Food or Hotel?

[DisneyGirl201017]

I'll be in Disney from January 6th to January 13th with my mother,father, and boyfriend and we are at a lost! Our first plan was to stay at POP and get the regular dining plan. Now my Dad and boyfriend really like the idea of the Boardwalk Inn since Epcot is their favorite park and they could spend all day in there! My Mom thinks its a waste of money to stay at a nice resort when POP in a really nice hotel. The we came across the Deluxe dining plan, ad while we aren't huge eaters, my Dad thinks it would pay for us to get the deluxe plan and be able to do dinner shows and better restaurants with two of the table service meals, then just one one left for a quick service. But staying at the Boardwalk with a deluxe dining plan is just way to expensive at this time for us.
So should we stay at a nice resort like the Boardwalk and just get the regular dining plan, or should we stay at the POP and look into getting the deluxe dining plan?
We've only stayed on the grounds a few time and have only gotten the regular dining plan once, so we're at a lost.
Any advice is great and helpful!
Thanks in advance and sorry it's so long!

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

The deluxe dining plan is alot of food. I would go with the better resort and less of a dining plan. Espically if you 4 are staying in the same room a value would be really tight.

 

[ParrotBill]

Another vote for better hotel, less food. The full dining plan is a LOT of food, and, requires lots of time and advance planning for sit down reservations. You get locked in to a schedule and making changes is a hassle.

We head there at the end of this week for a stay at SS with the standard dining plan... we made our TS reservations, one per day, thinking a bit about where we might go for the evening... otherwise we can stay flexible!

 

[umichigan10]

Here's what I think:

I think the regualar dining plan is good enough, atleast for my family. Kind of like yours, we aren't huge eaters, and frankly a table and counter service a day is enough for us, although I never have tried the deluxe plan.

As for resorts, I have never stayed at Pop Century, but have stayed at Boardwalk, and love the convenience. Being able to walk/take the boat to DHS and Epcot is so much easier than taking a bus everyhwere like you would have to at Pop. However, I wasn't impressed with the bus service from BW to MK and AK, as you must share with Yacht/Beach and Swan/Dolphin. I believe Pop has it's own bus.

I hope this helps!

 

[DisneyGirl201017]

The deluxe dining plan is alot of food. I would go with the better resort and less of a dining plan. Espically if you 4 are staying in the same room a value would be really tight.

Thank you!
The only thing we were concerned about is I have to eat about every 3-4 hours,just a small snack. Do you think it would just be cheaper just to buy me a snack? Or bring me one into the park? Everyone else in our group really only eats two meals a day, so their fine.

 

[DisneyGirl201017]

Another vote for better hotel, less food. The full dining plan is a LOT of food, and, requires lots of time and advance planning for sit down reservations. You get locked in to a schedule and making changes is a hassle.

We head there at the end of this week for a stay at SS with the standard dining plan... we made our TS reservations, one per day, thinking a bit about where we might go for the evening... otherwise we can stay flexible!

Thank you! That actually sounds a lot better once you think about it, more time in the parks!

 

[jesswindsor]

I belive that the Deluxe Dinning plan is around $30 more per person per day. And I believe it is 3 meals a day and 2 snacks. If you think you can use all of that and would spend $30 more a day anyway, then the Deluxe Dinning plan would be worth it. As far as the Resorts go, The Boardwalk resort will give you more room, walking distance to Epcot, and of course the Boardwalk it's self. Staying at POP will give you less room and a bus ride to where ever you want to go. Either way you go will will have a great time, you just have to decide what is important enough for you to splurge some extra money on.

 

[MrsLS]

Its not a lot of food if you plan on doing one 2 credit TS or show a night. That being said, if I had to choose between a nicer hotel and a lower dining plan, I would choose the better hotel. I also love the BW, but we also only stay at the delux resorts. We've stayed once at a moderate but that was years ago.

 

[PinkEars]

Thank you!
The only thing we were concerned about is I have to eat about every 3-4 hours,just a small snack. Do you think it would just be cheaper just to buy me a snack? Or bring me one into the park? Everyone else in our group really only eats two meals a day, so their fine.

Even with the regular dining plan each person gets one snack a day..so if the others in your party arent using theirs then you can get 4 per day lol...we ended up having snacks leftover and using them towards end of trip. I would opt for the nicer resort also.

 

[DisneyGirl201017]

Here's what I think:

I think the regualar dining plan is good enough, atleast for my family. Kind of like yours, we aren't huge eaters, and frankly a table and counter service a day is enough for us, although I never have tried the deluxe plan.

As for resorts, I have never stayed at Pop Century, but have stayed at Boardwalk, and love the convenience. Being able to walk/take the boat to DHS and Epcot is so much easier than taking a bus everyhwere like you would have to at Pop. However, I wasn't impressed with the bus service from BW to MK and AK, as you must share with Yacht/Beach and Swan/Dolphin. I believe Pop has it's own bus.

I hope this helps!

Thank you!
Thats once of the downfalls that we had noticed with the Boardwalk!
We weren't sure how much time that would actually take up, but we figured it would be a good bit, you pay so much to stay at the resort and they make sure share buses.

 

[DisneyGirl201017]

Even with the regular dining plan each person gets one snack a day..so if the others in your party arent using theirs then you can get 4 per day lol...we ended up having snacks leftover and using them towards end of trip. I would opt for the nicer resort also.

Well that would help out,
Thank you so much!

 

[TinkBride]

Resort, resort, resort.

Esp. the Boardwalk!

The location of the Boardwalk, YC, and BC can't be beat. DH and I have stayed all over the WDWR and we love staying in this area. It is so convenient and beautiful.

The Deluxe plan is A LOT of food and you will probably find that you don't use all your credits (thus wasting money). DH and I love to eat around the World and we always find that the regular DDP is more than enough for us.

If your family loves Epcot, you can not beat the BW.

 

[Jabba20000]

My family really likes the DXDP. It doesn't seem like too much food because we do a breakfast and a 2 credit dinner and use the snacks in the middle of the day if needed. While we like the deluxe resorts, we have stayed at POP also and really liked it so we would probably choose the food. Every family is different though.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Thank you!
The only thing we were concerned about is I have to eat about every 3-4 hours,just a small snack. Do you think it would just be cheaper just to buy me a snack? Or bring me one into the park? Everyone else in our group really only eats two meals a day, so their fine.

I would just use your snack credits and get a snack. We also take things liek cereal bars, granola bars, fruit snacks to give our kids to snack on in the parks between meals.

 

[Chellymouse]

Having recently stayed at BW, the convenience of being able to walk to Epcot and DHS (or take a boat) is great. If you have park hoppers, you can use the monorail at Epcot, which for us, was faster than dealing with the shared bus. (we normally live at SSR so we aren't used to shared bus) Also, you have the added convenience of plenty of places to eat as well as being able to get to other resorts (restaurants) easier if you are at BW. DDxP is a HUGE amount of food and unless you are planning to eat TS for breakfast, EVERY DAY AND do a 2 credit TS EVERY NIGHT, it really is a waste. Don't forget that gratuities are not included with most restaurants (some dinner shows it is included) so you will have the added expense of gratuities as well. When we did DDP, we use grocery service for breakfast or pay OOP which is usually fairly inexpensive, use CS for lunch and TS for dinner. Hope all this info helps. We'd much rather stay in a nicer resort with more ammenities, especially during the less busy months when the parks aren't open as late, then eat too much.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

well i have to say that i would take the boardwalk over pop....

we also always do the dxddp... especially when staying around the boardwalk with flying fish and yachtsman around

my advice would be to do the boardwalk with the regular dining plan, but to take a night and go out of pocket to shula's--it's amazing!

 

[troynkasey]

We did the regular dining plan this year and felt like that table service took away some valuable park time. We've had the QS plan in the past and it was nice, but you can only eat so much QS food, so we did the regular plan. It was nice, but some meals will take 90 minutes to finish because it's a relaxed setting. That cut in to our list of things we wanted to do.

With that in mind, I'd stay at BW and go with the smaller dining package. Depending on when you go, if it's at peak times, the value resorts do fill up faster than the deluxes. Twice in the past two years we've seen bus lines for POP and for the All-Stars be forever long later in the evening or at closing. I know last year the line for POP at DHS was 4 bus stops long. If you've been there, you know how long this is. We were taken back by the line...and then walked to the AKL line and we were about 20th in line. So that's something else to consider...if you're going at peak time or not.

 

[catra121]

Guess I'm in the minority but I had this same dilemma last year and chose Pop with deluxe dining plan. I am so very happy that we made that choice. Pop is a nice resort, transportation was efficient, and the rooms were clean and nice. And it is a resort...not just a motel 6 with decorations...so there is stuff to see if you want to walk around the grounds at night, or relax on a bench overlooking the lake. We felt like the food was a much better use of our money. There are so many fun, unique dining experiences at Disney World and we got to try a lot of them on our trip. We did a few 2TS meals like Jiko and Cinderella's Royal Table, plus some favorites like Sci Fi that are just fun, and then a number of new ones like Rose and Crown and Coral Reef. It was really a blast and a great way to help us take it slow and really soak up all the Disney magic. The resort for us is basically a place to sleep...so if I had to choose again it would absolutely be deluxe dining plan over deluxe resort. But if I could have both...of course that would be great...lol!

 

[stargazertechie]

Hotel. Seriously, the deluxe plan is TOO MUCH FOOD. My fiance and I had it last May, and by the end we were so sick and tired of food it wasn't even funny!

The regular DDP will be plenty! You can always pay out of pocket for a cheaper meal if you want to double up and eat at a signature eatery one night

 

[DisneyGirl201017]

Guess I'm in the minority but I had this same dilemma last year and chose Pop with deluxe dining plan. I am so very happy that we made that choice. Pop is a nice resort, transportation was efficient, and the rooms were clean and nice. And it is a resort...not just a motel 6 with decorations...so there is stuff to see if you want to walk around the grounds at night, or relax on a bench overlooking the lake. We felt like the food was a much better use of our money. There are so many fun, unique dining experiences at Disney World and we got to try a lot of them on our trip. We did a few 2TS meals like Jiko and Cinderella's Royal Table, plus some favorites like Sci Fi that are just fun, and then a number of new ones like Rose and Crown and Coral Reef. It was really a blast and a great way to help us take it slow and really soak up all the Disney magic. The resort for us is basically a place to sleep...so if I had to choose again it would absolutely be deluxe dining plan over deluxe resort. But if I could have both...of course that would be great...lol!

Did you find that there was too much food?
Or that going to all the reservations took time out of the parks?