We've never eaten at a disney table service rest.

[LadyJayne813]

I've been reading the boards a lot lately, and notice how excited people get over their dining res. I've been to disney many times as a kid and as an adult, and we've never had a table service meal ever. We always stay off site, and have lunch at counter service places. Then for dinner we eat at one of the million Orlando area restaurants. I looked into chef mickey's for our december trip, and almost fell over when I saw we could eat three dinners out of the park for the price of 4 adults at CM with tip.

Are we weird? Does anyone else skip disney table service completely?

 

[nicynot]

nope, we do not skip them. But we always stay on site and have always had free dining. Even if we didn't have free ding we would still get the reg dining plan. We eat at a lot of buffets. I don't eat a ton of food, but i like putting a lot of different thins on my plate. for a 11night trip i think we do about 6-7 buffets, and then hit the parks right steady. we go-go-go from morning till night. Its not a rest-ing vacation when we do disney.
I don't think we'd really rent a car, we like the option of some of our group being able to leave the park and rest if we have too, and then the rest can stick around. So eating off site would be harder for all of us to get to.

this is just me, my group and how we tour. we're usually a bit crazy!

 

[Marionnette]

I've been reading the boards a lot lately, and notice how excited people get over their dining res. I've been to disney many times as a kid and as an adult, and we've never had a table service meal ever. We always stay off site, and have lunch at counter service places. Then for dinner we eat at one of the million Orlando area restaurants. I looked into chef mickey's for our december trip, and almost fell over when I saw we could eat three dinners out of the park for the price of 4 adults at CM with tip.

Are we weird? Does anyone else skip disney table service completely?

Character buffets have a tendency to be extremely expensive for the food that you get. You're also paying for the character interaction.

We don't skip the Disney TS restaurants, although there are some that I find to be far below par and I don't dine at those places. When I'm on vacation, I just accept that some things are going to cost me more than they would at home and I just budget for it.

I wouldn't say that it's "weird" to forgo the Disney TS restaurants, but it's not something that I would not do just to save a few dollars. Going offsite takes time away from being in the parks. When you're paying between $70-$100 per day for that park visit, Taking three hours away to travel round trip to an offsite restaurant is not worth the money you save on food, IMO.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

When I was a kid we went to one Disney table service meal as a special treat during a trip (and we always stayed offsite). Now we do one almost every day but we choose mostly a la carte places that are on the lower price side (The Plaza, Sci Fi, Via Napoli, Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch), and we will usually do a character breakfast or two. We are doing Chef Mickey's for dinner on our upcoming trip but that is a special birthday dinner for my son and is in place of a party at home which would have cost that much or more anyway.

The lower priced a la carte restaurants are not that much more than their counter service options and I like to have one meal per day where we don't have to deal with their crazy lines and scramble to find a table.

If money was really tight I would give up all their restaurants and bring peanut butter sandwiches, in the end I'm just happy to be there.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

It took several years and dozens of visits before I could eat at a table service restaurant (at Disneyland though, not WDW). The price was a factor but the real issue was that I could not imagine stopping riding rides for 90 minutes to eat dinner, and wild horses could not drag me to a sit down breakfast!
I just love the rides so much! Once I convinced myself that I could and would go back to DL often, I was able to relax my commando style enough to enjoy table service (though really only at DCA as I need alcohol to help calm my nerves enough to sit still that long!)
When we go to WDW we will probably only do character meals or shows as sit downs, and grab the quickest food possible for most meals so that we will have time to see the attractions and ride the rides! I may eat my words once we visit WDW, but IMO, the best Disney food is about equivalent to every chain restaurant in my own town. If I'm not at least getting photos with characters, I don't want to pay a premium for time wasted that I could be enjoying at the Parks!

 

[ICF]

If you're staying offsite, you'll likely find better food at cheaper prices then what you find in the parks.

When the kids were little we did a couple of breakfast buffets with the characters and also a couple of dinners at liberty tree tavern ( before they changed it)....but the last couple to trips we haven't bothered with it.

It's just not worth the $$$$ for us.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I don't think it's weird to have all your sit down meals off sight when you are leaving the property every day anyway. We stay on sight but eat both off and on sight. We don't go to character meals or signature restaurants so it doesn't cost a lot more to sit down to eat on sight. I agree that you get far more for your dollar at off sight restaurants both in (imo) quality and quantity.

 

[girli565]

We had the dining plan the last time we went (a few days ago) and scheduled TS meals. Even when we stay for a quick trip, like a long weekend, we may schedule a TS. I feel like I'd hate to take away from park time to leave, catch the tram/ferry/monorail, drive to a nearby restaurant, and then drive back, park, catch the tram/ferry/monorail to the park, bag check again... too much hassle for me. We'd probably just stay and eat at a counter service instead of leave.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

I've been reading the boards a lot lately, and notice how excited people get over their dining res. I've been to disney many times as a kid and as an adult, and we've never had a table service meal ever. We always stay off site, and have lunch at counter service places. Then for dinner we eat at one of the million Orlando area restaurants. I looked into chef mickey's for our december trip, and almost fell over when I saw we could eat three dinners out of the park for the price of 4 adults at CM with tip.

Are we weird? Does anyone else skip disney table service completely?

No, but I understand the sentiment about the cost. We used to be fully immersed in Disney and never set foot off property, usually doing the dining plan, but if not, we just charged it all to the room and didn't worry about the costs. After multiple trips, and the older two kids becoming Disney "adults" we started venturing out. Last year we went without any sort of dining plan and after 2 character dinners at $300 each, we decided to look for more offsite meals.

 

[MomToOne]

I've done trips where we went to table service restaurants every day (free dining), trips where we didn't go at all, and trips where we went on some days but not others.

While I know others here don't agree, I personally don't find the table service restaurants at Disney very good - it is all mass produced and tastes it. I find it bland, the ingredients are unexciting/lower quality, and the food is most often very overcooked. And when you factor in the price and the rushed service, then I am even less impressed. I don't think you're missing much.

 

[JandJ]

I don't think you're weird. It's a personal choice. It's just DH and me, so we do whatever, but when my sister's kids were little I wouldn't have left the park for dinner. Too much hassle to drag them out of the park just for dinner. When they were little we paid extra for the character meals to get the one-on-one interaction. That's what you're paying for at a place like Chef Mickey's, IMO.

Like a PP said, I don't find the food at Disney to be all that great. But, we're spoiled by living where there are amazing restaurants. We don't eat fast food or at chain restaurants at home and I can't help but compare the taste, quality, and price of our local places to Disney and sorry, but Disney TS restaurants come up short (with a few exceptions - off the top of my head - Artist Point, Le Cellier, Boma).

I say, do what seems right to you and have fun!

 

[*pixie*dust*]

We don't always go to TS restaurants, but we do always stay onsite. IT depends on the kind and length of trip we are taking. We have had some with no TS, just CS some with a combination of the two. I have only had the deluxe dining plan once and it was way too much food and took way too much time.

 

[kymom99]

The last couple trips we only did a couple TS meals. On the last trip, one was a character breakfast for the kids and the other was to Boma. We wanted to see AKL and Boma was a unique place for us, so in that sense it was worth it. Oh, and my son and I went to H & V to get the F! seating. Counter service is perfectly sufficient for us. We rarely go out to eat normally and when we do it is fast food or Chipotle, etc. Next trip will be off site so we will eat a couple meals in restaurants and some in our rental house. Doubt we will do a TS meal unless the kids want a character meal. I did think Chef Mickey was fun but that was when our son was little. I agree, the prices are crazy now. On our first trip, we went to a few TS places and the food was decent and not all that expensive. Can't say that is true these days.

 

[2girlsmom]

We're only an hour away, and drive up to Disney for weekends usually at least once per month or so. We certainly have gone and done no TS meals, but we find we like the opportunity to go someplace and sit down and be served for an hour or two. When we go for birthday trips, the birthday person gets to pick a TS or two and I will make advance reservations for that. Otherwise, we generally don't book a lot in advance, but may opt to check and see what is available when we are there. For example, we were there over 6/7 weekend, and mid afternoon wanted a break from the crowds and to eat, so we checked at HS (where we were at the time), no openings, but then checked Epcot, and found that they had openings about 4pm for Rose & Crown, so we used our 3:30 FP+ at HS, went out to the boat, took the boat to the International Gateway. After eating we took the boat back and finished the day at HS. We do generally stay offsite, and do eat some meals off property as well, and I agree that you can get certainly less expensive american type food, but we enjoy some of the special things inside the Disney restaurants.

 

[LadyJayne813]

Our decision to not eat table service meals isnt strictly about money. Its also because I don't want to deal with reservations. If there were some moderately priced restaurants that we could walk into without a reservation, i'd be happy to spend the few extra bucks. We also decide on what park we are going to the night before.

For the most part we have breakfast in our room, lunch in the park after the crowds have cleared a bit, then we have dinner after we leave for the night around 8 or so. We rarely go back to the park after dinner.

I would have loved to do chef mickey as a surprise for my family this trip, but I can't justfy the cost.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We didn't start eating Disney World table service more until my husband and I were in our 30's.

Prior to that we only had one maybe once during a 5 day trip because we couldn't afford it.
We didn't eat much table service at all - usually it was counter service or eating at a fast food place. Luckily there are alot of good different options at the counter service restaurants.

When our kids were little, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Sunspree and usually ended our days in the parks around supper time. We would stop and eat dinner someplace on our way back to the hotel. Sometimes it was a table service restaurant, sometimes it was fast food.

I wouldn't say it's weird not to eat Disney table service - you need to do what works best for you.

 

[artemis4]

We didn't eat at on site TS last time, and we have no intention to do so for our next trip. We have four kids, three of of whom eat as adults. A single TS meal at Disney would cost as much or more than an entire week of groceries for our family. For me, that expense cannot be justified.

We have no problem dining out sometimes when on vacation. However, combining eating in our offsite condo and dining out for only selected meals at restaurants that make foods we can't get locally easily or that I/our friends don't cook regularly means that the cost of our vacation is lower. Lower cost vacations mean that we can take two week long trips a year instead of one every year or two.

We eat breakfast in the condo, carry in snacks, eat QS lunch in the early afternoon, buy a late afternoon snack, and then leave the park for a late dinner.

 

[trinchick]

Our last trip we had the Deluxe Dining Plan - 3 TS meals a day. I drove myself crazy planning which parks we'd visit on which days based on the availability of dining reservations. While we enjoyed many very pleasant meals, I'm not sure it was worth the loss of flexibility in terms of time/spontaneity. I spent the entire trip checking my watch to make sure we'd make our next ressie.

For our trip this summer, we've rented a pool home off-site, and we'll eat only one or two TS meals, which will likely be character buffets. I expect to have most breakfasts at the house, QS lunches in the parks, a few off-site seated meals on the way home from the parks, some take-out pizza by the pool, and a couple of nights cooking in (pasta, salads, rotisserie chicken and the like). We're staying for 11 nights, so we'll get to a little bit of everything by the time we're done! I'm really looking forward to enjoying Disney with less focus on what we're going to eat next.

That said, it was such a luxury to offer my kids a character meal every single day when we were on the DxDP. They had a blast. We may do it that way again, but I'm happy with our choice for our upcoming trip.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Even people who return to WDW every year have a list of things they're never done and don't plan to do. Everybody has different things that are important to them. Clearly TS dining isn't important to you. It's wonderful that there are so many ways to customize a WDW vacation to be what's right for you. Nothing at all weird about that. In fact it's smart to recognize what you do and don't want to do with your time so you'll better enjoy your vacation.

 

[powellrj]

Our decision to not eat table service meals isnt strictly about money. Its also because I don't want to deal with reservations. If there were some moderately priced restaurants that we could walk into without a reservation, i'd be happy to spend the few extra bucks. We also decide on what park we are going to the night before.

For the most part we have breakfast in our room, lunch in the park after the crowds have cleared a bit, then we have dinner after we leave for the night around 8 or so. We rarely go back to the park after dinner.

I would have loved to do chef mickey as a surprise for my family this trip, but I can't justfy the cost.

You seem to travel like we do.

We had free dining one year when it first came out. When it still had appetizers and desserts and tips were included. We are big eaters and it was still lots of food, even for us!

We didn't like being tied down to eat. We like to eat when we feel like it. If we are close to someplace and hungry, we will stop and eat.

I hate paying the expensive prices too. Most the the meals are on par with an average casual dining place, but the prices are 2 or 3 times what we are use to paying. I realize we live in a cheaper area than most places, but I still hate to pay so much for average food.