Those used to free dining, how many adrs are you doing next time?

[Lostbrain]

We have done WDW twice, once without and once with DDP. The first trip we were so shocked at the cost of food we really restricted ourselves to pretzels and ice cream and brought sandwiches in, ate off property for breakfast and dinner, we were staying in a villa. We did Chef Mickeys as our first and only ADR.

DDP was great, but a lot of food and planning and we did feel our choices were dictated by the plan.

This time I’d like to try some of the lounges, I’m not sure about ADR, we may not do any, we’re on site for 6 nights, I would quite like to go to Olivias, we’re staying at OKW and it’s one that’s not great value on DDP. We have a reasonable budget this time but will probably do mostly QS and snacks.

[orlandoamber]

We still have a big list of places to go to but a lot are different to where we’d go on DDP, either lounges or places where we’d order things that aren’t good ‘value’ on DDP so we wouldn’t have gone there before.

We will still go to some of the usual places too but will probably order a bit differently - I love a good cocktail but when they’re $16 at a signature I certainly don’t need one at every meal as I would on DDP! We also will likely share a starter rather than having a dessert each.

[sha9]

I like the idea of eating in the lounges rather than the signatures so we might do that. We also have a lot less desserts when not on DDP so we may eat more starters.

[Mexy02]

Originally Posted by miked1e

We will still likely be booking one per day. With little ones quite a few of them are breakfast and / or character orientated.

Will definitely also try couple of new things including Space220 and I also like the look of Steakhouse 71.

We have a list somewhere.

I wonder if they will go back to 180 days for ADRs

See more...

I moved my booking the other day as it clashed with our sons graduation so although we are going a week later we lost the credit as it’s on the blackout days now but she did give us the date to start booking adrs and it’s still 60 days and she said it was staying that way . She also said to ensure we booked our park days ASAP .

[Mexy02]

Originally Posted by gjdjud

So we’ve had free dining 4 of the 5 times we’ve been. Next year we have the dining credit and gift card which will cover a quick service meal pp per day and a snack or two each over our 10 nights. I’m still thinking of adrs but I don’t think we will be doing one every day as the prices are shocking without free ddp. We still want some as it’s part of our trip. I’ve narrowed my list down to 14 possibles() and have my list with potential pricing with tax and tip(you like how organised i am). I’ve now going to whittle this down to 5 maybe 6. Going to be tough.

See more...

5th visit and only had ddp once but we’ve still done adrs everytime . You just have to way up the best value ones . Character breakfasts are always cheaper than dinners, dining packages like the parade one are decent value , California grill save very hard lol.
We are taking a first timer this visit so I’m finding it hard which have been our favourites and must dos for her . Garden grill breakfast or Tusker house at 10:30 always fair well as the Tusker house one starts putting out lunch items as well .
GF cafe is another decent value one ( if such a thing exists in Disney ) .

[bronny]

1 or 2 at most.

[Donaldfan]

The same 3 that I always do: Jungle Skipper Canteen, Nine Dragons and Yak & Yeti - all lunch. I prefer QS. I'm staying at POFQ and love their food court so will be eating there every evening.

[baggies]

ADRs all the way, the cancelled trip we had upgraded the free DDP to DxDDP eagerly waiting for 60 days to book 1 ADR per day

[scoobydooby]

Whilst I’m not looking forward to the additional costs I am looking forwards to not having the Dining Plan restrictions. We are there for food wine so have three trips there planned over our 12 days. DD is desperate to try more snacks so we will be able to swap lots of the QS meals for more snack stops instead and share a QS. As for table service I anticipate we will book about 6 based on our discussion to date but I will not be committing financial suicide at at Signature restaurants apart from Cali Grill for DHs birthday. There are a couple of lounges I am keen to try as well. I haven’t done the maths to estimate how much more it will cost us yet but we are staying moderate instead of deluxe to mitigate the difference with 4 days Club Level at Portofino Bay first to scratch the fancy hotel itch.

[davidh71]

Looking at cutting down from the usual 1 TS a day when on the dining plan to probably 4 for the whole family (1 pick for each of the 3 kids and Space 220 is a must). Kids older now so also have the option to feed them QS a couple of nights and have a couple of TS without them! Other than that will stick to QS to stop costs getting too much.