disadvantages to dining plan

[kennedy]

Does anyone NOT do the dining plan? I've never tried it, but am strongly considering it for the first time for our May trip. It seems like a good deal.

What would be the reasons NOT to do the dining plan? (there's no kids, if that makes a difference.)

 

[DisneyBunny]

Does anyone NOT do the dining plan? I've never tried it, but am strongly considering it for the first time for our May trip. It seems like a good deal.

What would be the reasons NOT to do the dining plan? (there's no kids, if that makes a difference.)

If you ate at mostly counter service places, and wouldn't touch a sit down place with a ten foot pole, then the DP isn't for you. Also, if you read over the menus, and see yourself going for the cheaper entrees and such, it might not save you as much as it would other people.

Also, if you really wanted to, and if you planned well, you could easily eat for less than the DP is per day, but you probably won't eat at such nice places, or get as much food, in total. Also, if you want to eat out of the World, there is a lot of cheaper eats along the main street in town.


But, all that aside, we'd never go without the DP again. Love it.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

The only disadvantage to me is the planning that is required. You have to have the restaurants planned out and you have to set time aside for them which makes planning on a whim somewhat difficult. If you have a family that doesn't really want to put time aside to eat then it might not be a good choice. Other than that, it is a great deal. You get tons of options for a very good price.

 

[kennedy]

Follow up question: since the lunch included in the plan is a counter service lunch, what happens if we eat at Sci-Fi Dine In (table service) for lunch on one of the days?

 

[surfsupdon]

The big disadvantage for us is that you must book a package in order to get the plan, and that the plan has not been available during our travel dates. We're more of a room-only booking type anyways.

It does seem like a nice deal, but we usually save way more money on a room IF AP rates are released (which is always a gamble). But so far so good.

 

[New2WDW]

Follow up question: since the lunch included in the plan is a counter service lunch, what happens if we eat at Sci-Fi Dine In (table service) for lunch on one of the days?

You get a Table Service, Counter Service and Snack per adult per night of stay and you can use them however you want. If you stayed multiple days and were on the plan you could eat Breakfast Lunch and Dinner at a nice sit down restaurant and use your counter services the other days, etc.... just remember you only get some many of each.

 

[ZapperZ]

I have never signed up for the Dining plan. I have nothing against it, but it isn't just for us.

While we do plan in advance for certain meals and do make advance reservations for those, other than those, we normally do not have a rigid schedule to stick to whenever we're there. So we usually don't have a plan when and where to eat on any given day. If this is during the busy season, then with or without a dining plan, you normally find a difficult time to get into places you want. So if you do not plan ahead and make all those reservations, chances are you may not get to eat where you want to eat to use your dining plan.

Furthermore, we also sometime like to eat outside of WDW now and then (there's a south Indian restaurant in the Crossroad strip mall that has terrific food - we go there at least once on each trip). With the dining plan, you tend to just want to stay on site (which is what they want you to do).

I would say that if you have a family of big eaters, and you plan on being on WDW site the whole trip, then sure, the dining plan is certainly something to seriously consider. But for us, since we go the WDW 2 to 4 times a year, we rather like the flexibility and making last-minute decisions without worrying that we're not using up things that we should.

Zz.

 

[dreamscometrue]

We've visited WDW with and without the dining plan. During our first visit, we spent about $100 per day on food (4 of us), but on the days that we had table service meals, it was about $150. The DDP plan cost us $140 per day and allowed us a great table service meal everyday (as well as snack and counter service). We ate about $150-$200 in food per day, so financially it was a deal.

Besides the value, it allowed us to budget by having all of our food paid in advance of our trip. Also, we ordered whatever we wanted on the menu without any concern for prices. At Le Cellier, our dinner alone cost more than the DDP for that day. Most days saw us eat equally well. We simply wouldn't have eaten daily table service meals at 10 great restaurants without the dining plan. Also, sitting around our kitchen table at home 3 months before the trip and picking the restaurants, was a lot of fun. (We made priorty seating arrangements at 10 places, but actually changed 5 of them after we arrived.) There were no problems.

If you have no interest in table service meals, the DDP is probably not worth the cost, but that is the only arguement against it that I can find. We will always visit WDW with the dining plan. For our next trip, we are taking my mother and mother in law (yes, you read that correctly). They are very excited about having the opportunity to sit down and choose the restaurants. It's a great plan!

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Follow up question: since the lunch included in the plan is a counter service lunch, what happens if we eat at Sci-Fi Dine In (table service) for lunch on one of the days?

The sit down meal can be used for lunch or dinner, just like the quick service can be used for one or the other. That choice is up to you.

 

[dreamscometrue]

The sit down meal can be used for lunch or dinner, just like the quick service can be used for one or the other. That choice is up to you.

We occasionally used the counter service for breakfast too.

 

[Kadee]

Here is one disadvantage that at first glance seems like an advantage: You eat a lot and eat very well. Let me explain..... We felt like we were always eating. We were always full and sometimes miserably so. I don't normally eat too much and left a lot of food to be thrown away....that bothered me...seemed very wasteful. I really don't think we will be using the dining plan anymore, because it is just too much food. You feel obligated to order everything you are entitled to order, and then obligated to eat all you can eat. And believe me, it is not good to go on any ride right after a heavy meal. You don't enjoy it nearly as much. And after figuring what we would spend normally, it would be cheaper for us not to get it.

 

[RonAnnArbor]

I have never used the dining plan with my partner (two adults no kids) and we don't ever intend to.

There are several reasons -- breakfast is coffee and something on the go.
Counter service for a quick lunch is cheap.

And for dinner, we prefer to go to the upscale restaurants - NONE of which accept the dining plan - Jiko, V & A, Bistro de Paris, California Grill...or something in Downtown Disney - Wolfgang Pucks, Fulton's Crab House, etc.

As such, the dining plan makes absoltuely no sense to have.

Finally - if you use the dining plan and want to eat at one of the nicer sit-down restaurants, you need to make reservations far in advance. That means planning your entire day around food. Not what we go to Disney for.

Not for nothing, we live in Ann Arbor Michigan with the resources of our own restaurant-filled college town, Detroit, Toledo, Chicago, Cleveland, and Toronto all within a few hour drive -- with better food and more restaurants we prefer. The Disney experience is NOT about dining for us. That is not to say we have not had some tremendous meals there, but it is not the be-all and end-all to our vacation at WDW.

 

[MickeyTigg]

Does anyone NOT do the dining plan? I've never tried it, but am strongly considering it for the first time for our May trip. It seems like a good deal.

We have never used it....it just doesn't work for us. We had way too many sit down meals. We have AP's so the Dining Experience Card was a better option.

 

[DisneyCP2000]

Here is one disadvantage that at first glance seems like an advantage: You eat a lot and eat very well. Let me explain..... We felt like we were always eating. We were always full and sometimes miserably so. I don't normally eat too much and left a lot of food to be thrown away....that bothered me...seemed very wasteful. I really don't think we will be using the dining plan anymore, because it is just too much food. You feel obligated to order everything you are entitled to order, and then obligated to eat all you can eat. And believe me, it is not good to go on any ride right after a heavy meal. You don't enjoy it nearly as much. And after figuring what we would spend normally, it would be cheaper for us not to get it.

I totally agree with you on this one.

I had a great exprerience with the dining plan, but this was the one thing that I felt bad about. It did at times seem to be continuously eating, but the variety and benefits kinda balanced out the options. I'll give anything a shot and this one turned out to be a tough item to weigh out.

Possible Reasons Not to do the Dining Plan
* Must plan ahead, Can be done during trip but requires standing line to get seats. Plus, you have to plan around any shows you wish to see. Takes planning no matter what you do. We had to stop and figure out our schedule for the last 3 days in the parks.
* Must choose from selected list of restaurants
* Must use up all vouchers to make the best of the plan, can't let Disney win with the funds.
* Pricey, simple meals can be had in WDW at a cheaper price.
* Must have time to sit and enjoy the restaurant. If you're into running the parks, it's tough to spare 1.5 hours for a meal.

Reasons to do Dining Plan
* You get a chance to experience some of the GREAT restaurant's in the 4 parks. (My most memorable dish: The Cobb Salad at the Brown Derby)
* You can beat the price per day with just 2 people. You don't have to worry about menu prices, as you will automatically get an appetizer, main course and dessert for your sit down meal, counter service, and a snack.
* There is a variety of restaurants. May sound contradictory to what's said above...but they may be restaurants you always go to?

 

[lawyergirl77]

We have never used it....it just doesn't work for us. We had way too many sit down meals. We have AP's so the Dining Experience Card was a better option.

Ditto. We usually tend to eat a big breakkie, little or nothing for lunch and have an earlier dinner. As such, if we got the Dining Plan, we would probably have way too many counter service meals left over at the end of our trip.

Plus, seeing as we have APs, going for the DDE card seems to have saved us waaaay more money in the long run.

However, I do miss the "silver" plan - that was perfect as it allowed us to have two sit-down meals per day. There was something so magical about not having to look twice at the bill!! :lol:

 

[ypcat]

And for dinner, we prefer to go to the upscale restaurants - NONE of which accept the dining plan - Jiko, V & A, Bistro de Paris, California Grill...or something in Downtown Disney - Wolfgang Pucks, Fulton's Crab House, etc.

Jiko, Calif. Grill, and Wolfgang accept the dining plan, although the first 2 do use 2 TS options.

Finally - if you use the dining plan and want to eat at one of the nicer sit-down restaurants, you need to make reservations far in advance. That means planning your entire day around food. Not what we go to Disney for.

You need to do this if you have the plan or not at the more popular restaurants. There are limited tables whether or not you have the dining plan.

 

[coltow]

We did the DP for our honeymoon in 2000 (it was called something different then). We got 3 meals a day and a snack. We could eat anyplace, sit down or counter. After a few days I couldn't eat anymore. We would have 3 full meals a day! I understand that it is different now, but unless it was free I don't think I'd do it again. I think I'd feel pressured to eat when not exactly hungry so that I wouldn't lose anything I'd already paid for.

 

[ErickainPA]

We got the dining plan back in December 2005. It was perfect for us. We used just the counters and sit down dinners and had used 1 snack each, the day we checked out, we hit the food court to use up the rest of our snacks.

Nice thing is that you can use your counters or sit-downs for any meal, b,l or d.

We used a counter at AK at the McD's, Pop for Chicken Alfredo (recommend this) and several other places. You also get a dessert with sit-down which if you choose right, you can have as a later snack in your room.

 

[jim1051]

Only 2 reasons in my opinion

you eat mostly counter service or you eat mostly at the places that count as 2 dinners like Yachtsman

 

[David]

We have not used it in the past and did not purchase it for our October trip. The reason is very simple--we prefer to spend our time seeing shows or riding rides and the sit-down meals can take up some of that time.