Disney dining plan

[NicksMommy]

Anyone use the dining plan?? what are your thoughts? worth it? The best way to use the vouchers?? I am thinking about getting the 3 day plan for our 6 day trip in Nov.

Also is there a better place to buy the plan other than disney website or is that the only place to purchase??

 

[Canefamily]

We used them for our Nov. 2008 trip. The good thing was that we put them in our package deal, which we used our Disney Visa card to pay, which gave us 6 months to pay off without interest. So, it help on the budget. We didn't have to put out as much cash for our food. But, We didn't use all of our vouchers; therefore, we wasted some cash. If you are using to help budget your trip then they are OK. Also, I think you are smart to only buy three days worth and not for all of the days of your trip. We, personally will not be doing it again. We just don't eat that much food and on our next visit, we are planning just to stick it on the Disney Visa card. Hope this helps.

 

[Queenbillabong]

We used the dining plan in May 2008 - wouldn't do it again. We wasted a lot of food because we had vouchers for two people and the meals were so big that we really could have shared most of them. We also did not use all the vouchers, but did have another trip before they expired, so we were able to use them all. You don't get change back if you don't spend exactly the face amount of the voucher and you'll have to add cash if you spend a bit over - so it's not all that convenient, except the budgeting part. The only positive we found was that mostly the food was paid for and we didn't have to think about that, except for a few dollars here and there.

 

[TheZue]

I think the big thing to point out is that the dining plan offers absolutely no savings. The vouchers are priced to the penny of what the meals cost if you pay cash. You'd be better off buying gift cards if you want to budget in advance.

 

[DLR29]

The dining plan at DLR is not a good deal (IMO and many others here) because:
a) It doesn't save you as much money
b) You get a set amount of dollar amount vouchers and when you use those vouchers you don't get change. So for example if you want to pay for something that costs $4.95 with a $5 voucher, you will lose 5 cents. That's not a big deal, but if you have run out of $5 vouchers, you need to either pay in cash (which defeats the purpose of a dining plan) or pay with a $10 voucher and lose $5.05 (which can add up significantly)
c) You can't use the vouchers at Downtown Disney restaurants (which is where a decent amount of the good TS restaurants are at DLR).

 

[ballarinamom]

We're actually trying it for the first time on this trip. We have been several times where we just used Disney Dollars and gift cards that we have saved over the year. But this trip is sudden, and like op I was able to get it on our package to help with budgetting. Now on my spreadsheet, we should be fine. But we are not like most folks. We will go to all of the character meals. We will also do Blue Bayou twice and WCT. For our 5 day trip, we bought the 6 day plan plus vouchers for 2 additional character meals. I KNOW....
But when I look at our plans, we will just need to round down and pony up the additional cash as to not lose on the fact they do not give change. We go in November so I will post our results

 

[aprincess@mail.com]

i was thinking about doing this one too, so let us know how it goes.
we used the wdw dining plan and that was just sooo awesome!

 

[ballarinamom]

i was thinking about doing this one too, so let us know how it goes.
we used the wdw dining plan and that was just sooo awesome!

Unfortunately, the DL is nothing like the WDW plan. DD was only 5 when we went to DL so we shared alot of meals and really made it stretch. You get flat out $ vouchers for the most part and vouchers for the character meals which are usually buffet anyway