Do you do the dining plan? Why or why not?

[Ashlotte]

Hi everyone! This is my first time posting on your board. I am not a DVC owner (I own at WorldMark) and I just got the call that I secured an exchange through II into BWV in May. (I was on the wait list for almost a year!). I am beyond excited, as this is our *big deal* trip to celebrate our 10 year anniversary and only staying on site would do.

Anyway, I thought I'd check and see if many of you WDW/DVC experts bother with the dining plan. We will be in a 2 bedroom, so will have a decent kitchen and will have just returned from a 7 night Western, so are likely to be heavier than when the trip started already . We will be taking a car back from the port, so we would be able to stop and get groceries pretty easily. Our dd may still be napping then, which would mean going back to the room in the afternoon. Normally we are a smuggle in PB & J to save money kind of family, but since I am already hoping to do a few character meals, maybe it is worth it to get the plan?

Any advice? Thanks so much! I have to say... I am uber jealous of your timeshare situation. I wish I lived closer to WDW so I could be an owner, too!

 

[WolfpackFan]

We don't do the plan. It's too much food and too expensive for us. We usually only eat 1-2 TS meals per trip and either eat in our unit or CS for the rest of the meals. Plus DW and myself share meals quite often. For example, we like to split a sandwich and side salad at Earl of Sandwich or split a pizza and small salad at Pizzafari. I can't imagine having a full TS meal every day. Way too much food.

 

[disneynutz]

The plans are only worth it if you really love to eat, eat at one TS credit restaurants and eat the most expensive food you can find.

If all three items above don't apply, you are not getting a good value.

 

[jpolak]

We used to until they changed it and we discovered the DDE

 

[hakepb]

Pre 2008 we got the DDP, as it used to be a great deal. Now the DDP does not include gratuity and appetizer. Although I'm almost OK with the appetizer, the additional gratuity on top of the DDP price took away the value.

As mentioned, the DDP is only a good deal if you can get reservations for expensive meals (i.e. Dinner at LeCellier) and use the credits on expensive food. If you are talking about character breakfast buffet's, the DDP is generally really poor value (You paid $37/day to get a $22 meal?)

Now, since I have an AP, we've taken advantage of the TiW/DDE discount card, which extends my discount vs DDP.

FYI, at BWV you have a very limited CS selection (BWV bakery only), so you'd have to make sure to use your CS credits in the parks. Lack of flexibility is what started to get to me on the DDP. At BWV there is a very nice pizza to go window at Spoodles and some food stands on the Boardwalk, but you cannot use your credits at those places..

In the end, you need to look at your reservations, price out your typical meals and decide if cash or DDP is a better value.. DDP might seem easy, but it no longer seems to be a "must get value"

 

[Kmango]

I swear by the DDE, but if you're not a Florida resident/AP holder, that won't do. The DDP can be a value, but isn't necessarily. I'd say, see what ADRs you can get, look at the menus (but don't get your heart set on anything, just get a feel for the prices at the restaurants you've chosen at the meals you've chosen, and actually do the math.

 

[tink_lover]

In our situation, the DDP has saved us huge $$$. Dh and I are usually the kind that would split a salad/entree when going to dinner but we did not find the amount of food excessive on the DDP. This past spring I saved every receipt for every food purchase to do a comparison. Off the top of my head, I think it saved us $400.

 

[JimC]

We use the Disney Dining Experience or Tables in Wonderland or whatever they are calling it these days. That works best for us because we often are at WDW for day trips or special events.

Not sure we would use the DDP even if we only went for DVC stays. The original plan including appetizer and gratuity were good but you had better like to eat a lot of food to get full value.

Personally I don't think much of the DDP. It has reduced the range and quality of offerings in the restaurants.

 

[jblrn2b]

We always do the Deluxe Dining Plan because I don't like to cook on vacation and I like to go out to eat. My boys are BIG EATERS (and no - they are not heavy just very athletic - LOL) - they would eat 3 TS meals a day if they could and if I don't do the dining plan it would cost me a fortune. My DH and I find it a lot of food but somehow we manage. We are newbies to DVC so maybe we will want to cook more when we use two bedrooms villas.

The Deluxe Dining plan does include appetizers. If you want to go out to a lot of TS it could save you a lot. We eat at Calif. Grill, Ohana's, Chef Mickey's, Le Cellier, Teppan Edo, etc, etc so you can see how it would add up. I have never tried I think its called TIW now - maybe we might think about it.

 

[P&B's Mom]

We had the DDP and loved it. There were definitely some advantages for us. We wanted to eat TS at least once a day--mostly character meals. Your best bang for your buck is to get character dinners because of their cost. Also, I think I probably broke close to "even" on the adult meals, but it is a steal for kids. For about $11/day, I definitely made my money back, plus more. We also did a lot of buffets because it works best with our family, so appetizer wasn't an issue and my 9-year old wasn't stuck with only the kid's menu. We just bought DVC and might find the DDE a better deal down the road, but for now DDP is good for us! One other advantage I liked was that my food was all paid for ahead of time, so I wasn't worried about going "over budget". You should compare menus/prices on allears.net--you will see if it is for you. Good luck.

 

[TDC Nala]

No, I don't.

I'm single (so I am not enticed by the price break for children), I have DDE, I don't eat breakfast, I don't do character meals, I don't usually eat a lot of full meals at counter service, my snacks would be Diet Cokes because otherwise it's just too much food, I like alcoholic beverages which aren't included, and I want the freedom to order two appetizers and a cheese board and no dessert if that is what I like on the menu. Nor do I like the one-credit restaurants much. I also like restaurants like Bluezoo that don't accept the dining plan.

(You paid $37/day to get a $22 meal?)

With that $22 meal, you also got a $20 counter service meal and a $4 snack (if you were careful enough to choose meals and snacks that cost that much).

Other thing I didn't like about the dining plan was the understandable tendency to want to maximize its value - which meant instead of what I really would have liked on the menu I opted for the more expensive item, which I didn't want as much but it was a better deal.

 

[quentina]

We don't do the plan. It's too much food and too expensive for us. We usually only eat 1-2 TS meals per trip and either eat in our unit or CS for the rest of the meals. Plus DW and myself share meals quite often. For example, we like to split a sandwich and side salad at Earl of Sandwich or split a pizza and small salad at Pizzafari. I can't imagine having a full TS meal every day. Way too much food.

Ditto for us...way to much food. I do love the idea of being pre-paid however, so much food goes in the trash.

 

[Caskbill]

I'm not 100% certain, but since you're exchanging into DVC you may not be eligible to purchase the Dining Plan anyway.

I believe it's only available to members staying on points. If someone pays cash for the room, they can't get the Dining Plan. Exchanges may be the same.

You might want to check. When a member wants to purchase the Dining Plan they have to call Member Services at least 3-days ahead of time. You're not a member and therefore can't call Member Services.

Just FYI.

 

[ILuvMulan]

We used DDP this year and it was a wonderful value for us because 2 of our kids were 9 AND we did a 3 Character meals and the Biergarten at Epcot. Next year however all of my kids will be "adults" and it is not looking like a good value for us. I figure we can still do 3-4 character meals and eat 2 meals a day at the villa and come out about $400.00 cheaper (and that was without the gratuity).

 

[Ashlotte]

What is DDE? It sounds like that is only for DVC members?

I know that the rules could have changed since then, but my sister did an exchange like ours (WorldMark through Interval Internation into DVC) and they were able to do the DDP. That was when it included gratuity, though.

Don't most of the character meals include gratuity? I like the idea of getting to eat at all those places mostly because we are always too cheap to eat more than one shared meal (or none) per day when we are at the parks, but I'd have to prove its value to DH. I fear that I would waste a lot of park time eating, though. Hmmm.... Realistically we've never, ever spent $100 per day eating on vacation, so maybe we shouldn't do it. But I would love to not cook! A week on the cruise and a week of DDP could easily result in 10 lbs or more of extra me, though

 

[ashbradnmom]

The way it was always explained to me was the dining plans were available to anyone staying at a Disney resort.
We were there in Aug. and did the deluxe plan and loved it. I will do it every time we go because I am on vacation and do not want to cook. Also I have 2 kids 6 and 3 and they love the character meals, so if you plan to do a few of them it is worth it.
We also kept all of our receipts and totaled it up and we saved quite a bit.

 

[DeeCee735]

After paying cash for every meal this past Oct. trip, we're going back to the basic dining plan for our January trip. Everything is getting so expensive and I think even at the Jan 09 prices (I think it's 38.99 or 39.99 per person per night), it's going to be worth it. We'll definitely have a TS meal every night for dinner, that's approximately (or at least) $30 per person right there, if not more with a dessert and soda. i.e., Tepan Edo's combo dinner - no appetizer - is $28 pp, plus soda, plus dessert, plus tax. The counter service meals are more than $10 per person, again a dessert and soda, plus tax (i.e., Sunshine Seasons salad, soda, dessert and tax - $12) and the snack credits will get us up to $4.00 in the BW bakery. We'd have to pay a tip on our sit down meals whether or not we are on the plan, so I don't even look too much at that. At the very least, this is prepaid dining, and it's just easier.

We are also going to get the DDE (now called Tables in Wonderland) with my AP, as we plan on a big celebratory dinner at Yachtsman steakhouse, complete with champagne, appetizers and a cake (there are 5 of us). The discount on this dinner alone should cover the cost, and we'll be able to use it through 2009, for our 2 trips after the Jan. trip.

I also figure that my kids aren't going to be with us for every meal, so the meals we don't have together will be on credits from the DDP and the meals where we do sit down together I can use the 20% off. (Plus 18% gratuity now automatically added on)

I plan to keep every receipt on food to see how it works out, then I can decide for future trips.

 

[Dean]

We have done it and likely will again but don't most trips. However it is a specialty option that works well for some people and some situations but not for many. The DDP is a good value for those that are going to do the high end single credit table service options and the higher cost CS options. With limited exceptions, it is not a good deal for the signature restaurants or for the more modest TS places like 50's Prime Time. Shorter stays, ravenous teens or kids in the 3-9 age group can certain shift the scale (no pun intended, really) toward getting the DDP. I'd say look at where you have reservations, how you normally eat and look at the menus and see if there is value for you or not. As a rule you'll get the best value (and likely make or break the reasonableness of getting the DDP) if you'll get the most expensive options at the higher end restaurants. Examples would be the Lobster at Capt Jack's, Steak and Le Cellier, etc. Some of the better CS values are Seasons in the Land, BBQ Combo Plates from Cosmic Rays or Flame Tree and at the very top, the Pepper Market at CSR. The DDP can control your trip so if the numbers are close and you don't care much about dessert, it might not be a good idea. We like to do it for short stays or for split stays. In doing so, we chose the best options for values to eat during those days.

 

[poohbear158]

We used the dining plan on our very first trip to Disney since it was included in with our trip (got a free dining pin code that year). It was nice, but we didn't get it again. We got the DDE and like that better. With the dining plan, I felt like I had to use every credit or I was wasting them. There are sometimes that DH and I will split an appetizer, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we get dessert, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we like to just nibble on things here and there in Epcot. Each family is different and has different needs... the DDE is best for us (at least for now).

 

[Laneychris]

We use the DDP. If you are doing character meals I think it is a great savings. I have 2 children, we do a lot of character dinning and we love the DDP