Is the recession impacting on the amount of money you spend on dining?

[Boardwalk Tigger]

Is the recession affecting you in making dining reservations. Doesn't seem like people on this board are concerned about making reservations for even the more expensive dining like the candllelight packages, HDDR, Victoria and Albert's etc. What do you think? I'm somewhat surprised by this. I noticed that SW airline is completely open to fly down Christmas week ( it is ususally almost completely booked by now) frrom my airport so maybe air travel is being affected but what about dining plans?

 

[autumnpalm]

Not for us, as we are going to be on the DDP which is a fixed cost. If we were paying for all the meals OOP though, we would probably be a little more careful with TS restaurants and skip things like desserts and drinks to lower the bill. We only go to Disney once every few years though, so when we do go, we like to spend it as worry-free as possible and just enjoy the magic!

 

[Abharmagic]

No, and we aren't on the dining plan- we plan and budget for a vacation and fully expect to spend some $$$ while there- DH works too hard all year to worry about money while on vacation- we go, enjoy and forget about the bills

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Nope! I work all year when I go away I want to enjoy myself. I am on the Dinning plan.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Not us, we cut back on our eating out at home but I wont give up our vacation meals

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Not us, we cut back on our eating out at home but I wont give up our vacation meals

HAHAHA! Us to

 

[jezebella]

For some reason, No...now I refuse to buy the bulk of my groceries from Publix anymore and go to the local produce place and butcher instead. Sometimes I even go to Sav-a-lot just to cut back on my grocery bill. But, then last weekend, for no good reason I dropped $100.00 at the Crystal Palace and we didn't even go when we could get the CM discount!???

 

[LadyOmega]

Nope, doesn't affect our dining plans at all. We rarely eat out at home, I always cook (stay at home mommy, part of my job). So there is no way we would ever go on vacay and worry about the cost of eating out. Don't get me wrong, we aren't eating $200 meals every single meal, and we usually use DDP to cover a lot of our meals, so it's really quite affordable. If we had to take cost of food into account when deciding if we could afford a vacation, we wouldn't be taking a vacation.

 

[DizzDoll]

I saved $1500 for a 11-day stay at the World for the 3 of us. Hope that's enough!!! We're doing mostly CS, some resort food-court, pizza in the room, and we also have 4 ADRs - 2 character breakfasts, one lunch and a dinner. Maybe I should save $1600.

 

[rentayenta]

The recession impacts the amount I spend on everything, including Disney. Also the fact that we'll be paying for the DDP next year vs getting it free like last year makes a difference too.

 

[JohnZ46]

Not yet, but that may change the closer we get to Dec.

 

[suzimar57]

we're on the DDP and are planning ahead what we'll spend OOP for things like appetizers (not included on DDP that we want to have), tips, etc

this trip is covered - future trips, we'll see about DDP or not - we've done only CS in the past and were ok with it - not fussy eaters here.

 

[jenjersnap]

It impacts us at home - we are eating out less - but not at Disney World.

 

[Hollymom1229]

It's impacted us, but not a lot. We've decided not to go to V&A's Chefs Table this trip, instead we're trying Bistro de Paris. Also, we'd normally do a minimum of three signature meals, that's been cut back to two. But it will still be a wonderful experience.

 

[Tricia1972]

The recession is more likely to affect how often I go to Disney. When I go though I hope to be on vacation and just enjoy the time away with my family. For this reason the recession will not affect how I eat when I am there. Next trip is another Victoria & Albert's trip for us.

We went a lot in the past year (DH and I April 2007, The 7 of us in October 2007, solo with a group of friends in October 2007, the 7 of us in March 2008) and now we are on a Disney hiatus. We're looking at going in January of 2010 for our next trip. The only thing that MIGHT move it sooner would be my sister's diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor in May of this year. She's the sister who always comes to Disney with us and if there is any question about the 2010 trip - I'm moving that sucker up!

So yes and no, yes the recession has affected my trips to Disney, but no - it won't affect us when we are there.

 

[missthec&o]

I have ADRs for 6 TS restaurants for a 7-night stay in August. May knock it back to 4, depending on what the checkbook looks like in the next few weeks. I set aside an amount for the trip earlier in the year, but I wouldn't mind having a little of that back since some of our fixed expenses are going up so quickly.

 

[NanaV]

It won't affect us this Sept., because we'll be getting free DDP. If that weren't the case; however, we would definitely be doing mostly CS meals. The current economy, with rising prices on food and fuel, has taken a big chunk out of our budget.

 

[cogero]

nope. we don't eat out at home all that much and this is vacation and nope we aren't on anykind of dining plan.

 

[hoosiergirl7]

Nope. We're doing the DDP this time around to avoid worrying about what we're going to spend on food. Granted we'll probably need a bit extra cash for snacks, but we're also driving so we'll be able to bring sodas and breakfast from home. I've never been stopped from taking stuff into the parks.

 

[bbowers]

Not us, we cut back on our eating out at home but I wont give up our vacation meals

And ditto here!