What of you think of the new CS dining plan?

[imthatgirl]

i cant see why anyone would bother with it. the prices of most of the CS are pretty much the same. so theres no real bargain in it. so why not just pay cash?
i honestly cant see spending $26.00 a day on 2 counter service meals. sure you get 2 snacks and a refillable mug, bt they are just throwing those things in to make it look like you get a lot.
my guess is they sell this to people knowing full well that many will use it for breakfast and lunch a couple days and still buy dinner on site.

i wouldnt use it, and i sure hope it doesnt replace free dining, but i can see it as a smart move for disney. i can see it now free dining with the CS plan and $25 an adult to upgrade to basic. nothing will be free anymore. it was good while it lasted.

 

[LisaInNc]

I can't see my family doing it for an entire vacation. It isn't healthy most of the CS stuff is on the fast food side and I know that I would be grumpy if I went that long without a real meal.

But good point about the free dining I can see Disney doing that. They seem to be spending a lot of time looking at ways to give us less while costing more. I do not just count on free dining though, I remember before they offered it for the second time that the general consensus was that Disney did not repeat discount offers. Now this will be 3 years in a row. That is 2 more than I ever hoped for.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

i cant see why anyone would bother with it. the prices of most of the CS are pretty much the same. so theres no real bargain in it. so why not just pay cash?
i honestly cant see spending $26.00 a day on 2 counter service meals. sure you get 2 snacks and a refillable mug, bt they are just throwing those things in to make it look like you get a lot.
my guess is they sell this to people knowing full well that many will use it for breakfast and lunch a couple days and still buy dinner on site.

I can definitely see why people would bother with it. There are a lot of people who go to WDW who don't dine at TS but would like to have everything pre-paid before they go. I love the pre-paid option myself!

Plus, I don't think it's a ripoff. Let's look at where I would choose to eat on a typical park day. Let's pick Epcot:

We don't eat breakfast. So we would likely eat somewhere like Sunshine Seasons and Tangierine Cafe. Looks like that's at least $15 per meal plus tax (meal, dessert & drink). If the package is around $26 as indicated, it's cheaper than paying for those two meals OOP. That doesn't even factor in snacks and the refillable mug.

 

[bytheblood]

i cant see why anyone would bother with it. the prices of most of the CS are pretty much the same. so theres no real bargain in it. so why not just pay cash?
i honestly cant see spending $26.00 a day on 2 counter service meals. sure you get 2 snacks and a refillable mug, bt they are just throwing those things in to make it look like you get a lot.
my guess is they sell this to people knowing full well that many will use it for breakfast and lunch a couple days and still buy dinner on site.

i wouldnt use it, and i sure hope it doesnt replace free dining, but i can see it as a smart move for disney. i can see it now free dining with the CS plan and $25 an adult to upgrade to basic. nothing will be free anymore. it was good while it lasted.

The mug is like $12
A Snack is a value up to $4 - So $8 a night.
Counter Service with a meal, snack and dessert is $14 on average - So $28 for 2.

So it is a savings of about $18 for those who like counter service.

I would expect this to be the free dining of the future, with the choice to upgrade.

 

[jjohnson]

I priced out both options for our family and unless the basic DP goes up drastically it's only $500 more to have 7 TS meals included.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

I priced out both options for our family and unless the basic DP goes up drastically it's only $500 more to have 7 TS meals included.

Rumour is that the basic DDP is going up to $50/person/night, if that helps with your calculations. $500 is a lot of money for some people. I can see why they would opt for the new CS plan.

 

[jjohnson]

Rumour is that the basic DDP is going up to $50/person/night, if that helps with your calculations. $500 is a lot of money for some people. I can see why they would opt for the new CS plan.

$500 is alot for me too but I was only comparing CS plan with TS plan. We rarely eat out so it's a huge treat for our family to go out for a TS every night at Disney. If the rumour of $50 is correct, I need to go over all our tallys again from previous years to make sure we at least break even.

 

[Corjack]

Honestly I was suprised by how much NON fast food there was available. It is a really great mix while your @ Disney. Although my favorite was the small personal pizza. :lol: We rarely eat out anymore so even eating CS meals is a treat for us.

If it is more than $25-26 a day then it is not worth it. (for us) We would eb paying more than we did, unless prices go up @ the CS places...I will have to check that out.

Jackie

 

[dvcdisney]

I think this is a great option and would be a very popular one.

It's not something we would get. We love the idea of having one TS (dinner) a day. We don't really like CS menu choices but we are fine with it for lunch. And on top of that we always end up with too many snack credits at the end, so we wouldn't want to double that. Also, I'm not a fan of the refillable mugs.

But I can see how many would find this a great choice. Assuming it wouldn't be too costly. Many would like the idea of not having to make ADRs and be tied down to a specific time at a restaurant. And for some, it would not be too much food (since some have complained that the DDP offers too much food).

I think this will be a very popular option.

 

[catne]

Any bets on if this takes the place for the free dining option next year if they offer it?

my guess too...(read this idea on another forum, too.) I wouldn't mind, especially if they still allow you to pay the difference to upgrade to the next level like they do now with free basic, pay diff to upgrade to deluxe. I wouldn't mind that...it'd work out basically to "half-price" dining if you upgraded to basic DDP. Seems like having the CS as free might make TS a little bit easier to find during Free Dining (if people who really wanted free dining didn't pay for the upgrade to get TS.)

 

[TPCShauna]

We would never use this plan as I don't eat fast food and the thought of all CS is appalling. I do like the plan though as I think it will help free up space in the TS restaurants since more will be eating CS. I'm totally good with that!

 

[mickey2000]

Any bets on if this takes the place for the free dining option next year if they offer it?

 

[Desnik]

There are so many different CS places at WDW that offer way more than basic "fast food". To name a few, Sunshine Seasons, Wolfgang Puck Express, Cosmic Rays, etc.... Even if you do find and want the basic burger and fries or pizza, it is not average "fast food" with whole wheat pizza crust and whole wheat buns! Most places give another option other than having fries, like apple slices or a veggie. Sorry to rant but I just had to comment on this since so many think CS = "Fast Food", unhealthy, no variety, basic nuggets and burgers. Not true at WDW.

As for this new DDP CS option, I think it is great. Everyone vacations differently and the more options the better. I am a DVC'er so the free dining doesn't affect me so I really don't care if this option will take the place of the basic DDP normally offered to the free dinning guests.

The way we like to eat I think we might give the CS DDP a try. I would use it along with 2-3 TS dinners we would pay OOP for. I just hope that all WDW CS places will participate.

 

[ReneeA]

Our last trip we ate in 10 CS places, and I never ate 1 burger.

Most CS places have a great huge salad option, and most have wraps and healthier foods as well.

My DH loves having the TS meal everyday, but if we were to spend that time lounging by the pool instead of trudging through parks or waiting in a TS restaurants, he could probably be convinced.

Like I said, I'm waiting on a price for both adult AND children (I don't know how they would do the children's for less than the $10 that they charge now)

 

[buckirj1]

I love this idea, and hope it ends up replacing the existing Dining Plan. If nothing else, it would force a return to sanity in booking TS restaurants.

 

[asmit4]

I don't see any value in it at all for us. We won't use the mug, we might use the snacks, and I don't see how 1 CS averages at 14.00 at all. Maybe my math is wrong...but I view a CS 'value' as around 11.00.

I feel that I can get my drinks, 2 snacks and 2 CSs for around 26 bucks on my own, it might offer a small savings but not enough for me to bother. Plus the CS desserts IMO- stink overall.

 

[TPCShauna]

Yes, but the CS non burger and fries option still taste like mass produced yuck. We ate at a few CS places on our last trip and never had a burger either. The food was still far inferior to what we would get at a proper restaurant.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

. . . and I don't see how 1 CS averages at 14.00 at all. Maybe my math is wrong...but I view a CS 'value' as around 11.00.

Which CS did you use in your calculations to arrive at 11?

Take a look at Cosmic Ray's. Without even picking the most expensive items:

1/2 Rotisserie Chicken $9.09
Apple Juice $2.39
Triple Chocolate Cake $3.59
Subtotal $15.07

And that's before taxes.

I've added up a number of others and this seems about average.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

Yes, but the CS non burger and fries option still taste like mass produced yuck. We ate at a few CS places on our last trip and never had a burger either. The food was still far inferior to what we would get at a proper restaurant.

Did you try Sunshine Seasons? That was better than many of the TS we ate at in WDW. And I hate to point this out, but much of the TS food is, in fact, mass produced as well.

 

[angelmav]

Yes, but the CS non burger and fries option still taste like mass produced yuck. We ate at a few CS places on our last trip and never had a burger either. The food was still far inferior to what we would get at a proper restaurant.

Funny to hear you say this, since some CS places carry the same items as their TS counterparts! Food snobbery aside, have you seen what a CS credit will buy at the Pepper Market? TPC you sound like the kind of person the Deluxe Dining Plan was made for, but IMO, your selling an awful lot of CS places short!