Still undecided on meal plan

[dollcollector1]

I'm still undecided on whether to purchase the new meal plan .
The last time we went to Disney, we got by on cs. The only sit down restaurant we ate at was the Rain Forest Cafe ,in Animal Kingdom and that probably isn't included in the mp. My kids , age 12, 15, 15, could care less where they eat. Burgers, fries, turkey legs, would suit them just fine. My hubby can't eat a lot .He had life saving surgury that resulted with some of his intestines removed a few years ago, so he won't benefit from the sit down meals.

Would we save money by getting the mp or would we be better off a la carte?
Have the prices for food and drink increased from our last trip in 04? Will the mp still save us $ in the long run? WWYD? TIA.

 

[NUguyinCrew]

We (2 adults) did the meal plan for our upcoming trip but we have a table service meal scheduled every day that we are there. If you figure up we're probably going to drop around $100 for the same amount of food out of pocket in a nice sit down place, it makes great sense for us (added on the fact got in on the last day of the free ddp). For your family of four I would say to go all out of pocket (unless youre deciding about free dining maybe being offered at the same time next year - if its free woohoo, go for it).

 

[dollcollector1]

For your family of four I would say to go all out of pocket (unless youre deciding about free dining maybe being offered at the same time next year - if its free woohoo, go for it).

How do I find out if free dining will be available in Feb? I would like to take advantage of that ,if it's available or our travel date.

 

[NUguyinCrew]

Based on disney history, the free dining plan is usually available from late Aug-Oct only.

 

[MKOATEYW]

Well the Dinning plan is currently $38.99 per person per night.
It includes 1 snack, 1 counter service, & 1 table service per person per night.
Everyone listed on your reservation must book the dinning plan.

If you allready are planning on haveing at least one table service meal per day then you should at least break even. If your family are not big eaters or just want to grab some counter service and get back to the action then the plan won't really work out well for you.

I would look at the current menus and what is included on the plan to help make up your mind.
Menus
http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

2007 Meal Plan
http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/packages07a.htm

No matter whatyou will have a great time at the world!

 

[BeckWhy]

With my boyfriend and I (it's probably a little bit different because you are traveling with kids) it would have cost us $40 a day to eat at WDW at CS, anyways ($15 for lunch and $15 for dinner, $5 for breakfast, $5 for snack). Now I know not always does the meal ring up to $40 a day. But that's what I assumed. That included anything for breakfast, any snack (as long as they were about $5 each), and for lunch and dinner, an entree or combo & drink.

The dining plan costs $37.99, which is cheaper than our $40 a day. I know the dining plan doesn't cover breakfast, but I assumed that we would still be fairly full from the night before.

Not to mention with the dining plan we'd get to eat from restaurants that we wouldn't have budgeted before.

 

[robinb]

It doesn't sound as if the dining plan is right for your family. The only way you can break even is if you already plan on eating at a Table Service restaurant almost every day. I would skip the dining plan and just eat Counter Service.

Here is a link to menus of all the WDW restaurants:
http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

 

[theflowerladee]

We like to eat, usually a ts everyday, but my concern with the plan is I have a 12 yr old who still eats off the kids menu, everyone else in the family would
definatelely get our moneys worth, but I don't know if a 12 yr old is worth $39.
Has anyone else had experience with a kid that age?

 

[dollcollector1]

It doesn't sound as if the dining plan is right for your family. The only way you can break even is if you already plan on eating at a Table Service restaurant almost every day. I would skip the dining plan and just eat Counter Service.

Thank you to everyone for your feedback. We'll be skipping the meal plan ,for the very reason mentioned above. My kids like to eat and run. Hubby can't eat too much or he'll be running for something other than the rides!

 

[pepperw23]

I'm still undecided on whether to purchase the new meal plan .
The last time we went to Disney, we got by on cs. The only sit down restaurant we ate at was the Rain Forest Cafe ,in Animal Kingdom and that probably isn't included in the mp. My kids , age 12, 15, 15, could care less where they eat. Burgers, fries, turkey legs, would suit them just fine. My hubby can't eat a lot .He had life saving surgury that resulted with some of his intestines removed a few years ago, so he won't benefit from the sit down meals.

Would we save money by getting the mp or would we be better off a la carte?
Have the prices for food and drink increased from our last trip in 04? Will the mp still save us $ in the long run? WWYD? TIA.

We used the dining plan and LOVED it. We are all big eaters though. If you are not then I don't recommend it. We pretty much stayed full. Everyone on here told me it was a TON of food. They are not kidding. I mean for a TS you get an appitizer that is like a meal in itself(PER PERSON) the regular meal (and they ain't stingy) and then dessert!!! The CS Meals are the same, minus the appetizer (although some CS places will offer you a salad thrown in). 0

Then at some point in your " I am so full, I could bust" day you have a snack PER PERSON to get in there...and the snacks are big yummy snacks like funnel cake and sundes and ice cream and french fries.....AHHHHHH I wanna go back....

So if your DH is not able to eat a lot I really do not recommend it. One good thing though is that everything is prepaid so you don't have the stress of trying to figure out how much cash to bring.

 

[pepperw23]

We like to eat, usually a ts everyday, but my concern with the plan is I have a 12 yr old who still eats off the kids menu, everyone else in the family would
definatelely get our moneys worth, but I don't know if a 12 yr old is worth $39.
Has anyone else had experience with a kid that age?

Yea, my 15 year old ha ha. But they really loaded her plate up good. I noticed that she had more than the other "kids" so most CM's understand that although a child has to have the adult DDP, they still like the kid food.

 

[fivefordisney]

We loved the DP as it encouraged us to eat at places that we normally would not have... It was really nice to sit down after a long day at the parks for dinner. However, it does take time away from the parks. If your kids are used to eating a quick CS meal in fifteen minutes, they may be bummed to "waste" valuable park time dining.

Also, your kids are at the age where you will be paying the adult price...that may be more expensive than just hitting a few counter service meals each day.

Good luck with your decision. Either way you can't lose--you'll be in WDW!!!!

 

[byoung]

The plan will save you money.

 

[Adam1217]

I would think that the DP would save you money with the amount of people you have in ur group going to WDW, but then again its gonna depend on how much money you'd think you would spend each day for your whole family per person. I would go with the DP.

 

[Hope73]

We have went 4 times and have had the dining plan four. It is a no worry thing. I know if we didn't have it we would try to save money and be more stressed. We totaled the receipts of just the sit down meals and saved at least 50%.

 

[DisneyFairy19]

can someone clarify the DDP.. I havent done this

 

[robinb]

can someone clarify the DDP.. I havent done this

Look here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1023429

 

[laura001]

We like to eat, usually a ts everyday, but my concern with the plan is I have a 12 yr old who still eats off the kids menu, everyone else in the family would
definatelely get our moneys worth, but I don't know if a 12 yr old is worth $39.
Has anyone else had experience with a kid that age?

A child's menu is for kids that are 9 and under, it might be difficult to get them to give you the children't menu for him/her whether he/she eats a lot of food or not. Unfortunately that is the way it is. I was in the same boat last year with my 12 year old, she eats like a bird, but we paid full pop for her.

 

[pixie dust 112]

I have 3 DDs 10, 12, and 14. The 14 year old is a picky eater and doesn't like most things on the adult menu. The restaurants have all been terrific about letting her eat off of the kids menu. My 10 and 12 year olds do like food on the adult menu, but couldn't possibly eat the appetizer, dinner and dessert. SOmetimes they just order an appetizer for dinner and sometimes a meal, either off of the adult or children's menu. At 38.00 for each kid we would not ever get our moneys worth off of the DDP. Now if it was just DH and I, I would definitely go for the plan! However, we go three weeks from today and get free dining so obvoiusly we're getting the plan. If my DDs only want an appetizer and dessert that's ok as its free. But if we were paying the 38.00 per kid per day it just wouldn't be worth it for us. It would be about 200.00 a day for the 5 of us, and we would never spend that paying OOP. I know for my DSis's family it is definitely worth it. They used this in July, but their youngest was still 9 so ot the children's price and their 12 years old loves to try new things and got her money's worth on the plan.

 

[familyfirsttimer]

Just wanted to add that if you do use the dining plan any tax9if applicable) and the 18% gratuity is INLCUDED. We always tip 20% so we usually left a few extra $. At LeCellier because we had alcohol on a separate bill, and our server was EXCEPTIONAL, we left more so she probably got 25%.
Anyway, if you are a 15-18% tipper, you will not put any more out of pocket, just another item to consider.