Does having a dining plan influence your choice of restaurants?

[Linleedo]

or would you choose the same oop?

We have had the dining plan many times. This year we are paying out of pocket. We choose where we want to eat based on the food, ambiance, service, and location.We review the menus prior to making the ADRs. It is actually cheaper this year to pay out of pocket. We are still eating at six Signature restaurants. So, yes we do pay out of pocket.( when it is more cost effective).

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

That's most unusual-I like it!

Hah! Now that I look at it, I guess it is! I'm a veteran of many, many day trips, but longer onsite stays are relatively new to us, so we're still feeling out what works for our vacation "style".

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I don't want to speak for @Hopefully , but I suspect that someone who simply chooses where they want to eat and orders what appeals to them probably doesn't understand making the Golden Spoon such a compelling goal. At least I don't, because there are restaurants at WDW that I wouldn't choose even if they were free, including a number of the buffets. There are many better restaurants in most major cities, and few people other than food critics set a goal of eating at them all, so why make this challenge at Disney?

But I do understand getting the dining plan specifically for the goal of eating at the more expensive menus, and discovering that it saves money.

"Better" is a purely subjective term.

And why not make this challenge? Some people want to climb Mount Everest. I want to eat at all of the restaurants at WDW (and my goal is significantly safer, cheaper, and more comfortable).

Why take on the challenge of eating at all of these Disney restaurants? To adapt a line attributed to George Mallory, I say: Because they are there.

 

[Patches Lee]

Just as a first timer I didn't know about the dining plan until I had started to look at restaurants we wanted to eat at. With DD8 that = 5 character meals. We are also big steak and potato eaters, so after picking restaurants we decided on the regular DP. If I knew we would be going more often I don't think there would be many character meals. So I guess we will see how it goes in 9 months.

 

[Lisa F]

You made me smile!!
I simply don't understand the approach to having to " maximize" the plan by eating at the most expensive restaurants and needing to choose the most expensive option. We simply choose where we want to eat and order what appeals to us, whether we are on the plan or not.

I'm one of those people who can pick the most expensive thing at a hundred yards (and usually does lol). I don't go to Disney that often and I still have a few restaurants that I would have liked to do but I just can't fit in. Also my kiddo is at prime character age right now. The AYCTE places definitely take the "would I order this oop" out of the equation, it's the same price for everyone.

But for example, I did choose Narcoossees over Citricos this time - partially because I feel like Narcoossees is a better overall choice for my kiddo (atmosphere and menu) but also partially because I am doing the DxDDP on this trip and may not do it again so it's a good time to choose the lobster for $72 at Narcoossees vs. the $38 scallop risotto at Citricos. I want to go to both places but will save citricos for next time when I may not be on the DDP (I don't have room for both this time). I am also doing H&V Holiday Dine with F! package and if I were paying OOP I would be a lot more likely to choose Mama Melrose's F! package. I'm kind of glad to have the opportunity to try that experience out with the characters in christmas clothing but I would definitely be stressing a bit about paying nearly $100 for one adult and one child for a buffet when Mama Melrose (an old favorite of mine) is $63. I was majorly on the fence about it because of the bad reviews of H&V (which have all been pretty good lately and I'm glad I booked because now you can't get an ADR there to save your life) but figured now is a good time to pick the better value on DDP and if I do it again it will probably be with MM (F! is not my favorite but kiddo has never seen it and requested it this time, if he wants to see it again I'd probably do MM unless H&V blows me out of the water).

If I were going a few times a year and it was less of an "event" and I knew if I had to forgo something this trip I'd be there 3 months later (instead of 2-4 years, our next trip will likely be a cruise) I might choose differently. But when you have SO much you want to do it helps with the decision making a bit too. I won't order the most expensive thing JUST to maximize the plan... it just feels like I have the opportunity to order the most expensive thing because it would maximize the plan and it's still just credits regardless of what I order. I would choose to be a little more frugal if I were paying cash (no way being from new england I'd spend $72 on lobster but it's not exactly what i'd call cheap here either and it's not something I typically splurge for myself even at home). Both would be good vacations, it's just nice to treat myself this time to the high end stuff. If that's not what I wanted to order I wouldn't order it just because but it unfortunately IS usually what I want to order (though I will probably be doing the $39 pork two ways at CA Grill.. balanced by the expensive sushi app though ).

 

[Lisa F]

Just as a first timer I didn't know about the dining plan until I had started to look at restaurants we wanted to eat at. With DD8 that = 5 character meals. We are also big steak and potato eaters, so after picking restaurants we decided on the regular DP. If I knew we would be going more often I don't think there would be many character meals. So I guess we will see how it goes in 9 months.

agree that 8 (mine is 8 too) is kind of prime character time. we are doing 5 character meals too! When I took him when he was 6 I had 2 booked and ended up adding a third on the fly. His two major dining requests were "more character meals" and "CA Grill again". done and done!

Also the DDP is a HUGE money saver for kids. It is more of a wash for the adults but when you are paying $20is for a kid and it is even or more for a kid character meal and you are getting the snack and QS for "free" (AND you can order adult QS with the kid credit) the savings stack up pretty quickly over a week trip. I am paying $577 for DxDDP for the two of us over 4 nights for about $820 worth of food. That's a huge savings!

 

[GaryDis]

"Better" is a purely subjective term.

And why not make this challenge? Some people want to climb Mount Everest. I want to eat at all of the restaurants at WDW (and my goal is significantly safer, cheaper, and more comfortable).

Why take on the challenge of eating at all of these Disney restaurants? To adapt a line attributed to George Mallory, I say: Because they are there.

But why not make the challenge of eating at all the restaurants in the nearest big city? Or even just all the fine dining restaurants in a city like NYC or SF?

 

[richmo]

The presence of the dining plan, which we would only use when offered "free", doesn't really have anything to do with where we eat. We'd be likely to pick the same restaurants, assuming they'd be available. Where DDP makes a big difference with us is the number of ADR's we have. Since we generally rent a car, even when staying onsite, without DDP we'd likely have several meals offsite, especially on a longer trip.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

But why not make the challenge of eating at all the restaurants in the nearest big city? Or even just all the fine dining restaurants in a city like NYC or SF?

That's a fair question.

For our family of four with two young girls, we can't really travel to NYC or SF. We stick to vacation spots within an 8 hour drive of North Georgia, and Disney works well for all ages.

We live in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, but we don't like the city. It is dirty and full of traffic and we have to pay to park (can't stand that). I'd rather be at Disney. It is clean and very easy to get around compared to Atlanta.

I like themed restaurants. Atmosphere is more important to me than the food. I can always find something I like to eat anywhere, but most restaurants are so generically themed. Bleh.

We eat very healthy in our everyday lives. We generally stick to basic fruits, vegetables, and proteins. On vacation (at Disney), we eat what we want- so we can enjoy the restaurants more.

Disney has a good, set number of restaurants for this goal. It will take many trips to complete, but it is a reachable goal.

So there you have it.

 

[Hikergirl]

No, not for us. I originally had the ddp on my reservation but I dropped it. I kept my ADRs because those are the restaurants we want to eat at, picking them had nothing to do with the ddp.