Toddler Dinning planning***STRESSED***

[tiffanym5375]

Hi. I'm a planner so that's why I'm planning our Jan vacation already. Knowing that I can make ressies in July.. I'm looking into dinning right now. I'm just stuck not sure if I'm doing this right.

My first thought was DDP is it worth it? I think it is. However, I'm afraid that with my 2yr old son. It may not be. Let me explain.. so I assume we will be going to the parks around 8:30-9:30am. Not really sure yet. Then after lunch (CS) I'm gussing anywhere around 1:30-2:30 we will go to the room to nap. Then what hang out until dinner? Or go to the park then to dinner? I'm not sure. As of now "most" days we have late dinners around here between 6-8pm. So with parks closing early (not sure yet) cofused on what to do. We have make ressies at most places right? When would you make them (what time)? I want to be sure to see 1 or 2 light shows. We will be in Disney for 6-7 nights.

Also, I assume DH may want to order room service from AKL..

With the DDP I feel obligated to make sure we use all of our pts. Do I book a restraunt every night? Or should I book a few 2pts restarunt.. then not feel bad when we do room service or sandwiches in our room? I guess I feel like there may be a time crunch when on the DDP. Where if we were not on the plan we could still book our dinners.. but if we couldn't show up we could eat sandwiches,room service, or even cs. Advice?~tiffany

 

[beaniemays]

Hello

Here is what I did, last year during free dining we were there with a 2yr(DS), 3yr(DN) and 5yr old (DN). Its vacation so we ate off schedule... and yes we made sure to maximize our points with TS for characters and 2TS for Cindy's and The shows

My guy is a little picky... In the morning we had either a waffle (I brought my own toaster and ordered a small snack/grocery delivery)with strawberries, or toast and PB(made in the room) and ate at the bus stop...or something from the food court at FQ.

At lunch time we used our CS, normally my guy ate half of my lunch fries, Pizza...Or my guy would eat PB&J (his fav at the time). Or we just bought what ever from the kids menu he was interested in. Honestly he used all of our snack credits on milk, cereal, bagels, pretzels... I am lucky though he still ate stage 3 veggies so I brought 2 jars to the park each day...

Same at dinner, most nights I just ordered the pasta (It was a few dollars)...(which was usually late at night).

Many places brought him something(at no charge, which I thought was great)...

This year we will be paying for him on the meal plan(I just hope he eats)...and will be eating off schedule on the fly again...

 

[Colleen27]

Hi. I'm a planner so that's why I'm planning our Jan vacation already. Knowing that I can make ressies in July.. I'm looking into dinning right now. I'm just stuck not sure if I'm doing this right.

My first thought was DDP is it worth it? I think it is. However, I'm afraid that with my 2yr old son. It may not be. Let me explain.. so I assume we will be going to the parks around 8:30-9:30am. Not really sure yet. Then after lunch (CS) I'm gussing anywhere around 1:30-2:30 we will go to the room to nap. Then what hang out until dinner? Or go to the park then to dinner? I'm not sure. As of now "most" days we have late dinners around here between 6-8pm. So with parks closing early (not sure yet) cofused on what to do. We have make ressies at most places right? When would you make them (what time)? I want to be sure to see 1 or 2 light shows. We will be in Disney for 6-7 nights.

Also, I assume DH may want to order room service from AKL..

With the DDP I feel obligated to make sure we use all of our pts. Do I book a restraunt every night? Or should I book a few 2pts restarunt.. then not feel bad when we do room service or sandwiches in our room? I guess I feel like there may be a time crunch when on the DDP. Where if we were not on the plan we could still book our dinners.. but if we couldn't show up we could eat sandwiches,room service, or even cs. Advice?~tiffany

Room service is a 2TS meal, so you could use your TS credits that way.

If it were me, I'd probably book a couple dinners in the parks you plan to be at in the evenings (Crystal Palace @ MK would have been great when my kids were that age, cause they loved Pooh & friends) and use some of the TS credits on room service or on the 2TS restaurant at AKL. A well-timed dinner in the park would be a nice, quiet way to spend a little time before dealing with the crowds at the fireworks. I would *definately* do the DDP if I were staying at AKL, because I could happily use 3TS credits at the restaurants there - we LOVED Boma, and Jiko looks amazing as well.

 

[Bev J]

How about having your big meal at lunch? That way if you have leftovers you can take them back to the resort with you for a snack or what ever later. Then you can pick up CS for evening at your resort or something in the parks..
Bev

 

[ldo]

I would make your TS meal a lunch one--you can still do Coral Reef, Character meals, etc. (be prepared--many 2 yr olds are scared of character meals). My 2 yr olds would not have done well at a TS dinner, esp. after a day at the parks.

You might want to schedule a few TS meals for lunch and a breakfast character meal, then, later in the week, plan a Ts dinner and see how your child is doing (you can always cancel it)---nothing worse than having a fancy dinner ruined by stress over NORMAL 2 yr old tiredness/crankiness. We also did better at dinner with buffets, where lots of people are getting up and down and walking around anyway. Maybe family style Ohana for dinner with kids parading around would be OK, as well.

However, for dinner after a long day, sometimes, we even sent one of us to food court to bring it back or had room service. But it was relaxing and low stress. Have fun!

 

[PortieOwner]

We took a 2-year-old and had the free dining plan. It was great! Kids eat free at any buffet or all you can eat venue. We did a lot of character breakfasts, plus evening buffets including Boma and Garden Grill. We also did Cellier and he ate off our plates. Scheduled most dinners for the same time as dinner back home--about 630PM. We also went back to the hotel each day as early as noon for an afternoon nap. Then we woke up, hit a park and then dinner, and back to the hotel after dinner most nights.

 

[meowzer]

My family and I (2 kids ages 2 and 7) purchased the premium dining plan. The 2 year old shared food with my husband or I since he was "free" The premium plan comes with appetizer, meal and desert which for my husband and I and a kids meal for the 7 year old. I am a firm believer in "3 square" meals a day because I hate to buy snacks (long lines, waste time, etc.) and we had no problems with the 2 year old. There was plenty of food with relaxing settings.

Also, we decided to make the 2 yr old walk or ride on our shoulders instead of a stroller. That was the way to go. If you can manage without the stroller it makes getting around the park much easier, and allows 2 yr old boys to burn off all excess energy.

 

[jcemom]

My family and I (2 kids ages 2 and 7) purchased the premium dining plan. The 2 year old shared food with my husband or I since he was "free" The premium plan comes with appetizer, meal and desert which for my husband and I and a kids meal for the 7 year old. I am a firm believer in "3 square" meals a day because I hate to buy snacks (long lines, waste time, etc.) and we had no problems with the 2 year old. There was plenty of food with relaxing settings.

Also, we decided to make the 2 yr old walk or ride on our shoulders instead of a stroller. That was the way to go. If you can manage without the stroller it makes getting around the park much easier, and allows 2 yr old boys to burn off all excess energy.

Everyone is different, but I totally disagree with this, just to give another perspective.

My DD is 4 and we still use a stroller for her. For one, there's no way I want to be carrying her around on my shoulders all day, LOL. It's tough enough walking the average 10-12 miles per day we walk at Disney, let alone doing it with an additional 35 pounds perched on my shoulders. To expect her little legs to walk that much is downright ridiculous. She would be exhausted before lunch and we'd waste half our day with her either sleeping or being crabby because she was so tired. Besides, I like having the stroller to cart my stuff around in. Sometimes we park it in one area and have her walk around the land then go back and get it when we're ready to move on to the next land.

As for meals, all kids are different. My DD would never sit calmly through three TS meals per day. CS and snacks to me are a time saver, not a time waster. I can stand in line for 15 minutes at CS then be through eating in less than 30 minutes... 45 minutes total, tops. At TS there is usually a 10 minute wait to be seated, maybe more, plus a good hour or more to eat and get the check taken care of... that's 1 hour 15 minutes total, or 30 minutes longer than CS per meal, minimum.

*I* wouldn't even want to bother with 3 TS per day, sometimes one is pushing it. Doing 3 per day would leave me feeling that my entire vacation revolved around meals.

It obviously works for some, but just wanted to chime in that it doesn't work for everyone.

 

[Piglets Mommy]

We did the dining plan with our 2 yr old in 2005 and found it to be a great value! We used out TS meals for mainly character breakfasts or lunch and usually wound up using a cs at the resort eaten in the room for a few dinners. We would have a late lunch in the parks and then head back to the room around 9ish. While I gave the kids baths, DH went to grab dinner. THe kids were usually more tired than hungry, so after they fell asleep DH & I enjoyed the rest of our dinner on the patio. We also found that while we were willing to pay for something seperate for DD aththe table service restaurants, we were usually not charged for it. If we were charged it was only $1.99 or $2.99. As for the flexibility issues...you need to make ADR's for TS whether you ar on the dining plan or not, so you may as well take advantage of the savings.