Help with Dining Plan for DW, DD2, DD5

[xcell]

Planning to go to disney world in Feb - first visit ever.

There's 4 of us, me, DW, DD2, DD5...they are excited (been beggin for disney since last year).

I've decided on the POP for hotel - seems like a good start.

I've decided on Park Hopper, no water parks (since I'm not sure of the water/temp in Feb).

Now I have to figure out the Dining plan. I think mt DDs will want a few character meals, but other than that - any help re should I pick the deluxe plan (3 TS, 2 snacks) or the basic (1 CS, 1 TS).

Thanks!

 

[WAHMto5]

We have always used the Basic plan and had always had WAY then enough food to eat for the day! I actually cannot imagine eating anymore then that There wasn't a day that the entire family was not stuffed by the end of the day.

 

[bangzoom6877]

We had the basic DDP (1 CS, 1 TS, 1 snack) for our family in July. We were myself, DH and DS3 and DS1. Children under age 3 are not on the dining plan but for us there was more than enough food to go around and I never had to buy an extra meal for DS1. We also stayed at POP but we are now DVC members at BWV so we will be staying there from now on. We opted to pay OOP for 2 character breakfasts and the rest of our food was on the plan. We had cereal in our room 3 mornings (we were there 5 nights).

Here were our dining choices:

Day 1 (arrival): Lunch at Pop food court; dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern (no more characters though now)

Day 2: breakfast in the room (cereal); lunch at Tangierine Cafe in Morocco at Epcot; dinner at Biergarten in Germany at Epcot

Day 3: Hollywood & Vine at DHS for character breakfast (paid out of pocket); lunch at Pizza Planet; dinner at 1900 Park Fare at Grand Floridian

Day 4: breakfast in room; lunch at Flame Tree BBQ at Animal Kingdom; dinner at Boma in AKL

Day 5: breakfast in room; lunch at Cosmic Ray's at MK; dinner at Crystal Palace at MK

Day 6 (departure day): breakfast at Chef Mickey's (out of pocket)

So as you can see, we opted for all-you-can-eat meals at dinner, we had a total of 5 character meals (including 2 breakfasts out of pocket), had a CS lunch each day, and opted to pay OOP for the 2 breakfasts since they were the cheaper of the TS meals. Children under 3 are free at all of the all you can eat meals at WDW. We had more than enough food to share with DS1 for lunch too without having to buy him his own meal. One time, at COsmic Ray's, I got the strawberry yogurt as my dessert (did not feel like having cake that day) and gave it to DS1 who loves yogurt. I also opted for the double burger and shared it with him. Plenty of food for both of us, and that's just one example!

We also got to see a variety of characters, Winnie the Pooh and friends; Playhouse Disney characters; Mickey and friends; Cinderella and friends. We loved all of it! We also got to enjoy some more ethnic food at Biergarten and Boma so it was not all your run of the mill stuff for dinner.

As for snack credits, we enjoyed our share of Mickey ice cream bars, Dole whip at MK; fruit; yogurt and fruit parfait at Pop was very good; HUGE cinnamon roll at Main Street Bakery. We had a total of 15 snack credits for our 5-night trip. We had 2 left the last morning so I got some grapes and a chocolate Mickey rice krispie treat for the road which was nice.

For us the deluxe plan would have cost WAY more than we spent on food if you add up the cost of the basic DDP and the cost of the 2 breakfasts OOP. We also would have had twice the snacks to use and would have had MANY leftover. To me, deluxe works better if you go to many 2TS signature places as these take up more credits, and the appetizer is included on the deluxe plan (making it more worth the 2 credits) while it is not included on the basic plan.

I hope all this helps!!! Enjoy! The food at WDW is great!