My 2 cents worth on Dining plan

[shellynn24]

We went in Oct. It was my friend Amanda, my DS 4 and Me. We ate sooooo much! I didn't stuff myself uncomfortably, but we were on vavcation after all. We made a game out of it, how high could we make the bill. It was fun, we got over $100 a few times. My DD 18 mo and Amanda's DS 6 mo ate as much as they could from all our plates. Overall, the dinning plan is an awesome deal. We still laugh about when we would have to force ourselves to go eat another meal!

 

[Redmic]

I totally agree with the original poster. I wonder how many people ordering the dining plan have actually been to Disney before and seen the portion sizes. They are huge! There is not one member of my family who could eat a Disney-sized appetizer, entree, and dessert at one sitting without becoming ill.

We have done the Disney cruise twice and enjoyed the multicourse servings there, but the portions are much smaller. If the parks had something like that I'd go for it, but for us we'll pay OOP and use the savings for other things.

 

[deelam]

I did book the dining. It's going to be allot of food. And with the kids I think allot of waste. However, I plan to get our deserts to go and we will eat them for breakfast the next morning. I may also save some counter service credits for sandwiches to go on our last day. It will be nice to have the freedom of not having to pay for food.
I better start my diet now because I think I'm going to add a few pound on this trip.

 

[patsal]

I guess your experiences were different than mine, no one cared if we didn't order as much as we were allowed. We found the food amounts to only be excessive on rare occasion. For us as long as it is breakeven I'm feeling like the plan is "worth it". I enjoy not having to look at the prices on the menu, but just ordering. Often salads were used as the apps. for us, so the calories were not over the top and many restaurants have low calorie/diabetic friendly desserts that are tasty but lower in calories. With a 14 yo the food selections can really vary--somedays he wants chicken planks and others he'd liek filet--based on that I dont' want to be stuck ordering a salad because DS wants to enjoy a large meal in order to stay on budget.
I guess it all depends on your own eating habits. We like one TS per day on vacation and we eat breakfast int eh Villa unless we have a character breakfast planned. CS just lends us more flexibility, and the kids having their meals on their cards without my having to give them charging privs. helps me to allow them some freedom. I suppose value is an individual thing--none of us are all the same with the same habits (thank goodness) so what works for some may not be so good for others.

 

[themudd4]

I totally agree with the original poster. I wonder how many people ordering the dining plan have actually been to Disney before and seen the portion sizes. They are huge! There is not one member of my family who could eat a Disney-sized appetizer, entree, and dessert at one sitting without becoming ill.

We have done the Disney cruise twice and enjoyed the multicourse servings there, but the portions are much smaller. If the parks had something like that I'd go for it, but for us we'll pay OOP and use the savings for other things.

I have been to Disney before...a few times. We have never used the DP until now. We are doing the same meals we would have done anyway, and I am figuring I will save about $300 over the 7 night stay. We want good (decent) food and we want the characters too...so for us this is a win win.

If the portions were smaller, then you would have another thread were people were complaining that they were not getting enough food for their money. I would rather have to much food and no I got what I paid for than to pay for dinner and walk away still hungry!

From everything I have read, you can take your dessert back to the resort with you...plan that for a midnight snack. Just don't get the ice cream...it will never make it.

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

For us, the dining plan would be a huge waste of money. My dd(7) and dd(5) are VERY picky eaters and eat very small portions so the majority of our trip for them will be pizza, spaghetti, and McD's. We are going to have groceries delivered to our room for our breakfast items and snacks. We only have 3 ADRs planned for CRT, CP, and CG. My dd(5) doesn't do well after about 45 minutes in a restaurant so we plan to do alot of counter service and carry-out. We also don't like to plan out all the meals so we can just eat whatever looks good in whatever park we are in that day. And if the weather is hot , we tend to drink more fluids and eat less food.

BTW-I am also of the "clean plate" club and feel bad when I waste food---which is a whole Dr Phil show in itself

 

[Gillian]

Thank you for posting your experiences!

We have the dining plan booked for late april and think it will work well for our family of 2 adults, 1 child (5), and an "infant" (age 2). Our 2 year old eats as much as the 5 year old, and is not on the plan, but it sounds like there will be enough food for all of us, and maybe too much.

 

[goodeats]

In 2002 we were on the Discovery Magic Plan (pre-cursor to the Silver plan), which included 'wishes' for meals. And I remember the waiters pushing me to order everything that was covered. I don't really drink soda very often, so I would usually pass on the cold non-alcoholic beverage. I also remember a lot of leftover food. But I did like that I could have two sit-down meals a day. I enjoy having a big breakfast and a mid-day snack followed by a nice dinner. This plan was more practical for me, and I'd be more willing to use it instead.

In Dec '05 we were not on the dining plan and I think it was a good choice. For one meal we had the CP package for dinner and we almost made ourselves sick. Generally we'll either get salads or split an appetizer and split dessert too. And I know we would never use all the counter service credits. If it were 'free' (knowing that it's not really free), I'd probably go for it and try to make it work for us and not worry about wasting credits.

 

[kmkja1]

Our family has five light eaters, one of them is my DD10. I think the DP would be a huge waste for us. I plan on setting aside $1,224, what it would cost us for the DP, for food. That way I will still feel that our meals are already paid for. I am sure that at the end of our trip we will have alot of that left over. I plan on eating where and what we want but we can get by with alot less food than what they give you on the DP.