Utilizing Disney Plan Question for 1st time visitor

[kiapepito]

Hello. We are a family of 4, two adults and two kids 3 and 6 and we are going in July. We purchased the normal dining plan: 1 snack, 1 quick service and 1 table. We will visit Epcot and Magic Kingdom and the first night we arrive we won't arrive until 7:30pm. So.. I know for sure we want to do Cinderella's Castle.. two credits.. and therefore we will utilize our 1 credit from our arrival to the cinderella castle...

My question is: If I play my cards right, I know that people can actually save money on food by purchasing the DDP and then eating meals that cost more than the DDP.... so, my question to you is how do we do that and which restaurants? Epcot which one do you get your money's worth, snacks, quick service?

Thank you!

 

[OasterP]

Hello. We are a family of 4, two adults and two kids 3 and 6 and we are going in July. We purchased the normal dining plan: 1 snack, 1 quick service and 1 table. We will visit Epcot and Magic Kingdom and the first night we arrive we won't arrive until 7:30pm. So.. I know for sure we want to do Cinderella's Castle.. two credits.. and therefore we will utilize our 1 credit from our arrival to the cinderella castle...

My question is: If I play my cards right, I know that people can actually save money on food by purchasing the DDP and then eating meals that cost more than the DDP.... so, my question to you is how do we do that and which restaurants? Epcot which one do you get your money's worth, snacks, quick service?

Thank you!

I really recommend just looking at the menus at allears.net and deciding based on those - they were so helpful to me.

Buffets are typically higher priced so a decent use of the dining plan but not amazing food.

Tutto Italia has more expensive options in Epcot, but I ended up just getting one of the cheaper dishes there and loved it.

I think 2 credit meals are typically not the best use b/c they aren't USUALLY going to cost 2X what another ts is going to cost. However, to me it with "worth it" to go to CRT. I loved it.

For the quick service credits I have to say that Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney is a pretty good use of credits and delicious. And BOG lunch is a nice use of QS if you get a chance to eat there.

Those menu's will definitely help, and there are also sites out there that tell the "best" (financial) use of the DDP - I think maybe the Disney food blog? Great site.

Overall though, at our non character meals I just ordered what I felt like eating.

 

[kiapepito]

How do we get a reservation for bog for lunch? Is it a sit down lunch?

 

[kaytieeldr]

I really recommend just looking at the menus at

Really, it's not necessary to send anyone to some other site when the DIS has the menus right here http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/disneydining.cfm (with a link at the top f every board).

 

[jezebel73]

How do we get a reservation for bog for lunch? Is it a sit down lunch?

Dinner is table service and lunch is quick service. However, if you are staying at a Disney resort, you can possibly snag a lunch fastpass for BOG. Currently this does not count as one of your 3 FP+ and allows you to skip the long line! You can order food in advance as well, if you choose. On the Dining Reservations board, there is a link with tons of info about how and when, etc.

 

[jezebel73]

Hello. We are a family of 4, two adults and two kids 3 and 6 and we are going in July. We purchased the normal dining plan: 1 snack, 1 quick service and 1 table. We will visit Epcot and Magic Kingdom and the first night we arrive we won't arrive until 7:30pm. So.. I know for sure we want to do Cinderella's Castle.. two credits.. and therefore we will utilize our 1 credit from our arrival to the cinderella castle...

My question is: If I play my cards right, I know that people can actually save money on food by purchasing the DDP and then eating meals that cost more than the DDP.... so, my question to you is how do we do that and which restaurants? Epcot which one do you get your money's worth, snacks, quick service?

Thank you!

Another tip form our past experience - there are some CS meals that are really large and could be split between multiple diners, like 2 or 3 meals for 4 people. This will stretch your CS over more days and allow for more signature meals. I hear Flame Tree in AK is a good one. We liked the create your own pasta in POR, but it's not the only resort that has it.

I agree that signature meals are often not the best monetary value against the dining plan, but they are such a nice experience and usually a great way to slow down a bit after or during a hectic park day!

Other bang for your buck places: Chefs de France, Teppan Edo, Fairfax Faire, Cosmic Ray's, 'Ohana, Via Napoli, Cantina de San Angel, BOG. I agree buffets are a good choice here as well. It's also fun for the little ones to get to try everything at a buffet, too - they don't just need to eat the nuggets and mac!

 

[ken2]

Actually a table service is not dinner and a quick service is not lunch.You can use a table service for breakfast,lunch,or supper.You can use them however you want.We try to hit the buffets and 1 nice "served" meal for our table service.DIS has the best menus and advise for this subject.Also after each meal in the bottom of the recipt it will tell you how many credits you have left.We always do the dinning plan.We lost on it once but only by about 30 bucks.However we have saved over 130!It all depends on where you eat.