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[becksimonandgirls]

Hi

Would anyone be able to advise me re the dining plans.  We have decided to go in February the week before half term (we being 2 adults and three girls  aged 5, 4 and 1).  We have decided to go with the DLH for convenience but are a little confused as to the dining plans.

Having heard "horror" stories of the vast amount of food in the USA plans, we are concerned that the full board option may be too much, but equally I guess the kids will still need three meals a day!

Any advice would be appreciated and also any tips about the best restaurants for us to use.  Many thanks

Beck

[SVioletS]

Full board includes, besides breakfast, meal vouchers for lunch and dinner. Since you'll be staying in DLH you'll have the Premium Vouchers which will give you acess to every restaurant as well as Wild West Show. With Premium vouchers i'd do Mickey's Café, Inventions (in DLH), Auberge de Cendrillon, the show... not for the food, but for the characters! I've read here that Walt's is really good, i also enjoyed Annete's dining...

Most likely your vouchers will include: starter, main course, dessert... and yes for the most part i think it's way too much food, specially for the kids.
But remember you'll be going around and need the replenishment!

[Elaine]

i wouldn't buy any of the dining plans, unless all of your children have hearty appetites all the time (and you don't get any vouchers at all for your youngest child, on any of the dining plans). Even the full board premium plan has its restrictions - and it basically means you would be eating at table/buffet service for all of your lunches and dinners. The premium plan doesn't include any counter service options at all.

The breakfast buffet at the DLH is so good and varied that any time we eat there for breakfast, we don't need anything except a snack until dinner time, we're still full from breakfast!

[HFJohnson]

I don't think you have to have the premium vouchers if you're staying at the DLH. When we stayed there last year we just had the Plus ones.

The DLH has a fantastic buffet breakfast so if you really fill up on this in the morning you probably won't want much until dinner other than the odd snack or a couple of counter service meals between you so the full board option probably would be too much food for you all.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the meal plans anyway as they limit the restaurants you can use if you want to get the full benefit from them. For example, you couldn't visit the Agrabah Cafe (standard) and Walts (Plus) in the same visit unless you just used the vouchers as a cash equivalent but then you wouldn't benefit from a discount.

As to which restaurants I'd recommend, that really depends on what you're looking for. We've been to...

Cafe Mickey - great atmosphere and a fun way to meet the characters. We didn't really rate the food or the service but still enjoyed it. Plus, you don't have to buy a full meal there - you can just share a couple of pizzas and still get to meet the characters

Agrabah Cafe - a buffet restaurant with a middle eastern theme so you'll find couscous, tagines/stews, salads etc. They also do child-friendly pasta/tomato sauce/meatballs

Inventions - we had lunch there so no characters (they only appear at dinner time) but the food is fab. Again, several child friendly options

Walts - very nice food and good service. It's a smart place but it's Disney so don't be afraid to go there with children

Blue Lagoon - good food and a fab setting right inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Have a look at the restaurant menus on DLRP Magic to give you more of an idea of what's on offer.

http://www.dlrpmagic.com/planning/dinin ... ant-menus/

Oh, and don't forget your 1 year old eats for free.