Disney Dining

[JNBDream]

Hello, My and husband and I are taking our 3 boys, ages 10, 7 and 4 to WDW on Spring Break in 2008, I am in the process of booking our package and was wondering if doing the Disney Dining plan is really worth spending the money or is it easier and maybe cheaper to just buy our own meals individually with no plan. We do plan on having breakfast in our room (Cereal, muffins) that we bring ourself, so we only need lunch and dinner. Thanks for any help!!!

 

[skipperkim]

Well, that depends on which plan you choose. None of the new plans include tips.

 

[jmlaw]

Do you plan on going to any table service restaurants? If not, I would skip the DDP and just pay for counter service meals as you go. However if you plan on doing at least one table service meal each day (on average) then you might want to take a closer look at the dining plan. You would still want to run the numbers on where you plan to eat and what their prices are for the things you think your family would be ordering.

I am going next summer with two teenagers with very expensive appetites, so we are doing the dining plan, but you need to figure out what will work best for your family.

Good luck and have fun planning!

 

[TinkerBelle314]

I have been to Disney twice w/o the dining plan and we were resorted to eating only quick counter service meals because the sit down places are very expensive. We are going in about a month and booked the dining plan. My neighbor just went last year and she said it was totally worth it for the plan. I believe all but a few restaurants are covered by the plan. As far as I have been told, it does include tax and gratuity. It seems expensive at first but everything I have heard it is so worth it. We made reservations as soon as we could and got into all the restaurants we wanted. Now when we go we sit and eat and dont have any financial responsibility.

I have heard that they do give you so much food that if you have smaller children, two of them could split one quick service meal. That is what we plan on doing. Have fun and good luck!

 

[tasha99]

2008 basic plan has no appetizer and no gratuity. We're getting a car and eating offsite after our upcoming trip.

 

[Allison]

There is no stock yes or no answer to that. The only way to know what the best thing to do for your family is is to sit down and figure out your projected meal costs without the dining plan and compare that to how much it would cost to purchase the dining plan.

 

[mickeyminnie123]

It all started with a mouse...

 

[Perditamarie]

Just wanted to throw out that that is typically a very busy time of year, and dining table service everyday could take a lot of time, and you will already be battling crowds. Also, being in the right place at the right time for ADRs could take over your vacation. I would also think that you will have to wait a bit longer than your scheduled ADR time w/so many people in the parks.

 

[turning40withMickey]

Your two younger boys would pay only the child rate (about ten dollars each per day) but the ten year old would pay about $40.

We just got back, used the dining plan and had way too much food, albeit expensive. I don't think I would do it again, unless I wanted to eat a sit down fancy meal each night. We were game to try lots of "fussy" places this time, but my two older children did not eat $40 worth of food each per day. (Ten bucks, yes for DD 8). We ate at places like Le Cellier where our bill was 259 dollars, so the plan was worthwhile, but we had trouble using up all the counter service meals because they were large and we usually split them.

For example at Epcot, the hut that serves McD's food gave a ten piece nugget, large fries, large drink and a flurry for ONE counter service credit. This was more than enough food for two!

We spent over the monetary amount of the plan each day, but we wouldn't have ordered an appetizer, entree, drink and dessert if we weren't on the plan. We also made the "mistake" of choosing smoothies or milkshakes for the drink at several places, and were too full to eat the whole dinner!

It was nice to try out all those places we usually pass by, but for my family, counter service meals would have sufficed, with a character meal or two thrown in.

 

[carol-lamb]

For our trip this past June we projected what our meals would cost and it was less expensive to pay out of pocket. We ate a table service lunch everyday and a counter-service dinner. We don't really eat breakfast - maybe a banana or muffin. A couple of times we had an appetizer (not everyone at the table) and I think we ordered dessert twice (there were four of us and we shared two). We had free dining last August and it was a lot of food. We would share appetizers and desserts. So this year we knew that we would not eat all that food and it just wasn't worth it money-wise for us. It really depends on how your family eats!!

 

[petrymom]

Just wanted to throw out that that is typically a very busy time of year, and dining table service everyday could take a lot of time, and you will already be battling crowds. Also, being in the right place at the right time for ADRs could take over your vacation. I would also think that you will have to wait a bit longer than your scheduled ADR time w/so many people in the parks.

While I agree with you, if you make your ADR's at the 180 day mark, this is not the case at all. During our Christmas trip 2006, we had all the ressies made when in advance. I didn't have any problems making them at the 180 day mark. Yes, it takes some of the spontaneity out of the trip, but we never waited more than 10 minutes at any of our table service locations (we did one a day). This is what we are doing for the March of 2008 trip that we are taking.

The one thing that I love about the dining plan is you can order any entree on the menu without guilt. You can go to the table service restaurants and not flinch when the bill comes to over $100. This is worth the money in a heartbeat.

I am sort of bummed about the chances in the plan from this year to next, but I found that I was tipping the waiter/waitress additional anyway when we were there the last time anyway.

Oh well!!!!

 

[gabesmom]

I thought they took the tip out, but left the appetizer in for 2008... I think I saw that somewhere. Anyone else seen that?

We used the plan in 2006 and, while it is a lot of food, we did enjoy being able to go to restaurants that we otherwise couldn't have afforded to eat at and not having to worry about the bill. Everything was paid for in advance so we could just go and enjoy it, and the only cash we had to carry was what we wanted to spend on souvenirs and incidentals... That was nice!!

 

[texasteacher35]

Hello, My and husband and I are taking our 3 boys, ages 10, 7 and 4 to WDW on Spring Break in 2008, I am in the process of booking our package and was wondering if doing the Disney Dining plan is really worth spending the money or is it easier and maybe cheaper to just buy our own meals individually with no plan. We do plan on having breakfast in our room (Cereal, muffins) that we bring ourself, so we only need lunch and dinner. Thanks for any help!!!

It all depends on how many sit down (TS) meals/character meals you are planning to have! We are having a ton...so we are on the plan! In 2008 we will do the deluxe DDP because we can get up to 3 ts/cs per day...Anyway, I have been on it my last 2 trips and my upcoming 2 trips will, too! I think it is a good deal and do not have to har my DH complain about each individual meal he is paying for out of pocket! I would rather pay for it up front, and really plan out my days and meals so that we maximize the DDP...if you are not planning out your meals and getting advance ressies, than I would not do it!!!!! IMO

 

[Hopefully]

Chech out the menus here on the DIS and at allearsnet.com. Figure out where you might like to eat, and use the prices to compute the cost of what you would most likely order at each restaurant. This will give you a good idea of what it will cost your family OOP, so you can see if it makes financial sense for you.
As others have said there is more to it than just the money. Do you like to take the time for a sit down meal each day, or are you happy with counter service? A typical TS meal will take 60 to 90 minutes out of your tourning time. It takes advance planning in order to secure ADR's for your TS restaurants.
We have done the DDP 4 times. It saved us money each time and it fits our tourning style. We eat a TS meal each day. We would normally order an appetizer and for DH and DS dessert. For us it is a super plus.
I am not happy with the changes to the 2008 plan and I will have to rethink it in the future.
HTH

 

[TinkerBelle314]

I just Googled the Dining Plan for 2008 and it does not list appetizers as being included for the plan. It also states gratuity is not included and will automatically be assessed for parties of 6 or more. I hope this helps!

 

[RacingPrincess]

I checked with a CM and for anyone whose visit is in December going into January, you will still get the 07 Dining package where gratuity and appetiser are included.

 

[TinkerBelle314]

Does anyone know if the price is still the same and they are just giving less food, or have they also dropped the price to reflect the changes?

 

[texasteacher35]

Does anyone know if the price is still the same and they are just giving less food, or have they also dropped the price to reflect the changes?

I do not think they will be dropping any prices...that dos NOT sounds like WD to me!

 

[tiggersmyguy]

I had been tempted to do DDP for our trip this past June but it still seemed like alot of money per day to me. We chose to do OP but I kept all receipts from our trip to see what we spent. DDP would have cost approx. $160 per day for us (myself, DH, DD17, & DD13). I had bought the DDE since we used an AP for our stay. We averaged about $115 per day even with meals at Le Cellier, Crystal Palace, and Rose and Crown. We saved about $100 on meals with the DDE. I had a feeling the DDP would not be for us and I was right.

 

[TinkerBelle314]

Im new at all of this...can anyone tell me what the abbreviations stand for? (DDH, DD, DS, DDE, AP...?) Thanks.

We singned up for the dining plan and we leave in about a month. I will have to let you know how well it works for us while we are there. I simply liked that fact we could eat at any of the places with characters. I wanted this first trip for our kids to be as magical as possible. My neighbor who has older children told me she did the dining plan with her family and for the character meals, each one would have been over $100 just for one meal of the day. That is what did it for me. I have been there before and did not do the dining plan. I was with my grandmother and no children so we opted for the more convenience type meals. In which case if you do not wish to dine with the characters or if you plan on packing a luch, that would be cheaper than the dining plan. I think it is all about what kind of experience you want. I know the next time we go, we plan on scaling back. Im not sure if that will involve cutting the plan....we just have to see how it works out. When we get back I will give info on our experience.