Does anyone else wish the dining plan wasn't tied to buying a package?

[persimmondeb]

That you could just get it with room only, or even better, just buy it independently? We're staying off-property, since I just couldn't swing a week on property, and not being able to get the dining plan is my only real regret. I know people argue about the value of the plan but I always feel we do very, very well on it and eat more lavishly than I could possibly do OOP for the same money.

We love just being able to order what we want and not having to obsess about it's being the most expensive thing on the menu. And I could never justify paying $3.59 for those CS desserts, but we always cheerfully eat them on the dining plan. I don't think we've ever skipped one, or had one thrown away uneaten or partially eaten. Now, we often split a CS between two people, and use a snack credit for an extra dessert, so we're not wildly stuffed.

Other plan fans?

 

[Bete]

Many other parks give you an option for buying all day meal plans in the parks. I've done them and I like them. You don't have to stay on resort property to get them, either. They are park plans, not resort plans. Universal/IOA is one such deal. SeaWorld has a meal plan and they have preferred resorts near them that are not owned by them, but they could make it a requirement to stay at those preferred resorts, but they don't do it. Busch Gardens has a meal plan, too.

I could afford to stay on Disney property this December, but I'm not going to do it. It just doesn't have the value for us. My situation is complicated. We take a small dog with us and my mom has Alzheimer's and is 91. She has other issues, too. We really don't have a great opportunity to take advantage of the Disney extra magic hours with my mom for one. She can't get up early enough, nor can she stay up late enough for the extra hours. So, we don't get that value with staying at Disney. For us, it's a better fit to stay off site where we can have our dog with us in our room. Even with free dining it's not economically good for us to be at a Disney resort. Economically, it comes out better offsite; even when, free dining is offered. I'm not staying at a bad place offsite, either. The only style kennel I like at the on site Disney property Best Friend kennel is costing like $75/day. I could get by on $50/day kennel, but I wouldn't have web cam access to my dog and it wouldn't be as nice. Also, the dog couldn't be with us; unless, we went off site with her. My dog would panic being with so many other dogs in their one dog run at the Disney property kennel if we took her out there. She's not dog friendly and she's not even people friendly with strangers; so, an overnight kennel is not a good answer for us. The dog hasn't bit anyone, but she will growl at you if your are too close in her space. She is as sweet as can be with us and with my mom's Alzheimer's. She's a keeper, but she was an abandoned dog and sheltered; so, she really is not fond of strangers and I can understand. We have done about 6 trips with her so far and we manage, but she's with us and not in an overnight kennel. I have had her in a day kennel at a park like Dollywood.

I'm getting away from the topic at hand, but Disney just doesn't suit us anymore. I will state I've been on property over 30 times including deluxe. We have to adjust how we vacation at Disney, now. We enjoy the Disney parks and we will continue to do so, but just not on Disney property.

 

[jenf22]

I wish you could too! We're staying on property for 3 nights in May, but are only doing the park for one day (we're doing Lego Land and then a cruise). We already have the one-day ticket, so we don't need the ticket part of the package. But I would LOVE to just add the DDP. It may not be the most economical, but with character meals, it comes pretty close. And we're planning on two of those. I guess we're paying OOP this time. Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Aliceacc]

I agree.

We got YES tickets, so that means no dining plan.

I'm thrilled with the YES tickets, but love the convenience of the dining plan. I wish there was a way to do both.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

Ppl already complain about how crowded the restaurants are now since they started the ddp and how hard it is to get ADRs at 180 days. Can you imagine what hell it would be like trying to get into a Disney restaurant if anybody in the general public could buy into the dining plan? As it stands you have to be not only a paying guest but a RESORT GUEST.

That works well in 2 ways for Disney. It keeps their restaurants from turning into crazy zoos crawling with ppl all day long from the over-booking over-crowding and it encourages ppl to stay on-site if they want the dining plan. It is Disney's way of getting even more of your money.

Also if you look at the other park's meal plans they are a much better deal than Disney's. You can get a US or Sea World dining plan for all day dining for 29.99 and at Sea World they have a place that serves breakfast, then you can have lunch and all drinks and snacks are included and you can go back and eat dinner if the park stays open late enough. That's a good deal.

With Disney you pay 35.99 and get 2 counter service meals and one snack. You can buy 2 Disney counter service meals and a snack cheaper than 35.99.

Unless the DDP is free I would never pay for it. Paying out of pocket is always cheaper unless you have a bunch of little kids and you plan on doing a bunch of expensive character meals, then it might pay to have it.

I don't think they will ever let just any old body buy the ddp. I think it will always be a part of a package for resort guests only. Why should Disney be interested in saving you money if you aren't paying to stay in their resort?

 

[Aliceacc]

I see your reasoning.

But we'll be at the Beach Club.

I guess that, if I were Queen of the Universe (or just of Disney ) it would be an add on that you could add to a Room Only reservation. That way you could take part in both the YES program and the dining plan.

Not a BIG gripe, but something I would choose to change if I could.

 

[persimmondeb]

We have YES tickets too, and we were thrilled to be able to get them, since we'd probably only have been able to do a single day otherwise. We're really looking forward to having DS do the American Story. And trust me, the DDP seems like a good value when you are feeding a teen-aged boy.

 

[julirina]

We have YES tickets too, and we're also staying offsite. I do long for the convenience and value of the dining plan this time around, but in some ways I'm also looking forward to the freedom that I'll have by not being tied to ADR's and being able to plan our days around our kids' schedules and the crowds instead of our meals. I realize that WDW uses the dining plan to fill rooms (especially when it's free) so it's not likely that it will ever be available as an add-on. So we're just adjusting our touring style this time and seeing if it works better for our family. We'll know for next time if we need a bigger budget to accomodate staying onsite and using the DDP ($$$ for a family of 6), or if we prefer the more relaxed, less expensive, eat-at-home, brown-bag, occasional-OOP-TS-meal offsite style.

 

[tash439]

I feel the same way. There have been many times that we have went back and forth about staying off property, but the only thing that that keeps us on site is the dining plan. I know that we save more money get it than we would if we bought every meal and snack oop.

 

[mommy2twingles]

We are doing a split stay next year so I really wish you could buy the plan with a room only reservation. I refuse to split my tickets in two so we are doing the second half of the trip without the dining

 

[Aliceacc]

To be honest, for us it's just a question of convenience. We're still doing one table service meal a day, though I admit that more of them are lunches than in the past without the DDP.

And, given all the money we're saving with YES tickets, it's not a real gripe, just a "when I'm Queen of the Universe" type thinking.

 

[ocdisney08]

I just booked a room only trip with deluxe dining. We couldn't get a package deal due to having a military room discount, but we were able to add dining. I had to buy our tickets separately through the Disney site. Can you normally not do this?

 

[aubriee]

I just booked a room only trip with deluxe dining. We couldn't get a package deal due to having a military room discount, but we were able to add dining. I had to buy our tickets separately through the Disney site. Can you normally not do this?

The only people who can buy the DDP without also having to buy park tickets are AP holders paying either rack rate or using an AP discount, people staying on DVC points, or some of the military deals. So you fall into this group. For the AP and military they are still pkgs, just 'ticketless pkgs'. I'm not sure, but couldn't you have gotten your park tickets cheaper through the military? I think you can buy them through Shades of Green at WDW to get them cheaper too.

Anyone else who wants to add the DDP, must also buy park tickets through Disney. For example I currently have a room only booked under a bounceback deal for May 5th-12th at CSR. Even as an AP holder, if I wanted to add the DDP to it, I would have to buy one day park tickets. If I had booked it under the AP discount or paid rack rate, I could add the DDP without buying park tickets, but it would have went from the room only rules to the pkg rules at that point. Again it would have just been a 'ticketless AP pkg'.

 

[crostorfer]

I just booked a room only trip with deluxe dining. We couldn't get a package deal due to having a military room discount, but we were able to add dining. I had to buy our tickets separately through the Disney site. Can you normally not do this?

You were absolutely silly to do this. Not trying to be rude, but just making a point. The $134 Park Hoppers available to military members, even if you had to buy two for each person, are still cheaper than going with a free dining plan package because you had to give up your military room only discount in order to purchase a package as well. You can't get the military room only with a MYW package. They are completely separate.

 

[smiths02]

I don't see the appeal of the Dining Plan unless it is tied to a package. The savings potential is not that great for a huge investment upfront. The "convenience" for me comes in having everything in a package...if I have to pay for my offsite hotel, my tickets from AAA, and then buy a dining package from Disney...it is just as easy to pay for my meals as I go

 

[ocdisney08]

You were absolutely silly to do this. Not trying to be rude, but just making a point. The $134 Park Hoppers available to military members, even if you had to buy two for each person, are still cheaper than going with a free dining plan package because you had to give up your military room only discount in order to purchase a package as well. You can't get the military room only with a MYW package. They are completely separate.

Well, we are going for 10 days and we wanted to go to the parks for each of the days. 2 of the Military $138 Parkhoppers wouldn't be enough for us so we just decided to buy them though Disney. Also, we got the Military Room Only discount and added Deluxe Dining to that. And I know you can't get a MYW Package with a military room, that's why I bought tickets after.

 

[ocdisney08]

The only people who can buy the DDP without also having to buy park tickets are AP holders paying either rack rate or using an AP discount, people staying on DVC points, or some of the military deals. So you fall into this group. For the AP and military they are still pkgs, just 'ticketless pkgs'. I'm not sure, but couldn't you have gotten your park tickets cheaper through the military? I think you can buy them through Shades of Green at WDW to get them cheaper too.

Anyone else who wants to add the DDP, must also buy park tickets through Disney. For example I currently have a room only booked under a bounceback deal for May 5th-12th at CSR. Even as an AP holder, if I wanted to add the DDP to it, I would have to buy one day park tickets. If I had booked it under the AP discount or paid rack rate, I could add the DDP without buying park tickets, but it would have went from the room only rules to the pkg rules at that point. Again it would have just been a 'ticketless AP pkg'.

Thanks for the clarification! I never knew all these details, but it's nice to know.

We could have gone through the bases back home or SoG, but we really wanted to just get our tickets now so we just bought them online. We needed 10 day park hoppers, and I'm not sure if the military discounted ones here come in all days, if that makes sense.