Does having a dining plan influence your choice of restaurants?

[married2mm]

or would you choose the same oop?

 

[HarleenQ]

For me, no. We eat the same with or without the DDP.

Or we did. We are DVC now and I won't pay for it full price.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Yep, I chose to patronize restaurants that don't take the DDP or are at least requiring two credits.

 

[Mickeycrocs]

Well I guess in my opinion it would be different because we got the free dining promo. But had we not, we would not be eating as many character meals.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

I certainly think we eat MORE than we normally do with the DDP. We typically don't do dessert with every meal while we're at home. But then again, we are on vacation, so I'm not sure how much the DDP and its desserts play a part in that.

Do we let the DDP dictate our choice of restaurants? Yes and No. We list out all the restaurants we wanna try. For example, we tried Beaches and Cream last year and loved it. That's on our list. We wanna try Via Napoli. That's on our list. We also love good Italian food on Christmas Eve, so we'll be heading to Il Mulino. We'll pay OOP for all three - Beaches isn't a good value on the DDP, we'll just do pizza at Via Napoli and Il Mulino isn't on the DDP.

As far as our DDP restaurants go, we'll always do one signature, one breakfast buffet, then fill in the rest. This year we do Narcoossee's, Crystal Palace, then we filled in the rest. We never choose restaurants just because they're on the DDP, but it does sway our opinion a bit. After all, we're not gonna pay for the DDP then pay for everything out of pocket. If you manage the DDP, there's a lot of options. You may not break even, but you'll come close. We're big eaters, so we usually make our money back at buffets.

This year we're staying at Beach Club, so we'll use snack credits for breakfast at Boardwalk Bakery, then save our QS for lunch and dinners when we don't have ADRs.

 

[goofy4prez]

For me, when I was using the DDP it did make a difference in where I dined. I didn't want to use a credit for something that didn't have the same bang for the buck when using the DDP; it kind of felt like leaving money on the table. I no longer use the DDP because when I finally looked at it more closely it was not saving me any money at all and I also prefer to dine where I want to dine not because I feel I have to get value on the plan. Now I also mostly dine at Signature restaurants and those not on the DDP.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Not for us.

When deciding whether or not to get the plan, I list where we want to eat. Then I calculate how much it would be out of pocket, with the plan and with Tables in Wonderland.

After all of that, I decide which is the cheapest.

 

[2009CAN]

We do many more character meals with the dining plan than without. With the plan, we usually do at least one character meal a day

 

[loves to dive]

I don't get it any more but back when we did we just picked where we wanted to eat and what we wanted to eat and didn't even think about if it was a good value with the plan or not. We still do the same thing, we don't look at prices on the menu, we just pick what we want, no we aren't rich but I refuse to worry about how much a meal costs when eating out, even at home.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We've only used the DDP once so far (most recent trip). Before we purchased the plan, we figured out what restaurants we wanted to dine at, I looked at menus and figured out what we'd most likely order, and I did the math. The DDP saved us money vs paying OOP for the meals we'd have bought anyway, AND we got 2 extra CS meals per person PLUS extra snacks. We don't even usually order dessert and the DDP still made sense. (Plus the kids were excited about the desserts.)

I also added up all the receipts we still had after our trip (we had maybe 3/4 of them), and we'd saved over $300 vs paying OOP.

Notes:
- We did several character meals plus a couple AYCTE and BOMA;
- DD is under 10, and at the time, DS was under 3 (we weren't paying adult prices for the kids to eat);
- I used a couple of those calculators that tell you whether the DDP is worth it and NONE were even close to accurate;
- We usually don't order appetizers no matter where we are;
- DH and I only drink alcohol once in a blue moon

Even though I don't think we'd do so many character meals in the future, we'll still go to some for our kids' sakes. (I greatly prefer regular M&Gs.)

DH also really liked the all-inclusive feeling the DDP gave us (he always thinks of gift cards as real, unspent money, so they wouldn't have worked the same way for him). He wants to use the DDP on future trips, but I'll still calculate whether it's worth it for our family (based on what and where we'd eat either way).

 

[Hopefully]

Absolutely not. We eat where we want, with or without the plan

 

[smiths02]

We actually prefer table service restaurants but not to the extent that Deluxe Dining Plan would be beneficial (we like a lot of one credit places and don't really want three meals a day). Anyhow, the two times that we went with DDP, we definitely ate more quick service than would be ideal. We didn't get to do things like experience lunch at San Angel Inn or LTT because I knew they were not a good value on DDP for lunch, and really, more because we needed to use those quick service credits.

 

[cattrix]

We have had the dining plan almost every time we go to Disney. We normally opt for the Deluxe Dining Plan as we don't have children or a schedule so we like to eat at some of the nicer TS restaurants. Our normal schedule is a TS for lunch then a Signature restaurant for dinner so that we use all 3 credits every day. If we didn't have the DDDP we would NEVER eat at some of the places we eat at. The plan allows us to indulge in foods that we don't normally get to eat in Indiana.

 

[nco91590]

Our next trip is OOP and I'm not really looking at buffets or character meals. We're planning to just be a bit more spontaneous and see where the day takes us rather than plan our days around where our dinner reservation is. I think for shorter trips this strategy will work better for us as it will allow us to spend more time in the parks. Longer trips DDP works well for us because dining is a bigger part of our stay.

We waste a LOT of desserts on the DDP. As a table, we might split one or two desserts but certainly not everyone at the table would get one. And we definitely wouldn't order desserts with lunch. And instead of entrees, hubs and I might just share some apps and a salad or something.

 

[crabbygal902]

Absolutely yes! A DDP trip for us looks entirely different than an OOP trip.

When on the plan, I choose the most expensive places, both TS and CS. That means we dine at lots of character buffets and other AYCTE, BOG lunch, WPE lunch, etc. My ADRs are made 180 days out and everything is completely planned.

When not on the DDP, we tend to choose signature dining locations where we can share some apps, eat at the bar or lounge, and not even bother with ADRs. Our upcoming trip is during Food & Wine, so we will taste around the World Showcase for most of our "meals".

Both options are fun in their own way and I feel I'm getting good value for my money.

 

[married2mm]

Really enjoying the responses so far.

Thanks guys.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

When we go to Disney we want to go to Disney to relax and get the full experience...before we decide on the dining plan I sit down and plan where I want to eat. We are 3 meals a day type of people and we like table service restaurants as well. My boys don't do well with quick service locations. Anyways I plan out which restaurants we want to go and then what we want to eat at the restaurants and then I decide whether or not the Dining Plan is worth it. If we come out ahead on the dining plan (which honestly we usually do bc we are pricey eaters and we like variety, lol) then we get the dining plan, but if we don't come out ahead then we don't get the dining plan and then we just put the dining money aside for when we go so we have that money. So I can say that no the dining plan does not influence our dining plan choices, lol

 

[Rebecca Pocahontas]

Yes definitely. At Epcot without the FD we would go to England and eat the Fish & Chips (one of the cheapest, most filling meals). But this time we get to actually choose anything we want because of price and also because we get a dessert. We can eat the sushi or a salad knowing that we have a huge cupcake waiting for us.

 

[Sinderelly]

Our upcoming trip will be the first time with a DDP. We are renting points and have decided to go with OOP. I'll admit this bothers me just a little. With the DDP I always know food is paid in advance. We have done some calculations and it seems we will be cheaper OOP.

There are times we would like water with meals but with the DDP feel we must order a beverage. I think it will be fun splitting entrees, sharing an app, splitting ONE dessert instead of feeling like we both have to order one since it's included on the DDP.

I am looking forward to eating at the bars sometimes and maybe splitting a snack that's not on the DDP.

 

[lauraleh]

I do choose differently but I don't feel like it's in a bad way. There are lots of restaurants I want to try both expensive and less expensive. When we've had the dining plan (free both times), I chosen to eat at 'Ohana and Akershus and multiple other character meals that can be a little pricey for a family. On a non DDP trip, I choose places like LTT, Sci-Fi, Sanaa, etc... Places that still have wonderful themes but don't necessarily have super expensive stuff and we would order differently. Like we might share an app and entree depending on how hungry we are.

I'm kind of similar with QS. I will go to WPE instead of EOS while on the DDP. I enjoy both though.