Never done the DP before... Your Picks & Tips

[PixarGirl]

Hi- I just fell off the DisBoards turnip truck... I'm brand new to the site.

I have been reading the DDP posts (including FAQ section, stickies, etc.) and I had a few general questions that I hope someone could help me with...

- We were hoping to try some of the following places (below). Can you tell give me a thumbs up or thumbs down? Maybe your favorite thing on the menu (app, entre, dessert)? Any other places you recommend that we're missing? (We couldn't get LeCellier- it was booked the entire week of our stay)

- Also, we were hoping to try a lot of different places. We aren't "big eaters". My husband and our 4, 7, 13 yo kiddos and I often order a few appetizers to share at restaurants and that's filling enough. When we usually go to WDW, we order 2 adult meals and a kid's meal and my daughter (13) and I share. Will we be allowed to do that on the DP? We were hoping to do something like try the 50's PT Cafe for lunch- order 2 adult entres and then try maybe the Sci-Fi Dine in Theatre for dinner and do the same- adding the kid's meals here and there. Is that okay? (*I realize that we can't do this for buffet-type meals.)

- I read under the FAQ section that as of 1/1/07 the meal credits are separated into adult and children's portions. Has anyone found this hard to keep up with? If so, do you have tips on keeping "track"?

Our choices so far are:
Ohana's CB | Donald's CB | Cape May Cafe CB
Coral Reef | Tappanyaki | 50's PT | Sci-Fi

We are staying at POR, so we were considering Boatwrights... Anyone tried it?

Thank you so very much for your help! I'm looking forward to hearing your favorite places and menu items.

 

[Chris Rex]

One trick we did involved the Bakery in France. We were eating so much on the plan that we started sharing lunches... Thus leaving us with extra CS credits.
Another thing to note is that you'll be surprised at how valuable your snack credits become.
To save snack credits, and make good use of our 'extra' lunches, we would use a lunch credit at the Bakery and get two high-end snacks.
We would essentially get a 'pastry lunch' with a 'pastry dessert' and a drink, netting us two creme puffs and a water and still having snacks in our back pocket for later (So to speak).
We only discovered the ability to do this on the last day, but we're planning on doing it from the start this year. In all fairness, the snack credits may have been a bit more valuable last year since you could use them during the Food and Wine fest...

Anyway, Enjoy!

-Chris

 

[illiniowl]

PixarGirl - are you paying for DDP or are you getting it for free? If you're NOT getting it for free, it might not make a lot of sense for you, given that you say the 5 of you can often get by on 2 adult and 1 kids meals. DDP for your group would cost $139/day - would you normally spend that much per day on food? If you are getting it for free, ignore everything I just said and have a great time.

 

[farrfoo]

HI, I was new to this site as of 2 days ago aswell. Found everything I needed to know about DDP and everyone was very helpful. From what I gathered Chef Mickeys is a must. Lots of people suggested that to me and I made my ADR already. Good luck and happy planning

 

[LizinSTL]

Hi- I just fell off the DisBoards turnip truck... I'm brand new to the site.

I have been reading the DDP posts (including FAQ section, stickies, etc.) and I had a few general questions that I hope someone could help me with...

- We were hoping to try some of the following places (below). Can you tell give me a thumbs up or thumbs down? Maybe your favorite thing on the menu (app, entre, dessert)? Any other places you recommend that we're missing? (We couldn't get LeCellier- it was booked the entire week of our stay)

- Also, we were hoping to try a lot of different places. We aren't "big eaters". My husband and our 4, 7, 13 yo kiddos and I often order a few appetizers to share at restaurants and that's filling enough. When we usually go to WDW, we order 2 adult meals and a kid's meal and my daughter (13) and I share. Will we be allowed to do that on the DP? We were hoping to do something like try the 50's PT Cafe for lunch- order 2 adult entres and then try maybe the Sci-Fi Dine in Theatre for dinner and do the same- adding the kid's meals here and there. Is that okay? (*I realize that we can't do this for buffet-type meals.)

- I read under the FAQ section that as of 1/1/07 the meal credits are separated into adult and children's portions. Has anyone found this hard to keep up with? If so, do you have tips on keeping "track"?

Our choices so far are:
Ohana's CB | Donald's CB | Cape May Cafe CB
Coral Reef | Tappanyaki | 50's PT | Sci-Fi

We are staying at POR, so we were considering Boatwrights... Anyone tried it?

Thank you so very much for your help! I'm looking forward to hearing your favorite places and menu items.

Your 4 and 7 year olds should be able to share TS credits and you and your 13 yo should be able to share TS credits without any problems. TS credits are divided by A/C. As you said, you can't share at the character meals/buffets. So if you go to 50s PT at lunch, you should be able to order 2 adult meals and 1 kids meal. Then go to Sci Fi at dinner and order the same. You may end up paying OOP for some meals/entrees/apps, etc along the way when you add in extra TS meals but if you are ok with that, then have fun Just a note.....there's speculation that DDP guests won't be allowed to do this much longer. That it's currently up to individual CMs to allow/disallow sharing. Just ask and be prepared if they tell you no. Apparently there is wording the brochure that can prevent sharing of meals, even between members of the same party, if they choose to enforce it. My personal opinion is that they can't really force people to order and eat food. They'll end up with lots of irate parents because the child fell asleep at dinner time and was still charged for a meal or was nauseous from too many roller coaster rides and was still forced to "order" or something. While people can just allow the credit to be charged and not order the food, many won't do that. Then they'll get into the problems with "gifting" food to others again so as not to waste it..... so I don't think the ban on sharing will really pan out unless they really ban it for ALL guests.

As far as CS meals go, they are NOT separated by Adult/C credits. But you are expected to order child meals for your children with their credits. I suggest you get breakfasts for them and share with everyone and then share your lunch meals with your little ones. The kids CS breakfasts are really very generous at the resorts and have a lot more variety than the CS locations in the theme parks. Just browse the menus to see what is available or check it out the first day or two of your trip and see how it works for you.

 

[PixarGirl]

Your 4 and 7 year olds should be able to share TS credits and you and your 13 yo should be able to share TS credits without any problems. TS credits are divided by A/C. As you said, you can't share at the character meals/buffets. So if you go to 50s PT at lunch, you should be able to order 2 adult meals and 1 kids meal. Then go to Sci Fi at dinner and order the same. You may end up paying OOP for some meals/entrees/apps, etc along the way when you add in extra TS meals but if you are ok with that, then have fun Just a note.....there's speculation that DDP guests won't be allowed to do this much longer. That it's currently up to individual CMs to allow/disallow sharing. Just ask and be prepared if they tell you no. Apparently there is wording the brochure that can prevent sharing of meals, even between members of the same party, if they choose to enforce it.

Again, I'm new at this, but why Disney doesn't allow sharing on the DP? It sounds like sharing might be frowned upon, but I don't understand why.

This time around we're getting the free dining promotion, so it'll be nice to try it out while it's complimentary. If sharing isn't allowed then it sounds like (at least for our family) we might be better off skipping the plan next time around so we can order, eat and share as we like.

Thank you for your tips.

 

[The Sweetness]

Our choices so far are:
Ohana's CB | Donald's CB | Cape May Cafe CB
Coral Reef | Tappanyaki | 50's PT | Sci-Fi

First off, welcome to the DIS boards

Secondly, do you have ADR for these places already? (ressies)
You can and should book your ADR as close to 180 days in advance as possible. Teppanyaki is sceduled for a fairly long rehab, I think it is supposed to re open at the end of the summer (will it be open durring your vacation?)

Also I'll give you my opinion of Sci-fi (and keep in mind that it is just mine)
My fam did not like this place at all. It was so dark in there that we needed flashlights to read the menu We ordered burgers, shakes, fries, and rings. I have had just as good quality at Dennys, or Steak and Shake . The bill, however was NOT comparable to those places (we werent on the DDP). It also took forever to be served, and to get the bill
PT on the other hand, was great. Homestyle food, and a fun atmosphere. My family loved it, and DD15 has already asked if we can go back on our vaca in May/ June

ALSO~~~
Definitely keep track of your dining credits. Any time you use them (snack, CS, or TS) check your totals at the bottom of your recipt to see if they deducted the right amount. You really dont need to keep ALL of them. Just the one from the last time you used them, to check against for the next time, only to double check what was deducted. If there's a mistake, the front desk at your resort can fix it, but I think it would be easier to fix right there, where the mistake is made

HTH

 

[Katiebell]

Welcome PixarGirl

If you are getting the DDP for free, obviously it's worth it. If you are paying for it, and your family really are light eaters, then you might want to figure out if it's going to end up costing you money. For the three CB's you've chosen, everyone in the party has to pay full price no matter how much they eat, so the plan is definitely worth it for those days.

For the other days, it sounds like you are saying your DH would order his own meal, you and your DD13 would share one adult meal, and the 4 and 7 year old would share one kids' meal? If the beverages are refillable, then each would need to order their own beverage. I'm not sure if one kids' meal would be enough for two kids, even light eaters, if they are walking around the parks all day. And if you are able to order less than your total number of credits in one sitting, you need to have a plan for the remaining credits, or they will end up wasted at the end of your trip.

Typically, on vacation, DH and I like to have a nice sit down meal once a day. We usually share appetizer and dessert, and each order our own entree and beverage -- if the entree is really huge, then we might share that too. For us, it's about portion control, and getting to try a lot of new things (gotta leave room for dessert! ) We decided not to do this on the dining plan for a few reasons: the confusion about whether or not sharing is allowed; I emailed Disney and their answer was two adults may not share one meal on the plan although one could use a TS credit and the other could order OOP; we would spend a lot more OOP for extra items; we aren't planning any 2 TS meals and don't need to bank credits for them; we don't want to have to keep 2 meal reservations a day -- we like one, but that's enough ; we are doing Boma, the Fantasmic Package at MM's, and 3 CB's so can't share those meals anyway; I don't have to fight with DH about what we will share for dessert, because we'll each have our own

I think Liz has a very good idea about using the kids' CS credits for breakfasts and then sharing the adult CS meals for lunches. The best advice I saw on one of these threads was, "We will just order 2 adult CS meals, 2 kids' CS meals, put it all in the middle of the table, and start eating!" One other thought: it's our first trip to WDW, so we wanted to experience way more restaurants than we could fit into our schedule -- so, for example, we made an ADR for dessert only at Sci Fi, just so we can see what it's like inside and try their shakes We'll just pay OOP, and don't have to spend the time on a leisurely meal...

 

[LizinSTL]

Again, I'm new at this, but why Disney doesn't allow sharing on the DP? It sounds like sharing might be frowned upon, but I don't understand why.

This time around we're getting the free dining promotion, so it'll be nice to try it out while it's complimentary. If sharing isn't allowed then it sounds like (at least for our family) we might be better off skipping the plan next time around so we can order, eat and share as we like.

Thank you for your tips.

Honestly? I think it's really just speculation. I think that Disney doesn't really care that much. They haven't enforced it assuming it's adults sharing with adults and kids sharing with kids- especially since they sorted out the adult/children TS credit issue.

The DDP is a nice discount for guests who are well informed. It's NOT a good deal for people who don't spend time planning their vacation, researching what they purchased, etc. For as many Disboarders who carefully plan how each and every credit will be spent, there are guests who mistakenly believe that when they book a package that includes their hotel stay "in the park" with the dining plan that they can walk up to any restaurant at any time and get seated. Those folks are not getting the full value of the plan, and may actually be losing $ on it. There are also those who just get tired of waiting for ADRs and skip their TS meals. They lose the bulk of the value of the plan. Disney is obviously not losing money on the DDP or they'd have dropped it or raised the price more than a $1/pp!

I'd go hoping for the best but being prepared for the worst. If you go to 50s PT and they tell you that everyone needs to "spend" a TS credit, then either you choose to not order food at all (leave) or you all order and then cancel your dinner at sci-fi (or keep it for an OOP dessert later). But odds are, you'll be fine with what you plan to do.

 

[tlriv5]

If you are getting the plan for free then just go with it and enjoy yourselves. We planned our meals where our table service was definitly our biggest meal of the day. We have three girls 11, 8 and 8 and it was nice to not have to worry about the prices of the meals. We did share counter service meals and we all got our own table service meal. Snack credits were great for breakfast and snacks in between.

As far as your meals, we have eaten at Ohana's breakfast ~ very good and it was fun. Donald's Breakfastasaurus ~ there wasn't anything wrong with this place it just wasn't our favorite. It was our last meal of the week and I think we were just tired and we wished we had done a dinner instead. You do get to see Mickey, Pluto, Goofy and Donald. We also ate at 50's Prime time Cafe and it was nice. Coral Reef was really cool with the aquarium on one wall. The food was good too. Our favorite restaurant was the Whispering Canyon (we loved the big skillet meal) and it was a lot of fun. We also like Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends. It's a buffet and you can't share this (the food was good). Have fun, I'm jealous I want to go again this year, but we'll have to wait~

 

[lovesdumbo]

I've got to 2nd what tlriv5 said about Donald's CB it is just OK but we LOVE all 3 meals at Crystal Palace.

Have you looked at the menus for Sci Fi for both lunch & dinner? We love the atmosphere here but go for lunch and just pay OOP.

I went to Boatwrights last year and it was a nice meal. My DD was sick as we were checking in so my DH took her back to the room and & I stayed with my other 2 children and a friend. Even with that not so nice start we had a nice meal. We are planning dinner here our first night this year.

When are you going? We'll be on paid DDP 8/20 to 8/30.

 

[PixarGirl]

We're going September 21-29. I'm very excited- although I wished it were sooner.

I've enjoyed reading all the tips. From what I gather, Sci-Fi is great atmosphere, but maybe leaves something to be desired for food. I think we'll stop in for a dessert or an appetizer there, and not use a full TS credit. We have ressies for the 50's PT Cafe, so we'll let that be our fun meal at MGM. Other than that, we're looking forward to lunch at LeCellier, Ohana's BF and dinner at Coral Reef. I think I'm mostly excited about that one! My littlest loves Nemo, so I know he'll get a huge kick out of eating there with all the fish!

Nice to informally meet cha!