Please help....I just don't get it!!

[Merilyn]

We used the dining plan for the first time in Oct. There were 4 adults. I paid about 1200 dollars for 8 days. I kept all my reciepts and it would have cost us 2400 dollars. I agree that we wouldn't have eaten that much food without the plan but we got to try new places that we wouldn't have gone to without it. We ate steak most night and with the plan got the counter and snack for free and then some. One of the food courts even has steak on their counter meal! We will do it again and can't wait to try even more places. We made each person keep up with their own daily credits. We didn't have any trouble working the plan to our advantage. We even used all our snack credits, which I gather, doesn't happen often. I even got milk from the onsite store twice with a snack credit. It is well worth the money even before you add in tax and tip. Tip and tax can add 25 to 30% to a bill and for a sit down meal that is a lot. Hope all the info here has helped. It really depends on your eating habits and if you like sit down meals. We do, so it worked great for us.

 

[learnhome]

We are doing the plan for our family of 5 (DH,myself, dd9,dd7 and ds4) in December. We do love to eat out and so Table Service was something we knew we wanted to do. We liked knowing that we would have 1 snack, 1 Counter Service and 1 Table Service each day. We made our ADRs back in June for our December trip.

Aside from being fans of dining and the savings we'll have I had another big reason for choosing the plan. My husband is not looking forward to this trip,he just is not a big Disney fan. This plan will keep him from opening his wallet each time we eat since it is already paid for. That will give him the "perception" that Disney is not taking more of his money. That makes a happier DH and therefore a happier me! Really, I do like that most of our food is already paid for and we can order what we want and not worry about our "Grumpy" getting grumpy when the bill comes!

Allyson

Allyson,
thank you for your sound advice. Your post has made me first realize that my husband in NOT the only grouch out there who isn't looking forward to disney Two: he is already not too thrilled with the price tag of this trip.....three: he said: if we are going, I want to eat!!! So, your advice was very wise!!! I have decided to add on the plan. I am going to take everyone's advice, and plan (within reason) which park we will be at for each day....my TA can make ADR for us, so I will also take her expert advice, and have at least dinner reserved for each night!!! I think it will make my Oscar the Grouch hubby happier!!!

I am getting even more excited and more nervous about this trip........breath!

thanks

 

[learnhome]

BTW....can everyone here come with me on my trip, as my personal advisors.....hahahahahah!! I WISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[UrsulasShadow]

BTW....can everyone here come with me on my trip, as my personal advisors.....hahahahahah!! I WISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure! You're buying, of course?

 

[JimMIA]

If your DH likes to eat, you have to build something worthwhile into the schedule for him. Take him to Le Cellier for steak and Cap'n Jack's for the twin lobster tails, and you will turn him into a Disney FAN!

Foodies can argue back and forth all they want about the dining at Disney, but there is no question that there are a bunch of good restaurants to choose from. Here's a link for all the menus: http://www.allearsnet.com/din/dining.htm

When you're at Disney and he starts getting into it, casually mention the Food & Wine Festival. You don't have to know a whole lot about it, just that it's a huge variety of foods and drink from all over the world around the lake at Epcot...and you can use DDP SNACK credits for many of the food items. Oh...and the free Sam Adams beer clinic at the U.S. venue.

F&W should get his attention.

 

[mommy3]

With the ages of your children, 2 of them will be charged the DDP at the children's rate ($11/day) which is definitely a bargain. We are also going in January with 3 kids (9,7,4 - all 'children' per Disney) and decided this time to go with the DDP to be able to 'afford' some of the more expensive restaurants that we normally wouldn't consider. We go to WDW about every 2 years and have always gone the counter service route and splurged on 1-2 character meals. This year, we're going to 4 character meals and going to try a few of the EPCOT world showcase restaurants that normally would be out of our budget. I took about 30 minutes to go through a normal day of what we would normally spend (doing the grocery stop, counter services for 2 meals and snacks) and the DDP turned out to be about $200 more for the entire week than what we probably would have spent - and we should have a blast trying all of the restaurants. As my kids grow and become 'adults' in Disney's eyes, it probably won't be as good of a deal for us.

 

[steffali]

an had the dining plan for the 1st time in Sept........LOVED IT!! We love characters so we planned acharacter meal EVERY DAY! (character meals are included as a TS (table service) This way u dont have to stand in lines to see any major characters, they always come right to your family table, its fabulous- So including all tips (as the dinng plan includes all tips) we feel the plan was way WAY worthwhile. Dont try to eat everything u order, just relax, enjoy and eat what u want Iincluding desserts! Yum, heck u ARE on vacation!
Pm me for details, I know lots of details about planning meals, as we go a lot!!(by the way we live in NY not Fla as u might think! )

Can you tell me what Character meals are included in the DP? Is it 1 credit or 2 credits for all the character meals?????
Thanks

 

[dbmarie]

All of the character meals are included in DDP. CRT and Hoop De Doo are the only character meals that I can remember that are 2 TS credits.

 

[kaybracon]

DDP: You could eat cheaper IF you just do CS, but you'd probably only save 25% by doing so, and you'll be sick of CS after 8 days. If you get the dining plan, you'll have more 'food fun' - try a lot of stuff you might not otherwise spend the money for, like ridiculously priced TS every night. Just make your TS reservations ASAP.

Also, you probably know this, but just in case you don't, there are at least 2 resorts where you can put 5 people in one room - POR and FW cabins.