out of pocket dining sticker shock

[Tribe]

First family trip coming in early October. I understand why Disney won’t give the free DP when you get a room discount but why don’t they allow even buying a DP?
I made ADR’s thinking we were going to have the DDP and, after I found out we cannot get a DP, I researched restaurant prices and am suffering from sticker shock. My family of four has ADR’s for Crystal Palace, Garden Grill and Boma (we are staying at AK).
My questions:
Are any of these not worth it? It will be about $150 for my family of 4 (Almost $500 just for those 3 meals!)
If we keep these ADR’s we would try to cut in other areas. We will be eating breakfast in the room each day and splitting counter service for other meals. Are most of the counter service meals big enough to feed 1 adult and 1 child?
Any other suggestions for out-of-pocket dining?

 

[Jay2009]

why can't you buy a dining plan? You should be able to purchase one...

 

[jesswindsor]

I'm pretty sure that as long if you are staying at one of the Disney owned resorts and have a ticket package that you can add the DDP.

 

[dunbarfamily]

Disregard my post!! I didn't read OPs post the whole way through! Sorry!

 

[ChattaAlley]

You can always purchase the dining plan if your staying inside WDW.

 

[smitch425]

First family trip coming in early October. I understand why Disney won’t give the free DP when you get a room discount but why don’t they allow even buying a DP?
I made ADR’s thinking we were going to have the DDP and, after I found out we cannot get a DP, I researched restaurant prices and am suffering from sticker shock. My family of four has ADR’s for Crystal Palace, Garden Grill and Boma (we are staying at AK).
My questions:
Are any of these not worth it? It will be about $150 for my family of 4 (Almost $500 just for those 3 meals!)
If we keep these ADR’s we would try to cut in other areas. We will be eating breakfast in the room each day and splitting counter service for other meals. Are most of the counter service meals big enough to feed 1 adult and 1 child?
Any other suggestions for out-of-pocket dining?

In order to purchase a dining plan, you need to have a package including room AND park tickets. If you did book a package, there should be no reason you could not purchase a dining plan. Did someone tell you you couldn't???

 

[Tribe]

I am getting a 'friend of cast member' room discount and I was told I cannot get the DP in any case.

 

[Tribe]

I booked a room only (got the 40% discount) and am going to buy tickets soon. The CM on the phone told me that CM's and friends of CM's (those who get that discount) cannot get a DP.

 

[Victoriarose1968]

We have a 40% off room and were still able to get the DDP with out any problems. As long as you have a room and tickets (ours are a 3 day MYW) you should be able to get the DDP.

 

[nytimez]

I am getting a 'friend of cast member' room discount and I was told I cannot get the DP in any case.

That's a pretty healthy discount, from what I recall. I think you still come out ahead -- just be smart about your dining decisions. If price is an issue, for example, do you really need two character buffets?

Counter service meals may or may not feed an adult and a child -- it would depend on the adult. And the child. My mother and daughter could share a meal, although I may need to buy an extra item for them to split at times.

Me... I eat all my food.

 

[smitch425]

I am getting a 'friend of cast member' room discount and I was told I cannot get the DP in any case.

I would do the math and see if the discount you are getting is more than what you would save by paying for your lodging vs. the cost of the dining plan. If you are getting free park tickets from your friend then you are probably better off keeping things as they are. As far as CS meals...they are pretty big. If you have a child/adult that like burgers, you can get a double cheeseburger meal and buy an extra bun (less than $1 I think) and then split it up into two regular burgers. Columbia Harbor House has a great fish and chicken basket that could be split up easily, too. We only schedule one TS character meal per trip because we always do the QSDP. There is NO way I would pay OOP for more than one TS meal. That's a week's worth of groceries for us and the food isn't over-the-top good to justify the cost for us. Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[jakespop]

Back to your original question.

Depending on how old your kids are you may want to keep Crystal Palace if it's a character meal? If not or not important, drop that You can get that type of food anywhere.

Boma is a keeper - It's different and a great experience

 

[POOHsie]

When you go to counter service restaurants, the menu board just shows combos. But you don't have to order a combo. One person could order the combo, to get a side of fries, and the rest of your party can just order the entree only, and free ice water. That saves lots of money over the course of a week's stay.

 

[ancestry]

In my opinion, buffets (especially character buffets) are not the best value when paying out of pocket. If money is a concern and you are paying out of pocket, I would skip most of the buffets and sit down meals and would stick to counter service.

 

[Brian Noble]

I have never, not once, spent as much out of pocket as the appropriate dining plan would cost. However, I also don't eat at a buffet every day---we mix in some more casual/less expensive meals along the way.

What's more, we really find that over the course of a week, two character meals (one "face" and one "fur") is about our limit; after that they start to run together.

 

[JanB]

My husband and I frequently share a counter service meal. So I would think that one meal could be split between adult and child. If you are big eaters, this might not work for you. But it works well for us. If it's not quite enough food for lunch, then you could still have the lighter split lunch and then have a snack (maybe share) later on. Then we usually have a sit-down meal, with ADRs, for dinner.

We love Boma and think that it is totally worth the cost. We actually usually do Boma for breakfast. It does cost less than dinner, but we just love it for breakfast. That could be one way for you to save some money ---- make your big meal at breakfast rather than dinner.

If you have a car, you could have some meals off-property. Those meals should cost significantly less.

 

[magicluvinmom]

I like your choices for sit down meals. I can't remember if u said u were doing Bfast,lunch, or dinner. I know Mickey is only at dinner at The land, it would be cheaper of u to consider breakfast at ohana with Mickey, Pluto, LILO and stitch. We love this meal and we take the last seating for to make it like a brunch. We have a snack in our room, arrive at mk or EP early ride something and get a fp or 2 and then leave for our brunch there on the monorail. Yes MANY counter service plates can be shared, cosmic rays,sunshine seasons and flametree are my favorites. Look at the budget board if u havent already there may be more ideas. We love Boma, but we have only gone at dinner.

 

[Marionnette]

I booked a room only (got the 40% discount) and am going to buy tickets soon. The CM on the phone told me that CM's and friends of CM's (those who get that discount) cannot get a DP.

We just returned from a YC stay that included a convention/meeting rate. We couldn't get the dining plan either since this type of room discount cannot be made into a package. To be honest, I really didn't miss the dining plan at all. I felt that we spent much less on food than if we had the plan. I ran the numbers comparing the available package discounts vs. the convention room only + tickets from the convention. The difference was close to $1000 for 4 nights! There is no way that we would eat that much food.

Added pluses:

• We ordered appetizers (which we like but are not on the regular DDP) and avoided desserts (which we rarely eat).
• We did the GF Tea, which does not participate in the dining plan.
• We ate at signature restaurants without regard to whether it was worth the 2 dining credits.
• We never gave a thought as to whether we were "getting our money's worth" out of our credits.
• We didn't scramble to use all of our snack credits on the last day of our stay.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

In my opinion, buffets (especially character buffets) are not the best value when paying out of pocket. If money is a concern and you are paying out of pocket, I would skip most of the buffets and sit down meals and would stick to counter service.

I agree with this. Avoid most buffets if you are paying out-of-pocket. I think buffets are priced the way they are to encourage guests to purchase the DDP.

To enjoy Table Service meals, pick places for lunch to enjoy. We usually try a mid-afternoon lunch as the meals are less expensive at lunch. You can eat dinner at a Counter Service location.

That said, we do typically eat at least once at a buffet on our trip as Chef Mickeys has become somewhat of a tradition for our family. It's overpriced and the food is mediocre, but we love the atmosphere and tradition nonetheless.

We have eaten at Boma's and we really enjoyed it.

I would skip Crystal Palace. We ate there two trips ago and paid out-of-pocket. It is no longer worth it in my opinion unless you have a huge Pooh fan in your family.

We've never eaten at Garden Grill. There are so many better choices in Epcot IMO.

The Counter Service meals aren't big enough to feed an adult and child for our family, but our kids are 16, 13 and almost 10. That said, we can eat as a family of 5 for under $50 for most Counter Service meals. We don't order drinks, but will ask for a cup of ice. We bring our own water into the parks.

We can do Table Service meals for around $20 per person at lunch. That includes tip. Again, we just order water and we rarely purchase an appetizer or dessert. We typically do around three table service lunches over the course of a 10-night trip.

We typically eat breakfast in the room. We stop at the store on the first day and pick up some breakfast items for the room.

And finally, we also like to eat off-site one or two meals to save some $$'s. Plus, it allows us to go to the Character Premier store at the Outlet Mall.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

First family trip coming in early October. I understand why Disney won’t give the free DP when you get a room discount but why don’t they allow even buying a DP?
I made ADR’s thinking we were going to have the DDP and, after I found out we cannot get a DP, I researched restaurant prices and am suffering from sticker shock. My family of four has ADR’s for Crystal Palace, Garden Grill and Boma (we are staying at AK).
My questions:
Are any of these not worth it? It will be about $150 for my family of 4 (Almost $500 just for those 3 meals!)
If we keep these ADR’s we would try to cut in other areas. We will be eating breakfast in the room each day and splitting counter service for other meals. Are most of the counter service meals big enough to feed 1 adult and 1 child?
Any other suggestions for out-of-pocket dining?

Splitting CS meals...is half a burger and half an order of fries enough for lunch? If it is...then yes, you can split!

At MK Columbia Harbor House has nice portions so you'll do better there.

As for value, for Crystal Palace it depends how much seeing Pooh and Co is worth to you. Because the buffett is nothing special at all and not worth the cost IMO. You could see Pooh and Tigger in the UK in the Toy Store (Epcot) and Eeyore is fairly regular at DHS. Not too sure about Piglet. Point is....you can drop that one and still see most of the characters and not miss anything food wise.

Boma is special and I would keep that one.

Garden Grill...I have to say I haven't eaten there but to me the menu does not appear special in any way. Chip and Dale are ubiquitous in the parks so you'll be able to see them if that's the draw.

Have fun!