Disney Dining Plan ---- Can it be shared/split??

[aka-mad4themouse]

Mad4....that sounds like a great plan!!!!!!!! The only thing is don't you have to use the 5 days in the first 5 days? I would like to do every other day!!!

You basically have from the time that you check in on day #1 to midnight of the day that you checked out the first time (essentially 6 days). While it's not the every-other-day that you would like it to be, it's the only way to work around the rules that Disney has set in place.

 

[5boyz]

Mickey P

That's sounds like a good idea because as I said before you are paying for it no matter how you slice it!!! Now we most likely will get 2 rooms can you do 1 with the dining and 1 without? Would you have to put 1 adult in each room? For all of you who are going to jump in and say "cheating" think what you want....I don't really care!!!!

 

[5boyz]

sorry I know I keep posting but am curious after all this is why I am here to ask questions!!! So essenially you are getting 6 days of the meal plan and 4 days you would OOP...by the way does that mean something about out of pocket? Don't know the slang.....LOL!!!!!!

 

[thelionqueen]

I don't understand what all the exclamation marks are all about. Seriously, think about this, it's a dining plan..nothing to get your feathers all ruffled for

It seems to me that if anyone has this much pent up frustration and so many things to consider, and the dining plan doesn't fit into your mold, don't buy it. Simple.

I wouldn't do without it for our family (kids under 9) but that is because it works perfectly for us. The reason Disney offers this plan, besides value, is for convenience and enjoyment. If it's causing this much frustration now, it won't be worth it on your trip.

BTW, to the PP who paid over $1500.00 for 6 people for 10 days, if you look at just a "one day scenario", you will see that even that amount is a deal.
1 Character Meal, 1 CS meal and 6 snacks for 1 day could EASILY cost over $300.00. If you ate like that the entire trip, you could be at or over $3000.00

For me, again just my .02, if you like to eat TS, especially character meals, @ WDW, the dining plan is a huge $$ and time saver.

Enjoy your trip whatever you decide

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

sorry I know I keep posting but am curious after all this is why I am here to ask questions!!! So essenially you are getting 6 days of the meal plan and 4 days you would OOP...by the way does that mean something about out of pocket? Don't know the slang.....LOL!!!!!!

OOP = out of pocket

This means that you would pay cash, out of your pocket, for those meals rather than paying for it with your dining credits. You pay only for what you order. So, if you choose to economize by skipping dessert, ordering tap water or having an appetizer for your entrée, you can.

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Well, 5boyz, you could make two seperate reservations! I think that would work since you are getting two rooms anyway. And yes, put one adult on each reservation. Last year when the free meal thing was offered, we did this: My mom and dad were staying at POP. Me, DH, DSis, DS(8), DS(8), DS(4)and DD(4) were staying at the campground in our RV. Well the free dining was not offered to campers. So I moved 2 adults off of my reservation onto my parents since they could have up to 4 in a room. They had an extra $10/day onto their room because of "extra adults" but that was no big deal since it was saving us $35/day on the meal plan. That left me only paying for 1 adult and 4 kids for the meal plan. So, what I am saying, is you could do two reservations.

But as MickeyP said, it is for really 6 days or 7! You can use your meals on the first day you arrive and the following day after your last night on the plan. For example, if you are arriving Sunday and your last night is Wed night. You can use your credits during all day Sunday and all day Thursday until midnight. Also, it is easy to use some up if you do a dinner show or a 2 credit sit down meal. We did the HDDR show last year and it was wonderful not to fork out $200 for the meal. Yes, we are paying for the plan but the pain of seeing a bill after a meal is gone. They are paying 18% tip off your real bill so something like the HDDR which would have been around $300 for our entire family would have cost us almost $60 in tip if we paid an 18% tip.

After experiencing the plan, I really enjoyed it. The only thing I would change is to be able to get a voucher if you do not want a dessert with your CS meal. We had 9 apple pies for one CS and it was too much. An icecream later would have been nice.

good luck!

 

[Rowlf]

Rowlf....Sorry you feel that way!!! The thing is I don't get the disney magic that everyone keeps talking about!!!! $1800. to eat for 10 days is pathetic!!! But that's fine because I am not taking that option anyway!!!! Have you been to the Norweign Restaurant?

Yes, I have been to the Norwegian restaurant five or six times. And I've happily paid the price each time because the food is good, it is in Epcot, and the atmosphere is nice. In fact, I consider it one of the best bargains in the World!

 

[5boyz]

THANK YOU SO MUCH CARRIE! YOU HAVE BEEN A GREAT HELP!!!!!!!!!!

 

[5boyz]

We went last year, 10 of us 4 adults and 6 kids and we all hated it!!! The men both complained that not enough food they were both still hungry!!!! I don't think I even ate mine cuz I didn't like it!!! Anyway I guess to each his own.


By the way your son is adorable!!! My husband is from Alexandria,VA

 

[MickeyP]

I have never read a positive review for Akershus.

 

[Carrie Ellis]

You are welcome 5boyz! I see that you have several kiddos. Are they all going? As a mom of 4, it was nice for me to be able to enjoy my vacation too. With the plan, everyone got what they wanted plus dessert. It was a real treat. It can be alot of money when the kids are considered adults...I know! My husband is not cheap either. I can't really expect him to split meals with me or to have a salad. He wants a real meal. I bet my boys will be the same when they are 15 or older. So, the plan would still be a good deal for me then. I think the wishy washy area for me is the inbetween ages which we are approaching. Such as, 10-13 years old. You will just have to decide is if it is worth it.

We are doing the dining this December again. I am planning on doing Ohanas, HDDR, may be Coral Reef, etc... I would not book these if we were not on the plan! I couldn't imagine having to pay the bill everyday!!

I hope you have good vacation either way!

 

[5boyz]

Thanks Carrie!!! Yes I have 5 boys 1 girl....the 4 youngest are going!!! My husband is the same way, he couldn't share a meal, as a matter of fact,last year we all gave him our meals that we couldn't finish(which I believe was every meal)lol....he had lost 28lbs before we went and said he gained 2800 when we were there!!! LOL!!

That is cool that you have 2 sets of twins!!! 3 boys 1 girl? If I can do the meal plan the way a few people have suggested then I will probably do it!!! Thank you for all your help!!!! Having 6 kids doesn't get you to Disney very often so it is just nice to get there!!! Where do you stay when you go with your kids? I might have already asked you that if I did sorry!!! I have gotten myself in a tissy and forget half the things I have said and asked!!! LOL!!!

Thanks everyone for your input!!!!!

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Yea! I am glad that you feel a little better. It looks like you have 2 "children" and 4 "adults" if you were to get the plan? correct? Will your older boys do the plan justice? They are at that age of being a bottomless bucket! My kiddos like chicken strips almost every meal! So, while we were on the plan and they got to choose from the kids menu just like us adults. If they wanted chicken strips, well, by darn, they can have it!! I just did not feel like I was having to look at price and it felt good!!

We will have gone 3 years in a row after this year. My older twins are 9 and I wanted to go one more year (at least! I am addicted!) before everything cost more to take them. When I booked the package, I just order 1 day base tickets for all of us. Then I bought 10 magic plus non expiring tickets through undercovertourist. At the time they were still charging 2005 prices but even now at 2006 prices are they are cheaper than disney's prices. You don't have to use the tickets with your plan. Just apply there value to tickets later. I will probably take the 1 day tickets and apply their value to a 10 day ticket next year. The 10 is just a better value. We will also use the 10 day non expiring days on our Sept trip this year. We are going to the campground Fort Wilderness for pretty much a camp only trip. We will use a couple of days off the ticket for animal Kingdom and a water park.

We camp! Fort Wilderness is so much fun! We do have an RV but you can tent camp. Are first trip was suppose to be tent but we ended up buying an used RV. Since then, we have bought a new one! Right now, or reservation is for $47/night during value season. We did choose the preferred site with cable otherwise it would be a little cheaper. The kids love it. I would have to get 2 rooms too so this allows us to go more often. Let me know if you would like more information about FW!

C

 

[Janet Hill]

I'm going in May with a total of 4 adults and 2 children. We will be staying at DVC through an II exchange. We will have two rooms. I thought about moving one of my kids to be on the grandparents reservation and booking the dining plan on one room only (2 adults, 1 child), but I was kind of afraid. Are the servers going to question the 6 of us eating off of a dining plan for 3?

Have people done this successfully. I'm sure it would be easy at CS, but what about TS?

 

[Chicago526]

I also have a question! I've never done the dinning plan, but I suggested this to my SIL who is traveling on the plan next month.

It's a party of 4, 2 adults and 2 kids under 9. Due to several "signature meals" they have booked, they'll only have I think 3 table service credits left for 5 days worth of eating. SIL just thought that they'd start buying their meals once the credits ran out. I suggested that DB and SIL split the adult meal (DB would get the entree, SIL would get the appetizer and they'd split the desert) and the boys would split the child meal (they are light eaters anyway). Is this okay to do? I thought I'd read of people doing this who are light eaters, but I don't want them to get there and find out they can't do it this way.

 

[Rowlf]

I have never read a positive review for Akershus.

Well, you'd get one from me. It is very 'European', but my family and I really like European food. I've always had very tasty, healthy meals at Akershus and it was one of the places that won DH over to what has now become our yearly trip to WDW.

BTW, you can get as many plates as you want, so no one should have left hungry.

 

[5boyz]

Carrie!

Yes you are correct! 4 adults 2 child....no my boys are like me fussy and eat like birds so it really won't do it justice....it is just so inticing cuz it does make it alot easier! LOL!!! Last year barely ate we were all to full from drinking kegs of water (it was so hot)! We did alot of chicken finger and fries which like I said none of us ever finished and gave to good old dad who packed the pounds on!! LOL!! I only spent $900 in total for everything (not hotel & tickets) and that was eating...we went shopping at the outlet...got some groceries (which we never used). We just went on rides and drank lots of water!!! the kids were not really interested in going into the stores and if we did they never really asked for anything mind you they all had money of their own to shop with!

Ok about buying 1 and buying10 on undercover I have to sit and actually figure that out....that sounds very interesting!!!

We also stayed at FW last year in the cabins. They were nice but I didn't like the seclusion but( hubby did) , I also didn't like that it took 2 buses or bus and boat to get everywhere!! My db and sil are thinking about coming with us but they are going to stay at the campgrounds!!!

 

[Carrie Ellis]

5boyz, it really does not sound like the dining would be for you unless you did split your reservation or seperated your rooms. It will be alot of food, but it could give your picky eaters more choice. I am really bad about looking at prices and making choices. When you don't have to worry about prices you are more likely to get what you really want! I don't know. I can see why you are hesitant.

We love FW because it does seem less busy! ha! I have discovered that using our car is alot better for all the parks except MK. An hour trip on 2 buses would only take us 10 minutes in a car! BUT, my parents had it as bad or worse at the POP. They were very disappointed in the bus system so I can not complain about FW! The last time we were at FW we rented the golf cart for the first time and it really was fun and easy to get to the outpost quickly!

Janet Hill, I think you will be fine because they are "your credits". You will have to really think about how to use them since they will go fast with the number of people using them.

 

[5boyz]

Rowlf

When I booked the Character Meal for dd's birthday they led me to believe that about the plates....when we got there it had apparently changes since I booked and now it was a menu. So like I stated somewhere else my 6 year and 8 year old got a hot dog for $12.99. We were so mad that they let the bigger kids eat off the kids menu but gave them the adult portion and like I said my husband and the other man were still hungry which made my husband a grump and we pretty much went back to our cabins after that! It cost us $165.US. My husband had 2 beers also! But live and learn, this year we are doing the Chef Mickey for her birthday as the other couple who we are going with did it a few years ago. Does anyone know anything about it?

 

[5boyz]

Carrie,


I like your attitude!!!!!!!! You are very positive and helpful!!!! Don't critizing our people for their thoughts and questions!!!