Is Anyone Getting The Dining Option With Their Package?

[DisDarling]

Im curious, after reading up on alot of the packages, does anyone really feel they can eat their moneys worth? I priced out 8 nights at POR for 2 adults and 2 kids, with the 7 day MYW park hopper ticket for all 4 and the dining option and it was $3300!!! The difference with/without the dining option was $1000!!! Does that seem extreme to anyone that a family of four for 7/8 days could EAT their worth? Maybe 10-14 days, but 7-8??? Even a Character Meal or two couldnt add up to that. Did anyone else feel this way? Plus if the codes come out, I will save MUCH MORE on the hotel rate as well. Need input- thanks
D.D.

 

[deanna2426]

It really depends on your family's eating habits. The way I figure it is the least expensive sit-down dinner we would do would be roughly $25/pp before beverage, tax and tip. Add those things on and you are at $35 easily, just for dinner. That means we would be getting our counter service and snack for free.

We are a family of four (DH, DS(5), DS(2) and myself). We usually plan on roughly $120.00 per day for food. We do like to eat one sit-down meal per day, as we get sick of fast food every meal. So for us, the plan would definately make sense. However, we are DVC members so we can't take advantage of it.

As far as codes, you could save alot on room rates, but if you add on what you will realistically spend on food, you may come out even or better. I figure we would have saved roughly $200-300 if we could have used the plan.

You may want to check out www.wdwig.com to look at menus. This will help you figure out your food budget.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[mickeymom629]

I'm debating this too. We are DVC members, but this coming summer, we will be staying at ASSp with two other families for 7 nights. I need two adjoining rooms since we have 4 children. I am getting the 7 day tickets, with the pluses, but no hoppers and they will expire (we are staying 5 more nights at OKW) after our friends leave. I did put the dining plan on my package ($1470!) and I am really wondering if that was smart or not. I looked at the restaurants listed, and I think we can fit in 7 table service meals, but we typically wouldn't do that many. The other thing I don't like about the package that I booked is that we don't need all those pluses for the entire family, but I had to get the same for everyone. So, I'm going to do the math for the dining and see if the package is worth the money ($1500 for tickets, 1566 for two rooms, insurance = $46??!!). Yikes! I won't even tell DH! I wish the dining did not expire upon the night of checkout.

 

[scrump]

I think it's a great deal if you are able to stay within the plan, and if your eating habits match the restrictions. We rarely eat at counter service or snack places, we usually do only table service. But even if we go to a sit down restaurant, I may just get an appetizer, or just a dessert, depending on the mood and the time of day. So when trying to rationalize the dining option for myself, I tried to figure out whether the dining plan would complement us or dictate us in our dining plans. Though I'm still debating, it feels like we'd be spending more time figuring out where to eat based on the plan limitations, rather than where we genuinely want to eat regardless of plan. I'd like to hear what people's experiences have been.

 

[WDWBetsy]

We have booked a MYW package + dining through AAA. Even though the list of restaurants is shorter than originally released, we still have plenty to choose from.

For us, it's a good deal. I compared different meals/costs and we'll be saving money.

 

[Mimi Q]

I got the dining option with our package. We are going at Thanksgiving, and I have never been able to get room discounts at that time. My DDs enjoy the character meals and we do a lot of them. I think we are going to come out ahead this way.

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

I also booked the dining package for our fall trip. We do at least one character meal a day which comes to about $90 including tax & tip. For us, it will be a good value. If they come out with a better promotion/code during the summer, I will re-do my numbers, but for now, it was the best option.