Luv Bunnies
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2006
- Messages
- 9,136
I'll be doing a Dining Review and Trip Report as soon as I can. But I wanted to give a few quick takes on the Dining Plan for those who are considering whether or not to do it.
-My husband and I have two sons - ages 11 and 8. Both are very picky eaters and the 11 year old's mild autism makes him even pickier. We paid for 3 adults and 1 child.
-I had read about the fact that the computer can't tell how many kids you have on your plan and that people with kids could order off the adult menu for them. However, the front of your Key to the World card clearly states how many adults and how many kids you've paid for. The waiter at Planet Hollywood asked to see our card before we ordered and he told us we had to order at least one kid's meal. This was fine with us since we usually ordered kid's meals for both kids. But be aware that it's easy for the servers and cashier's to tell how many adults and kids are in your party. If they want to be sticklers for the rules, the information is right on your card.
-Our 8 year old loves cheese pizza and, luckily, it was on almost every kid's menu we encountered. However, he doesn't like the veggie sticks or apples that come with it. I asked for ice cream for his dessert instead and said I would pay for it if it didn't come on the plan. All of the servers except one gave him the ice cream and didn't charge us (that one was at Planet Hollywood).
-Our 11 year is extremely picky and mostly likes peanut butter sandwiches and fries. We paid the adult price for him so it wasn't a problem to tailor his meals. If the restaurant didn't have peanut butter, I would order two plain pieces of bread or a plain hamburger bun with fries. I always had a Jif singles pack in my purse and could make him a sandwich myself. He prefers white bread so if there was a sandwich on the menu we could usually get bread, except at Planet Hollwood. The waiter said they didn't have any bread. I pointed out that they had a club sandwich and asked if we could have the bread they use for that. He said no, because it was already cut into little triangles. Excuse me, Dude? Your club sandwich bread comes pre-cut into little triangles? Is the turkey, ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato already cut into perfect little triangles, too? Do you just stack it up? Give me a break! We settled for the hamburger bun. But that was one of the dumbest things I heard all week (expect maybe for the kid in front of us on the boat ride in The Land - when we got into the greenhouse with it's geodesic dome-like roof he said, "Look Mom, we in the big golfball"....but I digress!!).
-My husband and I are much less picky than the kids. I will eat almost anything but lean toward pasta, seafood and salads. My husband is a red meat kind of guy and stays away from fish at all costs. Neither of us had any trouble finding something we liked. Since our 11 year old was on an adult plan, we could have had 3 appetizers per meal. All of the servers asked if he wanted an appetizer but we declined except when we could get chips and salsa for the boys to share. One server insisted that we order 3 appetizers since we were entitled to them. Having already ordered bruschetta and potato skins and not wanting to waste food, we said we'd stick with the two. The waiter really tried to push us to order one more but he finally gave up. This, once again, was the waiter from Planet Hollywood. Now, they had tortilla chips on the menu that went with the Spinach Dip and salsa on the menu that went with something else. I asked if we could get just the chips and some salsa for the kids. He said absolutely not! Oh well. He probably wanted us to order another appetizer so the check and, therefore, his tip would go up. But he wasn't in the mood to be flexible at all.
-The buffets were a good deal for us. The kids could get as much as they wanted of the foods they liked. A little pack of cereal was almost $2 at the Pop Century food court and counted as 1 snack item. But at the breakfast buffets (Chef Mickey's and Cape May), they each got big bowls of cereal along with their beloved bacon. The Crystal Palace for dinner was also good. They had white bread and peanut butter on the buffet so I made my little dude no less than 3 sandwiches. There was cheese pizza for the other guy and they both loved the ice cream machine. My husband and I also enjoyed the variety - I could have my salmon and he had his pulled pork (I asked Piglet if he knew pork was on the menu and he nodded and made this cutting motion across his neck with his hoof - it was funny!).
-We ended up with 2 counter service credits remaining on our account. We just couldn't use them all. We even cancelled a reservation at Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom because we decided it would be wiser to use up our counter service credits back at Pop. Rainforest is not on the Dining Plan so our dinner would have been an out of pocket expense. Some days we had 2 table service meals and we just didn't need a whole counter service meal in between. One day we left WDW to go to Kennedy Space Center and, of course, we couldn't use credits there. And most mornings, the kids wanted cereal for breakfast and we just had bagels which count as snack credits so the counter service points sat unused. But, we only had 2 left over so we didn't feel so bad.
Bottom Line: The Dining Plan provides a good value for people who aren't overly picky about their food. Many times our son just had a bun and fries, but our appetizer, entree, drink and dessert more than made up for what he didn't eat. I haven't fished out all the receipts yet and added everything up, but we had several $100+ dinners and I know we more than covered the $1200 or so we spent on the plan. On the other hand, we never would have gone to that many table service meals or ordered all that food if we hadn't been on the plan. If I went without the meal plan, I would pay out of pocket for Le Cellier, Chef Mickey's and Whispering Canyon (we loved the fun atmosphere there). Otherwise, we would have survived fine and less expensively on snacks and counter service meals.
I'm glad we tried the Dining Plan for this trip. We probably won't be back for several years and if the Dining Plan is still available, I doubt we'll do it (unless it's free). So what restaurant will I stay away from in the future? Drumroll please........Planet Hollywood, of course. All I can say is ewww. I mean, who puts chunks of jack cheese in a Cobb Salad instead of blue cheese crumbles? And who (supposedly) pre-cuts their club sandwich bread into little triangles? And who hires a waiter who is either stupid or clueless enough to tell a customer that? OK, rant over! Hope you enjoyed my little report!
-My husband and I have two sons - ages 11 and 8. Both are very picky eaters and the 11 year old's mild autism makes him even pickier. We paid for 3 adults and 1 child.
-I had read about the fact that the computer can't tell how many kids you have on your plan and that people with kids could order off the adult menu for them. However, the front of your Key to the World card clearly states how many adults and how many kids you've paid for. The waiter at Planet Hollywood asked to see our card before we ordered and he told us we had to order at least one kid's meal. This was fine with us since we usually ordered kid's meals for both kids. But be aware that it's easy for the servers and cashier's to tell how many adults and kids are in your party. If they want to be sticklers for the rules, the information is right on your card.
-Our 8 year old loves cheese pizza and, luckily, it was on almost every kid's menu we encountered. However, he doesn't like the veggie sticks or apples that come with it. I asked for ice cream for his dessert instead and said I would pay for it if it didn't come on the plan. All of the servers except one gave him the ice cream and didn't charge us (that one was at Planet Hollywood).
-Our 11 year is extremely picky and mostly likes peanut butter sandwiches and fries. We paid the adult price for him so it wasn't a problem to tailor his meals. If the restaurant didn't have peanut butter, I would order two plain pieces of bread or a plain hamburger bun with fries. I always had a Jif singles pack in my purse and could make him a sandwich myself. He prefers white bread so if there was a sandwich on the menu we could usually get bread, except at Planet Hollwood. The waiter said they didn't have any bread. I pointed out that they had a club sandwich and asked if we could have the bread they use for that. He said no, because it was already cut into little triangles. Excuse me, Dude? Your club sandwich bread comes pre-cut into little triangles? Is the turkey, ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato already cut into perfect little triangles, too? Do you just stack it up? Give me a break! We settled for the hamburger bun. But that was one of the dumbest things I heard all week (expect maybe for the kid in front of us on the boat ride in The Land - when we got into the greenhouse with it's geodesic dome-like roof he said, "Look Mom, we in the big golfball"....but I digress!!).
-My husband and I are much less picky than the kids. I will eat almost anything but lean toward pasta, seafood and salads. My husband is a red meat kind of guy and stays away from fish at all costs. Neither of us had any trouble finding something we liked. Since our 11 year old was on an adult plan, we could have had 3 appetizers per meal. All of the servers asked if he wanted an appetizer but we declined except when we could get chips and salsa for the boys to share. One server insisted that we order 3 appetizers since we were entitled to them. Having already ordered bruschetta and potato skins and not wanting to waste food, we said we'd stick with the two. The waiter really tried to push us to order one more but he finally gave up. This, once again, was the waiter from Planet Hollywood. Now, they had tortilla chips on the menu that went with the Spinach Dip and salsa on the menu that went with something else. I asked if we could get just the chips and some salsa for the kids. He said absolutely not! Oh well. He probably wanted us to order another appetizer so the check and, therefore, his tip would go up. But he wasn't in the mood to be flexible at all.
-The buffets were a good deal for us. The kids could get as much as they wanted of the foods they liked. A little pack of cereal was almost $2 at the Pop Century food court and counted as 1 snack item. But at the breakfast buffets (Chef Mickey's and Cape May), they each got big bowls of cereal along with their beloved bacon. The Crystal Palace for dinner was also good. They had white bread and peanut butter on the buffet so I made my little dude no less than 3 sandwiches. There was cheese pizza for the other guy and they both loved the ice cream machine. My husband and I also enjoyed the variety - I could have my salmon and he had his pulled pork (I asked Piglet if he knew pork was on the menu and he nodded and made this cutting motion across his neck with his hoof - it was funny!).
-We ended up with 2 counter service credits remaining on our account. We just couldn't use them all. We even cancelled a reservation at Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom because we decided it would be wiser to use up our counter service credits back at Pop. Rainforest is not on the Dining Plan so our dinner would have been an out of pocket expense. Some days we had 2 table service meals and we just didn't need a whole counter service meal in between. One day we left WDW to go to Kennedy Space Center and, of course, we couldn't use credits there. And most mornings, the kids wanted cereal for breakfast and we just had bagels which count as snack credits so the counter service points sat unused. But, we only had 2 left over so we didn't feel so bad.
Bottom Line: The Dining Plan provides a good value for people who aren't overly picky about their food. Many times our son just had a bun and fries, but our appetizer, entree, drink and dessert more than made up for what he didn't eat. I haven't fished out all the receipts yet and added everything up, but we had several $100+ dinners and I know we more than covered the $1200 or so we spent on the plan. On the other hand, we never would have gone to that many table service meals or ordered all that food if we hadn't been on the plan. If I went without the meal plan, I would pay out of pocket for Le Cellier, Chef Mickey's and Whispering Canyon (we loved the fun atmosphere there). Otherwise, we would have survived fine and less expensively on snacks and counter service meals.
I'm glad we tried the Dining Plan for this trip. We probably won't be back for several years and if the Dining Plan is still available, I doubt we'll do it (unless it's free). So what restaurant will I stay away from in the future? Drumroll please........Planet Hollywood, of course. All I can say is ewww. I mean, who puts chunks of jack cheese in a Cobb Salad instead of blue cheese crumbles? And who (supposedly) pre-cuts their club sandwich bread into little triangles? And who hires a waiter who is either stupid or clueless enough to tell a customer that? OK, rant over! Hope you enjoyed my little report!
Just kidding.)
It amazes me sometimes what waiters do. We went to a local Mexican place last night and my DH and I both ordered a combo that contained a chalupa. They came with no guacamole! I asked about it and the waitress said they were out, but she'd give me double next time. Sorry, no next time! If you are out of a major ingredient, let me know so I can order something else! Oh well, even waitstaff are entitled to an off day I guess! Thanks for your thoughts, we're using the 
