Which restaurants = "win" on regular dining plan?

[Disneyfreak616]

Biergarten, Cape May Clambake, Boma, and 1900 Park Fare are all ones that are DEFINITELY worth the DDP. We also love the Fantasmic Package at Mama Melrose, Yak and Yeti, and Tusker House. (B,L or D) You get a really good bang for your DDP with all of these. Plus, a couple include characters, like 1900 and Tusker House for breakfast.

 

[pmaurer74]

Many breakfasts seems to be in the $25/person range but we did best at:

Akershus approx. $50 per person, Boma's our total was over $100 for 2 adults a 1 child, and Whispering Canyon was about $90.

Earl of Sandwich and I heard Wolfgang Puck Express for QS/CS

 

[TDC Nala]

Actually, Earl of Sandwich can be one of the least expensive CS on property. If you're not really interested in the dessert and beverage, you can get much better value paying OOP. And WPE is a much better value for the credit.

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

We just got back and had the regular dining plan for 9 nights. 2 adults and 2 kids. Our lunches (CS) averaged out to right around $50 each. Our dinners (TS) were all over $100 and most were around $120 so right there, each day we were at $150-170 for lunch and dinner and the DDP cost us $122 per day out of pocket. Now, add in snacks ($4x4 people) that pushes the daily total up to $166 to $186. With that, we were saving $44 to $64 a day on what we would have paid out of pocket for the same meals. Take that times 9 nights and we "saved" $396-576 out of pocket by using the dining plan instead.


--no hassles at meals, eat what you want
--drinks/desserts included for all meals
---tried several places we probably would not have paid for out of pocket
---character meals were great

It does work, but I do agree you should use the TS credits for dinner or a more expensive character breakfast

 

[caroline1851]

the 2 times we've done the dining plan, we've always saved a ton of money and that's eating what we want, where we want, not trying too hard to get the most out of the plan.

We've stayed at CSR and the Pepper Market is great for CS.

Our most expensive meal (therefore maximizing the plan) was Teppan Edo for lunch. Also, Maya Grill for dinner. Awesome food at both, great service and pricey meals.

 

[pmdeve]

We just got back and had the regular dining plan for 9 nights. 2 adults and 2 kids. Our lunches (CS) averaged out to right around $50 each. Our dinners (TS) were all over $100 and most were around $120 so right there, each day we were at $150-170 for lunch and dinner and the DDP cost us $122 per day out of pocket. Now, add in snacks ($4x4 people) that pushes the daily total up to $166 to $186. With that, we were saving $44 to $64 a day on what we would have paid out of pocket for the same meals. Take that times 9 nights and we "saved" $396-576 out of pocket by using the dining plan instead.


--no hassles at meals, eat what you want
--drinks/desserts included for all meals
---tried several places we probably would not have paid for out of pocket
---character meals were great

It does work, but I do agree you should use the TS credits for dinner or a more expensive character breakfast

I am trying to figure the OPP cost verses the meal plan for 5 adults and 2 children. Are you able to split out the cost of Adult and child? The convenience of the plan will make it worth it for all of us, but I would like to tell my DH how much $ we are going to save.

 

[beautifultomorrow]

Some of my favorite DP restaurants are Tutto Italia, Via Napoli and Coral Reef, where what I would order at each of those would be in the $40-45 range including tax (but not tip). Throw in a $20+ CS meal at Wolfgang Puck Express and a $4 chocolate milkshake and you've more than gotten your money's worth on the dining plan.

Gone are the days when DDP cost $38 and included appetizers AND gratuity, man I really made out like a bandit then, but I can still get my money's worth easily. It's a no brainer for us.

Other "good value" CS restaurants are Cosmic Rays in Magic Kingdom and Flame Tree Barbecue in Animal Kingdom.

More "good value" TS restaurants: Chefs de France in Epcot and The Wave at Contemporary.

 

[rachel09985]

One of the best value counter services is Tangierine Cafe. You can get the Lamb Schwarma Platter that is $15 dollars and drink plus dessert is probabaly around $20. That is a huge savings.

Sunshine Seasons is good too as long as you take advantage of the specialty desserts.


I LOVE the dining plan but have never paid full price for it (free dining periods) so I would have to seriously consider using it if there was no free dining because I would for sure not order dessert at counter service meals and maybe not some table service, however I would always get Diet Coke!

 

[jodywgirl]

We have found that to make it pay you need to use the table service for dinner (exception LeCellier as it is 2 TS now). Most of the buffets go up during peak season so the price is higher. As far as counter services go. there are a lot of places that you can get a good deal. Cosmic Rays, Sunshine Seasons, Wolfgang Puck Express, Earl of Sandwich. Also get a large drink at the counter services included. Make the most of your snacks we always bring water with us so you can use snacks for dole whip floats, pastries(eat for breakfast), sundaes.

 

[claven123]

One draw back or benefit is we always seemed to be at Epcot for dinner or lunch eat day. Many of the more expensive eateries were there.

I think to send off the older kids with credit for food would be better than sending them with just money.

Is there a excel file on the breakdown on the cost comparison? Would love to see that.

D

 

[miztressuz]

I'll sound like a broken record but it's really a personal choice based on your normal eating habits. Hubby and I tend to lose our appetites while we're at Disney (which for us is a good thing, we've debated about moving there just to lose some weight ) so we generally split a normal QS meal without dessert for most meals and we're totally satisfied. So having 2 QS meal allowances per day means we could both eat twice a day plus go to TS for dinner - but we still only eat 2 times per day total so we wind up with extra QS meals! We tried the dining plan when it was a freebie and found that it was convenient cuz we ate at places we wouldn't normally go to cuz of the cost like Puck and Coral Reef. However, at the end of the trip we wound up buying a whole bunch of snacks at once since we had a bunch left over (rice crispy mickey heads make great souvenirs for the kiddies at home ). Therefore on "normal" trips we don't buy the DDP cuz we spend less money eating OOP (although last time we went to Citricos and the FW Fest was there so it would have been a breakeven), however, we might buy it on the next trip cuz we are going with a group that have never been to Disney before and they want to try all the character meals and spiffy restaurants and the dinner shows etc. Pricing it out, for us, we may actually come out ahead with the DDP, enough to cover about half the tip money - but it's all going to depend on the final reservations.
So it really all depends on your style. But I would think anywhere that would work out to be more than $30 per person for a single TS would be a win.