what's your personal dining style?

[jann1033]

with all the dining plan talk i have been wondering ...

i think it would benefit us as dining is a big part of our "wdw experience" and we always eat 1 small cs( usually late dinner or early brkfst), i ts ( usually lunch) and usually 1 snack /drink type thing( well depends on what bakery we are by, might have to make that 2 snack type things).

but so many have commented they would rather "just grab a burger type meal " i wonder what the general consensus is... are we odd balls or in the majority?

 

[susieh]

We usually skip breakfast or have it in our room. We generally have CS for lunch and TS for dinner (usually off site) but sometimes I'll cook dinner or we'll get a takeaway. Doing the Disney dining plan would not work for us.

 

[Maggie0507]

Dining is an integral part of our Disney experience. On mornings that we have a big breakfast we have a snack for lunch and a table service dinner. On mornings we do a bakery item for breakfast we do a counter service lunch and a table service dinner. Occasionally we will have a counter service dinner if that fits better into our plans.

We are going again in December and will be using the dining plan in a very relaxed fashion, NOT trying to maximize it and if there is something we feel we must have like a dole whip we will purchase it. I really like that food will be paid for before we even leave, we like an occasional cocktail and it will feel less price inhibitive to purchase cocktails since our food will already be paid for.

We discussed the dining plan before purchasing and we will not eat an appetizer if we do not want one, or perhaps split one, the same goes for dessert. Entrees we will probably order our own as DH is a big meat eater and I am not.

Looking forward to trying the dining plan.
M

 

[adrock1976]

Unless you greatly favor counter service meals, I can't see how the dining plan is bad from a financial standpoint. With all the research I have done, many times you will spend the entire $35 per day adult on your TS meal; remember you are also factoring in tax and gratuity, and lots of food. Just like Maggie0507, dining is an integral part of the WDW experience. Personally, we always do TS restaurants everyday, sometime more than one, but on the dining plan I will try the counter service more often, since that is how the plan works. I think that many people, in addition to the cost, seem to worry about the time they will have to devote to TS meals. For us, an early dinner ADR works well (you always seem to get seated earleir to your time than as the evening rolls on). I think even without trying to maximize the plan, (getting steak at every meal), most people will do well on the plan with respect to cost. Whether or not you would rather grab quick meals, is your personal preference...they would not be my first choice for the bulk of my meals.

 

[abacobaby]

We like to eat a small meal at lunch and have a big meal at dinner time. At DW, if money wasn't an issue, we would have a CS meal at lunch time and a TS meal at dinner every night. We are not big breakfast eaters so we usually just eat something small in our room before we head to the parks.

The dining plan seems perfect for us and I can't wait to try it out in November.

Last November (when money was an issue!) we only had on TS meal and the rest of the time we had CS meals. Let's just say I was not impressed with the CS meals I had. So, I'm really looking forward to eating at some nicer TS restaurants.

 

[The Sweetness]

For my fam, grazing seems to do really well
In the A.M. whether we've had breakfast or not the bakery (whichever park) will be calling my name, LOUDLY. This doesnt bother dd14, as she gets to share, and Dh loves his double espresso's

Lunchtime, is usually CS. At times, dd has wanted to eat before us, so we'd either eat early, or stop for lunch twice. We can always share her fries, or get a coke

Afternoon snack depends on what smells good, or if Mickey Bars or popcorn are calling dd's name

Dinner can be CS, or preferably, a quiet relaxing TS meal. Or even a place liek Chef Mickeys, not quiet, but no rush to move on

 

[Disney_1derland]

Dining is an integral part of our Disney experience. On mornings that we have a big breakfast we have a snack for lunch and a table service dinner. On mornings we do a bakery item for breakfast we do a counter service lunch and a table service dinner. Occasionally we will have a counter service dinner if that fits better into our plans.

I could have typed that!

 

[LAWalz23]

Have to agree with other posts that dining is a part of the experience at WDW, always look forward to trying new restaurants and going back to favorites with a few character meals thrown in. We always do at least 1 ts a day and it would be fun not to have to watch the cost and also have a cs for a late breakfast or early lunch. Alas the Dining plan is not offered to DVC members staying on points, because if it was, I would buy in a heartbeat.

 

[Eeyore2003]

Dining is an integral part of our Disney experience. On mornings that we have a big breakfast we have a snack for lunch and a table service dinner. On mornings we do a bakery item for breakfast we do a counter service lunch and a table service dinner. Occasionally we will have a counter service dinner if that fits better into our plans.

Our plans exactly. Brunch, Early Dinner, snack sometime
Sweet roll for Breakfast, larger lunch, and late dinner.

I usually plan the two bigger meals at TS. There's just too many places we enjoy eating. But then right now there's only two of us, if our kids were younger and still home, we'd probably eat CS a little more often, for price and convenience.

 

[Luv4Disney]

We usually skip breakfast (or we'll just grab a croissant or something light from the food court), have lunch and dinner. Sometimes we'll grab CS for lunch, sometimes a TS. We have all TS's for dinner. It's rare that we have two TS's for a day, but possible. Like, one day in Jan. we're going to have a late lunch/early dinner, 3ish, and then go to the 9:30 showing of HDDR. Things like that.

 

[phyllis1966]

Eating at WDW is a major part of the experience for us, too. Like others have posted, we usually have a big breakfast, skip lunch (although DD usually needs something to eat midday) and have a nice, early TS dinner, always leaving room for dessert, of course!

 

[bellarella]

While we could make the dining plan work, it wouldn't be "natural" fot us. We either do room service or cereal we bring ourselves for breakfast (neither on the plan). We also almost never do counter service meals. We prefer either snacks that aren't covered on the plan or TS for both lunch and dinner, but we eat small portions. So while we may have more than $35 of TS food in a day, it generally wouldn't be in one sitting -- we would have an appetizer for lunch and then later go somewhere else and have an entree for dinner and then maybe go somewhere else and grab dessert and drinks. For us to make the dining plan really work we would need to split our credits so we could get two TS meals a day (obviously not at buffets or AYCE). It could be done, but would take a lot of planning on our part to keep OOP costs down and not end up spending more on the plan than we would out of it.

 

[Leota]

As posted, dining is a big part of vacation for us - WDW or elsewhere.

DS (17) & I are not breakfast people - so we generally just have coke & coffee til lunch. DH, however, likes to have breakfast so when he is along, we try to do a couple of those.

Lunch is almost always counter service.

Dinner is almost always Table Service & usually we make dinner an event.(Not a grab & run back to the Parks meal)

DS & I don't really snack much, while DH does like a Mickey Bar once in awhile.

The meal plan worked perfectly for us in August (even more so cuz it was Free!)

 

[Mamu]

My personal dining plan is to sit at a table and relax when I eat. It could be counter service or full service.

We are not big eaters, except DH. Hate to waste 2 hours on a meal while at Disney. Waiting to be seated, waiting to be served, waiting for the check. Yes, some meals at Disney can take up to 2 hours. Most children become resless after 20 minutes. The last thing a child want is to wait around. There's lots of Mouse fun waiting just outside the door of this restaurant.


We did an adult trip with friends in December. For 8 day we wined and dined on some of Disney's best sit-down full service restaurants. Yes it was wonderful. This trip is for play.

 

[puffkin]

I don't think the Dining Plan would work for us, just too much food. Plus, I would become too obsessive about it and it would probably cause a lot of unneccessary stress.

We usually have cereal or light breakfast in the room, counter service lunch and a table service dinner. We don't usually order appetizers or dessert. If it is hot, a lot of times we will eat light (or I will grab a CS off the kids menu). We usually end up cancelling at least one or two table service because we are just not hungry enough to go.

We would probably still save a bit of money using the dining plan, but I would hate being a slave too it. Plus, we are DVC now, so we can't really use it anyway. When I do stay at a regular resort, I have always been able to get some kind of discount on the room which more than makes up for the Dining Plan savings. Plus, we have the DDE card which seems to work better for us. I would do Dining though if it were offered Free, then it would be worth the inconveniences.

 

[POLY1985]

We do counter service for breakfast at the hotel since it is the quickest. I just like coffee and cereal or fruit. My DH likes eggs, bacon and the works. The kids like waffles, etc. so this really works for us.

Lunch depends on which park we're in. At Epcot we always have lunch in Mexico. It's a great place to cool down and relax. At MGM we'll do Prime Time. At Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom we'll either do counter service or just get ice cream.

We always have table service dinners either at Epcot or one of the resorts. We don't do dinner at Magic Kingdom.

I have never been interested in using the dining plan - it's just one more thing to worry about. I always have a list of what park we're are going to on which day and then I make all the ADR's.

 

[goodeats]

Most days we do counter service breakfast either from Roaring Forks in the lobby or from the 'bakery' at whatever park we're going to. We do like sit down breakfasts occasionally, like on non-park days or Crystal Palace in the park.

Most lunches are counter service, but occasionally sit down. And dinner is always sit down, save for one off night where we order pizza in our room. We enjoy the signature restaurants as well. For our 7 night trip in December, we already have 9 ADRS, and are considering adding a 10th! Two of those are Signature restaurants, so we're way over the dining plan 7 table service credits.

I'm glad the dining plan didn't work out for us, I like eating what I want, when I want, and where I want. It can be a great deal, but the stress isn't worth it to me. I wish they'd bring back the silver plan for people like me. The Grand Plan is just too much, and the Dining plan is too restrictive.

 

[pooch]

we've decided (read I'VE decided) to use the dining plan. DH loves Filet Mignon and DS is 15 and an eating machine. We love to do TS's and I won't have to look at the price side of the menu. Not looking to max out the plan and we'd be doing all those restaurants anyway. Rather than making me a "slave" to the dining plan, I think it will allow me to relax during our stay.

 

[MyTalula]

on vacation. But we also are used to eating breakfast around 6:30... so I try to get the earliest times we can... then CS lunch (on the small side if we've had a big breakfast.) Then dinner usually wraps up the day for us... it we like it to be leisurely and relaxing. Watching the fireworks from the beach will be the extent of our after dinner playing

 

[Rafikifan]

Good question Jann. That's my family's problem...we don't HAVE a dining style. Some days due to weather, fatigue, hunger we may want to do 2 TS yet another day snack and not be in the mood for a sitdown and would rather just grab a burger, salad, or sandwich. That's why I don't think the dining plan would work for US. I know it's a good deal, but we travel with another family and this past June I had some TS ADR's where we wasted money because the teens/kids would pick at their food and then want CS after we left. I think I'd go insane worrying about credits. Plus, some places we like to dine either aren't on the plan or are considered TS. For instance, we LOVE Beaches and Cream. How can I justify using TS credits when I could be using them at Le Cellier or a "nicer" sitdown? I know you can run up a bill at B&C but I cn only eat a single cheeseburger and fries - no room for dessert. So, while I think the dining plan is wonderful for most, I think for us it's better to pay as we go. (It would be a good deal if we left the 3 kids at home and it was just dh and I.)