Disney Dining Plan Strategy - Need Advice!

[il grande chuck]

My wife, two sons (8 and 10) and I are going to WDW the week before Thanksgiving. We're staying at WL and doing the dining plan. Some questions:

1. Since we'd like to do some of the signature restaurants (which use 2 sit-down vouchers), I was thinking that on some of the other nights, the wife and I could share a dinner at a "regular" sit-down place (since I hear that the restaurants don't object). If we ate a late lunch, have an afternoon snack, and share dinner at a place that tends to serve big portions, that should work.

Anybody see any reason why this would be unrealistic (i.e., sharing a dinner would be too little food)?

2. If my strategy is sound, which (good) sit-down restaurants tend to serve the biggest portions?

3. My kids *love* to swim, and they'll probably want to conclude each day with a swim in the WL pool. We'll probably try to get them into bed by about 9:00 - 9:30 each night.

Anyways, it seems to me that since meals (like everything at WDW) are a time-consuming venture, and since most of the better sit-down places are at the hotels, it would make the most sense (on a given day) to spend the day at the park, leave around 6:00, eat dinner at a hotel restaurant (say, 6:30 - 8:00), and head back to the hotel pool (8:30 - 9:00). Does this make more sense than leaving a park, trying to eat earlier (say 5), and heading *back* to the park? I'm thinking that's going to take too much time.

Thanks!!!

 

[pinkrose]

1. Since we'd like to do some of the signature restaurants (which use 2 sit-down vouchers), I was thinking that on some of the other nights, the wife and I could share a dinner at a "regular" sit-down place (since I hear that the restaurants don't object). If we ate a late lunch, have an afternoon snack, and share dinner at a place that tends to serve big portions, that should work.

Anybody see any reason why this would be unrealistic (i.e., sharing a dinner would be too little food)?

Yes, this would work (unless it's a buffet or "all you can eat" place). WDW's portions are huge.

2. If my strategy is sound, which (good) sit-down restaurants tend to serve the biggest portions?

I have yet to dine at a WDW sit down place and not have a huge portion of food.

3. My kids *love* to swim, and they'll probably want to conclude each day with a swim in the WL pool. We'll probably try to get them into bed by about 9:00 - 9:30 each night.

Anyways, it seems to me that since meals (like everything at WDW) are a time-consuming venture, and since most of the better sit-down places are at the hotels, it would make the most sense (on a given day) to spend the day at the park, leave around 6:00, eat dinner at a hotel restaurant (say, 6:30 - 8:00), and head back to the hotel pool (8:30 - 9:00). Does this make more sense than leaving a park, trying to eat earlier (say 5), and heading *back* to the park? I'm thinking that's going to take too much time.

You could take an afternoon pool break, then head back to the parks and have a nice dinner before Wishes, Illuminations, or Fantasmic. There are some great places to dine in the parks. Maybe some nights eat dinner at the resort and do the swimming, but leave a couple for some of the night activities in the parks. Just a suggestion.
I hope some of this helps :wave:

 

[Lucky]

We just returned from 8 days on the dining plan. We split meals at Rose and Crown (UK at Epcot) and Coral Reef (Living Seas at Epcot), ordering one adult and one kid's meal each time for the 4 of us. It was plenty of food, considering you're getting not only an entree to split but also an appetizier and a dessert. At buffets you can't do this, but one advantage of the buffets was that you control how long you are there; you're not at the waiter's mercy. Where we were dependent on a waiter, dinner always took us a full hour and a half. With buffets, it was about an hour.