Dining Plan or Not??????

[minimanam]

Hi everyone we are off to Disney next April and are not sure about dining arrangements - we want to do at least 2 Character Meals/Breakfasts but don't know which????

Any advise on dining plans and Character Meals would be very welcome

Alan

 

[2Tiggies]

Hi Allan

First of all, how long are you staying for? Do you have children, or are the character meals for adults to have fun with? If you have kids, how old are they and do they have any particular favourite characters?

Ultimately only you will be able to answer the question as it is such an individual choice, but we can give you a selection of questions to ask yourself to arrive at the answer as to what will be best for you.

 

[minimanam]

Thanks for your reply,

there will be 5 in our party, my wife and myself and 3 girls, 14, 9 and 4 years old.

We are just looking to enjoy our 2 week holiday to Disney to the Full but not sure what to book or plan?????

 

[2Tiggies]

Well I will start by giving you some food for thought.

Would you want to do one sit down meal per day for the full 2 weeks you are there? You would be paying for the dining plan if you go in April so you need to consider whether it would be worth it for you, based on what you think you would be eating. Not as hard as it sounds. The basic dining plan gives you one quick service meal per day plus one sit down (table service) meal per day and a snack.

Let's just look at the Table Service (TS) for now, since you are thinking character meals at this point. This includes a main course or full buffet/all you can eat family style meal, plus one non alcoholic beverage and a dessert. You also get your quick service (CS) meal which includes an entree or combo meal, dessert and a beverage. I can look at that and tell you immediately that I will not eat dessert twice a day, neither do I want to be tied to a restaurant reservation at a certain place and time every night. For me it is too restrictive. For many people, it is part of the experience and adds structure to the day so what works for one person is not necessarily going to be the answer for the next.

I think a good starting point for you would be to go onto allears.net and have a look at the menus, take a typical day and try and figure out the kind of thing you would be likely to order during the course of that day. You need to add tax onto the prices (dining plan includes tax) and also 18% to your TS meals for tip. Then take the cost of the dining plan for all five of you for that day and see how the figures compare.

I like to do a few character meals but don't like to be tied to all those reservations for 2 weeks. I have done QSDP and paid out of pocket for my few character meals and it was cheaper for me that way. I have also done no dining plan and paid out of pocket for all my food and still saved on getting the dining plan, however if you enjoy nice restaurants, want to try a few signature meals and plan on eating a good sit down dinner at least 10 out of your 14 nights/days and maybe double up for a few signatures to free up some evenings (signature meals use 2 TS credits per person) then the dining plan may very well save you a fair amount of cash.

Keep talking. It takes a bit of work, a lot of patience and a calculator, but you get there eventually.

 

[minimanam]

Thanks for your help - I think??

I will do some working out and thinking!!!

If I have any more questions I will ask again if you don't mind

Many thanks so far!

 

[2Tiggies]

Thanks for your help - I think??

I will do some working out and thinking!!!

If I have any more questions I will ask again if you don't mind

Many thanks so far!

I don't mind at all and I can assure you, neither will anybody else. In fact, we would be upset if we thought you felt you couldn't or shouldn't ask anything. Did you find the menu page or do you need a link?

Oh and while you are thinking about the dining plan, don't forget to post questions and comments on any other threads. It's always nice to have fresh perspectives and new questions on here. It keeps things current .... and interesting.

 

[minimanam]

I think I have decided!!!

We have looked at all the options - and then looked again

We are thinking that the DP with 1 TS is for us as we can use the credits for character breakfasts (we have decided on 5 Character meals)

With the TS meals that are included do we still have to pay tax and tips on top with cash??

Sorry to ask such a simple questions

Alan

 

[dixonsontour]

Not tax just tip and any extra's eg alcoholic drinks.

It works out a suggested 18 or 20% on the bill but the actual amount you tip is obviously up to you dependent on the service.

You can leave cash for a tip or charge it to your room. We tended to leave cash - just write cash on the receipt.

 

[wayneg]

Just skimmed over this(sorry busy at work) so maybe I have got wrong end of the stick.
Are you considering buying DDP?(not free)
Personally I can't see you getting anywhere near value from it if you wanting to include a few breakfasts, they are a very poor way to use credits on DDP.

breakfast at CP $22.35
lunch at CHH Fried Fish Basket & drink $9.86 (& dessert $3.82 if needed)
Snack average $3

Total $39.03 that includes a lunch dessert & drink, we are all different but paying oop we don't eat dessert at lunch and we share 1 large drink between 3.

Buying DDP only works well if you eat a dessert every meal, use every single credit, eat most expensive items off the menus or go for the more expensive dinner buffets rather than breakfast buffets.
We have done DDP twice and its great free but would never pay for it. Just double check your figures and make sure you will get value from it.

 

[2Tiggies]

To add to what Wayne has said (sorry to further complicate things for you), I was looking at your intended dates of travel again and it occurred to me that you will be subjected to a seasonal surcharge per person on your TS meals (at least all the character/fixed price menus). Now if you are only doing 5 TS meals over 14 days and paying for them out of pocket (OOP) then it is still manageable. However if you are getting the dining plan, there is an increased price for the DDP over this surcharge period. I found it cheaper to do my TS for cash and although I did the QSDP (this was also April) it was still cheaper over the course of the trip than it would have been to pay for the regular plan.

What you need to keep in mind is that the DDP is great IF you eat all the food it offers. If your family already eats that way, then you are likely to save money - and quite a bit, at that. But you have to assess what you WOULD have spent if you just ordered what you wanted. Now the answer to this will vary from one person to the next, but for us, we would lose money with the DDP because like you, we would rather do a character breakfast than a big dinner, but as Wayne says, you don't get as much value from it.

Now that you have got yourself into the discussion on dining plans you can see how complex things can get because there is no one right answer that can be applied to everyone.

 

[torsie24]

I will give you my opinion on DDP and my reasons.

We don't get DDP, and I can't quite safely say that the only time we'll ever have it is if it's for free.

This is because:

1 - We don't want to be tied to having to get to a sit down meal every day.

2 - We never eat 3 courses each. We often share a starter or dessert if we have one.

3 - We like to place an order before arrival of groceris to be delivered to our room, so will have a lot of breakfasts or small meals in the room.

So for us we just wouldn't get our money's worth on DDP.

 

[Rohais]

DF and I are upgrading from the free QSDP to the DPP in September 2011.

We used it for the first time last August and loved it.

Yes, you can be tied down to eating every night...but you can change that by doing a dinner show like Hoop De Doo, signature restaurants like Jiko or Cinderella's Royal Table..they eat up 2 credits each.
You could also have character breakfasts, that way the rest of your day is free to spend as you wish without having to be at a certain place at a certain time.

I don't 'do' breakfast so we only really have lunch or dinner reservations. If you spend time working your schedule out, it can actually be a nice break from the hub-bub of the parks...and its air conned

With the DDP, you get a main and a dessert...you can always swap the dessert for, say, a coffee. Thats what my Nan did for most of it.

For DF and I, its a nice time to just sit back, relax and enjoy each others company.

All I can really say is just sit down and have a think about what you would get out of the DDP...and if it would be more than just food...or if it would eat too much time up.

 

[wayneg]

Yes, you can be tied down to eating every night...but you can change that by doing a dinner show like Hoop De Doo, signature restaurants like Jiko or Cinderella's Royal Table..they eat up 2 credits each.

But you also have to take into account signature's are also a bad use of credit. Our average meal value for 1 credit for 3 adults was $110-$120 but Yachtsman Steakhouse and Hoop Dee Doo for 2 credits each only totalled around $170($85 each credit)
Lots of calculations need to be done by OP but paying full price for DDP is not easy to get value from.

 

[wideeyes]

I don't even like doing the DDP when it is free. I don't want ADRs every day, I prefer just doing a few that I really want to do rather than just eating at places to just use credits up. Luckily we have often managed to get pretty good room rates during free dining is on so take that instead.

 

[pigby]

I understand what people are saying but I think it really depends on the individual. We have had free dining and have also paid for the DDP. The reason we paid is that we nearly always pre-book a TS every day and it's usually dinner - although we did have a couple of breakfasts in there as well. We did work out that we did indeed save quite a bit of money even when we paid. Wayne is right, though, breakfasts aren't usually a great way of dining credits - we did find Akerhaus the exception to that rule as you get a photo as well.

There used to be a thread on the US restaurant boards which said which restaurants had the best 'bang for your buck' - but I lost that link when we switched computers. A lot of the 2 TS's aren't really worth the use of 2 credits (Brown Derby springs to mind) - you can check out prices of meals on Allears.net. Another thing, DDP isn't 3 courses anymore - no starters just main and dessert.

 

[2Tiggies]

I understand what people are saying but I think it really depends on the individual. We have had free dining and have also paid for the DDP. The reason we paid is that we nearly always pre-book a TS every day and it's usually dinner - although we did have a couple of breakfasts in there as well. We did work out that we did indeed save quite a bit of money even when we paid. Wayne is right, though, breakfasts aren't usually a great way of dining credits - we did find Akerhaus the exception to that rule as you get a photo as well.

There used to be a thread on the US restaurant boards which said which restaurants had the best 'bang for your buck' - but I lost that link when we switched computers. A lot of the 2 TS's aren't really worth the use of 2 credits (Brown Derby springs to mind) - you can check out prices of meals on Allears.net. Another thing, DDP isn't 3 courses anymore - no starters just main and dessert.

Was this the thread?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1885678&highlight=bang+buck

I have to agree with you here. For it to work for you from a cost perspective, you need to do some homework and know where the best and not so good uses of your credits lie. The basic DDP is designed to work for what Disney thinks is the 'average' family on vacation. They assume that you will eat a sit down meal every day and grab a CS on the run for another meal, possibly using a snack credit for breakfast or paying OOP for it. The thing is though, not everyone eats that way and it is one thing to see how much you would spend if you bought those same meals OOP, but I think this is where they catch you. In my opinion, you really need to look at what you WOULD eat if you didn't have to try and use the exact allotment of credits you have. So perhaps you work out that you would come out better off with your 1CS and 1TS per day with the restaurants you choose, but would you eat a TS meal every day of your trip if you were paying OOP, even if you didn't have to worry about the budget? For some, yes, they do. Others don't.