Dining Plan Worth It Or Not????

[3grls4us2luv]

HI ALL
JUST A QUICK ? ABOUT THE DINING PLAN WE ARE TAKING OUR FIRST TRIP THE WEEK OF JULY 4 AND I HAVE HEARD GOOD AND BAD THINGS ABOUT THE DINING PLAN IS IT REALLY WORTH IT OR NOT? I KNOW I CAN GET THE RIGHT ADVICE HERE WE HAVE 10 8 AND 6MOS.
THANKS FOR THE HELP
CANT WAIT TO GO

 

[DebIreland]

I do think it's great value at 35 dollars a day for adults, especially considering the amount of food you could potentially eat! But of course are you actually going to eat all of it?! AND the *big* problem I have with the Dining Plan is the fact that a 10 year old is counted as an adult. In what other context would a 10 year old *ever* be considered an adult? It's daft. I see from your signature that you have such a creature i.e. a 10 year old "adult" So I reckon you'd lose money on her portion of the cost as she's unlikely to eat 35 dollars worth of food a day. But then it depends how much you and your significant other like your food. If you're going to eat mainly counter service meals and/or if you like to share main courses then I could see you losing money on it.

There seems to be many pros and cons. We're not doing the dining plan, mainly because we're going the Annual Pass route in order to avail of room discounts so we can't do it (you need a package). But the fact that I have a 10 year old - 11 by the time we go to WDW put me off it too. Well, having him is great but having him get charged 35 isn't. Damn him and his 1994 birth date. lol!!!

Then again a great 'plus' is the fact that gratuity is included!!

At one point I was thinking of all sorts of 'devious' combinations in order to use it (2 value rooms with DH in one as a 'room only' reservation with AAA discount and me and the kids in the other on the dining plan etc. etc. - lol!) but we opted out.

Unless you're sure you'd all love 2 big sitdown meals a day incl. starter and dessert then I think it's a tough choice.

Good luck whatever you decide. We'll be there in June/July for the first time too. Have a great trip. Oh, by the way, I love your username, very sweet


Edited to add: there are many posts about the Dining Plan over on the Restaurants thread. You'll get a lot of info browsing through them.

 

[3grls4us2luv]

Thanks Deb Apperciate All The Input Its A Hard Decision And I Am Still Going Back And Forth Hope To Find The Answers Soon!!!

 

[fantavet]

You will have to ask yourself how many "sit-down" meals you will have vs. counter service. If you like the counter service menus and plan to eat almost all your meals this way you will most likely save money without the plan.

Not sure how long you are going but if you planned on maybe 5+ sit down meals then the plans sounds better. The wild card for you is the 10 and 8 year old. How much will they eat?

For me, it is my wife and two teens for 7 days so the dining plan is a no brainer. We like the sit-down meals.

Another consideration is that you will be going during a very busy time, doing a few sit down meals with a PS in some AC and have the food brought to you is nice once in a while

 

[golfgal]

For us, the meal plan just isn't worth the cost. We got an email code for our room, which we would lose if we took the package with the meal plan. Also, our kids are 12, 10, 10, so they are all "adults" but they don't eat like adults. I have looked over the menu prices and I can't see us spending the $175/day in food, plus the $100/day savings on our room rate. We considered getting an AP for one of us to get the DDE card, but even that doesn't cover the costs for us because we would need the PAP-we will do the waterparks and DQ.

 

[disneyjunkie]

For us, the meal plan just isn't worth the cost. We got an email code for our room, which we would lose if we took the package with the meal plan. .

You can book dining with a discounted room rate. There's a three letter code that the CM has to enter in order to apply the dining plan(and tickets) to a discounted, postcard or email room rate.

 

[crisi]

Your best bet is to get a list of the restaurants included in the plan and the menus at allearsnet with prices and do some paper planning. There are a few ways the plan may not be a good deal:

If you are on a restricted diet (weight watchers, diabetes, vegetarian), you may not eat enough food to make it worth while.

If you are content to split appitizers and desserts sit down, and think a counter service meal that contains french fries is evil.

Your party contains those "Young adults" those ten year olds who still are content off the kids menu. A ten year old who eats like a kid and a fourteen year old who eats like a teenage girl on a perpetiual diet, may not consume enough food.
If most of your dining will be signature.

If most of your dining will be off plan

 

[sandraB]

We wanted to do the dinning plan, but because we booked our room with an AP rate, I couldn't add the dinning.

I am glad we didn't do it.

We budgeted on 120$/day for food (less than the amount for two parents, kids 7 and 10 on dinning plan), and came in under!

We ate at 4 charactere meals, a couple of sit downs, and many counter service meals also. (plus a few snacks)

The plan makes you pay adult for the 10 year old, but in the parks he qualified for kids meals everywhere! (even the character meals!)

We would have paid much more for the meal plan.

 

[MNmom]

We just booked the dining plan today!!!!

I was really nervous changing my ressies from CRO room only with AAA...to.... package with tickets/dining and room through AAA. I had read some scary stories about going through AAA instead of CRO but we decided to bite the bullet. I did get the room discount with the package and more importantly the dining package!!!!

I have a DD(12) that has never ordered off of the adult menu and we have had her look at the menus. She is very excited and it makes her feel very grown up. We have priced out our tentative meals with our 6 sit-down--1900 Park Fare, Boma, Ohana, Chef Mickey Dinner, CRT, and Sci-Fi. We will be sharing the counter services for breakfasts and lunches and enjoying those Mickey Bars. I have it figured out to save us over 400.00!!!!!

Now I am sure that if we didn't have the plan we might not go to all of those sit-down dinners and my DD(12) would live on mac and cheese, chx nuggets and pizza but now with the plan we get to feel like we are not trying to budget every penny and really enjoy ourselves.

Good luck with your decision. I know the plan doesn't work for everyone but we are really excited to try it for ourselves!!!

 

[3grls4us2luv]

You Guys Are So Much Help It Is Always Good To Get That Been There Done That Advice!
Still No Set Decision Yet
Thanks Again For All Your Help

 

[golfgal]

You can book dining with a discounted room rate. There's a three letter code that the CM has to enter in order to apply the dining plan(and tickets) to a discounted, postcard or email room rate.

I emailed my travel agent and she is going to check on that for me today!!! Thanks. I sure hope it works becuase it would save us a lot of money!

 

[Tig'gerMom]

What I found out about the dining plan ...

Meals or snacks can be purchased at any time during your stay. It doesn't have to be one snack per day, etc. You can use up all sit down meals first, then counter meals later...or however you wish.

One drink is concidered one snack. I can see my family using the counter meals as 'snacks'.

2 sit sit down dining meals can be used for a fine dining meal.

...so, I bought the meal plan for my family. We are staying 7 days, in June , and there are 9 of us. I think it's a deal.

 

[Syd]

We stay there in 1996 and 2002. We are going again in Sept. 2005. We have used the dining plan before and for us it was well worth every penny. It has changed a little since 2002 but when when you can order anything on the menu its good for me, plus its one less worry to think about. (do I have enough money for a steak or a burgur, gimme the steak please!). Just my thought

 

[Georgieut]

HI ALL
JUST A QUICK ? ABOUT THE DINING PLAN WE ARE TAKING OUR FIRST TRIP THE WEEK OF JULY 4 AND I HAVE HEARD GOOD AND BAD THINGS ABOUT THE DINING PLAN IS IT REALLY WORTH IT OR NOT? I KNOW I CAN GET THE RIGHT ADVICE HERE WE HAVE 10 8 AND 6MOS.
THANKS FOR THE HELP
CANT WAIT TO GO

For me I added the dining package to my trip cause we are doing a disney breakfast and if you go look at the price for that its 12.99 for kids and that is just one meal but the dining package is 9.99 for kids for 2 meals and a snack. Mine are under 10 so it works us and as an adult we are going to a steakhouse and the prices are way up there but you can't beat the 35 bucks for 2 meals and a snack. Some of meals at the concourse steakhouse at $27. Just look at where you want to eat and check out the prices and see if it will work for you. I am taking 2 kids and 4 adults that food adds up. I figured we will save $300 by doing the dinging package.

The really really exicted mom. Who really has spent to much time researching for this trip.

 

[tclowe]

Since this is your first WDW trip and you are going during a busy time, I think you are better off doing a couple of character meals and counter services. The MWY dining plan really works out nicely if your kids still qualify as "kids under 10" so $10 per child or you really know what to do when at the theme parks so you can maximize your time there and enjoy some nice sit down meals.

First timers at the park are sort of in a daze and lose track of time so can miss PS (if you are even smart enough to make them first) or kids are too wired and don't want to eat yet or don't feel like eating. I just remember our first two trips to WDW was very much commando-style and trying to see and ride all the attractions that we wound up eating wherever was closes or when our son was hungry. Now that we have a couple of trips under our belts, we know to avoid some attractions and which ones to hit first. We definitely plan certain nice sit-down meals as part of our trip experience and don't feel like we are "losing out" or wasting our park ticket by going to a resort sit down meal.

Just my two cents. Have a wonderful time in Disney.

 

[Georgieut]

Since this is your first WDW trip and you are going during a busy time, I think you are better off doing a couple of character meals and counter services. The MWY dining plan really works out nicely if your kids still qualify as "kids under 10" so $10 per child or you really know what to do when at the theme parks so you can maximize your time there and enjoy some nice sit down meals.

First timers at the park are sort of in a daze and lose track of time so can miss PS (if you are even smart enough to make them first) or kids are too wired and don't want to eat yet or don't feel like eating. I just remember our first two trips to WDW was very much commando-style and trying to see and ride all the attractions that we wound up eating wherever was closes or when our son was hungry. Now that we have a couple of trips under our belts, we know to avoid some attractions and which ones to hit first. We definitely plan certain nice sit-down meals as part of our trip experience and don't feel like we are "losing out" or wasting our park ticket by going to a resort sit down meal.

Just my two cents. Have a wonderful time in Disney.

Thanks for the reply. I can see me doing comando style which would be fine but this trip has to be different because of grandma and great grandma going. We are staying at the Contemporary and 3 of our sit down meals are there at appropriate times which don't interfer with park time. We have extra hours to choose from each day of our stay so that will help with skipping things that we can come back and do later without grandparents who wouldn't ride it anyway plus park hopper. All I can do is plan a relistic itinerary expecting great grandma to put a wrench in things and explain to my kids that there is way we can do "everything". I already did the PS calling. (yeah)Plus greatgrandma paid for this wonderful trip. Love the advice thanks again.

 

[ktink]

We also chose to go with the dining plan. But are children are both under 10 so it worked out wonderful, we can't feed them for $10 a day and I think it offers alot of flexablility. We will be able to eat at restaurants that we haven't been able to eat at in the past because it would've been too expensive. What we ended up doing was we had a split stay at WL and Poly and downgraded to POR with the dining and saved over $700! And our food is paid for. I'll probably bring pop tarts for breakfast so we can use the snack for drinks in the parks and then have a nice sit down dinner every night.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I agree with Ktink.

The dining plan will allow my son and I to try places that have been out of our price range in the past.

It was tough to turn over that much money at one time, but it's nice to know I won't have that expense during the trip.

I'm looking forward to ordering what we want without worrying about the price.

 

[4greatboys]

I think the dining plan is a good deal except for kids in the in between area. For the Packages they are adults at 9 but at most restuarants they are not charged as adults til 12.
The plan would work good for us those because our teen boys can put away some food and we like to have a nice sit down meal, such as the character meals once a day. Those will run typically $25-$30 with tax--not incl tip. And to have lunch and a snack for the remaining $10 is about what you would spend anyway.

 

[Tig'gerMom]

I'm posting again, this time post-trip to WDW.


The dining plan ended up working out just fine for my family of 5; 2 adults, 2 kids, 1 baby. We had 9 snacks and 2 counter meals left at the end of the week. I still figure that we saved a ton of $$, even without using all of the meals.



Our favorite places to eat were:

Hollwood and Vine at MGM studios
Corral Reef at EPCOT
Restaurantsaurus at Animal Kingdom