ps's or counter service???? About This Page:

[kathy320]

My DH and I will be there in May(4 days in the park) should we do ps's or not waste any time and just do counter??? When we were there in Nov/dec we did a lot of ps's but we had our kids (2 and 5 1/2) We r trying to be budget concious( I know I spelled that wrong!!! *LOL*) so Any of the pricey meals are probably out. We do have an ap (me) so if that info helps with opinions there u go!!!

[mestitch]

When we went on our 4 day trip last Dec. we chose 2 PS's that we really wanted to do (both character meals) and then ate counter service the rest of our trip. We ended up only spending around $200 for dinner the first day, b/l/d the next 2 days, and breakfast the last day. All the counter service we ate at we enjoyed: At MK: Cosmic Rays, At MGM: Backlot Express (cranberry slaw ) At PORiverside we ate in the food court and had great 2 great breakfasts and a good burger one night (Quite possibly the drinks we enjoyed beforehand in the lounge helped the burger taste so good )

DH commented many times he was glad we didn't have so many PS's like we did the year before because we weren't in such a rush to meet a time... we were able to just go with the flow and do more.

[schroadmol]

How fun, I'm trying to convince my DH to do a quick trip with just the two of us!
how about one really nice meal (like CG ) and the rest Counter.
or what I always wanted to do, go to World Showcase and snack around the world! No PS's needed and you can try what you want.
Any park you are not going to hit, or are you going to all of them?

[Huntermom]

Since it's a trip without the kids and your kids are so young, I'd do one really nice sit down dinner and relax-maybe your last evening. Don't necessarily do a character meal but an adult meal-a place you'd be less likely to go to with little ones. Maybe dress up a little and not worry about little fingers.

The rest of the time you can worry about money and do counter service, maybe trying more adult places.

[kathy320]

We will be in epcot on thursday....( which right now has e eve hours).we will probably have time for dinner and then we are sharing an illuminations cruise!!!!!!On Friday morning, we r doing the KOTKT. maybe ak on sat and mgm on sun(also e eve hours)

[chezp]

I agree with the idea of trying one more adult orientated restaurant that you wouldn't normally get to with the kids and then doing counter service the rest of the time. Perhaps the California Grill? We love it there.

[Jennifer2003]

Our last trip was on a tight budget, and we only ate counter service with 3 exceptions:

Lunch at Mama Melrose
Lunch at Le Cellier
Dinner at Perkins

Eating lunch in a sit down WDW resturant will save you money!!!!

Jennifer

[ftwildernessguy]

We always do a combination of PS and counter service. We have our favorite places to eat every trip, developed through trial and error over the years. At AK, we like Tusker's or Flame Tree - both counter service. At EPCOT, we like Biergarten - PS. So it depends on where we are and what we like. By the way, our kids are now older and last February DW and I took our first trip to WDW alone. It was GREAT!!!! Oh.....but don't tell my kids.

[LisaJ]

There's nothing wrong with just goin' counter. It can really creat a "non-rushed" feel.

I echo the posts of the others, though, and feel that maybe one nice adult dinner sans kids is in order.

[WillCAD]

When I go solo I mostly eat counter service, but I always try to work in one or two nice sit-down places.

Jennifer is right; lunch at the sit-down places is much cheaper than dinner at the sit-down places, so you could try scheduling a couple of sit-down lunches instead of dinners and have the best of both worlds (nice place, not a budget buster).

[kv3291]

When we go, we usually do a sit-down lunch as our big meal of the day. That way we get a snack in the morning (take some breakfast food for in your room)and get a snack in the evening and do just 1 big meal. And, lunch tends to be less expensive in the sit-downs. Maybe try an Epcot sit-down for lunch. Since you have an AP, you can purchase the disney dining for $50 and for 1 year it gives you 20% off most sit-down meals. If you are planning to go again with the family and do more character dining this might be a good investment and you could start using it with your alone trip.

[kathy320]

Cantina san angel sounds good!!!! I can hear those margarita's calling my name already!!!!

[Luv2plan]

I just wanted to second everyone else's good advice - like someone else mentioned we also like to "go with the flow" by not having too many PS's and it never hurts to ask about availability if you change your mind. We've also definitely tried the "eat lunch at a fancier place" to save money approach with Coral Reef last year for just DH & I and we got out of there a lot cheaper than we would have at dinner. There's so many great counter service places that serve a lot more than burgers (anything in WS, Tusker House at AK, Columbia Harbor House in MK) that I'm sure you'll still have lots of great choices!!

[clio]

When we go, we usually eat mostly at counter serve places and eat at only one sit down place. We like to go withe the flow. Some of our favorites are Columbia Harbor House, Backlot Express, Tusker House,Cosmic Ray's and Yakatori House. They all have a lot of different foods besides the usual hamburgers.
Clio

[kathy320]

great.i think that"s what we will do....more counter and 1-2 ps's!!!!!!!!!!!!11