MYW with Dining Plan

[imatoad]

Is the dining plan worth the extra money, and is it easy to use? I'm thinking about adding it to our 6nt/7day Poly stay in Oct., it seems to be a nice convenience. Pro's and con's requested. Oh, it's two adults, no kids.

 

[WDWDennis]

Funny you should ask, I was JUST searching for this! I look forward to hearing comments!

 

[mpbs]

Me too!

 

[Catrin]

I think for two adults, it is definately worth it.

You will be able to dine at restaurants you would not otherwise try....
You will be able to eat appetisers and desserts that you might not otherwise get....
You will never go hungry.....

THe 70.00 a day for the two of you would be a bargain... especially if you decide to dine at a few of the nicer restaurants at WDW.

I liked the dining plan, and would do it again if it was DH and I. I went with just our 10 yr old, and it was a lot of food for him - and his simple taste.. was still worth it, but we didn't "save" as much as others.
Catrin

 

[imatoad]

So, as it is explained, you get one table service meal, a counter service meal, and a snack, each day of your stay. However, you can trade in two table service meals for one deluxe restaurant, like Jiko, is that correct? Do you get a seperate ID card for the dining plan? And you can still make PS's on the plan, right?

 

[MomofKatie]

OK, I'll tackle this- we will be using the Dining plan this Fall. We had planned to pay for it, but then the Free offer came out. So, I had researched the Plan pretty thoroughly.

PROS:
-prepay for your meals. Easy to budget since $35/day per person.
-cost will very likely be lower than paying as you go.
-wide variety of restaurants to choose from.
-lots of food- you definitely WON'T go hungry on the plan.
-flexibility. The meal credits are all pooled together on your room key card. You can use them in whatever order you want. Have 3 TS meals in one day if you want! Have nothing but snacks one day!

CONS:
- having to decide way ahead of time where you want to eat, and calling to make ARs.
- not EVERY restaurant is covered- most DTD TS places, and Rainforest Cafe at AK aren't on the plan- neither is V&A.
- Signature restaurants cost 2 credits each- if you want to eat at lots of them, you will not get a lot of meals.
- if you don't like to ever eat CS, or ever eat TS, the plan might not be for you.


These are the pros/cons I came up with- I'm sure there are others, too. Hope this helps a bit with your decision.

 

[imatoad]

Oh one more question, are you limited to your choices on the menu at either the table service, or Signature restaurants? Is it an appetizer, main course, and dessert of your choice?

 

[Minnie1156]

:thewave: :thewave: :thewave: You can order off the regular menu, anything you want for appetizer, entree and dessert.

I am going in a week and a half and using the plan with my DH, DD(18) and DS(23). You can not eat in disney for less then $35 a day per person unless it is all fast food. I definitely think it is worth it. My DH just said he talked to someone who just came back and they said it was a lot of food for the money.!!!!



Almost in single digits

 

[MomofKatie]

Oh one more question, are you limited to your choices on the menu at either the table service, or Signature restaurants? Is it an appetizer, main course, and dessert of your choice?

You are allowed to order anything off the menus. Some restaurants even have 'add-ons' like shrimp skewers or lobster tails that you can get at no extra cost. The only things I could think of that would be limited are the appetizer platters for two at certain restaurants, and there is a surcharge for entrees over a certain $$ amt at Wolfgang Pucks and Planet Hollywood (both at DTD).

 

[momto2inKC]

Is the dining plan worth the extra money, and is it easy to use? I'm thinking about adding it to our 6nt/7day Poly stay in Oct., it seems to be a nice convenience. Pro's and con's requested. Oh, it's two adults, no kids.

We used the dining plan in May and it was so worth it for us. We had 2 adults, 8 yr old, and 6 yr old. It was very easy to use and all the CM's knew what to do. We made sure to tell them before we ordered that we were on it.
I did a dining report after our trip and tallied up actual cost vs. what we paid ($90 a day) and we saved hundreds of dollars. I believe it was around $400, but can't remember exactly.
We loved having all of our meals prepaid and loved the fact that the tip was included.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

We recently went for 10 days with the dining plan (1 adult/3 children) and even though we paid for it (not free LOL) and even though the oldest child was charged as adult price yet still young enough to eat off the child menu at the restaurant (obviously pre-age changes they made recently)... it was still so worth it. You will not go hungry and in fact, if you are like us... you have to actually work to use all your credits. Especially the CS and snacks, because the TS we did were mostly buffets (character meals and such) and we were already stuffed from those! LOL

 

[momto2inKC]

We recently went for 10 days with the dining plan (1 adult/3 children) and even though we paid for it (not free LOL) and even though the oldest child was charged as adult price yet still young enough to eat off the child menu at the restaurant (obviously pre-age changes they made recently)... it was still so worth it. You will not go hungry and in fact, if you are like us... you have to actually work to use all your credits. Especially the CS and snacks, because the TS we did were mostly buffets (character meals and such) and we were already stuffed from those! LOL

I agree, you get soooo much food! We thought we'd still be buying stuff beforehand, but once we got there we only spent maybe $20 on extra drinks/snacks. We tended to share some of the counter service meals, those burgers are huge! lol We had the dining plan for 5 days, but the credits actually lasted us 6 days.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

We didn't spend a PENNY on any food/drinks while there- and in fact we didn't even touch the "snack" type food I'd brought with us just in case we needed snacks while there or on the flight back/etc. In fact, in order to use all our credits- we had quite a few CS and snack ones left on the last day- I used them on things at the food court for us to eat on the flight home and some even made it home with us! (used the CS meals on sandwiches, the snack or sandwich "boxes" for the kids, and drinks). I wonder how many people leave (when using the dining plan) with credits for some still left on their account? I imagine it might be quite a few- since I had to work so hard to use all ours. We just aren't huge eaters I guess- and the TS meals (even if they weren't buffets but ofcourse with appetizer and desserts are big meals) kept us so full!

I still remember our last full day (not the day we were leaving) - I had 2 TS planned that day and after we ate the breakfast buffet about 10:30am.... it was later in the evening and closing in on our PS time for dinner and I told the kids we'd be eating soon- I had 3 kids in unison saying "I'm not hungry!" LOL I had NO problems with "hungry" kids at all with the dining plan. Nada. LOL

 

[eddieras]

You are allowed to order anything off the menus. Some restaurants even have 'add-ons' like shrimp skewers or lobster tails that you can get at no extra cost.

not sure if this is still true-- we were there in May and i tried to order the Filet Mignon add on for my lobster tail and they wouldn't do it. the cm told me they used to but had recently stopped it. still a great deal --

i feel it's extremely worth it- our plan cost $450 - and i tracked what we would have spent-- close to $800 if we paid! even if you knock off some of the desserts or apps (it is a lot of food) we still would have come out way ahead! i loved not having to worry about anything!

 

[maxaroni]

having to decide way ahead of time where you want to eat, and calling to make ARs.

I wouldn't say this was a con...if any TS's are wanted, on the plan or not, one should make an AR.

Anyway, DH thought I was nuts, trying to get this all figured out....what restaurants to begin with but what restaurants, which nite, due to what we were doing that day. We did a very loose plan and figured that we are going to head back to the resort for a swim, mid day. Therefore, with park hoppers, we'll just make things work.