DH wants no dining plan and I want dining plan - opinions?

[ktspac]

So we have done dining plan in the past and I think it is very convenient not to have to think about prices. I am usually super planner and have meals all mapped out for the days. so I was so excited when I booked trip in Sept for free dining. Then DH decided he wants to go in July instead - boo but happy we are going still. We will be there for 8 nights. 2 days we plan on checking out Universal since we never had and two older kids finally reach height requirements for most of the rides. So we will be there those 2 days instead of Disney. We also have a 13 month old. I know we are going to have to be more flexible this trip in the beginning of July over 4th of July weekend too with him. So I am not sure I will always have our meals planned out to the best of my ability. Do you think it will be worth it or should I just use my Disney Visa rewards card instead and pay OOP? It's 2 adults and the 3 kids (8,5,13 months). Will probably do one character meal - the Disney junior one for my son. We have done princesses three trips already for my daughter in the past. With the kids I see us eating more quick counter service than the table service even if they are hot, tired and hungry.

 

[LovesTimone]

Its always a matter of the numbers. We love the dinning plan, we do deluxe now but when the kids were little early elementary age we did the regular dinning plan. We like know everything is paid for up front. Make's is simple, that way everyone can get what they want. The kids loved to be able to get dessert especially at the sit down. We thought it was important to take that break, get in the air conditioning, sit down regroup, see the characters and get more than just counter service ( Fast Food). We moved up to DDXDP when we started to have to order 2 appetizer with our meals.

We always make one day a universal day, my DBIL works there so we get a perk there. We have CS at our Resort then head over for the day, sometimes we would head back and have a late dinner at DTD or one of the Deluxe Resorts. There are a lot of good options at Universal for dinner. Margaritaville is fun and the food good, Bubba Gumps is another favorite of ours. Or you can save your TS credits for a signature meal for another night, or maybe add a TS breakfast, Tusker House with Donald is one of our favorites for breakfast, or Crystal Palace with a time before park opening is nice to walk down main street without a ton of people.

 

[supersnoop]

Given your childrens' ages, the dining plan would probably make sense if you wanted do a few more character meals.

 

[mickeynut1]

So we have done dining plan in the past and I think it is very convenient not to have to think about prices. I am usually super planner and have meals all mapped out for the days. so I was so excited when I booked trip in Sept for free dining. Then DH decided he wants to go in July instead - boo but happy we are going still. We will be there for 8 nights. 2 days we plan on checking out Universal since we never had and two older kids finally reach height requirements for most of the rides. So we will be there those 2 days instead of Disney. We also have a 13 month old. I know we are going to have to be more flexible this trip in the beginning of July over 4th of July weekend too with him. So I am not sure I will always have our meals planned out to the best of my ability. Do you think it will be worth it or should I just use my Disney Visa rewards card instead and pay OOP? It's 2 adults and the 3 kids (8,5,13 months). Will probably do one character meal - the Disney junior one for my son. We have done princesses three trips already for my daughter in the past. With the kids I see us eating more quick counter service than the table service even if they are hot, tired and hungry.

We love the DDP and as the pp said, with the ages of your kids, the DDP would make sense if you were doing a lot of buffet/character meals. However, since you are doing 2 days at Universal and are thinking of doing more CS meals than TS meals, I think paying OOP would work better as some TS credits might be wasted on your Universal days as well as when you just want a quick CS meal.

 

[DCDisney]

With little kids and heat in the equation I think you are doing the right thing planning just a few TS meals. When we are hot we tend to not want to eat full meals anyway so having flexibility will probably be nice. You can have the kids share an adult meal if they prefer that--my kids did as it was usually more real food than 2 kids meals. It's also nice to be able to get some type of cold dessert later in the day too. We actually really have enjoyed our meals at Universal and it's nice because they have a few different things than WDW. We especially like the lunch at 3 Broomsticks and the frozen butterbeer is delish!

 

[maxiesmom]

When we went in July, I planned more table service meals to get us out of the heat and into the air conditioning for a while. So I would be more on the side of having the dining plan.

 

[sunnyday123]

I would lean towards the DP, I couldn't get enough of the character meals when my daughter was little. Heck, we'd probably still do them.

It sounds like a toss up with your plans, but remember July in Florida is 80 bazillion degrees, so it might be nice to get out of the heat.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

If all you want is counter service and one or two character meals and you want the freedom to travel and eat outside of WDW, do not get the dining plan, unless you are cool with overpaying for food you don't eat just so you can have the option.

 

[pumpkinpatchquilter]

I think I would either do dining plan or bring snacks with you and plan to eat meals outside the park. Dining plan is expensive but going to Disney is pricey in my opinion anyway - we don't get to go often so I just like not having to think about keeping track of the cost of food - not to mention the money you would have to carry around with you...I like to plan all ahead of time and prepay as much as possible so we don't have to think too much when we get there. I want to enjoy myself and the extra spent on dining (or upgrading room for free dining) is worth it to me. To make DP worth it for us we use all our TS meals on character meals...those character meals really make the trip for us. We could go to the parks and ride hardly anything, my kids are young (12/8/3yrs) so they want to see characters more than anything else. LOL