Would this be too much?

[Heidijs]

Has anyone ate at the CRT twice in one day? Here's my delimma...I did the regular dining plan. We have a 4 year old DD. She's pretty good in public places, we never have meltdowns or fits. She usually just ends up pouting and not talking to us when she gets crabby...dinners aren't her best meals...she's a good eater when it comes to breakfast and lunch though but supper time is hit or miss at home and if she didn't nap in the afternoon, she can start to get crabby at supper time....so what I did was booked all our ADRs for dinner...now I'm thinking twice...I'm thinking of cancelling the 5:00 HDDR because I'm thinking all that action just might be too much for her at that time of day...I'm thinking about trying to do a couple 2 credit TS meals to use them up so we're not SLAVE to the ADRs...I don't like schedules when we're on vacation...but I could easily book a couple breakfast character meals instead or lunches as I know she'll be just fine at those and then we have the rest of the day to do what we want weather it's go back to the room after lunch and nap or swim...weather permitting, or just leave the park for the day and go elsewhere...what would you suggest? I was considering the first day we're there, to book a breakfast at CRT and then a dinner too. Get 4 credits out of the way...we'll have 7 TS our whole trip...then I was just going to book a couple character lunches for like 1:00 at a couple of the other parks and maybe a breakfast somewhere in a park too...I just want to keep it fairly simple and having to rush around at supper time to get to where we need to be, on top of a crabby or maybe tired toddler, isn't always a good idea, it can escalate the situation. I'd rather blow our TS on lunch and not worry the rest of the day where we need to be. We plan on being in the MK the first day so I thought, why not...do two meals there and a couple days we won't have an TS meals and just use our QS meals instead and be casual...We're going the end of January so I looked and I can still book at CRT and other places easily...

 

[prncess674]

Get 4 credits out of the way...we'll have 7 TS our whole trip

It doesn't sound like you are really interested in utilizing the dining plan to its fullest. It isn't a chore to use them all. Have you looked into just not booking dining plan. If you are going during "free" dining realize you are paying for it by paying full rack rate for your room. If you can get a PIN code for a discounted room you may be better off. You could then just pay out of pocket for one or two sit down meals that your dinner would enjoy.

 

[Heidijs]

It doesn't sound like you are really interested in utilizing the dining plan to its fullest. It isn't a chore to use them all. Have you looked into just not booking dining plan. If you are going during "free" dining realize you are paying for it by paying full rack rate for your room. If you can get a PIN code for a discounted room you may be better off. You could then just pay out of pocket for one or two sit down meals that your dinner would enjoy.

We're not going during free dining that I'm aware of.

 

[Disneychix]

I agree with the previous poster. We did the Quick Service dining plan in March with our DS (2) and that worked out well for the very reasons you are worried about your DD. He was very tired by dinnertime and was either cranky or sleeping when DH and i wanted to eat. We did 2 TS breakfasts and the rest was QS.

If you really want to keep the DDP. I don't think I would go for 2 meals at CRT in one day. It really isn't that great there IMOP. One time per trip is enough, let alone one time per day.

Maybe try CP for bf and CRT for dinner. You could do another BF at 1900 Park Fare the next day or something.

 

[prncess674]

We're not going during free dining that I'm aware of.

If you aren't going during free dining, then for goodness sakes don't pay for it if you won't enjoy all TS dining. If you DD would prefer one or two character breakfasts then just pay (OOP) out of pocket for those.

 

[Heidijs]

Well that's my other question, can I drop down to the basic after I already paid in full for the regular dining plan? Will I get charged a penalty or will they have to cancel my entire package and rebook it? I don't want to go through all that, if I do, then I'd keep what I have and just simply change my dinners to lunches and breakfasts is all. At least those two meals I know she'll be at her prime for the day and afterwards if she starts to peter out on us, I won't have to worry about waking her 10 minutes into a nap cus we have to go eat dinner...at least once lunch is over I know we're free to do what we want for the day and not stick around a park for dinner...I think I'll book a dinner for CRT the first night. I checked out the lunch and it doesn't appeal to us at all but the dinner does! I also don't want to do a lot of running to different resorts to eat. I'd rather do it right in the park we're visiting instead so we don't waste a ton of time getting around, that can get annoying, so maybe I'll just stick to breakfasts and lunches and use our CS for light dinners later when it's more convenient for us. If she were a few years older I'd keep what I have but I can see her getting crabby and irritable at dinner time. Looks like most places offer the same lunch as they do dinner so that's fine with me!

 

[crazyfordisney2000]

This is how we always tour using table service credits for breakfast and lunch. We rarely have table service for dinner. It just works waaay better for us. The kids are now getting older so it's not as much of an issue as far as the "crabiness" goes, etc, but for us it just works better for touring. If you know what park you are starting out in for the day, make your ADR's around that. If it's lunch, you can tour until lunch then go back to resort for a nap, park hop etc, OR you could sleep in that day, then head out for your ADR. As far as the Hoop de Doo or anyplace else you may really want to go that only has evening options, just do it on a day you are sure to either have a down day , or hit the parks early and go back to your room for a nap. Good luck, wish we were going again so soon!!

 

[Heidijs]

This is how we always tour using table service credits for breakfast and lunch. We rarely have table service for dinner. It just works waaay better for us. The kids are now getting older so it's not as much of an issue as far as the "crabiness" goes, etc, but for us it just works better for touring. If you know what park you are starting out in for the day, make your ADR's around that. If it's lunch, you can tour until lunch then go back to resort for a nap, park hop etc, OR you could sleep in that day, then head out for your ADR. As far as the Hoop de Doo or anyplace else you may really want to go that only has evening options, just do it on a day you are sure to either have a down day , or hit the parks early and go back to your room for a nap. Good luck, wish we were going again so soon!!

I'm thinking that's what we'll do. We'd like to do each park the first 4 days so I'll book a lunch in those and then we'll probably end up in MK the last few days.

 

[Heidijs]

Okay, I can breathe again. I cancelled our HDDR and the other dinners I booked. I did book a dinner at CRT the first night though as we'll be in the MK anyway and DD will be full of energy so I'm going for that one at 6:25 pm. Otherwise I cancelled all our dinners and did character breakfasts and lunches instead. This way we're not tied to a park or having to do a lot of running just to eat. We'll do lunch and breakfasts in the parks we plan for the day or breakfast at a resort and then hit the parks and not worry the rest of the day what we do.

 

[capstubbs]

We went the end of Oct with a 2, 3, and 5 year old. We did all out TS meals for breakfast and lunch. It worked great. Most nights got dinner at the food court and brought it to the room for the kids. They ate, watched a little tv and were asleep by 8pm.