Dining plan Questions?

[Disney_pups2]

The best dining plan... first of all, does it save you money and if so about how much?

What all can you get for snacks and is there a list somewhere to get better ideas of what we can do with it?

Do you make your resies for dining plan before hand?

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

If you book the "regular" dining plan, with a sit-down meal each day, or the "deluxe" plan, or even if you don't book a dining plan is it important to make ADR's as soon as you can, as many of the popular places fill up quite early (months before your trip).

As for saving money, if you would normally have a sit down meal each day, and a quick service meal each day, it will probably save you a bit of money, but the savings aren't usually substantial. It is a good idea to check out the menus, and see what it would cost to pay for it, and compare that to the dining plan cost.

Snacks, for my family, are the trickest part of the plan, we always seem to end up with tons left. Some people use them for breakfast (muffins, etc), we used a lot of ours at Goofy's Candy Company in Downtown Disney (some GREAT choices), and we always get a Dole Whip in MK.

Hope this helps :eat:

[johnO]

Free dining plan is the best!

[Strmchsr]

I agree with Heather. The DDP is only good if you like to eat a LOT on each trip and we, too, have many snacks left at the end. Between a QS meal and a TS meal during the day we are just too full for snacks. So, for us, the DDP doesn't save any money. Even eating a TS and a QS every day I would eat cheaper than the DDP because we would eat less and share meals.

I've done the DDP when it's the "free" plan because that's the best discount available at that time, but if there's a room-only discount available, I'd take that over the "free" DDP any day because the "free" DDP charges you full rack rate for your rooms. That means it can be a nice discount if you're at a value resort, but at moderate and deluxe it doesn't save you much at all, if anything, when compared to a room-only discount.

Yes, you have to make your reservations (at Disney they are ADRs - Advanced Dining Reservations) WAY in advance, especially to get the popular places. ADRs are taken beginning 180 days in advance and many places will fill up on day 180 so you have to be prepared to go if you want the best choices.

[Trev&Ev Mom]

I agree with everyone above...for our family of 4 - 2 Adults, 2 children (10&6 boys-good eaters), it used to save us a bit of money...not a ton, but anything is good. When we go out, we each get our own meals normally, we don't share meals. Now that my son is 10 and counted as an adult, he pays the full $45 per day. He has expensive tastes, so he has no problem ordering a steak or shrimp for dinner...Would we let him order this way at home...NO WAY! But its vacation and we have the dining plan, so go right ahead!!

The one thing I LOVE about it is that all my meals are paid for in advance. I walk into WDW and don't take my wallet out for food EVER! We use snacks for breakfast or candy here and there. That is the biggest plus for us!

Either way, have a great trip!!! Oh, and if you do get the dining plan...make reservations ahead of time, if you can. Now that Le Cellier is a signature restaurant, it's not that important to us to get specific ADR's at 180 days (for 1 table service credits Le Cellier was a must, for 2 credits, no thank you) We love almost all the restaurants, you can't really go wrong. :mickey: