Who is not using the dining plan this year?

[gracie1]

I doubt that I am. Will make a couple ts ressies but that's it. Just curious as to how many people are not using it. I see many people on the boards do. If not using it, do you tend to use cs or just make your own ressies and pay out of pocket?

 

[JanB]

We do not use the dining plan. It is not cost-effective for the way that we like to dine. It is true that we could purchase the dining plan, and we could make it work in a cost-effective manner --- but we would have to adjust our preferences.

We are a family of 3 adults (me, DH, and DS 22).

We typically do at least one TS each day. Some of our favorite TS restaurants are signature (2 credits), which are not a good value on the dining plan. We do not often order dessert -- maybe once or twice during the week -- and, even then, we will share. Occasionally, we will want to share an appetizer. Sometimes, if we're not really hungry, we might want to simply order an appetizer and a salad. We also have a couple of favorite non-dining-plan restaurants where, of course, we must pay OOP.

We do usually do a CS each day --- but even then, we don't always want one CS per person. Some of the CS meals are large enough for 2 of us to share. And we never have dessert with lunch.

I understand that some people like the dining plan as a budgeting tool; i.e., they know exactly what they will be spending on food. That doesn't matter to us. We've been to Disney enough times so that we have a pretty good idea of what our food budget should be.

So, for a variety of reasons, it's not cost effective for us, and it doesn't offer us the flexibility of dining where we want to dine --- maybe off-property, maybe an additional CS, maybe an appetizer and a salad as a meal.

We simply charge everything on our KTTW card or, if off-property, OOP on a credit card.

 

[Colleen27]

We're using the deluxe plan for one trip and no dining plan for the other. Generally the deluxe plan fits the way we eat pretty well, but since our Dec reservation is club level at the Poly (thanks to a 40% off PIN), we decided that would be a good time to skip the dining plan and try some of the restaurants that don't participate. So we'll enjoy the CL lounge offerings, tea at the Grand Floridian, sushi at Kimonos, dinner at Fultons, etc.

 

[winterman]

We have taken advantage of free dining twice, third time is coming in Sept. But if we're not there when it is free we don't buy the DDP. In fact during free dining we are doing a split stay and only the first half includes dining. We eat at lots of Disney restaurants but find the DDP to be very restrictive.

 

[bubblycoconut]

We are not currently planning to use the dining plan. It doesn't seem like it will be cost effective for us since we are doing a lot of buffets. We used it for part of our first vacation when we have several regular ts meals and it was a good choice for us because it was back when it included a 15% tip and an appitizer. For this trip I think our best option is to not use the dining plan.

 

[buckirj1]

I'm not using the dining plan this year or any year until it makes sense for me and the way I like to eat. I have my favorite places, but they're generally either cs or ts that are relatively easy to get into. I sometimes stop by the front desk at the resort on my way to the parks and ask them to find me a place to eat that day, and make the ADR right then. Works for me...