Are you changing your dining style with the 2008 changes?

[murphy1]

I am just curious. We are going back in June for a few days (also hitting Sea World this time). I think we are going to pay OOP and mostly do Char. Breakfast and dinner will be more CS. With three kids 3 to 8, no tip on DP, it seems more cost effective that way. We also don't do all the snacky stuff, or if we do, we like to get popcorn and a few things in place of lunch and have an earlier dinner. What are your thoughts or plans?

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

With all of the changes, we bumped ourselves up to the Deluxe plan...I know, we're spending more, but we've booked a number of places that we've never tried before and I love knowing that every last bit of food we could ever need is already paid for!

[SignguyTom]

We will still do the DDP. The only change for us is that we will order appetizers when we really want them, instead of because they are included with the plan. For our family, we will save about $10/day from what we'd spend without the plan. Certainly not the smokin' deal from our trip in 2006, but it's still OK. Having the tip not included is a bit of an inconvenience, but definitely not a deal breaker. :thumbsup:

[Deesdisney]

We just got back and we went OOP. We ended up even. Cause we shared meals. Next time I would Love to do the DDPDeluxe. Make res. at all the nice rest. Or if I get my way and buy my DVC I will go OOP again.

[kakn7294]

We're changing our style too. For the past 3 years, we've used the dining plan liked it because all meals were pre-paid and it was convenient but we also found it significantly cut into park time to eat TS meals, especially at the resorts. We also found that it tended to be more food than we generally eat. This year we're going OOP and eating only a few TS meals rather than the 8 we would have had with the DP.

Shari, we're going to be there in August. If you can manage a quick trip or live somewhere near I-95, we'd love to meet!

[murphy1]

Kathy, I'll keep that in mind!! I'll note the dates your going. Our school starts so early here! I hate it. Maybe will be living back in Florida by then, though??? I am hoping within a year or two anyway!

[Disneyatic]

We are still going with the dining plan this year.
I love having it paid in advance and not having to worry about budgeting $ for food!
I used the dining plan estimator and crunched the numbers and it still looks like we will come out with about $25 a day savings. But we are going to save all of our receipts and tippping info and check it after the vacation to see what or if we really saved and use that to decide for our next trip!

[floridamom]

Given the age of your children, what you're doing seems to make good sense to me. Right now our kids are young, we live pretty close to DW, and we have APs, so we don't qualify for the DP anyway. But that's fine because mostly we just do the character meals and CS anyway. Once the kids are older and better able to appreciate a variety of dining experiences, we probably will not keep the APs, and instead opt for a MYW trip with the dining plan.

If you do end up going off the DP, it would be interesting to ask your kids afterwards which way they liked better--or see if they even noticed a difference! :mickey:

[TBY2225]

I have only done the DDP during free dining for the past 3 years, so I have never had to pay OOP for it. Even though we are getting it for free because of the bounceback plan this year, I too am changing the way I am using it. I don't really have to worry about if I am getting my money's worth since it is free, so we are mostly doing breakfast buffets at the last seating since both of my kids love breakfast food. Then we will do our CS at night. We do plan on doing a few TS dinners, and even though I am not a big eater, I will miss the appitizers since that is usually what my DS2 would eat . Also with the buffets, I already can budget how much I will need for tip, because at regular TS places, we never know what we will be in the mood for or how the menu's might change!

[Leslie925]

We decided to bump up to the DxDDP as well this year. We like the idea of it all being pre-paid, and we wanted to try a couple of different signature restaurants as well. Plus we get appetizers, which we like!

[Polynesian Dweller]

We've used the DDP up to this year but this year we are going back to OOP. It just doesn't work out for us this year without the appetizer and without tip included. Its also a good excuse for us to go back to 2 or 3 TS dinners instead of the 7 now which was way too much for us. Should mean a return to the more flexible trip we used to enjoy.

[DWHUBBY]

We are going in May and this time we are not doing the DDP, but not necessarily because of the 2008 changes. It actually has do do with a long standing problem with the DDP...the "choices" on the kids menu. They are horrible and my DS9 and DD6 like to eat "real" food. We have APs so we are going to get the DDE card.

I just do not understand, after all the complaints about this over the past couple of years, that Disney still will not offer the "adult" meals with smaller portions for the kids instead of "forcefeeding" them pb&j and chicken nuggets. I am sorry but my kids don't eat that stuff at home, why should they be forced to ot WDW on the DDP ?

I will get off my soapbox now. That's my opinion, I welcome yours.

[azdisneymom]

I would use the Dining plan again, even with the 2008 changes. It helps me budget better. I know what my meal costs will be.
Tipping is not a big deal to me because I would leave one if I paid oop. I also allow of an occaisional 'extra' appetizer. It would be nice to be able to choose between appetizer and dessert however.

[DizneyRox]

Won't be changing, but I never get the DDP anyway. It's never been a value to me, and with the changes, it's a no-brainer.

[magicofdisney]

I have only done the DDP during free dining for the past 3 years, so I have never had to pay OOP for it. Even though we are getting it for free because of the bounceback plan this year, I too am changing the way I am using it. I don't really have to worry about if I am getting my money's worth since it is free, so we are mostly doing breakfast buffets at the last seating since both of my kids love breakfast food. Then we will do our CS at night. We do plan on doing a few TS dinners, and even though I am not a big eater, I will miss the appitizers since that is usually what my DS2 would eat . Also with the buffets, I already can budget how much I will need for tip, because at regular TS places, we never know what we will be in the mood for or how the menu's might change!
This sounds just like us. We've only done the free dining. This year we'll do a late buffet breakfast while using the CS for dinner. I agree it makes it easier to plan tips using the buffets. We'll only do dining if it's free. Otherwise we'd not save money because we don't do more than 1 TS without the plan.

[DisneyWhirled]

We're changing our style too. For the past 3 years, we've used the dining plan liked it because all meals were pre-paid and it was convenient but we also found it significantly cut into park time to eat TS meals, especially at the resorts. We also found that it tended to be more food than we generally eat. This year we're going OOP and eating only a few TS meals rather than the 8 we would have had with the DP.


I agree completely. Besides what my DH (DWHUBBY) said about the kids choices, the DDP really gave us more food than we normally eat (we were full many times before a TS) and cut into a lot of park time. The 2008 changes did make an impact in our choice, in addition to the others mentioned. This time we are still doing quite a few TS, but not every day and we won't need all the extra CS as well.

I am going to try the DDE too.

Kathy-say hello to the family for us!

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

Last year was the first time we tried the DDP...during the free DDP. I really liked it. I'm not sure if I'd do it again or not. I'd be more likely if I knew I could definitely get an appetizer rather than a dessert. Also I really wish they would add the tip back in. I like not having to worry about it. I don't carry cash....can you charge that back to your room? or a credit card?

[Young@Heart]

I was disappointed to hear about the changes w/ the DDP, but after crunching the #'s a few times, we still end up ahead by $100-$200. :thumbsup: I figure we'd have to pay tips w/ or w/out the DDP. And we'd still do at least 4 TS meals and a snack every day. This way, I don't even have to think about $ for food. I'll bring a prepaid card for tips and we'll be all set other than the drive down and back.

[Natazu]

Heya Shari. Paying out of pocket may be the best way to go for you guys. We're probably going to do the deluxe plan but you know the way we eat. I just don't think the basic plan is a very good value anymore. Give the girls a hug for me.

[Disney Doll]

No changes here. We did the math before and for us the DDP is just not worth it. We eat mostly CS- we're there for the parks and we can eat at nice restaurants at home. We do 2-3 TS each trip and just pay OOP. We also thought the DDP was more food that we would normally eat.

[WriteDisney]

I'm sticking to the plan. It won't save us as much as last year but it's nice to have meals paid for in advance. I don't mind paying for the tip out of pocket most nights, since the servers are usually fantastic. :mickey:

I definitely agree with the other posters about the dining plan with children; it just makes more sense fiscally to opt out of the plan.

[Tygger7]

I was disappointed to hear about the changes w/ the DDP, but after crunching the #'s a few times, we still end up ahead by $100-$200. :thumbsup: I figure we'd have to pay tips w/ or w/out the DDP. And we'd still do at least 4 TS meals and a snack every day. This way, I don't even have to think about $ for food. I'll bring a prepaid card for tips and we'll be all set other than the drive down and back.

This is us too...we've always done the dining plan, and love the convenience....and getting to eat at all the TS restaurants. I crunched the numbers and even having to pay the tip OOP, we still saved $200-$300. I like CS okay for one meal a day, but HATED the days when that was my only option due to expense. I still wish they would have just increased the per person/per day cost and kept the tip included.

[Dakota Rose]

We did the DDP on our last trip mostly b/c my parents paid. But I still thought it was a great value. This trip DS will be 4, so I didn't know if DDP would make sense for us at $86/day. So, I made a list of where we'd like to eat each day and then used the menus on Info Central to calculate what that would cost us. Turns out we save big $ on the DDP, so we're gonna spring for it again. We usually do CS for breakfast, snack-style lunch, and TS for dinner. Last time, we saved our CS desserts for snacks and managed to get most of our TS desserts to go. Will they still let you do that??? Do you need to order it, take a bite then ask for a doggie bag? Last time we had 2 servers who really didn't want to pack ours to go and got kinda rude about it.

[Jared]

Yep, we're changing our dining style. We're just not buying the Disney Dining Plan anymore. The 2008 version stinks, and my family eats a counter service and table service meal every day.

:tasty:

[Johnno52]

This will be my 3rd attempt at posting a reply on this thread! We just came back (Jan29-Feb8) from doing OOP dining after 3 years on DDP. We visit 2 times a year and usually do 5 days ASMusic and 5BW DVC per trip. We decided before the 08 plan changes to try OOP for several reasons. We missed complete freedom of being wherever we wanted to be and eat what and where at any given meal. The logistics of going to restaurants by bus for a set time was at times too time consuming. My DW could never eat more than half of any TS meal. Many nights we took the desserts back to the room as we were too full! Eating TS 5 consecutive days was too much for us. With the OOP dining the cost savings was irrelevant as we did not eat nearly as good. We did do a TS and HT with same day ADR. We had more time to relax, ate when we were hungry and did more resort dining. The CS food was good and bad depending on what we ordered. This is going to be a new learning curve! Our next trip is booked and again without the DDP!:thumbsup: