How much do you think the dining plan saves?

[jenseib]

We are pretty sure that we are going to do the dining plan. It is about 300 dollars more than a base price. For those who have done dining plans. How much more did you spend on food. My Dh says if it is included then he won't need to bring much money for other stuff. I said we would still need drinks and stuff through the day. I guess I jsut want to know how good a deal it is. Which resturants would you go to, etc.
We will be bring our 2 year old with us. So we wil have to go to kid friendly resturants, but I want to eat good if it is going to be included.

Also what is included in the dounter meal? Does a drink come along as well? They also said the baby wil leat for free, so will she get everything we get too.?

 

[nittanyliongirl02]

jenseib-

This is my first time on DDP, but trust me, it's worth it. My DF and I were just there in December and didn't have it, and probably spent much more then it would've cost us to have the dining plan, and we ate at MANY great places.
Go here, this is the pamphlet that explains the whole thing!
http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw/images2003/languagespecific/eng/nontheme/tickets/07Dining.pdf

And as for drinks during the day, bring a plastic water bottle and just keep re-filling it at the many drinking fountains. It saved us at least $4/bottle each time!

Hope this helps!

 

[jenseib]

Thanks for answering!
The link you posted isn't working though. I am going to give Disney a call and see what they have in ways of discounts too.(if any) If I can get it even 100 doallrs cheaper that would be great!! Did you get the insurance as well? Do you suggest getting it?

 

[Momto8]

The two year old will only eat free at buffets. At other restaurants you will have to buy her a child's meal or she will have to eat off of your plate. This was what my kids had to do for our grandkids under 3 last year. We did get the free dining, but even if we had to pay, I think the plan is well worth it. At least for us it is because we usually eat at one table service restaurant per day. If you do a lot of counter service, then it's not worth it.

With counter service on the DDP, your get an entree, like sandwich and fries with a drink as well as a dessert.

As for refilling your plastic bottles, Disney's water doesn't taste very good in the parks, and I try not to drink out of their water fountains because it has a funny taste and it's usually not cold (I like cold water). At least I didn't care for it, but you might be okay with it as the previous poster was. JMHO. I know I've read of others on the DIS complaining about the water. Also I don't remember the water costing $4/bottle. I know I wouldn't have paid that much. I remember paying $2/bottle for the large and less for the smaller bottle when we went last Sept.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[jenseib]

Thanks. I thought it seemed weird they would let her eat anything free too. But my travel agent said they would, but I just had a feeling she didn't really know for sure. Most likely she will just eat off of us anyways. Especially if you get al lthe food you said. That will be nice. My thing is though, I'm a breakfast eater too. So is there breakfast anywhere, at least something small to get going. (I know it won't be included in the plan,) but I assume the food courts will have something.

Another thought, we are planning on staying at the POP, and at one time, I think I read that the food court wil lbe clsoed soon, for renovations, or something like that. Is that true, or am I imagining things!

 

[Momto8]

You really do get a lot of food. Sometimes DH & I would split our meals, even counter service, because you got so much that we couldn't eat it all, so you should be fine with DD eating off your plate. My DD would get a child's meal and split between her 2 kids, 3 and 1 and they had plenty.

Breakfast is included in the plan. You can either eat at counter service or table service. You get 1 voucher for table service, 1 for counter service and 1 snack per day per person per day (not including children under 3). How you choose to use them is up to you. We always ate a quick breakfast in the room like a bowl of cereal, juice and coffee. However, we did eat breakfast at Chef Mickey's one day. On that day, we ate a late breakfast & skipped lunch and just had a snack to hold us until dinner as we ate at a table service that night also. You can get breakfast at POP & they also have bakeries in the park where you can get something quick.

Have you checked out Allearsnet for the dining menus. It lists all the park and resorts, fast food, snack carts as well as table service.

http://www.allearsnet.com/din/dining.htm

I haven't heard that POP's food court is closing, but maybe I missed that one. I sure hope they're not because we're going back in Septembe. Here is a link that lists all the refurbishments & they don't list POP.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/rehab.htm

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[Bibbidi]

I've analyzed the cost of packages vs room only, vs room only and food OOP and a package with dining etc.

For our family, 2 adults, 2 kids (5 and 3) the dining plan would add about $100 per day to our trip cost--and also a one-day base ticket that we don't need. My conclusion was this--if we had the dining plan we would probably eat at a lot more character meals and several more expensive sit-down restaurants than if we paid OOP. However, this would require more planning/ADRs ahead of time to ensure we ate where we really wanted. We are a kind of "go with the flow" family and we like to park hop. The dining plan seems like it would cramp our style a bit. So we ultimately decided that we would eat like we normally do and just pay OOP. I am budgeting the same $100 per day, but we can usually eat for a lot less than that. We have a couple meals planned, but otherwise we will eat breakfast in our room and do CS meals--works for us. Now if we were going during free dining, that would be a different story altogether!

 

[tripplanner2]

There is so much food on the dining plan it is definately worth it. Like the last poster said, if you like to wing it the plan is not for you. You will definately need to be organized and have all of your table service meals planned. Last year we bought drinks from WEGO shop (a food delivery service). We had so much I totally regretted it. You get dessert with almost every meal so it is really never necessary to use your snack for snack food. We used it for drinks instead. Plus in the hotel gift shop you can buy large containers of juice and milk using a snack credit. Something I did not know before we traveled.

 

[Lisa3]

I agree with everyone that the dining plan is a great value. Last summer we had the dining plan added for free but being the planning nut I am I kept careful track of our receipts so that if the plan was not free on our next visit I would be able to make an informed decision. I added up what the dining plan would have cost us if we had to pay for it. I then added up what our total receipts were for the vouchers we used on our 8 day trip. Bottom line was that even if we had to pay for the dining plan, our family of 5 would have come out $300 ahead as opposed to paying OOP.

A word about planning. First, with a 2 year old I definately would take advantage of character meals. In addition to keeping you young one busy while you and DH get to eat, it also cuts down on the time you are waiting on line in the parks to see certain characters. Second, on our first trip my kids were 7, 6, and 4. I planned our meals for all days except one. On that day everyone melted down in the middle of the park due to heat and hunger. From that point on I have planned at least one sit down meal a day when we visit WDW. It is a much needed rest from the constant go, go, go of the parks and gives everyone a chance to regroup. I also refuse to eat fast food constantly during vacation. We have enough of that during soccer, basketball, softball, etc. seasons. After all it is my vacation too.

 

[jenseib]

Thanks for all your opinions! My DH is more of a go wit the flow, while I'm a planner. But I think he would be fine with eating when I told him.

Which are the best kid freindly resturants to visit? I'll have to start doing some research I guess. I have only done counter service in the past.

I swear I read on these boards back in Dec. that someone found out that the POP food court(or one of the food courts) was being closed fro renovations. And Disney was being secretive about it or something. Maybe it's been done already.
But when it comes down to it, I can get soemthing at the park in the morning anways!
We haven't booked yet, still looking at prices, which are coming in all the same basically, but we know when and where, so it's getting exciting now!!

 

[Lisa3]

As far as kid friendly I think most WDW restaraunts are this but my kids do have their favorites. Some are:

Crystal Palace (buffet) - usually do breakfast but dinner was good too
Chef Mickey's (buffet) - have done breakfast and dinner
Liberty Tree Tavern - great dinner
O'Hanna's - usually do breakfast the last day
Hollywood & Vine (buffet) - Fantasmic Dinner Package
Donald's Breakfastasaurus - breakfast only
LeCellier (Canada) - very nice meal
Chefs de France (France) - did this for the 1st time last summer, many
young children present. Very good meal.
Spirit of Aloha - This was good but very expensive. Little ones have a
hard time sitting for so long.

I am sure others have their favorites. Check out the menus to see what appeals to you and DH. Usually, most places have something the kids will eat.

 

[jenseib]

Thanks for the ideas!
I see Chef Mickey and Th Crystal Palace have buffets. Those will be my DH's favorites. He loves buffets.
Does anyone know what others offer buffets as well.

Also with the "plan" is tipping included? or do we tip?

 

[Lisa3]

Yes, this is one of the great things about the plan is that the tip is included. However, if we felt we received exceptional service we did leave a small additional amount but that was our choice.

 

[seajoker]

Another buffet to try is BOMA at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Yes, tax and tip is included in the price. We used the DDP in Nov. I saved our reciepts and figured we saved about $600. Now, bear in mind, we did our homework and maximized our value. Me, DW, DD8, DS5 enjoyed all the restaurants we ate. Here is the list:

Counter Service
Flaming Tree BBQ - Animal Kingdom
Sunshine Seasons(Buffet, so of) - Epcot
San Angel Inn - Epcot
The Launching Pad - Magic Kingdom
Restaurant Marrakesh - Epcot

Table Service
Jiko - AKL
Rose N Crown - Epcot(least favorite)
Mama Melrose - MGM
California Grill - Contemporary Resort
Chef Mickeys - Cont. Resort
Le Cellier - Epcot
Teppanyaki - Epcot
Boma - AKL

We made ADRs and had no wait times when checking in. Loved the food. Don't worry about water, you can use you snack credits for water. By day 5, we had enough credits to use for water.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I actually saved all my receipts for food and added up what food would have cost me as opposed to what the DDP cost. Overall on a 4 day trip, we would have saved about $100. Now in fairness, I would never have ordered an appetizer and dessert at all my meals if I was paying OOP but it's DEFINATELY worth it if you are going to eat at a sit down restaurant at least once a day.

 

[chatty]

Last Sept we got the Free Dining 3-Adults, Hebby/myself/and DD...we had 8 nights of the dining plan and I saved every reciept and they totalled just over $2.000.00 Not Kidding. We ate like Kings all the Best for one point dining. We lived on Lobster at Capt Jacks, Loved, Spoodles, Teppenyaki's, Coral Reef, to name a few. It was So worth it for Free but I figured at $40.00 per evening per Adult x8 would only come to $960.00 so we saved in our book just over $1,000.00. Now were going back in April and were offered a package but we have to pay the $40.00 per person so we passed. Were taking 9 Adults and our 3 Grandchildren 3 and under. I thought that it would be very hard to know when the kids get tired and cranky or where everyone will be to make ADR.. Plus the 3 character dining that we booked took 2 pts. each and were only there for 5 days so I figured our points are not worth the losing of my AP discount on 3 deluxe rooms I have to pay for so this time were also winging it. Now when the DH and I go back this up-coming Sept. and If they offer the Free food we will Grab it. Hope this helps.
chatty

 

[MomofCKJ]

We spent something like $770 for it on our December trip (2A,3C for 7 nights). I saved all my TS receipts and most of my CS and Snack ones. I have yet to add up the CS and Snacks (we used every single credit we had) but the TS alone comes to like $785. So it was WELL worth it for us. Each CS was in the $35-40 range and snacks ran $10-$20 each time the 5 of us got something.

I would do it again in a heartbeat. We would have done a TS every day anyway, we just love to eat out and its a big part of our vacation. The best was having a non Disney loving DH it was nice for him to not have to pull out the wallet each time we ate and gripe about how much the Mouse was taking from him!

Allyson

 

[Harvestmooner]

We used the DDP last January. We were at Disney for one day staying off property and lunch for the 4 of us(2 A 2K) was about $40-CS. Then we moved on property for 7 nights and used a TS each night, CS for lunch and didn't use the snacks until the last day, we took waters and fruit for the drive home.
It allowed us not to eat fast food for the whole vacation and it was great to have it paid for before we went on our vacation-especially when it includes tips!!!
It's a good deal for us!!!

 

[jenseib]

Chatty I so agree with you. My Dh isn't all gung hoo on this trip either ,and he will much more pleasant when he sees th prices of food and knows it's paid for already! His cousin just went down and said he had money flowing like water on the food. After lloking a menus, and seeing alot of buffets or all you can eat, I know my DH will be happy! He loves that kind of stuff!

 

[nittanyliongirl02]

jenseib-

i would recommend 'Ohana at Poly, it's one of my faves, and it's a buffet. also, i like to make my ADR later in the evening because if you time it right, you can watch the fireworks over the castle while you eat!