Dana Stanley 00:00:01 I asked you your biggest Disney dining questions and I have to say, these questions were really good. In today's episode, we're covering everything from character meals and quick service favorites, or lack thereof in certain cases, to the dining plan and how dining reservations could actually affect your lightning lane strategy. If you've ever had a question about dining in Disney World, especially with kids, you're in the right place. Hello and welcome to The Laid-Back Magic Way podcast. I'm your host, Dana Stanley, creator of Laid-Back Magic. As a mom of three, I know how tough it can be to find time to plan a Disney World trip that doesn't leave you feeling stressed or overwhelmed. That's why I'm here to help moms like you create Disney vacations that feel even better than they look on paper. Here, we're not chasing perfection, but creating our next favorite memories. So whether you're brand new to Disney or looking to go deeper into the details, this podcast is your go to for simple tips, mindset shifts, real life trip recaps and expert insights to make your trip magical and manageable.

Dana Stanley 00:01:05 New episodes drop every Monday, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss a moment. Okay, let's dive in. So the first question comes from Hailey, and she asked how many character dining meals would you plan for within your trip? Would you recommend they all be breakfast, dinner, or a mix of both? I can speak to both sides of this because I tend to book more character meals than I need to for like research purposes, and I've realized I definitely prefer less character dining on our trips 1 or 2 tops. That being said, it really depends on each experience. So for example, storybook dining is only for dinner at night versus Toledo's is only at breakfast in the morning. So they're like night and day different. Neither of them are buffets, so they're a much different experience than, let's say, if I booked three character buffets in the same trip. And it also comes down to like what characters are where like, for example, I'd be more inclined to book one princess meal and then one like Mickey meal versus two Mickey meals.

Dana Stanley 00:02:14 I hope that makes sense. I always decide breakfast, lunch, and dinner after sketching out all of our park plans too, so that I can factor in things like early flights, really long days, maybe with fireworks at the end, or if it's the middle of summer and there's peak key, I might be more inclined to book a lunch so that I can get a break when it's like the hottest in the day, because I know I'll need an air conditioning break in the middle of July, so there's no hard rule. But let's just say for like a 6 or 7 day trip, I'm going to book 1 or 2 character meals for the entire time with a mix of the meal types, depending on when the characters are there. Angela hit me with a hard one of what are Dana's thoughts on the dining plan? So I'm going to try to keep this really short because I have a lot of thoughts and feelings. But to me, there are two reasons to use the dining plan. One is to save money, especially when Disney has like free dining plan promotions, and two is to make budgeting easier and kind of make the trip feel more all inclusive.

Dana Stanley 00:03:22 Like I already paid for my food and now I can relax for us. When we've used the dining plan, neither of these played out. It didn't save us any money, and I hated thinking about snack credits and whether a meal used 1 or 2 dining credits. It ended up being way too much food and honestly not how we eat. My husband and I will share a lot, or sometimes, like I'll get a kid's meal. My kids always share a meal. My daughter's right now, so it didn't work out of how we eat. It was just too much food. And then for cost, could you make the dining plan save you money? Yes, but it requires a lot of prep ahead of time, down to planning every single snack. How much the snack costs. That's not something I have the bandwidth for, especially while I'm there and when I've priced it out. To use the free dining promo, you usually can't combine that with any other kind of promotion or savings on a package, so I'd still spend more booking through Disney with free dining versus if I rented DVC points, got my tickets separately and then just paid for my food out of pocket.

Dana Stanley 00:04:33 So if it's not saving me money or making my life easier, I'm going to skip it. Lindsay asked, should we book all of our plans in advance? Is it really that hard to get dining reservations once you're there? So my short answer is yes. Go ahead and book them. There's no harm in making a dining reservation, and you can cancel most of them two hours before, so there's no reason to not have something locked in. Now, that being said, someone like me that goes more often. I haven't really been booking 60 days in advance and I've been just checking like even the night before. I wouldn't say that this works for very popular places. Yes, things can open up. Yes, you can set dining alerts instead, but if there's somewhere you really want to eat and then on top of it, it's popular. I'd 100% be getting that 60 days before at 6 a.m.. Shelly asked a great question. Do dining reservations get in the way of your multi pass selections? And did this change your dining strategy at all? So yes and yes.

Dana Stanley 00:05:43 When you're booking your multi pass lightning lanes it's going to populate certain time slots that are available. It will not show a time slot that the app thinks is interfering with a dining reservation that you already have. So because it's all linked into your account, it will in its little computery way, say, hey, she has a 9 a.m. breakfast reservation. She's not going to be able to make a 9 a.m. Lightning Lane, which it's being smart, but this has completely changed how I've been making dining reservations because I don't want them interfering with my key ride selections. So before this change, I would sometimes have like a just in case breakfast reservation or something that I didn't have my heart necessarily set on. And I was still, you know, thinking about it now, I don't do that anymore and only have the dining reservations that I'm for sure want to go to. It's also made me be really thoughtful about breakfast reservations, in particular on park days, so I'd rather have my three pre-booked lightning lanes as close to park open as possible and then sit down for lunch.

Dana Stanley 00:06:56 So especially for a ride focused day, that's going to be my game plan. It's hard to say an exact number or time frame that Disney is blacking out around your dining reservation. For me, and when I've been toggling around, it seems like it's about 60 to 90 minutes of a dining reservation. So before you're pre-booking those lightning lanes, just do a little cleanup of your dining reservations and only keep what you're committed to. Brit asked my favorite spots for meals around the boardwalk resort area, so Trattoria Al Forno is always a solid choice. And then nearby Rosa mexicano over at the dolphin was actually surprisingly great for kids. It was kind of more lively, I would say. I mean, I think they're all great for kids, but if your kids are like mine, like chips and guacamole, they're happy campers. When you're done listening to this episode, go back. I think two episodes ago was all about Disney's Boardwalk, and I go into a lot more detail about food spots, and I think you'll find that really helpful.

Dana Stanley 00:08:06 Alexa asked, favorite quick service at Magic Kingdom? Can I skip this question? Magic Kingdom quick service is rough, and it's like the hardest thing for me. My husband thinks that cosmic rays is fun and like a kitschy kind of way. And every time we eat there, I'm like, we are never coming back here. So Cosmic Rays is great for, like, chicken nuggets and fries. Pecos Bill is probably my least disliked option, so I guess I would put Pecos Bill at the top. That being said, when we are in Magic Kingdom and I am forced to go the quick service option, I usually base my choice off of just where we are or where I know that we're going to be if we're by a haunted mansion. There's Columbia Harbor House If we're waiting for Tiana's to come back up, which is going to happen, Paco's Bills is perfect. Sidenote because I think they still have it. Last time we were at Pecos Bill's. They have a corn mousse. I shouldn't say that.

Dana Stanley 00:09:18 It's a, I believe, white chocolate raspberry mousse in the shape of corn. I know if you said that to me, I would never, ever order it. It was so good. Like, I want to go back just to get that mousse. It's wild. And I usually don't like things that don't have, like a crunchy texture. I don't know, I loved it, I don't know if I was just like, I had a hankering for something sweet, but it was like, cool. My daughter really likes raspberry, so she was like, in heaven about it, I don't know. Okay, yes, I'm looking at the menu now. Sweet corn mousse is what it's called and it is white chocolate and raspberry powder. It was really good. So yeah, there you go. I guess I'd say Paco's Pecos Bill's is probably my favorite, but my advice would be to base it on where you are and then don't expect like, greatness here. Sara asked, Is Ohana worth it? Especially if you're staying far away, like at the boardwalk.

Dana Stanley 00:10:16 So Ohana is at the Polynesian and has a character breakfast with Lilo, stitch, Mickey and Pluto. But then they also have dinner with no characters that served like family style. I have a long history with Ohana. It was one of our families, especially my brother in law. Whenever we would be making dining reservations, he wanted to have dinner at Ohana. It was his favorite. So now, in recent years since reopening from the closures, I don't love Ohana for dinner at all. Definitely for me. Not worth the trip for dinner, especially coming from the boardwalk now. That being said, if you're referring to breakfast, it gets a little bit of a slight pass for me because it's the only regular spot to meet. Stitch and I have an eight year old. And when you are eight, it's I don't know. Something happens where you get an expander and you fall in love with stitch. So my daughter is obsessed with him right now. We ate at Ohana for breakfast on our last trip just for that reason.

Dana Stanley 00:11:22 That is the only reason I would go or go back again. Used to love it. You used to think it was great. Now just the food has not been good. It feels very outdated to me lately. Depending on what table you get, it can feel very dark, which we've had. Kind of just like random bad luck where we weren't seated by a window like the last 2 or 3 times we were there. And the again, the food is like, meh. And it's very expensive. So unless you have a stitch fan, unless you are staying at the Polynesian and you want something convenient where you are, I wouldn't be going out of my way for it. Kelsey asked. Best way to do dining in Epcot. Like more snacks? Quick service? Or are the sit downs worth it? So I go back and forth with dining and Epcot, and it really just depends on the age of your kids, I think. So if they're pretty self-sufficient and out of that, like wild toddler age.

Dana Stanley 00:12:25 I prefer snacking around the World showcase more and doing like quick service meals, but I've kind of been dreading that, and I end up not being able to do that when the kids are little. And it's funny because the park is more known. I feel like for just great food and like it's restaurants because each country has its own restaurant, there really is a ton of options and I've enjoyed meals at most of them, but nothing like insanely out of this world to me. Via Napoli, chef de France base Space to 20 Spice Road Table and the restaurants in Mexico. I've had decent slash good fine meals, but it's been kind of a linear move to me versus quick service, with the exception that with these sit down restaurants there's like a server taking care of you. I'd say Epcot is the park where 99% of the time we are getting quick service. I get most excited for the quick service and Epcot out of all the other parks. So my favorite is La Cantina de San Angel. I'm not even going to say that again.

Dana Stanley 00:13:41 In Mexico, I usually plan our day so that we're around that area during lunch time because we just all like it there. My kids like it there. I like sitting on the water. We grab a margarita. It's just one of our favorite spots. Now, if we're towards the front of the park, Connections eatery is just fine and great. and air conditioning and plenty of seats were near a bathroom. So I also really like that spot. If we end up writing guardians around that time and we're switching off as adults, that's like the perfect location. So I don't think there's a right or wrong way. I would love to just snack around the World Showcase. I've just haven't been able to do it. You know, you're waiting in line, you're waiting for your food, and then you have the double stroller. And I mean, you can do it. And I think it's great, like as a truly a snack. But if you're going in the summer when it's like hotter than even hot, I would prefer to do a sit down lunch just because you get to have some more time in the air conditioning, and you don't have to be like up and down, up and down, grabbing things every two seconds with the kids.

Dana Stanley 00:14:54 Next question is from Heather. She asked, best dining in the parks for vegetarians. Options feel so limited and we can only eat so much cheese pizza. Maybe it's because I'm not vegetarian that I'm surprised you say this because I feel like there's a lot of vegetarian options. That being said, I would say that Animal Kingdom has and I could be wrong, but I feel like they have maybe the most vegetarian options Epcot's connexions has. I know a black bean burger docking Bay seven in Hollywood Studios has falafel. And don't overlook Roundup Rodeo barbecue in Hollywood studios because you might think like, oh, it's barbecue. I can't eat there. It's going to be all meat. But they do have a plant based option. So like, you would just get an entire platter of their versions of plant based meat like bratwurst. And most of the sides are already vegetarian beans, corn, watermelon, salad, that kind of stuff. Quick service is going to be harder for sure. If you look at any of the menus, you'll see a section that says plant based and that's going to be for you.

Dana Stanley 00:16:01 I'll leave a link in the show notes with all of the plant based options in Disney World. Because I think looking at menus ahead of time is going to be like your favorite thing. The least amount of like vegetarian dishes are in Disney Springs, believe it or not. Tanya asked. Slash said allergies. You must talk about how amazing Disney is with food allergies, but reiterate that Disney Springs restaurants are not Disney owned. Yes, and Tonya, I really am waiting to have a guest on here. More about this, because I don't think anyone can give good advice on allergies without having kids with allergies. I can't imagine how stressful that would be. As like an additional layer to planning for Disney. From my perspective, I know that Disney is good with allergies because we get asked about three times per meal even after we say no, we don't multiple times, which is like a great sign to touch on the Disney Springs part of it. Yes, the majority of restaurants in Disney Springs aren't owned by Disney.

Dana Stanley 00:17:09 I think the only spot they're owned by Disney is Jack's Hanger Bar, because its online menu does have allergen information on there. That's like a I don't know if you want to call it. It's not a red flag, but that's a good place to start if you're trying to tell if a restaurant is owned by Disney is if they're not, they're most likely not going to have any mention of allergens on their menu. So like boathouse T-Rex, they don't have anything on there. They will also most likely have a separate website on its own like that you can book on OpenTable. Then that's another sign that it's not owned by Disney, because there are lots of other restaurants, like in Epcot around the World Showcase, that aren't going to be owned by Disney, Yak and Yeti, and Animal Kingdom is owned by Landry's. So if you're concerned about that from I trust Disney, I want it to be owned by Disney. You will have to do a little bit of research ahead of time. I have a lot of friends that go to Disney specifically because they feel so safe with food allergies there.

Dana Stanley 00:18:20 And again, I can't speak to that personally. And if you want me to interview someone, definitely hit me up on Instagram and let me know who you feel like is an expert in that field. So let's do some rapid fire final questions here. We have a question from Terry. Is a reservation really needed for Oga's if we just want a fun drink? So yeah, for Oga's I'd still book a reservation even for drinks. I mean, it's not a restaurant. They have cocktails and some small plates, but yes, I would not depend on just walking up and grabbing a drink because it is popular. Sofia asked scheduling tips for dining at other resorts, so I feel like we usually end up taking like a special trip outside of our resort to eat at a restaurant, usually on like an Animal Kingdom day, because we're early to start, early to finish. And if I am going to, let's say if I'm going from the boardwalk to citrus at Grand Floridian, we always take a rideshare like, I'm not going to do a multi bus journey that takes two hours to get to a dining reservation.

Dana Stanley 00:19:31 Another tip in terms of scheduling would be to consider having a dinner reservation around one of the monorail resorts before a fireworks night could be like a nice, easy stroll from, let's say, Contemporary or Grand Floridian over to Magic Kingdom, Reagan asked dining tips for a first time Disney trip to not feel overwhelmed, especially with toddlers. I always suggest starting with just one reservation a day. I don't think you need more than that. I don't necessarily think you absolutely have to have a reservation every day, but it does take the guesswork out of where are we eating three times a day? And when you have toddlers, you're just trying to make your life as easy as possible. So I like sitting down and having food brought to me. It's like a little bit of a break. I'm on vacation and I'm in charge of every single meal when we're home. So to me, being able to have those dining reservations already helps me feel not overwhelmed. So I would book your one meal a day. Have a game plan for the rest.

Dana Stanley 00:20:44 Prioritize air conditioning breaks, and don't overbook your sit downs. I want to mention too, that for us, I take every opportunity to eat at the nicest restaurants in Disney World because everywhere is used to kids. There will be kids everywhere you go, there will be high chairs, there will be kids meals. Everything is going to be catered to kids. So don't let a California Grill or Citrix Reservation scare you. Just do it. No one cares about your toddler. Jen asked me an impossible question. What's the best meal you've ever had at Disney? So I was thinking about this so much because it's been a while. I'll admit, it's been a while since I've had like that. Wow. Like this is amazing. I keep waiting for my next like, wow moment. That being said, the thing that popped into my mind. I'm reluctant to say because you can't get it anymore since the menu has changed. But since you asked, my memory of the best thing I ever had was at Tiffany's and Animal Kingdom, I had gotten the short rib.

Dana Stanley 00:21:58 It was some type of short rib. I remember it had some type of odd I saw this. Like when I read it, it didn't even sound like something that would be enjoyable. But this was like 2017. I have since gone back to Tiffins two times now and they change the menu. Unfortunately. And really what made my heart sank was I overheard a cast member talking to someone who asked, you know, I want to order this, but is it going to be too spicy? And he kind of rolled his eyes and said, no, like they Americanized the menu. Nothing's too spicy. And I was like, no, I love spicy food. I like a lot of flavor. I like spicy stuff. So I do want to go back and give it a chance. I still enjoy Tiffins and any of the Animal Kingdom Lodge or park restaurants usually tend to be my favorite, probably for that reason of flavor. But yeah, you asked. That's my biggest memory was the Tiffin short rib in 2017.

Dana Stanley 00:23:05 That is a wrap on today's Disney Dining Q&A. If you found this helpful, let me know over on Instagram I'm at at somewhere worthwhile. And if you're looking for more ways to plan your trip without losing your mind, I have all of my dining recommendations and favorited hearted inside laid back magic, where I show you how to make all these dining reservations and what to do when you don't get them. I'll see you next time. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of The Laid Back Magic Way Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode and it was helpful for you, it would mean the world to me if you'd write a quick review. Your reviews help more moms like you find the show, and I read every single one of them. Seriously. Thank you in advance. You can find me on Instagram @somewhereworthwhile and I'd love to hear from you there. DM me if you have any questions about this episode or what you'd like to see in future ones. Until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I'll see you next time.