What do you think of these dining plans?

[mariak]

I know this is wholly subjective and everyone has different tastes, but FI are taking our Honeymoon in February because we got an awesome deal with value season + free dining, and I'm not sure if we're making the most out of our dining plans or not. I'm really trying to get a Be Our Guest dinner res for 2/4, but it hasn't happened yet, so that nights dinner slot is still open. Here are our Table Service reservations made so far:

M- Via Napoli
T- California Grill
W- (no dinner plans yet)
TH- Sci-Fi Dine in (Lunch, maybe OOP depending on what we choose for W) ... will do some QS for dinner.
F- Sanaa
S- T-Rex (Out of pocket check-out day)

What would you do different? I planned our park days out based on the attendance calendars so we are hitting Epcot, MK, MK, HS and AK (then probably HS or MK later on the AK day). But we could always hop over to whichever park we needed to be in for dinner.

I guess I'm just wondering if I should plan more special dinners other than Cali Grill. I don't want to regret missing anything, 5 nights is TOTALLY NOT ENOUGH! The only place I've been before out of the restaurants above is Sci Fi. My fiance has never been there. I haven't gone in 6 years and I can't wait to finally go back!

(If this should go in the restaurants thread, I apologize for not seeing that one before I chose the Trip Planning board!)

 

[Weather_Lady]

Just my two cents: I would say you're not making the most of the dining plan with the Sci-Fi lunch. It's a low-cost, low-value meal on which to spend a dining credit, although you may feel less pressure to maximize the value if you're getting "free" dining. The California Grill may not be worth 2 credits, unless you plan to order items that typically cost more than twice the ones you'll be ordering at the 1-credit restaurants. Check out the menus and make a rough estimate of the value of your meal at every restaurant with drink/entree/dessert (then cut the amount in half for California Grill or any other 2-credit restaurant). Arrange them in order from most expensive to least. Use your dining plan credits to pay for the most expensive ones, and pay for the cheapest ones (if you have more TS meals than your DDP will cover) out of pocket.

If you wanted to do the fanciest/most romantic comparable options for 1 credit, you might want to try Tutto Italia or Chefs de France instead of Via Napoli, pay out of pocket for your Sci-fi lunch, and use the TS credit you saved to swap T-Rex for Raglan Road or Wolfgang Puck. On the day you have no dinner plans, consider 'Ohana, Be Our Guest or Boma.

 

[mhaftman7]

I would recommend Mama Melrose for your day at HS. Make sure to get the Fantasmic Package. It gives you priority seating. Our seats ended up front row center. The kids got soaked and they loved every minute.

 

[Darkzeid25]

I highly recommend La Hacienda de San Angel. If you have it timed for Illuminations, you get a great view of the fireworks without all the noise. The food is also really good.

 

[mariak]

I would say you're not making the most of the dining plan with the Sci-Fi lunch. It's a low-cost, low-value meal on which to spend a dining credit, although you may feel less pressure to maximize the value if you're getting "free" dining.

If you wanted to do the fanciest/most romantic comparable options for 1 credit, you might want to try Tutto Italia or Chefs de France instead of Via Napoli, pay out of pocket for your Sci-fi lunch, and use the TS credit you saved to swap T-Rex for Raglan Road or Wolfgang Puck. On the day you have no dinner plans, consider 'Ohana, Be Our Guest or Boma.

Ah thanks! I just made our 'Ohana res for Tuesday. Late for us at 8:05 but that's okay. We will likely pay OOP for the Sci Fi for sure.

 

[mariak]

I would recommend Mama Melrose for your day at HS. Make sure to get the Fantasmic Package. It gives you priority seating. Our seats ended up front row center. The kids got soaked and they loved every minute.

Good idea! I always struggle with HS because I love sci-fi but I hate to use two table service meals in one day, but I will have to look into that. I've never tried Mama Melrose. Thanks!

I highly recommend La Hacienda de San Angel. If you have it timed for Illuminations, you get a great view of the fireworks without all the noise. The food is also really good.

I really wish we had more days to fit this in! I have heard really great things about it. Might have to consider this! Thank you!

 

[tor29c]

I would recommend Mama Melrose for your day at HS. Make sure to get the Fantasmic Package. It gives you priority seating. Our seats ended up front row center. The kids got soaked and they loved every minute.

I'm making my ADRs tomorrow AM and one of the restaurants on the list is Mama Melrose. What is this Fantasmic Package you speak of and is this something I get at the restaurant or before hand? Thanks!

 

[couchpotatooo]

I'm making my ADRs tomorrow AM and one of the restaurants on the list is Mama Melrose. What is this Fantasmic Package you speak of and is this something I get at the restaurant or before hand? Thanks!

Fantasmic packages are nice but the time they give you to eat are just to early, I believe it's like 3:30 or 3:45