Dining Plan Questions

[scanne]

I was just on Disney's site pricing out packages with dining. It seems like a good deal, but A LOT of food. Not sure if we're doing it yet. If you have done the dining plan (whether free or not) how much extra $$ did you spend on food outside the plan? My DS will be 4 if we go in Oct. 2006, and I know the rules regarding ordering from the kids menu and all.

Bottom line, is it worth it? Does it save you money? Thanks.

 

[F1Julie]

We just got back yesterday and loved the dining plan. We got it for free, but I will happily pay for it in the future. I figure that DD5 and I had over $600 worth of food in the 7 nights we were there. The only food I paid for were Dole Whips (not included on the plan) and a few breakfasts. I usually used my CS credits for lunch and my TS credits for dinner. I didn't pay out of pocket for any kids meals, but at a couple of places, I ordered just for myself and DD shared with me. With an appetizer, entree, and dessert, there was plenty of food for us to share and then we had an additional TS credit to use later. Another great thing about the dining plan is that tips are included so checking out is a breeze. You just give your server your room key to scan and you're done.

 

[speakupjc]

The dining plan should save everyone some money.

 

[moretigger]

I think the answer depends on what you normally do in terms of eating. When we (DH, DS2 (not on plan) and I) wend in April, it worked out well for us.
I liked having it already paid for. It just felt less complicated to me and was nice not cashing out a big bill at the end. I didn't obsess about getting the most bang for my buck, but came out well in the end.
We generally have high dining bills as we always get an appetizer (usually to split) or soup or a salad. Since we could each have one, we would split a salad and an app, or get an app for us and one for DS2. I almost always eat steak or seafood when I am out, so I order higher priced entrees anyway. We almost always get dessert. Again we would get two - one that DS2 would like - and share. Even if you only order 1 dessert, you would still come out around or over your meal plan price for the day.

As to your out of pocket questions - we bought a few meals for DS2 (other times he ate some of my steak) and we always got wine or drinks with dinner. We bought pastries in France and candy in DTD.

 

[cindermomma]

We just got back with free dining and we will definately get it in the future. It is so great to just be able to give your room key and be done. We just ordered whatever we wanted without regard to getting the most $ out of it, and we felt that it was worth it money-wise and time-wise. The idea of having the whole trip paid for, including food, appeals to us. We like all-inclusive. We used a CS in the morning (9ish), snack around lunch, and then TS for dinner. This worked great for us (me, DH and DS5). I have some big eaters and this plan totally satisfied my boys!

 

[bigmac5]

There was 5 of us. This was our first to Disney. Myself DH, DS11, DS13, DS14. We were on the free dining. Before we left my DH said "I don't want to spend a lot of time eating or going to and from restaurants." I was leary about what we had gotten into, We tend to be free spirits and don't plan a lot for our other trips. I must say that he enjoyed it so much he has talked several people into getting it. We went to places that we would have never have gone to. He says when we go again we will do the dining plan. As far as extras, since we were driving we brought in a case of water and muffins and bagels. We ended up bring home some muffins and bagels because we were eating desert from the dinner before for breakfast. We also didn't eat any of our snacks because we weren't hungery, so we brought home 30 Mickey krispy snacks. My husband bought us Mickey icecreams when we first got there because he didn't believe me it was covered. We also bought our resort mugs for am coffee, hot choc. and afternoon and night drinks. For us it was worth it. We ate about $1,700 worth of food. If we had to pay for the plan it would have been $1,050. You could each much cheaper, but my thoughts are - it is a vaccation and I wanted to splurge.

 

[PoohHappens]

We just got home. Myself DH and DS3 We had the dinning plan (free) and loved it. We would have paid out of pocket 480 for the plan. We had $900 worth of food within the plan. We only paid for alcohol and one extra cup of coffee. We also paid for one extra character meal on our last day. We stayed 6 nights and ate at 8 sit down and countless other things. I was a lot of food and we had extra CS credits at the end so we waited in line at our food court and bought food for a couple other people. We have always ate on a budget before and spent at least 400 and that was before we had to pay for our son at Character meals. We would definately do it again.

 

[Candice30]

if i can add on with a few more questions....

1. for the CS/TS it says non-alcoholic drinks; does this only include soft drinks or does it include juice and/or milkshakes? what size of beverage?

2. do i have to tell the server that i am eating on the dining plan before we order at CS or TS?

3. any problems with getting dessert to go at TS?

 

[LilyStar]

if i can add on with a few more questions....

1. for the CS/TS it says non-alcoholic drinks; does this only include soft drinks or does it include juice and/or milkshakes? what size of beverage?

2. do i have to tell the server that i am eating on the dining plan before we order at CS or TS?

3. any problems with getting dessert to go at TS?

The only drinks that were ever included for us were soft drinks, lemonade, juice etc. Milkshakes for the most part were considered dessert (if you were dining with TS)

Yes you should definitely tell the server taht you are eating on the dining plan when you dine with TS. They will then tell you any restrictions, or offer you advice most of the time. As far as CS goes, it is best to always tell the server up front about dining on the plan. That way they can stop you if you order something not on the plan.

We had no problems at all getting dessert to go at TS. I did this at Spoodles. You paid for it, doesn't matter where it goes!

 

[bigmac5]

if i can add on with a few more questions....

1. for the CS/TS it says non-alcoholic drinks; does this only include soft drinks or does it include juice and/or milkshakes? what size of beverage?

2. do i have to tell the server that i am eating on the dining plan before we order at CS or TS?

3. any problems with getting dessert to go at TS?

1. It includes most of the drinks that they have. For CS I usually go choc. milk and at few places I got the large Nestles drinks it all depend on what they sell. You are to get med. If they don't have med.then you get a large. At TS I suggest you ask when you get there--Often they don't tell you. At Concourse we got the light-up ice cube drink. At Ohana each adult could have a virgin version of their fancy drinks.


2. We did if we weren't sure about something. "On the dining plan can we have...?"

3. We often to desert to go. That ended up being our breakfast the next day. You can also take other leftovers(not from buffet/all you care to eat)

Also at cs I often got fruit bowl instead of fries. It comes with a cover and I often ate it an hour later while waiting for a show or something.

 

[Kycha]

The only drinks that were ever included for us were soft drinks, lemonade, juice etc. Milkshakes for the most part were considered dessert (if you were dining with TS)

Yes you should definitely tell the server taht you are eating on the dining plan when you dine with TS. They will then tell you any restrictions, or offer you advice most of the time. As far as CS goes, it is best to always tell the server up front about dining on the plan. That way they can stop you if you order something not on the plan.

We had no problems at all getting dessert to go at TS. I did this at Spoodles. You paid for it, doesn't matter where it goes!

LilyStar said it as good as I could. We also had dessert to go at Cinderella's Royal Table, Jiko and Boatwrights Dining Hall.

 

[Dorisk3]

The eating plan supplies so much food, I can honestly say you can get by with $ 0.00 dollars. This is providing though you don't get tempted by their "extra" costing drinks like the light up ice cube (although I read some people did get them with the plan at some places), and you don't drink alcohol. The other thing is if you like the snacks they list, you'll be fine. We had ice cream bars every day of our trip and loved them (because normally we don't go all out and spend $10 on ice cream every day). Everyone's different, but I wasn't really tempted by anything else not covered on the plan. But, hey, if you've on vacation and spring for a couple of Dole Whips, no big deal- but if you want to go cheap- you'll be set, not to worry!

 

[kath1210]

We just got back from enjoying the free dining plan, and spent very little on non-plan food.

We brought a case of water, and basically had nothing else to eat or drink in the room (except leftovers). We're late risers and usually eat only two meals on vacation, so we just ate a late breakfast or early lunch at a CS place or breakfast buffet (TS), then ate a TS or CS dinner later in the day.

We bought one large pretzel and a frozen lemonade at MK; my husband bought two ice cream cookie sandwiches at the food court (sort of by mistake - he thought they would be snacks on the plan); and we also bought a pizza and soda package with cash one night - mainly for my DS14.

The meal plan was awesome! I haven't added it up yet, but I think we ate (or at least ordered) over $1,000 worth of food in 7 days. My whole family came along on the trip and no one could believe it - they were sure we'd have some huge bill to pay when we left.

We won't be using the plan on our next trip, since we are using the Best Rate Program for a room-only reservation. We'll try using the DDE card instead and see how much we spend. This will help us determine whether we want to buy the dining plan for a future trip.

 

[daretodream]

We loved the dining plan. We didn't spend any money on food. There were 5 of us. We shared meals and were able to use some CS for breakfast and lunch. All TS were used for dinner. We didn't pay for it, but would do so in the future.

 

[huskies90]

I am going in November and paying for the dining plan for half our trip and then switching to a room only for the second half. I am not crazy about dealing with the plan and the hassle of needing adr's and the hassle of knowing what is included and what is not and how to "maximize" value. Plus, we are not big eaters in our family. I thought, if we eat reasonably could we at least break even without the plan? But crunching the #'s, if you are doing even just a few TS meals and/or you don't plan on eating offsite during the tip, financially the plan is a no brainer.

So, we're get to do it both ways, we'll spend the first half of our trip taking full advantage of the plan by stuffing our faces and the second eating normally and trying to recover... ...

 

[WDWorBUST]

We used the dining plan and although we loved it - we probably won't do it again. We felt very tied to eating - and since we went during the "free" timeframe you almost HAD to have ADR's and keep them if you wanted to use it. So although it was a good experience and I usually have some ADRs anyway I wouldn't probably do it again....but I might. I will say the only bad experience I had with it was at the Pepper Market. We got two normal desserts and then at checkout they tell us only a muffin or cookie is included there - What the.....??? All-Stars will let you have a freakin banana split but you can get a cookie at the Pepper Market. I was really ticked about that one. Especially since a CM had to get the desserts from the case for me and never mentioned that little detail. Just wanted to add that the dining plan was still a good deal - I just wouldn't have ordered a dessert to begin with if it wasn't "included" and I ended up paying for one when I otherwise wouldn't have ordered it. It's not the money...it's the principle.

 

[speakupjc]

We are going to use the snacks for Breakfast.

 

[Savin4Disney]

I don't plan on spending anything extra for meals. Unless DS is hungry. I already think I might gain 10 pounds with all that food. We are on the dining plan and I do have 2 Q&C vouchers. So those can be used I think for breakfast or lunch (that one I am sure of). I plan to play it by ear but I am not eating if not hungry.

I do plan on getting us mugs. I know I will get my money out of that and more! LOL. In fact I already have the money in a envelope to get the mugs right after we check in.

 

[smkjt]

We went in Sept. Ate over $900 worth. We have ds 5 and ds 7.A couple sit down,Hoop Dee Doo, several convient counter service and whenever hot or hungery we had a snack. We came home with 5 mickey rice crispy snacks. We loved the dining plan ran into very few problems and just asked when we didn't know if something was included or not. Never had any problem finding places that took the plan.

 

[smkjt]

Sorry I didn't answer your question.....did I spend $ outside of plan? No need to we split a couple of meal not realy cause of being cheap but it was so hot and I wasn't sure the kids would really eat everything. the only things we payed for was a drink my husband promised one of ds and a meal when I was saving a credit for later.