Trying to decide if dining plan is for us.

[Chester's Mum]

We will be at the world in May of next year. 10 days CSR package, 4 cont - room only.

1. DS (12) is a picky eater; i.e. plain pasta, plain chicken breast w plain white rice, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, no sauce, or seasonings...you get the idea. He's an adult for dining plan purposes. He will eat his fill at a buffet though if the right food is there. He's an adult on the dining plan, but eats like a kid, not adventurous enough to try anything that looks too fancy (even desserts).

2. Me, I am having a tough time with deciding on ADRs and committing to being in the right place at the right time every day of my package. It seems like too much work. I would love to try out a lot of the restaurants, and could never afford to do this if not for the dining plan. How difficult is it to get reservations on the spur of the moment, or say the day before by calling from the resort?

 

[mickeysgirl17]

It is difficult sometimes to get last minute reservations especially at the popular restaurants. Many people complain about having to make their ADR's in advance and sticking to them. Because of the dining plan, it must be done or you'll risk having to eat somewhere you probably don't want to. My suggestion would be to get a watch with a timer that beeps or has an alarm, and set if for 30 minutes before your ADR, so that wherever you are, you can have that reminder and not have to keep watching the time all day. I do recommend the dining plan. There are a lot of food options and restaurants that shouldn't be missed. The dining plan saves a lot of money.

 

[TMEF23]

I have found it is difficult to get reservations on the spur of the moment if you are very selective about your restaurant choices.

However, I also think it depends on when you are travelling, When are you going in May..is it over Memorial Day?


Like your family, I have a difficult time creating a schedule to eat around, but the past 2 trips, it has worked out fine. I have found I try to vary my eating times as well as different "types" of rest. (like seafood, italian, etc). One thing we did find exciting about having set reservations was we didn't have to worry about not eating somewhere we really wanted to. If you are concerned about having reservations EVERY day, you could make them for half the trip and leave the others in the open. Certain rest. don't even take reservations (ESPN Club and Big River Grille).

Hope this helps!

 

[saschab]

We've just returned with a picky DS12 in tow. 5 night trip.
Doing Disney really increased his appetite, and lessened his pickiness. Hunger will do that!

He had no problem finding options that suited him. Counter service choices were spur of the moment depending on where we were and what we were in the mood for. Pretty standard fare.

We made ADRs for 3 nights dinner, and 1 morning breakfast. The breakfast and 1 dinner were buffet. He was satisfied. The other 2 dinners (one was 2TS signature meal), we had checked out the menus beforehand. One night we had TS at ESPN (no reservations). One night we used our SnackCredits to "eat around the world" at Epcot's Food and Wine Festival.

This way, we did plan for a few places we wanted to hit, but left alot of flexibility in the plan. We figured, if worse came to worse, we could always skip a TS and use it for a CS. It would devalue our credits, but if it made our lives easier it was an option...

We also had a fridge in our BVC room, which allowed us to take left-overs (desserts especially) back with us for later. My son is a "grazer".

I haven't dug out all of the reciepts yet, but I believe we saved a few bucks, mostly in the already included 18% gratuity that DDP covers. We tipped a few bucks more for outstanding service when it was called for. We also saved by using the SC for Food and Wine Festival, and paid for cheaper snacks like ice cream bars and water OOP.

 

[Frantasmic]

My philosophy for the dining plan: if you don't have it, you are basically reduced to planning your ADRs ahead of time anyway, even paying OOP, except for a few seasons each year when you can actually make the reservations while at the parks; plus, you are going to be standing in a long line at many CS places as well.

Having the dining plan erases a lot of worry about money, even if you are having to plan your days around a TS or something. Since you are staying at a place with a food court, you can really maximize your snack plan options there.

I'd get it since you will have to plan one way or the other and the only thing that really ties you down is your TS

 

[dianemb]

If you plan on eating at TS for meals I think the plan is worth it. My son is extremely picky (I wish he ate what you listed) but since He's an adult according to Disney we would have to pay for him that way. It will work out well if you go to buffets for your TS where he has to be charged as an adult. Remember it also includes a snack and CS a day for each person. We did it last December and all I did was decide on a TS each day and work around that. I didn't even worry about EMH for the days plan. To me not having to worry about prices or tips made the plan worth it. You and your son could sit down and look at all the menus and sort of make a time of it planning your meals together. We are going this year in December again but it's a surprise for our son so I have listened all year to him and made the reservations according to what he thought.

 

[kevin75]

my gf and i are going in may and we are trying to decide. she has an MSG allergy so that would be a positive for getting TS. that being said though, she really doesn't eat very much and we have both talked about how we don't want to have to take an hour to an hour and a half to eat. so i think we are going to go without the DDP.

 

[eliza61]

For my family, it wasn't worth it but we eat weird so I'm probably the exception. We generally eat like an inverted triangle. Our biggest meals are breakfast and lunch. Dinners are usually light fare. We do TS for breakfast and lunch, which means we really burn through our TS credits since the plan is set up for only 1 TS a dat. Our snack credits were really wasted, we ended up with loads of bottle water just to use them up. We also didn't like being tied to our ressies so much. This October we got a DDE card, (20% off all meals including alcohol, which we do) this worked much better for us.