Dining Plan Newbies

[chicagodisneychick26]

We are leaving July 24th and are using the dining plan for the first time! Yay!! The Deluxe Dining Plan and im boggled on where to book ADR's I have some but im not sold on all of them so anyone have any suggestions We are celebrating a 27th wedding anniversary, a 26th birthday (mine) and a 17th birthday and were taking a first timer with us. Thanks so much for the help!

 

[wdwdancerwannabe]

wait??

You're leaving in less than two weeks - and you haven't made your ADR's yet??

We're leaving July 9 of NEXT YEAR. I will be making ressies on Jan. 10 -- exactly 180 days before we leave -- you must book at that time to get what you really want....

I would suggest that you get on the horn tomorrow AM first thing and book for whatever is available.

Sorry --- and good luck!

 

[TDC Nala]

At this time you might not have much of a choice. People have been booking ADRS since 6 months ago. Go to www.disneyworld.com/restaurants - you can check online for availability at the restaurants there - at this point if you want to eat in a park you may have to take whatever's available at the time you want. If you already have ADRS but are thinking about changing them to other restaurants, keep the ones you have until you are able to get the subsitute you want, then cancel them.

 

[Texas lady]

We are leaving July 24th and are using the dining plan for the first time! Yay!! The Deluxe Dining Plan and im boggled on where to book ADR's I have some but im not sold on all of them so anyone have any suggestions We are celebrating a 27th wedding anniversary, a 26th birthday (mine) and a 17th birthday and were taking a first timer with us. Thanks so much for the help!

Thats is cutting it close.. You need to go and make your ADR's now.
IMO use the online dining reservations. It will come in handy to let you know which resturant is available for which day and times.

Good Luck!

 

[purple figment]

Oh no! DxDDP, 2 weeks left and you're questioning some of your choices.

I don't know how many reservations you've made, but at this point there might not be many alternative choices left. Don't cancel a current ADR unless you're able to make a new one.

If you don't have many reservations you might end up eating counter service and that would be a shame since you have the DxDDP. I think the general rule of thumb is 2/3 of your meals should be Table Service to make the DxDDP worth the cost.

 

[dancin Disney style]

If you don't have ADR's for every day of your trip you might want to consider downgrading to DDP. They will charge you a $50 fee but that would be much less of a loss than what you will lose if you are eating CS everyday.

 

[Melanie B]

I would take a look in the section on here that has a list of restaurants and menus to see what looks appealing then go from there.

Also allears.net has menus as well.

We're booked to go late August. Here is what we chose

Day 1
Lunch: Le Cellier
Dinner: Nine Dragons

Day 2
Breakfast: Grand Floridia Cafe
Lunch: Sci Fi
Dinner: Wolfgang Puck

Day 3
Breakfast: Kouzzina
Lunch: San Angel Inn
Dinner: Teppan Edo

Day 4
Breakfast: Kona
Lunch: ESPN Club
Dinner: Ohana

Day 5
Breakfast: Crystal Palace
Lunch: Liberty Tree Tavern
Dinner: Whispering Canyon

Day 6
Breakfast: Tusker House
Lunch: Yak & Yeti
Dinner: Spirit of Aloha

Day 7
Breakfast: Chef Mickey
Lunch: Coral Reef
Dinner: Chefs de France

 

[mmtska]

I agree with PP. Hopefully you have enough ADRs to make the dining plan work! We're going for 5 nights in December and this is what we have:

Day 1: 50's PT - early lunch
Cape May cafe- dinner

Day 2: Crystal Palace breakfast
Tutto Italia-dinner (although hopefully will be getting the CP package and change this)

Day 3: Jiko-dinner

Day 4: Kona Cafe-breakfast
Cinderella's Royal Table-dinner

Day 5: Chef Mickey's breakfast
Le Cellier-late lunch

I also got on the computer 180 days, so I've had these ADRs for a month already.

 

[kdunkle904]

You are really cutting it close with your ADRs but it is not impossible to get some good resturant choices. People tend to double book and then cancel their 2nd choice as their vacations get closer. I go online twice a day to the reservation line and check the availability of the resturants. Dont give up! I have gotten some great ressies this way and it only takes about 10 minutes to check.

 

[chartle]

Other issues you will have since your choice of restaurants is now limited is that you will most likely need park hoppers to get into the parks that may have this availability.

I also see you spending a lot of time hopping back and forth to get to these ADR's.

I hope your WDW first timer doesn't think that all WDW is about is running from ADR to ADR and eating tons of food.

 

[chicagodisneychick26]

We have adr's for every day Breakfast lunch and dinner. Ive booked them a long time ago. Im just not sold on some of them after reading reviews. Is the DxDP a lot of food? Has everyone been happy with it?

 

[jlhill4444]

We have adr's for every day Breakfast lunch and dinner. Ive booked them a long time ago. Im just not sold on some of them after reading reviews. Is the DxDP a lot of food? Has everyone been happy with it?

Can you post your ADRs that you have and then we can give you our opinions if you want. We are doing dxddp in Dec and we cannot wait. I have booked character breakfast each morning and signature or dinner show each night for dinner. That way we are not always eating and rushing from resteraunt to resteraunt. I look forward to seeing your choices so far!

 

[chartle]

We have adr's for every day Breakfast lunch and dinner. Ive booked them a long time ago. Im just not sold on some of them after reading reviews. Is the DxDP a lot of food? Has everyone been happy with it?

If you read every review on every Disney restaurant you wouldn't go any where because you will find bad reviews on all of them.

On the podcast they commented that there was a poll on the best and worst restaurants and I think there where a few places on both lists.

As for the DxDP do you normally get a dessert with lunch? Do you always eat a dessert with dinner? And I'm talking about a full dessert not just a couple of Oero's.

Also with the plan some people think that it takes too much time out of your day. Around meal times you will always be thinking about how soon you have to leave the park or can we see this attraction before we have to get to another ADR.

On our 2008 trip, which was the first trip after they started the DP, we saw at least one family leave the line to RnRC to get to an ADR, they only had maybe 10 minutes before they would have ridden.

I think the DxDP is for semi-foodies that want to do a lot of signature meals and other places like HDDR that take two TS credits and have also been to the park so many times that they don't need to see it all.

 

[chicagodisneychick26]

7-24
Dinner at Cap n Jacks

7-25

Breakfast at Crystal Palace
Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern
Dinner at Coral Reef

7-26
Breakfast at Kona
Lunch at Sci Fi
Dinner at Planet Hollywood

7-27
Breakfast at Cape May
Lunch at 50's
Dinner at Captains Grille

7-28
Breakfast at The Wave
Lunch at The Plaza
Dinner at Whispering Canyons

7-29
Breakfast at Chef Mickeys
Lunch at Les Chefs De France
Dinner at 50's

7-30
Breakfast at Tusker House
Lunch at Yak and Yeti
Dinner at Yatchsman

7-31
Breakfast at Grand Floridian Cafe

*All subject to change once we get there and my picky dad and brother decide they dont want to eat somewhere*

 

[Pumbaa_]

personally, I think you have way too many ADRs. My advice to everyone doing the DXDP is to go to your local favorite place, order appy, entree and dessert PER PERSON then walk around the mall for awhile

DXDP is alot of food

Not to mention, that is a lot of time spent dining. I also see lots of travel and meals in multiple parks same day. Hope you have hoppers

I would sub out some of the lunches for signature dining. Hve a solid bfast, snack then signature dinner

good luck and have fun!

 

[chartle]

personally, I think you have way too many ADRs. My advice to everyone doing the DXDP is to go to your local favorite place, order appy, entree and dessert PER PERSON then walk around the mall for awhile

DXDP is alot of food

And do it again in 4 to 5 hours. And repeat once more per day.

 

[Taja]

We have adr's for every day Breakfast lunch and dinner. Ive booked them a long time ago. Im just not sold on some of them after reading reviews. Is the DxDP a lot of food? Has everyone been happy with it?

Haven't tried the DxDP, but I found the DDP was too much food! *LOL* Perhaps, not too much food, but too much food at one time, if that makes sense. I'm accustomed to grazing, not dining. My body prefers small amounts of food five or six times daily rather than larger quantities three times daily. But that's me!

And the DxDP requires a lot of time waiting to be seated, waiting to be served, and actually eating. If food is an important part of your holiday (and it is for many people), the DxDP should work well for you.

It really depends on your personal preferences.

 

[jojomoore]

This is just my opinion (I have never used the Deluxe Dining Plan just the Regular Dining Plan.)

I would never use the Deluxe Dining plan unless I was planning on eating at 2 credit TS meals for serveral nights. Three TS meals a day will take alot of time-up to 6 hours a day of eating. But maybe thats is what you would like.
If I were going to eat 1 credit TS meals then I would purchase regular Dining Plan and pay OOP for the remaining least expensive meals.

If you keep the Deluxe Dining plan,
I would cancel Planet Hollywood, Les Chefs de France, Liberty Tree Tavern and WCC and replace with a quick service meal if you are hungry for a third meal. If you are not hungry for three meals per day, then you could eat signature restuarants such as Narcossee's, Citrico's, California Grill, or CRT, in place of other 1 credit TS Meals that you have. It is really easy to cancel and make ressies at WDW while you are there. When we determined we couldn't make an ADR or we wanted to eat somewhere a little closer to our resort, we went to our resorts concierge desk and they took care of it in very little time (and it was Thankgiving week). I scheduled 9 TS meals in 7 days and we were not able to make that many. I think scheduling breakfast and then dinner is your best bet for eating everywhere you want. We cancelled Kona and T-rex. This year I am scheduling Kona for the evening that we will be at MK so hopefully we will not miss it. I was not very impressed with the food at Chef's de France but the rest of my family liked it. Their kids meals are good.

The good thing is, if you want to make changes now, the Disney WEbsite is so easy. You can just pull up availability for any time of any day. And its so easy to cancel too.

I think your ADR choices look good with the exception of the ones that I mentioned but thats my opinion. You have a good variety or food and experiences.

 

[mmtska]

I agree with PP. You will be eating all the time with that many ADRs. I would try to get some signature restaurants in such as Narcoosee's, California Grill, Jiko, etc. anything to pare down your selections. I would DEFINITELY cut out Planet Hollywood. Ugh. Nothing special at all.

If you are hungry, you do get 2 snacks per day as well. that could hold you over from a breakfast to a dinner. I would keep your breakfasts and try to find some signature restaurants.

I wasn't sure how many people you had with you, but I searched for your dates, and most of the signature restaurants have availability for 4-6 people in the evening.

 

[chicagodisneychick26]

Weve been to disney numerous times and never used the dinning plan just kind of flew by the seat of our pants and now im not sure where to go and what to do. Weve ate at some many different places in many of the parks and resorts.