Do You Get the Dining Plan When You Go?

[MIGrandma]

DH and I have never done the dining plan before. We are the "eat whatever wherever we happen to be when we get hungry" type people, and of maybe a dozen trips we've only ever eaten at a table service restaurant twice. We normally just do the food court for breakfast, a snack for lunch, and either counter service or back at the food court for a quick dinner. We just don't really care all that much about the food when we're at Disney, we always just want to eat quick and be done with it so we can get to other things.

That said, we are doing the dining plan this next trip. Simply because we were invited to go along with our daughter (I took her on a mother-daughter Disney trip last year and she loved it!) and her family and her DH's parents and they are all doing the dining plan, and she has made several table service reservations (Akershush, Crystal Palace, Coral Reef, Be Our Guest, etc. etc.) so...

Since they came out with January promotions I called a couple days ago to discuss our options for our reservation, and we decided to go with the dining plan. For two adults it's costing us $355 for 8 nights. I had heard it was normally $56 per day per adult (but now I see here that it is over $60), so that would have been $896 for the two of us, so $355 sounds pretty good I think, especially with the reservations she's made for all of us.

I do wish you could have an appetizer with your entree though, rather than dessert. We rarely get dessert and if we do, we just get one to share. Nice that the beverage is included (we don't drink much alcohol anyway) and the refillable mugs being included is great too as we do use those quite a bit.

So, if you do the dining plan please tell me what you liked about it, and didn't like. And if you have any tips on how to make the most out of it. Thanks.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

It sounds like you moved up to the S/P/D deal. I'm not sure what resort level you're staying at but did they also compare that to the Room-Only discount to see which is better for you? At a Deluxe level resort the room discount of 30% may be better than the SPD which gives you 55% off on the dining plan and a small resort discount per night. To compare this you'd have to have some idea of what your OOP dining expenses will amount to.

Regarding your dining question:

On your TS Meals keep in mind you'll have to tip on what the total meal price would have been. If you don't want dessert you can't sub it to anything else but you can skip it.

On QS Meals you do get a little more flexibility with desserts. Sometimes you can get carrots or grapes or some other fruit/vegetable item. "Desserts" to me seem most flexible at your resort where they'll count all sorts of things such as a bag of Chips, a small vegetable platter, other packaged items you can save for later, etc.

Overall with the Dining Plan you'll need to plan how you're using your meals and you could end up with extra meals at the end of your trip that you don't use (not a good plan) or you could use them too quickly and have to pay OOP for some meals which is frustrating if you expected the dining plan to cover all your meal needs.

 

[MIGrandma]

It sounds like you moved up to the S/P/D deal. I'm not sure what resort level you're staying at but did they also compare that to the Room-Only discount to see which is better for you? At a Deluxe level resort the room discount of 30% may be better than the SPD which gives you 55% off on the dining plan and a small resort discount per night. To compare this you'd have to have some idea of what your OOP dining expenses will amount to.

Regarding your dining question:

On your TS Meals keep in mind you'll have to tip on what the total meal price would have been. If you don't want dessert you can't sub it to anything else but you can skip it.

On QS Meals you do get a little more flexibility with desserts. Sometimes you can get carrots or grapes or some other fruit/vegetable item. "Desserts" to me seem most flexible at your resort where they'll count all sorts of things such as a bag of Chips, a small vegetable platter, other packaged items you can save for later, etc.

Overall with the Dining Plan you'll need to plan how you're using your meals and you could end up with extra meals at the end of your trip that you don't use (not a good plan) or you could use them too quickly and have to pay OOP for some meals which is frustrating if you expected the dining plan to cover all your meal needs.

We are staying at POR, and yes I did ask on the phone what the room savings would be if we chose to go that way and it was approximately $300. But then we would be paying-out-of-pocket for all those meal reservations our daughter made so I felt it would be to our benefit to choose to pay the extra $355 for 8 nights of dining.

Yes, I know about the tips. I was a server myself for 12 years.

We have 3 more TS meals to choose, there will be one night where DH and I will be on our own so I'm thinking of one of the signature restaurants for that (2 TS credits). We don't mind eating at odd times, so that might help our chances of getting in better than trying to eat at the peak times. But I know I need to be making that decision and get the reservations made. I would hate to end up with unused TS credits. I know it won't be difficult to use up the CS credits, and snacks.

 

[chelseabun76]

When I did my adr's on the regular dining plan, I tried to stick with one ts per day so that we weren't spending too much time sitting down eating. I do have one day that we have 2, but they are pretty spread out so it should be ok. I also looked at the menu to see if we were getting a good value by choosing that restaurant. Which is why I dropped The Plaza from my list, the prices there just do not justify the dining plan... and picked a different restaurant that made the most out of the credit price wise. If we want to eat there, I'll make a reservation for our last day in the park where we were paying out of pocket anyways.

We are also going to try to use our snack credits for breakfast as much as possible so that isn't another cost to pay out of pocket. I've seen SO many great things you can pick up as a snack credit, especially since we aren't big breakfast eaters, and I'm packing some things for our hotel room as well. So in the end, our cs is mainly for lunches, and our ts is mainly for dinners the way I have it planned... which maximized our value.

My mom was the one that wanted the dining plan this time around after paying oop in DL the last trip. Our last WDW trip we were on the free dining qs plan, and she loved the ease of it all being paid for ahead of time, but this time she bumped us up to regular dining plan so we had more ts options, something we just weren't aware of our last trip, sad to say. LOL!!

 

[txnana]

We are staying at POR, and yes I did ask on the phone what the room savings would be if we chose to go that way and it was approximately $300. But then we would be paying-out-of-pocket for all those meal reservations our daughter made so I felt it would be to our benefit to choose to pay the extra $355 for 8 nights of dining.

Yes, I know about the tips. I was a server myself for 12 years.

We have 3 more TS meals to choose, there will be one night where DH and I will be on our own so I'm thinking of one of the signature restaurants for that (2 TS credits). We don't mind eating at odd times, so that might help our chances of getting in better than trying to eat at the peak times. But I know I need to be making that decision and get the reservations made. I would hate to end up with unused TS credits. I know it won't be difficult to use up the CS credits, and snacks.

I would choose one of three restaurants for your Signature Dining: Yachtsman steakhouse - one of the best meals I ever had anywhere! Citrico's or Narcosee's. We are trying the latter two on our Christmas trip this year and have heard great things about both.

 

[lauradis]

I would choose one of three restaurants for your Signature Dining: Yachtsman steakhouse - one of the best meals I ever had anywhere! Citrico's or Narcosee's. We are trying the latter two on our Christmas trip this year and have heard great things about both.

Love there porterhouse. and on a weirdo note we have been 3 times over 6 years and we keep getting the same waitress.

We are probably the most wasteful people on the dinning plan.

My tips are:

Order what you want to eat/try, don't think about the prices. Be it a $20 salad, or $60 steak
If you want a glow in the dark drink that isn't included on the ddp so what order it, whats 20 bucks in the grand scheme of Disney vacation.
If dessert sounds great and you only eat a couple of bites it was worth it.

Basically use the dinning plan as a tool to cover 80% of the food you want to eat. Sit back and enjoy it.

 

[NC Disney Fan]

We are staying at POR, and yes I did ask on the phone what the room savings would be if we chose to go that way and it was approximately $300. But then we would be paying-out-of-pocket for all those meal reservations our daughter made so I felt it would be to our benefit to choose to pay the extra $355 for 8 nights of dining.

Yes, I know about the tips. I was a server myself for 12 years.

We have 3 more TS meals to choose, there will be one night where DH and I will be on our own so I'm thinking of one of the signature restaurants for that (2 TS credits). We don't mind eating at odd times, so that might help our chances of getting in better than trying to eat at the peak times. But I know I need to be making that decision and get the reservations made. I would hate to end up with unused TS credits. I know it won't be difficult to use up the CS credits, and snacks.

Okay, here are my thoughts. We have had the pleasure of traveling to Disney for the past 7 years on during FREE DDP! I was more like an eater like you and with two younger kids (at the beginning) these big meals were quite a bit more than my family could handle. However, with the Disney Dining, you are less likely to hesitate going to a restaurant because of the cost. Sure charging $20+ for a meal at Sci-Fi seems like a lot but if it is "covered", you are less likely to think about how over priced things are. And They Are!. We have used the DP to experience all that Disney has to offer. We have done almost all of the signature meals at least once. Many are not worth it but again, we have been able to enjoy the experience without the guilt. Since it seems like you got a good deal on it, I think like a PP said, just get what you want and enjoy. Don't think about getting the biggest bang for your buck but enjoy. I am a non fat eater (although I love sweets) but I will tell you, I always order the desserts since they are included. I would say 90% of the time, it is the best part of the meal. And also like the PP stated, just eat a few bites if that is all you want. Another suggestion is to pack up the dessert (if you carry a backpack you can shove it in there) and bring it back to the room to store or put in the fridge. It can be a sweet treat later or like my husband would do, eat it for breakfast! We actually bring glad containers to store our extra desserts because we always have some. The same holds true of snacks. It is just so much food, we are not hungry enough and can't eat that much. Or last day we normally hit up Germany's bakery at Epcot and use up our snacks there. Again, that is why we bring storage containers.

I will tell you that I personally end up skipping many lunches because I am just not that hungry. That often allows us to enjoy more signature meals. Sometimes, it means that when we leave the resort, we use up or final CS meals (or TS can be transferred to CS if you have any left) and get the prepared lunches to take on the road. So we never really waste any.

Regarding the signatures. Do you want an experience like Cinderella's Royal Table or the Spirit of Aloha dinner theater or do you want a fine dining experience? We have been to almost all of them so I would be happy to give insight into all of them if you want. I will tell you that last year we went to the newly renovated California Grill. We timed it to enjoy the fireworks from the restaurant. It was by far, our favorite restaurant experience of the year. My two daughters, 11& 13 loved it as well. It is upscale and offers incredible food. The steaks my DD & Dh had were apparently out of this world. We asked for a window seat and were just in awe at the view of the Disney property. Watching the fireworks from the rooftop of the contemporary was a unique experience. They pipe in the sound and music from the show so it truly is a wonderful thing to experience. So that would be my vote. CG is a long time Disney favorite and is well worth using 2 TS for. I hope that helps.

 

[Flamingeaux]

Our first trip we paid for a dining plan. We aren't big eaters so - Never again. We have done FD QSDP and pay OOP for one TS.

 

[Mikie]

Since you'r planning those buffets (which are pricey, but fun! and tasty!) and paying only $355 for food, you are definitely making the right choice on getting the dining. You could pobably eat 2 quick service plus a snack per day on that same amount, but add in any table service and you definitely save.

I absolutely loved that it's prepaid and avoiding the sticker shock of a bill at the end of those character meals! I didn't mind paying once or twice to add on an appetizer or glass of wine (although so pricey compared to non-disney places). You can use dining credits and still add on those other items with cash if you'd like. I bought gift cards at Targt with my red card, saving 5% and used those to pay for my tips and extra apps/drinks, so I saved a little there and it was still prepaid.

You could, of course, eat at all those same places and not use the DDP evn though the rest of your group is on it, but with your special offer I think you've made the right choice!

Since you have many character meals or unique places like BOG, I hope you'll think of your meals as part of your park day - meeting characters without waiting in line -and won't be put out by the amount of time it takes to do TS vs. your familiar QS.

 

[Vernie822]

We just got back from a trip about a month ago. We are 2 adults and we had free dining. I wasn't sure what to think since it was our first trip together, and first time using the dining plan.

Favorite part: Convenience. Knowing our meals were paid for. Chose to eat whatever we wanted, without even peeking at the price tag.

Least favorite: It didn't really match our eating habits. Like some have said, I would usually pick an app over a dessert. We would have never purchased QS desserts. At some points we would split a meal and choose to each get a snack later in the day. Sometimes it really was just too much food. We ended up with a ton of QS credits to burn at the end of the trip! We barely broke even on the dining plan (it was free, but had we paid for it we would have spent more on it than we would've on food).

That aside, I would do it again if it was free. Next time, I Think we are going to pre-purchase Disney gift cards maybe one a month leading up to the trip. That way meals are "pre paid". I know we'll still look at price tags because we know it's not "free" but technically it's not free in the first place since you're still paying full rack rate for the room!