Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

Trying to decide which is better...we have 4 boys, 5 and under, and while the sit down is good for a break, Im thinking they may be cranky at that time...any advice...can you tell me what worked for your family...thanks!

Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

I scheduled some sit downs based on the characters my DD loved. There were days we did quick service only. It worked for us. She loved the sit downs because of the characters. It was entertaining and we all had a blast.

Re: Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

While I am a big fan of the dining plan we decided to skip it this time so we can be more flexible. The girls will be almost 6 (will turn six the next month) and turning 4, 3 days after we return. Last two trips we ate breakfast in the room, counter service luch and early table service dinners (5 or 6 pm). We took midday breaks for naps and swim time. I want to be more flexible this trip. We have 2 princess dinners that are musts. Then we made some lunch ADRs and then an ADR for dinner every night. I chose places that do not have credit card guarantees in case we want to cancel last minute. We won't do 2 sit downs a day. I am not sure if I want to do tour, lunch, hotel, park days or if we are better going with touring until we are tired then returning to the hotel swimming and CS dinner. We might do a mixture of the two. The girls can go much longer this trip so maybe we are better touring until 3-5 then heading back swimming, dinner, and earlier bed so we can be up early for rope drop. On past trips we had great sit downs but others were torture. This is why I made lunch and dinner ADRs if we decide not to do the midday break we will do the TS dinner. If you are unsure make the ADRs so you won't lose out. I would pick ones you can cancel anytime. Character meals and some of the most popular places like Be Our Guest, Ohana dinner etc are also guarantees. You would have to cancel the night before for those or risk a $10pp fee. None guarantees can be cancelled 5 mins before (which is nice to cancel when you know- but you aren't peanalized if you don't show or call). One thing to keep in mind is usually (not always) disney is in a hurry to turn over tables. They will throw the food at you to get you out if you let them. When we used to go as a couple we would order a drink, then order apps, then order entree etc to slow them down. Try to pick places that are kind of fun and have some entertainment in case they are restless. Sci fi drive in for example you sit in cars, biergarten has a band and dance floor, marrakesh has music and a belly dancer, san angel inn the ride floats by while you eat, Ohana is a guarantee place but the kids parade around and they teach them the hula or have coconut race, whispering canyon they do silly things, get up and do the hokey pokey, ride wooden horses, etc. At least if you do sit down it is fun.

Message edited 1/9/2013 7:32:58 PM.

Re: Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

I would do mostly quick service with a few character sit downs.

Re: Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

We did 1 character meal, my kids saw enough characters around the park. We did sit down dinners for all but maybe 1 night. We did maybe 1/3 sit down lunches, the other 2/3 were on the fly lunches.

Go to Ohana for dinner, the food was excellent!!!!

We did not do the dining plan, we would never have eaten all the snacks etc. We saved about $300 not doing the dining plan.

Message edited 1/10/2013 10:01:57 AM.

Re: Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

Message edited 1/10/2013 10:57:33 AM.

Re: Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

Thanks ladies....I didn't do the dining plan yet, but was told I can add on. The more I am reading, the more I think that we shouldn't do it. My boys aren't big eaters, and neither are we.

Re: Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

Re: Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

Re: Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

We stayed offsite but, did two sit down dinners and two sit down character breakfasts while we were there (DS 1 was 2 3/4 and DS 2 was 6 mos).

The two dinners we did were at Downtown Disney at T-Rex and Rainforest Cafe and our two breakfasts were at Tusker House at AK and Hollywood and Vine in HS.

I spread everything out and didn't overplan since I knew we'd be having long days. The only thing I regret is that I had dinner reservations for the night we got there. We landed at 10:30, stopped for lunch, went to check in and had been running around since about 4:30am and based on excitement and all, DS 1 had been up early and didn't nap so he fell asleep on the way to the restaurant and slept most of the way through dinner (even though it was not quiet).

Re: Disney: Sit down meals or quick service?

I made a couple of buffet reservations. We thought about the dining plan but with two toddlers that will be overstimulated as it is, it's just too unpredictable. I figured with a few buffets we can still have some of the dining experience and if the kids are restless we can just scarf down some food and go.