Here's what we had with free dining!

[tessieg]

I made a long long post yesterday that disappeared so here is a quicker version:

We went for 4 days to to WDW, staying at POP. Me, dh, adn dd's, almost 2 and 6.

Wed:Chef Mickey's Great fun, enjoyed seeing the contemporray. Wonderful character interaction--our best of the stay.
Cost: $82.00 DP: 3 ts

Thursday:
B-Everything POP 1 adult breakfast platter with chocolate croissant and ornage juice, 1 child's mickey waffles with cinnamon bun and chocolate milk Cost: $20.00 DP: 2 cs
1 pint white milk Cost: $2.12 DP: 1 snack

L-MGM snack cart 1 Nestle bar, 1 Mickey ears, 1 popsicle, 1 tollhouse icecream sandwich
Cost :$10.50 DP: 4 snacks

D-Pizza Planet 2 Woody's meal Deals(indv. pizza and tossed salad), 2 large drinks(the only place that gave large drinks our whole stay!) and chocolate chip cookie and sugar cookie

The pizza was just okay, not terrible. Salad was fresh and the cookies were moist and delicious. Went at 4 pm and this was great--almost empty. Had the upstairs to ourselves. Kids love this place.

Cost: $25.00 DP: 2 cs

Snack before Fantasmic --pocorn and drink
Cost:$5.00 DP: 2 snacks

Friday:
B-in room, from home

L-Columbia Harbour House
2 chicken and fish platters, 2 sodas, 2 apple pies
Was plenty of food for all 4 of us to share. Our first time there. Really liked it. Sat upstairs, almost all alone again. Perfect to let baby dd run around. loved the pie.
Cost: $28.00 DP: 2 cs

snack--1 fountain soda cost:$2.50 DP: 1 snack

D-Crystal Palace Beautiful place. Took 15 minutes to even get drink orders, and then 45 more before the first character ever came. Hard with a 2 yo wanting to chase after Pooh!!!! Didn't like the food as much as Chef Mickey's. Waiter brought apple juice for baby, no charge.
Cost: $76.00 DP: 3 ts

Sat--
B-1900 Park Faire
Met Mary Poppins in hallway--she was wonderful. Saw others only once. Food was good. Had juice, milk, coffee--all incuded. Loved the Grand Floridian.
Cost: $56.00 DP: 3 ts

Snack at POP: 1 Mickey ears for dd6 and 20 oz soda
Cost:$5.00 DP:2 snacks

D-Concourse Steakhouse -
Great service. Asked for booth to enclose runaway dd2. No extra wait. Food phenomenal. Best steak in a long long time.
1. sesame wings, sirloin, creme brulee.
2.shrimp cocktail, filet, cappucino cheesecake.
3. shrimp, kid's petite filet, vanilla milkshake.
They had no more painter's pallets, huge disappointment for dd6(my fault--I had told her all about it!) I just never thought they'd run out--especially at 5 pm!!!! Oh well--she took it graciously!
Cost: $137.00 DP:3 ts

Sun-
B-POP
Cereal with milk, chocolate croissant, juice.
Cost:$8.50 DP: 1 cs
Soda
Cost:$2.12 DP: 1 snack
Danish oop

L-Flametree BBQ
rib platter, chicken platter, kid's hotdog meal, 3 sodas, 2 chocolate cakes and 1 frozen lemondade
Cost:$35.00 DP:3 cs

We were then about to leave to drive home and were just too hot and sweaty to use our last 2 cs. Decide to leave AK a bit early--kids were worn out after 5 days starting to whine! So went to check out AK Lodge--what a great place! Went to Mara and asked what cold things we could get and they allowed us many snacks--we were too full to eat another real meal! They were much more flexible that POP. Here's what we got:
1 cs =1 watermelon cup and 1 Mickey ears as entree, grapes as side, cheesecake as dessert and bottle of soda
1 cs= 1 fruit cup and Minnie strawberry bar as entree, grapes as side, pecan pie as dessert, and bottle of soda
Cost:$28.00 DP:2 cs

We definitely would consider paying for the DP in the future. We ate at places we have never even seen and it was great fun.

Cost of our free food totaled something like $550 and our entire trip cost us $684!!!!! That was for 4 nights at POP and 3 3- day tickets. What a huge bargain!

 

[princess mom of 4]

Great review! I am so looking forward to using the DP on our trip - We had initially paid for the DP, then called back and had our reservation modified to free dining when the promotion was extended...I have scheduled ADR's at several places you mentioned, so info very helpful! I especially like the part about enclosing the runaway DD!!

 

[pennyplanner]

Thanks for posting!

I am loving that free diners are experiencing some of the delights of table service meals that they otheriwise would NOT have tried. The recurring theme seems to be, "I'd definitely buy the plan in the future!"

What a smart idea to head to AKL to check out the resort and finish up at Mara. How nice of the staff to accomodate you.

Looking forward to some of your same choices! What was the highlight of your breakfast at 1900 Park Faire?

--penny

"...a booth to corral your 2 year old..." Love that one!

 

[scarlett873]

I am totally sold on the dining plan and plan to purchase it in the future!! We took advantage of the free plan for a quick getaway over labor day weekend and we had a blast trying the different restaurants! I figured out that even before taxes and tips were figured in, we spent $400 on the food consumed using the plan. Our whole trip didn't cost us much more than $500!

I thoroughly enjoyed trying new-to-me restaurants that have been ignored due to budget restrictions on past trips. We were able to enjoy Teppanyaki, dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table, and Boma's. We did dine at Wolfgang's on the West Side of DD, but that wasn't a very good experience...good food, bad service. Anyway, it was wonderful to be able to try some new places and I look forward to doing it again in the future! Having the dining plan is also the easiest way I have to convince my DH to go again...his vacations are all about the food. So with the plan, we can eat at the places he loves!

 

[tessieg]

Hi again,
I think we all liked meeting Mary Poppins best at 1900 Park Faire. She was in great character mode. The food was good. Liked that they even had Mickey waffles on the adult bar!!! The desserts were great too, turnovers and pecan sticky buns--yum!

We were apprehensive about the sit down dinners on the plan as we have started avoiding those in our town for a while with our dd who likes to walk around while she eats!!!! But the buffets worked well with the characters wandering around to distract her and the booth was fine at Contemporary. They had coloring sheets for her to scribble on!

Tessie