Dinning plan

[bonnielynn]

I had the dinning plan for this upcoming Sept trip.. its $495 for 4 ppl (2 adults 2 kids (9,11))... and I was thinking of canceling and just eating in the room or eating around the world... (food/wine).

Can I have food (breakfast/drinks) delivered to the room.. or is it easier to buy at the store (Saratoga Springs)..

Also I was thinking it would be cheaper to just do the food/wine.. and then eat at downtown (earl of sandwich)..

Do you think this is stupid?

 

[dgaston]

The dining plan is a lot of food, and many people find that they prefer paying for meals out of pocket. The booths at food and wine have small portions of food but at $3 or $4 per serving will add up quickly.

Many DVCers cook food in their room (not sure if you're in a studio or 1 br) and have groceries delivered by wegoshop or gardengrocer. Some rent a car for one day to do shopping off-property. Some people send down drinks and snacks to themselves or bring things with them in checked baggage. The resort stores are limited and tend to be pricy. Some adventurous people even visit the Hess gas station for snacks or beer or wine.

If you haven't already made ADRs (reservations at restaurants) it may be difficult to find places to use your Dining Plan Table service credits this month.

You could look at menus here on the Disboards to see if you would like to eat at any particular restaurants.

HTH

 

[bonnielynn]

Its a one bdroom.. we do have adr's but I was thinking we could get away with saving some $... I was thinking we wouldn't eat $500 in 4 days... We aren't renting a vehicle...
Is Wegoshop or garendgrocer cheaper than using what is on the dvc membership site?

 

[ChelleinNC]

The 11yr old "Adult" is what'll kill you on the DDP --I know, I've got one

Have you looked at the menus and priced out what you think you'll order? I do it before each trip to see if we come out better with the DDP or DDE. DDE works best for us, comes out a little cheaper and not locked in to a plan. We're also not huge CS fans

If you don't do the DDP, your 11yr old can order off the kids menu if they'd like. That can save a lot of money in itself. Of course, my DS11 learned that Filet Mignon is his favorite food after trying the DDP last year

Wegoshop & Garden Grocer have different ways of pricing their service. Check their websites and see what works best for you. If you won't need a lot of stuff, then it shouldn't be too bad to just order a few groceries thru DVC (selection is limited and prices are a little high but there is a convenience factor)

 

[bonnielynn]

I think that the 11 yr old has but a damper on the dinning plan this year.. poor thing.. I am thinking we will just wing it.. with the food and wine happening.. we can munch there.. and stop when we want.. also we can go back to the room and order in.

I am a bit excited that I dont have to be at a certain place at a certain time and that I dont have to sit down to eat, when I am really not hungry.

I am hoping it will work out.

 

[BCV23]

SSR doesn't have room service.

Have fun on your trip.

 

[dopeygirl76]

We decided to ditch the DDP for our trip in April, after being HUGE fans on our previous trips. We discovered that it was great to not be tied to any ADRs as you mentioned and also the freedom to pick and choose when and waht to eat. I found that on the dining plan we didn't do a lot of snacking in the park because we wanted to make the most of our TSs. Therefore one of my "wishes" while at Disney to sample treats (ice cream, pastries, turkey legs) just to do it did not happen as we were either too full from a TS or had one planned.

We still do 4-5 TS meals during a week long trip, usually character meals and about 3-4 counter service - depending on how our days go. Otherwise I cook in the room and have lots of go to stuff - cereal, cereal bars, pop tarts all from garden grocer!!!

 

[CraftyMouse]

We never use the DDP and probably never will. We will be there over the holidays this year too and will be paying for each meal on our own (although we do have the DDE card). We make several meals in our villa, including breakfast every day. Aside from breakfast we'll do a couple of dinners and a couple of lunches and the rest we'll eat out.

 

[bonnielynn]

We are only there for 4 days. Long weekend.. we normally dont do this, but a friend of mine died of breast cancer.. and we always discussed taking her kids to Disney.. so I am..

The ARD's you get these days are all of the map as far as times... It seems to be a competition to get in.. Had on at 7:40.. one at 8pm... one at 5:30... that is a turn off for me as well.. not to mention that we eat ourselves sick..

We are going this trip to hit the parks and enjoy and I just decided that I dont want to be tied down to a schedule... so we aren't...

Thanks to everyone for helping me verify I am right and can do disney without the DDP...

P.S. its our first time going to disney as owners... sure am hoping we enjoy this trip....

 

[jjohnson]

If you didn't plan on eating sitdown dinners and are doing them simply because of the DP then yes you will save money not doing it. I would go on gardengrocers web site & price out what you would order and add that to F&F snacks + CS OOP cost then compare that to the DP cost.