How did the dinning plan work for u???

[stephaniebatesjones]

Is it me or does the dinning plan seem a lot more confusing than the old one.
I would like to hear from those of you who have gone recently and used the plan. How did you like it, was it a pain to try and figure where you could eat, when you could eat it and what you could eat. I'm wondering if we should get the plan and just take extra food money for the stuff we want and can't get on the plan, or should we just forget the dinning plan all together.

Any help would be appreciated
You guys are the best
Steph

 

[cmm]

We paid for it in 2005 and had the free dining plan last year. Are there specific questions you have? We liked being able to order whatever we wanted (there are a few things excluded) and not having to worry about the price. That said, we probably ate a lot more than we would have without it! Once you get the hang of it, it is easy to use. My husband and I always split a CS for breakfast and a CS for lunch. My daughter used a snack credit for breakfast and CS for lunch. Then we all had our TS credits for dinner. We used snack credits for either a snack or water. We had plenty and didn't have to buy any extra food.

 

[Cookie Princess]

We have used the DDP twice. One time it was free and the other time we paid for it. We are getting it free again in about 8 weeks. We love the dining plan. As long as you have "done your homework" and read up on how it works, it is easy. The only thing that can be a tad frustrating sometimes is when the CMs don't understand it or are inconsistent. This has only happened to us a few times. The vast majority of the time the CMs are great in explaining the DDP.

 

[pooch]

My husband and I always split a CS for breakfast and a CS for lunch. My daughter used a snack credit for breakfast and CS for lunch. Then we all had our TS credits for dinner. We used snack credits for either a snack or water. We had plenty and didn't have to buy any extra food.

Just what we did. Most CS meals are huge and easily split between 2. We used snack credits for frozen lemonades! DELICH!!!!

 

[HaleyB]

The Dining Plan is actually very easy to use, that is one of the things people like about it. Very few places are excluded from it, you will not have to 'search' for places that accept it.

We spend very little on food outside the DDP when we use it, maybe a breakfast or two and that is about all.

 

[POOHLUV69]

We used the DDP for the first time in June and loved it. It was nice not worrying about the price of food and ordering what you wanted. We ate early lunches (around 11:30) and late dinners (around 6:30). We didn't feel as full that way. We used our snack credits either for breakfast or ice cream. One thing I did notice, sometimes the snack carts couldn't take my snack credits b/c their machines werent working. It only happened once, but after that I asked first.

 

[TxRabbit]

We went for the first time in March and used the dining plan and LOVED it! It was a mixed bag of fun, anticipation, and frustration in figuring out the TS restaurants. I thought the plan was very easy to use. It was definitely tons of food. It can be easy to slip into what I call a buffet mindset, where you feel like you need to eat a lot to get your money's worth. If you are interested in having sit down meals during your vacation, I would highly recommend the dining plan, because it would be cost effective. I you would rather just eat at CS restaurants, it may not be cost effective.

 

[kaybird]

May was our 5th time using the DDP, we love it, makes planning easy, spend nearly nothing extra, lots of food, and no hassles! A far as it being hard to plan, we find this the easiest thing to do, and with ADR's, are never disapointed not to get in a restaurant. We think of ADR's as a fast pass to food!

 

[JimMIA]

I think most of us here tend to overplan -- that's why we're on the DIS in the first place. We probably make it more difficult than it really is.

Our family does not find DDP difficult to use at all. We plan our dinners and character meals. You have to do that anyway, if you want to have any hope of getting in -- regardless of whether you're on DDP or paying cash. Without ADRs, you are likely to be "settling" for whatever you can get for your TS meals, so I don't see that DDP makes that any more complicated.

With rare exceptions, our CS planning usually goes something like, "Me hungry -- find food!" About the only excepton would be if we were going to eat a "heavy CS" to save TS credits for a signature dining.

With regard to the selection, virtually all of the restaurants where we'd like to dine are on DDP. There are occasional exclusions, restrictions, etc, but they are very understandable and we've never had a meal where we felt we didn't get outstanding value. (Okay...the fish & chips CS joint at UK, but that was the only one.)

 

[Praying Colonel]

DDP worked great for our family because we always eat 1 CS/1 snack/1 TS anyway, and always plan our trip particulars well in advance. If we were an all-CS family or didn't like to plan ahead, I don't think it would have been a good fit for us.

 

[Tam1067]

We loved it and found it very easy to use. The CMs are helpful. We got to try lots more food than we would normally order, and we loved not having to worry about tips or tax or costs.

We'll be using it again starting this Monday. I can't wait!

 

[The Sweetness]

On the DDP last month, we found it to be easy to use.
We used our CS credits mostly for lunches. Snack credits were sometimes used for breakfast items such as pastries and fruit Sometimes a frozen drink or ice cream in the afternoon, and twice for warm muffins or pretzels in the morning from the stand in Fantasyland near Ariel's Grotto and Dumbo. Twice we were alloed to treat my girlfriend using dining credits at TS. This was at Liberty Tree for Dinner, as well as 'Ohana. This helped us balance things out as we were tired and cancelled dinner on our first day Also, one one other day, we were exhausted and not up for the circus act of getting our 2y old to let us eat So on that night, DH and I took turns going to our resort food court, and having them charge us for a TS, instead of a CS (not the best use of a credit, but I had no idea my 2y old would be so miserable at dinner every night, as she isnt nearly as difficult at home )

We enjoyed the DDp, as it was easy to use, and prepaid, which eased our minds at the TS meals, as well as CS ((things get very expensive, once you leave the realm of a plain hot dog from a cart ))

PS, now that we are home, DDs restaurant behavior is better than it has ever been before

 

[ntsammy5]

I've had it twice -- paid for it once and free last September. Like the OP said it's very easy to use and if you have the right ADRs it's a great value. It's nice to have everything prepaid so there's nothing much to pay for although we have bought OOP meals when we've had DDP. Things like ESPN and UK and we saved credits for Jikos and Aloha. The CS meals are also a great value. All in all I liked it. It's easy to overeat though and it seems the entire trip is about food. In a way I'm glad I'm staying at Shades this December and don't have the option of DDP. At least I won't gain 20 pounds!

OOOPPs. One thing I really wanted to mention is that CMs are very friendly and courteous when we used DDP. Every time we asked for something a little out of the ordinary, they accommodated us -- like using 5 credits when there were only 4 of us on the plan. I know they dont have to do that but they did it for us twice. Also, we had left over CS and TS credits when we checked out. Both Times! I guess we didn't plan very well, but there's a limit to how much you can eat! At least we only had 1 TS credit left each time.

 

[ilovefh]

We just got back and we loved the DDP! I think we probably came out even or maybe a bit ahead. For us we might not have done three TS meals on our 4 day trip, but between to CS meals per day and snacks we would have probably spent that much. I found that with the DDP I knew I had a TS restaurant coming that night so I was less likely to buy snacks in between lunch and dinner, but without the DDP I would have purchased two CS meals per day plus a few snacks.

Anytime we were confused we asked the CM! Things differed at each place (at Concourse Steakhouse we could get smoothies, at Olivias we could not).

 

[Willow16]

We went for the first time in April and had the DDP. It was great for us - we had a snack in the morning at the park, counter service for lunch and then table service for dinner most days. It was a lot of food so after the first day, we didn't get breakfast but our kids are older and were fine with that.

If we had any questions as to what counted for what, we just asked the CM before ordering. That way, there was no confusion when it came to pay.

 

[septbaby]

On that night, DH and I took turns going to our resort food court, and having them charge us for a TS, instead of a CS (not the best use of a credit, but I had no idea my 2y old would be so miserable at dinner every night

What this demonstrates to me is that you were able to be flexible and make changes as needed on the DDP. It was a great use of credits 'cause your family was happy!

 

[RedRuby]

I guess we didn't plan very well, but there's a limit to how much you can eat! At least we only had 1 TS credit left each time.

Yah, it's easy to have TS leftover if you split or skip meals without 'catching up' somewhere. We tried to solve this problem by booking a couple extra ADRs on our check out day. I say we 'tried to', because in actuality, we ended up with the stomach flu on our last day. (Dh skipped dinner that night, I ought to have -- I wasn't sick 'til afterwards :-( ). I treated a family seated next to us, to one TS credit (at their son's birthday dinner at Crystal Palace).

We also ended up with extra CS credits, but those were mostly from family members who had left at 6am (too early to use any more credits). So, I treated a random family to two free meals at Casey's in the MK. They were particularly grateful since they were visiting from off-site and didn't know about the meal plan, let alone think someone would use it on them. A little self-made Disney magic

On our upcoming trip, we're staying at the CR so I've made an ADR for lunch at Kona's Cafe in the Poly. This way, we can easily meet up 'on the monorail' regardless of whether some of us are in the parks (kids/me) or lounging at the hotel in the am (grandmothers, DH)

 

[Tink3Belle]

We had the free dining plan last year but were going to pay for it until the special offer came out. We found it very easy and conveint to use not to mention saving us so much money. Well worth it whether you are paying for it or an added bonus if it is free. So easy to use.

 

[Waltsfriend]

I think the dining plan is another great innovation of Disney's. It allows people to experience dining they might otherwise not spend on having. I think the free dining is done largely in lieu of lowering room rates in the slower times. We will be using it again in a couple weeks as we enjoyed the dining plan last trip immensely!

WF

 

[nisi]

I liked the dining plan a lot. It was very easy to use. I'll admit, on the first night I was a little confused about what you can get with a CS credit, but the very patient CM at the food court eventually got through to me

Even though we had 2 CS credits left over, I still think it was a good value. Not having to worry about where you eat (cost wise) or what you order was worth something, too. It also allowed us to do things we otherwise wouldn't have. For example, I'm sure we would have done a character meal if not on the DDP, but we definitely wouldn't have done three. Especially not when the kids weren't the tiniest bit interested in their food with Mickey, et al wandering around the dining room

They were pretty flexible, too. For example, we ordered pizza in the room one night, which takes 2 adult TS credits, so dd6 ended up with an extra TS credit. At a TS meal later in the week they let us use it for dd2 (in addition to the one we were using for dd6), which worked out great because that was the one and only time we needed to order dd2 her own meal

The only thing I didn't love was the portion size on the kids meals. DD6 almost always finished her meal and asked for more. If we go back again, I would look into upgrading her to an adult plan. Then again, she's always been a very big eater, so maybe that wouldn't be an issue for most. In the end, it wasn't too big of a problem, since the adult portions are ample at most places. We just made sure dh or I ordered something that she'd eat, and shared our extra.