No dining plan.......

[Nikki906]

Hi everyone,
I finally booked ****** for August at the Poly CL it me, DH, and my 4 girls ages 8,8,4,4. But this will be the first time we are not on a dining plan because we weren't allowed to get it on this deal. Any tips for not being on the dining plan or does anyone know a way to add it once we get there? TIA
Nicole

(edited by moderator to remove information that may not be posted on this board)

 

[Disneylover99]

- Take advantage of your Club level food
- Avoid character meals
- Order kids meals
- Share meals
- Try some of the cheaper TS restaurants like Sci Fi or the Plaza
- ask for ice water at the parks instead of purchasing drinks

Have fun at the Poly!

 

[aaarcher86]

You cannot add it once you get there.

 

[tinkerbella16]

We also got *******, but for September and cannot get or add the ddp. It wasn't a huge deal for us, since we didn't want to be tied down to adrs every day of the trip. But we are booking 4 ADR's for our 8 day stay and we have been buying disney giftcards at Sam's Club and Target, and we are using giftcards to pay for all of our food for the week. We are eating at Cape May for breakfast, Akershus for breakfast, and Garden Grill for dinner - they are pricey, but using the giftcards will be great. We are also doing Hoop Dee Doo, but that will be paid for when I make our adrs next Monday. So the 3 TS and all of our QS for the week will be covered, without having to dish out money when we are there. All the giftcards I have for myself in the end, I will merge to 1 card on disneygiftcard.com and will do the same for my sister and her DH and my parents. We will each have 1 card for food and another for spending on souvenirs and things.

Having CL will be great for you. Definitely take advantage of the offerings there.

(edited by moderator to remove information that may not be posted on this board)

 

[rcraw45425]

Do you have a regular CL room? They only sleep 5 and unless you had a typo you have 6 over the age of 2

 

[Nikki906]

Do you have a regular CL room? They only sleep 5 and unless you had a typo you have 6 over the age of 2

I am also traveling with my mom so 2 of my kids will be in her room

 

[Nikki906]

We also got the ******, but for September and cannot get or add the ddp. It wasn't a huge deal for us, since we didn't want to be tied down to adrs every day of the trip. But we are booking 4 ADR's for our 8 day stay and we have been buying disney giftcards at Sam's Club and Target, and we are using giftcards to pay for all of our food for the week. We are eating at Cape May for breakfast, Akershus for breakfast, and Garden Grill for dinner - they are pricey, but using the giftcards will be great. We are also doing Hoop Dee Doo, but that will be paid for when I make our adrs next Monday. So the 3 TS and all of our QS for the week will be covered, without having to dish out money when we are there. All the giftcards I have for myself in the end, I will merge to 1 card on disneygiftcard.com and will do the same for my sister and her DH and my parents. We will each have 1 card for food and another for spending on souvenirs and things.

Having CL will be great for you. Definitely take advantage of the offerings there.

(edited by moderator to remove information that may not be posted on this board)

Thanks the gift card is a good idea

 

[rcraw45425]

I am also traveling with my mom so 2 of my kids will be in her room

that makes sense. You'll love the CL lounge there. The CMs are super nice and the ones we experienced seemed to go out of their way. They no longer have bottles of water for you to take to your room, if you need filtered water ask and they will get you carafe from the back and cover it with saran wrap. This was a life saver for me, we kept one in the fridge all the time.

 

[BabyFu18]

We also booked the same deal and cannot add the DDP, it's not a huge deal for us though. I think buying giftcards to pay for meals is a great idea, anything leftover can either be used for souvenirs or saved for your next trip!

 

[suse66]

We did CL at the Beach Club last March and just paid OOP for our lunches/dinners. Most days we did breakfast in CL lounge which had many things to offer. We usually had a table service lunch and then a lighter dinner with CL offerings and picking up a few things for the boys. It worked really well for us and we are actually doing OOP again for our trip in March, even though we are not staying CL. We find the DDP doesn't really suit the way we eat. Hope you have a wonderful vacation!

 

[rcraw45425]

Also not a fan of the DDP. My family has done it two times and we find that we have way too much food. As a rule we don't eat desserts with lunch and dinner. Hubby and I will usually share something while at WDW or I'll share with one of our (now grown) daughters. For my trip coming up with my youngest daughter we will be sharing most of our meals.

 

[Kevin355]

Wife and I are going to take a cab to Winn Dixie, Publix, or Wal-mart...getting some bread, peanut butter and jelly, lunch meat, apples and bananas, granola bars, and bottled water and juice, and maybe doing 1-2 meals for the week. Saving aobut $600 by not doing QS meals and snacks, and bringing our own water bottles to the parks.

 

[wed100105]

I wouldn't worry about not having the ddp on this trip. We're not coming out that much ahead by having it; the days of saving 10-30% with the ddp (without majorly changing your plans/food selections are mostly over. When we don't get the ddp, we each pick one TS restaurant and we pay for them out-of-pocket and then eat CS, snacks, and back in our room (pizza takeout, Qdoba take-out, etc.) the rest of the time. With CL offerings, I think you'll be really satisfied.

 

[Mainemama]

You will love CL! Know that your breakfast and dinner needs can be met in the lounge. Your best value would be to do lunches at table service, then use the apps in the lounge as a light dinner.

 

[rcraw45425]

Now I'm sitting here craving the Poly CL's hummus!

 

[Luvamouse]

In 6 trips since the dining plan was established, we've never used it. My girls were big enough as well not to get by on light meals. After spending WAY too much time hypothesizing what we might get for value using the Dining Plan for our first family trip, I chose not to and saved every slip to add up/compare against the bill. We used our room key (now the Magic Band) and charged very single item to the room. For our first, 10 day trip staying at the Poly, we spent significantly less than the DDP, AND the bill totals included about 6 beers and all of our tips. We never went hungry and ate what and when we chose, including 7 Table Service meals that trip. We also felt the DDP as too much food for us, and charging everything to the room is super convenient and we never had to worry about what was/wasn't on the plan. Just because I'm a numbers person, I've done the same thing for each subsequent trip and we always come out under the DDP cost for all our food. My kids had charging privileges and seeing all the single drink and popcorn charges scared me at first, but we always come out ahead this way. We've done much better taking advantage of the room discounts when it was free dining even. YMMV.

 

[monorailsilver]

I never do the dining plan because it works out cheaper for us not to (we are a family of 5) and that includes a maximum of 3 sit downs and buying our 5 mugs.

We don't stay CL so we just ship our breakfast down and eat it as that saves us a bundle. But for the rest of the meals minus the 2 or 3 I plan on non park days and I know which days we are not going to park because I can only tolerate 2 days in a row before I need a full day pool break of just lounging around. Anyways but the rest of the meals we just do QS which does not bother us and if we are in MK we decide where we are going to eat by what land we are in and we can wait for the next ride and not have to worry about getting to our ADR.

We generally know about where we are going to eat in each park for lunch or dinner so we try to head in that direction as meal time is approaching. Sometimes its just a whim. So stress free!

 

[gorjus121]

Are these pin code deals?

 

[Kevin355]

Are these pin code deals?

Just got my first ever PIN code...getting a King Size room and 6 days park hopper for just $1899.38. 20% off of room and Park tickets/hopper for free. Not bragging or anything..well, just a little.

 

[tarak]

I echo what others have said. Don't worry about the dining plan if you're staying CL. If you go to the budget board, there's a thread for how to save money buying Disney GC at target for a decent savings. Our last trip, I'd go to concierge every other day and apply our gift cards to the balance. It's a really common occurrence, and the CMs didn't even blink an eye at it. I just bought $200 in gift cards for about $182. Depending on how long you'll be at WDW, that sort of savings can really add up.

CL was great for us, especially when our kids were younger. Breakfast at the lounge, then heading out to the parks. They'd flag in the afternoon, so we'd go back to the room for a nap. Hit the lounge for appetizers, then go to the parks for a few more hours. Or just stay at the resort and swim, have roasted marshmallows, etc. We don't tend to eat many TS meals at this point, either, so the dining plan just doesn't make sense to us.