The Dining Plan - is it worth it?

[higgy66]

Hi

The party will be me, DH, DD6 & DD5.

Currently my 4 year old is petite and only eats small amounts and grazes through the day rather than big meals.

My other daughter who's 5 is also slim but as tall as a 7-8 year old so eats really well.

I very rarely eat 2 courses - a treat if I go out but would not do on a nightly basis.

My husband is very fit so eats whatever he wants!

Do you think we'd be better off just paying per meal? The DDP with virgin would be £1000 for the whole family for 2 weeks??

Are you allowed to buy 3 meals and ask for 4 plates?? Currently when we go out we usually make up my youngest plates with something from us all.


Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[wideeyes]

A £1000 is almost $2000, would you spend anything like that on food?

if you check allearsnet they have menu's and prices so you can work out how much you would spend if paying cash against the dining plan.

The dining plan would cost me more than paying cash as we would not eat table service everyday. Plus you have to pay the 18% tip so it is even less value, I worked out that tips on table service meals would cost us $100 on top.(this is for 1 adult and 1 child table service meal a day)

The bonus is that almost everything is paid for in advance, so if your kids want an ice cream you don't have to worry about money.

 

[Shooby doo]

For you I don't think that it is worth it,if you have a car there are plenty of off-site choices alot of which kids eat free.We managed to get free dining for Sept but had we to pay oop not only would we have stayed off-site we would eat off-site as well.Also since the changes,we are more "starter" people than dessert so it wouldn't be as good value for us.
SD

 

[catherine]

We used the DDP in Oct for the first time and we won't be using it again. We as a family (me DH DD's 14 & 10) like to eat! However we found that there was too much food! We got to the point where we didn't look forward to going to the nice sit down meals and we were just going because we'd paid for it!

 

[higgy66]

We used the DDP in Oct for the first time and we won't be using it again. We as a family (me DH DD's 14 & 10) like to eat! However we found that there was too much food! We got to the point where we didn't look forward to going to the nice sit down meals and we were just going because we'd paid for it!

I think that we'd be the same - we like to eat when hungry but I don't think we could stomach a sit down meal every night - I think we're more of a snacky family.

Dining is not just a big thing with me and I don't get excited about food but I know for some people it's a big part of their holiday so it would probably work out better for them

Thanks for the comments.

 

[CustardTart]

We used the DDP in Oct for the first time and we won't be using it again. We as a family (me DH DD's 14 & 10) like to eat! However we found that there was too much food! We got to the point where we didn't look forward to going to the nice sit down meals and we were just going because we'd paid for it!

That's exactly what we found! We tried it twice last year - 1st time in October for free and the 2nd time in December we paid. It was fun making all the ADRs but I got kinda bored of the food, plus we had loads of counter service and snack credits left over...

 

[stephensmum]

That's exactly what we found! We tried it twice last year - 1st time in October for free and the 2nd time in December we paid. It was fun making all the ADRs but I got kinda bored of the food, plus we had loads of counter service and snack credits left over...

Same here. We got it free this year but would'nt have paid for it, espically with no tip included & ds becoming an "adult". I'd check out the menu's, plan a few ts & cs. You could eat off site too.

 

[Lizzybear]

We found it worked well for us as a couple but I think for families with kids it's a bit restrictive (the menu options for them aren't always very appealing and could get very repetitive IMO) We got it for free on the 'old' system but I think the new one isn't such good value especially when it's paid for and I doubt we would do it again based on that.

 

[fizz13]

i did it before and when i honestly added up what i would have ordered it just about broke even, i could never get myself through the 3 courses. now they have taken away the appetiser and tip is on top then no, i really don't think its a good deal the way it is.

 

[paulh]

the old ddp(appitizers and tip included)found woth it
The new DDP (without appitizers and you have to pay tip yourself) not worth it
Paulh

 

[fuse04]

the old ddp(appitizers and tip included)found woth it
The new DDP (without appitizers and you have to pay tip yourself) not worth it
Paulh

Would have to agree with Paul on this one. We did DDP last year for the first time and we saved approx £200. However, without the appetiser and the 18%tip I think at Virgin's prices you would be luck to break even.

Incidently why has Virgin gone OTT with the DDP price this year; price is still $38 for adult and $11 for a child; I think Virgin are pricing at £28 per adult and £11 for a child

 

[penlanspice]

I find it's only just worth it for us at the $38pp, I really wouldn't pay virgin's price

We tried it for the first time this year (we have always eaten off site even when staying at disney) so we thought we'd give it a shot and try a few more disney restaurants out.
We did it for a week as we had a split reservation and that was long enough for us as we hate being tied to a time to eat. I kept a count of how much it was coming to if we paid and it worked out at around just over a $200 saving, but we really wouldn't of eaten desert if we were paying.

We are doing it again next month just because we know we will have some nice meals and for convenience. Plus we found it saved us quite a bit of money as we didn't venture out of disney much that week.

 

[DisneyJo]

We had it free last year and again this year and obviously enjoy it when it's free but we wouldn't buy it, as others have said it's way too much food and we wouldn't normally do a TS meal everyday and also portions are so large we share CS meals!

 

[crabbie1]

I have always found it good value as we love the TS meals and always use all our credits.This year and on the new plan we are only doing it for the last 6 nights.The first 5 nights at pop we are doing OOP and still doing ADR'S.I am not sure if and when staying at DVC and you have pre booked DDP that you can cancel if it seems cheaper paying OOP.I have a few months to work this out yet.I don't think I would pay for 2 weeks on the new plan.

 

[paulh]

I have always found it good value as we love the TS meals and always use all our credits.This year and on the new plan we are only doing it for the last 6 nights.The first 5 nights at pop we are doing OOP and still doing ADR'S.I am not sure if and when staying at DVC and you have pre booked DDP that you can cancel if it seems cheaper paying OOP.I have a few months to work this out yet.I don't think I would pay for 2 weeks on the new plan.

you can cancel the ddp on dvc,as you have to pay for it upon checkin
Paulh

 

[SammieG]

we ate in Italy at lunch time today... the meal for the three of us cost $114 and so that more than paid for the days ddp.... especially with the DVC discount
we have 7 days of it.. and that will be more than enough for us.
its too much for us to do for any longer... we have three reservations with dvc so we can choose which bits to pay for the dining plan...

 

[penlanspice]

I have always found it good value as we love the TS meals and always use all our credits.This year and on the new plan we are only doing it for the last 6 nights.The first 5 nights at pop we are doing OOP and still doing ADR'S.I am not sure if and when staying at DVC and you have pre booked DDP that you can cancel if it seems cheaper paying OOP.I have a few months to work this out yet.I don't think I would pay for 2 weeks on the new plan.

You can add it or cancel it upto 24 hours before check-in.

 

[pixiepower04]

We (me, DH, DD10 & DS8) are trying it for the first time in September whilst it is 'free' although we have had to pay £600 extra to stay at a Moderate in order to qualify so i'm making sure we get £600 worth of food in our 3 weeks to compensate!!

To be honest i'm not sure it will be worth it but last time we went we only ate in the Coral Reef and Sci-Fi Diner over our whole 3 weeks and I hated not being able to try the other more expensive restaurants. So this time we thought we'd eat in all the good restaurants and try new foods etc and go to the dinner shows and character meals.

We may not do it again after that and they may not even offer it free again but I believe you should always try everything at least once

 

[paulh]

You can add it or cancel it upto 24 hours before check-in.

to add on,3 days prior for packages with cro ect and 5 days prior with dvc.the computer systems dont talk to each outher and have to be imputed manualy
Paulh

 

[comingtodisney]

I Booked Through Virgin For The 23 Aug, Last Sept And Got Free Disney Dining, I Am Going To Use Some Of My Ts For Lunch. Out Of All The Travel Agencies Got The Best Deal With Virgin