Disney Dining Plan Confusion

[Cyrissa]

Hi everyone,

This is my very first post , so hopefully I've done this right.

I have three boys 13, 9, and 6 and this is our first trip to Disney World. Any thoughts about whether the Dining Plan is a good investment?

Or I'd love to hear some opinions (good or bad) about whether it worked for you.

We'd like to the Polynesian dinner show and maybe one other. Also, we'd like to do maybe three or four nice sit-down meals.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Cyrissa

 

[PixiePlanner]

We just returned from our first visit. I didn't pay for it but we had the Deluxe Dining Plan. Our last day we still had 5 meal credits and 35 snack credits. We will probably go with the QS meal plan next time and pay OOP for one nice meal.

 

[a1tinkfans]

For us Deluxe DP is overkill....too much food, too much time from park time.
We do regular DP and LOVE it, something for breakfast, oop, CS for lunch and a Sit down each night. It is awesome in my opinion. We're 2 A and a young teen.
Good Luck deciding! Figure what it would cost you for trip, then research what it would COST you OOP by checking out the menus, its as simple as that........it does not always work for everyone.
We have ben lucky to get FREE DINE last 4 trips, so for us!!

 

[a1tinkfans]

We just returned from our first visit. I didn't pay for it but we had the Deluxe Dining Plan. Our last day we still had 5 meal credits and 35 snack credits. We will probably go with the QS meal plan next time and pay OOP for one nice meal.

Did your resort offer you anything for your extra credits.???? Did you ask, they usually do not advertise that......we got lanyards and pins at POR a year ago,. We also hgave used snack credits in strore before leaving and took them home. Other option, we have also used, we "gave" a CS lunch to someone while on line, Boy did they smile and WE felt good about it not going to waste.

 

[PixiePlanner]

We used up 25 snack credits in the gift shop right before we left. My carryon was the bag of goodies. My DFIL talked to someone at the hotel and that person accompanied FIL to the gift shop. He was able to cash in 3 snacks for every meal they had left (12).

 

[brekin67]

When will you be going?

 

[bratmomma]

I went once and will be returning with the regular dining plan. We think its great for us. We go during the free dining promotions so its DEFINITELY worth it for us. We would not be able to do character meals and whatnot without the dining plan.

I HIGHLY recommend it, especially now that there are so many options.

 

[keywestbride]

I agree with the pp who said you really need to just look at menus and figure out what you'd eat if you weren't on the plan and compare.

One of the downsides, for us, is that a lot of the kids' choices are limited- you see lots of mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. There are other options, but you have to hunt for them.

Having said that, we did the plan last year, and are doing it again this year. For us, it comes out pretty close cost-wise, but we get a little extra stuff with the plan- mainly desserts.

 

[Hoosier Mom]

We do the regular dining plan....for lunches and suppers. We pay for breakfasts in the resort food court on our own. (room charge).

I did look at all the menus to see if the deluxe plan would be something for us, however, for us it would not be a savings. For the deluxe, I would have added in character breakfasts for every day to try to equal the daily cost of the deluxe plan. So we are doing just the regular plan.

The snack credits are great! We used them for ice cream cookie sandwiches at the bakery in MK. Also don't miss the kakigori snow cones next to Japan in Epcot.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[jenharring]

We had the dxddp and loved it. It was a lot of food, but we only had 2 adult and 2 children meals left over at the end and 25 snack points to use. We ate dinner our last day at Sanan in akv and went to there little shop and used up the rest of our snack points. I got us a bunch of nuts and cracker snacks. Great for the ride home, plus we went to the beach for 2 days. Also over at the jambo house you can change your meal points in for 2 snack points each. I opted to get meals and put lids on them and we took them with us to the beach for lunch the next day.

 

[squirrel]

How long are you going for? What time of year are you planning your trip?

For longer stays, then I think the regular DP is a good idea. You can get sick of CS meals after a while. I found in September we didn't eat as much as I thought we would-it was just too hot out.

 

[averysmom]

For us, dh, me, ds 7 and dd 4, the regular dining plan is a great deal for us. We've never left with credits, for our last trip, besides tips, we spent less than 20.00 OOP on food.
We like to eat well on holidays, our kids are very well behaved in restaurants, and for our age of children, the DDP is a good price. I couldn't feed them at WDW for 10.00/day OOP!
For your kids, 2 would be kids (good deal) but the 13 year old would be an adult, so that's almost 40.00/day - if they aren't going to eat anything but hamburgers and hot dogs, you need to take that into consideration.

 

[EthansMom]

We went last year for Free Dining and I thought the Basic Dining Plan was more than enough food for us and it seemed to be a great price for what we ate. I would get the Basic Dining Plan (1 TS, 1 QS, 1 snack per person per day) again, even if I had to pay out-of-pocket.

For us, Hoop-de-Doo and Chef Mickey's are "must-do" meals.

I'm not sure when you're going, but WDW is offering Free Dining again this fall. Also, ADRs now book 90 days in advance of your trip, and with the popularity of the dining plan, it behooves you to get up and book them exactly 90 days from the date you arrive.

Good Luck!

 

[smylie1]

Thankfully we got a pin for free dining in November, but even if we hadn't we were doing the regular DP, just for the convenience of knowing it's already paid for. Too, it's another one of those things that eventhough we *know* we paid for it, it seems magical not to have to pull out cash or the debit card at all while in the World!

 

[*pixie*dust*]

The dining plan really depends on your family. Are you big eaters? If you are fairly big eaters then it would probably save you money. It is nice to have things pre-paid budget wise as well. It is a lot of food though!

One word on the Luau at the Poly. Really, don't waste your time or money on that show. Your boys will be bored to death. It is long, slow at times and the food is just ok. There are much better options for the $$$.

 

[trennr]

I'm going down July 18...we have the Quick Service Dining plan.

This should work out great for my family. Me, DW, DS14, DS9.

This is our first trip staying onsite...so it will also be our first having a Dining plan.

You don't say exactly when you are going...but can tell you how it works out when I get back.

 

[~Kristina~]

For us, our kids just don't eat enough to justify the cost. Once they are eating more, then we'll definitely be doing the DP.

 

[marcielm]

If you want 3-4 sit down meals, then the plan is perfect. This is a great way to get character meals, and give your kids a chance to meet the characters without standing in lines. It is especially good if you have kids that like to eat, for which I highly recommend buffets. My boys were both considered "kids" when we went (ages 9 & 7) and my girls were "free infants" (under 3) and the buffets were great because my 9yr old can eat an adult's meal, and my 2yr old can eat a kid's meal (she was suppose to eat off our plates, but at buffets we were able to get her own food).

We had snack credits left over at the the end of the week, which we used to stock up on bottles of diet coke & muffins from the Main Street Bakery for our drive home. Which brings up another thing... you can just about make a meal (breakfast) out of a snack credit if you try hard enough!

Go to this site: http://allears.net/din/dining.htm for some great info on dining (including all the resturaunts & menus).

Here is another site that has a great list of options for your snack credits: Bummer... this link didn't work. I found it in an article when I googled "walt disney world snack credit list"

 

[Cyrissa]

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions, opinions and info. Just what I needed. We are going Sept. 29 - Oct. 5. All three of my boys are generally big eaters, so I'm leaning toward the basic DP. But I think I'll take some of your suggestions and do the math with the menus to get an idea as well.

Thanks again!

 

[clanmcculloch]

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions, opinions and info. Just what I needed. We are going Sept. 29 - Oct. 5. All three of my boys are generally big eaters, so I'm leaning toward the basic DP. But I think I'll take some of your suggestions and do the math with the menus to get an idea as well.

Thanks again!

Well that's smack in the middle of free dining. Find out what your current package would cost under the free dining deal vs room discounts currently being offered vs whatever you're currently paying.