Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

We're taking our kids to Disney in February and are in the final stages of booking - I'm just trying to decide on the dining plan.

Since DS2 will be a 'guest of Mickey's' (he'll be 2.5 when we go) he's not eligible for a dining plan so we need to think about that when we select.

I'd like to do 1 character dining meal for DS1's birthday (4) but I think that'll probably be all.

Both of my kids EAT!

Quick Service would give us 2 quick service and 1 snack / day for three of us

Traditional would give us 1 sit down, 1 quick service, 1 snack / day for three of us

We'd probably bring cereal bars or something for bkfst in the room too.

Thoughts?

Re: Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

We always do the traditional. I like the fact that we can be served at dinner time rather than stand in stand and find a table with a tray in our hands.

Also, for us the kids are tired and wound up so there is nothing better than a character dinner to get thru a nice peaceful meal. We do character dinners almost every night. Or some form of entertainment for dinner. It is a nice break.

Have a great trip!

Re: Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

We did the quick service with our 3.5 yr old and 1 year old and thought it was great.

Re: Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

We've done the dining plan once and have done the traditional. I feel that way you get more of a variety of food. It will also give you an opportunity to sit and have a relaxing meal. Buffets are a good table service option if your kids like to eat.

Re: Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

I would do quick service and pay OOP for the character meal. Especially since you think it's the only one you will be doing. It doesn't make sense to pay more. I personally don't like being tied to set reservations for sit down meals everyday, and walk ups at most places are sparse.

Re: Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

if your kids can eat I would def do the traditional dining plan...with 1 sit down...

we did this when I had an almost 3 yr old and an almost 2 year old...It was a great amount of food and they were able to eat off of our plates..I made sure to make a ressie for 4 character meals (why not.right? get my money's worth - would have never done this if paying out of pocket) and the good buffets!

We switched back and forth with our sit down breakfast and dinner and had some really great meals...The quick service wasn't much better than a fast food restaurant and I didn't want to do that for 7 days! KWIM!?!? They were great for lunch at the parks!

good luck!
Have Fun!
Hopfully you can get a free dining code and then it would REALLY be worth the money..that is what we were able to do!

Does your dates coincide with Free dining dates!?!?!?

Message edited 10/27/2011 9:38:31 AM.

Re: Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

I'm going with the traditional. I have no problem with the Quick Service for a meal but its nice to have a sit down at least ONCE a day. The snack comes in handy but we plan to bring our own in this time around.

This time we got the Deluxe plan because the dining was free (per PP's dates) so we bumped ours up to Deluxe which was VERY cheap since the base plan was covered. Now I have 3 sit downs OR Quick serve and 2 snacks per person per day.

But with AJ not 'officially' turning 3 until she gets there... she is not included on the meal plan so she eats off our plates unless we pay for a child meal off their menus. Which is why this worked for us since no way he and I could eat 4 snacks a day. But if we use our 'quick serve' for her and we share a snack until our sit down meal. Or if she wants that mickey shaped god-only-knows-what, we can use our snack on her instead.

Thanks to LIF we have groceries being delivered so we plan to munch in the room from time to time.


now... Make Rina DIE! She's planning to cause it to rain on Halloween!!!!! *scream* Not cool!

Re: Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

Re: Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

Well financial wise you don't come out ahead with the QS plan. You said that the kids are big eaters - I say go with the regular dining plan. We did that (we had a 12 month old and an almost 3 year old). Lunches and dinners are the most expensive. This way you can have breakfast in the room and use the dining plan for snack, lunch and dinner. You will have to pay for your 2 year old to eat if you go to a counter service OR a sit down where you order off the menu IF you order your 2 year old a meal (i.e. places like san angel inn, coral reef etc). Your 2 year old eats free if you go buffets or family service type meals (i.e. liberty tree tavern, Ohana's, or the character meals - which are mostly buffets). Also character meals tend to be more expensive esp dinners so I suggest using your TS credits for those.

The only way I would go with the QS plan is if you think you will only want to do 1 or 2 sit down meals then you can pay OOP for those.

Re: Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

I think the traditional sounds good!

Re: Disney Dining Plan - which to choose with a 4yo and a 2yo?

We always do the traditional. We like to grab lunch and use our sit down for dinner.