Our thoughts on the Dining Plan

[thelionqueen]

We were privvy to getting the dining plan free for our trip in Oct. 05' After having it once, we are hooked!

Honestly, for a family of 4, who likes to eat, this is the best deal Disney offers IMHO. I think that almost anyone who gets it can get a great deal from it.

True there is a lot of food, but it is so flexible that it allows you to allocate credits as you see fit. For example, my sons eat a very light breakfast, so we buy 1 meal OOP that they share (still food leftover). By doing that twice (costing $10.00 total) we were able to use those credits toward the Aloha Dinner show (costs 2 TS per person) although we never made it though.

At all character meals, kids are charged a TS which is perfect for us, as these meals are the only ones they actually eat enough at to qualify as eating.

In any event, see if it's right for you. If you're not big eaters or don't do any TS, then it may not work, but for us, it is a necessity!!!

edited to add...the CM's we encountered actually encouraged us to take the desserts with us. After 2 days of that and lots of uneaten desserts, we didn't take to go's anymore

 

[Dale-Not-Chip]

The biggest problem people have with the DP is they think it's going to be the cheapest way to eat at Disney.

It is not.

It is a Discount for those of us who want to Dine a certain way. And a way for people to try Finer Dining who normally couldn't afford it. Lastly It Guarantees to Disney that you won't eat off property.

It’s not for everybody. If you go to Disney and eat out of a backpack, split meals and eat like birds there is no point in even trying to figure out if the plan will work for you.

If you just have to eat everything on your plate you might want to skip it as well.
A word about wasting food. At a restaurant they preorder everything. They plan for the crowd by ordering extra in order to not have to tell a cust. that they are out of something. Weather you order it or not lots of food gets thrown away.



Wealthy people often always eat like the dining plan. They all get an app. The often get dessert. Granted At the very expensive restaurants the serving sizes are smaller but how much you eat is a matter of your will power. (goes back to waisting)


If you guys thing the Dining plan is a lot of food. We went on the premium plan. Holy cow. We did overdo it at first but then we got used to it and started just sampling apps. and desserts and was not afraid to waist.

 

[DisOrBust]

I have crunched this several times for our family with a 3,9,12yo. We are better off using DDE....although the plan is tempting BUT I don't want to be forced to eat dessert etc. I tried the vouchers once and found I ordered food I normally would not so it really didn't "save" me anything in the long run.


If it was more flexible with snacks, ie dole whips etc, it would be abetter value.

 

[MAGGIED]

Jamal I wondered the same thing about sharing a TS credit. My DD is allergic to many foods and is a vegetarian but she is 16 and an adult by Disney rules. My DS(13) eats everything and then some... My DD can order a childs portion and still have half of it left - so I would love to be able to share some meals with her and then let the growing boy eat some of hers. Last April we had to tell him he could only eat once an hour because he eats alot (tall and thin) - so it would still be our family using the credit - just don't know if this can be done without breaking to many rules????

 

[wright1baby]

We were at POR in June and my experience with the DDP is the reason DH wants to go back in November!! We had a great time and ate at every resteraunt we wanted to!! Is it a lot of food--absolutely! We burnt a lot calories walking arond WDW too! We shared meals (not buffets) a couple of times and also got some stuff to go! After dinner at Mama Melrose they even fixed all of our ice cream to go so we could take it to fantasmic with us. At POR on our day of departure we ate at Boatwrights to finish up some of our TS credits (DH is not a morning person-2nd shifter) they fixed his entire breakfast (including "appetizer"--fruit plate) to go so he could eat it before we hit the road! I found all of the CM's that we encountered while using the DDP were more than willing to help us use the plan to the most of it. Remember...they get tipped 15% of your total--the more you spend, the more they make. I also want to add that we ALWAYS tipped at least $5 above what the plan payed. All of service at least adequate and I usually tip 20% or more.
I have to say, we spent $700 for the DDP and totaled up our reciepts when we got home and we spent at least $1500 in dining credits!!!! Worth every penny!! Can't say enough good things about it--totally works for us!

 

[solferino]

For me it was more of the convenience of not having to look at the prices when ordering my food. My family is not rich and we do not usually spend a lot of money on eating out. I know that if I had to pay for everything at the time I would have been more stressed out about spending the money on the food and would not have enjoyed the TS resturants as much as I did. We loved the dining plan and I hope that the next time I can afford to go back to WDW (It might be 2 years before we can go back) that they still have the dining plan.

Ditto! It was really so much more relaxing knowing that the meals were paid for already and if we wanted to "splurge" we could and wouldn't negatively affect our budget. I'd definitely do the mealplan again.

 

[jeanadave]

I read this on another post and thought it was a great idea (and since it's only DH and me, I think this is what we'll do: split a CS for breakfast, split a CS for lunch, have a snack mid-afternoon and then have a great TS meal for dinner. Sound's like a plan!

 

[westjones]

I read this on another post and thought it was a great idea (and since it's only DH and me, I think this is what we'll do: split a CS for breakfast, split a CS for lunch, have a snack mid-afternoon and then have a great TS meal for dinner. Sound's like a plan!

That sounds like a great idea!
DJ

 

[lynninpa]

Like many posters have said, the value of the dining plan is different for each family.
In planning a new trip to WDW, my calculator has been humming away.
For our group, the dining plan is well worth it! Here's an example...
The dining plan will be a total of 249.92 per day for all of us.
VS one dinner OOP at Teppanyaki could cost 449.47!
We save 200.00 just on one dinner-PLUS have a CS and snack for everyone!

 

[MomofKatie]

The DP did give us LOTS of food- we did the sharing thing alot to cover all meals and avoid being overstuffed. For the 3 of us (me, DH, and DD7) we would get one CS breakfast platter and b'fast "dessert" and share. For lunch, we would get 2 CS meals and share again (we never had any problem ordering adult meals for CS). Then, for dinner, we would each use our own credits at buffet/all-you-can-eat places, or share 2 credits the menu restaurants. We saved enough TS credits this way to eat at Chef Mickey's on our last morning.

The DP was great for us- we didn't have to look at prices all week, and we ate very well- I estimate that we saved around $225, and we left 2 TS, 5 CS, and lots of snacks unused (long story- DH and DD got sick, and we didn't get to go to a TS dinner, and some CS lunches).

 

[LeesyUD]

The dining plan worked great for me and my bf! We got to try places that we would not have gone to before bc of the price! And I thought is was great eating on Disney property all week. We used to go off site to save money but now I don't feel like I need to do that. I do have a few suggestions about the plan: For those people that do not want to do a sit down everyday...do a signature or dinner show that are 2 credits...we went to California Grill and it was well worth. Then you can leave one day just to CS if you want. Also do not feel obligated to order anything you do not want. Like another poster said, food tends to get wasted whether you order or not.

 

[LisaInNc]

I think that the dining plan for families is a good indicator of how different we all are. Some like it, some love it, some hate it, some are indifferent. There isn't one answer except for the answer for you and your family.

For my family we always eat once a day in a sit down restaurant. We do breakfast in the room to save time. The dining plan was perfect for us. Since we sit down to eat once a day and I always get filet mignon if it's offered in was instant savings for us. I was able to try some appetizers and desserts that I would not normally because I either skip dessert or didn't want to waste my choice on something I wasn't sure I would like. Since there is so much food I felt more comfortable being more adventerous.

I had trouble using the counter service meals because I really dislike fast food and most of it is like fast food.

The savings on the dinners alone paid for the dining plan. If I didn't really use the counter service meals no big deal (I paid for a few for strangers)

I will always use the dining plan if it's offered. For my family it works.

My little sister is in Disney right now with 3 friends. They are 18-19 and their parents all helper pay for this trip. I lobbied heavily for the dining plan for them. They were on a budget when they got there and I didn't think that anyone except my sister would be able to imagine Disney prices. They also were booked into one sit down each night. So far two meals into it they have reported that they LOVE it. The absoulutely love being able to eat what they want and not worry about the menu prices. They love not having to budget that money and they love the freedom of ordering what they want. The boys especially like it because they are bottomless pits!

 

[donac]

We went with some friends in AUg. They used nt and we did not. My 15 yr old is not a big eater at time and neither am I. We often ate off a cs kid's menu because we didn't want anything too big. We also don't do a table serve each day. Some days we do a table serve and not eat dinner (We always ate breakfast at the campsite). We did have some ADR but played it by ear for the rest of the week.(3rd week in Aug was not very crowded and if we wanted some place we called either the day before or that morning, we never walked up). For us I think we would have lost a lot of credits by the end of the week

My friends spent the entire week eating and thinking about where they were going to eat. The kids were always complaining that they had to eat again. I know that my friend saved a great deal of money and she didn't have to think about the bill but the kids hated being so tied to eating and planning to eat. She loved it.

As another person said, some people loved it and some people hated it. What wouldn't have worked for me may work for other people.