DD7 and I are just back from WDW. We had a wonderful time and OMG I am thrilled with our Dining Plan experience. Pretty long review below, but the short version is that we tried all sorts of sit-down places we never would have otherwise and the plan cost a heck of a lot less than our food would have without the plan. I'm vegetarian, DD7 is not, but we never had trouble getting good food for both of us and the plan was still well worth it.
Disclaimer - if we had not been on the plan, we would mainly have stuck with CS places and would not have had nearly as many desserts and appetizers. It is entirely possible that we would have spent less than the plan cost that way, but not by much - our typical CS meal cost $20-25 for teh two of us, so the $45 per night plan price would still have given us an extra snack each per night for free. With the plan, we tried all sorts of items and restaurants we normally would not have, so keep that in mind in making your own decision. I'm happy with my decision, your mileage may vary.
Arrived 4-19, checked into Pop Century at about lunchtime. Had a CS meal at the hotel (did not use plan, picked up the refillable mugs which turned out to be a great idea even with the plan - meant we could get a soda or bottle of water with the meal plan meals, use the mugs for the meal itself, and carry the drink with us to the parks) and headed over to Disney Quest. Had dinner at Disney Quest, again not on the plan - DQ does not participate and I wanted to use the plan elsewhere anyway.
4/20 - Breakfast at the Crystal Palace, 9:30 seating ($43.21) Waitress was very pleasant, but mostly absent. Character interaction was great. Did not feel rushed at all. The gentleman making the pancakes will make Mickey, Tigger, or Piglet pancakes if you ask.
Too full for lunch, but had a large water bottle ($2), a bottle of soda ($2), and a small popcorn ($2.50) during the day. The large water bottle counts as a snack, but only the small popcorn counts, not the bucket.
Went to see La Nouba that night (AMAZING and so worth the splurge if you can pull it off) so dinner was at Puck Express, not on the plan.
4/21 - Breakfast at Pop Century ($19.22) was an adult pancake platter and a kids chocolate-chip pancake platter plus drinks. Pastries - one muffin and one croissant) counted as the dessert portion of the plan. Lunch at Columbia Harbor House ($21.46) and a HUGE thanks to those who urged me to try this place. I was unsure whether to try the veggie chili or the hummus sandwich with broccoli slaw. Luckily, the menu offered a cup of soup and 1/2 sandwich optiom, so I didn't have to choose. Both were delicious. DD had the mac and cheese. We each had a drink and a slice of apple pie that was pretty good. (I am a bit of an apple-pie snob, so take my 'pretty good' for what it's worth. lol) Dinner at Mama Melrose's ($55.81) was truly yummy. We EACH got an adult appetizer and dessert here. I had bruschetta, penne in vodka cream tomato sauce, Coke, and chocolate gelato with a decaf coffee. DD7 had an appetizer of cheese melted into tomato sauce to put on toasts, chicken parmesan on spaghetti (kid sized), lemonade, and vanilla gelato - for the kids, the gelato was served on a cone with a dish of chocolate cookie crumbs and gummy worms.... really cute and DD7 loved it.
4/22 - Breakfastosaurus ($34.00) Character interaction here was really excellent with all o fthe characters really getting into playing with the kids. The food was basic buffet, but good - I really liked the french toast with sugar and cinnamon..... and I usually hate french toast. Our waitress was mainly absent, but the bussing staff was busy playing practical jokes on everyone, so the kids had a ball even when the characters weren't nearby. We ate this meal late, so we had a couple of ice creams ($5.00) during the day and that got us through until dinner back at Pop ($27.80). DD7 had her favorite - cheeseburger - and tie-dyed cheesecake, which is her new favorite dessert even if the colors are so strong that they can <ahem> come out the same color they went in. I tried the veggie wrap (YUM) and got a container of hummus that counted as my side since the wrap doesn't come with a side. The carrot cake is also very good for restaurant carrot cake, and I don't say that lightly. Since we had our mugs, we got a coke and an orange juice to put in the cooler for the next day.
4/23 Supposed to meet up with DISers for breakfast at Pop, but didn't find the group. I think everyone wore lime green that morning, including an entire girl scout troop I encountered as I left breakfast. LOL. We had basically the same breakfast as before ($19.08) and headed off to EPCOT. Lunch was the new Princess lunch in the Norway pavilion ($44.94). They made me a special veggie appetizer plate, which included a really yummy carmelized goat cheese. DD7 got a kids appetizer plate, which wasn't very exciting. DD7 had a hot dog and I had a really good peppery pasta with vegetables. Dessert was a sample platter of chocolate mousse, which was so-so, rice cream with strawberry sauce, which was pretty good and like a sweet rice pudding, and a lingonberry crumble cookie/cake which I really liked. Some of the princesses really took time to talk to DD, some barely took time out to sign her book before breezing on - seemed more like the personality of each than anythign else. Our server Mia was, of course, from Norway and was really sweet. She chatted with us, took the time to find out how we liked all of the food and seemed genuinely pleased when we expressed a like of the more Norwegian items. Rose and Crown ($44.08) for dinner was also good. The leek and potato soup was good and the curried vegetables were also delicious, though I'd prefer more spice. The sticky toffee pudding was very good, though not exactly what I expected after having tried it in New Zealand. Still good, though. Our server was really friendly and I think half the staff came over to chat with DD7 or to trade pins with her.
4/24 - We drove over to Tampa today to see family, so breakfast at Pop ($18.22) was our only on-site meal.
4/25 Skipped breakfast since we just weren't hungry enough, but had a bag of chips ($2.50) as a snack. I am really glad we saved our stomachs, though. While not on-plan, our lunch was just the best. We signed up for Lunch with an Imagineer at the Brown Derby. Truly a great experience. We were at a table with 3 couples. All of them were serious Disneyites and DVC members, but they did let DD ask a few kid-questions in between the adult talk. Jason, the Imagineer, was really great with her and fun to talk with. The final surprise was that it turned out that the manager taking care of our group went to teh same elementary school DD attends now. LOL. Dinner at Cosmic Rays ($21.76) for a cheeseburger basket, veggie burger basket, 2 drinks, and 2 desserts. The desserts were eminently forgettable, but we like the burgers and DD7 just loves Sonny Eclipse, so this was a must-do.
4/27 OK, we're near the end of our trip and due to the Tampa day and the meals we ate off-plan, we needed to find plan meals. Aw, shucks..... LOL. Today we went for breakfast at the Cape May Cafe over at the Beach Club ($34.00). Really nice place, pleasant boat ride over to the club. Character interaction was great - the restaurant was not very crowded, which may have helped. Goofy and Minnie both spent time playing with DD and Dale went along with a little teasing when DD told him I had stolen his nuts. Lunch at Pinnocchio's Haus (forgot the receipt, but about $24.00) was a veggie burger for me, cheeseburger for DD. The vanilla shake counted as a dessert, not a drink. Dinner over at the Yacht Club Galley ($63.19) was a nice surprise. I had a garden salad and DD had the garlic potato chips for appetizer - she got the adult app again, which seemed to be normal in places with no kids apps and no combo meals. She had Mickey pasta with cheese and I had a penne with tomato sauce and broccolini which was excellent. Dessert was a cupcake along with a little puzzle made of white chocolate with food coloring 'paints' to color it with for DD and a Boston Cream Pie fo rme. As the server said, it was just too much food for all but the biggest eaters, but what we did eat was delicious.
4/27 Last day. <sob> Breakfast back at the Crystal Palace ($34.00 - not given frozen lemonades for 'dessert' like we were the first time, so $$ was a bit different for this total) Had a late reservation and may not do that again. Server handed us our bill without asking if we were done after ONE plate of food. With a nearly empty restaurant, the characters were very playful, Tigger especially was messing with the kids and staff. Would have been great if we hadn't felt so rushed by the staff. Popcorn and water ($4.50) in MK, then Pop for a late lunch ($22.31) before heading off to the plane. Now, we had used our drink credits so wisely that we now had SIX snack credits left! I bought sodas, water, rice krispie Mickey's and such fo rthe plane ride home with those credits ($23.43 total)
FINAL TALLY
Plan cost for 1 adult, 1 child $360.00
Cost of food if purchased off-plan $569.01
Savings $209.01
Disclaimer - if we had not been on the plan, we would mainly have stuck with CS places and would not have had nearly as many desserts and appetizers. It is entirely possible that we would have spent less than the plan cost that way, but not by much - our typical CS meal cost $20-25 for teh two of us, so the $45 per night plan price would still have given us an extra snack each per night for free. With the plan, we tried all sorts of items and restaurants we normally would not have, so keep that in mind in making your own decision. I'm happy with my decision, your mileage may vary.
Arrived 4-19, checked into Pop Century at about lunchtime. Had a CS meal at the hotel (did not use plan, picked up the refillable mugs which turned out to be a great idea even with the plan - meant we could get a soda or bottle of water with the meal plan meals, use the mugs for the meal itself, and carry the drink with us to the parks) and headed over to Disney Quest. Had dinner at Disney Quest, again not on the plan - DQ does not participate and I wanted to use the plan elsewhere anyway.
4/20 - Breakfast at the Crystal Palace, 9:30 seating ($43.21) Waitress was very pleasant, but mostly absent. Character interaction was great. Did not feel rushed at all. The gentleman making the pancakes will make Mickey, Tigger, or Piglet pancakes if you ask.
Too full for lunch, but had a large water bottle ($2), a bottle of soda ($2), and a small popcorn ($2.50) during the day. The large water bottle counts as a snack, but only the small popcorn counts, not the bucket.
Went to see La Nouba that night (AMAZING and so worth the splurge if you can pull it off) so dinner was at Puck Express, not on the plan.
4/21 - Breakfast at Pop Century ($19.22) was an adult pancake platter and a kids chocolate-chip pancake platter plus drinks. Pastries - one muffin and one croissant) counted as the dessert portion of the plan. Lunch at Columbia Harbor House ($21.46) and a HUGE thanks to those who urged me to try this place. I was unsure whether to try the veggie chili or the hummus sandwich with broccoli slaw. Luckily, the menu offered a cup of soup and 1/2 sandwich optiom, so I didn't have to choose. Both were delicious. DD had the mac and cheese. We each had a drink and a slice of apple pie that was pretty good. (I am a bit of an apple-pie snob, so take my 'pretty good' for what it's worth. lol) Dinner at Mama Melrose's ($55.81) was truly yummy. We EACH got an adult appetizer and dessert here. I had bruschetta, penne in vodka cream tomato sauce, Coke, and chocolate gelato with a decaf coffee. DD7 had an appetizer of cheese melted into tomato sauce to put on toasts, chicken parmesan on spaghetti (kid sized), lemonade, and vanilla gelato - for the kids, the gelato was served on a cone with a dish of chocolate cookie crumbs and gummy worms.... really cute and DD7 loved it.
4/22 - Breakfastosaurus ($34.00) Character interaction here was really excellent with all o fthe characters really getting into playing with the kids. The food was basic buffet, but good - I really liked the french toast with sugar and cinnamon..... and I usually hate french toast. Our waitress was mainly absent, but the bussing staff was busy playing practical jokes on everyone, so the kids had a ball even when the characters weren't nearby. We ate this meal late, so we had a couple of ice creams ($5.00) during the day and that got us through until dinner back at Pop ($27.80). DD7 had her favorite - cheeseburger - and tie-dyed cheesecake, which is her new favorite dessert even if the colors are so strong that they can <ahem> come out the same color they went in. I tried the veggie wrap (YUM) and got a container of hummus that counted as my side since the wrap doesn't come with a side. The carrot cake is also very good for restaurant carrot cake, and I don't say that lightly. Since we had our mugs, we got a coke and an orange juice to put in the cooler for the next day.
4/23 Supposed to meet up with DISers for breakfast at Pop, but didn't find the group. I think everyone wore lime green that morning, including an entire girl scout troop I encountered as I left breakfast. LOL. We had basically the same breakfast as before ($19.08) and headed off to EPCOT. Lunch was the new Princess lunch in the Norway pavilion ($44.94). They made me a special veggie appetizer plate, which included a really yummy carmelized goat cheese. DD7 got a kids appetizer plate, which wasn't very exciting. DD7 had a hot dog and I had a really good peppery pasta with vegetables. Dessert was a sample platter of chocolate mousse, which was so-so, rice cream with strawberry sauce, which was pretty good and like a sweet rice pudding, and a lingonberry crumble cookie/cake which I really liked. Some of the princesses really took time to talk to DD, some barely took time out to sign her book before breezing on - seemed more like the personality of each than anythign else. Our server Mia was, of course, from Norway and was really sweet. She chatted with us, took the time to find out how we liked all of the food and seemed genuinely pleased when we expressed a like of the more Norwegian items. Rose and Crown ($44.08) for dinner was also good. The leek and potato soup was good and the curried vegetables were also delicious, though I'd prefer more spice. The sticky toffee pudding was very good, though not exactly what I expected after having tried it in New Zealand. Still good, though. Our server was really friendly and I think half the staff came over to chat with DD7 or to trade pins with her.
4/24 - We drove over to Tampa today to see family, so breakfast at Pop ($18.22) was our only on-site meal.
4/25 Skipped breakfast since we just weren't hungry enough, but had a bag of chips ($2.50) as a snack. I am really glad we saved our stomachs, though. While not on-plan, our lunch was just the best. We signed up for Lunch with an Imagineer at the Brown Derby. Truly a great experience. We were at a table with 3 couples. All of them were serious Disneyites and DVC members, but they did let DD ask a few kid-questions in between the adult talk. Jason, the Imagineer, was really great with her and fun to talk with. The final surprise was that it turned out that the manager taking care of our group went to teh same elementary school DD attends now. LOL. Dinner at Cosmic Rays ($21.76) for a cheeseburger basket, veggie burger basket, 2 drinks, and 2 desserts. The desserts were eminently forgettable, but we like the burgers and DD7 just loves Sonny Eclipse, so this was a must-do.
4/27 OK, we're near the end of our trip and due to the Tampa day and the meals we ate off-plan, we needed to find plan meals. Aw, shucks..... LOL. Today we went for breakfast at the Cape May Cafe over at the Beach Club ($34.00). Really nice place, pleasant boat ride over to the club. Character interaction was great - the restaurant was not very crowded, which may have helped. Goofy and Minnie both spent time playing with DD and Dale went along with a little teasing when DD told him I had stolen his nuts. Lunch at Pinnocchio's Haus (forgot the receipt, but about $24.00) was a veggie burger for me, cheeseburger for DD. The vanilla shake counted as a dessert, not a drink. Dinner over at the Yacht Club Galley ($63.19) was a nice surprise. I had a garden salad and DD had the garlic potato chips for appetizer - she got the adult app again, which seemed to be normal in places with no kids apps and no combo meals. She had Mickey pasta with cheese and I had a penne with tomato sauce and broccolini which was excellent. Dessert was a cupcake along with a little puzzle made of white chocolate with food coloring 'paints' to color it with for DD and a Boston Cream Pie fo rme. As the server said, it was just too much food for all but the biggest eaters, but what we did eat was delicious.
4/27 Last day. <sob> Breakfast back at the Crystal Palace ($34.00 - not given frozen lemonades for 'dessert' like we were the first time, so $$ was a bit different for this total) Had a late reservation and may not do that again. Server handed us our bill without asking if we were done after ONE plate of food. With a nearly empty restaurant, the characters were very playful, Tigger especially was messing with the kids and staff. Would have been great if we hadn't felt so rushed by the staff. Popcorn and water ($4.50) in MK, then Pop for a late lunch ($22.31) before heading off to the plane. Now, we had used our drink credits so wisely that we now had SIX snack credits left! I bought sodas, water, rice krispie Mickey's and such fo rthe plane ride home with those credits ($23.43 total)
FINAL TALLY
Plan cost for 1 adult, 1 child $360.00
Cost of food if purchased off-plan $569.01
Savings $209.01
