Disney Dining-No plan (nervous)

[SonDis]

1. Okay I am confused! This is my families first trip! I have been to Dis before but, this is my first planning experience!! My countdown clock says we are 180 days from trip! I call to make make reservations for dining and she says I can't do it until tomorrow 179 days!? I am not really upset, its only one day ..I just think this is confusing...

2. We are not doing the DDP as my DS5 DS9 are not big eaters and I'm really not either, so we can share a lot of things!We are staying for 8nights/9days!! I want to make sure I budget enough, will be doing mostly QS meals cause I don't want to spend all my park time in a resturant...but we will have a few they are Whispiring Canyon, T-Rex, Chef Mickey for breakfast! Does anyone have any suggestions? Would there be a better character meal for two boys?

 

[sscassel]

First thing I would tell you is to NOT pay in full untill you have to . If, and it's a big if because a bunch of us are waiting for it, wait to see if the Free DDP comes out. Would be worth it for you to switch over to it. The resturants can get very pricy. The boys may enjoy Sci-Fi & Prime Time in DHS. My DS 10 in Dec actually enjoyed the 1900 Park Fair. He thought the Wicked Step Sisters were hilarious. Whispering Canyon was fun, but be sure to get the main room. Oh, and have them ask for ketchup! My kids at that age also enjoyed Crystal Palace with Pooh & friends. At 10 & 12 they still do too . One of there musts dos every vacation is in Epcot. If I don't book Teppen Edu, I'm in deep water. No characters , but they LOVE the food & show. There is also a dinner in Epcots the land that has Chip & Dale , which is my daughters fav. But that has been tough to get into. Past 2 vacations, couldn't get in. Gosh the name isn't coming to me right now. Sorry about that. Well, good luck.

 

[DaniB]

What is your arrival date? Try this 180-day calculator before. It has always worked for me in the past. Plug your arrival date into it, and it will tell you your 180-date mark.

If it agrees with today, either call back Disney dining and try again or just book them online. It's really easy to do online.

http://pscalculator.net/pscalc.php

 

[SonDis]

Date of arrival is Oct 1. Both my husband and myself have different countdown clocks and they both say 180 days???

I guess if it was free it may be worth doing.. except it may be a tad of a headache! I didn't do a package! I bought everything seperatly!! I actually saved quite a bit this way! Plus I got a room only discount package through the mail!

However I was curious if you could do DDP without a package?? NOPE... CM explained I would have to pretty much start over taking tickets back and explaing to Disney store I decided to do a package!

Pretty sure I will just stick with budgeting!! Do you have to pay in advance? How do you know what you will spend? Will they credit you if you don't spend as much as you budget?

 

[sscassel]

I am sure you could just add a meal plan if you wanted. Can't change your package sounds like at this point. There are four of us , kids 10 & 12. When we would go our table service was about $55 on average. I always saved my receipts and added the price when I got home on everything because we always had the free meal plan. I would save from $1200-$1500 on a 9-10 day vacation. Sitdowns were aroung $110-$145 not including tip when we went out. May be worth your while to add CS meal plan. See how much the plan is for the day.

 

[DaniB]

The link I gave you also says tomorrow then for your 180-day mark. I have used it for our past 2 trips, and it's been accurate. I would say the CM is correct for tomorrow then as well.

I'm afraid I don't know if you can do the DDP without a package. Someone else here would have to answer about that. Our past 2 trips have been with free dining, and that for sure is a package with at least 2 day park tickets having to be purchased.

The only way you would know if paying for a DDP is better than OOP for you is to do the math. You would need to look at the restaurants you want to eat, their menus, and add the cost up (including taxes but not tip). Then compare the total to the cost of the DDP and see if it saves you.

For the most part you do not have to pay in advance. However there are a couple of restaurants that will specifically charge you in advance, or hold your credit card in case you do not show up. The system will tell you as you make your reservations.

Again for budgeting purposes, once you decide where you want to eat - you need to look at the menus (allears.net is good) and figure out what the meals will cost you. Then you can figure out a rough idea of your total OOP costs and put the money aside.

Hope this helps!

 

[LilyWDW]

According to the calculator DaniB was so kind to link, an arrival date of 10/1/11 results in an ADR booking date of 4/4/11. So the CM was correct that tomorrow is the day you can start booking your ADRs.

Sorry!

As for the DDP, you must book a package with Disney. The only way you can get around having tickets as part of that package would be staying DVC on points or having an AP. Otherwise, you would have to buy at least 1 day tickets to purchase the dining plan (2 day for any free dining promotion).

That said, we are not doing the dining plan for our trip (unless free dining comes out. We are already booked rack rate, so why not at least get dining for free, KWIM?). To us it is simply too restrictive and doesn't follow the way we eat when we are on vacation.

 

[Cafeen]

With small eaters and much sharing and only a few TS meals, you'll not likely get the most out of the dining plan anyway. You would also lose the room discount (and depending on where you're staying, room may be a better discount anyway) and have to buy at least 1 days tix (or 2 day if free).

From what you're saying about the trip, I'd suggest that DDP is not right for you.

As far as prepaying and/or bugeting. Take a look through the menus of the places you'd like and get a general idea of what you'd be ordering. Add it all up, add tax and tips, and use that as a guide. I would personally add 10-20% to that total just to stay on the safe side.

If you'd like the idea of prepaying, but don't want the plan, look into putting that money on a gift card and either using that at meals, or charge meals to the room and using that to pay off the charges.

 

[BriarRosie]

Countdown timers are not always accurate because while it says 180 days, it probably also calculates the extra.....xxxx hours, xxxx minutes...

Always use the pscalculator.net link DaniB posted to get the accurate dates.

 

[Hopefully]

I am sure you could just add a meal plan if you wanted. Can't change your package sounds like at this point. There are four of us , kids 10 & 12. When we would go our table service was about $55 on average. I always saved my receipts and added the price when I got home on everything because we always had the free meal plan. I would save from $1200-$1500 on a 9-10 day vacation. Sitdowns were aroung $110-$145 not including tip when we went out. May be worth your while to add CS meal plan. See how much the plan is for the day.

No, the OP's is correct. She can not add a dining plan, since she is not on a package. The DDP is part of a Magic Your Way room/ticket package. She bought her components seperately.

 

[pooh2001]

We are considered a family of 4 adults - DH, DW, DS 20 and DD 17 - DDP would cost us $160 per day (I think, $40/adult/day).

We eat breakfast in our room.
We have our own water bottles.
Somestimes our DD wants the kids portion - 4 chicken fingers or a bowl of spagetti.

We do eat at non Disney places like RFC and can get a RFC Safari card discount.

If we stay at the Dolphin - or just go to eat there for lunch or dinner after ECPOT or DHS - we can get 20% off with an AAA card. No reservations needed at the Dolphin Fountain or Picabu's.

Our TS is mostly price fixed like buffets or Graden Grill. So it will cost us about
at CP for a late breakfast (lunch) = $95 then a CS dinner of $40, total = $135,
$25 less than DDP.


If we do LTT for lunch - it will cost us about $70, then the CS dinner of $40, total = $110, $40 less than DDP.

If we avoid TS dinners - then DDP is not worth it for our family.
Plus breakfast in our room is a great money saver.

We also get a fruit basket from the Disney Florist (AAA discount too) and it keeps for the whole week. Great to snack on.