Is the dining plan worth it?

[DisneyAddict]

just pricing up the dining and its adding up to a lot of money for a family of four so is the dining plan worth it??????? :unsure:

[Mari]

it depends...

if you plan to spend most time at Disney, then I think it IS worth it, because once there you will not have to spend much more on meals, since they will mostly be taken care of, whereas if you dont get it, you will end up spending all of that money once there, since you WILL have to eat...

but.. if you are staying off site or have a kitchen, or plan to eat outside Disney, then it might not be worth it.

[Tinkfan]

:wave:Depends on a few things, how old are your children, are they good eaters, do you like to take the time to sit down for a meal every day? They have several plans , two of the most popular are the quick service and the regular dining plans.With quick service you get per person 2- snacks, 2- counter service meals and a refillable resort only mug. With the regular plan you receive 1- quick service meal, 1- sit down meal and 1-snack per person per day. We like the regular plan because we enjoy our sit down meals! We pay out of pocket for breakfast and use the counter service for lunch. They have alot of options for snacks that aren't listed ( Main Street bakery in MK has many options!) Good luck

[Britchick]

we're hoping to go when free dining is on as when we go out to eat now it's like feeding 4 adults or 2 adults and 2 locusts! this will save us a packet i reckon. I like the idea of having most of my food paid for beforehand so my spending money is for shopping/entertainment etc :tongue:

however it can be quite limiting as you feel obliged to make the most of it. I don't honestly think i would pay for it because of this.

[Tinkfan]

we're hoping to go when free dining is on as when we go out to eat now it's like feeding 4 adults or 2 adults and 2 locusts! this will save us a packet i reckon. I like the idea of having most of my food paid for beforehand so my spending money is for shopping/entertainment etc :tongue:

however it can be quite limiting as you feel obliged to make the most of it. I don't honestly think i would pay for it because of this.

:point:2 locusts :ROFL1:

[Tink]

One thing to be aware of is that with the introduction of the DDP the Disney restaurants have essentially become mad houses. :(

It's often difficult to get an ADR unless you plan and make them 180 days out. Not every knows where they want to eat 180 days before hand.

The plan has also decreased the quality of service and the quality of food. OK, that's presumptuous to say, but there has been a significant decline in both since the implementation of this plan.

Personally, I would try to dine off property as much as possible IF that were a possibility (transport, time, etc.).

Otherwise, I'm not sure I'd want all those table service meals. Be sure it's something you want to deal with, as it's more work than it may first seem. :sorry:

Yeah, I know. I'm SO not a DDP fan. :(

[DisneyAddict]

so much advice thank you very much :hug2:

are there restrictions on what you can order from the disney menus if you get the plan or can you have anything?

[Tinkfan]

Any entree or quick service on the menu can be ordered regardless of price ( dessert too) Appetizers are extra! :yes:

[Slowhand]

Because of the pesky DDP, some of the restaurants have taken some of the more expensive items off the menu as many folks using the plan were going for these items regardless.
In a way this spoils it for those of us who pay as we go as we are no longer able to have the full menu available from which to choose.

[daveann]

i think the service has suffered because of DDP and now except for a select few places i love eating we eat offsite as its much better for us i also dont want to decide 6 months before i go where i want to eat sorry i am going off on a rant............
i suppose you have to look at how much you will get out of it and how organised you want to be :)

[Slowhand]

i think the service has suffered because of DDP and now except for a select few places i love eating we eat offsite as its much better for us i also dont want to decide 6 months before i go where i want to eat sorry i am going off on a rant............

No need to apologise. I agree with everything you say, and in a way the DDP has done me a favour as I have found loads of great off-site restaurants, many of which are a darn site less expensive too.
These days I only go to a few places on site, mainly to catch up with some of the Cast Members we know who work at those places.

[Mari]

We honestly found the dining plan ... sit down credits worth it, only at buffets....

otherwise, we ended up spending much more, since there are MANY items not covered in the dining plan.... when ordering from a menu we found it limiting....
when going to a buffet, we found it totally worth it...

does that make sense?

[Tinkfan]

We use the dining plan and don't seem to have as much problems with it as everyone else i guess. But we're only there for 8 days usually unlike some on this site that go for 2-3 weeks at a time. That would be too long to eat at Disney even for me. I don't mind planning our dinners for the 8 days, in fact I rather enjoy it. We realize it's vacation food and we're only there once or twice a year. If we lived close by we would probably eat off site more, When we go to Universal next year ,we'll stay in a villa and probably do 1-2 meals a day there, but we'll drive to the Space center and the beach and do other things as well.

[Tink]

You aren't ranting at all DaveAnn. :hug2: I feel the exact same way.

Yep, Mari. :yes: That makes perfect sense. I suppose if someone wanted to use the DDP for only buffets, then that would work out better. Service and food quality are not such issues then. :shrug:

It's hard on the servers in the full service restaurants too. As the quality of food goes down and the number of guests increase, they work harder with (presumably) less happy guests. Not a good mix.

[BUTTERHEAD1]

I agree that the restaurants have turnd into madhouses due to the DDP and the quality of the food and service has gone down a bit. I still get the dining plan anyway because I like to know that (almost)everything is paid for before I get there and that all my reservations are made.