Disney dining---can we just wing it?

[Ottakee]

My 14 year old daughter is getting a Make A Wish trip to Disney in early March. We will stay at Give Kids the World so we have the change to eat any and all meals there.

 

If we are Ok with just counter service, are we fine just winging the meal thing? She hasn't mentioned any character meals or big things she wants to do.

 

My kids would be just fine with burgers, fries, pizza, sandwhiches, to go type chinese, etc. Are any of the sit down meals really worth going to---for the added cost and the planning involved?

[5kidsforME]

Is the dining plan free to you with the trip? There are a bunch of really neat dining options at Disney. If you do decide to go to sit down table service meals, advanced dining reservations (ADR's) are a must, especially in March!

[Mom2J112903]

I will say that LeCeiller *is* worth it but you may not even get reservations it is so popular.

 

We recently returned from an 8 day vacation where we had the dinning plan and there were some table service meals we will never do again. There are also ones, like mentioned above, that we will do again.

 

Ones we will not repeat are Chef Mickey's and Beirgarten.

 

Must dos, for us at least, The Crystal Palace, Coral Reef and LeCeiller. My son's favorite was breakfast at Donald's Tusker House.

 

One that we enjoyed but would not break our heart if we could not do it again, would be Garden Grill.

 

My parents ate in Italy, not what they expected.

 

I have heard many people rave about the 50s Prime Time Cafe and SciFi in Hollywood Studios.

 

May your daughter enjoy her Disney vacation, it is something I wish every child could experince.

[Ottakee]

I don't know if we get a dining plan or not. I know we get an expense check but not sure if we get a separate dining plan or not.

 

Is early March really busy? We were hoping to avoid a busy time but need to plan around other things and did't want really hot weather.

[rwjx2khsmj]

My 14 year old daughter is getting a Make A Wish trip to Disney in early March. We will stay at Give Kids the World so we have the change to eat any and all meals there.

 

If we are Ok with just counter service, are we fine just winging the meal thing? She hasn't mentioned any character meals or big things she wants to do.

 

My kids would be just fine with burgers, fries, pizza, sandwhiches, to go type chinese, etc. Are any of the sit down meals really worth going to---for the added cost and the planning involved?

 

We found that with a larger group (for us there were 8) having reservations wasn't necessarily more expensive and gave us a quieter place to put our feet up, relax for a bit and share a meal together. We ate breakfast before going to the parks, had reservations for a late lunch (2-3pm) and took snacks to get us through the day. Having a sit down meal was the perfect time to rest and make the remainder of the day more fun.

 

Also having a reservation took care of the "What do you want to eat?" "I don't know. What do you want to eat?" game that we so often play. We knew where we were eating and when we needed to be there.

 

If you go for reservations, restaurants with a menu tend to be less pricey than those with the buffet. Servings at the menu restaurants are also big. We really liked Tony's and 50s Prime Time Cafe.

Edited December 27, 2010 by rwjx2khsmj

[Hockey Mom]

My kids LOVE Chef Mickeys! That's the only place they want to go for character dining. LOL

 

50s Prime Time Cafe was a lot of fun too.

 

I was less than impressed with all of the countries at Epcot (except the Fish and Chips from England).

[Ginevra]

I would not totally wing it. Some of the counter service is really pretty poor-tasting, especially for price. When we went, we had the dining plan and also reservations for character meals, but most of the counter service items we expected to wing it. We ended up walking endlessly, trying to figure out what to eat and were often disappointed with what we wound up with. Planning meals -even planning every meal - worked out better for us on the next trip.

[5kidsforME]

I don't know if we get a dining plan or not. I know we get an expense check but not sure if we get a separate dining plan or not.

 

Is early March really busy? We were hoping to avoid a busy time but need to plan around other things and did't want really hot weather.

 

 

From what I understand March is one of the busiest times because of Spring break. We would never go in March, so I can't even tell you what crowd levels are like. Maybe someone else that has been there at that time will jump in and let you know.

 

Is there anyway you can find out if dining is included and what kind of meal plan it is? There are several disney dining plans. If you get one I would definately use it and plan meals. You can make ADR's online now for that time. I would try to do that ASAP.

[Mom2J112903]

*I* wouldn't worry about going in March-you are going on a Make-A-Wish trip, you will not have any lines to worry about. Disney and Make-A-Wish goes out of their way to make this trip enjoyable, for everyone.

 

I would actually call Disney and see what they can offer, explain your situation and see what they do for the MAW families.

[5kidsforME]

*I* wouldn't worry about going in March-you are going on a Make-A-Wish trip, you will not have any lines to worry about. Disney and Make-A-Wish goes out of their way to make this trip enjoyable, for everyone.

 

I would actually call Disney and see what they can offer, explain your situation and see what they do for the MAW families.

 

This is true! I had forgotten that part.

[JennW in SoCal]

Early March shouldn't be too bad with crowds as Spring Break mania hits later in the month and into April.

 

Give Kids the World looks absolutely wonderful. My ds, who is finishing a year long internship at DisneyWorld, asked the family to donate to GKW in lieu of gifts this year.

 

I personally felt limited by a dining plan as we eat at odd times while spending time at a theme park. We have a hard time figuring out how to plan the day around a meal reservation!! That said, if there are any sit down places that appeal to you, make reservations now. The restaurant at the top of the Contemporary Hotel (Cal Grill??) has good food and a fabulous view. In Downtown Disney the Dinosaur restaurant (owned by the same folk that run the Rainforest Cafe) is entertaining mostly because of the really lame animatronic dinosaurs. I'll bet many of your meals will be easily handled at GKW.

[Ottakee]

Give Kids the World looks absolutely wonderful. My ds, who is finishing a year long internship at DisneyWorld, asked the family to donate to GKW in lieu of gifts this year.

 

.

 

The GKW does sound really nice. I honestly am planning one day to just be there and relax and enjoy what they have.

 

My daughter really wanted Disney so that is what we are doing but we are not huge ride and crowd people but I am sure she will love Animal Kingdom. They would LOVE a horseback ride or carriage ride as well---even though we have horses here, the Disney horses are DIFFERENT. We might see about a "behind the scenes" thing at Animal Kingdom or even the horse barns, etc.

 

Dd was just mailed a good about Disney for kids so she can go through and pick which rides/attractions she will want to do. I think we will need the castle and Dumbo just because that is Disney and then maybe the Highschool musical parade/show, Beauty and Beast, etc. I know we will need the safari ride as well.

 

This is just all a bit overwhelming ot try to figure out but I am sure she will have a great time.

[cjbeach]

Early March shouldn't be too bad with crowds as Spring Break mania hits later in the month and into April.

 

Give Kids the World looks absolutely wonderful. My ds, who is finishing a year long internship at DisneyWorld, asked the family to donate to GKW in lieu of gifts this year.

 

 

 

What a fabulous son you have.

[sheryl]

My 14 year old daughter is getting a Make A Wish trip to Disney in early March. We will stay at Give Kids the World so we have the change to eat any and all meals there.

 

If we are Ok with just counter service, are we fine just winging the meal thing? She hasn't mentioned any character meals or big things she wants to do.

 

My kids would be just fine with burgers, fries, pizza, sandwhiches, to go type chinese, etc. Are any of the sit down meals really worth going to---for the added cost and the planning involved?

 

 

I don't understand if the meals are part of your package. Are they complimentary to you?

 

We went to our first DW trip just last month and are STILL.TALKING.ABOUT. it. It was soooo much fun. We stayed off site, and upon the consistent recommendations of DW-goers on this board, we took a backpack of water bottles, snacks etc. We ate breakfast at the condo. We spent 4 days at the parks....one park each day. 2 days we bought lunch at a park and the other 2 days we packed it. Then, we left the park for the day right before dinner where we ate that off site.

 

I hope someone who has stayed on/off can truly compare and advise you.

[Ottakee]

I don't understand if the meals are part of your package. Are they complimentary to you?

 

.

 

I don't know yet. I need to talk to the Make A Wish person. I know we get an expense check but I am not sure if that is to be used for meals in Disney or if we get free meals or a dining package there.

 

We can eat our meals at Give Kids the World and will likely eat breakfast and some suppers there. I know my daughter is looking forward to the pizza delivery as we are rural and don't have any pizza delivery here.

[HollyDay]

We went in October so it was easy to eat anywhere we wanted (except the Palace Cinderella meal - that was way booked up). Crystal Palace is excellent. We enjoyed the Germany dinner theater but I think that is because dh spent time in Germany and had fond memories of it. We ate lunch in England twice, it was so good. The girls liked Mary Poppins stopping by. Our favorite breakfast was at the Wilderness theme area. The pineapple slushie drinks over by the pirates were very good.

[chiguirre]

If she won't be embarrassed by a princess meal, I'd go ahead and make reservations. It's just such a fun thing to do with a dd.

 

The crowds won't affect you much because Disney has special needs passes so that you can use the Fast Pass lines instead of the normal ones. Even when you have to wait, you're with a group of understanding people so you won't get the "look" if a child has behavioral issues while waiting.

 

I've never done the MAW program, but even going as a regular guest and just getting the sn passes, Disney was the best vacation we've taken. They're sooo nice to sn kids and make it easy for parents to enjoy the day without stressing out.

[jujsky]

I'd get the dining plan. If you're thinking of eating only where you're staying, you will get bored with it fast. Most quick-service places only have a few options. Some of the sit-down meals were definitely worth it. Even if you're not doing the character meals, there are a lot of good sit-downs. The counter-service meals are going to get old quickly.