MYW With Dining

[FanOfStitch]

Just thought I would get others opinions on this.

With Disney having the free dining option recently, I know alot of people have changed/created vacations times to take advantage of this. I priced this out and it comes to approx. $30 per adult per day. If you were paying for this option, would you think it was a good deal?

 

[disneyfreak74]

I think so, because dinner runs an adult about $22-25. And that's just DINNER!! You still get a snack and lunch!!!!

 

[Hanover]

We booked a last minute trip (literally...on July 2nd close to midnight) just because of the free dining and great quote we got from DU (plus $49/each way South West fares). We have gone to Disney at least twice a year (this will be our 3rd this year) and have never done the dining plan and have spent WAY more than $35/adult and $9.99/child each day. Yesterday we made PS reservations for a character meal each night of our August vacation, (most were $22 to $26/adult) and still get lunch (entree, desert, beverage) and a snack (drink, fruit, popcorn or ice cream treat) each day per person. This price also includes taxes and tip. I really hope they offer the same great deal again soon.

 

[snowglobe girl]

We booked this package too. I had been planning to add dining on to our package this year for the first time anyway after my friend went in May and loved it - said it was well worth the money. Some fellow Disers suggested that I price what I would normally eat and compare it with the vacation package - which I did with the menus on allearsnet.com. It came out to well over $900 for the two of us for a week. The vacation package would have put it at $500, so it was a huge savings. Then when they offered it for free, we booked quickly even though it wasn't when we were planning to go. I can't wait to try it. I don't see how you can go wrong with it. My friend said it was more food that she could eat!

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

When we originally booked our next trip, we went with the meal plan for $90 a day for the four of us. Then, we got an e-mail code offering free dining so now we are not paying for it.

For us, it was a great deal since we always do a charater meal a day and spend way over $90 a day in food/snacks. I look at it as the price pays for itself in a sit down meal, then you get the counterservice and snack option for free.

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

We PAID for the dining plan for our trip in June. Loved it...it was an excellent value and we will be paying for it again in 2006. We ate about $900 in food and we paid $540 for the plan.

 

[TheRatPack]

I just had to comment on the tie die Mickey ear shirts....ADORABLE~

Did you do them yourselves?

 

[maxaroni]

We would have pd for the plan as we had it booked for our august trip. We then were able to capitlize on it being free. We felt it was a good deal, even if paying for it.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

At $35 per adult you get a sit down meal, a counter meal and a snack.

Short of pouring over every menu, determining what you want and adding it all up here's a quick way to think about it. Note pouring over every menu is more accurate, but also a ton more time consuming.

The key is your sit down meals.
In this example, suppose you're on a week's stay.
If you have alot of them and they are at dinner, stop. You'll be better off financially getting the plan most likely. Fill in your 1 or 2 days you weren't planning on a sit down dinner.dinner and be done.

If you don't have alot of them, and what 1 or 2 you do have are at breakfast. Stop. You'll do better financially off the plan. Not withstanding this, however, you still may elect to eat higher on the hog so to speak and do it anyway, changing your plans to take advantage of the plan.

Think of each adult sit down credit as $25 at a sit down place. If you are going to eat at a sit down place over $25 (including taxes and tip) you'll very likely get your money out of the plan that day. (you're not penalized at most places for going over $25. Some places, you can run your tab to $40 a person and it's all included. If you are not, you likely won't. Some places require two credits. At those you got your money's worth if you're over $50.

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

I just had to comment on the tie die Mickey ear shirts....ADORABLE~

Did you do them yourselves?

Thanks Yes we made them, but I cant take credit for the idea. I got the instructions from a post on the theme park strategies board They were very easy to make.

 

[bigbabyblues]

It depends on the family and the eating habits of that family. We budgeted $140 a day for food on our trip last fall, and for us, the dining plan is $80 a day (I think, 2 adults at $35/day and one child at $10/day), so it's cheaper for us. We will pay for one meal a day out of pocket (usually breakfast at the food court), but we don't mind that. There are a couple of "extra" sit-down meals we want to do, and we'll budget for those as well, but the dining plan is good for us.

 

[shaycamp21]

We initially booked in Jan for our Aug trip with the dining plan included. From reading all the posts it seemed like a good way of sampling the TS restaurants at a fraction of the price. It was so exciting to hear from our TA that we were going to get the dining plan for free (we just squeaked in as we're at WDW POFQ from Aug 21 --the day free dining starts--until Aug 30).

I guess if you really budgeted (looking up menus) and stuck to just counter service meals (and brought a lot of your own snacks) you could eat for less than the plan. I personally think that would be way too stressful and less fun. On the plan you can take advantage of character meals and eat at resorts other than your own. It's a personal choice...but I think the plan is well worth it.

 

[drcmk]

Thanks Yes we made them, but I cant take credit for the idea. I got the instructions from a post on the theme park strategies board They were very easy to make.

I am sorry to be off-topic, but ksjayhawfan, do you still have the link?

Thanks

 

[Rootskate]

We are paying for it for our trip next year. I think it will be great not to have to think about $ for food while we are there. Plus, we really like to have lunch at the sit down restaurants so I think this will work out great for us.

 

[Familyofsix]

It truely is a good deal for this bunch and I see us buying the plan in the future if for nothing else than for budgeting purposes.

Our example: Chef Mickey's for us would run $116.94 plus tax plus tip.
The cost of the plan for that day $135.00 and we still would
6 counter service meals and six snacks. THe six snacks and
six meals are worth much more than $18.06.

The future holds the dining plan for us. Just glad we got it for free this time.

 

[disneybride96]

Think of each adult sit down credit as $25 at a sit down place.If you are going to eat at a sit down place over $25 (including taxes and tip) you'll very likely get your money out of the plan that day. (you're not penalized at most places for going over $25. Some places, you can run your tab to $40 a person and it's all included.

So- is there a limit on the amount you can spend at a sit down dinner? I am so confused! We got the plan for our January trip. In past trips we were careful to book the latest possible lunch time so that our meal was less expensive. Now we can eat whenever we want!

 

[HaleyB]

No, there is no limit on the plan except for a few DTD places . You can order anything you want and run the bill up as high as you want

We are pretty conservative when we eat at a TS in WDW, and we still never manage to stay under $25 per adult. And the kids price is a fantastic value, we easily spent $10 on them at every sit down so it is like getting lunch for free for them.