Anyone NOT do the Dining Plan?

[PaulaSB12]

I want to try it, because I was always put of the prices of food at the resteraunts last time I went. As to the health side that was mentioned, I am a little overweight but tend to ignore my doctor, as not only does he want me to get on a diet but he wants me to give up smoking, how does a non smoker do that? (I work in a factory and he assumes that I smoke because of that)

 

[DiszyDean]

People are really getting caught up in the portion size of each meal...I personally don't get the DP for quanity but for quality. It allows you to enjoy a higher quality of food than you may have enjoyed otherwise. I think there are several ways to think about the statement " getting the best bang for your buck". True, that some people may consider that earting the most expensive meal at the most expensive resteraunt at each setting. Some people may consider that as eating the best meal at each opportunity. Sometimes those two things are one and the same.

The insuated comment that "only fat people would get this plan" which has been made at least twice, is laughable. We are not fat but still enjoy good food. Some people choose to live off of granola bars and water, some people don't. Welcome to America.

And the dining plan is "too much planning" is another reason that makes no sense. Whether or not you purchase the dining plan, if you plan to eat at a popular resteraunt you need to make an ADR. That is nothing inherent to the dining plan.

The bottom line is, for a lot of people, even if the DP did not come with a desert and a appetizer, they would still come out ahead in their food budget by using it. And some people would not depending on their eating habits. Even counter service is expensive in WDW.

 

[beansmom]

I agree with Diszy...I *am* fat..lol...but eat less than a child. Two eggs and a piece of toast and I'm done in.

I like that this gives me an inexpensive way to enjoy places that I might not even think about otherwise. And I *do* like appetizers and dessert...on vacation, I want a bite of everything.

 

[TDC Nala]

i am referring to getting the most expensive thing on the menu - just because you can. Would you get all that food if you had to pay for it ??? What a waste.

It's only a waste if you don't eat it.

I'm trying the dining plan and am assuming that eating on it for four days is not going to make me obese...especially with all the walking I do at WDW.

 

[Poohbear123]

I don't do the Dining Plan as I usually travel alone to the world, so it wouldn't pay for me.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I would never consider the Dining plan because no one in my family eats enough to make it economical.

Judging from the numbers of incredibly obese guests I saw recently at Disney, I would say that the dining plan would save them a fortune.

Not meaning to dis anyone, but I honestly have never seen so many grossly overweight people in one place in my life.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I would never consider the Dining plan because no one in my family eats enough to make it economical.

Judging from the numbers of incredibly obese guests I saw recently at Disney, I would say that the dining plan would save them a fortune.

Not meaning to dis anyone, but I honestly have never seen so many grossly overweight people in one place in my life.

Of course you meant to dis people. If you didn't, you would not have posted such a mean comment.

 

[Cinders Mum]

And the dining plan is "too much planning" is another reason that makes no sense. Whether or not you purchase the dining plan, if you plan to eat at a popular resteraunt you need to make an ADR. That is nothing inherent to the dining plan.

I think you misunderstand what I meant. Because of DDP there are more people doing more TS meals and therefore more people chasing the same number of "covers". Whereas before we could do PS's for some of our meals we could in the past arrange some nearer the time, or even whilst in resort. That is where the pressure on us to plan 3 weeks breakfasts, lunch and dinners 8 months in advance comes in with PS's in my opinion. We either have to seriously have to military plan our dining and stick to it, OR resign ourselves to CS on those days we wanted flexibilty as most days at MK City Hall would have a board outside advising of zero TS dining availability for that day and this was Sept/Oct .....


Val
xx

 

[disneyjunkie]

I think you misunderstand what I meant. Because of DDP there are more people doing more TS meals and therefore more people chasing the same number of "covers". Whereas before we could do PS's for some of our meals we could in the past arrange some nearer the time, or even whilst in resort. That is where the pressure on us to plan 3 weeks breakfasts, lunch and dinners 8 months in advance comes in with PS's in my opinion. We either have to seriously have to military plan our dining and stick to it, OR resign ourselves to CS on those days we wanted flexibilty as most days at MK City Hall would have a board outside advising of zero TS dining availability for that day and this was Sept/Oct .....


Val
xx

I guess it depends on what you are used to. Since we only travel during peak times, I've always had to plan all sit down meals in advance. If not, we would spend our whole vacation eating counter service.

The dining plan doesn't change the way we plan or do out trips.

Each family has to do what works best for them.

 

[J. Galt]

We didn't do the dining plan on our last trip in November. Its just not our "style" of eating (too much food for us... although I tell you, I was tempted to get it, being 7 months pregnant when we traveled, lol). I'm sooooo glad we didn't get the plan in the end because several in our party (myself included) wound up getting the stomach flu while we were there. We ended up cancelling a whole bunch of ADRs (because we were just trying to choke down crackers and flat soda in our rooms). In light of our situation, we really would have lost money on the plan.

 

[chobie]

We didn't do the dining plan on our last trip in November. Its just not our "style" of eating (too much food for us... although I tell you, I was tempted to get it, being 7 months pregnant when we traveled, lol). I'm sooooo glad we didn't get the plan in the end because several in our party (myself included) wound up getting the stomach flu while we were there. We ended up cancelling a whole bunch of ADRs (because we were just trying to choke down crackers and flat soda in our rooms). In light of our situation, we really would have lost money on the plan.

That does seem to be a good reason NOT to get the plan-- the getting sick and all. If you read through trip reports and such, it is very common for people to be sick at least a day or two when traveling.

 

[DebIreland]

It can work out more economical and less wasteful (of food) for those who are checking in early on their check-in day and leaving WDW late on their last day because I believe the Dining Plan credits do not expire until midnight on your check-out day so, let's say you spend 5 nights at a WDW resort, you could then spread out your credits over almost 6 days, sharing some meals along the way to make this happen. Just a thought!

 

[Noleball]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our DD5 is a light eater and in many cases, we will not use her meal credit at that time. We will simply order an appetizer that she will eat or even share our meal with her. That allows us to get another TS meal or two along the way. Out of six nights, we have three character breakfasts scheduled.

Truth be told, as much as I love DW, i also love eating. The park is great for me and the family but eating is a favorite pasttime as well (and no i am not overweight...much). I stand in the lines at some of the attractions for the kids and they will indulge me in a nice meal in exchange.

Also, we added up things we would likey eat off of the menus at the various restaurants and CS locations, and we will come out much cheaper with DDP.

 

[TheRatPack]

We had the Dining Plan on our last trip and while we ended up with lots of snacks on our last day the meals were gone. We always eat a breakfast somewhere, or an early lunch and then we usually try to sit down to a nice dinner each evening (whether on or offsite). We used to stay offsite a lot, go to the park and have a nice breakfast/brunch and carry our own snacks. When we'd leave in the evening we'd catch a restaurant offsite before heading back to our hotel. This plan keeps us onsite longer and sometimes even gets us to order those collectible cups and light up ice cubes LOL

I don't think it's too much food at all, it's a breakfast or lunch meal for each person and a supper. The snacks are basic necessities, bottles of water or 20oz cokes...etc but nothing that would be out of the ordinary to pick up while you would be walking the parks anyway.

Oh and no person in our 4 family party is obese or even considered overweight. My only gripe about the plan is that if you have a 'disney adult' child that wants to order off the childs menu, sometimes servers make them order from the adult....and in many of those cases it is too much food.

Okay, and last note.....LOL promise. Most of the sit down places are buffet or family style, so it's not like you're getting a 3 or 4 course meal. You're eating what you want, not anymore or any less. All the breakfast character meals we ate were buffet style so none of us left feeling full and yet we saved from having to budget all these meals and tips.

 

[Amapola]

We didn't get it because we never eat dessert (we don't eat sugar or wheat nor Sugar-free/artificially sweetened things), we don't eat snacks (pretty much for the same reason ), and we don't drink sodas. We have one TS (appetizer & entree) and one very light CS meal (something like a chicken caesar salad) each day, which is pretty much how we eat at home. For us, it wasn't worth it.

Now, the refillable mug... that was a deal for us, since we do drink lots of coffee.

 

[mcgrawfan]

I am the OP. I know you don't have to order everything you are allowed on the plan, but if you don't is it still worth it to get the DP. We will have 2 adults and a 2 yo. If just one of us gets the appetizer or neither get an appetizer does the plan still pay for itself?? Or is the plan designed to take advantage of what you are allowed to make it worth it?

I also want to apologize for some of the rude comments people have posted. I never imagined when I asked my original question that people would come back with such rude comments on overweight people.

 

[skiwee1]

I want to try it, because I was always put of the prices of food at the resteraunts last time I went. As to the health side that was mentioned, I am a little overweight but tend to ignore my doctor, as not only does he want me to get on a diet but he wants me to give up smoking, how does a non smoker do that? (I work in a factory and he assumes that I smoke because of that)

Well I must be a pig! I don't think the DP would be enough! LOL! While we don't all get appetizers or desserts we do eat 3 meals a day. The DP only gives you two real meals. We also like the signature places and that costs tow credits. I'd rather just pay and do it my own way.

 

[cobbler]

We don't do the dining plan because we are DVC and we do eat in our room for some meals. Plus we have DDE.

My dad got the dining plan on our October trip last year and it was great. He got to eat some really good meals and he was on a very tight budget. Of course the free dining during that time helped.

 

[tmanaster]

We did use it in June, but we had two year old twins who did not need the plan so we shared our food with them. I really enjoyed going to many character meals, HoopdeDoo, etc. Next November, we are not buying it. It just seems excessive to have 4 meals for the kids plus dessert, etc. We simply can't eat all that! It will be less expensive for us to just order the ammount we want. For a smaller family, or those with older children (my kids are 8, 6, and 3yo twins), it might be worth it.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

We used the dining plan in October for our first visit. We definitely came out ahead $$ wise, and we had more table service meals than we probably would have had we not used the plan.

Yes, it's a lot of food at the TS meals. There were 3 of us, so we would pick up one CS meal plus one snack of fruit, milk, juice and bagels at Roaring forks for breakfast and split between the 3 of us. For lunch, we would use 2 CS credits between the 3 of us for lunch and a snack for the extra drink. Sometimes we just refilled the water bottles so we ended up with extra snacks. For TS, we would generally each use our credits. If we were too full for dessert, we'd order one to split between us and order 2 to take to the room and eat later. We weren't hungry and we weren't wasteful... and we thoroughly enjoyed our first trip to WDW ever.

As far as the TS food being a waste, I suppose that depends entirely on your point of view. Is leaving food on one's plate considered a waste whether you've paid $100 for that plate or $5? Is controlling the portions you eat a waste? Certainly when you prepare your own food you make only what you need. When our mothers were making our meals, they made additional food and served the rest as leftovers, so as not to waste their time. Some people still do this... others don't.

My point is this. No, you needn't eat every last morsel on every plate that is served you. No, you don't need to order every course, even if it is prepaid. Given the cost of some restaurants at WDW (no, i'm not talking about the most expensive, either), a single meal runs about the same price you paid for an entire day's worth of dining. In some restaurants, perhaps a bit less.

The real beauty of the dining plan lies in the fact you don't have to worry about the actual meal prices in the restaurants who participate. You simply get an ADR and your entire family can enjoy as they like, whether that means 3 cleaned plates or choosing only a course. How you use it, as we have all seen... is up to the individual.

Bon apetit!