So, not trying to start anything controversial but I noticed how much people are into the parks snacks and the ADRs and it made me wonder. I admit none of my 3 Disney trips were planned long enough in advance for me to really have any chance at actually getting good ADRs so that may be part of it.
My family and I, we have pretty much zero interest in the food part of Disney. Whatever we have ever eaten at the parks was either average or below. We have only eaten at QS restaurants though except for 3 character breakfasts that we enjoyed but more because of the characters than because of the food. Our general attitude is that there is plenty of food at home and we tend to see eating in the parks as a waste of time.
Any others like us here ? Are we normal ? Are we missing out ?
The 2020 trip with my wife is the first time, ever, where we will place any focus on food. In the past, we usually picked exactly ONE table service meal for the entire trip. The rest of the time, we would eat quick service, or back at our condo.
Part of that was cost, of course. Eating in the parks is expensive when you have 5 kids. (Well, it is expensive regardless.) But part of it is because we were mostly there for the rides/experience.
Our last trip to Disney, when we had four of our kids there, we would average about $40-50 for an in-park meal. (We were very strategic!) But the one table service meal we had (Rainforest Cafe) was more than $150.
We donât snack at home and when I look at the WDW vlogs and all the sugary âtreatsâ I am thinking 'yuck, no thank you '. I like savoury things but there is no way that I would touch an âemuâ legâ:wink:. Previously we have always booked nice restaurants outside the parks (Winter Garden or Winter Park has some nice places) because we have never enjoyed WDWs offerings and the sheer size of the portions puts me off, but next trip we are going for the fully immersive experience . Hmmm.
Donât get me wrong, I am a huge fan of meat, but I donât really like those either. Unfortunately, my son, who is a VERY picky eater, for whatever reason, loves them more than anything else in the world and those are THE ONE thing we canât find at home. Of course, its way too big for him so we all have to eat the bloody thing or it goes to wasteâŚ
Our last trip we did at least one ADR each day. Researched which places had food we might like or wanted to try. Ended up enjoying all of them and it was a great way to get out of the heat for awhile. Before we did mostly QS. Recommend you only do it if you are not worried about the cost. We did not try to get our moneys worth (see how much food we could eat for our dollar) and we looked at the experience as part of the price.
I think youâre normal. Until last trip weâd never had an ADR and though we enjoyed our meals, we could have eaten better for less offsite. We didnât really like being tied to ADRs. And it did take up a lot of park time.
We feel the same about food in general. It makes it hard to vacation with my sisterâs family, theyâre all foodies. I just canât tolerate wasting time at ANY vacation locale eating all three meals at a sit-down restaurant- with the possible exception of New Orleans.
That being said, we usually schedule a TS meal at about 11am-12 on busy park days, mostly to have a place to sit and get out of the heat and crowds. Then weâll feel refreshed enough to see a few non-ride attractions and then go back to the resort until the evening. My family likes this arrangement very well. We tend to spend less on food this way as the big meal of the day is lunch.
In principle I care about the food because I never get the chance (well, I never give myself the chance) to eat out. So itâs a real treat.
So my first big trip last year was full of ADRs. Yet this year I ended up cancelling quite a few as it seemed a less important aspect of the trip.
I think what Disney offers thatâs unique are âexperienceâ meals. So with CG you get an incredible view. With BOG you get to eat in the ballroom of a castle. With CRT you get to eat in an actual castle. (Sort of.) And then thereâs the character meals. Even someone as cynical as me ends up grinning ear to ear when Iâm hugging Mickey Mouse.
But other ADRs are things you could probably get pretty easily at home. And for a lot less!
As others have said, sometimes the nice thing about an ADR is itâs a chance to escape from the rain or the sun or the crowds.
We did the free regular dining plan (yes, I understand itâs not âfreeâ) and building in 90 minutes for meals is not something I was keen on. We do consider ourselves pretty adventurous when it comes to food, but we are far from âfoodiesâ. The atmosphere/theming was a big part of our ADR choices, but theyâre probably all one and done. I have no idea how weâre going to use all of these snack credits.
Donate them to a family with super tall teenage boys who ask for a snack all day, even on the way out of the TS mealâI kid you not, my son asked for a mickey pretzel on the way out of our dinner (where he ate an entire steak, salad, and rolls).
Disneyâs 180 days out thing is, like everything else, for Disneyâs benefit not their guests. It really wouldnât matter if it is 180 days out, 100 days out, 95 days out, etc. They just want to lock as many people into reservations as possible as early as possible for a few reasons:
It helps them estimate future crowdsâŚnot just for WDW in general, for which individual parks, etc.
It creates a false sense of supply and demand, causing guests to feel the need to make reservations and not want to lose them.
Because of number 2, it keeps more people eating in the parks rather than eating elsewhere because of a fear of losing out.
Unfortunately, this makes planning for Disney trips even MORE problematic, but necessary, UNLESS you donât care about dining.
My wife and I would generally agree with you. With a few exceptions, we have found the food at WDW to be below average to average. We have, however, had some wonderful meals at California Grill and our meal at Jiko was outstanding.
. Hmmm.
