WDW dining plan - your thoughts

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Thanks Nicky, off to read the thread

 

[queenie82]

I truly don't believe brochures at all....I mean the crap they get filled with....so many errors. Especially when it comes to Disney
Especially airline ones...
Until DISNEY says something there is just no point believing this - especially as applying to the main plan.
I don't see them getting away with taking away the dessert as well as the appetiser....as well as putting up the price....for the NORMAL DDP.
Maybe the UK have some different sort of package.
I mean we are DVC so we pay for the DDP separately. If they do this DVC people are unlikely to continue paying for the plan.

If they were stupid enough to do this though.
To me the QSP really seems one of the best value. You can get some quite high priced meals and Sunshine Seasons has FANTASTIC quality food.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I'm inclined to agree with you Queenie "gasp" - about the CS dining plan seeming to be the best value. After a little more investigation, I think it is the only plan option we'd consider. Whilst we do plan on doing some table service and character meals, I'm just not sure if the DP or DDP would be of good value for us. But I'll keep researching, no need to be hasty, we do love our food

 

[queenie82]

I'm inclined to agree with you Queenie "gasp" - about the CS dining plan seeming to be the best value. After a little more investigation, I think it is the only plan option we'd consider. Whilst we do plan on doing some table service and character meals, I'm just not sure if the DP or DDP would be of good value for us. But I'll keep researching, no need to be hasty, we do love our food

oh no...is the world ending!!!

But yeah...I love table service...but there were really only that many 'expensive' ones that I want to go back to. Biergarten and Cape May aren't very expensive atm.
Of course the whole 'dessert' thing doesn't affect buffets anyway.

I doubt we will be back before Dec '11 so it just depends how things go.
Splitting the stay so it is some of each will probably be the way to do it like last time

 

[aussietravellers]

None of the dining plans suit us for this trip.

QSDP is just not for us, we were on DDP last time and had QS left over as we are more TS diners, we have a few favourite QS restaurants but not many.

DDP, well it's ok but again we have one QS (which we don't always use) one TS and a snack, we always have at least two TS a day, so always end up playing for one OOP and with peanut and tree nut allergies we can rarely eat dessert so the TS is a bit of a waste.

DxDDP, this just seems like too much food with paying for a three course meal three times a day (or buffets). I know we can use them at CS too but really it's just a lot of food.

Another thing is with my son now 10 and a Disney Adult, he prefers to order off the kids menu. So on any of the dining plans he pays adult price. If we pay OOP he can order off the kids menu and pay the kids price, so he will not eat anywhere near the amount we would pay for him on the dining plans (except at buffets where he pay adult price regardless).

So we are getting tables in wonderland (TIW) and getting our 20% off, DS can order off the kids menu and we will pay OOP. We then won't have any extra credits left, we can eat how we wish and not be worried we've paid for dessert or something and not eaten it. We can order just a starter as our meal if we wish and not feel like we are wasting a dining credit. For kids I think the dining plan is great.

Don't get me wrong, last trip we had 21 night on the DDP and we absolutely loved it! Even though we did have to pay OOP for quite a few extra TS credits, but with DS still a child it was a bargain. But this trip I have done a lot of calculations to see how DDP or DxDDP or OOP will work for us and OOP comes out miles ahead.

I do agree though that until Disney releases the actual plans for 2011 we don't know what will be on them. It would be really rough taking out the dessert and increasing the price but they are planning on adding an additional snack, so maybe the extra snack replaces the dessert . They did that drastic change years ago taking out the appertizer and the tip and people still use it. I guess we will just have to wait and see what they actually do with the Dining Plan in 2011

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

aussietravellers - that's true what you say. Our DD12 will be an adult on the plan but often she would prefer to eat of the kids menu. The more I think about this, the more I think it won't really suit our plans.

 

[PrincessInOz]

aussietravellers - that's true what you say. Our DD12 will be an adult on the plan but often she would prefer to eat of the kids menu. The more I think about this, the more I think it won't really suit our plans.

Shuttergirl - If you decide to do a split stay, then you can choose to do a DP for one component of your stay (with your park tix) and then do OOP for the other component.
We did the QSDP and our son is still 9. We paid about $75 for 2 adults and 1 child per day and because we were doing a split stay, we only did the plan for 5 nights stay. So the total food bill was about $375 for the 3 of us. When we arrived at the resort, we got 30 Counter Service credits and 30 snacks, plus 3 resort mugs.

My son has a HUGE appetite but only ever ate about 3 kids meals in total (out of choice). We were lucky that the system worked to our favour because the system didn't "differentiate" between adults and child on the QS. I believe it does make this differentiation for TS meals. My son probably ate about $45 per day ... and we only paid $10 for him.

And because hubby and I shared meals some of the time (I was sick and didn't have much of an appetite) and we ate at T Rex for one night, we ended up having extra CS credits that we used for full breakfasts in the morning.

I'm still in the process of totally up my meals when we were on the QS and I reckon that if we had paid OOP for what we got, we would have spent about $500 - $550; quite possibly more because of the drinks. But there was a lot of food - and a lot of dessert. The CS meals come with dessert and thankfully my son loves fruit - otherwise we wouldn't have been able to eat all those desserts AND the snacks as well. The CS meals also come with a drink and we were getting bottled water for later on plus getting cups of iced water to have with our meals. So, we saved on having to buy water.

Our eating patterns reverted to more "normal" in the second part when we were off the dining plan and paying OOP. We were just buying 'mains' without dessert and went to a supermarket to buy bottles of water. We still got the cups of iced water with the meals...and spent a fortune on snacks in this week. We did spend a lot more on food in this second part but that was because we were also going to TS restaurants as well.

If the QS suits your family's style of eating, it is worth trying for a few days. I'm glad that I didn't have to eat QS for all 10 days as there really was quite average food in some places. But we did do a lot of research to work out the better places to eat at. I know you might have to pay for 3 adults and 1 child - but if you are sharing meals, you might find that you have enough CS credits to cover a full cooked breakfast for most of your mornings as well.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I would say we are a half a CS family and half a TS family. My DH and I would do TS all the time , but it's easier with the kids to do a combo of CS & TS I think.

I will have a bit better look at where we might want to eat TS wise and CS wise and do some rough sums. I think it might be good to do a plan for part of the stay if we split stay.

Thanks for all of the info on this ladies, so much to think over.

 

[Miriade]

We are going to WDW in next September and we'll be at POR so we got the free regular DP for our 14 nights.
I went through bariatric surgery 3 years ago and I think I won't be able to finish lots the main dishes and sometimes I know I won't try to share my fiancee b/c he likes too well done meat and I like it almost raw but as we do want to try to have some good time and a respite for all the walking at the parks we choose to do TS meals almost all days.
It was a tough decision 'where to do ADR' so long before actually going there but we did a lot of researching, here and in wdwinfo.com and we decided to try Ohana, Biergarten, Yaki&yeti, Liberty Tree Tavern, San Angel Inn, Boma, Sci-Fi, Garden Grill, Chef Mickey, Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue, coral Reef, Rose & Crown Pub and Crystal Palace (in that order) for out TS...
But now we do want to try to choose our QS locations and we'd like to have some advice from you DISers!
Thanks!

 

[PrincessBelle39]

I love WPE at DTD Marketplace for CS. It seems to be pretty popular too.

 

[Kalice]

I second Wolfgang Puck Express, the food was fantastic for a counter service. As opposed to normal counter service, once you've ordered you find a table and they bring your meals out. The other counter service we liked was Sunshine Seasons at Epcot, there was suc a good variety of food here, you'd be hard pressed to not find something you like.

 

[Travel Mum]

I'm going to have a similar dilemma when it comes to our holiday. If we stay onsite for the first 7 nights (POR), as we hope to be able to afford, I definitely want to be on the Dining Plan as I know I'd get stressed if I had to look at the prices each time we ordered something as I know my mind would be converting back to NZ$ and freaking! We'd only do the CS one (plus a couple of character meals) as I know my girls, especially our 6 year old, will be exhausted after each day at the park and may not have the patience for anything else. However, it's very frustrating that my middle daughter who will be 10 by then will have to buy an adults meal plan as I know she will want to order off the kids menu and will never eat the value of the adults meal plan

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I definitely think once you have a child who is too old to get the kids plan the figures don't quite add up. It's worth doing some sums to check.

 

[PrincessInOz]

QS locations that I liked:

Magic Kingdom - Cosmic Rays. We had the Chicken and Ribs meal and it was pretty good. I also ate at Columbia Harbour House. I wouldn't rush back in a hurry. I've also previously eaten at El Pirat y el Perico and the food was good then. I previously also ate at the Golden Oak Outpost - not one I'd rush back to. Main Street Bakery was great for snacks; and of course a Dole Whip Float.

Animal Kingdom - Yak and Yeti QS was okay. The TS seemed alright too. Pizzafari was reliable. We had Fruit as snacks from the Fruit Market in Africa; and a mickey icecream that we got in Dinosaurland.

Hollywood Studios - Surprisingly, I enjoyed a great salad at ABC Commissary (with added chicken). We also ate Catalina Eddies, not good but not bad either. I picked up snacks at Starring Rolls Cafe and yes, the Butterfinger cupcake was AMAZING (but then I have a pretty sweet tooth).
The last time we were there 5 years ago, we ate at the Studio Catering Co. I didn't go there this time.

Epcot - I love Sunshine Seasons and the Boulangerie in France! Tangerine Cafe was good as was the Mexican QS (a stall set up whilst San Angel is being renovated); Kringla Bakeri was good and the Yorkshire Fish and Chips in England was okay. LOADS of restaurants to choose from at Epcot.

WPE is my QS of choice at DTD.

 

[Kalice]

We too loved Starring rolls, only so filling good if you're having a late lunch or dinner. The rolls looked great, but we couldn't go past the cakes, yummmm. Didn't finish them either time.

We had an eleven year old so paid adult rate, he is a good eater so it worked out well. He did eat a kids meal a few times, we used these credits later on. We had a couple of two credit meals, CRT and Hoop-De-Doo. When he (or any of us!) couldn't manage dessert we got a fruit salad and had it either later in the evening or for breakfast.

We loved choosing anything off the menu and not bothering with the cost.

 

[Travel Mum]

We loved choosing anything off the menu and not bothering with the cost.

Yes, that's what I want in my Disney holiday

 

[australiankaren]

hey

we got the free QS dining and opted to upgrade $10 pp per day becasue we love the table service meals....thats half the fun at wdw, eating at great themed places and just enjoying the people watching that goes with it....remember the meals are huge so one sit down meal will be good enough for any aussie stomach.......

love free dining, even with the upgrade it will save around $800 usd for us...more $$ to spend on t shirts

 

[queenie82]

Heads up!!

News Flash! Le Cellier (Canada/Epcot) to require 2 Dining Credits for dinner only - beginning March 1, 2011.

I personally didn't find this a wonderful place. Cramped, crowded and overheated. With ok but not brilliant food.

This...will be interesting.
They will HAVE to pick up the quality of the food.
The only place I would consider using 2 credits is the California Grill....for the view...
But this....
no thank you...
Just confirms I will never return...

 

[Willow25]

Heads up!!

News Flash! Le Cellier (Canada/Epcot) to require 2 Dining Credits for dinner only - beginning March 1, 2011.

I personally didn't find this a wonderful place. Cramped, crowded and overheated. With ok but not brilliant food.

This...will be interesting.
They will HAVE to pick up the quality of the food.
The only place I would consider using 2 credits is the California Grill....for the view...
But this....
no thank you...
Just confirms I will never return...

Oh man this is devastating news. I know you are not a big fan Queenie but we loved Le Cellier but part of that was the fact that it was only one credit. Don't know if we will be back either. What a shame!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

bumping up