Spring Break 2024 / 5 adults + 2 kids

[jrmint427]

Welcome to my latest pre-trip report! We are so excited to be heading to WDW for Spring Break this year. This will be our first trip this time of the year, so we're a little nervous about potential crowds - but we have been to Disney for NYE and Thanksgiving in the past, and we're tied to the school schedule now, so we're as prepared as we can be.

This will be our family of four's 5th trip to WDW! We love our Disney trips and are thankful we've gotten to take the kids as often as we have. I went twice as a child, Pat went three times, and we went together twice as adults before we had kids (I ran the Disney Marathon in 2012 and completed the Goofy Challenge in 2013). There's no question at this point, we are a Disney family!



We'll be traveling with three grandparents this trip. Our group of seven has traveled together on two of our past four trips, so we know we travel well together and love that the girls get this quality time with their grandparents too. We took our first trip together in 2017 as a full group. The girls were 1 and 3 at the time (our oldest turned 3 on that trip):



We had such a great time, we planned a return trip for Thanksgiving in 2018. Only Pat's mom went with us on that trip, when the girls were 2 and 4:



In 2019 we thought about traveling to other places but decided that Disney is the perfect destination for our kids' ages (and it was in driving distance, and going the week before she turned 3 meant our youngest would be free), so we went back again. All three grandparents joined us for that trip when the girls were turning 3 and 5:



We had decided that we would take a year off from Disney after that to travel other places and were tentatively planning to return for Spring Break 2021. I know it's an old story by now, but for obvious reasons, that trip never happened. We made our return to Disney in June 2022 with just my parents (I'm still finishing up that trip report), when the girls were 5 and 7:



While we had a fantastic time, that was our first summer trip and we found the heat was tough to handle. Now that we're tied to the school calendar, our options are Spring Break or summer, unless we want to take the girls out of school for a full week. But given that we are both oldest children who are mostly rule followers, taking them out for a half day on our travel day is about the most we're willing to do right now. I know Christmas is technically an option, but we are always either traveling to see family or have family traveling to see us, so that week is out. This is how we landed on Spring Break 2024 for our next trip. The girls will be 7 and 9, so this is our last trip before our oldest is considered a Disney adult

Follow along to help me with some of the final planning details! I appreciate this community so much to allow me to obsess over the details with other Disney fans, and not drive my family too crazy in my excitement leading up to our trip.

 

[jrmint427]

Table of Content

Cast of Characters
Where We're Staying
Overview of the Trip
ADRs
Disney Dining Plan
Travel / Arrival Day

 

[iheartbelle87]

Welcome to my latest pre-trip report! We are so excited to be heading to WDW for Spring Break this year. This will be our first trip this time of the year, so we're a little nervous about potential crowds - but we have been to Disney for NYE and Thanksgiving in the past, and we're tied to the school schedule now, so we're as prepared as we can be.

This will be our family of four's 5th trip to WDW! We love our Disney trips and are thankful we've gotten to take the kids as often as we have. I went twice as a child, Pat went three times, and we went together twice as adults before we had kids (I ran the Disney Marathon in 2012 and completed the Goofy Challenge in 2013). There's no question at this point, we are a Disney family!

View attachment 831331

We'll be traveling with three grandparents this trip. Our group of seven has traveled together on two of our past four trips, so we know we travel well together and love that the girls get this quality time with their grandparents too. We took our first trip together in 2017 as a full group. The girls were 1 and 3 at the time (our oldest turned 3 on that trip):

View attachment 831333

We had such a great time, we planned a return trip for Thanksgiving in 2018. Only Pat's mom went with us on that trip, when the girls were 2 and 4:

View attachment 831335

In 2019 we thought about traveling to other places but decided that Disney is the perfect destination for our kids' ages (and it was in driving distance, and going the week before she turned 3 meant our youngest would be free), so we went back again. All three grandparents joined us for that trip when the girls were turning 3 and 5:

View attachment 831336

We had decided that we would take a year off from Disney after that to travel other places and were tentatively planning to return for Spring Break 2021. I know it's an old story by now, but for obvious reasons, that trip never happened. We made our return to Disney in June 2022 with just my parents (I'm still finishing up that trip report), when the girls were 5 and 7:

View attachment 831339

While we had a fantastic time, that was our first summer trip and we found the heat was tough to handle. Now that we're tied to the school calendar, our options are Spring Break or summer, unless we want to take the girls out of school for a full week. But given that we are both oldest children who are mostly rule followers, taking them out for a half day on our travel day is about the most we're willing to do right now. I know Christmas is technically an option, but we are always either traveling to see family or have family traveling to see us, so that week is out. This is how we landed on Spring Break 2024 for our next trip. The girls will be 7 and 9, so this is our last trip before our oldest is considered a Disney adult

Follow along to help me with some of the final planning details! I appreciate this community so much to allow me to obsess over the details with other Disney fans, and not drive my family too crazy in my excitement leading up to our trip.

following! can’t wait to hear more! and your girls are adorable

 

[Paulaparm]

Following along! So nice to travel with the grandparents. We did that a few times when the kids were younger. Now our kids are grown and having babies and sometimes my parents still come with us.

 

[jrmint427]

following! can’t wait to hear more! and your girls are adorable

Yay! And thank you!

Following along! So nice to travel with the grandparents. We did that a few times when the kids were younger. Now our kids are grown and having babies and sometimes my parents still come with us.

Glad you're here! We are so lucky to get to travel with the grandparents. I hope our family is like yours and continues to bring new generations to Disney together!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Following!!!! Sounds like you have the right mindset- we’ve done Spring Break at Disney and it’s totally manageable!!!

 

[jrmint427]

Cast of Characters

I'm Jessica, the trip planner for our family. This will be my 9th trip to Disney. My favorite park is Animal Kingdom because of how beautiful it is. I love the vibe, the animals, the shows, and two of my favorite rides are there (Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest). When our girls were younger, AK was a two day park for us. My other favorite rides are Tower of Terror and Space Mountain. I might need to add Guardians and Rise of the Resistance (the final part) to my list after our last trip, but I have only been on each once so far. My favorite table service is the Snow White dinner at Artist Point. My favorite quick service is the tofu at Satu'li Canteen (the girls and I are vegetarians). My favorite snack is the I Lava You Float (previously it was Redd's Revenge).

My husband Pat has grown in his love of Disney over the years of our family trips. He even spent our last road trip listening to Disney podcasts with me all day! This will be his 10th trip to Disney. His favorite Disney park is also Animal Kingdom. He says it's because of the landscaping and theming, and he also loves FOP and EE. His favorite rides are FOP and Tower of Terror. His favorite table service is the Snow White dinner and his favorite table service is Satu'li Canteen. I asked him his favorites after writing mine above and realize we are basically the same when it comes to Disney. When I asked him what his favorite snack was, he said, "That fruity drink at MK near Pirates" - referring to the I Lava You Float



Our kids will be 7 and 9 on this trip, and this will be their 5th trip. They are both planners like me and have been more interested in talking about the details for this trip. We've watched videos together, DD7 (who was DD5 last time, I know this gets confusing!) has even watched videos with me on Genie+ strategies! They've both watched a lot of ride videos too, to help them decide in advance which rides they are willing to go on.

DD9's favorite Disney park is Animal Kingdom because of the animals. Her favorite rides are Rise of the Resistance, Magic Carpets, and the Safari. Her favorite table service is Boma. Her favorite snack is frozen lemonade.

DD7's favorite Disney park is Magic Kingdom because it has the most rides. Her favorite rides are It's a Small World, Peter Pan and Ratatouille. Her favorite table service is Topolino's. Her favorite snack is any kind of ice cream.



This will be our 4th trip with my parents (who also took me twice when I was little).

My mom's favorites:

• Park: Magic Kingdom
• Ride: FOP
• Table service: Topolino's
• Quick service: Woody's Lunch Box
• Snack: frozen lemonade

My dad's favorite:

• Park: He provided his order - Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot & Hollywood Studios
• Ride: Peter Pan
• Table service: Topolino's
• Quick service - Satu'li Canteen
• Snack: Mickey soft pretzel

We're also traveling with Pat's mom. This will be our fourth trip with her too (plus the three Pat's family went on when he was little). Last I asked, her favorite park was Animal Kingdom. Her favorite rides were FOP and the Safaris. I think she would say her favorite snack is the Mickey ice cream bar (she always shares one with the girls).

 

[jrmint427]

Following!!!! Sounds like you have the right mindset- we’ve done Spring Break at Disney and it’s totally manageable!!!

I'm so glad to hear that! How did the crowds compare to other busy times?

 

[jrmint427]

Where We're Staying

When we first started planning this trip, my sister expressed interest in finally joining us for a Disney trip after hearing me rave about Disney for years. Shortly after that, our other sibling and their significant other expressed potential interest in joining, so I booked a 6-bedroom Airbnb (similar cost) in case they were able to join. It was going to be a large group (10) but would have been fun to have everyone together!

My only ask was that everyone commit ahead of the ADR booking date because I worried some reservations would be difficult for a group of 10, but would adjust our plans as needed if everyone was going. We had also talked about looking into other options if our group was smaller, but the Airbnb (which would also require a rental van) made more sense if everyone was going. I had until early February to cancel the Airbnb if needed. Well, my sister got an awesome new job offer that was going to limit her vacation time in the first few months, so she was out. Our other sibling decided to not go either, preferring to find a time when we could all get together later in the year. We did end up booking a summer trip instead for our whole family (not Disney)!

We considered keeping the 6-bedroom Airbnb; we only needed 4 bedrooms, but it came with a pool and hot tub at the house and was located in a resort community that had a lazy river and other fun amenities. However, it was 15-20+ minutes from the Disney parks and was going to require a rental van. I priced out a couple of on-site Disney options and the cost was going to be only a little bit more when you factored in the cost of the rental van. The perks of staying on property were the Disney transportation, earlier ADR and ILL bookings, staying in the Disney bubble (potentially with Disney theming), and it offered a little more flexibility if our group ever wanted to split up (e.g. some people going back to the hotel room earlier some nights vs. having to stay on the same schedule if we all drove in the same rental van). So we ultimately decided to switch over to Disney property!

We were debating between Art of Animation and Port Orleans (we stayed at Riverside before) and ultimately chose Art of Animation! It will be a new resort for us, really fun theming for the girls (we're staying in Little Mermaid rooms), and we're excited to use the Skyliner this trip. We visited Art of Animation last year to check it out and were really impressed. The girls loved the Nemo themed playground!



We also had fun walking around and taking pictures with the figures all over the property.





We can't wait to check out the music underwater at the Big Blue Pool, try the food at Lanscape of Flavors, and 5-year-old me would be over the moon about staying in a room entirely themed in Little Mermaid!

Please share any tips for staying at AoA, using the Skyliner there (how early do we need to be there for rope drop?? Is it really 1.5 hours before early entry when the Skyliner doesn't start running until an hour before?), food to try at LoF, and anything else we should check out while we're there!

 

[jrmint427]

Overview of the Trip

These are the high-level plans for our trip. It was tough to decide which parks would get a 2nd day and which would not!

Our kids are really into Harry Potter these days (I’m reading book 5 to them now), so we initially had planned to spend a day at Universal. My parents were going to skip it because there aren’t enough rides for them, so we priced out a day for the four of us and my MIL. When we added in the cost of food and wands (the whole reason the girls want to go), we were looking at $1,400 for ONE DAY. If we wanted to add in the express pass, it was going to be $1,900. The girls and I spent time watching ride videos to see which rides they would be willing to ride. The answer was, none of the Harry Potter rides. Or most other rides. I then priced out the cost of adding a 6th Disney park day instead, and it was ~$135 for the five of us. It was suddenly an easy decision to scrap the Universal day and add a 6th Disney park day instead. Just kidding, we really stressed over the decision, but I think we made the right choice. The girls were disappointed at first, but we told them we’ll do Universal when they’re a little older, and we know we will have just as much fun with an extra day at Disney.

Day 1 – Travel Day #1: We moved over the summer and now live several hours from a major airport (one of the toughest things about the move for me!), so we’re going to drive out the night before we travel.

Day 2 – Travel Day #2: We fly to Orlando in the morning. We plan to drop our luggage, eat lunch at Landscape of Flavors, hopefully swim (if the weather is good and we’re good on time), and then go to Disney Springs for the evening.

Day 3 – Epcot: We’re so excited to be back for the Flower & Garden Festival! We plan to rope drop and stay for Luminous

Day 4 – Hollywood Studios: For the first time in 5 trips, we plan to take a mid-day break to rest and maybe swim in the afternoon. We’re doing a Fantasmic dining package for lunch and plan to make it back for dinner and Fantasmic in the evening. For those who take mid-day breaks, are you usually glad to have had that rest time? Would you do Genie+ this day if we’re only going to be there in the morning and then later in the evening?

Day 5 – Magic Kingdom: This will be our full MK day, from rope drop to fireworks (hopefully!)

Day 6 – Rest Day: Sleep in, brunch, swim, dinner

Day 7 – Hollywood Studios: Since we will have done Fantasmic the previous HS day, our plan is to enjoy the day and leave when we’re tired (not necessarily stay for the evening show). We landed on a 2nd HS day because this was the only park we weren't able to do everything we wanted in one day on our last trip. I went back and forth and wonder if we should have done a second Epcot day, but our ADRs are set.

Day 8 – Animal Kingdom: Rope drop

Day 9 – Magic Kingdom: Going to play this one by ear and see how we’re feeling at the end of a long trip. Any bets on whether we will be up for another rope drop or want to sleep in?

Day 10 – Travel Home ☹

I tried to plan so we have a pattern of long day, shorter day, long day, rest day, then we have two semi-long days (thankfully AK closes at 6pm so that won’t be too long of a day), then a flexible day before heading home.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We are going for Spring Break as well, but I am guessing your spring break is different than ours. We will be there for Easter.

 

[jgl130]

Would you do Genie+ this day if we’re only going to be there in the morning and then later in the evening?

Totally would do Genie+. My sister and I usually do a mid day break. I’ll stack LLs for around when we’re heading back to the park, so we can walk on a bunch of stuff. I usually get at least 3 stacked.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hollywood Studios: For the first time in 5 trips, we plan to take a mid-day break to rest and maybe swim in the afternoon. We’re doing a Fantasmic dining package for lunch and plan to make it back for dinner and Fantasmic in the evening. For those who take mid-day breaks, are you usually glad to have had that rest time? Would you do Genie+ this day if we’re only going to be there in the morning and then later in the evening?

Resting in the afternoon has always been a thing for us. And it always feels worth it. Especially when the heat really kicks in and the crowds get too much. A rest from Hollywood Stuidos will be super easy as well! I quick hop on the skyliner!

As for Genie +, stacking the LL is a great way to get stuff done in the evening! BUT with seeing Fantasmic, I think it depends on when you plan to get back to the park. You could probably get 3 or 4 rides in before needing to get over to see the show if you stacked your LLs.

 

[jrmint427]

We are going for Spring Break as well, but I am guessing your spring break is different than ours. We will be there for Easter.

We will just miss you! Would have been fun to meet you all!

Resting in the afternoon has always been a thing for us. And it always feels worth it. Especially when the heat really kicks in and the crowds get too much. A rest from Hollywood Stuidos will be super easy as well! I quick hop on the skyliner!

As for Genie +, stacking the LL is a great way to get stuff done in the evening! BUT with seeing Fantasmic, I think it depends on when you plan to get back to the park. You could probably get 3 or 4 rides in before needing to get over to see the show if you stacked your LLs.

We figured this was a good park to try a break since we’re staying on the Skyliner! Do you think if we’re back around 5:30pm, that gives us enough time for dinner (QS) and a few rides before an 8:30pm show? Wondering if we can bring dinner into the theater to eat while we wait for Fantasmic?

Totally would do Genie+. My sister and I usually do a mid day break. I’ll stack LLs for around when we’re heading back to the park, so we can walk on a bunch of stuff. I usually get at least 3 stacked.

That is good to know! Maybe it would be worth it. Do you do 1-2 LL in the morning before stacking for the evening?

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We figured this was a good park to try a break since we’re staying on the Skyliner! Do you think if we’re back around 5:30pm, that gives us enough time for dinner (QS) and a few rides before an 8:30pm show? Wondering if we can bring dinner into the theater to eat while we wait for Fantasmic?

The time will go by fast, but depending on the rides, you could get a few rides in... And you def can bring food in with you! They have concessions inside the area. I would say 5 to get back to the park, just so you don't feel rushed.

But I guess it also depends on how close you want to be for the show. The dinning package area is pretty big. You will be guaranteed center seating but not necessarily close seating. If that makes sense.

I will say Hollywood Studios is def a park where Genie+ is a necissary evil. If you don't have Genie I would plan on 1 ride before going to see the show. lines will probably be long enough that you would be pushing it for 2

 

[jrmint427]

The time will go by fast, but depending on the rides, you could get a few rides in... And you def can bring food in with you! They have concessions inside the area. I would say 5 to get back to the park, just so you don't feel rushed.

But I guess it also depends on how close you want to be for the show. The dinning package area is pretty big. You will be guaranteed center seating but not necessarily close seating. If that makes sense.

I will say Hollywood Studios is def a park where Genie+ is a necissary evil. If you don't have Genie I would plan on 1 ride before going to see the show. lines will probably be long enough that you would be pushing it for 2

That's a good point! It sounds like we probably want to get Genie+ that day after all. You're right on HS, almost every ride seems to get long lines. We did think about doing mostly shows that first day but it would be fun to have rides stacked in the evening. Do you think it's easy to take food from Woody's Lunch Box to the theater to eat? We're not worried about being too close to the front, was hoping to get there maybe 30-45 min but I know some people will be there super early.

 

[jrmint427]

ADRs

I was up before 5am (CST) to book our ADRs. I was so thankful we are staying onsite this year and I only had one 4:45am morning. On our last trip we stayed offsite, and I had a lot of early mornings without much success getting the reservations we wanted. We did end up with almost everything we wanted thanks for Mouse Dining and chasing reservations, but it was stressful. This time I was able to not only get everything we wanted in one morning, but for the most part, at the times we were targeting too!

It ended up taking me almost an hour, and for a few reservations, I had to switch back and forth between mine and my mom’s accounts to book split reservations for our party due to our size. I also had an issue booking the Fantasmic package – I had the Fantasmic package page loaded and was sure I booked lunch at HS under that package, but the confirmation email I received and the app had no mention of Fantasmic right after. I texted my TA who was thankfully up and her team was able to call and get that fixed with us very quickly.

Here's what we landed and a few other food plans!

Disney Springs: Jaleo; we had such a great meal there on our last trip, we can’t wait to go back again. And of course, we’ll try to get some Gideon’s cookies (and cake?) while we’re there.



Epcot: Rose and Crown; this will be a new-to-us restaurant. This was one that couldn’t accommodate a party of 7 so I had to split our reservation, but got ADRs 5 minutes apart. I’m really excited to try the plant-based hot pot dish. For lunch we’re undecided between eating around the Flower & Garden Festival or trying La Cantina de San Angel, or Connections Café. I really want to try the avocado margarita and maybe the Tipsy Ducks in Love drinks in Mexico and China this time. So many food and drink plans for this day! We’re worried we won’t be hungry for dinner.

Hollywood Studios: Sci-Fi Dine In and Rodeo Round-up; both will be new for us, I’m especially excited for the Toy Story theming! For QS we’re planning to eat at Woody’s Lunch Box (our favorite) and try Docking Bay 7 for the first time. I also made a reservation for Oga’s Cantina which we’ve never been to before.



Magic Kingdom: Skipper Canteen (our favorite); QS was tougher because they took away my favorite vegetarian options at Columbia Harbour House, Cosmic Ray’s, Casey’s and Pecos Bill’s. The current vegetarian options aren’t as exciting for me, so we’ll likely eat at Cosmic Ray’s to appeal to everyone in our family. My must-do snack is the I Lava You Float at the Sunshine Tree Terrace.



Animal Kingdom: We originally planned to eat at Yak & Yeti, which is a favorite for our whole family. However, the latest reservations I could get were for 5pm and 5:15; which is early for us and was going to take up the last hour of our park time, and I worried there was less of a chance for us to sit together with reservations 15 minutes apart. The girls were also begging to eat at Boma, and I didn’t think that was going to work with our plans this trip. But, seeing the 5pm reservation time, I also booked a later reservation for Boma. I polled the family later that day with our options and cancelled the Yak & Yeti reservations.



Other Resort Dining:

Topolino’s – We loved the meal and experience on our last trip, and this was the top request from the girls; we’ll be doing brunch one day. I had to do a split reservation here, 5 minutes apart. Really hoping we can at least sit near each other to enjoy the characters as a group.



O’hana – We’ve never been! I can’t wait to try the noodles.

Story Book Dining w/ Snow White – This is one of our absolute favorite meals! The food is amazing, the character interactions are fun, it’s a beautiful setting.

 

[jgl130]

Do you do 1-2 LL in the morning before stacking for the evening?

We do! I usually keep an eye on things throughout the morning. So for example if we start at Hollywood Studios, but know we’re hopping to Magic Kingdom after naps, I’ll start keeping an eye on return times of rides we know we want to do. So like we know we want to do Haunted Mansion, around 11:00 or Noon, I’ll start looking at its return time. If it’s super far in the future like 6:00 or 7:00, I’ll book it then. If it’s like 1:00 or 2:00 I’ll let it hang until it’s at a time I want.

In that case if it’s Haunted Mansion 1:00 or 2:00 return time, I’ll book a LL for the park I’m currently in that has a more immediate return time, like a Toy Story Mania at 11:45.

All this is predicated on when I can book LL whether I have to wait the two hours or can book right after we use one.

It’s kind of a game for me to mix and match the “now” with the “future”.

Hopefully that makes sense!

 

[jrmint427]

It’s kind of a game for me to mix and match the “now” with the “future”.

Hopefully that makes sense!

That does make sense and is helpful, thank you! We're still on the fence for our first HS day; there aren't many rides my dad will ride there and the girls will only ride about half of them. We're thinking about just focusing on shows that day (and then I could possibly take a nap and not worry about booking LLs during our break!)... but it's also tempting to have a few rides stacked up for a smooth evening when we go back.

 

[jrmint427]

Disney Dining Plan

We did the dining plan once before, in 2017. I think there was some kind of deal that led us to book it at that time. We enjoyed the convenience but found it to be way too much food for our family. For example, there were meals where we might have normally split one entrée, but we needed to use our credits, so we each got our own. We don’t always order dessert, and when we do, we typically order 1-2 items for everyone to share. Instead, we found ourselves ordering 5 desserts (one for every adult) because it was included. We had credits left over at the end of our trip that we converted to snack credits (can’t do that anymore!) and took so many snacks home with us.


Bourbon Street Pecan Pie from Boatwright's in 2017

While it was fine at the time, we decided to avoid the dining plan going forward, especially with me and the girls being vegetarian. We usually order the least expensive item on the menu! So, we had no plans to buy the dining plan this time around, even with the excitement of it returning.


These were our remaining credits the last morning of our trip in 2017... yes, that converted to 37 snacks at the time! For 3 of us who were on the plan. This didn't include my parents' remaining credits.

However, we can't turn down a good deal. There was a deal for our dates where the kids’ tickets and dining plans were 50% off. I did the math, and if we were planning to pay full price for their tickets anyway, the cost of adding the dining plan for all four of us with this deal was only $165 per night. That includes refillable mugs, a QS credit per night, a TS credit per night and a snack per night. For comparison, if my parents were to add the dining plan for just 2 adults paying full price, it was going to be $188.50 per night. So $165/night for four people seemed like a great deal (especially when Topolino’s was going to cost us $158 before any extra drinks!). I also compared this deal to the 20% off rooms deal that was being offered, and this one was going to save us slightly more money with the savings on food. We ultimately decided to get the dining plan for our family of four (all staying in one room) but not to buy it for our parents.

I’m hoping that this time around, we might share some meals and snack with our parents, which will make it worth it and hopefully not feel like so much food.

I went through our plans to come up with a detailed list of credits we plan to use each day. For some reason, Jaleo is two credits. I reached out to Disney to understand what that covers, since Jaleo is mostly tapas (small plates). I wondered how many tapas you could order for two credits? Well the answer was – no one knows. Does anyone here know? I tried online chat first, and they told me to call a dining number. The dining number transferred me to a dining specialist. The dining specialist confused Jiko and Jaleo, asked if they could place me on a brief hold while they talked to their supervisor, and then hung up on me after 15 minutes. I probably should have called the restaurant directly next, but we looked at how much we spent at Jaleo last year (~$147 before tax and tip for 6 of us, including a pitcher of sangria) and decided no matter how much food it is, we should just pay that one out of pocket.

Here's the plan for our credits; I know we might not follow this exactly, but I like to go in with a plan!

8 Table Service Credits:
1 - Rose & Crown (me only) & Skipper’s Canteen (rest of my family)
1 – Sci Fi Dine-In Fantasmic Package
1 – Topolino’s
1 – ‘Ohana
1 – Round-up Rodeo BBQ
1 – Boma
2 – Story Book Dining with Snow White

I’ve read you shouldn’t use 2 credits for a meal, but – we’re paying $165 per day for the dining plan. If you figure that 4 snacks that day are $6 each and lunch is about $15 each (probably more if we get drinks), that means we’re paying about $81 for 4 dinners each day. By using 2 credits, we’ll be paying about $162 from the dining plan for this dinner. The meal would cost us $208 out of pocket before alcoholic or specialty drinks ($65 per adult and $39 per child), so by my math, we’re saving money by using 2 credits rather than paying out of pocket.

8 Quick Service Credits:
1 – Landscape of Flavors lunch
1 – Epcot (likely La Cantina de San Angel?)
1 – Woody’s Lunch Box
1 – Cosmic Ray’s
1 – Docking Bay 7
1 – Satu’li Canteen
1 – TBD @ MK (recommendations for a good vegetarian option besides Cosmic Ray’s? Should we leave for a monorail resort QS??)
1 – Landscape of Flavors breakfast (unless other adults want kids meals at any of the other QS, in which case we’ll pay for our last breakfast out of pocket)

8 Snack credits: We might use more at Epcot for the F&G Festival, but otherwise will plan to use 1 credit each per day in the park. What are your favorite snacks to get when on the dining plan?