Here are 10 mistakes not to make at Table Service Restaurants (unfortunately I have made many of these so I am speaking from experience):
1. Don’t book breakfast reservations between 9 AM – 10:30 AM – Unless you are planning on a non-park day, don’t book breakfast reservations between 9 AM – 10:30 AM. This is the prime time to ride attractions with little to no wait and you don’t want to burn that time sitting in a restaurant.
2. Don’t assume restaurants aren’t open before the park is – Each park has a restaurant or two that serves breakfast before the park officially opens. If you book one of these reservations, you’ll have the opportunity to make it into the park before it opens. You’ll be able to score some awesome pictures of your family in the nearly empty park.
3. Don’t spend dining credits on breakfast – In order to break even on the dining plan, you need to spend at least $46.20 on a Table-Service meal. Most breakfasts do not cost that much. Instead, I recommend you pay out of pocket for your table service breakfast and use your dining credits at other meals.
4. Don’t assume you won’t have to wait because you have a reservation – Your reservation time for Disney restaurants is just reserving your family a table around that time frame. You’ll usually have to wait a few minutes for the table to turn over from the previous guest. I always warn my family that we will be waiting 10-20 minutes before we arrive to avoid the whining.
5. Don’t assume you have to arrive at your exact reservation time – You can usually check-in about 15 minutes before your reservation time. We usually do this to put us at the front of the line of everyone who has a reservation at the same time as we do.
6. Don’t assume that your tween has to order from the adult menu – Disney begins to charge adult prices for children as soon as they turn 10 years old. Don’t assume this means that they aren’t allowed to order from the kid’s menu. If you aren’t on the dining plan, they can order from this menu without it being a waste of money for you. If you are on the dining plan, ask the waiter to prepare an adult portion of the kid’s meal. It is still a very bad value for the dining plan (I actually do not recommend the dining plan to families with kids 10-12 years old who do not have adult sized appetites because you will end up wasting money) but the kids will be happy. Those who are not on the dining plan can also request an adult portion of the kids meal too.
7. Don’t assume you have to get dessert – If you are on the dining plan, it automatically comes with dessert. If you aren’t in the mood for sweets, ask the server if there is something you can substitute the dessert credit for. Sometimes it’s an extra side or even an appetizer. It never hurts to ask!
8. Don’t assume you can’t ask for your food to go – Restaurants will box up your leftovers if you would like to take them back to your room. Just ask!
9. Don’t assume you can’t have a drink to go – If you are thirsty, be sure to ask for a drink to go. This will help you stay hydrated in the hour following your meal.
10. Don’t assume you don’t have to tip 18-20% – Disney servers work hard for their tips. Don’t assume just because the meal is already expensive that you can skip out on the tip. Remember they are watching…always watching!
Learn more about Walt Disney World Dining and get suggestions for where to eat, how to use the Disney Dining Plan and more.
I don’t recommend the Dining Plan to anyone who isn’t going to either eat a character meal (they’re EXPENSIVE!) or order steak or salmon at every meal. You will never eat what the plan costs unless you order THE most expensive thing on the menu at every single meal.
I went through the menus (and prices) of all the places we’d be dining at this year, including the quick service places. I discovered that with one child and one adult, the Dining Plan was costing me $300 more than I would pay out of pocket (we had no character meals on this year’s agenda). I quickly called Disney to cancel the dining plan.
Before we had our daughter we always got the DDP. One year we decided not to cause we thought we’d save money. Got home and totaled it all up. Spent exactly what we would have spent on the DDP and didn’t get nearly as many snacks or drinks as we would have had we gotten it. We regretted not getting it.
Now with a child it’s a totally different game until she’s old enough to figure out what kind of eater she’ll be.
#3, is that number regardless of family size? My family of 7 could probably hot that number easily so I am curious.
I think it means 39.50 per person should be spent on a Table Service meal if one is to break even on the dining plan.