What TIME (of day) do you make your B,L,D ressies?

[sassyMNmom]

Specifically, I'd like to know if you have a 9am breakfast is a 1pm lunch too soon? How many hours between meals until you're really hungry?

Does anyone have a plan that's worked particularily well with regards to timing and spacing of meals?

Thanks!

 

[Tricia1972]

If you make a 9:00 breakfast reservation, you will finish anywhere between 10:00-11:00. Personally I am more of a grazer, and there isn't any way that I'll be hungry for a big lunch by 1:00. I'd grab a snack for lunch and schedule a 5:30 dinner.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I make ADRs at least four or five hours apart, and that's only if I am booking three TS meals a day, otherwise I try to space them out more then that, since it really is a lot of food, and Disney portions are quite large.

That being said, I like to eat early, so I always get the earliest possible breakfast and lunch ADR possible. Depending on the time of those, I usually book my dinner for the earliest time possible, or six hours after my last meal, whichever is longer.

An example of my planned ADRs for my next trip.

Day One

CRT - 8:00 AM
GF Cafe - 11:45 AM
CA Grill - 5:30 AM

I feel that the time between lunch and dinner is sufficent since it is almost six hours. The breakfast and lunch times are a little too close together for my liking, so I may push back my lunch time when I do finally make my ADRs, but then I'd push back my dinner time too, which would lead to a longer wait to be seated, (also an issue to consider.) I may keep it like this though since I know I'm not really going to CRT for the food. Three of my days are like this, with three meals, so I'll be FULL these nights. I just won't stuff myself silly at breakfast, and won't force myself to clean my plates at lunch and dinner, though I hate wasting food.

Next example, day three's plan.

Tusker House - 8:00/9:00 ADR (Earliest as Possible)
Boma - 5:30 PM

That gives me at least eight hours between breakfast and dinner, this is however the only day I have planned that I am not going to be eating a table service lunch and dinner, so it's also the only day I have more then approximatly six hours between meals.

Last example;

My plan for day seven is what most of my days, (seven out of the eleven full days,) looks like, with a TS lunch and dinner.

Le Cellier - 12:00
Kona Cafe - 5:00

That only gives me five hours between meals. I do like eating early, but in this case I may make a slightly later dinner ADR, though knowing me, I'll just leave it with these times, and try not to over-eat.

So basically, to answer your question, I'd say at least six hours between meals, though I'm going to go against my own advice, and only give myself five hours between some meals.

 

[Melissa_E]

When I made my ADRs, I scheduled breakfast anywhere between 7:30a.m. and 9a.m. I figured any later and we'd miss a bunch of park time. Then, I scheduled dinner around 5p.m. That's the time that we usually eat at home and since I do have a toddler, we wouldn't finish too late for her (meltdown avoidance technique). I figured if we were hungry for lunch, we would just to a CS in the park or use our snack credits.

 

[drewswife]

I either reservation Breakfast or lunch - the other we fast food. If I reservation lunch then 5 hours later dinner (need time for a snack)

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

We have the exact opposite issue with DD. We need to eat LATER than we usually do at home to avoid meltdowns. I made 6pm dinner ADRs last year since that is the time we typically eat at home. Problem was that we would go to a park in the morning, either eat lunch at the park, head back to the hotel where she would fall asleep for 5-10 minutes on the bus, wake back up WIDE awake. So we would take her swimming to tire her back out and THEN she would finally nap. Tried as hard as we could to get her to nap early (like before a swim), she NEVER fell asleep until about 4pm (which is when she finally crashed). SO, she would only get about a 1/2 hour nap before we would need to wake her back up to get ready for dinner. And she would be really cranky through dinner until she got her second wind. We have decided to make 7pm ADRs for our next trip and let her nap longer this time. Hopefully this will make dinner a lot more enjoyable for all of us

 

[2moms]

We are on the regular dining plan, so only 1 TS meal/day. I chose to only make dinner ADR's for between 5:30 - 6:30 since that's when we eat at home. I figured we could have a bowl of cereal in the room a couple of mornings and it's easier to just pop by a non-character restaurant for breakfast without an ADR and get in (ie: Kona Cafe for some Tonga Toast). We planned on CS's for lunch whenever we get hungry, but probably about 4-5 hours before dinner. It depends on how regimented your family is about eating, my DD's definately like dinner during the times I mentioned, so that's what works for us for now. Good luck!

 

[marivaid]

We like to make 2 TS reservations for each day.
Either a late breakfast (9.30-10am) and then early dinner (5pm) OR, an early lunch (11am) and late dinner (9-9.30pm).

I couldn't do breakfast+lunch+dinner TS in one day but that's just me

 

[_queenie_]

We always sleep in (9am or later for me and the kids, even the 3-year-old, my DH is the only morning person), it's usually 11 at earliest before I'm completely ready to go into the parks, so we rarely go have a big breakfast. If we do eat breakfast (more than cereal in the room) we usually have lunch at 1:30 or the latest we can be seated, and usually eat at 12:00/12:30 if we don't. Dinner is laways at 5:30/6:00.

 

[NMAmy]

Frankly, we can't eat more than one TS meal per day. We don't like to be too scheduled--plus we stay in the Epcot area and we can always go to a counter service in WS for one of the other meals. Three TS meals per day are just too much food and too much schedule for us.

 

[Stacerita]

We normally only do one TS a day. We always do a late breakfast, usually the last seating we can get. If we skip lunch, we do an early dinner around 5. If we are doing lunch, its usually a later lunch like 1ish. More often than not, we do dinner, and we like to do our dinners later.

 

[septbaby]

We didn't eat at consistent times on our trip:

Arrival Day: Check in by 3pm, shared a late CS lunch, 8pm dinner at Narcoossee's (pool time before dinner)

Day 1: MK at 8am, grabbed snacks, 1:30 Coral Reef, CS in MK during Pirate and Princess Party

Day 2: Sleep in after P&P party, Chef Mickey's bfast 11am, McDonald's DTD, 10pm shared CS at MS bakery

Day 3: Shared CS bfast platter, 6pm Boma Dinner

Day 4: Epcot CS midday (resort CS bfast?), 4:40 Fantasmic Dinner(ate more like 5:40), snack at Fantasmic early show (popcorn and water)

Day 5: CS lunches around noon, snack breakfast (popsicle )

 

[MickeyNicki]

For a weekend trip we make breakfast adr's at 8 am or earlier if possible. We eat lunch whenever and dinner is usually 5ish

For a week trip we make breakfast adr's at 9:30, lunch whenever and dinner at 6:30

 

[Timon-n-Pumbaa Fan]

Breakfasts.....must be EARLY! I always aim for 7:30am to 8:00am, if we do a TS breakfast meal. This gets Corey up and moving, which is unbelievably difficult on vacation. I swear, the woman is just horribly grumpy in the mornings on vacation and just wants to do nothing but sleep. Let's just say that over the years, I have learned that breakfast at Kona Cafe is a secret weapon against grumpiness! I try to use Garden Grocer for most of our "on the go" mornings, but sometimes, it's best to make the effort to go out, sit down and start the day properly with some great food and good service.

Lunch.....almost always CS for us. If we do schedule a TS meal, it would be around 11:30am to 12:00pm. This gets us in early and cuts down on the "lag time" that will soon be bogging down the TS restaurants with longer waits.

Dinner....we mix up TS and CS for this meal. If it's TS, we aim typically for 6:00pm or for 9:00pm. Either we beat the crowds or we wait out most of the families and go enjoy a meal without quite so many tiny tots in the mix.

 

[wilma-bride]

It really depends who we are travelling with. If it is just DH and I, we tend to have a snack for breakfast (danish or donut), then an early lunch (around 11:30ish) and a 6-7pm dinner.

If we are travelling with family, we will have a more sturctured breakfast (between 7 and 8 - either counter or table service), then counter service lunch and dinner around the same time.

Either way, we nearly always schedule dinner for between 6 and 7 pm if we can get those times.

 

[daisyduck123]

Well...it depends what season we are there.

Summer...we like later dinners (7:00 or 7:30pm) because we like to swim at our resort until late afternoon.

Winter...6pm dinners

 

[GC&S]

We usually eat breakfast in our room and it's pretty early (7 am.) We do an early lunch (around 11:15) and then try to do dinner around 4:30. Mainly it's because of our dd's age (5) and waiting is not her strength so we try to beat the crowds. When it was just DH & I, we would do a late breakfast (9:00), skip lunch (just get a snack) and then have dinner around 6:30 or 7.

 

[STEAMBOAT209]

It really depends who we are travelling with. If it is just DH and I, we tend to have a snack for breakfast (danish or donut), then an early lunch (around 11:30ish) and a 6-7pm dinner.

If we are travelling with family, we will have a more sturctured breakfast (between 7 and 8 - either counter or table service), then counter service lunch and dinner around the same time.

Either way, we nearly always schedule dinner for between 6 and 7 pm if we can get those times.

Same plan for us, depends on an adult trip or family with the grandchildren, and when traveling alone, if we do a TS breakfast it will be the first seating of the morning and close to the park we plan to go to that day.