First Trip to Disney

[jhunter]

Well, I haven't been in 20 years. Now it is time for my wife and I to take our two boys, 6 & 3, to Disney World. We are planning on the first week of May. My question is concerning the dining plan. Should I go without or get the plus dining?

I have no idea the average cost per meal at Disney so the Intercot calculator doesn't do me allot of good determining if it is a good deal or not. I suspect I could eat for less than the plan costs, but we will eat at much nicer places if we get the dining plan.

What do you suggest?

BTW, I'm booking today!

[kakn7294]

Congrats on booking a trip! I hope you have a wonderful time! We've done both the standard dining plan and just winging it. I like both.

Pros to dining plan:
1 - prepaid
2 - can be a good value if you eat dinner, order the more expensive items, and avoid buffets
3 - allows you to eat at places you might not have considered due to prices
4 - can be a lot of food - good if you are a hearty eater

Cons to dining plan:
1 - if you don't use your credits, you will lose them
2 - TS meals take away from park time
3 - to use TS credits, it requires a good amount of pre-planning and reservations
4 - can be a lot of food - bad if you eat like a bird or are picky

I'm sure there are other pros & cons that some others will point out. In the past, I've liked having the dining plan and knowing that all my meals were paid for in advance. However, this last trip, we didn't do a dining plan and just winged it - we had a great time eating junk food and frozen cokes whenever we wanted!

BTW, I sent you a PM for a website that has all the menus listed - you can look at that for an idea of pricing. There are some here on Intercot as well.

[Strmchsr]

I'm taking my family back the same week!

As for the DDP, it really depends on what you prefer to do with your meals. If you like to eat at table service restaurants every day then, yes, the DDP is worth it. If, however, you only like to do 1 or 2 over the course of your trip (as we do) then the DDP is not a good bargain. You'd do much better OOP.

If you look at the menus in Info Central here on Intercot prices are listed which gives a good general idea of what to expect.

[DisneyBabies]

One thing you have to remember is that there are now three dining plans. The QS, Basic and Deluxe. Where you want to eat will determine which plan you get.

Whether it will be worth it for you to get, isn't something I can answer, but I can tell you what makes it worth it for us.

Dining is a big part of any vacation we take, and it can be especially nice @ WDW. We like to eat at places that are different from what we would get at home, so we don't do more than a couple of QS meals when we are there. If you are like us and don't want to do cereal for breakfast or sandwiches in your room for lunch or dinner to save money, the dining plan may be for you.

Also, we like the convenience of having all our meals paid for up front, so we don't have to look at the menu and decide if we can afford what we really want to eat. And that means too, that we can eat at nicer places than we would if we were paying OOP.

And lastly, most of us who do get the dining plan save at least a few dollars, so it can be economical as well :D.

We are doing the Deluxe DDP for our trip next month and we are doing 2 signature dining, 1 dinner show, CRT, and 11 other table service places which leaves us 2 credits (per person) that we will use at QS places if we get hungry in the middle of the day. We took a look at the menus and decided what we would probably eat at each place and what the meal would cost if we were paying OOP vs DDP. So far (without the extra credits and snacks being used) we will save almost $50 (so when we use those last credits and our snacks, we will save even more).

I hope this helps you a little. There are a lot of pro-DDP and anti-DDP people here on intercot, so in the end, you just have to weigh what is easiest for you.

[disneymom15]

We've never used the dining plan. We don't like the idea that we have to make ADR's for table service. Seems like it would take away so much park time just to make all of your dining times. We just wing it, if we can walk up to TS and get in we'll do it, otherwise we just eat CS.

[#1donaldfan]

....I used to be a "fly by night" person, but Disney has evolved into a pre plan type of destination.....eg. we had ressies at Capt Jacks for 6 pm this year and it went off without a hitch. A couple came in as we were waiting for our table and they were told it would be approx 10 pm before they could get them in....now, that alone was ok, as long as the place was full, but it wasn't....there were two tables beind us that remained empty till we were done....those two, hungry people could have easily been placed there.......I'm sure it aggravated them, but truthfully, they were better off.....we now have marked Capt Jacks off our list....YUCK !!!!

[Disney Doll]

We don't normally use the dining plan although I am considering it now that there is a CS plan. We have found that for us small kids and TS don't mix well. The kids get bored and antsy which is understandable. They would rather just grab a quick bite and then get back to the parks. I feel less stressed not worrying about how to keep the kids happy during a long meal. I like eating out as much as the next person, but we'll save that for restaurants at home when we have a babysitter.

[elmjimmlm]

We like the dining plan but I do agree with the above that it takes alot of your time away from the parks...There are some great and not so great places to choose from and I will have to say that for some I would not do out of pocket...I guess it comes down to if you are willing to make the time to get from place to place in order to be able to eat or lose your credits...Have a great time...:mickey:

[junedis]

We did use the dining plan on our first trip last year. We are definately using it again as it did save us money. As we went in the summer, the plan was worth it as we went to quite a few character dinners. That really saved time as we never stood in character lines for autographs. Good luck and have an awesome trip!:mickey: