Songbird76
Well-Known Member
Maybe if I lived in the states, it wouldn't make sense for me to use the dining plan. But there are so many things I miss, I have a lot of things I crave and I can get most of those at Disney. I wait to book our trip until they have the free dining for European visitors, so it works out well. And we don't choose restaurants so much by the food as we do the experience. A lot of character or themed restaurants like, 1900 Park Fare, 50's Prime Time, Whispering Canyon...DS won't eat any of it anyway, so we go for the experiences we'll enjoy. Since we only go every few years, we don't get tired of doing them and the kids look forward to doing their favorites. But if we didn't get the dining plan for free, we couldn't afford to stay as long, and I definitely wouldn't pay full price for it. But I've had our meals planned since even before we booked, and that was in May, and we don't go until July next year....so well over a year in advance. And really, if you're with your whole family, how do you decide where to eat on the spur of the moment? Everyone wants something different, or everyone is hungry at different times, etc. It's easier for US to just plan it in advance and say "We need to be at this restaurant at this time." That's also better for DS, because he can't handle unpredictability. He needs to know what's going to happen, where we will be and when. So I think there's definitely a place for the 180 out rule, but I can understand that it doesn't work for everyone, and I do think they should balance it out a bit more....set a certain number of tables aside for ADRs and save some for walk-ups. But the free dining works pretty perfectly for our family. We don't have to worry about how much we spend on food, we get to do the experiences we want, even though character meals are generally more expensive...it's great.Exactly!!! It also makes sense to us because things can change from day to day...appetites, what you’re craving, etc....who can plan for those types of potential eventualities 180 days out...?!
We’ve never done anything but Disney transportation, so bubble-ishis where we stay. But, there are plenty of options there, so no biggie.
DDP was worth it at my 50% $30 CM discount, nowhere near it at $60, an not even remotely close now at $75+...
On the fly, as per actually being hungry, whatever cravings you have, etc., is the way to go for us...again, I stress for us, not for everybody...!
But hubs was happy because the good bread guy was there.
BTW we're going to get Arroz con Pollo, corn salad, pasta with sausage and peppers pasta in a garlic sauce, stir fried veggies in hot garlic sauce, beans and greens in an adoboish sauce, bean salad and a pumpkin pie but I'm not sure if it's going to be an apple butter or "cheesecake" type done
