal, and pay OOP for the TS. This way you can be spontaneous the majority of the trip, but have a few (somewhat) guaranteed TS meals.

Have you tried Citricos? I was there in April and had the most amazing meal of my entire life, service wise (food was pretty darn good too). Ask for Keira or Jose! They were the best servers ever!

 

[eliza61]

I'm a MAJOR planner...every trip I've made to the world has been thoroughly planned out and dining ressies made as far in advance as possible, etc. etc....Our upcoming trip I'm thinking about going a different route and do the whole "Go with the Flow" thing and not make ANY dining ressies I know, I know...Am I CRAZY!!!!

I even thought about just doing the QS dining plan. Our last trip my hubby and I were not very happy with the restaurants. We found the service to be sloppy, the food mediocre, and we would still leave dinner paying around $20-$25 dollars for tip and tax. We really enjoyed the dining plan when it first came out, but now, not so much.

So in your honest opinion, are we crazy for not making any ressies? Should we try just winging it? Or should we at least get the QS dining plan and make a few TS dinner ressies?????

Please give me your opinion

We rarely make adr's but I have a question for you. Will you really be able to relax and go with the flow? Will you end up stressing the entire time? I just can't imagine if you are a major planner, you being able to turn it off.

We love going with the flow. Lately, disney restaurants have just not been worth the 9 month "try to get an adr" system. They are rather routine and of "chilis or applebees" quality, so the last 3 trips we've taken we've felt that haven't been worth taking the time out of touring. Sorry, jmo.


I will say that we have always, always been able to get a TS meal at Disney. We call every morning when we get up and the fine folks at dining central have always come through. We never try walk ups though. Now, we don't have any "must do's" at the world so we can be very flexible.

 

[jimaok]

My 2 cents: We just got back from 6 days at WDW. First time with dinning plan ( 8 adults) Would we get it again- Yes (in fact we are in December- paying for it DVC). We were at many restaraunts where walk ups were turned away. If you want table service, you better make ADRS. We ate dinner at Whispering Canyon- Good, dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern- Good, dinner at Ohana- Excellent, dinner at Coral Reef-Good, dinner at Teppon Edu-Excellent, dinner at Chef Mickey's- poor (characters make up for food). All counter services and snacks were very good. We didn't have to worry about carrying huge sums of money (each dinner was about $300.00 for eight people) We had our tip money in individual envelopes and just carried them. We honestly must say, We ate too much food- I gained 5 pounds. We got the desserts because they came with the plan and my DW said they were to die for.

So, long story short, we liked the dinning plan, making ADRS and will do it again.

 

[MagicKisses2]

Out of our 3 trips to the world, we have had the DP two times (and will have it during this coming trip). I like it a lot.

Because it's only hubby and myself, we rarely make ARs for every meal, maybe one or two per trip. I've also learned a trick from a friend who has been a life-long visiter to DW. He said program the DINE number into your cell phone and during the day as you are walking around if you see some place you want to eat, call and see if you can get a reservation. Well it worked for us during the last trip.

Also, because it's just the two of us, we have had pretty good success (not 100%) walking up to TS and getting in.

I'm not a huge planner, so I am very comfortable going with the flow.

Good luck