Anti-Dining Plan

[Pollyanna Poppins]

We always pay OOP for our meals even though we regularly go during FD. If there is a certain place you just have to eat at I wouldn't chance not having ADR. We will be there over a week this trip and only have 2 ADR. My idea of a vacation is to escape from a dictated schedule and relax. To do this you must be O.K with the chance of not getting to eat at certain places. If this will be a problem you're going to have to have ADR. We have thrown the dice and scored many times and also been stuck eating a turkey leg due to crowds. This is not a problem for us but some would have a meltdown. It just depends on your flexibility.

 

[T1gger]

If we weren't getting free dining then we probably wouldn't do dining plan at all. We did toy with the idea of upgrading to DDP because we wanted to do a couple of character meals but a quick crunch of the figures showed it wouldn't be worth it plus I didn't want to be tied down to a lot of ADR's - finding it hard enough to work around the 3 we have in 14 days - amateur alert!

So we are sticking with QDSP and will still struggle to fit in the CS meals, as we have a few offsite days planned, let alone using all the snack credits even with the F & W (and we still get 2 snack credits on the UK plan this year)

I might change my mind after the holiday but I can't see the worth in buying DP for us - we will eat the food (and probably more than normal) because it is included, but without it we would be more practical, eat breakfasts in the room and eat offsite more.

But it really comes down to your family, eating habits and touring plans to see if it is worth it for you

 

[lauritagoddess]

We were at WDW for 2 weeks last summer. We had FD both weeks, the QSDP the first week and the regular DDP the second week. I saved all of our ADRs for the second week. As much as I love having the FD so we can enjoy all the TS restaurants we really like, I have to admit it was pretty freeing the first week to not have any ADRs to go to. But I do think if we didn't know that we would have our ADRs the following week that we would have felt that we had missed out. That said, I wouldn't buy the DDP at this point since I now have a 10 year old "adult" and it's definitely not worth paying for it for him, but we do have FD again for our upcoming trip with the regular DDP and I have TS meals booked for every day. Like another poster mentioned, we get park hoppers and will be go to one park in the morning, go back to the hotel and then usually have a TS dinner in either a park or Downtown Disney. The only day that we're really set on a park we have to go to is our morning at AK because of our 8:05 reservation at Tusker House, otherwise we can just come and go where we please during the day.

 

[davedmaine]

I think I know what you're saying - the DDP has ruined the dining experience at Disney.

 

[JLS]

I think that if you have any dining that you consider a MUST do, you should at least reserve and plan around those places so you are not disappointed. For us, two must-dos are O'Hana and Tusker House breakfast and there is no way you are getting in to those places as a walk-up on most days. It really depends on where you want to eat. Certain restaurants are easy if you go during an off time (3 p.m. lunch / 4 p.m. dinner, etc.) but most places will be very difficult or impossible at 7 p.m. unless you are there off season. With kids I find it way more relaxing to know that we have reservations!

 

[tink1953]

I think we are finished with the dining plan also....to much food and waiting and planning and food and watching the clock....and food....
We totally overeat and spend to much of our park time with the plan...

I would rather pay out of pocket for a couple of good meals and enjoy the parks...

BArb

 

[Magic2000]

We were never interested in the dining plan. To be honest, the dining plan never appealed to me because even though my daughter is a Disney "adult", she prefers to order off the kids menu.

Then a few years ago, I decided I wanted to try it - just to see if I really liked having it all paid for up front. We tried the deluxe dining plan for the first week, and then the regular dining plan for the second week. Even though my dd ordered off the kids menu occasionally, we still did come out ahead on the dining plan. But for some reason, I still prefer paying OOP.

For our upcoming trip, it's just DH & I, and we have the free dining plan (regular). Not sure if we'll be upgrading - we do like to have a signature meal each day!

We never feel tied down to ADRs, or like our ADRs dictate where we have to be. We kind of have a routine on our trips - MK is always the first park we go to, then Epcot; then HS, AK, then Epcot again and MK for our final day. Depending on how long we're there, we throw in a few "pool" days or DTD days. So I just make the ADRs according to which park we'll be in that day.

This works for our family. Although I have seen people get walk up ressies, I've also seen people turned away. So I prefer to make my ADRs in advance so I KNOW I won't have too long of a wait for a meal.

 

[MaxsDad]

We kind of have a routine on our trips - MK is always the first park we go to, then Epcot; then HS, AK, then Epcot again and MK for our final day.

Ha ha ha, that is our exact routine as well. Although I have changed it before when our second day was a saturday and it was during food and wine festival, We went to epcot the first afternoon, when we arrived. The wife wasn't too happy with that but it was my birthday so.....We also are changing it up again this next trip because it will be f&w again so epcot will be day 3 (monday) and ak will be day 2.

But you are right, having an idea of what parks you want to be in on which day definitely help with making an adr and not feeling rushed.

 

[PaulaSB12]

ugh....we are so over making ADRs and running around to try and make them. Though we loved most of our dining experiences in the world, the fact that ADRs dictate our day or park we attend is exhausting. For the first time in years we are doing without the Dining Plan and seeing how this goes.....what do you think is this a mistake??

I was at disney until tuesday. I made adrs for the restaurants in the morning on some days, within an hour on others. Example on monday at 12.00 I made an adr for crystal palace for 1.30. on another day I mad an 8.50pm adr at 3pm for Tony town hall square. The only restaurant I couldn't get a table at was Le Cellier and I had one adr booked for that.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Our very first trip in '93 we were on a dining plan and made our ADR's a YEAR in advance. Our next trip in '96 we were still on a dining plan (which is the equivalent to the Deluxe Dining Plan now) and made most of our reservations a year in advance, but made a few more when we got there (when Epcot used to have a little room at the entrance with phones in it for this specific purpose).

We haven't done the dining plan since then, but always make our ADR's as soon as we're able. I would hate to miss out on somewhere we loved eating and it's nice to go ahead and make that decision in advance instead of everyone going back and forth with "I don't know, where do you want to eat?"

That being said we used to do 2-3 TS meals a day and now, in the last 2 years, have cut it down to 1 a day. With the raised dining prices, I just don't feel like some of the restaurants are "worth" the crazy prices. I don't mind spending money on vacation, but I do have a limit on how far that goes.

Making ADR's is never a pain for us, though. We have a general routine of the order in which we hit the parks and having park hoppers definitely helps.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Next year I will be on the deluxe dining plan again. I will be making 2 adrs Le Cellier and Ohana's the later because I have never been. On my last trip I got every restaurant I wanted some on less than an hour's notice by doing it online.

 

[waynesgirl]

We have never, and don't ever plan to get the DDP - we do the math every trip and always come out better OOP.
But, we do make just our "must do" ADR's (usually 3-4) for our 10 day trips and "wing it" the rest of the time. We too, do not want to be tied down to certain parks/places at any given time. We are park hoppers and love the freedom.
Some people plan every meal and love it, some, like us, would be driven nuts with that schedule

As someone that has never used the DPs- I agree with this. It seems like either too much food or too much hassle to me. We make an ADR for each day we are there, regardless of what park we will be in, because we do PHs and like to change of pace to go eat somewhere else. But it also gives us an option to cancel if we just aren't feeling it, either.

DH and I never do the dining plan either. We also like a beer or cocktail with our meals. In light of all that, TiW is the way we go now. However, we make a list of our "we'll be really disappointed if we dont get to eat there" restaurants, and we always make at least one or two ADR's.

You must be my twin.

Glad to hear that many have found success when not doing the DP. Some friends and family sya that they have gotten lucky during PEAK times getting a table as a walk up.....we shall see

My DH and I get lucky on walk-ups a lot, since it is only us 2 usually. My kids could care less. They enjoy the whole theme-park way of eating, such as grabbing a hot dog and walking around with it, popcorn for a snack, and maybe a CS meal in the WS, based on what they see on the menu.

Well, after reading, we feel that we are making the right chioce this time around, though we are throwing around the idea of purchasing the Quick Service Dining plan...do you think that is a good alternative? I wonder if it is even worth it to get the any DP?
Advice on this?

If we were going to do anything, it would be this. But we generally get such a great discount on the room-only, it is better for us to go OOP. I like the QS dining- it has so many more options for you to choose from and it is easier to just stop and decide in the park you are in without having to worry about times and efforts and such. If you like having the pre-paid option, and it sounds like you kinda do, then I would go with this one and make a few ADRs at the places you want to sit-down inside...but at just the WS in EP, there are so many QS options to choose from, you might be full!!!

 

[J Buzz]

ugh....we are so over making ADRs and running around to try and make them. Though we loved most of our dining experiences in the world, the fact that ADRs dictate our day or park we attend is exhausting. For the first time in years we are doing without the Dining Plan and seeing how this goes.....what do you think is this a mistake??

I hear where you're coming from and I don't think it's a mistake at all. I used to try to make our reservations close to which park we were at that day, i.e. Narcoosee's if we were at MK, Sanaa if we were at AK, etc. My philosophy has changed since though.

When we go we try to do two park days followed by one rest day, two park days, one rest day, etc. We still make advanced reservations because to us experiencing the restaurants and eating great food are a big part of the fun of going to DW.

Having said that, the system we now use is to make ADR's at the park we're going to be at that day. So when we're at AK we eat at Tusker, when we're at HS we eat at 50's, etc etc. On our rest days, we make ADR's at non-park restaurants, and on those days our ADR's are the only commitment we really have. We find this system strikes a good balance of not overextending ourselves while still getting to eat at the restaurants we want.