Timing of meals

[Wvmom]

This will be our first time visiting Disney. The window to start making our dining reservations is fast approaching.
I have seen it suggested to plan on eating meals at non standard times (early or late) in order to avoid crowds. What times have worked best for you?

 

[Minnie Mum]

That advice usually relates to counter service places that don't have ADRS, or TS restaurants where you're trying for a walk up. So 11:00 or 2:00 for lunch or 5:00 (or earlier) or 8:00 for dinner. Otherwise, just make your ADRS for the times that best fit your daily schedules, and adjust as necessary depending on availability.

 

[LeighM]

We typically do a typical breakfast time and then an early dinner. For us, if we eat around 8-9am then that will usually hold us over until dinner because we're so busy doing things in the parks. We prefer to eat dinner at 5pm because we don't like to have heavy meals late in the day. If we get hungry, then we can have a snack later. We've never really had problems with crowds at most locations, with a few exceptions - Be Our Guest, 'Ohana dinner, and Casey's. I still haven't been able to get anything from Casey's because no matter what time we go there, the line is crazy long and there are no tables. What we found that works best for us, is to not focus on what times to eat but where to eat. We found that we can't do 2 table service meals in one day. Not only does it cut into park time but it's also a lot of food! So if we have a table service ADR then we'll just have QS or snacks that day.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

For TS meals, I usually use the "early or late" model if I'm trying to get hard to get dining and my ideal timing isn't available. Ex. I may search 7pm first and quickly shift to searching by dinner instead of time if there's nothing around 7.

 

[TiggerDad]

I'd also recommend giving some thought to how you want to spend your time, since this is your first trip. Sit-down meals take more time away from other attractions. Unless you are a foodie, you may be happier just finding a quick-service meal close to wherever you happen to be when you get hungry, as opposed to having to travel to the reservation you made for a set time six months ago. As a compromise, maybe pick a couple of the most-important restaurants to you and book those.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I'd also recommend giving some thought to how you want to spend your time, since this is your first trip. Sit-down meals take more time away from other attractions. Unless you are a foodie, you may be happier just finding a quick-service meal close to wherever you happen to be when you get hungry, as opposed to having to travel to the reservation you made for a set time six months ago. As a compromise, maybe pick a couple of the most-important restaurants to you and book those.

+1, particularly if it's a short trip. We visit frequently and even we don't like to do more than three or four TS meals on an eight-night trip, and it's almost always on evenings we're taking off rather than doing the parks anyways. It just takes too many hours out of the week to plan sit-down dining every single day.

 

[correcaminos]

Truthfully we eat when we normally eat. We don't like to deviate too much from home. So we eat 11:30-12:45 or so for lunch. We go in warmer months and prefer lunch in the a/c for a break. Even then we rarely ever do TS daily, unless traveling with family who request it. With them we tend to pick places with lighter meal locations.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Breakfast is a great opportunity to save time and/or money, especially if you have any kind of non-standard room (cabin, villa, suite, etc.). If you're driving or having groceries delivered, load up on bananas and pastries. If your accommodations have a kitchen, order a bunch of eggs and have a hot breakfast before you leave the room.

 

[larryz]

A lot of the Counter Service (AKA Quick Service) crowd issues can now be avoided by using the MDE app advance order option.

 

[jaklgreen]

We usually do 1 big "main" meal a day. Either a late lunch or an early dinner. So if you want dinner, I book as soon as they start serving, usually either 4 or 5. Late lunch at about 2. But this is how we eat at home anyway. Find the restaurants that you want to eat and first try to get what would be your normal time and then go from there. I am sure you will be able to get most when you want them.

 

[Patcheslee]

We aren't big breakfast eaters so those are usually snacks. Lunch TS around 1pm to give time for FP bookings later, our dinners are around 5pm. Stick to only 1 TS a day will help and just know character TS you could be there for 90 minutes if you wait for all characters to rotate through. We ended up sitting for 2 hours at Crystal Palace June 2017 because we were the last table they came to.

 

[Wvmom]

Thank you for your replies. My kids are 14,13, and 11 and really do not like characters in general (though I think Disney may get an exception). So I don't think we will do any character meals. We have the quick service dining plan and are not heavy eaters, so I think we are going to try and just make it with the QS and snacks. We are staying in the cabins, so if we feel like we need more food, I can always make breakfast/lunch/late night snack. So, with your help, I think the only meals I will reserve are going to be the two Be Our Guest meals (lunch one day and breakfast on our last park day).

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Thank you for your replies. My kids are 14,13, and 11 and really do not like characters in general (though I think Disney may get an exception). So I don't think we will do any character meals. We have the quick service dining plan and are not heavy eaters, so I think we are going to try and just make it with the QS and snacks. We are staying in the cabins, so if we feel like we need more food, I can always make breakfast/lunch/late night snack. So, with your help, I think the only meals I will reserve are going to be the two Be Our Guest meals (lunch one day and breakfast on our last park day).

Are you dead set on using the dining plan? If you're not big eaters, you're likely going to be spending much more money on the DDP than you would just paying cash for your meals. This is especially true since your kids will be charged as adults, and adult DDP prices include alcohol.

 

[Wvmom]

Are you dead set on using the dining plan? If you're not big eaters, you're likely going to be spending much more money on the DDP than you would just paying cash for your meals. This is especially true since your kids will be charged as adults, and adult DDP prices include alcohol.

We got the dining plan free with our package. I did look at getting the fun/sun package instead, but the cost wasn't much different (within $50 total) and we added the all that food. Also, from what I can tell we will be there during food & wine festival, so we could use extra snacks to snack around the world

 

[JIMINYCR]

When we are doing TS we grab the most ideal ADR time that meets our needs depending on our park plans. When planning CS we typically do find grabbing meals outside of the normal times people usually eat works best. But because of the increased crowd levels its getting harder to find a time when the areas are slow. Using the advanced ordering feature on our last trip did work out well by saving us a lot of aggrivation and time. Also by looking at the menu sites before going on your trip you can get a good idea of the menu selections at the various places and have a better idea of what you may want to order. This can also save you time in trying to decide on what youre going to order.

 

[Wvmom]

When we are doing TS we grab the most ideal ADR time that meets our needs depending on our park plans. When planning CS we typically do find grabbing meals outside of the normal times people usually eat works best. But because of the increased crowd levels its getting harder to find a time when the areas are slow. Using the advanced ordering feature on our last trip did work out well by saving us a lot of aggrivation and time. Also by looking at the menu sites before going on your trip you can get a good idea of the menu selections at the various places and have a better idea of what you may want to order. This can also save you time in trying to decide on what youre going to order.

I started looking at the menus so I could get an idea and show the kids because one can be... well a drama teen. However, I must have started too soon because I have noticed some menus have changed completely already and we are not going for a while yet.

 

[LeighM]

I started looking at the menus so I could get an idea and show the kids because one can be... well a drama teen. However, I must have started too soon because I have noticed some menus have changed completely already and we are not going for a while yet.

They've definitely been changing the menus over the last couple of months. I go back in April and had to redo some of my plans because of menu changes. Especially at Animal Kingdom.!

 

[Rsj88]

We just have a bar or cereal in the room for breakfast. Then we usually eat around lunch right at 11. Then we have a snack around 1 or 2. For dinner we get in line around 4:30 so we can be seated and eating by 5. Then a late night snack if we need it. Eating earlier works well for us since we are in the central time zone. We’ve rarely had an issue with crowds when we eat early. I also highly recommend ordering before hand on line for BOG. It saves so much time! Also you can order your food on the app for the other restaurant, which I hear can save time.

 

[BASS]

Here's an additional consideration: are you rent a golf cart? If you are staying in the cabins and not doing so, the commute to the parks can be a bit extended. If on top of that, you have a sit-down, extended breakfast, that will further take you away from enjoying the parks and doing the rides. It's nice to have a break for lunch and dinner and get away from the heat and rest a bit, but I'd try to do something quick for breakfast. You can get a lot accomplished if you arrive early at the parks. Around 10 or so, the parks are usually quite full by then.

 

[Wvmom]

Here's an additional consideration: are you rent a golf cart? If you are staying in the cabins and not doing so, the commute to the parks can be a bit extended. If on top of that, you have a sit-down, extended breakfast, that will further take you away from enjoying the parks and doing the rides. It's nice to have a break for lunch and dinner and get away from the heat and rest a bit, but I'd try to do something quick for breakfast. You can get a lot accomplished if you arrive early at the parks. Around 10 or so, the parks are usually quite full by then.

I am only planning a sit down breakfast one day (our last park day) at magic kingdom. There is a boat to MK and it will be our second time in that park. It is at BOG so I can also pre order. So I would think we would be okay. I suppose we can cancel if we change our mind after a few days at the parks we could cancel.