Dining Plan = Too Much Food!

[sistertrip]

My official thought on the dining plan (after free dining last week) is that it's way too much food. Had we paid for the dining plan, it would have been about $900 for four people for 6 nights. Had we paid for all of the food we got on the dining plan, it would have been over $1400. Seems like a good deal, however, if we had not been on the dining plan we would have never spent that much on food. Not only would we not have eaten so much, but we wouldn't have had such expensive meals.

I would like to see a dining plan that costs less with maybe just a table service and a snack for each night. I loved getting to eat at all of the "real" restaurants that we wouldn't normally eat at, but on top of the counter service meals it was just too much.

From our first meal the day we checked in, I was never actually hungry. I'm just happy that when I got home, my pants still fit!

 

[DiszyDean]

I agree that the dining plan is not for everyone.

If you are light eaters, mainly eat CS meals or do not like to plan out where you want to eat ahead of time, I would not recommend it.

 

[debbie655]

We just got home after staying at the CSR from 8/12-17. Four days on the dining plan and would have to agree...TOO MUCH FOOD. We are a family that likes to eat, and eating out is a big part of our vacation experience but we found that after two days on the plan, we were not even hungry anymore. From day one, dh and I were splitting lunch, not to save credits but because it was just too much. On check out day, we had one counter service and 6 snacks left over. We were only on the plan for 4 days, I wonder how ppl who are on the plan for 10 days do it..LOL. I think I gained about 10 lbs.

 

[sistertrip]

debbie655, we're also a family that likes to eat. Our family gatherings are always focused on food. I wouldn't have expected that the dining plan would have too much food. We had 3 counter service and 8 snacks that we really didn't have to use (but we did use them for a midnight snack and treats to take home with us). I can't imagine how much food it would seem like for a family that consists of "light eaters." (We were 4 adults by the way, so no child meals or anything).

 

[rlduvall]

I think I gained about 10 lbs.

Just lost 10 pounds for my upcoming trip. Just want I don't need to hear. ( )

 

[wdwobsessed]

Do people only eat one meal a day??

I think the plan is just right:

Snack - breakfast
CS - lunch
TS - dinner

Even my skinny kids can handle that!

We eat three meals a day normally ... even when on WW + snacks. We just eat less at each meal.

Maybe people are stuffing themselves at each meal?
WDWO

 

[mickeymousemom]

Do people only eat one meal a day??

I think the plan is just right:

Snack - breakfast
CS - lunch
TS - dinner

Even my skinny kids can handle that!

We eat three meals a day normally ... even when on WW + snacks. We just eat less at each meal.

Maybe people are stuffing themselves at each meal?
WDWO

I thought the same as you last year before we did the DP. I had read where people were STUFFED and there was SO MUCH food. My thought was, "How could this be?" Two meals a day and one snack(if that's how one chooses to use it)...I figured we'd be buying even more OOP. I was WRONG! We LOVE to eat in this house(too much from the looks of DH and I..though we aren't HUGE people) and eating is what we LOVE to do at WDW. We were absolutely STUFFED last year. We rarely spent money OOP for food...i think maybe once or twice for b-fast(which we shared) and for a snack once in a while. We used most of our snack credits for the F&W Fest. I LOVE food. FOOD. FOOD! But the stuff we were given was more than enough to make us miserable at times. And we loved every minute of it!

 

[wdwobsessed]

I have been on the DDP before and we really didn't see what all the hullabaloo was about as far as portion sizes and such ... but maybe we ate at the wrong places.

LOL

WDWO

 

[sistertrip]

I think part of our problem was that we had early dinners (usually around 5pm). I prefer to eat around 7pm, but my aunt really wanted to eat dinner as early as possible. This made it harder to spread out the meals & snacks.

 

[First timer]

We just got home after staying at the CSR from 8/12-17. Four days on the dining plan and would have to agree...TOO MUCH FOOD. We are a family that likes to eat, and eating out is a big part of our vacation experience but we found that after two days on the plan, we were not even hungry anymore. From day one, dh and I were splitting lunch, not to save credits but because it was just too much. On check out day, we had one counter service and 6 snacks left over. We were only on the plan for 4 days, I wonder how ppl who are on the plan for 10 days do it..LOL. I think I gained about 10 lbs.

It is indeed a lot of food. We (family of four) left behind 16 CS meals - and we like to eat!

 

[disneypharm]

We had DDP (not free) last December and I agree it was too much food. However, we are not forced to order appetizers, desserts, milk shakes and large snacks and more. I guess most people think that since it is all paid for or it is free, we have to order everything in the menu and eat it. I was that way during our visit last year. Hopefully, I'll order and eat less next time we go (Sept 20-27).

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

After experiencing the DDP last fall...I just don't get it when people say it's too much food. We timed our meals so that we were hungry. We skipped breakfast or ate something very light, ate lunch around 11:00 (usually starving by then) and had dinner ressies around 5:30. The snack came in handy watching fireworks, or for a late night snack around the pool. We had no credits left over. Maybe we were so stuffed we skipped a dessert at a meal, but we found the DDP just right. I actually lost weight while on vacation, and no, we are not typically big eaters. Just another perspective I guess.

 

[Caren]

I'd like to see an all-counter-service version of the dining plan for those trips when we just want to be park commandos and not spend an hour or two every day dining.

 

[DumboDash2006]

I didn't think it was too much either, though a couple of days we only ate two meals because we got a really late start due to a late night the night before.

And we did use all of our snack credits on water as we were there two weeks ago and it was HOT HOT HOT. We went through 3-4 bottles of water a day per person easily.

However I must say we never went hungry either. I thought it was just right with us adding in a few CS breakfasts. I do wish they had a version of the dining plan that allowed you to replace a few of the TS meals with some CS meals to save time and the stress of getting to your ADR's on time etc.

 

[UP Disney]

Do people only eat one meal a day??

I think the plan is just right:

Snack - breakfast
CS - lunch
TS - dinner

Even my skinny kids can handle that!

We eat three meals a day normally ... even when on WW + snacks. We just eat less at each meal.

Maybe people are stuffing themselves at each meal?
WDWO

The thing that I'm concerned about is the appetizer & dessert for TS and dessert for CS for every meal. If we order an appetizer or dessert, we usually order one (maybe two) for the 4 of us to share. That is where I'm concerned it is going to be too much food. My DH is a big eater but I'm not even sure he can handle an appetizer, entree & dessert at each meal. We are going to try to order things that we can save for breakfast or a later snack but don't know how successful we will be. DH & I are testing it on a couple only trip in December to see whether it is worth it for the family trip in March.

ETA: Plus I was taught as a child not to waste food so it is hard for me to leave lots of food on my plate though I'm getting better.

 

[Praying Colonel]

The idea of just doing CS all the time or making sandwiches doesn't cut it with DW. DW insists on at least 1 sit-down meal every day with a salad and veggies. So we're always going to eat a CS and a TS every day anyway, and we're going to have a snack sometimes, too.

They didn't have DDP the last time we went to WDW back in 04, so we ate our TS meals off site because on site was so much more expensive. Having DDP this time meant we weren't going offsite and spending our $ there (a positive for WDW), and it meant we didn't spend our time traveling offsite and back, maximizing our fun time (a positive for us). It also gave us a chance to try restaurants and dishes we would never have experienced otherwise.

With two hungry teenagers, I never thought they'd be able to serve our family too much food, but we still ended up with several snack credits left over on the last day. We found that with a big CS meal (we'd never each order a dessert with our meal) and a big TS meal (we'd never each order an appetizer and each order a dessert), we didn't want a snack most times. With a couple of exceptions, we used our snack credits for breakfast.

For our family, the biggest problem was the training we've received on being members of the "Clean Plate Club." We'd go into a meal telling ourselves, "OK, now we don't have to eat every bite of everything. It's OK to eat half the appetizer, half the entree and half the dessert." But that training's still pretty deep and we had to work hard to overcome it.

 

[DizGeek]

Dining plan works perfect for us!

 

[wdwobsessed]

I can see where if you like CS that may be the downfall of the DDP for you. Even if not on the DDP we eat at 1 or 2 TS a day. Our challege is getting in the CS! Even our kids like the break for meals in the nice cool air!

I am trying to think of where we ate last December and why the food didn't seem all that much to us.

We ate at Roaring forks a lot for our CS meals. I tend to not eat many of my fries so the sandwich, drink and cookie I got at most meals was just right. CS at Mainstreet bakery was too much ... I did 3CS for the 4 of us and should have done maybe 2 with getting 2 items for each CS. CS at Sunshine food was just right for lunch.

That was back when you didn't get much for your snacks ... we did mickey bars, water, itzkadoodles and popcorn ... just right.


For TS we did Le Celliar and we had 3 meals between 4 people (2A 2C but they let my C order anything they wanted). That was plenty and we didn't finish all of our dessert.

CRT was just right except I didn't finish my dessert. I got the spring roll things and prime rib and a milkshake thingy for dessert that I drank 1/2 of.

MaMa Melrose was just right with one flatbread for 4 people, entree and desserts that were on the small side.

CP & Chef Mickeys & WCC & HDDR - all family style or buffet so you could only eat as much as needed and not stuff yourself silly!

I do think we ate Bfst every day (DH has to have bkfast or he will revolt ... and not a pastry either ... a "real" breakfast). If we had an early dinner ... then hit the parks ... then we'd end up getting something with CS when we got back to the parks late.

I will keep better track of how we do this trip with it all.

I do have to say that I take a large group of my dancers on a trip every year and I only give them breakfast and one other meal a day or they feel it's just too much food. This past trip to BGardens we had a continental breakfast at our resort (very light fare) and a voucher for ONE other meal (CS) and people eneded up sharing and having vouchers left. Go figure.

WDWO

 

[debbie655]

I thought the same as you last year before we did the DP. I had read where people were STUFFED and there was SO MUCH food. My thought was, "How could this be?" Two meals a day and one snack(if that's how one chooses to use it)...I figured we'd be buying even more OOP. I was WRONG! We LOVE to eat in this house(too much from the looks of DH and I..though we aren't HUGE people) and eating is what we LOVE to do at WDW. We were absolutely STUFFED last year. We rarely spent money OOP for food...i think maybe once or twice for b-fast(which we shared) and for a snack once in a while. We used most of our snack credits for the F&W Fest. I LOVE food. FOOD. FOOD! But the stuff we were given was more than enough to make us miserable at times.

I thought the same until we experienced the dining plan..LOL. Two meals a day plus snack doesn't seem like a lot but it actually is. This trip we had three rooms, one for myself, husband and daughter (13), my son and wife, and daughter and husband. We all felt the same way about the dining, too much food and all of us had credits left at the end of our stay. I didn't stuff myself at all either. Hubby and I were sharing one CS lunch and using the other for breakfast the next day to share. We always spaced out our meals and most of our dinners were after 8pm with the exception of Sci Fi which was at 5. By our last night, we had reservations at Spoodles and none of us even wanted to go. I ended up leaving 2/3 of my food on the plate because I wanted to enjoy a desert (I didn't order any desert on the previous three nights). To think that before our trip I was so excited by all the new snack options like sundaes, shakes..etc..LOL. are you kidding me? I ate one desert in four days and for snacks we just got drinks..
For us the dining plan was free so this is certainly not a complaint but if I ever do the dining plan again, I will do things very differently. I will plan sit down dinners every other night and maybe use the other ts for a sit down breakfast. We were actually relieved when we left to go over to Universals Royal Pacific Resort..no more food..LOL. After a day there, we actually got our appetites back and were able to enjoy our meals again. Just our experience.

sistertrip- Was wondering where you are from in ME? My dad was from Kennebunk.

 

[sistertrip]

sistertrip- Was wondering where you are from in ME? My dad was from Kennebunk.

We're from Westbrook (right next to Portland). We're about 45 minutes northeast of Kennebunk. That's a beautiful area down there.