If you weren't on free dining....

[zipuzee]

We are going before the free dining. We originally booked without the dining, but some friends had just gotten back and said the ddp was the best deal around. So I changed our ressies to include the plan.

 

[kldmom2000]

I voted no but I would book a few TS restaurants. The only reason we're doing the DDP for our upcoming trip in Sept. is because it's free. We had to give up the AAA room discount at the Yacht Club in order to do the plan. If we had to pay out of pocket for the DDP, we'd have to pay an additional $60 per day for the room + the $98 for the plan. Personally, our family does not eat $158 worth of food a day to justify it. I kept a log of how much we spent on food each day when we went in 12/04 and it averaged $88 per day-somedays were just over $100 (character meal days) and other days were only around $60.... (2 adults/2 children). Why would I spend an extra $70 for too much food that we won't eat? Just my thoughts.....

 

[tinkerbeth]

We usually have always done one TS per day and not gotten the DDP, so i would for sure get it in future. With it being FREE, I'm over the moon! Can't wait to EAT my way around WDW.

Beth

 

[dsneygirl]

We have and are planning on it for our next trip. But we usually do 1 TS every day and really enjoy the dining experience part of the trip.

 

[legalslave]

I voted no but I would book a few TS restaurants. The only reason we're doing the DDP for our upcoming trip in Sept. is because it's free. We had to give up the AAA room discount at the Yacht Club in order to do the plan. If we had to pay out of pocket for the DDP, we'd have to pay an additional $60 per day for the room + the $98 for the plan. Personally, our family does not eat $158 worth of food a day to justify it. I kept a log of how much we spent on food each day when we went in 12/04 and it averaged $88 per day-somedays were just over $100 (character meal days) and other days were only around $60.... (2 adults/2 children). Why would I spend an extra $70 for too much food that we won't eat? Just my thoughts.....

You can get the AAA room discount when you are PAYING for the dining plan. It's only when the DDP is FREE that you can't get the discount.

 

[cmwade77]

This Septmber will be our first experience with the DDP, so I am not sure and sicne we got it for free, it works out really well, we would have paid for it this time around as it is our Honeymoon and having a TS restraunbt each day sounds really nice, if it weren't for that I don't know yet.

 

[PureTcrazy]

We love that it is free when we are going. Even when we don't look at the discount on the room, it is hard to justify having to buy everyone a 1 day tix everytime we go. We all have AP's already. I wish they would just connect the DDP to the room reservation (even at rack rate) and not make you buy the tickets. We would definitely be eating like kings everytime we went!

 

[Mousema]

We would! It's relaxing to do a TS every day. I've been there enough that I now like to take my time and enjoy.

 

[Brooknwdw]

We paid for the DP last June, & are getting free dining this Sept/Oct.

We were totally happy with the dining plan...and used it exactly as it was intended, the value is great, we were 2 A 2 C.
We ate at one TS per day, and they were a great experience.

If we pay OOP, we may not always eat a TS every day.

 

[daisyduck123]

We did pay for it for 8 days last month. Worth every penny!!

 

[CA Disney Fans]

We have every trip since 2002 and definitely find it well worth it. It seems to much easier to splurge on some good TS meals.

 

[tribus121]

I was planing a trip for feb 07 when i found out about free dining and booked for September we were only going to have one table service meal during our 10 day visit ( Chef Mickey's ) we would stay offsite and eat most of our meals offsite ( A lot of Mc Donalds ) as we are on a very tight budget .

 

[drogerstn]

We spend much less than $152 per day on food (family of 4 "adults"). We change our touring plans as the week goes along; during our last visit, the restaurants were booked when I tried to change some of the TS meals we had scheduled. We don't want to spend much of our evening time in the restaurants and only eat an occasional TS meal for lunch and maybe one character breakfast during a 8 to 10 day visit.

Counter service, eating offsite, and eating occasional meals in our room is much more flexible and takes up less time and money. The "Disney Dining Experience" has little value for us. The money we save on food will help us pay for another vacation.

 

[CamColt]

I always book all my TS restaurants plan or no plan.

I have yet to use the Plan, but I will in August and it will be free. While I cant say for sure since I haven't used it yet, I do feel like it would not be worth it for us to pay for it. We never order appetizers, entrees and desserts with our meals so I dont think it would really work for what we want. But like I said...I may feel differently once I get a taste of it.

 

[Lewisc]

I always book all my TS restaurants plan or no plan.

I have yet to use the Plan, but I will in August and it will be free. While I cant say for sure since I haven't used it yet, I do feel like it would not be worth it for us to pay for it. We never order appetizers, entrees and desserts with our meals so I dont think it would really work for what we want. But like I said...I may feel differently once I get a taste of it.

I think the plan pays for itself if you skip appetizers or desserts. Someone, I think Bicker, did an analysis and for many of the restaurants and entrées the plan will pay for itself even if you skip appetizers and desserts.

Look at it this way, the plan costs $37/day. Figure the snack is worth at least $2 and the CS meal is worth $10. However you calculate it the snack and CS meal together is worth at least $12. That gives you $25 for your TS meal. Back out tax and tip and you're down to around $20. A drink and entrée at almost any TS restaurant will cost at least that.

Guests who drink free water, don't order appetizers and desserts, only order the less expensive entrees and tip lightly won't do well on the plan. Guests who only want to eat TS (or CS) meals won't do well. Most guests will at least break even with the meal plan.

 

[BCV23]

Exactly, Lewis. And with many of the snack option in the $3-4 range now, it is even better value.

I voted yes because it is the answer that comes closest. We will be there during free dining but aren't eligible for it. I haven't yet decided if we will add it to the DVC portion of our stay but the reason is that we really enjoy 2 or 3 TS restaurants/ per day. After so many years of not doing CS, it is a whole different way to dine. But BCMarketplace does have some good breakfast CS options so we may do it again. Then we can just take breakfast back to our room.

But we did it in May and it is certainly good value.

 

[wdwobsessed]

We are big TS people. I would say if the DDP changes the way we eat it is because of the CS credits. We are not big CS people.

I would say we have less TS ADR's than normal. We would do like an early lunch/brunch ... and late dinner ... TS. Now we do one TS and one CS a day.

WDWO

 

[Mickeefan]

I would definately pay for it. Although, I'm not going to have to for my September trip.

We're taking a family trip in January and are planning to purchase the dining plan. We plan to have one TS meal each day and with the counter service lunches, we'll get our money's worth.

 

[jengelbrecht]

Hi! We were fortunate to get the free dining last September and loved it so much we purchased it for our December trip. Now we are going again in September and are THRILLED it was offered again!

We've been going to WDW since it opened and I can honestly say about 90% of our meals were counter service (which have improved dramatically over the years, by the way ). The dining plan, free or paid, has opened up a whole new way of eating for us. We get to try new table service restaurants that we would never dream of trying before the advent of the dining plan...it makes our vacations much more enjoyable.

However, table service meals can take a huge chunk of time out of your day. I'm not so sure I would recommend the Disney dining plan to newbies, unless they will be there a week or more. It takes away a LOT of time seeing the attractions. To those of us that have seen every show and ridden every ride, the plan works for us.

Happy that our September dining plan is free? YES! Would I ever pay for the dining plan again? ABSOLUTELY, we're hooked!

 

[jenjersnap]

We're doing free dining ... our situation wasn't mentioned in the poll, however, since we dislike CS (and, yes, the poor kid's choices) and normally have 2 TS meals per day. We'll see if the DP is something we're willing to pay for, depending on our experience this September.

I am betting that we will do the Premium plan next time we do a package.