First timer - Dining plan or not?

[Lothar]

Hi.

This is my first post on this great site and it is about the dining plan. I've researched the plan here and found it to be good value dollar wise. I'm thinking about adding it to our stay June 11th to 19th at the Saratoga. This will be our familiy's first trip to WDW(wife,myself and kids 17,16 and 14). My concerns are - I haven't made any ADRs do to late booking and I am worried about getting restaurants and times we would like. Second, we will only have park transportation and I have read it can take a long time to get from resort to resort. Third, this being our first time and overwhelmed by all to see, I would hate to become a slave to our reservations and use park time running all over. Also, if the kids go off on there own it would be hard to round them up to get to the dinners. Obviously the table service meals make the value. We could just use the kitchen more this trip and try the dining plan another time.
Please let me know any thoughts or ideas you have from your own experiences on this.
Thanks,
Rick

 

[kcashner]

Your concerns seem to be:
1. money--if you will eat one table service meal per day, it is an excellent value

2. ADRs--I made my ADRs about 45 days out. I then changed many after we arrived at SSR. Admittedly, we were a party of 2 which is a lot different than 14. However, there was very little problem changing them. On one occasion we were told that Le Cellier was booked for the next 3 days. I called several hours later and there had been a cancellation for that night.

I would view ADRs as "I know I'll have a place to eat." If I want to change it, I can make a phone call and potentially do that.

3. transportation The best way to do this is to go to the park nearest to the restaurant/resort. For instance, if you are eating at the Grand Floridian or Chef Mickey's, you take a bus to MK. THen you hop the monorail to the hotel. THey tell you to allow an hour, but it is usually far less. Also, we planned to go to the parks near the restaurant--if we had ressies at Concourse Steak House, we went to MK that day (not always, but it works in theory.)

4. teens--we made it a priority to meet as a family for dinner. It was "we have reservations at Les Chefs de France at 6, be there." It was our family break time in the trip. Worked fine. DD also would be told when she went off on her own that she could "spend" one CS credit or one snack credit before she met me for dinner. That way, I knew that she had food available if desired, and after about one day she knew what a CS or snack credit would buy. She found the DDP to be the best thing about the trip as she could eat whatever she wanted and mom didn't cringe. I'm cheap( I admit it!), and I would have been unhappy at some of the charges if not for the DDP.

5. Cooking......I've found that I really don't cook much at Disney. We frequently do breakfast in the room, but I'm on vacation too!

 

[GeologyRocks]

I think your kids are old enough, and you're staying long enough that you don't have to worry much about being a slave to your schedule. If you don't feel like eating out one night, call and cancel your ADRs and see if you can't get reservations for a nice meal for just you and the wife, or maybe change another night to a signature restaurant.

There's the HUGE benefit of being able to tell each kid that they have one CS and one snack each day, instead of handing out money each day (or finding out they've run out of their food allowance by day 4)

If what you're really worried about is ADRs, try making them before making your decision. If you just can't make it seem like you'll get your money's worth, just call them back and cancel the whole list (or what you wouldn't be doing without the dining plan, anyway)

 

[jjan]

I think that the one question that really matters the most is... Are you the type of family that is happy eating mostly counter service meals or do you really want to eat at table service restaurants or in other words.... is food one of the things that will make your trip better/more magical. For us after several trips to Disney, using the DDP and then not, we want the park time. For most people that want the maximum amount of time in the parks, the DDP does take a lot of time to have a a full sit down meal every night. Also, it is a bit hard for someone that has never been to WDW to be able to anticipate how your days will really go and where you will want to be. Maybe the DDP would be great for you all if you schedule a few 2 TS meals like Hoop De Doo Review and what not, and then you wouldn't be tied to ADR's every night. Good luck and have a wonderful trip

 

[BTown]

All the posters above bring up good points about the dining plan. For me, what it really comes down to, is the all inclusive nature of the DDP. I like the fact that the second I step on Disney property, everything is taken care of. I dont have to worry about anything, including how much I am going to spend on food, etc. To me, the beauty of the DDP is that I pay for it all before I leave, and I can be assured that every single night that I am at the resort, that I will have a wonderful sit down meal, and not have to worry about the dent that it will put in my bank account every time I get the check. Also, to me, dining is just as much of an experience and a reason to go to Disney as the attractions are. And with the DDP, it is the best way to get to experience great resturants and food at a fraction of what it would cost otherwise.

 

[MEK]

I was a little skeptical of the dining plan before we did the free dining last August. Planning our ADR's was a little stressful, but it worked out fine. We ate at restaurants we normally wouldn't try. My kids loved it (11 & 13). My husband and I are so convinced that it was a good value, that we are adding it to our trip in November. It does require more planning, but I would definately recommend it.

________________________________________________________

Max is my favorite cat!

 

[Lothar]

Quote from jjan:

"For most people that want the maximum amount of time in the parks, the DDP does take a lot of time to have a a full sit down meal every night. Also, it is a bit hard for someone that has never been to WDW to be able to anticipate how your days will really go and where you will want to be."

Thanks for all the replies and ideas. The quote above from jjan kind of hits the nail on the head for me, with this being our first trip and seeing what and how long it takes to get around the park. For future trips I would definitely get the plan and make reservations far out enough to get what we want.

Thanks again,
Rick

 

[Katy Belle]

One thing you could do is make some ADRs for restaurants in the parks. You will probably start with some kind of itinerary, at least which park which day, and you could make ADRs based on that. That way you can enjoy a few sit down meals, if you wish to at the time, but not on the Dining Plan.
Katy

 

[superdiz]

Hi Rick,

I would say you are a family, you are going to spend an arm and a leg on food so the DDP is good for you in that sense. Also, they will typically honor ADRs up to an hour late. Not advising to get there late, but in our experience they understand things happen (not at Le Cellier or Cindy's breakfast though, get there on time!). It's better as a first timer to have a schedule so that you don't miss anything, so I think planning dinners is better overall for your family. You will get in more stuff that way. So, I'd go with the DDP. HTH!

 

[tx2tn]

We spent 8days and 7 night at POFQ and I can honestly say that we got our moneies worth and then some. But we are also food people. If you are not then it may not be as advantageous for you. The ONLY problem for us was having to work our schedule around the ADR's. But you would have to do that regardless of the DDP.

 

[aubriee]

All the posters above bring up good points about the dining plan. For me, what it really comes down to, is the all inclusive nature of the DDP. I like the fact that the second I step on Disney property, everything is taken care of. I dont have to worry about anything, including how much I am going to spend on food, etc. To me, the beauty of the DDP is that I pay for it all before I leave, and I can be assured that every single night that I am at the resort, that I will have a wonderful sit down meal, and not have to worry about the dent that it will put in my bank account every time I get the check. Also, to me, dining is just as much of an experience and a reason to go to Disney as the attractions are. And with the DDP, it is the best way to get to experience great resturants and food at a fraction of what it would cost otherwise.

My thoughts exactly. We did the free dining last Sept and loved knowing meals were prepaid. We were not one of those who tried to get the most value out of it, but everyone ordered whatever they wanted and never looked at the price. Iwent back in Dec and again in Jan without the dining plan and really missed it. I've decided I won't ever go back without out it. In fact I bought the dining plan for our trip in two days ( ) and was able to get the free dining again for this Sept.

 

[Lothar]

Hi folks,

Well I decided to go ahead and get the plan. Thanks for your replies. Here is a list of our ADRs. Let me know if you would change anything. All are dinners except Le Cellier.

Wolf Gang Cafe
Liberty Tree Tavern
Concourse Steakhouse
50's Prime Time Cafe
Le Cellier (lunch)
Boma
Maya Grill
Kona Cafe

Thanks,
Rick