After 3 days of Disney eating, we cancelled all our remaining table service ADRs

[2Pirates2Princesses]

On our long weekend trip last month, we specifically did NOT book any TS (which may be the first time that's happened in all my 30+ trips). It was specifically because we knew there were lots of great QS places to choose from and we didn't want to be tied down to a reservation. We do really enjoy our TS meals, but we were going for something different this time. We ate great!

Blaze Pizza (great value and while it was no "NY pizza" it was quite yummy)
D-Lux Burger
Sunshine Seasons
Gaston's Tavern
Pecos Bill's

Our only sit down meal was at Chevy's at the Crossroads and it was marvelous to just walk in to a restaurant and be seated...plus the place was practically empty. It was fabulous and inexpensive.

I read a lot of good reviews on Trip Advisor about Blaze Pizza in Disney Springs. I think this place might definitely be a hit with my crew since everyone can personalize their own individual pizzas. Now we may have to eat lunch here then go to Earl of Sandwich to get food to go for dinner later

 

[Lisa F]

Lisa F. - STAR parent for sure! The face with Donald is priceless!

lol I am mother of the year. I bet I had the vote of every person who saw my child wearing his plate on his head!

 

[LuvMyEAR]

Counter service menus have definitely made a comeback. I was amazed and delighted at the variety when I finally made my first Disney trips (DL in 1989 and several WDW visits in the early '90s) but things changed dramatically, and it seemed that every QS had the same menu of very boring choices.

This really disappointed me, as I could never bear to spend the time or $ on TS meals. Yes... I toured with a vengeance and could happily do half a dozen laps around any park, getting in every attraction at least twice. Time has caught up with me, and I no longer feel the need to see the opening and closing hours and every minute in between. Lingering over a meal in a nice setting is very much enjoyed. But now I usually visit with my wonderful grandsons. Young, excited, and extremely energetic grandsons, for whom 15 minutes/Meal is perfect. Needless to say I thank heavens for the return of QS variety and quality.

 

[focusondisney]

lol I am mother of the year. I bet I had the vote of every person who saw my child wearing his plate on his head!

Loved your posts! And your son is beyond adorable! That smile does make everything else worth it.

And I agree with different strokes. My DH & I gave up on counter service places long ago. And we don't even travel with kids. I hated the standing in 2 lines, then wandering around trying to find seats, one of us running up for condiments, napkins & silverware, having our space invaded as the people at the next table sort of spill over too close to us, feeling we should hurry up so others could have our table. We decided table service didn't take much longer & we could sit, relax & let someone wait on us. That is our idea of vacation. And we find table service burgers are better than counter service burgers, even tho we probably only get a burger once per trip. We have started to split meals more often to not waste food or feel stuffed after meals. A trip with limited table service would not work for us. Luckily, we all have choices.

 

[Lisa F]

Loved your posts! And your son is beyond adorable! That smile does make everything else worth it.

And I agree with different strokes. My DH & I gave up on counter service places long ago. I hated the standing in 2 lines, then wandering around trying to find seats, one of us running up for condiments, napkins & silverware, having our space invaded as the people at the next table sort of spill over too close to is, feeling we should hurry up so others could have our table. We decided table service didn't take much longer & we could sit, relax & let someone wait on us. That is our idea of vacation. And we find table service burgers are better than counter service burgers, even tho we probably only get a burger once per trip. We have started to split meals more often to not waste food or feel stuffed after meals. A trip with limited table service would not work for us. Luckily, we all have choices.

Yup, if everyone who loved CS wanted TS it would be even harder to get ADRs than it is now! Maybe at a different stage of my life I will enjoy CS more but for right now we are TS or bust!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Disney dining has certainly changed since our last trip about 8 years ago. Previously, we would book a handful of TS meals to give ourselves a break from CS meals, since all the counter service places served pretty much the same thing - burgers, chicken nuggets, pizza, chicken nuggets, and burgers. But now, the CS places offer much more variety not only in the way they prepare food, but with flavor profiles (Asian, Mexican, vegetarian, etc.). Wonderful!

BUT . . . along with the improvements comes cost. And after averaging from $60-$70 per meal for the four of us at said counter service places, we felt that eating CS gave us more bang for our buck. Not to mention the blessed freedom that comes with eating when and where we want at any given time.

We still had a few TS meals, but just couldn't justify all that extra money for food that was not all that better than some of the CS offerings. I hope to do some quick reviews at some point, but thought I'd give a nod to those of you who are thinking you may have too many TS ADRs planned. Coz you do!

Maybe it depends on where you eat. We were at WDW the first week in January, and what shocked me was just how much CS prices had gone up. One night, DH and I ate CS, the food court at POR, and paid $50-for two people! Granted, though, we did have dessert, but no appetizers, sides, cocktails. The next day, I ate solo at Columbia Harbor House, and paid almost $20. Yet, that night we ate at Olivia's Cafe at OKW, and including a 20% tip we paid $48, no sides or appetizers, but one non-alcoholic pins colada.

 

[AshleeH]

The TS experience is part of the entire experience for us. We do love the QS options, but we haven't been disappointed by TS. On the contrary, there is something that adds a measure of relaxation to our vacation to know we have a table designated specifically for my family of 5 and I don't have to play a version of The Hunger Games to get it.

 

[mom2my3kids]

I just cringe at the prices, I know this is why people get on the dining plan..but just to eat lunch at 50's is going to average around 150.00...We have four TS booked...Ohana is our favorite and must do, 50's for lunch, via Napoli for lunch and Trails End for dinner..The rest will be back at the resort or CS...

 

[Harambe]

Maybe it depends on where you eat. We were at WDW the first week in January, and what shocked me was just how much CS prices had gone up. One night, DH and I ate CS, the food court at POR, and paid $50-for two people! Granted, though, we did have dessert, but no appetizers, sides, cocktails. The next day, I ate solo at Columbia Harbor House, and paid almost $20. Yet, that night we ate at Olivia's Cafe at OKW, and including a 20% tip we paid $48, no sides or appetizers, but one non-alcoholic pins colada.

Yes, the CS price increases are what led to our dropping the TS for the most part. Since our family of four (and all big eaters) would end up with quite a bill for a CS meal, it made more sense to us to go with all the new offerings at the CS's and skip the even more expensive meals at TS's. I will say, we had two "meh" experiences at TS this trip early on that also added to our decision to drop a few TS meals, allowing us to get maybe two CS meals for the price of one of the TS meals. And it absolutely breaks my heart to say that one of those sub-par experiences was at my beloved Olivia's!

 

[BigredNole]

There is much more variety, you just have to know where to find it for CS meals. We order 2 meals and 3 of us eat it. It is cheaper to share meals because the portions are usually large. We do not do many TS meals because the price is insane. I can go offsite, get 2x the meal for half the price. We just plan to eat an earlier dinner from our afternoon break and then back to the park after dinner. It works out great for us and we save about $500 t least for the week.

 

[JustinD]

We have never been big on the TS restaurants. We have eaten at several over the years and they were fine. However, we live in the western burbs of Chi-Town, so we have excellent restaurants all over the place. So, the WDW version of TS did not really pop as excellent for us. Combine that with the very high prices, and the fact that it locks you into a schedule, and takes a couple hours out of the day (planning around and walking too and eating and waiting for the check and then getting back into the action), it just does not do it for us.

But hey, I have pulled a PBJ out of my jacket pocket and had that for lunch more than once. It is not really a money thing. Sometimes that just sounds better than a couple hours of expensive TS, or QS again. Variety is the spice of life and all of that...

 

[sbgla]

My initial view of QS was that it was all Burgers and "Beige food" but with a bit of research you can find some decent options in QS. Puck Express, Contempo, Columbia Harbor House are a few of my favourites which have a few different options. Still enjoy my TS/Signatures though!

 

[jodim]

So funny! You surely need that TS meal. I would love to have you describe a buffet with said child!!!!!

Sounds like most kids to me lol

lol I am mother of the year. I bet I had the vote of every person who saw my child wearing his plate on his head!

I have to say your posts nailed it right on the head for most of us... your kiddo is a doll! Love the pic.

 

[loves to dive]

We mix and match and just go with the flow. We never book advance ADRs any earlier than the morning of. Most of the time we will be walking around and look at each other and say do you think we ought to eat something at some time today? Then we go with do you want to eat now or later? Then we go with, hop on MDE and see what's available at x time. Then it's where, here or somewhere else. Then it's either doesn't matter or I'm lazy so here. Then we go from there. If there is somewhere available in the very wide open parameters we've set for ourselves, we grab a TS, if not we walk around until one us claims we are going to faint if we don't eat something right now, at which point the other one will call the first one a baby or a whiny hiney or some other not nice name (mother and grown son) and will then say fine, we are going to eat right here. At which point we eat. We have been doing it this way since said son was just shy of 3 (yes, single mom here).

 

[Lisa F]

Sounds like most kids to me lol


I have to say your posts nailed it right on the head for most of us... your kiddo is a doll! Love the pic.

Lol I was a MUCH better parent before I actually had a child. I ALWAYS knew what to do in any given situation and my future children were going to obey me without question, eat their vegetables, and basically be as good as I was as a kid. I think I may have only gotten my wish on the last part

He is a sweetheart!

 

[Harambe]

We mix and match and just go with the flow. We never book advance ADRs any earlier than the morning of. Most of the time we will be walking around and look at each other and say do you think we ought to eat something at some time today? Then we go with do you want to eat now or later? Then we go with, hop on MDE and see what's available at x time. Then it's where, here or somewhere else. Then it's either doesn't matter or I'm lazy so here. Then we go from there. If there is somewhere available in the very wide open parameters we've set for ourselves, we grab a TS, if not we walk around until one us claims we are going to faint if we don't eat something right now, at which point the other one will call the first one a baby or a whiny hiney or some other not nice name (mother and grown son) and will then say fine, we are going to eat right here. At which point we eat. We have been doing it this way since said son was just shy of 3 (yes, single mom here).

hahaha - I wanna go on vacation with you guys! DH and I are now planning on our first trip without the kids for next time (probably in a few years). I see this as us at that point, although I will always have to have a few ideas for restaurants - either TS or CS - in mind that DH will like. He doesn't get involved with any of the planning, and now since Le Cellier was his one and only pick this year and was somewhat of a fail, he will gladly let me do the choosing!

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Agree with some of this. Places like D-Luxe Burger, Wolfgang Puck Express, some of the food courts at Disney resorts (Art of Animation), certainly come to mind.

We do the dining plan every year. It's just easier for a longer trip to do the meal plan. Plus, we put the vacation on a Disney Visa, so it's easier to pay it off over 6 months than pay as we go.

We have found, however, that we get a lot more satisfaction out of QS and it does wind up being too much food. My favorite day is often spent dining around EPCOT's World Showcase, followed by an ice cream at Beaches and Cream (or now, Ample Hills.)

Last trip, we never used a QS on a breakfast. In fact, we spent most days grabbing a snack at the French Bakery in WS or going to Boardwalk Bakery.

 

[FrancoFun]

We have our first-ever on-site trip coming up this summer and we are doing a mix of QS and TS. For us, it's more about the foods we're excited to try and somewhat less about the dining experience, though a few places were must-dos because of their location or decor. Hopefully it strikes a good balance for our family.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Via Napoli is pretty good...

But "best pizza ever"?!?

The only way you'd find the best pizza In wdw is if bought a plane ticket and flew there.

Not the place for pizza overall. You can get pizza anywhere that doesn't feature dominos and papa John's.

I've never been to Italy....but yes, for me it was the best pizza in disney. Hands down. And quite possibly the best pizza 'ever'. There's only one place in my hometown that comes close to it. Remember, this is MY opinion about Via. Im not speaking for everyone else.

The last thing I would call VN is "consistent". When they're "on", they're good, but I've had ungood pizza there several times. Very up and down.

Sorry you had a disappointing experience. For me they've been consistently delicious every single time. And I eat there every single trip.