Dining Plan???

[GoofySon'sMom]

I have been to WDW many, many times and am very familiar with that dining plan. I see that Disneyland has some sort of meal plan but I can't seem to find much information explaining it. Is it just vouchers for a certain amount off each meal or are full meals included similar to WDW?

I went to Disneyworld back in 1986 but I don't remember much and it is very different now. We are hoping to take our first family trip to California next summer and of course want to include Disneyland. Is a meal plan something that we want to consider?

THANK YOU in advance!

 

[ballarinamom]

It is nothing like the WDW plan. They are prepaid vouchers with no discount. If you are not careful, you could lose money. If you have a meal that is $11 and you give them a $15 voucher, you will not receive change. But if you give them a $10 voucher and $1 cash, you will be ok.
We have never done the Dining Plan at DL before but have done the one at WDW. WDW was nice as you order what you want and if you are within the plan you just walk away.
However, we add this to our package in November and I think I have it figured out enough to not lose money. But it was nice to have it since I am surprising my family and they would definately sure enough find my stash of gift cards ot Disney Dollars if I did what we usually do. We usually spend the whole year saving gift cards and DD or SAnta, the tooth fairy or Easter Bunny leaves them so we have a good amount set aside before we go.

 

[DLR29]

The dining plan at DLR is inferior (IMO and many others here) to WDW's because:
a) It doesn't save you as much money
b) You get a set amount of dollar amount vouchers and when you use those vouchers you don't get change. So for example if you want to pay for something that costs $4.95 with a $5 voucher, you will lose 5 cents. That's not a big deal, but if you have run out of $5 vouchers, you need to either pay in cash (which defeats the purpose of a dining plan) or pay with a $10 voucher and lose $5.05 (which can add up significantly)
c) You can't use the vouchers at Downtown Disney restaurants

 

[Caseystigger]

I totally agree with both PP!! I felt so ripped off last year when I used the dining plan. This past year we only bought character breakfast vouchers and used a gift card specifically for food. It was a much better experience.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Thank you all! That is kinda what I was getting from all that I read. I like the gift card idea for food. Probably won't deal with the dining plan!