Dining at disney WITHOUT plan???

[loumanchoe]

We will be staying at pop--but we have decided that the dining plans are not for us -- we plan on eating at dinner at a couple of places Wispering Canyon, and also Ohanas -- does anyone know of any discounts or discount cards that I should be aware of. Thanks

 

[Pixiedust34]

We will be staying at pop--but we have decided that the dining plans are not for us -- we plan on eating at dinner at a couple of places Wispering Canyon, and also Ohanas -- does anyone know of any discounts or discount cards that I should be aware of. Thanks

There aren't any discounts that I know of, but if you're on a budget then you'll save by eating breakfast or lunch at WCC instead of dinner.

We save a lot by eating breakfast in our room and by asking for cups of ice water (they're free) with all of our cs meals.

 

[Shmily1]

If someone in your party has an AP, you can buy a TIW card for the discounts. We saved a lot by using that card!! It is generally one card covers four people.

 

[MEM]

If you are a AAA member, show your card at Earl of Sandwich for a small discount - I want to say it was 10% - it worked fine during our August 2009 trip but you have to ask for the discount

 

[TaraPA]

Tables in Wonderland (TIW) is the best dining discount card out there, but you have to have an AP to purchase it. If you get over to The Dolphin at all, and you have AAA, you get a 20% discount at Picabu & possibly other restaurants there.

 

[wisc mom]

Thanks for the tip on the AAA discount at Earl of Sandwich - I had no idea! I'm writing that down so I remember when we go back to WDW next May.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

For our 1st WDW visit earlier this month we had free dining ~ it was wonderful but way too much food, I don't see us ever paying for it. I budget *pre-pay* for meals at DLR is by purchasing Character Meal vouchers (available from getawaytoday.com ARES Travel company (I prefer Ares) and AAA) (but sometimes they won't save $$) and by putting $$ on a Disney Gift Card ~ I also save 10% on most food purchases at DLR with my AP ~ no special discount card to buy there.

 

[tripletots]

If you eat at Wolfgang Puck Express and use your AAA card they will give you 20% off. I learned that eating there in August. I had ordered waters for the whole family and was kind of embarrassed. So I told the girl taking our order I was just trying to save money and she asked if we belonged to AAA. It saved me $14.00. I was thrilled.

I bought Wolfgang Puck giftcards from Costco.com. It was 2 - $50.00 cards for $79.99. So that was a discount as well!

 

[cglaura]

If you aren't familiar yet with the size of counter service meals, I suggest splitting at first. You can always go back for more, but can't really get a refund on uneaten food

Even at table service you can split. They usually bring it out on two plates already separated. Normally we'd just get our own at places like that and take our left overs home for lunch next day...the portions are huge, no way we'd finish it all. But kind of hard to do that touring parks!

So unless we really want different things that day, we split (except buffets of course).

Sometimes we each get a kid size cs meal, they are smaller portions. Depends on what is on the menu.

 

[golden6911]

I don't use the dining plan either. I find it too restrictive especially in regards to kids meals. I have two really picky eaters and I would rather have more flexibility in what I order. My husband and I frequently split meals also. The last time I went to WDW I ate exactly how I wanted, kept the receipts and when I added it all up it still came out cheaper than the dining plan.

 

[jdes88]

If you eat at Wolfgang Puck Express and use your AAA card they will give you 20% off. I learned that eating there in August. I had ordered waters for the whole family and was kind of embarrassed. So I told the girl taking our order I was just trying to save money and she asked if we belonged to AAA. It saved me $14.00. I was thrilled.

I bought Wolfgang Puck giftcards from Costco.com. It was 2 - $50.00 cards for $79.99. So that was a discount as well!

Technically they AAA discount is only with the AAA diamond card, and the only way to receive that is to book your vacation with AAA. So, normally you would not be able to do this.

 

[Ava]

I also suggest splitting meals if you can agree on a dish. The portions really are large, at both CS & TS. And as a PP said, you can always order more food if you find that half a meal isn't enough for you, but you can't get a refund on food you buy & don't eat!

We also did not opt for the dining plan on our last trip, as it just seemed like too much food. We also had MIL joining us in the parks for a few days & didn't want to deal with us being on the plan & her not. We had a few TS meals but did mostly CS - there is a lot of variety in CS if you do a little research, you won't be stuck eating bugers & pizza the whole time. My partner, who eats fish but not poultry or meat, also ordered kids meals a few times as there was a veg option there that was not on the adult menu.

 

[swilshire]

I had ordered waters for the whole family and was kind of embarrassed.

Why would you be embarrassed or feel the need to explain to the server because you ordered what you wanted to? It's really none of the server's business why you order what you do and if they acted like it bothered them that I ordered water, I'd either ask for another server or eat elsewhere.

Sheila

 

[tpettie]

I had ordered waters for the whole family and was kind of embarrassed.

I think too many people see chosing water as being cheep rather than a health choice. Water is just as good for you and your family. Remeber what your mom said 12 glasses of water a day