Thoughts on Disney Dining Plan

[rdsx28]

HI,
Just got back last night and thought I would share a few thoughts on the plan as this was my second year using it. First, It was DH, DD7, DN9. I must say that the chidren's menu is horrible! I would recommend that if your young child is a good eater that you get the adult plan if you do not plan to at at all buffet establishments. It is very limited and the portions are less than generous. Many of the restaurants offer pizza, macaroni and beef, dried out grilled chicken. My DD is a very fussy eater and mainly only likes chicken nuggets or tenders. None were to be had. The grilled chicken was very dry and tasteless. My nephew got very tired of the limited food choices and portion sizes. He is a fairly good eater and we found ourselves sharing our meals with him. Basically it was a waste of money for my daughter but seeing you had to get the plan for the entire family we had to get it for her as well. I would like to make note that on our final night we ate at the Sci FI and our great waiter after we told him she would not be eating as she liked nothing on the menu said what would she like and we said chicken nuggets or tenders he kindly said let me see what I can do and she had some great chicken with fries. I admit she is a difficult eater as she doesn't like meat or Pizza not that much meat was offered on the kids plan but no chicken come on. I understand that they want to offer healthy options but this is what many kids eat everyday and they are not going to go to Disney and all of a sudden eat healthy.It's nice to offer the option but it would have been nice to also offer some chicken. The plan is ok but I really feel that they treat dining plan folks differently than regular customers and I really will think about it next time before I use it again as with the new changes I am really not sure it is truly worth it. In many cases with out the appetizer you are given a steak and 2 potatoes as was the case when my husband ordered a steak at Le Cellier he was glad he had a salad before the steak arrived.His 7 oz steak arrived with a spoon full of potatoes in a huge bowl making it look very tiny. Just something I have been thinking about as the tips due to the prices of the meals will add at least $20.00 to every meal so is it really saving money and you are also tied down to reservations I am not so sure?? Just a thought and I know the plan has some pluses as you would probably not eat at many of the places normally had you not had the plan due to the cost. But I am just still up in the air about it. Thanks for listening all!

 

[bicker]

Child meals, in general, are insanely inexpensive and therefore sadly cheap. This is true of the Dining Plan ($11 per day for two meals and a snack? Insane!) as well as for folks paying OOP. The food itself is the same for both; the Dining Plan patrons are treated in the restaurants the same as regular patrons. The priority is to provide a very low cost option for young families that want/need it. Families that want something better, can always pay OOP for it. Truly, though, the Dining Plan is not for everyone, and if you find yourself paying OOP to make up for the gap between what the Dining Plan offers and what you want, then you're better off without the Dining Plan.

 

[NMW]

I agree that the kids meal portions are tiny. They were fine for my 4 year old, but 8 year old was starving, for example. I really think if you have an older child that is an average eater (7, 8, 9) they will be hungry with out extra food. Also, my 8 yr old is not a picky eater. He wanted all the food his 10 yr old brother was eating off the adult menu! The kids menu was pretty much the same every where and he got really sick of it after 9 days. We ended up buying him appetizers or desserts OOP and sharing with him the whole trip.

For our May trip we aged him 1 year (he'll really be 9 1/2) and bought him the adult deluxe meal plan. It's just not worth him being miserable with the food the entire trip.

I do wish they had chicken tenders on the kids menus. It is a favorite of my 5 yr old. The broiled chicken strips are horribly dry. Both DH and I tasted them at Brown Derby to see what our son was complaining about. I had to take a huge gulp of wine to swallow it. It was pretty bad.

I also have not thought thought that the portion sizes at WDW were "generous" in years! Appetizers are totally sized for one person now. I'm talking one tiny crab cake, 4 or 5 tiny shrimp. Even the onion rings at SCI-FI are so much smaller than they used to be. The entrees at many restaurants are small also. We too thought the portions at Le Celliar were pretty small. I am not a huge eater and I ate appetizer, entree, and dessert there and was not stuffed. I even had 2 or 3 beers. I could never do that at a restaurant at home.

 

[KKB]

My children are all good eaters, and had no problem finding food choices. But I agree they were somewhat limiting. (Sunshine seasons at EPCOT had terrific chicken tenders...of course, kids can order adult CS if you work it right.... )

We did NOT find portions to be too small! We are hearty eaters, and were stuffed! I find restaurants overall to have MUCH too large portions across the country. That is fine at home when I can take half of it home, but it is frustrating on vacation to let food go to waste.

 

[serialportme]

"Kids can order adult CS if you work it right."

Can you elaborate. My kids eat very little - chicken nuggets and fries are staples of ours.

 

[Colleen27]

"Kids can order adult CS if you work it right."

Can you elaborate. My kids eat very little - chicken nuggets and fries are staples of ours.

Some CS restaurants do not have children's menus, so children are premitted to order adult meals at those restaurants. We did that at Main Street Bakery and at the McD's in Epcot (forget the real name - it is in Canada and serves McD nuggets). IIRC there are a few others as well.

 

[Colleen27]

The standard dining plan works well for us now, with DS9 and DD6, because DD is a light eater and DS can share with me. We've found it to be just about right - 2 appetizers for the table, plus entrees for us and kids' meals for the kids is just about right as far as food quantity goes at the TS meal. Next year's plan wouldn't work that way, because without the appetizer, I'd probably actually finish my entree. LOL.

My complaint about the DDP as it exists now is that we don't really like much CS. We're so excited about the DxDDP for next year, because we'll be able to have 2 TS meals per day and try a ton of the signature restaurants.

 

[KKB]

"Kids can order adult CS if you work it right."

Can you elaborate. My kids eat very little - chicken nuggets and fries are staples of ours.

Let's say you have a room w/ 2 kids & 2 adults. If you go to a counter & order 2 CS, it doesn't matter if you order adults or kids meals. They won't let you order more than 2 adult CS at a time, though. But husband could go order 2 adult CS and wife could order 2 adult CS, each using their own cards. Actually at Pecos Bills we used the automated ordering machines, and just did several orders, one right after another.

Some will say this is not right. But if Disney wanted it done right, they would itemize the kids CS credits just as they do TS. Clearly it isn't affecting their bottom line enough to bother.

Sometimes our kids wanted the kids meals. Other times they didn't--such as chicken strips at Sunshine Seasons. It was nice to have the option.

 

[septbaby]

Integrate buffets into your dining plans. Adults and kids can eat exactly the same there. Also using the CS restaurants that don't have kids menus gives kids the adult menu choices. We are a vegetarian family with a 5yo on the DP. We had no issues eating well at Disney and neither did our 5yo. If we can do it I'd think many can. Our trip was for 5 nights, but out little one never complained. By the way isn't McDonald's in DTD on the plan? Chicken nuggets abound there.