First Trip to Disney: Dining Plan

[bird]

Thanks for answering my question about the best time to go. Here's my next question. For a family of four(My Husband, My self, DS5, DS3(4 before the trip) would it be wise to get the Deluxe Dining plan? My huband likes to have a good breakfast(not just bagels and juice) and we like to atleast have a set down dinner? Or should we go with the reg Dining plan?

Yolanda

[chick20679]

I think alot depends on where you plan on eating. If, as you said, you want to have substantial breakfasts and for sure want a sit down dinner every night, then it's possible the deluxe dining plan might be best. The price hindered us from trying it this year, but if the math works out for you... Intercot has a cool "dining plan estimator' tool that might help you figure out if it would be worthwhile monetarily for your family.

Have you had a chance to look at the sit-down restaurant offerings in WDW? Does it look like your family would like them?

Also, keep in mind your vacation style as well. You will most definitely need reservations for all of your sit down dinners, and that can prevent you from 'free-styling' it. Just a thought.

Personally, we like the regular dining plan, as we don't eat a big breakfast, but do like to do a sit down dinner every night. :twocents:

Hope this helps a little. :mickey:

[AmberB]

Several years ago my husband and I had a dining plan (I believe it was the only one at the time) that included 3 meals a day at any restraunt you wanted (TS or CS). We felt like we spent the whole trip eating. In fact, we skipped reservations because we ate so much. We would have skipped even more of our ADRs if we had children with us. One day, when we're ready to go back by ourselves and eat at a lot of signature restraunts, we might consider the deluxe dining plan, but right now, its not for us.

[vamaggie]

IMHO the regular dining plan could work for you. We went in Nov (me, DH, DS10 &DD4.5) and used some CS credits for breakfasts. My DH also likes more than continental b'fast and he was able to get eggs, waffles etc at the CS place at Poly. We would usually use 2 CDS for b'fast and 2 for lunch. We felt the deluxe plan would be way too much food and too much time eating. Check out the menus on InfoCentral and do the estimator to see what works for you.

[Janmac]

We like 3 sit down meals a day. We tried the standard dining plan on our Dec 06 trip and had some trouble getting used to Counter (quick) service meals.

However, we are trying the standard dining plan again for our upcoming Sept08 trip at Port Orleans French Quarter. We're learning which counter service restaurants we want to try and which to avoid.

We sat down with the menus here at Info Central and figured what would we eat where, and totaled the costs. Our best bet is to eat our lunch (counter/quick service) and most suppers (table service) on the standard dining plan. We will pay out of pocket (OOP) for our breakfasts (usually at Boatwrights).

Our projected meal costs (not including snacks) almost exactly equalled the cost of the standard dining plan. We have elected to purchase the dining plan because menus could change and prices increase, and because we're reluctant to stop (and pay!) for a snack, even tho we're probably in need of some fluids or fuel. Being on the dining plan and having the snacks being 'free' means we will get a snack.

Our out of pocket cost for our 'extra' breakfasts is considerably less than the additional cost of the deluxe dining plan over the standard dining plan. We wouldn't have thought this unless we had actually checked the menus and entree prices.

Plus it was a fun activity on a cold and blustery day. :thumbsup:

Jan