No Dining Plan

[oldhag]

I NEED WORDS of ENCOURAGEMENT. This year will be the 1st time we're going to Disney without a dining plan - please tell me we're not making a mistake. Last year we took the regular dining plan and still thought it was too much food.

 

[B-Ride]

Absolutely not. If you thought it was too much food then it makes sense to try it without the plan.

 

[MelissathePooh]

No mistake at all...just think of the freedom! Order what you want or don't order what you don't (crappy cs deserts).

Disney does tend to price things OOP where financially the DDP often makes more sense, but it just depends on how much you eat.

Personally I think you'll be fine, but I'm not much of DDP fan to begin with - even though we buy it on occasion.

 

[Pakey]

We've been plan free for a long time now. You will be just fine. Better than fine.

 

[pumba]

We also thought it was way to much food for us......Plus it was so restrictive on where we had to be and a certain time too.
We Do make a few reservations but the majority is what we want at a given time....
We also have our TIW card and use that to get our discount.......
Hope you enjoy your vacation

 

[j&j620]

You'll be just fine!

Seriously, the only reason we're doing it for our upcoming trip is because we want to eat at a bunch of signatures. I'm worried, though, about feeling like I have to order a dessert all the time! I totally know what you mean about the amount of food. I'm usually fine with just a kid's meal or something that would be a snack credit for breakfast/lunch!

 

[eeyore81]

We are going in April and it will be our first time in a long time without the dining plan. We also thought the dining plan was too much food. We never ate our snacks and we are not dessert people. I too was a little hesitant about not having the dining plan, but now I am excited about going and just eating what we want.

 

[sharona]

I was on the fence about getting the plan until I read about all the changes since we were last there in 2008. Restricted menu choices, the new deluxe restaurant classifications, tipping not included... They took all the easy out of it!

I think we'll about break even price-wise if we pay OOP and probably eat a bit less (not a bad thing for me!). It will also be less stressful to just make a couple of dinner and lunch reservations for the week and play the rest by ear. If we spend a bit more than the DDP would have cost, I'm ok with that.

Of course if there were free dining being offered during my dates, I would be all over it

 

[mainegal]

Good decision not to do the DDP!

I did it for the first time for a week in December.
Maybe I came out a little ahead with the DP, but only because I had more food in front of me than if I was paying cash.

If I was paying cash, I would not have a soda two meals a day, I would more often drink water. I would not have a desert at counter service lunches. I would have not taken the time to do a table service every day. And I would not have bought six pieces of candy to use up my snack credits!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

You also don't need to worry about making ADR's 180 days in advance for everyday of your trip and not having to worry about wasting any of your dining credits.

 

[drew64]

You also don't need to worry about making ADR's 180 days in advance for everyday of your trip and not having to worry about wasting any of your dining credits.

I wouldn't skimp on the ADRs. Very few walkins these days regardless of how you are paying.


OP- Just back from 10 days with no DP and no issues at all. We prefer no plan as often we get apps but no dessert, etc.

Stil lmake all my ADRs 180+10 days out though.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I wouldn't skimp on the ADRs. Very few walkins these days regardless of how you are paying.

Well the OP can still make ADR's. What I meant was if she didn't call at 180 days it's not the end of the world, because when your not on the Dining Plan there is less preasure to make them for everyday you are at WDW. That's what I meant by not worrying about their credits and letting them go to waste if they couldn't get an ADR.

 

[DonaldTDuck]

I was on the fence about getting the plan until I read about all the changes since we were last there in 2008. Restricted menu choices, the new deluxe restaurant classifications, tipping not included... They took all the easy out of it!

There are no restricted menus. If it's on the menu, you can order it. The only new 2 credit restaurant is Le Cel at dinner, and tipping has not been included since 2006.

 

[fla4fun]

I wouldn't skimp on the ADRs. Very few walkins these days regardless of how you are paying.

That's always assuming they want to eat a lot of TS meals. Don't forget you can book last minute ADR's - I've found that you can usually find something decent just a few days out. I had booked a solo trip for early December 2010 (Pop Warner week) with no ADR's and then ended up taking family along and booking ADR's a week out. I got everything I wanted - Le Cellier included. When you don't have the dining plan, there's not so much pressure to make ADR's - you try, and if you don't get something, you just move on to plan B.

Going without the dining plan gives you the freedom to be more spontaneous, and that typically means more CS dining because you're only eating when you're actually hungry, instead of eating because the clock says it's time to. There are a lot more CS options than there used to be, so it's not all burgers and fries. I can be there more than a week and not have the same CS meal twice, due to the wider variety of options.

If they go TS, they will have the freedom to split meals any way they like. They can go in and just order appetizers for a light meal (which I have been known to do and which aren't on the DP any longer). I like an app/dessert meal, because if I eat an entree, I never have room for dessert.


I'm checking in for 10 days on Tuesday, and have one ADR booked. I'll either eat in my villa or I'll eat CS the rest of the time. I've never used the dining plan because I don't spend as much on food as the plan costs, and as a solo traveler, a good discount code typically beats free dining hands down. I prefer the spontaneity of just stopping for a quick bite when I'm actually hungry instead of planning my day around having to be at a certain place at a certain time, and I don't feel the pressure of "use it or lose it".

 

[goofydad621]

Not a bad idea at all, I started a similar thread a few days ago. We find it to much food, to hard to plan months out, and restrictive as far as time constraints go. Been to WDW going on 26 times had dinning plan maybe 4-5 times, have i enjoyed it? YES but I also felt we would be better with out it allot of the times. The biggest advantage for us is that we had a good part of our vacation expense pre-paid so we did not have to woory about our budget as much once we were there.

Go enjoy yourself, eat what you want, WHEN you want.

Goofydad

 

[Metsoskil]

If saving money, having more choices, and eating less/healthier are bad things, then you made a mistake. Otherwise, go and enjoy. Once you go sans dining plan, you probably won't go back to it.

It only really saves you significant money if you use all of the credits, don't go to signature restaurants, eat the most expensive things on the menu, and routinely eat 2 desserts a day.

 

[bicker]

Yeah, I can't think of any downsides of not doing the Dining Plan. It seems that, these days, the Dining Plan is priced based on the value you get from not having to feel guilty (?) about each dollar you spend on dining - you spend it all up-front, and I guess get rid of all the guilt then. Personally, I can look at the dollar-amount of the Dining Plan, and not worry one bit about what I spend on dining without the Dining Plan until my spending on dining exceeds how much the Dining Plan would have cost. That hasn't failed me yet, in my last three visits.

To be fair, though, we do buy the Tables in Wonderland card. That helps.

 

[amy-momofthree]

We are on our way back home today

We did not do the DP and it worked out great! We packed our own water, Gatorade and juice boxes and drank those during the day. We also brought in snacks so we didn't get tempted with the $4 ice creams .

If traveling with kids, I suggest bringing your own cookies, brownies, something sweet so they don't want those pricey desserts

 

[oldhag]

I feel so much better after all your help.

 

[supersuperwendy]

We are heading down in less then 2 weeks and are skipping the DDP. We have been getting the dining plan since 2007. This trip is just DH and I, no kids. We made some nice ADRs and will pay OOP. The DDP has gotten so expensive for what you get. Back when it included gratuity and appetizers it was GREAT!