Book package with or w/o dinning?

[indigoxtreme]

To the poster about the grapes, we were able to get grapes as a snack on our dining plan. We usually did this at the food court at POFQ prior to leaving for the park, as our DGD loves them and would snack on them all day. I am not sure why people feel they can eat cheaper than 37.99 per day as this includes tax and tip. Maybe if you eat poptarts in the room and pb&J or some other type sandwiches, you can spend the 30 or so per person for 1 meal. By looking at Allearsnet.com menus and prices you can see the cost of the meals that you would truly eat. I know even if we shared CS meals and maybe did 1 or 2 TS meals we could not eat cheaper and I am not going to eat sandwiches on vacation. With the dining plan we were able to eat TS meals and not Hamburgers, sandwiches, hotdogs for dinner everynight. We did have cereal and buns in the room a few mornings of our 8 days. We shared a few CS meals (6 of us) and then we were able to share breakfast cs meals at the hotel and also use some of the snack credits for fruit to add to the breakfast. And to top it off we all lost weight coming home as we were so active. The comments about doing the meals you please when you please cannot happen much anymore as most of the really good TS restaurants usually have no walk up meals available unless it is really an off time at the parks. It really was not that hard to plan, simply put together a chart of which park you would like to do and search the TS meals available around that park, either in the park or one of the hotels etc. For the cs meals we just pick one depending on where we were in the park when we were hungry. We also had about 10 credits for snacks left and brought home some rice krispy bars and water etc. Use the menus to check out a 1 day planning for meals and see what you would spend. Don't forget to add your sales tax and the tip of 18% and see if you would acutally do better by paying oop. We highly recommend the DDP and are doing it again in Feb.

 

[vamom]

Yes for the dining plan. Went went in May felt it was a good deal & much easier. Your food, taxes & tip are included. We also found it was plenty of food, if not to much. Have a great time!

 

[Nikki_Mouse]

We had the dining plan in September- when it was FREE!!!- it was absolutely the best. We are not big eaters but loved it for these reasons-
1. we could try places that may seem too expensive if budgeting money for food.
2. great flexibility at the food court at ASMo- could choose fruit for snacks
3. did not have to worry about having money on us for food and it was paid for upfront- no budgeting.

The dining plan was great- I highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking about it.

Went to LeCelier for lunch- myself, DD, DS (7) and DD(4)- all of us ate steak- the bill was over 200.00- the dining plan only cost us around $100.00 per day! This is an absolute steal!!! DO NOT PASS IT UP

 

[Kimmielee]

I think it's going to be worth it. I have a character meal planned for 4 of the 5 days and that cost alone is almost the total cost of the dining plan!! Before, without it... we'd be limited! Cast is myself and DS (6).

Here's my plan - with estimates based on meal prices or selections I think we'd pick....

Arrive 4/18 - lunch at the resort (CS) est. of $20 and dinner at Chef Mickeys (Character dinner - TS) est. of $40

4/19 - breakfast at the resort (CS), est. of $15 and OOP lunch at DTD - dinner at LeCellier (TS) est. of $75

4/20 - Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (Character breakfast - TS) est. of $35, lunch at MK (CS) est of $15 and OOP dinner (on the company I work for) at Fulton's with staff from the area

4/21 - light Breakfast at resort (CS) est. of $10 , lunch at Sci-Fi Diner (TS) est of $25 and dinner at LTT (Character Meal-TS) est. of $40

4/22 - Breakfast at O'hanas (Character Breakfast-TS) est of $35, OOP lunch at DTD, Dinner at Resort (CS) est. $25

Based on the above - I've saved over $100 by doing the dining plan... it's the extra cost of the expensive breakfasts and character meals. Well worth it to me. I'll post a real expense vs. real cost comparision when we return!

 

[hezreck]

We are using it for the first time on our next trip. Last trip, we used some vouchers from Ebay and ended up splitting counter service double cheeseburgers the whole time. Our DD ate counter service chicken nuggets the whole trip and 4 days into our trip she was throwing up. This time we are getting the Dining plan and will be eating better than last trip. We will be able to get anything we want and won't have to live on burgers for the week. Even with DD having to choose from the kid's menu, we can go to restaurants that have more options for kids than chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. She is even looking forward to trying some new foods.
Yes, it's going to be ALOT of food, but at least it will be ALOT of food that's better for you.

 

[badger8789]

Good morning hezrek and everyone, We enjoyed the dining plan this past January, and I totally relate to your experience with your DD. We found that is was important to pay attention to which restaurants offered kids' menus beyond chicken nuggets or burgers too. We were big on making our kids drink milk (as opposed to soda or lemonade) at mealtime. We shared from our meals at times where the kids' menu was limited. My DD (7) had a lot of fun trying new food, less so than my DS (5). All in all, it was a good deal and really added to the fun of our trip. Cheers! las