Dining

[coxinelo]

I need some help. Everyone keeps telling me that my family and i should get the dining plan. Two adults and three small kids- though they eat like adults. So its really a full party of 5. We usually like to eat a big breakfast and a big dinner with desserts - often at nicer/higher end restaurants. Maybe 1 glass of wine during dinner. We are going for 7 nights and will likely have 5 days/nights of bigger meals and 2 days/nights of more casual ones. What would be best? I think of myself as a fairly intellegent person, but this dining plan figuring is crazy to me! Thanks.

 

[Metro West]

 

[pepe of ohio]

I need some help. Everyone keeps telling me that my family and i should get the dining plan. Two adults and three small kids- though they eat like adults. So its really a full party of 5. We usually like to eat a big breakfast and a big dinner with desserts - often at nicer/higher end restaurants. Maybe 1 glass of wine during dinner. We are going for 7 nights and will likely have 5 days/nights of bigger meals and 2 days/nights of more casual ones. What would be best? I think of myself as a fairly intellegent person, but this dining plan figuring is crazy to me! Thanks.

We're not dining plan advocates.....when booking a deluxe resort, we prefer taking the room only discount over the dining plan.....and second...we do not like scheduling our meals and times 180 days out. We've done 44 trips to WDW and know that when we get there...our life styles change alot, plus we're not foodies (Disney TS meals are time consuming and mediocre at best). We know where we want to eat and what and most are CS at alot of different places....we just call the day before while we're there (works at value and off seasons better) and have had no trouble. We like eating when we're hungry and that could be at any given time, not by a schedule.

From all our trips, we've found Disney meals to be huge (even counter service) and we split alot. There's no reason to pay for huge meals and take a doggie bag to just throw away and we like to keep our dining expense low.

Check our allears.net, they list all the eateries on property and prices and layout what you'd like and do the math....free dining is not free...it make be alittle cheaper with the plan but like I stated at the beginning...we get more money saved by the room only discount and totally hate a schedule while at Disney....to each their own by we like to be free spirits in WDW..

Also, we've seen so many children sitting with a full meal in front of each of them and just picking....paying full price where they could have easily split a meal....and we've encountered so many guests waiting outside a restaurant (and they had reservations) for quite along time before getting in and then the process of ordering, waiting, eating and checking out that a TS meal can easily take 1 1/2 hours....not for us....by snooping around there's plenty of decent CS meals across the property......my my way of doing Disney..

 

[loganpaulsmom]

Will you be doing the dining plan?
Where are you staying?

If you like "good food" then some of the character breakfast buffet's may be out for you.. They tend to not be the best food but rather you go for the experience, however they are NOT all like that..

For dinner I would choose Signature Meals.. There are restaurants all over WDW that can accomodate you.. Depends on what kind of food you like..

Jiko at AKL has a African Flair to it.. consistantly gets great reviews..
Flying Fish, Yhahtsman over at the Boardwalk area also get great reviews..
California Grille on the 12th floor of the Contempory.. Sushi, and california style cooking..
You have 2 great restaurants at Grand Floridian.. Narccoosse's and Citrico's..
There are tons of choices in Epcot.. everything from Mexican food to italian to French..
Go to allears.net.. they show you all the restaurants and all the menu's with the pricing.. its a great resource..
if you aren't on the dining plan how about trying a restaurant at the swan/dolphin.. they have the best Italian food in Il Mulino.. They have Todd Englishs Blue Zoo as well as Shula's Steak house..

 

[coxinelo]

Staying at the beach club. And we dont need "great" food as we're not really foodies. And we will definitely want to go to the character meals for the kids. many of the restaurants you mention we've been to. But again, the question is, based on what i've described, does it make sense to do a dining plan (and which one) or should be just eat as we go. Scheduling in advance is not a problem for us. That's fine. I'm just trying to determine the economics of it and what's best for us.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I am going to move this to our Disney Dining Plan Forum.

My advice is to look at the menus (with prices) that can be found on our wdwinfo.com site http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/disneydining.cfm and figure out what you think your family might order at the different places and the cost of the character meals and add it all up. Then compare that to the daily cost of the dining plan.

My family are quick service people, usually share meals and don't get many snacks so for us the dining plan (including the QS plan) doesn't make sense (unless it is free!). But from the sounds of how you like to plan your meals it is very possible the Dining Plan would be a good option. I think the biggest consideration will be your kids ages and if they will be happy with the kid meals if they are under 10. You can see those menus on our site also.

 

[Faldred]

If you're talking about doing a table service breakfast every day and a table dinner every night, possibly at signature restaurants, for the most part, I'd seriously consider looking at the Deluxe Dining Plan (DxDP).

Especially with three kids, as the saving adds up faster with kids when doing character breakfasts.

The plan provides 3 "meal credits" per night (usable at counter service or table service; signature dining and dinner shows require 2 credits per person). Lunches and dinners ordered off a menu (as opposed to family style or buffets) also include an appetizer per adult, which the basic dining plan does not (kids get the same kids meals either way). Each guest (kids included) also get 2 snack credits per night and the resort refillable mug for coffee/soda/etc. at your resort. (If your kids are bigger eaters than a kids meal will fill, you can always fill 'em up with snacks!)

The general rule of thumb is that DxDP makes economic sense if you're using at least 2/3 of your credits at table service (and taking advantage of all of your entitlements, of course). So even without dinner shows or signature dining, you will already be on the cusp of it being a good option. Add in the 2 credit meals and/or some TS lunches and you should be ahead of the game.

Of course, that's just a rule of thumb -- your best bet is to sit down and run the numbers by guessing what you'd be ordering and where (remember to add 6.5% sales tax) and then compare that to the DxDP costs ($78.99/adult/night, $21.99/child/night).

 

[ccgirl]

I need some help. Everyone keeps telling me that my family and i should get the dining plan. Two adults and three small kids- though they eat like adults. So its really a full party of 5. We usually like to eat a big breakfast and a big dinner with desserts - often at nicer/higher end restaurants. Maybe 1 glass of wine during dinner. We are going for 7 nights and will likely have 5 days/nights of bigger meals and 2 days/nights of more casual ones. What would be best? I think of myself as a fairly intellegent person, but this dining plan figuring is crazy to me! Thanks.

Welcome to the boards!

With our children we always get the dining plan. How can you go wrong with $11.99 a day? Since you like table service, but are not foodies, I would suggest the Basic Dining plan. With that you would get 1 snack, 1 counter service meal, and 1 table service meal per night of your stay. You get dessert with lunch and dinner.

My family enjoys the character meals as well. They also like to sleep in. You said your little ones have big appetites so I would suggest buffets. That is what my family does. That way everyone gets what they want to eat and as much as they want to eat. We have eaten at Tusker House as AK, Akershus in Norway at Epcot, Chef Mickey's at Contemporary and we have had dinner at Crystal Palace in the MK. Our favorite! If we are having the breakfast we usually eat around 10am. They we are not hungry until after lunch time and we get a snack. Some of the "snacks" you can get are HUGE and can be shared by two people. We then eat dinner around 5pm. There are some great threads about how to maximize your dining credits. If we are doing a dinner buffet we will use the snack for breakfast, Main Street Bakery is one of our favorite places. The cinnamon roll there can be shared! We will then do a counter service lunch and the table service dinner! The key is to make your reservations 180 days in advance to get the table services you want.

Check out the menus on allears.net. That way you can get a feel for the price if you were to pay out of pocket and also can really see which restaurants interest you most.

Enjoy!

 

[TDC Nala]

You have to make the decision seeing as you have three small kids who eat like adults. If you do buffets and all you can eat places the dining plan may clean up for you. If you go to a la carte places, your kids are required to order from the children's menu, and Disney children's meals are pretty small. If they eat a lot you may end up buying more food or giving them your food to supplement what they get.

If the kids eat a lot I would think you should get the dining plan if you're going to do buffets or all you can eats, and supplement their counter service with snacks or by purchasing extra food. If you're going to do mostly a la cartes and they don't like the kids menus, don't get the dining plan.

 

[MsRem]

I had the same dilemma when we went earlier this year. We ended up with Deluxe dining plan. My DH wouldn't have it any other way. We have two kids so we knew we wanted character meals. My DH is a food snob so we knew we wanted signature dining a few times.

Mine and my BIL's issue (he went with) was that we hated having our times dictated by dining. However, that didnt bother my DH or son in the least. Prior to going, if I had it my way, we would have done the middle dining plan that includes both quick service and sit-down. Now that the trip is over, I think we came out ahead because of all the places we went. It paid for itself within 2 days of being there.

My main issue was worrying about ALL the food that you get. Ive been trying to eat better/healthier for the last year. Actually on the deluxe plan it was easier to maintain that style than I thought as long as you use common sense and dont go overboard. I ate what I wanted, just didnt overeat except for the last night there at Yachtsman's lol. I knew if we did quick service a lot, it would defeat everything I had work hard for diet/lifestyle wise. Remember, if your staying in the parks all day commando style, your burning upwards of about 1000 calories a day (if your worried about too much food)

 

[SnipsNSnails]

How old are your kids?

For us, we like to eat buffets and family style so we went with the regular DP. We have an under 3 who can eat a lot and we are going with my parents and grandparents so buffets offer lots of options, 6 of our 7 TS meals will be buffet or family style. I added up the price of the 7 TS meals, not including tax either, for my DS (5) we are already saving over $20 not even taking into account the 7 CS, 7 snacks and tax! You save big on under 10's. I estimated drinks and desserts and entrees where applicable and not including tax, 7 CS, or 7 snacks, the adults were about $60 from the total price so I'm quite certain we will easily save some money.

Now, here's the thing. I could easily spend less money than the DP by sharing meals, eating the cheapest things on the menu, eating more CS, no dessert, no drinks, etc. However, we are on vacation and we like to feel a little spoiled so it's worth any extra we'll be spending yet saving some money at the same time if that makes sense? Because we are definately saving money with the DP rather than buying the same items OOP.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

Kids are a HUGE value on the dining plan. Most character meals are close to the amount you pay for an entire day for their plan. Which means CS and snack are essentially free for them. When it is DH and I alone we opt for no dining because we can eat what we want and split and it's cheaper. For kids there is hardly a better disney value out there. With 3 kids I'd say dining plan all the way!