Ready to Dump the Dining Plan

[Jubaby]

On my last trip to Disney with FP+, it seemed so much more complicated trying to schedule the meals to go along with the parks and the FP schedules. We had to keep changing the ADR's because FP times would overlap the meal times we had already made, or we couldn't get FP's for the parks we wanted, and we already had meals scheduled in a different park, and on...and on... and on...

I'm seriously considering dumping the Dining Plan on our next trip, and just making a couple of ADR for the can't miss meals, and paying OOP. It seems like our trips with the Dining Plan also caused us to be so over-stuffed and waddling around the parks, too full to even eat a lot of our favorite snacks. LOL!

Plus the kids seemed to only want to eat chicken nuggets and pizza anyways.

Has anyone else gone back to the old ways?

 

[yaya74]

DDP is not for everyone. Do whatever is the best for your family.

 

[ajwolfe]

I don't really get the connection between the DDP and the FP+. I think it really boils down to you need to decide if you don't want to eat any TS meals or just a couple instead of one a day. If you are still going to eat the TS meals then it's just a matter of if the DDP makes financial sense for you or not. I can see the appeal to trying to fly by the seat of your pants for only CS meals but for some (including us) part of the vacation is trying different TS restaurants and doing character meals which I would want to have all prescheduled with an ADR regardless of if I was on the DDP or not.

 

[Alice777]

We were on dining plan in April and we decided not to do it again when we go back in November. We were trying to justify the price so we ate most expensive items on the menu (which sometimes we did not enjoy) and it was just too much food. We had tons of credits left by end of our trip and end up bringing home lots of candies/cookies we could have easily bought for less cheaper prices.

As you mentioned, because it was so hard to get ADR, we end up getting what we can (ADR) and then readjust our park schedule (including FP+) few times to fit the better ADR time. It was pain in the butt!

 

[Shanti]

On my last trip to Disney with FP+, it seemed so much more complicated trying to schedule the meals to go along with the parks and the FP schedules. We had to keep changing the ADR's because FP times would overlap the meal times we had already made, or we couldn't get FP's for the parks we wanted, and we already had meals scheduled in a different park, and on...and on... and on...

I'm seriously considering dumping the Dining Plan on our next trip, and just making a couple of ADR for the can't miss meals, and paying OOP. It seems like our trips with the Dining Plan also caused us to be so over-stuffed and waddling around the parks, too full to even eat a lot of our favorite snacks. LOL!

Plus the kids seemed to only want to eat chicken nuggets and pizza anyways.

Has anyone else gone back to the old ways?

I dislike the added cost and restrictiveness of the dining plan, so we haven't used it for our past few trips. We still book ADR's, but as we've done every ADR we really want to, I don't stress about them & don't feel the need to book so many for our upcoming trip.

 

[Hopefully]

I agree. Do what you want.

For us that is the DDP. I have never had a problem 1st choosing which park on which day using easywdw crowd calendars as a guide. Then I choose a restaurant in or near that park to book ADRs for dinner. At 60 days I have never had a problem getting our 3 FP+ choices worked around our scheduled ADRs. Not sure why it was so difficult for you, but this formula works well for us

Good Luck

 

[Jubaby]

I don't really get the connection between the DDP and the FP+. I think it really boils down to you need to decide if you don't want to eat any TS meals or just a couple instead of one a day. If you are still going to eat the TS meals then it's just a matter of if the DDP makes financial sense for you or not. I can see the appeal to trying to fly by the seat of your pants for only CS meals but for some (including us) part of the vacation is trying different TS restaurants and doing character meals which I would want to have all prescheduled with an ADR regardless of if I was on the DDP or not.

In our case, we've pretty much sampled most of the TS restaurants, so I was just thinking of doing a couple of our favorites, and then eating much smaller meals, and snacking as our schedule permits. More of a "seat of your pants" method, and not planning to do a TS meals everyday. It's not the cost of the DDP that's bothering me, it's more of the scheduling overload that's a problem. You have to make your ADR's further in advance than the FP, then you can't get the FP times when you need, so you start re-arranging your ADR's.

 

[ajwolfe]

I agree. Do what you want.

For us that is the DDP. I have never had a problem 1st choosing which park on which day using easywdw crowd calendars as a guide. Then I choose a restaurant in or near that park to book ADRs for dinner. At 60 days I have never had a problem getting our 3 FP+ choices worked around our scheduled ADRs. Not sure why it was so difficult for you, but this formula works well for us

Good Luck

This is exactly how I plan it out as well. I totally get the idea of not wanting to be tied down to the ADR's though!

 

[Jubaby]

I agree. Do what you want.

For us that is the DDP. I have never had a problem 1st choosing which park on which day using easywdw crowd calendars as a guide. Then I choose a restaurant in or near that park to book ADRs for dinner. At 60 days I have never had a problem getting our 3 FP+ choices worked around our scheduled ADRs. Not sure why it was so difficult for you, but this formula works well for us

Good Luck

I had a lot more problems than you did, getting FP times for the parks we wanted at the times we wanted. Of course some of that had to do with my granddaughter wanting Anna & Elsa when it was a nightmare to get them, and the Seven Dwarfs being a brand new ride. Anyways, it left a bad taste in my mouth. (Pun intended!)

 

[AFwifelife]

We've never done the DDP. I compared prices and it's way cheaper for us to pay OOP. Why pay for more than you really need or even want?

 

[Jadyreen1282]

"over-stuffed and waddling around the parks, too full to even eat a lot of our favorite snacks"

You hit it! and that's the way I like it!

 

[Baklava]

For a lot of people (maybe even most) the DDP isn't a good way to go. If it isn't making you happy, ditch it. It works for my family. It may not work for yours.

 

[Regan117]

We like it when we do an adults-only trip, because we eat more and sit down to more meals. But with 3 toddlers, it's too much food, so we pay OOP when we take the kids.

 

[AshleeH]

We loved it on past trips and I'm looking forward to it on our next, but if they truly are going up to 2 credits per meal for several of the character meals, I will drop it like it was nothing and make fewer ADRs.

 

[Nancyg56]

I don't really get the connection between the DDP and the FP+. I think it really boils down to you need to decide if you don't want to eat any TS meals or just a couple instead of one a day. If you are still going to eat the TS meals then it's just a matter of if the DDP makes financial sense for you or not. I can see the appeal to trying to fly by the seat of your pants for only CS meals but for some (including us) part of the vacation is trying different TS restaurants and doing character meals which I would want to have all prescheduled with an ADR regardless of if I was on the DDP or not.

I do not get it either. I have never had any issues managing FP and ADR timeing.

OP- the DDP is not for every family, if the plan feels to restrictive, ditch it. Once it becomes too much work it is no longer worth it IMO.

 

[HopperFan]

We stopped getting it a few years ago. Since it really isn't a money saver, and actually since I end up with things I wouldn't normally order .... we found more value with OOP and eating less. We've also found with the rising prices that many restaurants have some good appetizers so we order a few of those plus drinks = some awesome meals. Kids can get kids meals. I love having space in the belly for some good snacks or treats.

 

[momof2cuties]

Wasn't a decision for me. I booked thru orbitz so we couldn't add it. But with the savings on the room it really was a no brainer. Actually thought about going during free dining but this still works out better to get the discounted room and eat out of pocket. I'm sure I will consume many less calories this way too!

 

[MichelleWDWfan]

I used to swear by the DDP. I got it every trip. The last few yrs they have raised the prices of the DDP and now it is much harder
to get your money's worth even getting the most pricey items on the menus.
It IS a big convenience to do the DDP since you pay it ahead of time except for tips at TS restaurants.
(I always did regular dining plan or deluxe. I love eating TS, not QS)

I find it cheaper to pay as I go now.
I do the math ahead of time...calculate all the prices and then look at what the DDP would cost for each trip.
Anymore lately, my totals come out cheaper then what it would cost for the DDP, so I just buy gift cards to pay for meals.

 

[MolonLabe]

Back in 2011 and 2012 we really liked the DDxP. We'd get the regular plan "free" and then upgrade to deluxe. We'd schedule a 2 credit meal for every day and a 1 credit. 2 big meals and then do snacks / counter service for anything else (mainly breakfast). Worked well for us.

With the addition of FP+ it really becomes even more of a hassle of planning out your day. It's honestly too much.

The last 4 trips ( I guess 3 since DL in Jan doesn't really count since it's not WDW) these past 12 months we have had one or two ADR's and the rest we've done seat of the pants. While I miss some of the restaurants, the flexibility is huge, especially with the FP+ garbage.

We're going one more week before our PAP's run out in sept and after that we're done with Disney for awhile. We aren't Disney'ed out, we're just tired of the planning and structure. It sucks.

The trip to US/IOA and SW sort of "cured us" of our mouse colored glasses. We wouldn't have these passes now if it wasn't for the DL trip we knew we'd be taking back in Jan. Shame they discontinued those passes.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I don't think it has anything to do with the DDP, I think it just depends on how tour the parks.