cheerful chickadee said:
I'm undecided, I do want to try out the dining plan but if I lose my AAA discount then it won't be worth it. The discount took $160 off our room. On our last trip we ate mostly counter service 2 times a day and snacked here and there, we probably ate table service about 4 times total. I'm trying to weigh if the dining plan would work for us or if it would just be more cost effective to pay out of pocket. I do like the convenience of not having to worry about how much things cost and I like that the tips and tax are included, the dining plan is SO appealing in those aspects.
I'm thinking of putting in a call to my aaa office sometime today to see what they say regarding keeping the room discount but switching to a package. Will we actually keep our current ressie but they would just change it into a package or do they cancel our current room only and make a new package? What if there's no availability at the resort to be able make a new ressie? Is it a hassle to change it into a package? Meaning will I get there to find that our original room only res is still on our account and not a package? Sorry for the ?'s this will be our first time on-site 
this is how i figure it out for me on what is best.
i am staying at all stars which has a higher tax so that $37.99 comes to $41 approximately.
i only do about 4 ts in the 10 day stay. cp (21.22) garden grill (21.50)
scifi ((20) and concourse steak house (31) . on the days i do those dinners, i do breakfast at the food court which runs me a tad under $7 each time. i have the refillable mug so no beverage cost involved.
the rest of the time, i do counter service. hot dogs, burgers, chicken, salads which for the meal and drink would be 8.50 tops.
when i am at AK, i do tusker house and flame tree which is usually about 10.50 for lunch
at epcot, tangerine cafe runs me just about $9 for lunch, san angel cantino plate is with beverage close to $9.25
with what i eat and the figures above, i do not eat close to $41 a day.
see what i mean?
i do a grocery stop on the way to the resort and pick up bottled water and some snacks. not much but just the things i like to munch on. spending about $10 in all.
look at the menus and see what appeals to you for the sit down resturants and write down their prices. also check out the counter services menus.
add up the prices and see what figure you come up with.
if you are going to hit $40/41 a day per person every day, then go with the dining plan. if you total the entire stay's cost of food, for all in your group, you will see if this dining program is to your advantage. the dining plan does include tip and tax but i listed the tax in my figures above for what i eat.
you do get a snack a day on the program. mickey bars are 2.50, water and soda close to that amount.
i get a mickey bar a few times in my stay but just get a cup of water from the cs free when i need one.
my snack expenses are not that much. the snacks i do like were not included in the dining plan. i like mrs. potts sundaes too much !! lol
i did the program in october and made the adrs in advance. then i planned my itenary for park days around the table service meals.
this wasn't bad at all, just had to plan in advance to be at certain parks on times/dates.
the problem i had was it was so time consuming. sit down dinners/lunches can cut an hour into your day each time. at 3 places, le cellier, CRT and marrekesh, my total time there was 1 hour 20 minutes. they both were very busy the time i went. had more of a wait to be seated.
and, i overate........some places had larger portions of food, more than what i was used to. appetizers, entree, dessert. then after eating, i moved a tad slower than when i did when i started out in the morning.........lol
for me, time was important. it wasn't my thing to spend that much time for the ts.....wait time to be seated, order, served, etc.
you should do what is best for you and your family. it is a great thing to try many new resturants that you never have been to before and order anything you want and not worry about the bill. that was one of the things that swayed me to it on my last trip. now that i have done it, i realize that i normally don't eat that much and prefer having the flexibility to eat when i am hungry not when i have to be somewhere for an adr.
i will make adrs for ts on my next trip, but they will not be for everyday.
I want to make it a package so we can get the dining plan and add on our park tickets. Can a room only ressie be made into a package? The problem is that I just read somewhere that you can't get the AAA room discount if you add on the dining plan unless you book a package directly through AAA, is this correct? If so we will have to pass on the dining plan, it would be cheaper not to do that if it means we'll lose our AAA discount.
