Just curious.. How many people get the dinning plan when they camp?

[mnsprk]

Yes and no. Just depends on how we feel. August 09 we used the regular, in February we did CS. When we're there for Halloween we aren't using it.

 

[clkelley]

The Dining Plan doesn't work for us when we stay at the Fort.

We have VERY loose schedules at the Fort. We sleep in, then we usually have a VERY late breakfast at Trails End (like 11:00am), then back to the camper for naps and looping and chilling, then out for a sit down dinner about 8ish, then off to night time EMH, or to somebody's campsite for chillin, loopin and drinkin.

Very little park time, two sit down meals a day. Tables in Wonderland works better for us.

 

[BradyBz12]

By the way, what is "TiW" that everyone seems to be talking about?

Tables in Wonderland. It's a discount card available to FL residents and AP holders that gets you 20% off food and drink (incl. alcohol) at most TS locations and some CS. IIRC, it costs $100 for FL res and $75 for AP holders and is good for a year (sometimes a bit longer depending on when you buy it).

We use ours over 2 trips (6 weeks total) but it usually pays for itself the first week. Sometimes the first MEAL - especially if it's at the Calif. Grill.

And yeah, all buffets are considered TS on DDP.

 

[amylevan]

We eat breakfast in the camper, usually have counter service lunch and table service dinner. So by definition, the dining plan would work for us.

Having said that, I ran the numbers once (back when it included appetizers...) and it just didn't save us any money. And since it didn't save us any money, we opted to not get it, so that if we changed our mind on eating out a meal, we weren't wasting credits.

 

[ambertides]

I would have bought the DP by now, but we usually have annual passes and I'm not sure if you can buy the DP without park tickets?

Yep, you can buy it. If you go to the passholder site, then "passholder offers" it's down at the bottom.

 

[welovetocamp]

We like the DP we have 3 kids one 4 (we pay for it for him) but the others are under 2 so they eat free. We live in FL so we do the parks often, on our vacation we like to eat at the different character rest. and I think that is where you would save the most money. I do wish you did not have to purchase park tickets though b/c we have friends who get us in most of the time and I really wish you could do the plan for 1/2 your trip instead of the entire one. I guess that is how they make there money though

 

[jonimce]

This will be our first trip NOT doing the dining plan. It was once a great deal but each time we do it they cut more and more off. I don't really think it's worth it now. No longer apps. or salad and I'd rather the choice than dessert every night. Even the two counter service meals aren't worth it. Unless you order the most expensive thing every meal. Back in 2001 we managed to spread the two meals to 3 each day and still it was too much food. Of course the cost was more.

 

[YodaGirl]

Back in 06, my parents used the dining plan and it worked well for us. Of course, that was the dining plan for 2 people with 3-4 people eating off of it (DH and I were at a separate campsite w/o the dining plan).

Unfotunately, the dining plan has changed since then, and unless it was free, I doubt that we would use it. Monetarily speaking, it just doesn't seem worth it.

 

[Danibelle]

I have never used DDP. Too much money and too many desserts! We don't eat that many TS meals.

 

[gillenkl]

I love the dining plan and have gotten it once at the Fort - now I just cook breakfast, we eat one meal counter service, and one meal is usually a frozen dinner (we stop at Winn-Dixie on the way to the Fort and stock up on these and put them in our small freezer we bring with us - of course, that means we have to bring the microwave too).

 

[HS3kids]

We're staying in the cabins and have the dining plan for the first time. (not free, we are part of black out dates, figures) For us (me, dh,dd17,ds10,dd4) it made sense, especially because we have reservations for a lot of character meals. Doing what we can to maximize the plan. We shall say how it turns out though.

6 days to go!

 

[Violet Parr]

We fly and stay in tents, so we have limited luggage limits for all of our gear (and yet we take two big Eureka tents, aerobeds, and all of our other stuff.)

DDP is the only way for us to go. It's a huge help.

 

[bxtx]

I heart DDP! I am a very busy mom of 4 boys aged 4 months to 9 years old. This is our main vacation and I would like a break from planning, buying, prepping, cooking, serving and cleaning up after our family EVERY day, 365 days of the year!

Where else can you eat out in nice restaurants with kids without being glared at? My sons have discovered a love of foods beyond their normal palate.

As for costs, I think its about the same if you eat out whilst here. In fact if you eat out all the time, its cheaper.... and DH hates opening his wallet even if I had all the money there in dollar bills in an envelope. This is like 'prepaid' a la all inclusive!!

 

[Brocktoon]

We did the DDP in '06, '07, and '09 all during the F&W Fest. Part of the WDW fun is trying all the restaurants and not having to cook. The RV's fridge is for my beer, not for food. We typically ate an early CS lunch around 11-11:30 when the places opened and were not crowded, and then used our TS for dinner. With great CS options in the WL and Contemp, it worked out great. The snack credits were also a good fit when used at the F&W kiosks.

2006 and '07 were excellent. That being said ... like others have mentioned we encountered the new DDP in '09 with no appetizer and tip not included. It also seemed like the food service, selection, and quality had gone down since '07. We were a captive audience with the DDP, and it seemed like Disney didn't care. Tentitively planning another trip down for F&W in 2011, and I think we're going to try without the DDP this time to see how it works out.

 

[Luv2Camp]

We used the DDP in '08 and '10, and I think we made out ok on it...Just ok, though. We're not planning on using it next time. When we got home in June, I crunched the numbers, and we broke even before dessert. The thing is, I probably wouldn't have wanted dessert 90% of the time anyways - I like to get something sweet in-between meals, not right after a heavy meal. Also, we ran out of TS meals too fast and had to use up the CS meals. I know there's a plan higher than the the CS/TS one, but I don't think we'd ever eat enough to make up the cost of that! I'm going to keep track of our dining on our next trip to see if it would have been better on the plan. It'll be interesting since my DH is all for the plan, and I think it will be better to pay out of pocket!

 

[nana2tots]

I toatally agree with you, even though we are camping, this is my vacation and i cook 7 days a week, so i don't want to cook at Disney, so we are getting meals for 6 when we go in June, yes wish it was Free Dining, but nope. The only thing i hate is i have to purchase dining for the 8 days we will be there, even though i only purchased a 4 day park tix, so even if i wanted to cook i couldn't unless i wanted to cook the entire vacation, so i said nope, rather spend that extra money on food.