DISNEY DINING PLAN.....help

[T.A.]

Is it worth buying the food plan for a 5 day stay in Disney? has anyone here done it and also please tell me how is the quality of food?? Thanks TA

[Colorado Belle]

I had the dining plan for 5 days, 6 days, 5 days in May, Sept an October.

Here's the restaurants where I used the TS:
Le Cellierx3, WGPx2, RoseNCrown, Coral Reel, Jik0, Les Chefs.Boma,Capt Jackm,Kona.

I had filet mignon, crab cakes, lobster tails, salmon, scallops for entrees at @$35 each and the quality was great every meal.
I had great appetizers from salmon and crab cakes to mussels to bisque for @ 10 each
I had creme brulee...oh a lot of creme brulee at @ $6 each. YUM
And some smoothies and a cappucinno freeze at Le Cellier that was to die for...

10% tax, 18% tip
And this is just for the TS. You also have a CS and a snack per day for $38 total.
So I'd say that the quality and cost were both excellent.

Do you have an AP or is your style of cruisin NON commando? Because it does take a lot of time to eat all that great food! If you are used to eating out one large meal a day table service, this is a great deal....but make sure you have reservations so you don't spend your time waiting! Or missing out on some of the most popular places.

Bon Appetite!

[fernzy10]

we're sit down people so we definitely think it's worth it. It cost us just under $100 for 4 of us (2a 2k) and the average dinner bill was $120. so just having dinner we were ahead $20 and that doesn't include $50 for CS-lunch & $20 snacks.

[KNWVIKING]

5 days is probably the perfect number for being on the plan.

Your just too ding dang dern FULL to properly enjoy it for days 6,7,8....

[cobbler]

I did it for a 3 night stay just this past October. It was nice not having to worry about what you ordered - price wise - and to worry about the tip and such.

However, my mother and I found it was just too much food for us. We did our TS as the character meals so it was all buffet or family style anyway. We left for home with one counter service left and 2 snacks left. Luckily we grabbed Rice Krispie treats for the plane ride home though.

It was nice but I did find out I much rather have DDE.

But you won't know until you try so go for it.

I know big help huh?? :D

[lenshanem]

I'm trying to decide, too.

I think this will be a deal for us since our oldest is still considered a child. It would be 699.72 for us for 7 nights.

I have already booked our ADRS -
Garden Grill
Cape May
Flying Fish
50s
Coral Reef
Sci-Fi
Akershus
Park Fare

I keep running numbers and it is driving me insane. Flying Fish takes 2 credits, but our girls are going to Sandcastle Club that night which includes their dinner so I'm hoping we can use their credits that night so we don't end up uneven. According to another message board this is a taboo topic, but the credits are all pooled and doesn't differentiate between the adults and children. :zipit:

Anyway, I'd appreciate any thoughts, too.

DH and I did do the DDP for the first time without the kids last month and we loved it, but it was only the two of us and for 3 nights...

EDIT - Cranky, I just realized I have 8 meals booked and we'd only have 7 TS credits. Now I really don't know...

[carolina_yankee]

I don't think the child and adult credits are pooled, anymore - but are kept separate. I think this changed in August before the free dining promotion.

As for taboo topics, we don't even have refillable mug flame wars, so I'm hopeful we stay adults about dining plan credit loopholes (or lack thereof)!!

Dirk

[Colorado Belle]

If you are using the dining plan for VALUE...then quite a few of the restaurants you've chosen wouldn't give you as much bang for your buck....Sci Fi and Prime and the buffets.....Places with entrees in the $25-40 range are the best places to get VALUE out of your TSs.

For the Flying FIsh, which takes 2 TS per person, may I suggest that instead of using a child's credit in place of an adult credit, that you simply share, for 2 TSs, an appetizer, an entree and a dessert and then buy whatever else you might want for cash. (You might find that you don't need anything else!)


Instead of using 2 TS for CRTdinner, I remember we used the DDE and paid cash there. We used a TS for Boma, a buffet, but they are truthfully best saved for places like Wolfgang Puck, Le Cellier, Chefs, Jiko, Bistro, CG etc , in my opinion.

[lenshanem]

For the Flying FIsh, which takes 2 TS per person, may I suggest that instead of using a child's credit in place of an adult credit, that you simply share, for 2 TSs, an appetizer, an entree and a dessert and then buy whatever else you might want for cash. (You might find that you don't need anything else!)

Fantastic idea CB! I hadn't even thought of that! Will they give us attitude for sharing an entree, though?
That would make us even since I had booked 8 meals...

Sooo, you personally don't think this would be a deal for us given our choices? I'm trying to decide which is the better deal for us money wise, especially since this hits right after Christmas!

Thanks so much!

[Simba's Mom]

I used the DDP on a 5 day solo trip in September. Since it was the first time using the DDP, and I wanted to know if it was worth it, I kept score. The DDP cost me $190. The food would have cost me $325 + tips. In addition to the plan cost, I spent maybe $25 extra on tips (as a solo at a table, I always tipped a little extra) and a few alcoholic beverages. I even had an extra counter serve meal that I brought with me on the airplane (sans the drink). Great deal, and I look forward to our whole family doing it in April.
One nice thing was that I got to try some new resturants-Spoodles, California Grill, Coral Reef. When paying cash, I'd be reluctant to try anyplace new. If I didn't like it, I still had to pay at the end of the meal. This way, it wouldn't "hurt" if I didn't like it. Food was never poor quality, sometimes it was excellent quality.

[lenshanem]

Geez... I'm so DDP clueless. I just realized even if DH and I share our meal at Flying Fish we STILL will have 2 kid TS credits leftover. Sooo, they could use it for the 8th extra meal I planned, but DH and I would have to pay extra out of pocket. :scratchch

[T.A.]

am confused? for me, my wife and daughter the plan runs 400 for 5 day stay. Are we allowed to eat as much as possible, where can we go for breakfast and dinner since we will be at SSR, do we always need to make reservations? and do we have to tip?, or is that included...I just need to some help here sorry if am being annoying....please help.......TA

[lenshanem]

am confused? for me, my wife and daughter the plan runs 400 for 5 day stay. Are we allowed to eat as much as possible, where can we go for breakfast and dinner since we will be at SSR, do we always need to make reservations? and do we have to tip?, or is that included...I just need to some help here sorry if am being annoying....please help.......TA

Includes per night per person - one snack, one counter service meal with drink and dessert and one table service meal with drink, appetizer, entrée and dessert INCLUDING TIP. I would suggest reservations for your table service. You could use your counter service credit for breakfast instead of lunch.

[Colorado Belle]

No, it isn't all you can eat (unless you eat at an all you can eat buffet every day!)

You get per person per day a CS, a TS and a snack. For the TSs you should make a ressie, especially if you eat in a high demand restaurant during busy dining hours. For each TS you get a choice of 1 appetizer, 1 entree, 1 dessert and 1 non-alcoholic beverage. THis translates to a LOT of food . The snack is pretty much anything under $4.00: so you could use it for a muffin/bagel breakfast, a Mickey Bar or Dole WHip, a box of donuts at one of the resort 'stores'. The CS is good at most every counterserve restaurant in the parks or at the resorts. You can get an entree/combo like a hamburger/fries, a beverage and a desset. Sometimes, but not always, you can get fruit for dessert. I found Tusker House, Tangierine Cafe, PepperTree (at CSR) to be great value for a CS meal.

The meal plan includes both tax and tip, so if you normally tip 20% and tax is 10%...you can't beat this deal.

Shan, you won't find any attitude at all....the waitstaff at FF is excellent!
Best way to see if the cost makes sense is to look at the menus and decide what you might order, add tax and tip and compare.



All the menus are online at allearsnet.com

[ErinC]

I keep running numbers and it is driving me insane. Flying Fish takes 2 credits, but our girls are going to Sandcastle Club that night which includes their dinner so I'm hoping we can use their credits that night so we don't end up uneven. According to another message board this is a taboo topic, but the credits are all pooled and doesn't differentiate between the adults and children. :zipit:
...

Shan, I was told that the credits were pooled by the dining CM, but I have been too afraid to even ask if it were true. :duck: She told me it didn't matter if it was a child credit or adult. We have HDD reserved which takes two credits, and Yachtsman, which is also two. I was kinda hoping that we could just share some meals at yachtsman to make up for it. I wonder if they have differentiated between the two credits lately. It wasn't that long ago that I was told they are all the same.