Dining Plan Hate it or Love it?

[Astro_Digital]

I go to WDW usually once or twice a year and while I can see some people loving the dining plan I personally hate it and I think many guests are not fans of the plan.

Why because sit down restaurants for the most part are not available unless you book them well in advance. I used to go to restaurants during non peak hours or reserve the day I entered a park at Guest Relations but not anymore.

Sure people would say anybody can book reservations months in advance but then your vacation is planed around meals. What about people that do not know or just drop in for the day? I think they are totally out of luck.

So I vote Hate it.

 

[ErickainPA]

Love it. We have gotten it for our upcoming trip. We got it one other time around Christmas time. We were at Crystal Palace Christmas Day with reservation we made only 3 weeks earlier. People saw the restaurant had a lot of people outside waiting to be seated.
People came up and asked if they would be able to get seated. The hostess asked about if they had reservations. They said no we forgot. They were told to come back in about 2 hours and they would have seating. This was CHRISTMAS DAY, every place was booked up

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

Monetarily wise, it is a great deal. We ate at places that we never would have dreamed of. However, it's just as the OP stated. Your vacation revolves around mealtime. I feel I lost so much time and missed seeing so much in tha parks becausw we had to plan all our time based on our ADR's. We were like "We can't get in this line because our dinner is in an hour..."; "We can't get a Fastpass because the return time is the same time as lunch..." Then you're looking at 1-2 hours of time spent eating. Unless I could plan a trip around a free dining promotion, I probably wouldn't bother with it again and just take my chances and try to eat at odd times.

 

[Scooter]

My wife and I hate it.

We don't do sit down meals very often, but on the few occasions we did, we never had a problem with walking into a restaurant during off hours and getting a meal. Not any more. If you don't have a ressie, you can't get in no matter what time you go.
We are fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants people and hate schedules. We prefer to eat when we're hungry, not when the system tells us we have to, so the Dining plan has really thrown a wrench into our Disney vacations.

No disrespect to anyone, but I hope this free dining plan goes away soon so we can enjoy our meals, where we want...and when we want again. :sohappy:

 

[mousebymarriage]

We LOVE it! I agree that it is a pain to have to decide exactly what we are going to do and what parks we will be visiting on specific days but, it also gives us the ability to dine at places we would not normally be able to afford. When we go to WDW in April we have ressies for 5 character meals, all different ones. This gives my children a chance to meet the characters , take a photo and have their autograph book signed without having to stand in line at the parks. Those lines unfortunately are often a mob scene and the adults and teens that very often cut in front of the little ones is ridiculous.

 

[New2WDW]

Dining Plan or not I still think it is simply the season! We had some friends just go down in late February with no reservations and they got in where they wanted (and this included some of the top restaurants) They were on the DP and this was there first trip and they loved WDW and the DP!

 

[Nicole220]

My family and I love it! I gave us the opportunity to eat at places we wouldn't have been able to. I was able to order whatever I wanted, regardless of the price.

We enjoyed getting away from the parks and sitting down at a nice restaurant to eat amazing food. In fact, the food and the AKL were the best part about our trip. Those two things are pushing us to go back, not the parks.

Monetarily wise, it is a great deal. We ate at places that we never would have dreamed of. However, it's just as the OP stated. Your vacation revolves around mealtime. I feel I lost so much time and missed seeing so much in tha parks becausw we had to plan all our time based on our ADR's. We were like "We can't get in this line because our dinner is in an hour..."; "We can't get a Fastpass because the return time is the same time as lunch..." Then you're looking at 1-2 hours of time spent eating. Unless I could plan a trip around a free dining promotion, I probably wouldn't bother with it again and just take my chances and try to eat at odd times.

You can use your fastpass any time after the printed time as long as it's the same day. The CM's cannot let you in early, but have to let you in any time after.

 

[MPitzen]

You can use your fastpass any time after the printed time as long as it's the same day. The CM's cannot let you in early, but have to let you in any time after.

The don't have to let you in, they usually will unless there are a lot of people waiting with fastpasses... One place that usually won't let you in regardless of the circumstances is Soarin'. There is a time frame for a reason, if your time is expired they will usually be nice and let you in but by no means do they Have to!

 

[Monty]

Count me as "Love it"!

I think Dining Plan is great and better still when it's free, it just means planning. If you want to go to Disney and 'wing it', then you take the risk of not being able to eat at the popular places, so be it. I'm more than happy to plan my vacation in broad outline around ADRs six months in advance. I can see which parks have EMH on which days and work my ADRs around that. Then I go with the flow while I'm there, with it in the back of my head that we need to be at the restaurant a bit before our reservation.

I've never been bothered by avoiding a line-up that will obviously make us late for a meal, nor have I worried if a line-up I'm in lasts a lot longer than expected and makes us late. The restaurants still honour ADRs if you're a little bit late, they know it's not always possible to organize your timings perfectly. FPs are almost always honoured after the window has expired [I've had Soarin' FPs accepted several times after the window conflicted with ADRs without ever being turned away, but if they turned us away I'd accept that].

I do feel bad for locals who are less likely to plan meals six months in advance, but nothing stops them from doing so. Even here in Ottawa there are some high-end restaurants that need to be reserved well in advance if you want to eat there, it's just a bit wider an issue at WDW.

A vacation at WDW needs some planning in advance for the vast majority of guests, adding a bit more planning into the mix isn't a problem for me. If it's a problem for others, that just means I'm all the more likely to get whichever ressies I want!

 

[MPitzen]

FPs are almost always honoured after the window has expired [I've had Soarin' FPs accepted several times after the window conflicted with ADRs without ever being turned away, but if they turned us away I'd accept that].

I'm sorry if before I sounded like they would not ever accept you past a window or anything else; I just want to make sure that people know that yes they usually do accept your late FP but this is not always the case.

Anyways, I forgot to say before that I love the DDP too! We're using for our upcoming honeymoon and it's amazing, I can't believe all of the things we're going to be able to do by saving so much on food. I'm also still excited because I have to make my ADR's Monday!

 

[Monty]

I'm sorry if before I sounded like they would not ever accept you past a window or anything else; I just want to make sure that people know that yes they usually do accept your late FP but this is not always the case.

Anyways, I forgot to say before that I love the DDP too! We're using for our upcoming honeymoon and it's amazing, I can't believe all of the things we're going to be able to do by saving so much on food. I'm also still excited because I have to make my ADR's Monday!

I was agreeing with you... No need to be sorry.

 

[DisneyMarg]

You know what? I'm just thankful the Disney restaurants will TAKE a reservation! We have just about given up on going out for dinner on Friday or Saturday night where we live, as the wait (starting at 4:30) extends from 1 hr to 2 or more! Very few places take reservations. I don't think the problem you are seeing is so much a dining plan issue, as much as just that people like to eat out and especially when on vacation.

 

[disneydaft]

I love it. This will be our second year using it.
The reason I love it so much? Its been free for the past 2 years. What's not to love about free food?

 

[Dagger]

I love it.. however, I am sad for when our daughter turns 3 and we'll be forced to buy her the DDP. I think that year we'll buy some points, stay in a villa and cook all our meals.

 

[davinakb]

Won't say hate b/c it seems like a good deal for some. But certainly dislike the "not being able to get an ADR 1-2 months in advance because the place we want is already booked" thing. (Or having to plan that much ahead of time.) FWIW.

 

[Leolioness4200]

Count me as another one who loves it!! DBF and I will be using it again for the second time this coming up trip.

 

[Mickey&Minnie]

We absolutely love it!!!! We used the dining plan for the first time on our last trip and could not believe the money we were able to save. We were able to eat at restaurants that we otherwise would not have been able to. Our next trip will definitely include the dining plan.

 

[tikiman]

It is the worst “DEAL” Disney has ever come up with. It was a good idea and it does save money but other than that there is no advantage. There are many disadvantages. You can no longer walk up to a sitdown restaurant and get in. Everywhere good is ridiculously crowded and the places that are not so good are crowded with everyone else who could not get in. Chefs and CMs at many of the good places to eat have seen a decline in the menu items and they believe it is due to the Dinning plan. People that use it have to still wait when they get to the restaurant and they MUST book 180 days out. Those who do not use it have to still wait when they get to the restaurant and they MUST book 180 days out. CMs hate it which puts them in a bad mood. People who want to eat somewhere while they are in WDW and find out they cannot are mad so basically many people there as guests and as CMs are in a bad mood.

I think Disney could just cut prices of the resorts and save people just as much money and make everyone happier by not having to deal with the side affects of the Dinning Plan.

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

I love it and haven't even used it yet. I've made my ADRs and already can tell I'll eat better on this vacation than in years past. I'm all for sit-down restaurants on vacation. It was the "if I eat one more burger I'm going to kill someone" feeling I had during last year's vacation that convinced me to give DDP a try.

I made my ADRs late last month for my June-July vacation. No problems getting what I wanted -- LeCellier, Coral Reef, Boma's and more. Far from feeling tied to a dining schedule, this frees me to enjoy myself and my son without having to worry about where we're going to eat and if we'll have to wait/get turned away when we get there. No offense to anyone, but I just don't get the walk-up approach to dining at Disney. If I have to wait to be seated at a popular restaurant in own my hometown, what makes me think Disney would be a breeze?

I know I read this on this forum not too long ago, but I can't remember who wrote it (was it Monty?): Fail to plan, plan to fail. This perfectly sums up my thinking when it comes to a Disney vacation. I'm sorry for the locals, but I'm traveling more than 800 miles and spending thousands of dollars. I'm planning for everything that I can before I leave.

That turned out to be almost a rant, didn't it? Sorry, that wasn't intended.

 

[lilclerk]

I'll agree that going to Disney means you need to plan A LOT, period.
When we originally planned our vacation for last month, we did not get the DP and were just going to eat CS meals, and maybe one or two table service as treats.
BUT we decided (three weeks before we left ) that yes, we really wanted to not have to worry about saving enough money for food while there. So my travel agent added the DDP on, and I frantically tried to get my travel companions to help me make choices for restaurants so I could make ADRs. Well they kept saying "I don't care" so I made ADRs for the places I really wanted to try, and that was that. Even 2-3 weeks before the trip, I had absolutely no trouble making reservations for any restaurant I wanted on the day I wanted, though I did have to be flexible with times, and our trip was amazing because of it.
Yes, we did have to plan our days around our meals, but it really wasn't that big of a deal for us. Especially since once we got there, most of our CS meals made me sort of nauseous, so the table service meals were really all I ate
And I've heard lots of complaints about the how the service is horrible with the DP now because it's always so busy, but that was really not our experience. We had nothing but very sweet, helpful waiters/waitresses, and we always tipped above the DP tip because of it.

So, uh, I vote for love it.