What restaurants to pay out-of-pocket for?

[supercrossfox21]

We are doing the 2017 Dining Plan and will have eight sit down meals/8 counter. We are planning on eating at a few more sit down restaurants then the 8 in our plan allows, just wondering what ones we should pay out-of-pocket for? There are two adults and 8 year old and 2 year old (free)

1. T-REX DINNER (DISNEY SPRINGS)

2. Character BREAKFAST at Tusker House (AK)

3. Disney Festival of fantasy parade dining package at Tony's Town Square Restaurant for LUNCH (MK)

4. A buffet with character DINNER at Crystal Palace (MK)

5. Bongos Cuban Cafe DINNER (springs)

6. Minnie's seasonal dine DINNER at Hollywood & Vine (HS)

7. Trail's End restaurant DINNER (fort wilderness resort)

8. Teppan Edo DINNER (Epcot)

9. Disney's Spirit of Aloha DINNER (Polynesian) 2 dinning credits. If we pay out of pocket for this one the charge comes out to be $171

10. 1900 Park Fare Breakfast OR Akershus Royal Banquet breakfast - if we can get reservations.


So basically I have 11 sit-down meals and my Dining Plan only covers 8. I looked into the deluxe Dining Plan but it would cost me almost $900 to increase it to 3 sit down meals a day and that is clearly not worth it

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Going from Thanksgiving to December 1st if that makes any difference as far as pricing of meals. Thanks in advance

 

[hakepb]

With a child, characters / buffet pricing usually favors DDP

It seems most of the T-Rex and Bongo menu would be cheaper OOP than DDP

 

[sassy2000]

Best to use DP credits for your buffets and family-style meals as they are set price and usually pretty expensive.

 

[danielocha30]

agree, use DDP for all characters meals and inside park restaurants

 

[JerseyJanice]

My advice FWIW is to use the Dining Plan on your first 8 meals, and then pay OOP.

Best laid plans of mice and men--we usually wind up needing to skip a meal or two due to a change in plans. (Or sickness or injury.)

 

[bigbabyblues]

The 2-yo only eats free at buffet type meals. Places like Teppan Edo, with a menu, you will be charged for a kids meal if you order it. He/she can eat from your plate, if that is enough food (it wasn't for either of my kids but they are all different).

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

If you have a Disney Visa and use it to pay, you can get 10% off of your bill at Trails End. Even if you don't have the visa, that is a cheaper buffet. They also offer the visa discount most days at Hollywood and Vine, but even with the discount, that place is probably going to still be better to do on the DDP. With Trex, you can often buy Landry's or Rainforest Cafe gift cards online at a discount or you can pay $25 to become a Landry's member. You then receive a $25 coupon off your next meal and you can sign up to receive another $25 coupon during your birthday month (you can put any bday).

So I would pay OOP for Trails End and Trex due to them being slightly lower priced and the possibility for making them cheaper with the above methods.

 

[momto4obkids]

I use www.distripplanner.com it gives a good estimate on what all of your meals will cost and which ones to pay out of pocket for.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

I would pay OOP for Trails End - it is definitely not expensive.

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

I second the recommendation to save a cash meal for the end. We once cancelled a character buffet on our last night in Disney. Thankfully we didn't have the dining plan, because I would have saved a credit for it.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

Probably Trails End and TRex OOP, depending on what you want to order.

 

[supercrossfox21]

Thanks for all your responses. Very helpful information. By the way I was able to get reservations for 1900 Park Fare now I just have to get there because our flight gets in at 6:18 in the morning on Thanksgiving and our reservations are for 9:30 a.m. same day.

 

[supercrossfox21]

I use www.distripplanner.com it gives a good estimate on what all of your meals will cost and which ones to pay out of pocket for.

AWESOME WEBSITE. This helped so much! Everyone was right about paying out-of-pocket for T-Rex and Trails End. Also found out that if we do 1900 Fare park that we would want to pay out-of-pocket for the tusker house Character Breakfast which I would never had guessed would be one to pay out-of-pocket for.

 

[Hopefully]

The 2-yo only eats free at buffet type meals. Places like Teppan Edo, with a menu, you will be charged for a kids meal if you order it. He/she can eat from your plate, if that is enough food (it wasn't for either of my kids but they are all different).

Not totally correct. All under 3 year olds always eat free. 3- 9 are childs prices and 10 and over are adult prices.

Thanks for all your responses. Very helpful information. By the way I was able to get reservations for 1900 Park Fare now I just have to get there because our flight gets in at 6:18 in the morning on Thanksgiving and our reservations are for 9:30 a.m. same day.

NO WAY would I plan to keep that 1900 ParK Faire reservation. Your flight is scheduled to land at 6:18. Flight delays are common, although better for first flights of the day. How are you getting from MCO to the Grand Floridian? Will you have luggage or are you using DME and luggage delivery? Will you at least have carry ons - what will you do with those while you eat? There is no place to store luggage at a restaurant. Where are you staying? If not the GF and if you are using DME they will only drop you at your resort. Then you need to travel from your resort to the GF, which is using Disney Transportation involves a transfer. The average travel time from the gate - not landing- to a WDW resort is 90 minutes. I never book an ADR on travel day sooner than 5 hours after scheduled arrival.
If the stars are totally aligned, and everything goes perfectly you would make it. I wouldn't start my vacation with such stress.
Good Luck

 

[lawboysam]

IWith Trex, you can often buy Landry's or Rainforest Cafe gift cards online at a discount or you can pay $25 to become a Landry's member. You then receive a $25 coupon off your next meal and you can sign up to receive another $25 coupon during your birthday month (you can put any bday).

Seriously, do the Landry's card. Plus, on top of that, you never have to make a reservation at a Landry's reservation again (just walk up, show your card, they'll seat you ahead of reservations and treat you like you're royalty)

 

[supercrossfox21]

Not totally correct. All under 3 year olds always eat free. 3- 9 are childs prices and 10 and over are adult prices.



NO WAY would I plan to keep that 1900 ParK Faire reservation. Your flight is scheduled to land at 6:18. Flight delays are common, although better for first flights of the day. How are you getting from MCO to the Grand Floridian? Will you have luggage or are you using DME and luggage delivery? Will you at least have carry ons - what will you do with those while you eat? There is no place to store luggage at a restaurant. Where are you staying? If not the GF and if you are using DME they will only drop you at your resort. Then you need to travel from your resort to the GF, which is using Disney Transportation involves a transfer. The average travel time from the gate - not landing- to a WDW resort is 90 minutes. I never book an ADR on travel day sooner than 5 hours after scheduled arrival.
If the stars are totally aligned, and everything goes perfectly you would make it. I wouldn't start my vacation with such stress.
Good Luck

I ended up getting a 10:50 reservation. We are staying at Pop Century and are using magic Express so our luggage will be picked up at the airport and dropped off in our room. I know we have to go to our hotel first so I would just leave our carry-ons there and then head over to the restaurant. I figure with a 10:50 reservation that gives me almost four and a half hours

 

[Jules76126]

I absolutely love 1900 Park Fare breakfast. I think the food is very good and the character interaction is great. Plus who doesn't love walking around the GF? That said, that will be tight. I know it seems like landing at 6:18am will give you enough time, but be prepared to be rushed. Depending on where you are flying from you may get in early (we generally do flying from the northeast) but that is not always the case. 90 minutes is a good estimate to get to POP. You will then need to check you carry ons with bell services, get a bus to MK, and then take the monorail to GF (we traveled from BC one morning for this and it took 90 minutes door to door). That can be done in 4+ hours, but if one thing goes wrong, it could spell disaster. Personally, I would keep your current reservation and keep looking for one another day where you know you will have more time. Either way, I hope its enjoyable!

 

[RangerPooh]

I would pay oop at Trails End and Trex.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Not totally correct. All under 3 year olds always eat free. 3- 9 are childs prices and 10 and over are adult prices.

Can you please explain? Everything I've read and seen on here and Disney's site indicate that under 3 is free at buffets/ ayce places, but if you order them a meal at a restaurant that has a menu to order from, you must pay for that meal. Even at buffets, the under 3 year old's drink isn't always included. It's basically up to the server on whether they charge for that, since it's technically not included.

 

[Hopefully]

Can you please explain? Everything I've read and seen on here and Disney's site indicate that under 3 is free at buffets/ ayce places, but if you order them a meal at a restaurant that has a menu to order from, you must pay for that meal. Even at buffets, the under 3 year old's drink isn't always included. It's basically up to the server on whether they charge for that, since it's technically not included.

You're absolutely correct. Always was the wrong word.
Sorry for the mistake