Does anyone NOT get the Dining Plan?

[DiznyDi]

We used the plan in 2006 and 2007 and were pleased with the value. We have not and will not use the plan again with the changes made for 2008. We're now using the DDE card and prefer it.

 

[pinkteacup]

We have never used the DDP. We are spontaneous on vacation and there is no way I could deal with all that structure. We are heading down in Oct and I still haven't made any ADR's yet because I just can't commit to being at a certain place at a certain time.

 

[loopner67]

We're not DDP people here either. We don't eat 3 meals a day - one of them is just grabbing something. We also have the DDE card, so that saves us a bunch of money. My DH gets the hives thinking about the DDP. LOL

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

We did it 2 years ago during free dining and totally overate. So we decided not to use it anymore. We actually left having snack credits unused. The only good side to it was that we went to 3 restaurants that we normally wouldn't have tried if we'd had to actually pay for the meals (San Angel Inn - never to be done again it was horrible; GF for Cinderella Buffet - it was great & Whispering Canyon Cafe - perfect). Now when we go we do 2 ADR's for the meals that we most want to do, everything else we play it by ear - maybe sharing - just depends on whether we're in a park for a meal or at the resort.

 

[mmmears]

So glad to find this thread. I thought my family was the only one that didn't use the dining plan! (Way too much food and not enough choice for us -- we hardly ever order dessert). I'm actually becoming quite annoyed with the dining plan now, since I keep reading that the menu changes are all due to the fact that Disney is only thinking about the dining plan.

 

[Lovin' Lorne]

Ditto that. And we think the food is way below par, anyway, so even if we were big eaters, we'd pass.

The way everyone goes on and on about the food, you'd think it had to rival the finest gourmet restaurants in the world.

It doesn't.


There's no way my husband or I could eat that food much in one day, even if we left half of it on our plates. Add to that the hassle of running around trying to make three ADR's a day? No thanks.

 

[jujashmom]

We did the "free" DDP in 2006. We had a lot of fun with it. We had more than enough food.

But, without the tip and appetizer...it's not as good of a deal.

I added up the numbers of our upcoming trip with DDP and without. We usually only eat a few TS meals a trip. So, with our 40% off at Contemporary...I think we'll come out ahead.

 

[~Fisharefriends~]

voted never have never will, we always travel for at least 2 weeks and have a car so like to get offsite and eat. we do have a few adrs for wdw but never enough to make the dining plan financially worthwhile for us.

 

[terbethk]

we haven't yet, but we might someday.
when our trips are longer and we have kids we probably will. We're fairly simple, and stick to CS meals. Or just snacks. No TS for us.

 

[The Sweetness]

On my next trip in 2010, I wo'nt be onsite, or using the plan.
1) I will be staying at a hotel that offers a free breakfast, and busses to USF, SW, and WDW (the cost is a hair less than a night at ASMO, where I stayed last summer. It was lovely, but offsite is my better option for next time
2) I am still nervous abut my DD3s restaurant manners. Its a year later, and she still doesnt really *like* going out to eat. Bringing a portable DVD helps. Anyway, We'll be better off doing more CS than TS for sure.

If staying onsite, I may do the plan again, if I wanted to feel obligated to a daily sit-down, otherwise I dont feel it'd be worth the $$

 

[suzimar57]

yes, we use the dining plan (whether free dining or not)

we like the planning ahead for ADRs, having our meals/times set - eating is a big part of our disney vacation!

 

[disneychick0412]

yes, we use the dining plan (whether free dining or not)

we like the planning ahead for ADRs, having our meals/times set - eating is a big part of our disney vacation!

This pretty much describes us. I like paying my package off and not having to pay for my food out of my spending money once I am at WDW.
While it is true that I would probably only do 2 or 3 TS if I did not have the DDP, I walking around wishing that we were doing more of them, but not wanting to because I don't want to spend the money. I don't feel like the
DDP is too "structured". I feel like it gives me the freedom to not have to
skip dessert just to save a few bucks. I enjoy booking my ADR's ahead of time and knowing that I have a built in "break" each day with a TS.

We are the type of eaters that work well with the dining plan, as we want those 2 meals and a snack per day.

 

[Shmily1]

We have done the DDP and will do it again, but not every time we go. We've been well over 50 times since I had DS18, and only had DDP a handful of those times. We use the DDE too, so it depends on what we are doing that trip what we use for dining.

 

[miprender]

I voted for Always will... but this too doesn't quite describe us.

Every time just DH and I would go we always ate off site, even though we were staying at one of the resorts. We just thought it was always too expensive... well fast forward to 2006 with two kids and doing the character dinners, so we opted for the DDP. I agree we would never have eaten that much. We saved all the receipts and though we broke even, we probably would have saved money paying out of pocket since we would never order an appetizer and dessert. But it was nice not to worry about a thing, even the tip. (Too bad they have changed that now)

Well now we are planning to go in April and though DH said at first we were not going to do it, I estimated that with the seasonal increase on dining during Easter vacation it might save us some money in the long run. Plus my DSs will only be 2 and 1 so they will share with us and DD5 will get her own food.

 

[FreeTime]

We used it for the first time in August and only because I had $200 VISA rewards points. So we thought about $375 for 6 days wasn't too bad. However, we will not use it again. It was more food than we would normally eat and we ended up spending more than we would on food. Usually we eat breakfast or lunch in the room, have a counter service meal and then eat on the run. Also, we always have a character breakfast as our one expensive meal of the week. We got the plan to try new things and didn't like half of the places wew ate at!

 

[CarolinaBlue]

We had it during free dining in 2006 and will have it again during free dining next month.

 

[LUVMICKEY]

We have used the DDP for the last several trips to the World. We will probably continue to use it as long as they offer it. Even though we liked the original DDP, and thought it was a better value for us with the appitizer and tip included, we still feel we are saving money by using the DDP.

 

[Katiebell]

As to the DDE for me it doesn't make any sense. I'm not a florida resident and there would be the extra cost of an annual pass (around $50 more than a 10 day no expiry ticket - which means that I can take my two trips any time - even if they end up being 13 months apart instead of 11 months) , and then buying the DDE for another $60 - I would end up having to spend at least $550 in select restaurants (i.e. generally just table service restaurants - very few counter service places) just to recoup the cost of the card before I would save a penny.

I'm not sure if people who use the DDE always take that into consideration. If you aren't already an AP holder, then you would have to add in the cost of the difference between your standard ticket and the upgrade to the AP. But, even if you are an AP holder or Florida resident, the DDE card costs $60 -- so the "discount" you get on the first $300 of food that you buy is a wash...it only covers the cost of the card. So if you take one trip to WDW this year, use the DDE card and spend $600 on food, you will only save $60 total -- not the $120 it LOOKS like you are saving, because you have to subtract that first $60. Of course, the more trips you take in the 12 month period and the more money you spend on food, the more savings you will realize.

 

[islandmum]

we did it last year for our first trip to WDW as we wanted as much planned and taken care of as possible - money wasnt an issue, so it was about working out if we were saving a dollar or 2.

We wont be doing it again though - it was a lot of food for us - we dont ever really have appetizers and deserts for us (the kids love their deserts though!) and we found it restrictive in using only DDP restaurants and if we did choose to eat or snack off the DDP we felt guilty about credits we'd have left over.

And the new DDP with the 2 TS's per day really isnt what we would want at all, heck we can eat counter food anywhere anytime, we like to eat at a themed restaurant as we're in Disney.

I'm glad we did it, it was one less headache to have on our first ever trip - but now we're more knowledgable and know what we get on the DDP we know its not for us.

 

[Tricia1972]

I'm not sure if people who use the DDE always take that into consideration. If you aren't already an AP holder, then you would have to add in the cost of the difference between your standard ticket and the upgrade to the AP. But, even if you are an AP holder or Florida resident, the DDE card costs $60 -- so the "discount" you get on the first $300 of food that you buy is a wash...it only covers the cost of the card. So if you take one trip to WDW this year, use the DDE card and spend $600 on food, you will only save $60 total -- not the $120 it LOOKS like you are saving, because you have to subtract that first $60. Of course, the more trips you take in the 12 month period and the more money you spend on food, the more savings you will realize.

Every family is different, so each family can experience savings at a different rate with the DDE card. It really depends on how you travel and what you use the card for. Food discounts only, or adult beverage discounts, or Fine Dining, or valet parking.

For us:
April 2007 (4 days 2Adults), Sept/October 2007 (14 days 5Adults/1Child/1Infant), Late October 2007 (4 days 1Adult) and March 2008 (8 days 5Adults/1Child/1Infant)

*AP's were the best ticket option for us. No extra AP Cost.
*We dined at Victoria & Albert's - $250 meal-practically took care of our card cost here. No DDP at V&A's.
*Discounts on Alcoholic Beverages
*Free Valet Parking ($10 savings each time you use it)
*Multiple trips to maximize our AP's and our DDE card

You also mention how it can look like you're saving more than your actually saving. I totally agree! Though the same can be said of any of the dining discounts/plans that Disney offers. The DDP loses a lot of real value if you are not eating the way you want to eat. Yeah it can look like you're saving a lot of money, but if you don't eat the food that you're ordering then are you really saving?