One of the number one ways that I hear people attempting to cut down on the expense of a Disney trip, is by limiting the food that they purchase in Park and avoiding Table Service Restaurants in exchange for Quick Service meals or homemade peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I do agree that Disney dining does add up fast, and if one is not paying attention, could be shocked by how much they pay for food and drinks by the end of their trip. However, I also believe that dining and snacks are a big part of the fun, and to completely cut them out, dims quite a bit of the magic of one's trip.
Here, I will lay out for you, when it might be worth it to penny pinch on dining and when the high price tag is worth much more than just the meal given to you.
1) Understanding the Expenses of Table Service Dining
Table Service meals have more than one expense connected to them.
First, they take up much more time than Quick Service Dining.
Time is precious in Disney World and if you only have a limited amount of time in a certain park, it may not make sense to dedicate a full 2 hours to sitting in a restaurant rather than riding all of the rides.
Another consideration is timing any Lightening Lanes or Virtual Queues around Table Service reservations. Dining reservations are made 60 days prior to your trip, while Lightening Lanes and Virtual Queues are booked day of. Therefore, you are at the mercy of whatever time your dining reservation is already set at when planning out those extras.
Finally, I would not recommend choosing a Table Service meal, if the only reservation you are able to get is at a time that conflicts with a Nighttime Event or Show. For example, one of our favorite in-park Table Service restaurants is Liberty Tree Tavern at Magic Kingdom. However, if the only dining reservation we were able to get was at 8:00pm and the nighttime fireworks show was scheduled for 8:20pm, I would choose to forego the dining reservation. An exception to this, would be if you were spending multiple days at Magic Kingdom, and therefore had multiple chances to see the once-nightly fireworks show.
Second, Table Service meals can be much pricier than Quick Service.
Some Table Service restaurants are menu based and allow you to pay for the items that you order, while others are price fixed and typically cost around $50-$60 per adult, not including alcohol. You can check prices of specific Table Service restaurants at DisneyWorld.com.
One tip that I typically follow myself, especially on longer trips, is to limit myself to one Table Service meal per day. If I plan a Table Service dinner, I try to have Quick Service meals for breakfast and dinner. However, that tactic does not always work on shorter trips, because there are too many Table Service meals that I want to squeeze into a short period of time. In those instances, I tend to have a Table Service "brunch" around 11am, skip lunch, and then have a Table Service dinner. You'll find that Table Service breakfast is usually an all-you-can eat buffet or family style and you won't have room for lunch anyways. If you do get hungry mid-afternoon, you'll feel less guilty about grabbing a fun snack like a Mickey pretzel or a Dole Whip!
2) The Experience of some Table Service Restaurants is Worth the Extra Expense
Now I will preface that when I visit Table Service restaurants, there are only two of us adults. I am aware that if we were to have multiple children, it would be much less affordable, and I am sure my strategy towards in-park dining would change drastically. that being said, a lot of Disney park goers are willing to look past the high-ticket price of a Table Service restaurant for a few different reasons.
First, is if the restaurant is brand new or has great theming. For example, Roundup Rodeo BBQ recently opened in Hollywood Studios. I was extremely excited to be able to try it, as we were coincidentally going to Hollywood Studios less than one month after it opened. To get a grasp on prices, RoundUp Rodeo BBQ is an all-you-can-eat family style meal costing $45 per adult. I personally thought this price was great for the very detailed Toy Story theming of the restaurant and the large amount of food given to you. We were both stuffed when we left, and could have easily made that a combined lunch and dinner meal.
Second, is the amount of food provided at a Table Service Restaurant. A lot of Table Service meals are all-you-can-eat. While that could be problematic if you have a Lightening Lane for a thrill ride immediately following the reservation (been there, done that), you also can be sure that you are getting the most for your dollar and leave feeling satisfied.
Third and possibly the most fun reason that people may look past the high price of a Table Service Restaurant- it is the only way to attend Character Dining. At character meals, you are mostly paying for the experience and the chance to interact with the characters. Due to this, character meals are often the most expensive of the Table Service restaurants. However, to completely swear off Character Dining due to the price takes away a lot of magic from the trip. I try to plan at least one character meal per trip to Disney. We don't usually wait in line to meet characters in the parks, so this is our opportunity for some face-to-face interaction with the characters and to snap some up close photos.
3) In-Park Recommendations
Everyone has their own preferences, but when it comes to in-park dining, here are some tips of Table Service and Quick Service restaurants that I recommend and discourage:
Magic Kingdom:
In my opinion, Magic Kingdom offers the weakest selection for Table Service dining. The only Table Service restaurant that I recommend, and think is worth the expense is Liberty Tree Tavern, for the simple reason that the food is delicious. Liberty Tree Tavern is all-you-can-eat family style restaurant that costs $40 per adult and honestly has the most appetizing food in the entire park. Besides this restaurant, I do not think you are missing out on any magic by choosing Quick Service for your other meals. Additionally, Magic Kingdom has the most rides out of any park, an afternoon parade, and a nightly fireworks show. Having a Table Service meal in Magic Kingdom could prevent you from experiencing all that this particular park has to offer.
Be Our Guest is a Table Service restaurant in Magic Kingdom that is quite popular due to the amazing Beauty and the Beast theming. However, it was a one and done experience for me. This was a price fixed menu costing $67 per adult, with options that were not the most appealing. In my opinion, the cost was way too high to be limited to selections that you may not even be interested in. There is a slight character element, in that the Beast occasionally walks throughout the castle, with no opportunity to take photos with him. It is a cool experience, but I do not think the expense is worth multiple visits.
Hollywood Studios:
I used to think the Hollywood Studios had the worst dining line up of all the parks. There were no Table Service restaurants that I thought had theming or menus that made the additional expense worth it. Before the opening of Roundup Rodeo BBQ, we would resort to personal pizza Quick Service at PizzeRizzo (pretending it was still Pizza Planet and trying not to think about the disappointing change in theming from Toy Story to the Muppets). However, now that Roundup Rodeo BBQ has opened, I consider it to be a must-do at Hollywood Studios. As I mentioned above, the theming is awesome, the food is plentiful, and the price is extremely reasonable.
Besides Roundup Rodeo BBQ, there are no other Table Service Restaurants worth recommending. In fact, none of the Quick Service Restaurants are anything to rave about either. Hollywood Studios is easily a half day park, so I would go so far as to recommend taking the skyliner to the boardwalk area for a meal, or park hopping to Epcot for a bite later in the day. Sorry Hollywood Studios!
Animal Kingdom
This is the one park that I always get a meal at a particular Quick Service Restaurant- the Flame Tree BBQ. This Quick Service restaurant has great pulled pork and is a must-do everytime we go to Animal Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom is also home to a great Character Dining Table Service Restaurant, Tusker House. This restaurant has very cool safari theming, and you truly feel like you are in Africa whilst dining. It offers a buffet where breakfast will cost you $45 per adult and dinner will cost you $60 per adult. However, you get to meet all the classic characters- Donald, Daisy, Mickey, Goofy- all decked out in their safari outfits. I personally prefer the breakfast over the dinner, as the dinner is traditional African foods, which may not be as appetizing to picky eaters as a classic Mickey Waffle.
Epcot
This Park has way too many restaurants to write about. In my opinion, the majority of the fun of Epcot is eating and drinking in all of the different countries. To that point, and this may not be popular opinion, but you should not go to Epcot if you are trying to save on dining. It will not be fun walking past restaurant after restaurant and not stopping to try anything. The Magic of Epcot unfortunately comes from spending even more money on the food and drink offered there, and that is a reality that has to be accepted if you want to go to that particular park. To make the most of this, I personally think it is best, both for your wallet and your stomach, to grab snacks as you walk around the World, rather than try to have one large meal at one particular Table Service Restaurant.
That being said, there is one Table Service Restaurant that we love, and my boyfriend has proclaimed as his favorite restaurant in ALL of Disney. Le Cellier Steakhouse, located in the Canada pavilion, is pretty pricy costing around $50-$60 a steak, but the food is delicious. You can sample some traditional Canadian poutine and the steak is cooked perfectly. While this is not a restaurant that I would recommend for every trip to Epcot, it is nice for a special occasion. Most recently we went to celebrate my 30th birthday and they even brought out a complimentary dessert for the occasion!
When planning trips to Disney, many people think that they can "beat" the cost of Disney by bringing their own food, or only eating at the cheapest restaurants. I hope this post shows that while you may be saving some money, it really takes away from the experience of your Disney trip. Instead, have a dining strategy going into your trip and focus on only spending money on the restaurants that are truly worth the extra expense!
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