Hi Cami,
Welcome back to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! I am always delighted to greet a fellow North Carolinian!
This is an excellent question and is actually a dilemma we have faced in the past. If we are using the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan, we always have enough meal entitlements to splurge on at least two signature restaurants so we have used our dining entitlements for those meals. On the Disney Dining Plan, however, when we dined at Cinderella's Royal Table, I decided to pay out of pocket rather than using two dining entitlements per person in our party. Essentially, I decided that it was a better value for me to save those two dining entitlements for two other meals rather than use them on one. Your decision will depend on the type of dining plan you have and the other dining experiences you plan to have.
Many table-service restaurants have the menus posted online, so I always check those to estimate the value of each meal. I also calculate the value of the drink and dessert on the
Disney Dining Plan and, on the
Disney Deluxe Dining Plan, at lunch and dinner we also get an appetizer, so I add that into the estimated cost of the meal. Doing the price estimation using the actual restaurants we plan to experience actually has been helpful when I am trying to decide whether to pay out of pocket for an additional meal or to use our meal entitlements. For some restaurants, I call 407-939-1947 to get prices for buffet and family style meals at the time of our visit.
Cami, you will need dining reservations for Be Our Guest restaurant for breakfast or lunch as a quick-service meal. We adore this restaurant at any time of day but the enhanced dinner experience is also fantastic!
Magic, memories and Minnie Mouse hugs,
Donyell