Twice as Many TS as QS = Crazy!?

[Shanti]

So our trip is 11 months away, August 2018 and nothing booked yet, but I'm experiencing significant Table Service creep in our early planning. The more DW and I discuss it the more TS meals we keeping wanting to add to the wish list when ADR bookings come around. For an 11-day/10-night (8 park day) trip, we're currently up to 13 TS and 6-7 QS.

I'm finding that if we go this route, paying out of pocket seems like a better bet simply because we just won't want the number of QS credits we'd get. The other observation I've made is that since 3 or 4 days would end up with a TS breakfast and a TS dinner, we're not likely to need an actual lunch meal and can supplement with snacks those days. This seems to bring the total number of meals down slightly-- a previous iteration of "the plan" had 11 TS and 11 QS, more in line with what the Dining Plan would dictate.

All of this early planning has tended to focus on what experiences we want and not necessarily lowest cost or fitting into DDP. We don't love the idea of dealing with credits, although I would do the Dining Plan if it ended up cheaper for what we want to do-- I just dont think it will be.

This is our first full family trip to Disney: me, DW, DD9, DD5. Wife and I went 12 years ago before kids. Her and I love character meals as it is, and we know our girls will love them, so we've packed them in. The wish list includes:

MAGIC KINGDOM days (3 days)
-Cinderella's Royal Table (never been, probably will do BBB same day if we do get the ADR)
-Be Our Guest (never been)
-Liberty Tree Tavern (fond memories, I know it's not a character meal anymore)
-Crystal Palace (long time favorite)

EPCOT days (2 days)
-Akerhsus (if any TS get axed, this may be one of them)

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS day (1 day)
-50s Prime Time Cafe (a favorite)
-Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater (nostalgia-- my own nuclear family would be shocked if a WDW trip skipped a meal in the cars)

ANIMAL KINGDOM days (2 days)
-Tusker House (never been, very intrigued since many seem to call this the best character meal)

NON-PARK days (2.5 days)
-Ohana (girls are huge Lilo and Stitch fans, will love that breakfast)
-1900 Park Fare (this breakfast is another must do for us every time we go to WDW)
-Chef Mickey (I know reviews are mixed, but I'd like to check out the contemporary also)
-Hoop Dee Doo Review (this was a later addition, the more I read about it seems like it would be such a fun show)
-TRex (may be meh for most, but DD5 absolutely loves dinos especially TRex, that could change by next summer though)

What do folks think, is this way too imbalanced? Will my wife and I have to throw out our belts, while our daughters leave piles of food uneaten? I know many think TS takes away from park time, but I've tended to keep the non-park meals on non-park days so I actually think it won't take away too much ride time. I'm also thinking both my wife and daughters won't be up for too many Rope Drops.

Thanks in advance, looking forward to the debate!

We almost always eat 2 table service meals per day (typically breakfast and an early dinner), and have a snack instead of lunch. That is not excessive in my book. My son is on a gluten-free diet, which the table service places at Disney accommodate very well, but the counter service places do a less than steller job (fewer offerings & substantial waits for gf food).

I think all the talk of how much time TS meals take is overblown. Whether you do CS or TS, you still have to sit down and eat, and that takes a little time. A table service meal can be just an entree. There is no need to drag it out over an hour with apps and dessert, unless you happen to feel like it. We usually don't. And getting a guaranteed real table to sit at, indoors, and being served in comfort, is a nice break from the madness of pushing through the park in all types of weather.

Do not buy the dining plan if you care about saving money. It's no deal even if you happen to want to eat the way the dining plan makes you eat.

 

[nikmasteed]

Wow lots of great advice! Thanks everyone.

Also I consider Disney restaurants to be part of the overall resort experience... it's not like you're sitting down in Denny's or something.... the atmosphere and entertainment value of character meals and places like sci fi dine in or biergarten or coral reef to me are part of the fun of a Disney vacation... especially a longer one. 8 days was pretty long for me and we could not have gone those long days day after day without sit down meal breaks.

Also I find QS meals to be stressful. If you go at typical meal times, you're jostling for tables with trays of food and unstable beverages and kids in tow... or if one parent sits with the kids another parent has to handle 2 overfull trays of food. QS is pretty much hell on earth for me and NOT relaxing, by the time I've waited in line to order, waited in line for my food, waited in line or pushed my way through for condiments/toppings/napkins, fought for a table after being beat out a couple of times, realized that table was open because it is filthy and spill some of my expensive bottled water onto napkins to clean up the table, sit down and eat... yes I get fed and maybe it is less time, but I'm always so stressed at the end of it. I'd rather just wait for a table, be seated and then have someone bring me my food... even buffets are better because I know where I'm going with my food and I don't have to deal with drinks as well.

JMHO of course but I don't consider TS a waste of park time but rather a way to make my park time WAY more enjoyable by giving me a break from the crowds and the lines and recharging during meal times rather than just getting fed.

This pretty much sums up how I think we are approaching this-- we love the Dining experiences we won't get the chance to do anywhere other than Disney, and with a 10-11 day trip, I think we've spread it out fairly decently.

To answer another question about whether park rides/attractions are a priority for this trip, the answer is... yes and no. Over the past year both DDs have shown some reluctance to theme park rides. DD5 is adamantly opposed to anything that goes faster than 2 mph. We did make some strides this summer by getting DD9 on her first roller coaster at Hershey Park, and she enjoyed it! But still hesitates on a lot of rides. Anyway, we're bracing ourselves for that possibility. We know there is PLENTY to do that they will love. But I personally love all the rides-- it's been so long since I've been there that even Expedition Everest wasn't open on that last trip! That's a whole separate discussion, but I know that we'll welcome some of the TS breaks in a 12 hr park day.

I will indeed need to refine my cost calcs but last time I ran some loose numbers I think I was at about $2000-$2100 for all OOP. Reg DDP I think came out to $2300ish if I added OOP costs for TS meals that wouldn't be covered by credits in that plan. DxDDP I think would be close to $3000 for 10 nights for the 4 of us. All of those numbers I need to revisit. Great tips on potentially sharing some food items if we skip the plan.

Sci-Fi for a mid-afternoon milkshake and cool down to enjoy the atmosphere. Just because you have an ADR doesn't mean you have to eat a full meal.

If you don't have time planned to spend at Disney Springs, I'd second the earlier advice to cancel T-Rex. It is a pretty cool atmosphere but that's a lot of travel time just for dinner and my experience taking younger kids there has been mixed; some love it, some are scared or annoyed by the very loud effects and atmosphere. Have you ever been to a Rainforest Cafe with the kids? That would be a good "test" of how they'd handle it because they're basically the same restaurant (same parent company and very similar menus) with different themes. If you keep it, look into the Landry's Select Club to save money. For $25 sign-up you get a $25 welcome reward and a $25 birthday reward; they don't ask for verification of your birth date so you can just put in a birthday during your trip month so you have both to use

I like the idea of getting just milkshakes at SciFi, that may be the perfect way to get the experience with lower cost and less filling.

We do plan on spending part of one of the non-park days at DS, so we would never make a special trip just for TRex. Still, maybe we can think of getting just apps there or something.

Turning some of these TS meals into just less of a full meal might be something that really makes this work well for us in order to get the experience, if we go OOP (and might tilt the costs more in OOP favor)

And yes, I know it's too many characters for some... haha. DW and I will think about it more but over 10 days might be fine for us!

Great tips everyone

 

[Colleen27]

We do plan on spending part of one of the non-park days at DS, so we would never make a special trip just for TRex. Still, maybe we can think of getting just apps there or something.

They have a couple of appetizers that are good for that - absolutely massive nachos (they call them "for two" but they can easily feed more) and an appetizer sampler with ribs and 3 or 4 other items. Either one of them could be dinner for four when paired with dessert. And if you're going, the serves-four dessert is an experience in itself. That's the biggest part of why we started ordering just appetizers there, because the kids ALWAYS want the massive brownie sundae with the crazy dry ice fog effect, no matter how stuffed they might be from the meal!

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

We went on a 8 day trip in July and paid OOP for meals. We knew that the heat of summer would impact how much and when we wanted to eat, and planned accordingly. We only did 3 TS places: Garden Grill (dinner), Ohana (Dinner) and Cape May (Dinner). The rest were CS meals and we were good to go.

From past trips:

Tusker House is great. We usually go late morning after getting to the park at rope drop. You can get the breakfast transitioning to lunch offerings that way
Royal Table: I'd pass. Expensive meal that was blah
Ohana breakfast: was great and the characters were great too. We did a late morning ADR here too and it worked out great as we left MK, took the boats over, and enjoyed Poly

I have others to comment on, but you are getting enough advice from the prior posts

 

[Shanti]

When you're calculating prices, keep in mind that the dining plan does not include tips. You'll be paying those on top of the dining plan price.