hey disney types

[acroyear]

particularly gargoylez and rennfoole  - can you help answer this question about WDW dining?

Several people have just gone or are planning trips to WDW.  Who has done or is doing the Dining Plan?  How does it work?  Is it worth the money?  Did you have the normal Dining Plan or the Super Special one?  Thanks!

Comments

[celtink.livejournal.com]

Link doesn't work for me

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

she locked it - i forgot she friends-onlies (is that a word :) everything. copying the question now...

[mizjawnson.livejournal.com]

Thanks hon!

[mizjawnson.livejournal.com]

Just for anyone helping to answer: I ask b/c I would like hearing real-life experience. True, I could look up details online, but I want to hear from actual people who have used the dining plan or are planning to do so. Thanks!

[pleepleus.livejournal.com]

www.disboards.com everything you ever wanted to know about Disney vacation planning. Look under dining or just follow this to the thread.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1023429

[theshaggyfreak.livejournal.com]

Kate and I felt that the dining plan wasn't worth it. I think it's worth it if you have a family or are going with a large group, but I think it's better to stay on your own for just a couple. With a handful of souvenirs and food, we spent about 100$ a day. We usually ate at some of the cheaper places in the park during the day and had a nicer meal in the evening (some of which were at Downtown Disney). With the dinner packages, there might be somewhere you want to eat but it's not on the list. It's really not any fun hunting around for the right places to eat at.

I CONCUR...

[celtink.livejournal.com]

Food plan is not worth it. It limits your choices and personally....I don't eat much when I'm on the go at WDW. I usually have something small and light in the AM and then a snack around lunch. I save the big eating for dinner where I eat a normal meal.
My favortie snack spots are the Main Street bakery in Magic Kingdom and the Patisserie in Epcot France.
For dinner I love Spoodles (Italian) at the Boardwalk Hotel and the Whispering Canyon Cafe (Steaks, Chicken, etc) at Wilderness Lodge. Although that place is family oriented so it gets LOUD.

Re: I CONCUR...

[theshaggyfreak.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we enjoyed the bakery a lot at MK. I also enjoyed the main food venues in both Germany and Japan at EPCOT. Also, if you don't plan on staying at the park till closing, Downtown Disney has some really nice places to eat.

My Thoughts...

[rennfoole.livejournal.com]

To be honest, we would use the DDP while visiting WDW but, because we are Cast, it negates our room rate.

So that said, it would work perfectly into our scheme of dining at the WDW parks and hotel restaurants. Practically all of the best restaurants are included. Sales tax, service charges & gratuities are also included in the price. It's encoded into your "Key To The World" room key so it's easy to carry around. And, as far as I know, they give you a tab of what is left in your plan whenever you have a meal. What I would do, if I could, is get a refillable mug at my Disney resort and eat breakfast off-plan unless it was a character meal or a "special" breakfast. For the majority, this is your least expensive meal of the day. Normally, off the plan, we eat at the better restaurants at lunch because the menus are virtually identical and the prices are generally cheaper. But, with the plan, that is not necessary. In any case (on-plan or off-plan), I would use their "priority seating/reservations" to pre-book all sit-down meals. We do it because we use that to help determine where we'll be on any given Disney day. It makes planning so much easier when you KNOW when you'll be eating and where! The food quality at the WDW parks and hotels is superb (you know I'm not talking about tourist-type food like burgers...although those tend to be much better than the outside world). And one of the pluses to being on vacation in the World is to take advantage of these world-class eateries.

I will send a copy of latest DDP brochure (PDF) to you to look at. I just wish we could do it.

Re: My Thoughts...

[gargoylez]

Yeah, what he said. :-)

[cozit.livejournal.com]

Dining plans are generally not worth it, cost-wise. On the other hand, if you *really* don't want to worry about budget while you're there, one variation or another isn't so horrible, if you're planning to eat at the more expensive places anyway, especially. Yes, we did one of the meal plans one time... a long time ago, it encouraged us to try more of the sit-down places, but also made us feel like we *had* to have something good enough for us to feel the money was well spent, and odd if we skipped it. More recently we've priced it out and decided that it just wasn't worth the cost when compared to what we figured we'd be spending if we didn't do the plan.

It really depends on the person, and what they want out of their vacation and money. Personally, I doubt we'll do a meal plan again, unless the cost looks like it'll be closer to equal again in the future.