Staying at the Fort on the dining plan

[chief19spixi]

How many of you use the dining plan while at the fort and was it worth it to You?



Last year we went to the Fort and used the dining plan and we are doing the same this year.. it's worth it to me cause I love all the food I can get!!

[2goofycampers]

we have been doing 1 trip to the resorts usually CB with the DDP and MYW tickets and 1 trip to the Fort doing Fort stuff and MVMCP or MNSSHP or P&PP per year. This year looks like 1 trip only to the Fort In Sept. we do enjoy the table service restaurants, and are weighing the value for the $ of the plan without the appetizer and paying our own tips this year.

[Tent Camping Mom]

I chose "out of pocket" because we save a lot more by not doing the DDP. I did a spreadsheet a while back that listed all the meals and cost we had on one of our trips then compared it to the DDP....the DDP was almost double the cost of what we actually ate. Just thinking of all the food, an appetizer, entree, na beverage and a dessert....ugg! I'd be waddling out the door! The only time I have all of that is at the Hoop-dee-doo. I can't imagine having it every single night. I take that back, I do that on cruises but I also come back 12 pounds heavier. :laughing:

[2goofycampers]

I chose "out of pocket" because we save a lot more by not doing the DDP. I did a spreadsheet a while back that listed all the meals and cost we had on one of our trips then compared it to the DDP....the DDP was almost double the cost of what we actually ate. Just thinking of all the food, an appetizer, entree, na beverage and a dessert....ugg! I'd be waddling out the door! The only time I have all of that is at the Hoop-dee-doo. I can't imagine having it every single night. I take that back, I do that on cruises but I also come back 12 pounds heavier. :laughing:

did you base your comparison on eating at the campsite, counter service or table service???

[RvUsa]

I voted out of pocket. Let me ask you a question, does disney ever do anything that isn't to their benefit? I am sure that there is a way to make the DDP work to your advantage, I have never been able to justify it. I am sure that my family would be the ones that Disney would make money on. We have friends that try to convince us to do it every time we go, but I have crunched the numbers over and over again.... it just doesn't work for us.

We are in the same boat with the DVC, we would love to do it, but when I added the payments, the taxes, the dues or whatever they are called and the fees. I just could not justify the cost to make it worth while for us. Here again, if Disney wasn't making LOTS of money on them, then why is that all they are building now. If they made more money on the "hotels" then there would be hotels going up everywhere istead of DVC.

I AM NOT KNOCKING ANYONE's choice on either, but for us it just doesn't work. I hope it works great for you.

JMHO
John

[Tent Camping Mom]

did you base your comparison on eating at the campsite, counter service or table service???

This was based on table service and counter service meals. We were staying at Pop Century, so no cooking. We don't do a lot of cooking at the fort anyway (we could save even more if we did). We will be at Port Orleans French Quarter in June so I'll do another spreadsheet. I would love to use the DDP for convenience but I can't justify the cost.

[chief19spixi]

We do not use the dining plan for the sole purpose of saving money! We use it becasue #1 we are on vacation and part of that vacation is me not having to cook anything for 21 days and #2 the ability to pre pay for our meals! yeah if I was getting the dining plan cause of the savings I would be ticked off this year due to all the messed up changes to the whole thing. Plus for us to cook meals for a family of 5 takes too long, I wanna see the world not cook!! LOL :rotfl:

Thanks for everyones responces!! :yay: :yay:

[Tent Camping Mom]

I'm glad it works for you :thumbsup2

I guess my previous post sounded like I was trying to "save" money but that's not what I meant. I just don't like to "waste" money. For the same food, at the TS and CS, that we would be eating, the cost is significantly lower for out-of-pocket. Not that we are trying to "save" money....there's quite a bit of difference in the words "save" and "waste." We can afford it but I can't justify it.

I will reiterate....Out of Pocket works best for us. We don't do a lot of cooking at the Fort, after all, like you said, we're on vacation! We do table services and counter services, occassionally DH will fire up the grill (a he-man thing) and if it's rainy or we're just hanging out at the site, we may fire up the coleman stove....but this is for convienence and fun not for saving money.

[ntsammy5]

Out of pocket.

When we were down for a wedding a couple of years ago we stayed at ASMo and got free dining for 5 of us. I would never do it again. Even though I like food and we do go to 2 - 3 TS places when we come down, the DDP was just plain too much food and the entire trip revolved around eating. It was fun once but not for us. We like to eat off property too, and a lot of times CS for dinner is more than enough. If they included beer in DDP then maybe, but since they don't..... also, the changes with appetizer and gratuity don't make it such a good deal anymore....

[loveDmouse]

We don't do the dining plan because we cook some at the RV. We stay 7 nights and last year we ate out at 4 places. Some lunch some dinner.
Will probably do the same this year. Even when I figured what we would eat and compared to the dining plan for the whole stay we were better off to pay out of pocket.

[loriandmatt]

i chose out of pocket, but we do eat some meals at the camp site, not too many though. i am on vacation too and i don't want to be a slave to my campstove or dishpan.

in general when we camp at FW, that means we have our own car there (from towing the camper) and therefore go offsite for some meals.

so some off site meals, some meals at campsite, snacks and drinks packed from campsite for days at the parks....it just does not make the dining plan a smart financial choice for us. do we still eat at onsite sit down and counter service locations? heck yea, and we don't skimp on them, but all in all with the offsite and camper dining that we do, it just would be cheaper to pay OOP for us.

Now if we are staying at a WDW resort other than FW....the dining plan is something we very seriously consider and may go with on our next trip.

[chief19spixi]

[quote=Tent Camping Mom;23864344]I'm glad it works for you :thumbsup2

I guess my previous post sounded like I was trying to "save" money but that's not what I meant. I just don't like to "waste" money. For the same food, at the TS and CS, that we would be eating, the cost is significantly lower for out-of-pocket.
quote]

I noticed that as well and made sure that I was not making and ADR's for places that had mainly burgers and such.. things that I could get out counter service! Also I feel that WASTING money is a rough term to use when we are talking about food being the main issue here. We all need to eat reguardless of weather we use the dining plan or not. I am assuming you mean that wasting food on the dining plan is a no no but if I would go and pay oop it would be ok!

[clkelley]

Nope, we will only get the dining plan if it's the FREE dining and of course they don't offer that at the campsites.

[Tent Camping Mom]

I am assuming you mean that wasting food on the dining plan is a no no but if I would go and pay oop it would be ok!

You shouldn't assume because that's totally off target. I said wasting money not food. Plus, it's a no-no for me...our family, I said nothing about your's. I have a vested interest in Disney's business and I'm glad DDP works for you!

To clarify, (jeez, I didn't mean to start a debate!) I wouldn't buy the food (out-of-pocket) if I don't want it, therefore I'm not wasting the food. Out of Pocket works for us because we don't eat all that food (on the DDP) and I wouldn't be throwing my money away by over paying for the same food on the DDP.

Like I said, I'm glad it works for you. Disney knows how to do business...glad I purchased my shares years ago :thumbsup2

[Momof626x3]

We have never tried the dining plan because we mostly eat at counter service places and I don't like planning my park schedule around a reservation. That being said, if DH and I ever do a "mommy and daddy only" trip again we may try it out.

[chief19spixi]

You shouldn't assume because that's totally off target. I said wasting money not food. Plus, it's a no-no for me...our family, I said nothing about your's. I have a vested interest in Disney's business and I'm glad DDP works for you!

To clarify, (jeez, I didn't mean to start a debate!) I wouldn't buy the food (out-of-pocket) if I don't want it, therefore I'm not wasting the food. Out of Pocket works for us because we don't eat all that food and I wouldn't be throwing my money away by over paying for the same food on the DDP.

:thumbsup2

I was not debating the issue (trust me you would know it if I was) LOL!
The only reason why I posted the poll was to find out from others if it was worth it to them or not and to see how many of us Dis campers use the dining plan while at the fort! Im sorry that I even posted the poll and wasted everyones time with my asumptions!
To clairify I DID say Wasting money not food! That was my main point.. not that we would be wasting food.. that happenes everywhere.

[Tent Camping Mom]

No reason to apologize...you wanted an opinion and we gave one. It's all part of the discussion but assumptions need clarification if they're incorrect, that's what I did. No harm done. :thumbsup2

[chief19spixi]

No reason to apologize...you wanted an opinion and we gave one. It's all part of the discussion but assumptions need clarification if they're incorrect, that's what I did. No harm done. :thumbsup2


Cool beans!! :) :grouphug:

[disney4dan]

We'll be cooking more this trip and eating lighter.

We've enjoyed the DDP for free a couple of times, and have eaten at many good restaurants on property while paying out of pocket on other trips. We just found that the last two trips kind of revolved around the dining and we actually got into a funk by the end of the week feeling that we needed to try some of the really good food, and then feeling too full and uncomfortable.

DW is still mad at me for backing out of a ressy for O'Hana's when we went as a large group. The whole gang was just not in the mood for another large meal and about 2 hrs away from the park. They changed the menu before our next trip and she was really not happy 'bout that. If momma ain't happy, nobody's happy.

[DisneyDadinOhio]

We have always done the DDP. We do some character meals, our girls love it. We stretch the CS meals out, as we typically only order one CS meal for DW and I to split. But with our girls getting older, and the changes Disney made to the plan, I don't see us using DDP much longer, it's just not nearly as cost effective for us anymore...

[Donna]

I would never use it staying at the Fort, especially since they've watered it down so bad to their advantage, not the guest. I DID use it at other places in the past, when it was a good deal.
Having said that, we ARE using the watered down plan while staying at WLV in may for our 25th anniversary. i figured splurge away, the 25th only comes by once!

[Teresa Pitman]

We will be staying in a cabin Dec. 3 to 12 and part of the reason we made that choice is because we can cook at least some of our meals there. (We also stayed in a cabin last April.) We like to eat breakfast right away when we get up, so we always like to have breakfast in our room. If we're in a hotel room, it's usually toast or muffins or cereal; this way it can be a heartier meal. And we plan to have at least two or three days of just hanging out at the Fort, so we'll probably cook all our meals on those days. Other meals we'll do OOP, but the dining plan wouldn't make sense for us.

We have done the DDP in the past, when we stayed at POFQ, but I don't think we'd do it now, with the changes. Having to pay a tip as well takes away the convenience of knowing your meals are paid for, and I would prefer to have an appetizer (usually a salad) rather than dessert. (We often skipped the dessert on the old plan, but we really like to have a salad with our meals.)

Teresa

[magicforever]

We have used the dining plan. We are using it again this year. We choose to do this because part of a vacation for me is eating out a places I would never usually eat. We camp quite a bit and I cook all of our meals then. But Disney is the big bucks vacation and we like to go all out. It is just a preference. I think when I am ready to just hang out at the Fort instead of being at the parks or roaming around the property I will stop the DDP and start cooking. Also, I really don't feel like washing dishes while at Disney. It really takes some of the magic away for me. :rotfl2:

[mrtroutjedi]

We do not use the dining plan for the sole purpose of saving money! We use it becasue #1 we are on vacation and part of that vacation is me not having to cook anything for 21 days and #2 the ability to pre pay for our meals! yeah if I was getting the dining plan cause of the savings I would be ticked off this year due to all the messed up changes to the whole thing. Plus for us to cook meals for a family of 5 takes too long, I wanna see the world not cook!! LOL :rotfl:

Thanks for everyones responces!! :yay: :yay:


Us too, as my wife puts it I'm on vacatin too!:cool1:

[Belle_20]

We used the free dining plan in 2006 while staying in the cabins, mainly because we have 5 ppl in our family and it was cheaper than getting two rooms or a villa. We could have stayed in a value but we booked last minute and the cabins were all that were left. And I'm glad because the cabins are great!

[ntsammy5]

We used the free dining plan in 2006 while staying in the cabins, mainly because we have 5 ppl in our family and it was cheaper than getting two rooms or a villa. We could have stayed in a value but we booked last minute and the cabins were all that were left. And I'm glad because the cabins are great!

Yeah, we wanted to do that too, but everyone was staying at Movies for the wedding so we got two rooms there. Oh well. Free dining was a good deal though.

[PrincessMom98]

We have never tried the DP. We usually cook most of our meals becuase it seemed easier than going out to eat every meal with 3 kids :scared: ! BUT, we are seriously thinking about trying it this summer. The kids will be 2, 5, and 9 - the youngest is still free and the oldest is still a child. This would be the trip to try it because it will get much more expensive for us to do Disney after this year. We were thinking for a 7 night trip we could do 5 character meals and the hoop de do and the DDP would be a good deal. I just wish there was a counter service option at the fort.

Sue

[AG CASWELL]

We love to be outside cooking too much to use the plan.