Dining Plan

[Scott Service]

We just got back from our first trip to the world at Christmas time. When I purchased the package I added on the DDP thinking it would be nice not to have to worry about the cost of meals while on vacation. The problem we ran into by the end of the week was that our girls (ages 7& 8) were tired of eating the same thing. By the last day they were skipping ordering a meal and snacking off of ours. The menu selection for the kids meals was extremly limited. Also, because the portions were so large from the adult menu we did not use all of our snacks. The last day we had to go to the gift shop and pick up 10 snacks to take back home. Next time I will forgo the DDP. Any one else feel the same way?

 

[DisneyJoe]

Which meals did you do?

Did you do any buffets?

 

[Master Yoda]

This is the main reason I have never cared much for the dinning plan. It simply gives you too much food. Sure from a dollar to food quantity aspect you can make out like a bandit but I have found I save much more using my DDE membership and ordering what I would normally eat.

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

If I had a younger child, I don't know that I'd use the plan. But I gotta say, I used it this past summer with my 13 yo son and came out ahead. I kept all my receipts and, while the exact figure escapes me now, I saved a few hundred dollars using DDP. I mean, the boy is ALWAYS hungry. We ate a table meal every day and he had the whole menu from which to choose since Disney views him as an adult. There would have been major issues if he was restricted to the kiddie menus.

A friend and I are staying at Pop for three nights in February, so I'm giving this new DDP version a test run. We'll see.

 

[Scott Service]

Which meals did you do?

Did you do any buffets?

The first night in we ate at Cape May Cafe which is a Buffet. All parties in the family enjoyed the food. We ran into problems at YAk & Yeti, 50's Prime Time, the Liberty Tree Tavern and my older daughter did not care for the menu selection at all in MGM. They are not picky eaters at all, they just got tired of the same menu selections.:hurl:

 

[mousebymarriage]

We just got back from our first trip to the world at Christmas time. When I purchased the package I added on the DDP thinking it would be nice not to have to worry about the cost of meals while on vacation. The problem we ran into by the end of the week was that our girls (ages 7& 8) were tired of eating the same thing. By the last day they were skipping ordering a meal and snacking off of ours. The menu selection for the kids meals was extremly limited. Also, because the portions were so large from the adult menu we did not use all of our snacks. The last day we had to go to the gift shop and pick up 10 snacks to take back home. Next time I will forgo the DDP. Any one else feel the same way?

I completely agree with you about the kids meals, the choices are so limited. When we went in April my DD was 9 years old and she also got tired of the same very limited choices on the kids menu. We tried to do buffets for breakfast or dinner so those weren't a problem but, counter service choices were horrible. I felt so bad for her that I would let her order from the adult menu using my credit and I would order from the kids menu using hers. I have to agree, after a few meals of chicken nuggets I wanted to puke:hurl:! Disney is not so "kid friendly" when it comes to their food choices, not every child wants to eat chicken nuggets for lunch and dinner every single day. I feel bad for the people who generally don't do table service, (except for the occasional character meal), if they use counter service for all their meals and many people do, the kids really get $cr*w*d!

 

[ThinkTink721]

The dining plan has worked well for us.
We do go to many of the buffets, therefore there is lots to choose from.
I guess most restaurants, even outside of WDW, go on the assumption that kids will probably only want chicken nuggets, fries, mac & cheese or pizza.
I wish that the kid's menus at the non-buffet places had a few more food items to choose from though.
:wave:

 

[Dwarful]

Hey Scott Service, welcome to the boards. We are from the STL area as well.
When we went in August we used the DDP. Our girls were 7 & 11. The best food choices for the kids meal seemed to be at LeCellier. My 7 yr old loves a good steak as much as her daddy. She would also select a grilled cheese sandwich over nuggets any day of the week. We also had to bring home snacks because we didn't use all of them. With that being said..we just got back from a short pre-Christmas trip (Dec. 12-16). and we noticed that with rising food prices we would probably do the dining plan again. We paid almost as much for counter service as we did for some sitdown meals and at the buffets we ate much better than the counter service. I know there are changes for the DDP for 2008. It would be nice if Disney allowed you to upgrade the child's meal plan to an adult plan. I would do that in a heartbeat so my child could eat what they wanted not what Disney thought they wanted.

 

[tomm4004]

What's the dining plan? $80 per day for two people? We did not spend that much on our recent 9-day trip. Our most expensive meal was $105 total at Chefs de France. But other days we spent next to nothing. We tend to split meals at take-out type places: we split a pizza at Puck's, a chicken meal at Flame Tree, sandwiches at Boardwalk Bakery, for example. Even half a pizza there is filling. And that's $10. Our meal at Flame Tree was $10. Breakfast. We probably spent $40 for two that day.

We often split desserts and apps. The portions are just too huge. My couscous at Marrakech was obscenely large. Nobody outside of NFL linemen and Sumos needs that much food. I guess they do it to justify the price. The portions at Yak and Yeti and Chefs de France were more appropriate. We are avoiding places from now on with large portions because it's such an embarrassing waste.

This reminds me a bit of travellers in Europe who buy rail passes then sit on trains all day to make them pay. Am I on the right track? (pun intended)

 

[DisneyMarg]

Yes, you can eat more cheaply than the dining plan. However, you can not eat as much food nor with as much variety as you can with the dining plan.

 

[wannab@dis]

The limited kid's menu is limited whether you are on the dining plan or not... I'm not sure how those two are related. However, for the value of a kid's meal at character meals / buffets, the $10/day for the dining plan is a great value.

 

[Monty]

The limited kid's menu is limited whether you are on the dining plan or not... I'm not sure how those two are related. However, for the value of a kid's meal at character meals / buffets, the $10/day for the dining plan is a great value.

They're related because on DDP children are required to order from the kid's menu if there is one. So, if you insist on ordering from the adult menu you're paying OOP in addition to having paid for the Child TS credit you're not using.

Personally it doesn't impact me, DS is 12. But I think they should give credit as though you had ordered the most expensive selection on the Children's menu and only make you pay the difference if your child wants to order from the adult fare. Or, as has been suggested, allow the option of buying the DDP adult package for children under 10 if so desired.

 

[wannab@dis]

They're related because on DDP children are required to order from the kid's menu if there is one. So, if you insist on ordering from the adult menu you're paying OOP in addition to having paid for the Child TS credit you're not using.

Personally it doesn't impact me, DS is 12. But I think they should give credit as though you had ordered the most expensive selection on the Children's menu and only make you pay the difference if your child wants to order from the adult fare. Or, as has been suggested, allow the option of buying the DDP adult package for children under 10 if so desired.

Gotcha. Our little one is 3 years old so the child's $10 dining plan is a perfect value. Especially since she would have only ordered the children's items anyway and we made out like bandits at the character buffets. Also, keep in mind this ONLY impacts table service. The children's counter service "tickets" are the same as adult... so you can order ANY counter service item for those little ones.

 

[Dwarful]

We didn't eat cheaper this time and we were not on the dining plan. It seemed to me that Disney had raised the prices on a lot of meals. Dinner at LTT was $125 for us with 3 adults and 1 child (2 adults and 11 & 7). We spent $30-$35 on counter service meals with adult meals now running close to $10 for a meal and a drink ..no dsrt, just the meal and drink and kids meal $4.50 (2 kids meals $9, 2 adult meals $20). We have ap's so thats why we didn't do the dining plan. But it seemed to us that prices have gone up to cover the costs of those on the dining plan. Disney's getting their money one way or another. Although I must admit I haven't really looked at the new dining plan that closely. One thing we decided, if we are paying cash, we won't be back to LTT. The service was alright but the food was not worth $125.

 

[dianenicolexox]

The past 3 times I have went to disney, my family has used the dining plan and we love it. We feel its a great way to save money and psychologically it feels that you are spending less because you dont have to pay for food everytime you eat. lol Its great!

 

[Bonnet]

I think I would use the dining plan. It would just make things easier for me. As long as there were more than one or two items on the kids menu, my little one is young enough yet that she probably wouldn't mind so much.

 

[BillyBuff]

I can't wait to try out the dining plan! This is the first time we're using it.

All the times we've visited WDW, we usually buy a snack here and there and then wing it with dinner. This is the first time I have made reservations so I can get the most out of the plan.

P.S. Leaving in 10 days....I CAN'T WAIT!