What to do. Free quick service or dining plan?

[ranty]

Hello everyone!!:mickey: We are going to be in the world from aug 31 to sept 12. Free meal plans are offered for that time. I have only had the quick service plan before and am unfamiliar with the dining plan. I would like to stay at a moderate but would it be a waste of time for the dining would be hard to get reservations? Also what restaurants are considered dining in the free dining plan? Sorry for so many questions. thanks everyone. Have a great day:)

[civilmousefan]

For a list of restaurants in the dining plan look for the brochure on the Disney website under the dining tab. To determine the difficulty in getting reservations try making a few on the Disney website. Then you will be able to determine if switching from the QS to the regular dining plan will work for you.

[Strmchsr]

Pretty much all restaurants on property are on the DDP. In fact, I can't think of one that's not.

As for the second part, that would be a little more difficult. Most of the "popular" restaurants will be booked due to the "free" DDP. So, getting a good ADR at this late stage will be pretty difficult. Not saying you can't find good places to eat, but your choice will definitely be limited. The other question to ask 1.) Do you want to eat a TS every day of your vacation or do you prefer the flexibility of the CS plan? and 2.) Even if you upgrade to a moderate, is the "free" DDP the best deal you can get right now? I think there's a room only deal being offered, too, and that might be better if you did your dining OOP. Magical Journeys could help you crunch all of the numbers on those.

[Mfarquar]

I'd say browse the available TS reservations on Disney's site. See if you would be OK with the restaurants that still have availability or eating very early or very late dinners in order to access the restaurants you are most interested in.

We chose to upgrade to the full dining plan (we are staying at POP and get the Quick Service plan for free). For the extra $9 or so a person, per day, it was worth it for us. We enjoy sitting down and relaxing for an hour - hour and a half per day with some great food. We were, however, careful to make sure we chose restaurants where we would definitely get the best bang for your buck.

There are a lot of great resort restaurants (IMO most are better than many of the park restaurants) and a lot of more adventurous options at EPCOT that may have availability left.

Personally, I would be hesitant to book without checking out what is available and figuring out how that would affect our plans. When we have done last-minute trips, we have been OK with eating dinner at 8:30pm in order to get in where we want to eat most. But, this could also be a great chance to try some new places or double-up credits some nights and try a new Signature Restaurant (always have more availability in my experience) :)!