Pros & Cons of the Dining Plan??

[Hanover]

We LOVED the dining plan in August, and cant' wait to use it again on our January trip. We really look forward to trying new restaurants without really worrying about the costs (all 1 TS).

The only CON I can think of is that when we twice scheduled breakfast character meals and dinner character meals on the same day, we felt "stuck" in the restaurant for about 3 hours each of those days. We wouldn't do the breakfasts again, only because it seemed like the characters took forever to come around (2 missed us at PSB and we had to wait until they finished their entire round to come back to us) and by the time we got out into the park, we had missed the emptiest time of the day and had much longer lines than we would have if we hadn't gone to breakfast.We had the earliest ADR's we could get too (8:05).

 

[disneyjunkie]

ADVICE: People on this board tell you to try and maximize your credits (don't use the counter service for breakfast as no dessert, don't go to a signature restaurant, you must take a dessert to go, etc). I say, don't worry about it. The more I relaxed and ate where and how we wanted to, the more fun I had. Tailor the trip to your family's personal eating style/habits. You will still save money!

ITA

My son and I used the dining plan last April and will use it again next April.

We didn't try to max out the plan. We just ordered what we wanted. Several times during our stay we were too full for dessert, so we skipped it.

We didn't use our snack option each day. Before heading to the airport, I stopped in the food court and used the left over snack options to get soda and snacks for the flight home.

The dining plan gives us a chance to try out restaurants we'd never try if I had to pay out of pocket.

I found the best way to avoid long waits was to book ADRs for the first seating times. (11:00-11:30 lunch, 5:00-5:30 dinner)

We love the dining plan.

 

[JayCT]

I sat down and priced out our "typical" spending on food at WDW for past trips and found it to be generally the same price as the Dinning Plan when we ate at average priced restaurants. Given that we normally split where we eat between mid-priced restaurants and expensive ones, overall we will save using the plan, even if we do not order all of the food we could there. It does get me a little upset to think that I am spend $38 per day to feed a 10 year old that will only be eating chicken fingers from the childs menu, but what are you going to do? Jay

 

[Jennifer_Jayhawk]

We are using it for the first time in May. I am actually looking forward to it. We always attend the character meals while we are there and I play on adding a couple more than I would normally do. We will do brkfst/dinner or early lunch/late dinner on most days. I do know I have to plan and I intend to make ADR at a couple of places that I read about but have never gone to--mostly because of cost. I know we will save money and intend to use all the credits, it just takes planning. Unwinding in a restaurant for an hour or two isn't all bad. You can get real wrapped up in doing everything you want and feel exhausted and stressed when you return home. I look at the DP as piece of mind. I'm not going to worry about what anything costs because it already is.

 

[vanessat]

We did not use the dining plan because we wanted to take advantage of the AP discounts on the room, and at the GF for 10 days that discount amounted to a lot of $$! According to my calculations, the package with the dp would have turned out much more expensive. A disadvantage is that they do not allow the dining plan to be purchased with room only, so ti does not turn out to be so cheap after all, no matter how much you can eat each day.

 

[kellyanne731]

My understanding (having not used the new plan yet) is that if you are in WDW for the food & wine festival, you can use snack credits to sample some of the food at the booths. This will be one of the biggest pros for us when we go next year.

We do love our wine and food.....and wine .

Do you think they'll offer this option again next year?

 

[Luvmyfam3]

We are planning on using the DP in June when we go to WDW. I have 3 daughters (14, 14 and 12) who are used to going to WDW pretty much every year. They have their favorite restaurants, but we also mix in some counter services too. To me, the main perk I am looking forward to on this trip is that I don't have to worry if they want to order something from the adult menu. I don't have to ask them to split a meal or a large drink or order water. So, for me, it's just the peace of mind knowing that they can get whatever their hearts desire and I am not sitting there thinking "cha-ching!!" Haha!!! I'm sure we won't eat it all, but that's okay! In fact, I told them about this new plan and they're so excited about it! They're so sweet! They used to tell me, "No, mom, that's okay. I won't order that because it's more expensive!" I'm looking forward to them not saying that this year!!! (except at Universal! haha!!)

....btw, we used vounchers last time, which was very nice, but I think this will be even better because I'm not allowed to combine in order to save money....haha!!! And, I figure it will save us money or we'll at least break even!

Kim

 

[rumrunnergirl]

Our TS wait times:
At LeCellier, we had an 8:40 pm res and didn't get seated til almost 9:20.

For Jiko - we made our res 1 hour before dinner - for 5:40pm. We got there 30 min. late and were still seated within 10 minutes.

At Askerhaus, we had a 12:15 res and were taken inside within 5 minutes.

I think the wait depends on the restaurant.

Pros of the DP: you can save money if you like to eat well, try new places, etc. Saving the kids TS credits to use elsewhere.

Cons: if you are really frugal, it might be hard to think of spending all that money on the DP when you could be eating sandwiches in your hotel room. But once I convinced DH we could save and have a good time, he said OK, and he said it was the best eating he's done in his life, LOL.

 

[kellymouse]

Is anyone able to use the dining plan? Where can I find more detailed information on it?
Thanks!

 

[TiggerandBelleFanMom]

I love the idea of the dining plan, but we are just going for a quick visit and are planning to do almost all of our meals table service. (That's just more our tempo and eating style. Furthermore, my body does not like it if I stuff myself at a buffet and then skip the next meal. I like to eat three moderate-sized meals a day.) Also, some of the restaurants we picked are the 2 table service credits. So the dining plan didn't make sense for us. (But I would jump if there were a more table service oriented dining plan, maybe one that wasn't structured around 3-course table service meals, but just entrees.)

Here's my tentative plan, so you can see the problem relative to the dining plan:

Arrival day:
D: 1900 Park Fare

First full day:
B: Crystal Palace
L: Liberty Tree Tavern
D: Restaurant Akershus

Second full day:
B: Cinderella's Royal Table
L: Hollywood Brown Derby
D: room service

Departure day:
B: 1900 Park Fare

 

[budbeerlady]

The plan was the best for us since Dd was 5 she and shared lunch and breakfast. I wouldnt pay full price for a child that doesnt eat much at say 10 or 11. But it gave us the option to eat whatever and not look at the $. We wouldnt pay $83 for our family to eat a dinner every night, and I liked the idea that it was paid for. I called it our all inclusive vacation. You just have to chose what is best for your family.

 

[goodeats]

We just got back and were glad we didn't have the plan. For one it was nice not to worry about what we could order and what we couldn't order or maximizing anything. We budgeted a certain amount for food and didn't come close to exceeding it. We had a AAA discount on our room so the plan would have been more expensive than somebody with a regular priced room anyway.

On one day we were trying to eat around the World Showcase (and failed miserably) and there was a guy trying to get two pretzels at Sommerset as a counter service (for him and his wife) and passing on the drink and dessert. The cost would have been the same, but the restaurant wouldn't do it. Just seems silly to have to worry about on vacation.

Now, if they had the Silver Plan back I'd have to consider it since it worked well with our style.

 

[brentalex]

I talked to a very nice CM today while making ADR's for our April trip. She tried to sell me on the dining plan, but I still don't think it is a good buy for our type of vacation. First my DD is 11, gets charged as an adult, eats like a little kid. I wish there were 3 price tiers, children, pre teen and adults. I realize that there are some kids between 10 and 13 who will eat the adult amount,and maybe Disney would lose a little money, but I bet there are more kids in that age group who are like my daughter, light picky eaters, not yet really expanding their tastes.
Also, we plan about half of our meals for the vacation, we will be there for 9 nights, and I made ADR's for 5. The rest of the days we may eat 2 of 3 meals at the food court, and have a counter service meal at the park we will be at. We may go a few days without a table service meal. Having the DP would force us to eat more than we would want.
A few years from now when my DD is older, eating more, I think the plan could be a great value, but while she eats like a bird, we will just pay as we go.

 

[LeesyUD]

I loved the DP! We got it for free when we went in Oct.....but I will definitely get it again next time! As far as the amount of food... I think the preset for the plan is the way it is so you are getting your money's worth and also for those that might be turned off if it didnt include a desert or appetizer. Also we used 2 credits for the CG which was awesome! Just because you have 6 TS doesn't mean you have to do 6 TS. You can select a character meal or do a signature. Last time I did book too many TS for dinner everynight, which I will not do again. There were just so many places we wanted to try so we payed OOP for one of them. Next time I will put at least 1 TS to a character breakfast or as a 2nd credit for a signature and leave one or two nights open for CS. I never would have been able to afford the places I went to if I had payed it all OOP. I definitely think it is worth the money. If you think it is too much food...I would say calculate it. If you think there might be a TS or CS you wouldnt use, it may still be worth it. Figure out a plan of action with the dining plan and without and see how much you would most likely spend without...you may do less meals, but it may still be more than if you got the dining plan. Also as far as wait times, it depends on when you go...I went during the free dining time and was worried. I waited 15 minutes at Mama Melrose even thought they said 30-35. Other than that I waited 5 minutes or less for the 6 other TS we did.

 

[waltdisneyworlddreamer]

We just got back and were glad we didn't have the plan. For one it was nice not to worry about what we could order and what we couldn't order or maximizing anything. We budgeted a certain amount for food and didn't come close to exceeding it. We had a AAA discount on our room so the plan would have been more expensive than somebody with a regular priced room anyway.

On one day we were trying to eat around the World Showcase (and failed miserably) and there was a guy trying to get two pretzels at Sommerset as a counter service (for him and his wife) and passing on the drink and dessert. The cost would have been the same, but the restaurant wouldn't do it. Just seems silly to have to worry about on vacation.

I am so glad we did the dining plan. It was so nice not to have to worry about what we could order. Without it, DH and I would be ordering the cheapest thing on the menu, splitting drinks, skipping meals, etc to save money. But the DP allowed us to choose restaurants we wouldn't normally eat at and try foods that we wouldn't normally have ordered. We would never order appetizer and dessert!

I think the plan is very simple if you understand how it works and don't try to look for loopholes. We didn't share any meals, didn't ask for any substitiutuions, etc. We had no trouble at all with any transaction and we came home very full!!!! I would definitely do it again!!!

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

We loved the dining plan. We used our table service credits on signature restaurants. It was great not having to pay a $300.00 bill. We have an 11, 9 and 3 year old. My husband and son loved getting a $20 appetizer each at Cali Grill. I loved getting a nice dessert. I didn't eat all of my app. and entree, so I could save some room.

The only CON for my children was the amount of time a table restaurant takes when you order 3 courses. At Narcossee's, they begged us not to order apps. I just had the waitress bring their meals at the same time. We put in our dessert order when she delivered our entrees. I just tried to keep the kids happy since they had been so patient our entire trip!

We didn't use all of our counter credits and still saved hundreds. My husband was amazed that we got so many snacks. He was definitedly sold on the dining plan.

Lori

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Pros & Cons of the Dining Plan??

JMO

Pros:
Trying new, multiple restaurants
Prepaid/good value


Cons:
Health issues with overabundance of relatively unhealthy food and desserts
Lack of spontaneity

 

[LiteBrite]

My understanding (having not used the new plan yet) is that if you are in WDW for the food & wine festival, you can use snack credits to sample some of the food at the booths. This will be one of the biggest pros for us when we go next year.

We do love our wine and food.....and wine .

Do you think they'll offer this option again next year?

We were on the dining plan in October, when Food and Wine was going on, and at first I was so excited to find out that I could use snack credits at the food booths. However, the cruel irony of the situation eventually sank in to me - we were so full all the time from all the great meals we were getting (both TS and CS) that we never had room for anything from the festival! We did get snacks one time, when we had a later ADR for dinner at Le Cellier and got hungry about an hour before hand. Hubby and I each got something from the festival to tide us over, but even that was a bad idea, because then we really weren't hungry enough for Le Cellier. I think despite the fact that the festival booth items are a great value as a snack credit, I would rather not be on the dining plan during Food and Wine, just pay out of pocket for what I eat there, and not have a bunch of other meals planned at the same time.

 

[donac]

When we were there in Aug my friend had the plan for her family and wer didn't. I'm glad we didn't. She was always worrying about where she was going to eat and they were always complaining about how full they were. For us I don't eat a lot and sometimes at counter serves I got a kids meal and so did my 15 year old who often doesn't eat much. I hate all the planning. I would rather be doing things. Yes we ate at a few table serves but it was not everyday for us.