Paranoid about Dining Plan

[psuchad]

For the last two months I have been planning for my trip next year and am stuck on the whole dining option with the Magic Your Way package. From my understanding you have to buy the dining package for every day that you are staying at a resort. So in order to make the package worth while you would have to eat on property every meal. So somebody like me who may want to go downtown to Red Lobster or a similar restaurant just one day during the stay would not really benefit with this package.


Also for what I understand most of the site down table dinners need to have reservations placed weeks or months in advanced. I want this trip to be enjoyable and not structured in a strict itinerary planned out months in advanced. So again based on this the dining package does not seem like a good deal.


I would like some insight from everyone here. Are these really problems or am I just being paranoid a year before my vacation.

 

[JPVonDrake]

Im surethe plan is more once tax is included, closer to $39, I was going to do it, but AP discount on room rate and disney dinning card made it a non starter.That and when i looked at the menus available on line realised that the girls would never eat that amount of food. Now if Coke was included for the trip...........

Im sure it will work for some people, but it didnt make sense for our trip/

Actually, the price of the plan is

$34.99 per Adult (age 10+) per night
$10.00 per child (age 3-9) per night
Including the tax!

(plus the cost of the room and your Magic Your Way Ticket)

Think of it this way. Check the menus at allearsnet.com

If...

your average table service meal is over $25 (remember add together any appetizer, entree, desert, non-alcoholic beverage, then add 6.5% tax, and your gratuity)

your average counter service meal is over $8 (remember add together any entree, desert, non-alcoholic beverage, then add 6.5 % tax)

and your snack is about $2 (most all snacks with tax are about $2 to $3 each)

You are saving money!

Unless you are a very light eater, it really is hard to lose money on this plan when you are unable to get a discounted room-only reservation.

Hope this helps! :sohappy:

 

[wonka]

Doing the math, it does work out that most people will save money. My wife and I were teetering back and forth about the meal plan last month. Since we're bringing a friend along with us who is staying in the same room, he also has to get it, but he's more than willing.

The only concern we have is that the three of us, if we were to go to a normal sit-down restaurant here, wouldn't even consider ordering three seperate appetizers. Three desserts? Maybe, but most likely not.

The last three times my wife and I have gone to Disney World, we would almost always share an appetizer, get an entree each, and share a dessert - and usually not finish it.

When the three of us go this year, we're concerned about all the food we'll potentially be getting. Three appetizers, three drinks, three entrees, and three desserts per meal. Mind boggling :hurl: . Ultimately, we took into consideration what the two of us spent last year on meals, especially on "counter services", and we're pretty sure we'll still come out ahead. Long story short - we went for the dining plan.

My idea? When it's time for dessert, if we're not super hungry, I'm going to see if anyone at the tables around us would like me to order them anything. I'd much rather give the food away than eat two bites and throw it in the trash just because I'm psycologically feeling obligated to take advantage of the plan I'm paying for. I can't imagine that the waitstaff would be able to stop me. (Or even care to, for that matter)



On a personal side note, I "saved the day" with some high profile customers at my job last week only to find out today that the company I work for is giving me a bonus to show their appreciation. My entire Disney trip, meal plan included, is free now. Talk about wishing upon a star! :sohappy: Now we just have to hope that the weather is OK at the end of September. No horrible storms like last year!!!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Actually, the price of the plan is

$34.99 per Adult (age 10+) per night
$10.00 per child (age 3-9) per night
Including the tax!
:

When I looked at this in March, tax was not included, however...........

Youd have to eat a lot of food to make up for an AP room discount :slurp:

There is other things to bear in mind, we will be visiting Busch gardens and Sea world, one of those trips would give the extra point for the California Grill, but the other would be lost, unless you ate two main meals in a day.

I stand by what I previously said, the only way to know if this is "worth it" is to do the research, set your plan up, deploy the excel spread sheet, examine the results and then take the decision.

Unless of course you just want a hassle free trip. but think of the fun you miss with all the research and planning, it all adds to the trip.

 

[psuchad]

I just wanted to thank everybody for their tips.

 

[hollyberries]

i too have a question on the dining plan. i'm not paranoid, but wondering....
we have purchased the plan for our trip in june. i have already made 3 PS for various table service restaurants and MGM, MK and EPCOT. my question regards dining at other resorts. we'll be staying at POP which only has counter service. can we go to, say, cape may cafe or BOMA, and use a table service? in a guide book we have (the unofficial guide...) some restaurants in resorts are listed as the customers being hotel guests, not listed as tourists or park guests, etc.
summary: if you are a resort guest at any WDW resort are you welcome at all WDW resorts to use the dining plan?
thanks to all who reply!

 

[mousermerf]

Anyone is welcome at any WDW resort. They don't like people parking at the Contemporary to goto Magic Kingdom or watch fireworks, but with dining, shopping, resort-browsing, Disney likes tourists

407-WDW-DINE handles all WDW resort restaurants, and there are lots of off-the-eaten-path places to try.

Edit:

Maya Grill is a recent addition to the dining plan and worth checking out at Coronado Springs. Also, the Kona Cafe at the Poly for breakfast, great write up of the deserts at Concourse Steakhouse (Contemporary) over at Mouseplanet.com and there's always Quick-serve at the Mara with Zebra Domes!

 

[DisneyMarg]

Regulars will be sick of seeing this, but have you read my report on how we used the Dining Plan? We found it to be great for our family of 4. We figured that our meals cost about $50/day for the $35 we paid!

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=53406

Wonka, you are right about the amt of food. I thought maybe they would have tiny little appetizers and desserts for the plan, but no-o-o-o - they were full sharing size things. If you want to avoid this, you can choose more buffets or family style places - there are lots of them. There you can sample a little bit of everything. We also really enjoyed Akershus specifically because the servings were small. Never thought I'd see myself type those words!:lol:

Hollyberries, that's one thing we enjoyed so much. Without the dining plan we wouldn't have made the effort to seek out the great resort restaurants. We've always been a grab a bite in the park, and then hit MickeyD's afterwards type folks. But trying out all the resort restaurants was WONDERFUL! Plus, you get to walk around the beautiful resorts and gift shops.

JPVonDrake - do you agree that people should cancel their AR's? We have never done it, because they aren't really reservations. I didn't think we were keeping anyone else out if we changed our minds. But if it's the right thing to do, then we'll start.

 

[mousermerf]

JPVonDrake - do you agree that people should cancel their AR's? We have never done it, because they aren't really reservations. I didn't think we were keeping anyone else out if we changed our minds. But if it's the right thing to do, then we'll start.

Things have changed, an "AR/PS" is more popular than ever, and popular restaurants are now shutting things down and only taking them, and no walk ups when they're busy.

Moderate places? If you don't show, someone else will probably get in sooner from standby.

The busy ones? (Pretty much any place "you" have heard of!) They'll just actually get their PS/AR's in on time, maybe, if they're luckey - and it's Tuesday, early Tuesday, and its off-season

 

[JPVonDrake]

JPVonDrake - do you agree that people should cancel their AR's? We have never done it, because they aren't really reservations. I didn't think we were keeping anyone else out if we changed our minds. But if it's the right thing to do, then we'll start.

Its aways the nice thing to do, this way your table can be opened up to another family. Often restuarants will turn away walk-ups if they are completely full of advance reservations.

:sohappy:

 

[WigglyWiggins]

We are leaving in three weeks, on june the 18th. Do we need to make reservations for boma before we leave? we are quite flexible so otherwise we were going to leave it untill we are there and then ring them up and basically say "were here for two weeks what have you got?"

is this plausable?

 

[BRER STITCH]

OK....HERE'S MY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND EVE RANT ON THE FOOD PLAN POSTS. ENJOY! :wave:

I think it's funny that some poeple have mistaken a MEAL PLAN for a contest to see how much food they can get out of Disney in an attempt to feel like they got more than they paid for!!! :lol:

For goodness sakes....it's MEAL PLAN! It's $35 a day....and it's PREPAID!

It's not a competition to see who can get the most out of it. Nor is it mandatory! Why? Because it is not for everyone!

So what if you only eat $29 worth of food one day? Don't lose sleep over it! Certainly some of other day you will eat $48 worth!

If you don't want appetizers and dessert, don't get them! The point of a meal is to eat until you are satisfied - not until you are stuffed or feel like you "got a good deal".

The fact that it is prepaid is worth it (for budgeting reasons alone) for some people. Also, if you have any snack tickets left, use them on your last day to get snacks for the plane ride home!

Remember: It's not an entitlement. It's not manadatory....and it's NOT for everyone! If you're in this group, noone will ever know unless you tell them!

END OF RANT!

HAVE GREAT HOLIDAY WEEKEND!!!
:sohappy:

 

[hollyberries]

Regulars will be sick of seeing this, but have you read my report on how we used the Dining Plan? We found it to be great for our family of 4. We figured that our meals cost about $50/day for the $35 we paid!

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=53406

Wonka, you are right about the amt of food. I thought maybe they would have tiny little appetizers and desserts for the plan, but no-o-o-o - they were full sharing size things. If you want to avoid this, you can choose more buffets or family style places - there are lots of them. There you can sample a little bit of everything. We also really enjoyed Akershus specifically because the servings were small. Never thought I'd see myself type those words!:lol:

Hollyberries, that's one thing we enjoyed so much. Without the dining plan we wouldn't have made the effort to seek out the great resort restaurants. We've always been a grab a bite in the park, and then hit MickeyD's afterwards type folks. But trying out all the resort restaurants was WONDERFUL! Plus, you get to walk around the beautiful resorts and gift shops.

JPVonDrake - do you agree that people should cancel their AR's? We have never done it, because they aren't really reservations. I didn't think we were keeping anyone else out if we changed our minds. But if it's the right thing to do, then we'll start.

disneymarg
thanx for the info---and the link to your other post with info on where and what you ate---that will be very helpful and now we will also make some PS for resort restaurants. however, this leads me to another question....
we are a family of 4 with a teen and a 7yo who is beyond a picky eater! we are also traveling with my family, which includes my 4yo niece, who does everything her 7yo picky eater cousin does! are there enough "regular" choices at BOMA to satisfy younger eaters (and even picky older eaters, namely my husband!) or would we do better to pass on this one?
next, the cape may cafe review in our book (the unofficial guide...) sounded rather a good choice, especially for our younger travellers, but you seemed disappointed---was the food yucky or any other things that stand out as to why you might have been unimpressed with this?
thanx again, you have been really helpful!

 

[kp4310]

We just got back from Disney and used that dining plan. There were me, my husband and 2 children. I added up the reciepts when we got home and we saved over 300.00 for 7 days with the plan. I can recall which restuarant we went to but one sit down meal alone was 142.00 including tip. That alone paid for the plan for the day but we also had lunch that was another 45.00. The one thing that you need to remember is that the tip and the tax is included with the dining plan. We had several snacks left over at the end of our trip so we went into the Pop Century Food Court and got each of us a soda, grapes and chips for the kids for the 2+ hour plane ride home. I don't recall eating soooo good while on vacation before. We thought it was an excellent price.

Kim

 

[swimmom]

The one thing that you need to remember is that the tip and the tax is included with the dining plan.
Kim

Thanks for answering my question, before I got a chance to ask it! :animwink: I was wondering if tip was included like it is for the Candlelight Dinner Package. I'm thinking that this will definately be worth the money for our spring break trip.

 

[wonka]

OK....HERE'S MY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND EVE RANT ON THE FOOD PLAN POSTS. ENJOY! :wave:

I think it's funny that some poeple have mistaken a MEAL PLAN for a contest to see how much food they can get out of Disney in an attempt to feel like they got more than they paid for!!! :lol:

For goodness sakes....it's MEAL PLAN! It's $35 a day....and it's PREPAID!

It's not a competition to see who can get the most out of it. Nor is it mandatory! Why? Because it is not for everyone!

So what if you only eat $29 worth of food one day? Don't lose sleep over it! Certainly some of other day you will eat $48 worth!

If you don't want appetizers and dessert, don't get them! The point of a meal is to eat until you are satisfied - not until you are stuffed or feel like you "got a good deal".

The fact that it is prepaid is worth it (for budgeting reasons alone) for some people. Also, if you have any snack tickets left, use them on your last day to get snacks for the plane ride home!

Remember: It's not an entitlement. It's not manadatory....and it's NOT for everyone! If you're in this group, noone will ever know unless you tell them!

END OF RANT!

HAVE GREAT HOLIDAY WEEKEND!!!
:sohappy:

I think 99% of the food plan posts are specifically for people to find out if they're in the 'it's NOT for everyone' group.

I don't believe people are trying to get as much food out of Disney as they can, I believe they are trying to get as much value out of their money as they can. There's a significant difference there - one is being greedy, the other is being frugal.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are people who are going to get out a calculator and menus from every applicable restaurant to see where they can buy the most expensive meals and feel obligated to only eat at those places. I agree this is pretty sad and will most likely distract them from the whole point of going on vacation - relaxation and fun.

I, on the other hand, will be using the meal plan to go to places I normally wouldn't go to simply because they are so expensive. It will be great to go to places we haven't been without the lingering thought of "This is great, but man, how much is this going to set us back?". Again, the idea behind these last two paragraphs is similar, but there is a significant difference.

If people who are already paying a large amount of money to go to Disney want to know if the meal plan is going to save them from paying even more money for their trip, I feel they are more than welcome. I completely understand the trepidations behind putting up a large sum of unrefundable money on something that is so difficult to estimate, especially if you've never been to Disney before.

The fact that it is prepaid is worth it (for budgeting reasons alone) for some people.

Exactly, but you have to take into consideration that most people are budgeting because they need to, which is the very reason why someone may start one of these threads. They don't necessarily want to abuse the plan, but they also don't want to pay a bunch of money for it only to find out that it was either not enough or way too much food. Likewise, they don't want to make the mistake of not paying for the plan only to find out that they spend two times that amount on food when they go.

The title for this thread is 'Paranoid about Dining Plan', but I believe that is incorrect and lends itself to be interpreted as you have. A more appropriate title is 'Paranoid about wasting my hard earned money', and if you can't relate to that then stop reading the dining plan posts and go tool around on your Yacht, Mr. Trump.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

The title for this thread is 'Paranoid about Dining Plan', but I believe that is incorrect and lends itself to be interpreted as you have. A more appropriate title is 'Paranoid about wasting my hard earned money', and if you can't relate to that then stop reading the dining plan posts and go tool around on your Yacht, Mr. Trump.

Agree 100%, the largest cost for my holiday is the air fair,unsurprisingly. Now thansks to tips from here mousesavers and debs I have been able to reduce my other costs, accomodation and meals.

In my previous post I have said it didnt work for me, and it didnt work for me because I looked at the total cost of my holiday not just the food element. With the dining plan you must ALL be on the same package, same package means no AP, which means no AP discount on room (which is worth it for 14 nights) with an ap you can join Disney Dining for $50 and get a discount (20% I believe) on meals. When I did the sums and trust me i have spent sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much time on this it didnt add up. Now had there been no room discount it would have been a different story. (oh and I should say the prices of park tickets in the UK has also added to the benefits of doing what Im doing.

I dont think anyone even a fool should be willing to pay more than is neccesary for anything, and it definately pays to take the time and put a bit of thought behind what you want to do on your trip and plan accordingly.
Remember the 6 P's

Prior Planning Prevents P~** Poor Performance.

Then you can actually enjoy your trip to the max, besides if you wernt planning a Disney trip what else would you be doing :animwink:

 

[BRER STITCH]

The title for this thread is 'Paranoid about Dining Plan', but I believe that is incorrect and lends itself to be interpreted as you have. A more appropriate title is 'Paranoid about wasting my hard earned money', and if you can't relate to that then stop reading the dining plan posts and go tool around on your Yacht, Mr. Trump.

Hey....Get your OWN RANT and quit tagging off of mine! :lol:

Should I REALLY have to re-title every post to get the message correctly?
Come on now, I wrote what I wrote based on what I have read.

Oh....and how DARE you roll your eyes at me!

Take THIS: ....and THIS:

...and Have a great weekend!

P.S. Because I am such a spiteful arrogant jerk, I will continue to read EVERY SINGLE Meal Plan post I can find!

HA! :wave:


To those who know me well....enjoy the laugh!
To those who don't...lighten up!

 

[wonka]

:lol:

... saunters off to start his own rant.

Man, I love these boards.

You enjoy the long weekend as well! :wave:






P.s.

 

[DisneyMarg]

disneymarg
thanx for the info---and the link to your other post with info on where and what you ate---that will be very helpful and now we will also make some PS for resort restaurants. however, this leads me to another question....
we are a family of 4 with a teen and a 7yo who is beyond a picky eater! we are also traveling with my family, which includes my 4yo niece, who does everything her 7yo picky eater cousin does! are there enough "regular" choices at BOMA to satisfy younger eaters (and even picky older eaters, namely my husband!) or would we do better to pass on this one?
next, the cape may cafe review in our book (the unofficial guide...) sounded rather a good choice, especially for our younger travellers, but you seemed disappointed---was the food yucky or any other things that stand out as to why you might have been unimpressed with this?
thanx again, you have been really helpful!

You can look at the Boma menu on Allears, but as well as I remember there were kid friendly choices on the buffet (macaroni and cheese comes to mind). If you do go to Boma, be sure to go out to the back of the lodge and look at the animals through the night vision goggles. Our teens headed out there. Mom and Dad: "You come back. I don't think we're supposed to go out there." Ten minutes later they came back all excited about a CM with night vision goggles.

As for Cape May, we chose it because of the good reviews in the books. I guess it wasn't as good for us because there wasn't really a lot of variety of seafood. The Allearsnet menu says clams, mussels, and baked fish, and that was about it. They also had barbecue (but we went to Whispering Canyon Cafe for that) and a roast beef carving station. We live close to Myrtle Beach (SC) where we're accustomed to buffets with LOTS of variety - different types of seafood fixed all sorts of ways. I think that was what we were expecting, but Cape May had more limited choices.