Would you do a counter service meals only trip???

[MissMet]

You could do it & not miss much. I feel that the Mexico cs is WAY better than the ts is. Maybe if you do a "special" ts the first night & maybe last night too, you really wouldn't miss much. The cs options are awesome- not to mention you'll save a lot of time as well as as money.

 

[LovesHauntedMansion]

In all of my trips I can count on one hand the number of table service meals that I've eaten and I've never gone offsite to eat. I just eat different kinds of fast food; hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken strips, pizza, sandwiches, salads, turkey legs, Mexican food, egg rolls, baked portatoes, etc. You could eat something different for every meal if you wanted to. I hope that on my next trip everyone is eating nice, long, leisurely meals at the TS restaurants so there will be less people in the lines for rides.

 

[skywaywaver]

Most of our trips are counter-service. We do one, maybe two TS per trip. We eat very little, and one CS meal is good for both of us. Plus, we are there more to see stuff then eat, so time spent sitting down feels like time wasted (to us!).
That being said, CP early lunch seating is one of our favorites. And we will be doing Le Cellier this time for lunch also.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Now that AK has closed the asian place and Tusker is going character that would be a hard park to do CS. Same with MGM, not an good CS place there either.

Epcot has Tangerine which is one of the best meal in WDW, even if it IS CS and MK has quite a few great places (I don't know why the hot dogs and fries are so good at Casey's, I don't eat that anywhere else on the planet!)

I'll see if I can find the Best Counter Service thread and bump it up for you.

 

[Karnak]

... sitting in a packed restaurant with servers shuffling you in and out quickly like cattle isn't very relaxing, nor "vacation-like."

Methinks PlutoLuvr makes some good points; but I must strongly disagree with the above quoted statement. I have eaten in many of the WDW restaurants in the past, and have never felt at thoough I were being shuffled in and out quickly. Quite the opposite. All of my table service experiences at WDW have been very relaxing and they have been quite vacation-like, with excellent service and very good food.

And I have eaten at all of the theme park restaurants except the ones in Japan and China in Epcot (I'll visit them both in December), over half of the eateries at Downtown Disney, and well over half of the restaurants in the WDW resorts.

The only two exceptions were the Biergrten Restaurant in Epcot, and the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant at the Studios. I did not find either of these two restaurants to be relaxing, with the Biergarten loud and crowded in general, and the service and food to be poor at Sci-Fi. All of the others were great, at least every time I've eaten at them.

Enjoy.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

When it's really hot, we don't do many TS meals. We just don't feel like eating much.

 

[Blue Skies]

We are on the DDP for our trip in August, but I am planing on our next trip after that to not use the dinning plan and to eat most of our meals CS. I like the idea of being able to eat when I am hungry, not when I have an ADR. Our family has "simple" palates, so we like basic food. Plus or DS is getting to the age where character meals are not that important.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

For *years* we did nothing but counter service and had a variety of wonderful food at reasonable prices (by theme park standards anyway!). Quite honestly, if it wasn't for free DDP we would probably do CS again and not have a problem with it. There's a lot to be said about having the spontaneity to eat when and where you want without having to spend an hour using Disney transportation to get there!

 

[ALittleDisneyFan]

We did it the first time we went to Disney together. Last time we had the DDP and will get the DDP everytime we go. That is just us. My husband likes to eat steak, and since I don't cook it at home, he can get it everyday on vacation if he pleases!

Is that $15 per person & per meal?

There seems to be a variety with CS.. so you wouldn't have to get burgers and fries each time.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) We seldom ever eat at table service restaurants at WDW.
2) About all we do anymore are V&A, Bistro and Jiko's.
2) Due to several reasons, we usually just do counter service.

 

[Dreamfinder2]

Just to put things in perspective ... compare Disney CS with the typical mall or airport food court, or spend the day eating CS at a Six Flags park.

You would do fine doing all CS, with nary a burger in sight.

That might not be a bad $ saving strategy ... do all CS, and let one TS meal be a family treat.

 

[MomofCKJ]

Could someone do it and be happy? Sure. Could I do it and be happy? No way! I love sitting down to dinner and love the variety of foods available at WDW's table service places. I love the uniqueness of the atmosphere at some of them too. Sitting down for dinner is a part of my vacation I would not want to do without.

Allyson

 

[AStamm]

If you're actually there over the week of Christmas, ADRs are a MUST! We passed by Cosmic Ray's one time that week and the line was 50 people OUT THE DOOR! It must have taken at least an hour to get to the front of the line to order. Add to that time to actually find a table and eat, and it had to have been a good hour and a half meal. How much nicer to go to a TS restaurant and have different food and be in and out in a hour!!!

 

[JodyTG]

If you're actually there over the week of Christmas, ADRs are a MUST! We passed by Cosmic Ray's one time that week and the line was 50 people OUT THE DOOR! It must have taken at least an hour to get to the front of the line to order. Add to that time to actually find a table and eat, and it had to have been a good hour and a half meal. How much nicer to go to a TS restaurant and have different food and be in and out in a hour!!!

You're right. I've seen that too. We usually have breakfast in our villa, a counter service lunch, and table service dinner. The in-laws are the ones that said they'd rather save money that eat at table service restaurants.

But, we may be going with the dining plan since, when I asked MIL what kind of food was a must have for her, she said seafood. I don't know anywhere in WDW where you could have counter service seafood (even if you wanted to).

We have to make our ADRs in less than a month so she better decide what's more important...saving money or getting her seafood fix..because you all know how difficult, if not impossible, it will be to eat at a table service restaurant without ADRs.

 

[lustergirl]

this past december my younger son and I took a short 4 day trip. We ate all counter service meals and actually survived, ha!! I usually purchase the dining plan if the 4 of us are going but for only 2 people we can survive on counter service.

 

[Eeyorecln]

That's how we always did it with our parents-we did around 8 or 9 trips to Disney (Ft. Wilderness) as a kid and not once did we ever do a TS meal (I think that's why I'm making up for it on all of my trips w/ DH! ) We would normally eat @ the cabin for breakfast in the AM and then Dad would bring sandwiches into the park and we'd have those for lunch and then @ dinner we'd get a CS meal....

LOL my parents were the same way we did occassionally eat TS but mostly CS. I didn't even know about this thing called character meals until I started planning my kids' first trip. Of course than DH would say I went a little bit overboard. We were at DL for 5 days and had 4 character meals. But the kids loved them and we have been scheduling them every trip now.
I do think with all the rides and shows that not having to sit for a lengthy TS meal would work for a lot of families. But TS meals are like a break for us.

 

[JJ&JSMOM]

DH and I never had TS meals when we went to disney. But for our trip w/the kids I have made adrs for character meals (4). I figure I'd rathar meet the characters at meal time then taking time away from the parks. Plus - kids got to eat.

Before, DH and I would just eat CS for lunch, order room service pizza a couple times and I brought some snacks from home. Eating out just wasn't a priority for us. We'd just grab stuff and go.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We used to do that all the time...CS breakfast at the resort, lunch and dinner CS at the parks...it is very easy to do at Epcot because there are so many choices and AK is ok for lunch but if they close early there is no dinner there so you would have to eat at the resort or hop to another park. MGM has horrible food choices IMHO and MK is ok.....