Is the Dining Plan right for me?

[Tinkerbell_Girl]

Help! I need to know everything there is to know about the dining plan! I called CRO yesterday to add my DME info and the CM asked me if I would like to add the dining plan. Me and dbf will be there from Dec 9-12. I have many questions before I decide to add it on. When I was there in June, out of $200 I brought for food I spent about $150. I figure me and dbf will spend roughly the same each. So thats $300 for the both of us for food. I think the cm said it would be about $200 to add it on. So we would save $50 each if we stick to our food budget.

This is where we were planning on eating W/O the dinning plan each day:
12/9 -arrive in the morning, go to DisneyQuest, eat at DisneyQuest food court. Later have dinner at either Rainforest Cafe or Raglan Road (if they offer food)
12/10 MK day- eat breakfast at POP have a CS lunch and a CS dinner.
12/11 Epcot & MGM day- Breakfast at POP, a CS at Epcot and PrimeTime Cafe for dinner (I made a adr for PTC yesterday)
12/12 POP for breakfast and if we have time maybe lunch at POP.

Where we plan to eat WITH the dining plan:
Everything would most likely remain the same except:
12/10 - POP for breakfast CS lunch and a TS dinner at MK

Now here are my questions:
Does Downtown Disney accept Dining plan credits?
Does POP accept Dining plan credits?
If I make a ADR do I have to tell them I'm on the Dining plan?
Do you receive a package for the dining plan in the mail or do you receive it at the resort upon check in?
Do you have to tell the waiter that you are on the dining plan?
What do you do with leftover credits?

I know this is long, but thanks so much!

 

[budbeerlady]

Disney's website or even a search here will tell you the participating resturaunts. Some were in downtown disney, it is simply how and where you want to eat that makes it worthwhile. If you only want counter service, instead of taking the time for table service I could see not using the dining plan. It was a good value for our family, since I figured 2 counter services a day and a snack would more than equal $81 for our family of 2.

 

[jayhjay]

It is $35 per day per person for the basic dining plan. So if you go through some of the menus where you plan to eat and look at prices, you can get an idea of whether you normally spend more or less than that. If you plan to spend $300 for four days for two of you, then the dining plan is a good deal ($280 - I am not sure why they said $200 unless I am really getting something wrong here). Especially b/c you would get table service meals too, not just counter service, and a lot more food than you probably normally eat. But if you have no desire to eat at table service restaurants, it is probably not worth it as you would lose all those credits and have to pay out of pocket for other CS meals.

 

[LiteBrite]

If you've got your heart set on eating at either Rainforest Cafe or Ragland Road, you should know that RC does not participate in the Dining Plan. I don't know yet whether Ragland Road will or not, but I wouldn't count on it.

If you're staying 3 nights, then it would be $35/person/day, which would be $210 total. It sounds to me like it would be a good deal for you as compared to the $300 you had budgeted, but you would probably need to change your plans around a bit.

Here's a link to all the restaurants that are participating in the dining plan:
http://allearsnet.com/pl/packages05a.htm
I would take a look at it and see if it looks like you could find places that would work for you.

 

[jayhjay]

If you're staying 3 nights, then it would be $35/person/day, which would be $210 total. It sounds to me like it would be a good deal for you as compared to the $300 you had budgeted, but you would probably need to change your plans around a bit.
[/QUOTE

If she is staying from teh 9-12, isn't that four days? Or do they do it by how many nights? Just wondering how that works.

 

[LiteBrite]

I'm guessing that she's arriving on the 9th and departing on the 12th, which would be 3 nights. The dining plan is based on how many nights you're staying, not how many days, so if she's there for 3 nights, then each person would get 3 table service credits, 3 counter service, and 3 snacks.

 

[mickeysaver]

As a couple with no kids, we decided against the dining plan. We eat more CS than TS because we like it. We love RFC and have a gift card from MyPoints for most of that bill already, and we have the Safari Club card too. When I went through a couple of months ago and figured up entire meals that we would eat on the dining plan, the extra bottles of fluids, taxes, tips, and what not, it came out to be still about the same as what we normally budget to eat the way that we usually do only it was about $10 more expensive. I think the plan is great for parties of 3 or more with a kid that has to pay to eat. But, for us, it just didn't make that much sense. Also, we like the booking terms on a room only ressie much better than those on a package deal. I hope this helps. Maggie

 

[justplaingoofy]

you guys probably already know this, but I just saw under Magiacally speakings newsletter that they added Fantasmic and candlelite to the dining plan.