I have done all the math...but still can't decide on DD Plan

[Got Quattro?]

If we go with DD Plan and eat at the places we picked out I know we will spend $257.91 + taxes, tips, and wine. This is for the 3 day portion of our Land and Sea Deal in January. 2 adults, 1 child.

Eating at those same places ala carte, it will cost at least $400.

So the math is easy right. My problem is, since we will only be on land 3 days, I dont want to be tied to a strict schedule of ADR's and counter service meals so we get the most value of our DD Plan.

The way it works out, we have to have our Park touring scheduled to the hour to make sure we eat the right kind of food at the right time.

I am affraid, we will end up not being hungry when our ADR is, or will be in the wronf place in the world and miss all together.

Does any one else feal the DD Plan takes away from free form enjoyment of the parks?

 

[Mickiethepooh]

No because basically these days if you don't have ADRs you are not going to be eating at TS places at all, walk ups are few and far between, you need the ADR whether you are on the plan or not, if you want to just eat counter service where ever you happen to be then fine don't get the plan and eat counter service.
Also having a plan lets you get MORE out of the parks rather than less, nothing prevents you with or with out plan from Trying to change a reservation if you find you are going to be elsewhere, but again No guarantees.

 

[Colleen27]

Does any one else feal the DD Plan takes away from free form enjoyment of the parks?

Yes and no. I don't think being on the dining plan takes away from the spontaneity of the parks when compared to being without the dining plan. We'd plan our ADRs with or without the dining plan, because we like sit down meals and hate counter service. I do think that the dining plan, in general, is the reason restaurants are busy enough that we need ADRs, so in that sense it has limited the ability to go planless at Disney.

 

[sjaakie]

We decided to eat lunch when ever we feel hungry and I'm going to make reservations for the evening dinner.
So during daytime we just go with the flow and no ties but the evenings are just a point of rest for our tired feet.

 

[TLSnell1981]

We have always had on ADR each day. It's always something that everyone is looking foward to, so it's part of the experience. It also gives you some time to recharge....talk about what you enjoyed that day and what you'd like to do the rest of the day.

 

[Vijoge]

Does any one else feal the DD Plan takes away from free form enjoyment of the parks?

In a way, yes it does, at least for us.

We've used the DDP twice. The first time made no ADR's and just ate wherever we happened to be when we got hungry. The only place we couldn't get in was LeCellier. I must admit that we did not make the best use, dollar-wise, of the DDP but we had plenty to eat and we weren't locked into any type of schedule.

The second time I made ADR's about 5 months out. Finally got LeCellier, but at 8:50PM. Had some really great meals, but our whole visit was regulated by and dependent on where were were eating that day. In some ways we felt as if we were just at WDW to eat and everything else was incedental.

We're booked for next Sep with free dining but we may cancel, go in Oct or Nov, and pay oop.

 

[Vijoge]

No because basically these days if you don't have ADRs you are not going to be eating at TS places at all, walk ups are few and far between, you need the ADR whether you are on the plan or not, if you want to just eat counter service where ever you happen to be then fine don't get the plan and eat counter service.
QUOTE]

I think this depends pretty much on when you go. We were there in late SEP/early OCT and ate at Narcoosies, JIKO, Rose and Crown, Raglan Road, Brown Derby, LeCellier, and Kona. The only restaurant not seating walk-ups when were there was LeCellier.

 

[ilovedino]

Oh my oh my am I glad got quattro brought this up! My DH are having this same problem. I had origionally thought DDDP was the way to go and spent hours deciding which restaurants were best and how to fit in 3 meals per day plus 2 snacks and realized we would only be able to tour the parks for like 2 hours at a time because we would be eating too much So now I think I'm still going to book the dp but we will only have 3 TS for the entire 7 day trip. This way it's still less expensive than oop and DDDP but we have the flexibality to actually experience Disney NOT eat it!

 

[Colleen27]

Oh my oh my am I glad got quattro brought this up! My DH are having this same problem. I had origionally thought DDDP was the way to go and spent hours deciding which restaurants were best and how to fit in 3 meals per day plus 2 snacks and realized we would only be able to tour the parks for like 2 hours at a time because we would be eating too much So now I think I'm still going to book the dp but we will only have 3 TS for the entire 7 day trip. This way it's still less expensive than oop and DDDP but we have the flexibality to actually experience Disney NOT eat it!

If you're happy with 3TS for a 7 day trip, it seems like the DxDDP would NOT be for you! It realy doesn't make sense to try to make your vacation style fit any specific dining plan, no matter how good a deal it is. The idea is to find the dining plan that fits your vacation style, and if paying out of pocket is the best fit, then that's the way to go.

 

[ziggylu]

We're just back from four days...we tried the DDP and decided by the morning of the second day to not buy it ever again.

Value wise we found it IS a pretty good deal....but we didn't like the structure it forced us into and it IS a lot of food. I didn't like at all that at breakfast I could get for example oatmeal and a piece of fruit and have it count as a CS meal...the only options were the breakfast platter(at the places we tried at least)...which was too much food and not what I wanted to eat in the morning. We split a lot of our counter meals because there was so much food. Also, didn't care to have dessert at lunch and was frustrated again that we couldn't sub(for instance wanted to have coleslaw one day instead of dessert and even though the coleslaw was a lot cheaper couldn't sub that out).

We ate at Jiko which is 2 TS meals(and really great...best meal we had in 8 nights in Orlando both on WDW property and off)...and even using 2 TS credits for one meal we had a hard time getting through all our credits. being there for the food and wine festival also, we regretted buying into the plan...we used some snacks to try some of the offerings but being tied into prepaid meals we had to use we didn't try as many as we would have liked.

Again, good value but for us forced a structure that didnt' fit with our normal eating patterns. We do normally eat one higher end full meal a day when we travel which is why we bought in...but other than that we tend to just graze lightly during the day so the plan really didn't work for us.

Live and learn...

(as for reservations...Jiko was the only one I booked ahead...and I even changed it day of to an earlier time. We had no trouble booking day of and seemed like most places were taking walkins....le Cellier was the only place that seemed to be booked solid for weeks out).