Disney Dining Plan Options/Experiences

[ryanl81]

Hi all, I am looking for some advice and thoughts on what you all do with Disney Dining plans. We have always done our own thing and like the flexibility of eating out, however this time round we have our two daughters with us (ages 2 and 4) and we know that we want to do some character dining etc etc.

We are DVC members and will be staying at SSR for three weeks in November.

So as a result we were considering if we can get good value from a Disney Dining plan (initial thoughts are towards the standard dining plan).

So my questions are....

Are you able to purchase a dining plan for a portion of your stay i.e. 5 days at the beginning or end?

Does anyone have any experience with when best to do this in this way?

Do Disney ever offer any Dining Plan incentives or discounts throughout the year?

What are the best character dining experiences for young children? (us included

If anyone has any advice or previous experience and approaches I would be really interested to hear them!

 

[chmurf]

Hi all, I am looking for some advice and thoughts on what you all do with Disney Dining plans. We have always done our own thing and like the flexibility of eating out, however this time round we have our two daughters with us (ages 2 and 4) and we know that we want to do some character dining etc etc.

We are DVC members and will be staying at SSR for three weeks in November.

So as a result we were considering if we can get good value from a Disney Dining plan (initial thoughts are towards the standard dining plan).

So my questions are....

Are you able to purchase a dining plan for a portion of your stay i.e. 5 days at the beginning or end?

Does anyone have any experience with when best to do this in this way?

Do Disney ever offer any Dining Plan incentives or discounts throughout the year?

What are the best character dining experiences for young children? (us included

If anyone has any advice or previous experience and approaches I would be really interested to hear them!

you can't buy the dining plan for a portion of your stay. it has to match the number of nights

but you can do separate bookings
1 stay with tickets and dining plan ( it will need to be at the start of your vacations as you must buy tickets to get the dining plan)
then 1 stay without the dining plan where you'll use the remaining days on your first booking tickets
but your dining plan credits won't spread over your 2 bookings, they will expire at the end of your first stay checkout day. any unused credit would be lost the day after your second stay check in
if you choose to stay at the same resort you might have to switch rooms

 

[Elise79]

The rules for DVC members are slightly different to what the previous posted stated. You can't book the DDP for only part of a stay. You can book separate reservations but they must be a different resort or room type which in turn means moving rooms and have the DDP for only one reservation. Credits will only be valid during that reservation though.

As a DVC member you can buy a TIW card for $100 which gives 20% off food and drinks at TS restaurants. Have a look at www.tablesinwonderland.com for more information. It gives you a bit more flexibility than the DDP and can actually save you money!

Your 2 year old will eat for free at the buffets anyway

We have never been able to make the DDP work for us if we have had to pay for it and they never have any offers for DVC members except we don't have to buy tickets to be able to buy the plan.

 

[2Tiggies]

I'm going to add some new information to what Tracy had posted regarding [non DVC] onsite reservations. As of this week, guests booking with disney.com (USA site) are able to purchase the Dining Plan without tickets. This is something new and is apparently not available online just yet, but can be done by calling to book. It looks like it could be a trial for now as guests who have used this new option have apparently been told that it is only available for bookings up until December.

 

[Elise79]

I missed you asked what dining is good with young children

Personally I found buffets hard work so preferred the family style meals at Ohana breakfast and Garden Grill dinner.

Ohana has Lilo, Stitch, Mickey & Pluto.
Garden Grill has Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale.

Our DD also enjoys Teppan Edo as the Chef cooks the food at the table.

 

[wayneg]

We have done DDP 4 or 5 times but got it free.
I have worked the figures over an over again and there is no way I can say its worth buying DDP. Even when we eat the most expensive items and take every dessert and snack available I can only work it to break even.

Look at menus, work out the figures but I would never pay for it.

 

[Minniesgal]

you can't buy the dining plan for a portion of your stay. it has to match the number of nights but you can do separate bookings 1 stay with tickets and dining plan ( it will need to be at the start of your vacations as you must buy tickets to get the dining plan) then 1 stay without the dining plan where you'll use the remaining days on your first booking tickets but your dining plan credits won't spread over your 2 bookings, they will expire at the end of your first stay checkout day. any unused credit would be lost the day after your second stay check in if you choose to stay at the same resort you might have to switch rooms

DVC members don't need to buy tickets to get the dining plan.

If you want to use a split stay to reduce your dining plan nights you will have to change room type or resort or Disney will consider it all 1 DVC reservation.

Dining plan is quite different for DVC.

 

[Minniesgal]

To be honest we hated the ?Dining plan and I think it is because we are DVC. We are used to using the kitchen facilities for breakfast, for snacks, for drinks etc. when we added the DDP on top of this we were doing breakfast in the room, CS for lunch and TS for dinner with a snack in the park. Most nights we found we were not hungry enough to really enjoy the TS

 

[scoobydooby]

We have had the regular DDP free (paid tip so not free!), paid for the regular Dining plan, QSDP (free) and upgraded to regular and no plan at all and paid out of pocket. I think you just have to crunch the numbers for your family and needs.

We are a family of 4. When the children were little even free we couldn't get through the food and there were just too many TS meals for how we wanted to use our day. As DS got older and can eat for England (teenage boy), he inhaled everything on offer and everything DD left behind. And DH loves the table service places. So it became at least break even value. Better than a room discount and we enjoy the daily break of a TS daily as a family. We eat together at home once every day so it's a nice routine we are used to.

Onto now and my next trip. I am travelling with my 12 year old daughter only and the boys have decided to go skiing instead. She eats like a flea. She is a park stormer. Food is fuel or a restaurant is entertainment. So it's a no brainer we will not be getting a dining plan. We have 5 TS booked over 10 days but in between it is likely to be apples, funnel cakes, red velvet cupcakes, a banana, a bag of fries...... You get my point.

So I repeat. Know how you will eat an do your sums is, I think, my best advice.

 

[2Tiggies]

So I repeat. Know how you will eat an do your sums is, I think, my best advice.

It all comes down to this.


What I have learned is that what is cost effective one year is not necessarily cost effective the next. Not only do your needs change, but the Dining Plans have changed quite a bit, in addition to the enormous price hikes. We have paid for the dining plan before and it actually saved us money. Now I am crunching numbers for next year and thinking the right room discount is probably going to save us more money than free dining, depending where we stay.

 

[iris1910]

I have to agree with Elise79.

The tables in wonderland card is a fantastic option for DVC members. We found DDP was just too much food! We also prefer starters to desserts and this gives us flexibility to have starters.

With TIW we spend approx. half what we would do on DDP, and we eat a lot less.

There are quite a few restaurants on TIW which are not on DDP, so it may give you some more options.

 

[pickers1982]

We had ddp chucked in for "free" and I love it. Love the freedom of not worrying about price etc. but I'm sure wouldn't get full value if I paid for it!

 

[pickers1982]

I missed you asked what dining is good with young children Personally I found buffets hard work so preferred the family style meals at Ohana breakfast and Garden Grill dinner. Ohana has Lilo, Stitch, Mickey & Pluto. Garden Grill has Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale. Our DD also enjoys Teppan Edo as the Chef cooks the food at the table.

ditto on Teppan edo

 

[the4brenners]

If you are a annual passholder, do you get a discount on the Disney dining plan, if your staying on property?
I purchased just the room.

 

[Tink2312]

If you are a annual passholder, do you get a discount on the Disney dining plan, if your staying on property?
I purchased just the room.

No, but because your an AP holder you can add one of the dining plans to the room only reservation you have (non-AP holders would have to buy a package including tickets to allow them to book the dining plan).

You do get discount on some restaurants with the AP or you may find it works out cheaper to buy the Tables in Wonderland card, which gets you a 20% discount on your bill at most table service restaurants. The card costs $100 but lasts for 1 year so you could fit in multiple trips. Also, as long as you're there, there's no need to buy multiple cards as it can be used for up to 10 guests. That's more flexible than the dining plans as you don't have to order a set 2 courses and the discount applies to the whole of your bill including starters and alcohol. The discount isn't offered at many counter service locations though - in fact I think the All Stars food court is the only place where it's accepted.

Have a look at this for further info on the card: http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneydiningexperience.htm

 

[tinkerpea]

We have used the DDP many times and have always loved it! Wether paid for or free.

However last trip in November we was really disappointed!
Same meals in nearly every restaurant so we had to book a few extra signatures then normal so as not to get bored!
I find the QS portion actually is very good value as the meals are large enough that we can split an adult meal between 2/3 kids so they get breakfast and either lunch or dinner for the credits and we never have had to pay oop towards any food once we have the plan,

Our boys who are aged 8,8,11 now still love character meals and they are so expensive that we do find if we was paying Oop actually on holiday we would not do them, but having it paid in advance makes it feel a lot more tolerable on the wallet lol...

We have it again for our trip in July but only because we had already booked before our last trip,
I think after this next trip if the menus have not gotten any better, we will most likely get the QS plan as the snacks do really add up and so we would not buy half what we do if not for the snack credits,
and only have 2/3 TS meals oop.

I'm going to really try and record our meals this trip so I can see if we truly could save.

As for good character meals,
We love Crystal palace for the atmosphere and its been a tradition to go every trip since I was 3,

Food wise Tusker house is just amazing! Our boys beg to go here every single trip, great character interaction and the food really is very good, great selection no matter what time you go.

We also really like Chef Mickeys however we have been when its dirty and hectic,have say and waited an hour with not seeing one character.