What do you consider too much TS?

[sukhakuli]

I have read a lot about the Deluxe plan being too much TS, and my dh has mentioned that we have too many TS booked for our upcoming trip (we have the regular DDP). I don't think one TS per day is too much, but I'd like to hear other perspectives. Maybe I need to change things up a bit. We have a 2 week trip coming up, so we will have plenty of time in the parks, and we have 3 kids, who will need to eat a sit down meal every day, IMO. Dh has left all the trip planning to me, and has been specific that he will be happy with whatever I plan, so he's not complaining. But I want to try to make this a good trip for everyone.

Day 1 arrival: SoA dinner (paid OOP)
Day 2 Crystal Palace breakfast
Day 3 Sci Fi dinner
Day 4 Brown Derby lunch
Day 5 San Angel dinner
Day 6 Yak and Yeti lunch, T-rex dinner (oop)
Day 7 akershus
Day 8 Ohana breakfast
Day 9 Coral Reef lunch
Day 10 Hoop Dee Doo
Day 11 Cape May early breakfast, Ohana late dinner
Day 12 Liberty Tree lunch
Day 13 nothing planned
day 14 leave, nothing planned

Does that seem like too much? What is your idea of too much TS?

 

[Nadjalu]

I think it really depends on how you vacation, what you want out of "this" specific vacation and how you eat.

When we are at WDW the DDP is perfect for us. One TS meal is perfect. We are not breakfast people, so a quick snack in the morning and off we go. At lunch we want just a quick break to eat, but want something substantial. Then by dinner time we need that sit down, relax, real meal of the day. Then finish the park.

Even though we love to eat and food is a HUGE part of any vacation we have (whether or not at WDW), when at WDW it is about the parks. So we eat like at any amusement park - spending as much time as we can in or enjoying the parks.

I think WDW combines dining/food vacationers and park enthusists nicely. As I said above we get that one meal a day that really helps us to get our "food" fix while on vacation while not reallly taking away from why we are really there....to enjoy the park.

That is my opinion.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

That seems fine. Maybe he thinks too much food in general. We always have atleast one TS meal a day. The only day we have 2 planned is when we are having TH for breakfast and T-Rex for dinner

 

[SusieBea]

I don't think one TS a day is too much either. I think with kiddos the ages of yours, it gives you a time to sit down and regroup in addition to eating. For me, TS dining is more relaxing that CS. We don't usually do more than one TS per day, though, because, if we do, my DH thinks we're "too scheduled." You've made some good choices.

 

[annnewjerz]

I don't think one TS per day is too much---and I actually don't think two TS per day is too much either if you're doing a breakfast/very early lunch and late dinner. For me, that's my limit. I would feel like a slave to my ADRs if I had 3 TS each day booked though.

 

[Oliquig]

We are definately TS a day for the most part. I like the time to sit down and relax, my friend and her daughter, who are joining me are the same way. The only difference is I chose a signature for one meal since we don't do a TS at MK.

 

[Pakey]

We do a TS a day usually. We are not big eaters, don't do dining plan because we don't eat desserts and we usually only want to eat one real meal a day. However, we do like the break a sit down meal provides. Like you, OP, I mix up the meals. It may be breakfast one day, lunch another, dinner another.

The only day I think is heavy is the day you are doing Yak and Yeti and T Rex. Yak/Yeti entrees are huge; we could feed a family of 4 on one entree. So I would not want another TS after having that for lunch.

 

[Disney Dork in DFW]

I think you will be fine. Two weeks means a relaxed touring plan, and TS meals fit right into that! We are going for a lot less than two weeks, and we still have a TS meal planned for basically every day.

 

[NLD]

I don't like having a sit-down TS every day of the trip, personally. It starts to feel like the trip is as much (or more) about eating than enjoying and discovering the parks.

Especially if park-hopping is involved.... oy. Just not my cup of tea. Hated having to leave MK when there was still stuff to explore, just to make it to EP for a dinner.

That said... I've never been for two weeks. With that much time, I'd be open to more TS meals. I still wouldn't want to park-hop for the meals, though.

 

[ransom]

We normally go for two weeks, and we average 1 TS per day. We don't make any ADRs for our travel days, of course, and we leave the middle Saturday free of ADRs as well. If it's a trip during F&W, we'll usually leave the Epcot days ADR free, too. On the other hand, we'll usually have two ADRs on each of two or three days.

Over the years, we've found it to be very important to vary the cuisine as much as possible during the trip. It may sound like fun to eat filet mignon every night, but... Same goes for chicken fingers, burgers, pizza, etc. Mix it up a lot, and you'll be much happier.

 

[janabananas]

I am one of those that likes to have my 1 TS at dinnertime. I prefer to not be a slave to an ADR during lunch time, and I don't like bf ADR's only because I want to be at RD and I wouldn't enjoy my meal if I was constantly checking my watch.

I think you have a good plan going, other than what someone else commented about Y&Y and TREX the same day. Unless you do Y&Y as a pretty early lunch, and TREX as a later dinner, you may not have enough room (in your tummy & schedule) for both.

 

[Laketravis]

I'm going to break from the crowd when I say that this year we are going to try the DxDP plan with 3 TS's scheduled most days.

Breakfast at 8a, lunch at 1p, dinner at 8p.

Based on our past experience, we consider the dining to be just as much a themed experience as the parks. Each day we've scheduled a character breakfast, lunch, or dinner so it's not so much about how much food but more about variety.

We're also the type that can be in-and-out in 45 minutes or less. Except for signature dining, which is slow by nature, but on those days we only have breakfast scheduled.

So a typical day for us might be breakfast at CP and dinner at Yachtsman's when it's a signature day, or breakfast at Cape May, lunch at Sci-Fi, and dinner at Biergarten when it's a non-signature day.

It's using the two-a-day snack credits that are going to be a challenge, so we're thinking those will be used throughout the day on signature dining days when we haven't scheduled a lunch.

 

[mcd2745]

I think 2 TS per day is very reasonable. In fact, I wish they had a dining plan that was just that - 2 TS per day, plus 1 or 2 snacks. I like a TS breakfast (I'm a big breakfast guy - in fact I wish there were places in WDW to get breakfast all day) and a TS dinner with just a snack during the day. I'd never want to interrupt the heart of the day with a TS lunch. Heck, I'm not even a fan of a CS lunch - just a snack on the go.

 

[sukhakuli]

Thanks for all your opinions! It's great to hear about how other people travel, and their ideas about eating out while there.

I worry about the Yak and Yeti/T-rex day also, but it's the only day we can do those places. We're not planning on park hopping, so that is one of our 2 AK days. The other we have a 4:00 Hoop Dee Doo scheduled, so I really don't want lunch that day. And I really wanted to try Yak and Yeti. Since it will be an early day, and it's the day my dad is flying in to meet us, we were planning in spending the evening wandering around DTD, and I think my dad will be hungry. I wanted to do T-rex because my ds is having to suck up a Winnie the Pooh meal and a Princess meal, so he deserves a dino meal. I am planning on a 7:30 T-rex, with a 1:00 Yak and Yeti. I don't think the kids will be thrilled with the food there, so they will probably be glad to have a sit down dinner. How much time should we plan for the sand box and build a dino? I want to hit the Lego store, World of Disney, and get ice cream and still get everyone to bed at a semi-reasonable time.

I don't like having a sit-down TS every day of the trip, personally. It starts to feel like the trip is as much (or more) about eating than enjoying and discovering the parks.

Especially if park-hopping is involved.... oy. Just not my cup of tea. Hated having to leave MK when there was still stuff to explore, just to make it to EP for a dinner.

That said... I've never been for two weeks. With that much time, I'd be open to more TS meals. I still wouldn't want to park-hop for the meals, though.

That's what my dh says, too. He doesn't like eating out in general, he prefers meals that I cook at home from scratch. I'm not doing that on vacation. When we didn't have kids, or when they were much younger, we would pretty much just not eat at all on vacation unless it was cold sandwiches in the room, with a character meal sprinkled in. He's being a trooper, but I can tell he's not thrilled. I, for one, and happy to finally be able to eat on vacation! I've tried to choose places that are as much, or more, about the experience as the food, so it still feels like a Disney experience, than wasting time away from the parks. I hope it works out.

 

[dragonfly08]

As others have said, it depends on how you vacation.

My family doesn't do the DP. Even the QSDP isn't a money saver for us, given the way we eat and the fact that we like to bring our own favorite snacks from home. A TS meal per day really isn't something we're looking for...too much food, too much time away from the parks, too inconvenient to plan that far in advance with ADRs and then eat whenever I happened to make the reservation for whether we're ready or not.

We usually do one, maybe two, special TS meals over the course of a visit and wing it the rest of the time.

 

[pepe of ohio]

As others have said, it depends on how you vacation.

My family doesn't do the DP. Even the QSDP isn't a money saver for us, given the way we eat and the fact that we like to bring our own favorite snacks from home. A TS meal per day really isn't something we're looking for...too much food, too much time away from the parks, too inconvenient to plan that far in advance with ADRs and then eat whenever I happened to make the reservation for whether we're ready or not.

We usually do one, maybe two, special TS meals over the course of a visit and wing it the rest of the time.

Ditto............we don't do dining plans...hate schedules, hate Disney TS and we like eating when we want not by a clock.....doesn't save us money either...

Wife and I share most meals...even a hamburger....we do picnic pool lunches with store groceries and like quoted...if we're having a good time doing what we're doing....we don't want to have to stop because of some meal scheduled 180 days ago at such and such time...Disney has never been about the food.....TS meals really don't interest us....we eat just like we do at home.....not special or fancy...suits us fine

 

[3pletprincesses]

We've done the deluxe where we booked 2 TS a day (1 breakfast and 1 signature dinner) I've also done the 1 ts a day. I don't think that 1 ts a day is too much. It's a forced down time for everyone. It will be welcomed by all of you if you ask my opinion. It a schedule time that we take to share what we liked and disliked about the day and to talk with the girls about they want to do later or the next day.