Would you recommend the meal plan?

[Micelf33]

Now that we have decided where we are staying and when we are going, i now have one more thing to worry about.
We are booking with caa and we are staying for 9 nights.
We were quoted for a family of 4--one being a child approx 1300.00 canadian to add the meal plan.
Is this worth it or do you think we can do the meals cheaper on our own.
I was reading trip advisor and someone indicated that a mean for 4 people with no drinks can cost over 100.00 on the average.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Debbie

 

[hockey mom]

Depends what sort of meals you had in mind. If you want to do a few character meals or some of the nicer places and have the appetites to eat an appetizer, entree and dessert every meal then go for it.

If your kids or yourself typically share meals then pay as you go it will be cheaper.

 

[usetheforceluke]

I agree that it depends on what you want to do and when you want to do it, but, more importantly, if you are used to eating 'hefty' meals, then the dining plan will be worth it. If you are a muffin-for breakfast, sandwich-for-lunch and chicken-with-rice-and-a-salad-for-dinner type of eater, then you're wasting your money, period.

The two of us just came back from 10 days on the dining plan, and, basically, we won't do it again, which isn't a knock against the dining plan. By the end of the 10 days, we seemed to be just hanging around waiting to eat, and when we got our meals, we seemed to just pick at them, although we did eat them all.

For our trip, we shared a counter service selection for breakfast and shared another one for lunch, and we each had our own table service for supper. We rarely snacked and were rarely hungry. Our most expensive supper meal was $110 (LeCellier), and the cheapest was $46 (Biergarten). We made ADRs for all of our dinners 90 days out, and at five of the nine restaurants they were turning away anybody that didn't have an ADR, which severely restricts your spontenaity in choosing restaurants. Also, if you use a table service credit to purchase a counter service meal, it requires a supervisor override and locks up the ordering computer. We saw this twice during the trip and it certainly irritated the people waiting in line.

Jim.

Edited to correct restaurant error.

 

[kg66]

In Feb. we did the 7 day Land & Sea, with the Land being first, so we were cautious with our money so as to have more money for our excursions on the Disney Cruise. For 4 days eating at the parks we spent approx. $100/day. We brought cereal for the bkfsts in the room(moderates had just started with in room fridges). We ate a lunch in the park, and we shared 2 dinners between the 4 of us(DD's 8 & 5). We did splurge and have dinner at Cinderella's Gala Feast(highly recommend this), and on the last morning we ate at Chef Mickey's(again highly recommend this one too). The kids still had their fair share of Mickey bars and popcorn!

 

[dangler]

A friend of mine just came back a week ago and did the dining. She would do it again, but mentioned that you have to have a PS for all the sit down meals. They didn't make any PS's and were turned away alot! Looking for a place to eat was frustrating for them.

 

[Micelf33]

Thanks for all the replies.
Yes, i was about whether or not we would have to search for a rest. that accepts the mean plan. My agent told me that there is no problem because 90% do accept, but i am still not sure.
When travelling our family tends to eat breakfast and lunch together (brunch) and a nice supper every second day. On the alternating days we eat counter meals.
However, i was thinking that we may be waking up alot earlier to have longer days and brunch may not work. We may eat breakfast in our room and eat the two meals out.
This is all sooooo confusing.....

I was looking at the Animal Kingdom lodge and i was thinking if we stayed there and had the concierge we could just eat everything there for FREE!
Apparantly, you get a continental breakfast and snacks all day long........
Wishful thinking i know!!

 

[Tabetha]

The problem wouldn't be finding a restaurant that accepts the meal plan - almost all do.

The problem would be getting a seat if you don't pre-plan your Table Service reservations. But that would happen whether you had the meal plan or not.

You could use your counter service meals for Brunches, and then have a nice sit down meal daily, or use 2 at a time to eat at signature restaurants or to go see HDDMR, for example.

My sister and I are using the plan when we go, to us it only makes sense!

 

[jtdl]

Another thing to consider is whether or not you want to take the time to have a sit down meal every day. I know that my family wouldn't want to "waste" the time. We usually only do two sit-down meals the whole time we're there - usually 5 days, so for us it wouldn't be worth it. Now if it were just my DH and I, we would most certainly go with the plan. I think it would also be too much planning ahead for ADRs and because you can't get in a restaurant without an ADR, there would be no flexibility in your itinerary - you'd have to spend the day at the park where your ADR is or waste a lot of time travelling from one park to another.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Our family of 4 spent approx. $600 USD on food for a 10 day trip in July. We went to a grocery store on the first day and stocked up on bottled water, pop, beer, fruit and snacks. Also, we bought breakfast items milk, bagels, cheese. I brought a few items from home (individual cereal boxes and oatmeal packets). We had a fridge and coffeemaker in the room so we had breakfast in our room everyday. We had lunch where ever we were and usually had dinner at the food court in the hotel (CSR). We did not do any PS meals mainly because we didn't know until we got there what we would be doing from day to day. We found that in alot of cases 2 people could share a meal and an extra side dish because the portions are as large as everyone says.

 

[tink&cinderella]

I just returned from WDW yesterday - was actually delayed there by one day due to the hurricane. My 3 year old daughter and I had the meal plan - this was our first time trying it- I loved it - she does not eat a lot so we would get one counter service meal and split it and use the other one for breakfast - I never had to buy one food item while there - it was great and I felt overall I was more in control of my money

We ate at Crystal palace, Liberty Tree tavern x2, the castle, and the Grand Floridian for the Cinderella dinner. I enquied re the advanced reservations for Liberty Tree Tavern on MNSSHP night (october 20, 2005) but was told they were full. I then went to the restaurant and they had space. I did this as well with the castle. Seating two is likely easier then when I go with the entire family.

I would definetly recommend the dining plan if you are planning on doing the character dinners. my only complaint - sometimes it was too much food for one person. making reservations is definetly a benefit.

Take care

Tink&Cinderella

 

[patche]

Our family of 4 spent approx. $600 USD on food for a 10 day trip in July. We went to a grocery store on the first day and stocked up on bottled water, pop, beer, fruit and snacks. Also, we bought breakfast items milk, bagels, cheese. I brought a few items from home (individual cereal boxes and oatmeal packets). We had a fridge and coffeemaker in the room so we had breakfast in our room everyday. We had lunch where ever we were and usually had dinner at the food court in the hotel (CSR). We did not do any PS meals mainly because we didn't know until we got there what we would be doing

Thanks for this info! That is exactly what we're planning on doing, so it helps a lot. We cannot get the dining plan as part of the Land/Sea package, and I was rather disappointed, but on the other hand we did not want to plan and reserve every single meal before we get there, anyways.

 

[dsneygirl]

We did the dining plan in May and loved it. The nice thing is you prepay so you don't have to worry about sticking to a $100/day or whatever budget. It will also allow you to splurge on meals you may have been hesitant to try because of your budget.

For DH and I it doesn't "waste" time to enjoy a sit down meal it's part of our holiday.

 

[Islandergal]

We were at Disney early in Oct and I would highly recommend the dining plan for both cost savings and as a great excuse to enjoy some wonderful meals.I was amazed at how expensive food was at Disney if you had to buy out of pocket while you were there. For example on our second day there we went to breakfast at the food court and spent 35.00 usd . A small bowl of fruit was 4.99 usd for example and coffee at the poly was 3.00 usd .You get the idea.After that we ate in our room in the am.In addition , we loved the time we spent viewing the other resorts and taking a little down time.We had two five year old boys with us and I found that the sit down break at supper was greatly appreciated.Good luck with your decision.