DDP - too much food?

[ZuzuPetals]

-It is a lot of food if you are not someone who usually eats dessert with every meal. And you get so focused on "getting my money's worth" you WILL eat those desserts. And you will often regret that! :lol: You also do a lot of "well, I want this but it's only $10....am I getting the most bang for my buck...I guess I'll order the steak." Sure, you can be flexible but not if you want to make sure you are getting what you paid for.

-If you are someone who prefers to nibble as you go (like us) maybe around World Showcase, it really ruins that. You're so full that you don't want to snack.

-You may save money but because tip isn't included...we really found we broke even. Especially because we would not normally have a sitdown meal every day of the trip. You may get more for your money, but if you're spending more to begin with, are you really saving any?

-I know people say with planning that you can not let ADRs rule your day...but they do, no matter how much you plan. And we generally don't like to follow a strict schedule, we are much more laid-back/go-with-the-flow types. "Oh, but we can't do Epcot this morning because we have an ADR at 12:30 at MK..." That was a real downer, for us.

Hmm I think that's it. In short, I would say the dining plan is best for people who a) get dessert with every meal, b) generally eat at least one sit down meal a day anyway, c) like having the option to pre-pay before the trip or have the convenience, or d) any combination of the above. Good luck! :wave:

 

[RealHawker]

We do the deluxe dining plan (which this year is about 1/2 price because of free dining).

We only eat (2) sit down meals a day, Breakfast and Dinner. For lunch we just eat something small if needed from counter service.

We enjoy having a nice relaxing sitdown breakfast, like The Wave's or Kona Cafe's breakfast, and not wrestle with the crowds at counter service breakfast in the hotels.

Because we enjoy the higher end restaurants and the special meals (Cinderella Castle, Artists Point, etc..) We usually use the extra sit down credits for those.

I also like getting the appetizer or fresh fruit added into the meals.

 

[RiversideBunny]

Eat when you have to then move on.

 

[Rob562]

-It is a lot of food if you are not someone who usually eats dessert with every meal. And you get so focused on "getting my money's worth" you WILL eat those desserts. And you will often regret that! :lol: You also do a lot of "well, I want this but it's only $10....am I getting the most bang for my buck...I guess I'll order the steak." Sure, you can be flexible but not if you want to make sure you are getting what you paid for.

One thing I *always* suggest to people who are using the Dining Plan, whether they paid for it or got it under Free Dining, is to just look at the money you paid for it as being part of the price of your vacation. Once you're in the restaurant, don't even LOOK at the prices.

Trying to get "the most bang for your buck" just adds stress to the trip. Think of the money paid for the DDP as already-spent. So when you're sitting in the restaurant, order what you want at that moment.

If you go to Le Cellier and the $20 mushroom ravioli sound to you like the most utterly delicious thing on the menu right then, order it! Sure, you could get more bang for your buck if you force yourself to order the $35 filet mignon "because it's a better deal", but you want the ravioli, darn it, so order it! It's your vacation! Don't nickel and dime it to death.

Also, unless it's a dessert that has to be kept refrigerated/frozen like ice cream, restaurants will gladly package up your dessert to take with you for later. Or if you're only a little hungry after dinner, share one dessert, and take the other one with you.

-Rob

 

[gspin2k1]

One thing I *always* suggest to people who are using the Dining Plan, whether they paid for it or got it under Free Dining, is to just look at the money you paid for it as being part of the price of your vacation. Once you're in the restaurant, don't even LOOK at the prices.

Trying to get "the most bang for your buck" just adds stress to the trip. Think of the money paid for the DDP as already-spent. So when you're sitting in the restaurant, order what you want at that moment.

If you go to Le Cellier and the $20 mushroom ravioli sound to you like the most utterly delicious thing on the menu right then, order it! Sure, you could get more bang for your buck if you force yourself to order the $35 filet mignon "because it's a better deal", but you want the ravioli, darn it, so order it! It's your vacation! Don't nickel and dime it to death.

Also, unless it's a dessert that has to be kept refrigerated/frozen like ice cream, restaurants will gladly package up your dessert to take with you for later. Or if you're only a little hungry after dinner, share one dessert, and take the other one with you.

-Rob

Lol I ended up sharing my desserts with tables next to us...it made things fun. Honestly with the dining plan I had less concern with wasting food/money than i would've had I been paying cash. I treated the DDP as a tasting plan around the world. Ordered everything..took bites of stuff so i wasn't hungry but not full unless of course it was absolutely delicious and I had to eat all of it..and then just left the rest...i mean yeah we had a lot of half eaten food, but meh we were on vacation and it allowed us to continue eating all day long and sampling so many things around disney world.



~G

 

[lovepooh]

I always do the dinning plan. The first time we went we stayed off property and paid for all our meals. For us it was much more expensive. It cost like a $1000 for a week for a family of 4. For the dinning plan the reg one it cost like 850.00 when we paid for it when went in Feb. Then we started going in Sept for the free dinning. Much nicer! but either way there is a value for us. Plus when we paid for our own dinning we didnt get to go to nice sit down places so its a nice perk. This time its just going to be my husband and my self for our 5th wedding anniv. So we are going to splurdge a bit and go with the deluxe. Mainly so we can try out some signature resturants.

I agree its up to the person and whatever their needs are. When we travel with the kids we will just do the reg dinning plan because we wouldnt want to spend more then 1 table service a day. But since its just us we can take things at a more relaxing pace.

 

[blackthidot]

The biggest thing with the dining plan is that if they took away some food, be it dessert or whatever then everyone would be in an uproar. Im my mind there is no such thing as too much food, but there is a such thing as too little food. I dont want to leave ANYWHERE I eat hungry. I have ZERO problem leaving stuffed.

 

[Phonedave]

The biggest thing with the dining plan is that if they took away some food, be it dessert or whatever then everyone would be in an uproar. Im my mind there is no such thing as too much food, but there is a such thing as too little food. I dont want to leave ANYWHERE I eat hungry. I have ZERO problem leaving stuffed.

I just checked your profile.

8 years ago, when I was your age, I would have said the exact same thing.

Now, while I still love to eat, and I am still an active person, if I stuff myself on a regular basis, the scale starts to creap up.

-dave

 

[blackthidot]

I just checked your profile.

8 years ago, when I was your age, I would have said the exact same thing.

Now, while I still love to eat, and I am still an active person, if I stuff myself on a regular basis, the scale starts to creap up.

-dave

Okay I can understand from that perspective.

It's starting to creep up on me too. I play ice hockey 3-4 days a week plus baseball now. Pounds don't come and go so easily. I have to actually eat "better" now but when i'm in wdw I'll pig out!

 

[Phonedave]

Okay I can understand from that perspective.

It's starting to creep up on me too. I play ice hockey 3-4 days a week plus baseball now. Pounds don't come and go so easily. I have to actually eat "better" now but when i'm in wdw I'll pig out!

I stopped playing hockey a long time ago, lacrosse too Sprains and strains start taking longer to heal.

Hiking, running, and just general working out have taken their place.

But yeah, my diet has changed more from quantity to quality.

-dave

 

[NCFire1]

We used the Deluxe plan last time we went. We had a few snack credits left over. I went to Gaspirillas and used them all on candy, rice crispy treats, gourmet popcorn and brought them how as souviners for our friends since all of them have kids they loved them.

We never looked at the prices for what we were getting.. I did keep all the reciepts and once we were home I added up how much we would have spent out of pocket!! WOW! it's a good deal.. just relax and eat.. ha ha ha

 

[sueuk]

We have only used the dining plan when it's free, and tend to double up quite a bit to the signature dining so we don't feel that it's too much. Snack credits are usually used in the resort shop or bakeries for breakfast pastries etc.

 

[luvlifeinfl]

We do the DP only for the reason of having the meals paid for up front. Yes, we have found it hard to use up the plan. The past was we would use the QS for lunch & then table for dinner. So planning the ADR was hard especially if there was a show we wanted to see or we were in line to get on a ride, that we would we have to get out of line to meet our ADR. another reason for the DP was to not find ourseleves in the park w/ no ADR and not able to find a place to eat since alot of the TS places book up. So you find yourself darn if you darn if you don't.:brick: