FAQ about the Disney Dining Plan

[jjohnson]

I have a question, does anyone know if the Maya Grill and PepperMarket @ CSR has been added on to the dining plan?

Yes, they are both on the plan now.

 

[scrapperjill]

Yet another Dinning plan question....When it say's you can exchange 1 TS meal for a Character meal...do they mean you can do this one time durring your stay...or could you exchange ALL of your TS meals for character meals?

Also where could I find the list where it tells you if it's a one or two credit meal?

From what I have read...the meal plan seems like it could be a GREAT deal...and could save a ton in the long run...

 

[dani12]

Yet another Dinning plan question....When it say's you can exchange 1 TS meal for a Character meal...do they mean you can do this one time durring your stay...or could you exchange ALL of your TS meals for character meals?

Also where could I find the list where it tells you if it's a one or two credit meal?

From what I have read...the meal plan seems like it could be a GREAT deal...and could save a ton in the long run...

You can exchange as many times as you want for character meals. We did CRT, PSB, CM and Crystal Palace while we were there. It says on the brochure whether meals count as one or two credits. If you don't have the brochure already, you can find it on WDW website; just search for the dining plan.

 

[bugbugmom]

I have a question, does anyone know if the Maya Grill and PepperMarket @ CSR has been added on to the dining plan?

I believe these were recently added.

 

[bkhibiscus]

Interesting. We used the dining plan in January and we each got our own dessert as well as the pineapple with caramel. It seems to me the pineapple is part of the meal and should not be considered dessert. At Ohana they take great pride in their desserts and usually show you a sample of them as you enter the restaurant. I really doubt there would be any problem ordering your own desserts using the plan. You could always call the restaurant manager and ask but again, I doubt this is the case.

We ate at Ohana on Thurs 5/19 and the pineapple was the dessert. Apparently the extra dessert was a glitch in the early days of the plan. But there are so many other ways to take advantage of the plan. I'd say we saved $600+ for a family of 3.

 

[bkhibiscus]

We just got back from DW using MYW dining. It really does work out. The only problem we had was trying to fit in all the snacks. We had 9 left yesterday before we left, and just bought anything that would go through. Will post more later, but the staff seems to be eager to help you maximize the plan, especially at TS restaurants where they get 15% of the value of your meal. Our biggest savings was at California Grill where the waitress helped us run up a $250.00 tab for the signature option, approximately $90-100 cost if you figure it, and it paid for her with a $42.00 tip from Disney. We made sure we tipped above the plan for good service everywhere and received excellent service almost every place.

 

[cmm]

I have been reading this board for a couple of weeks and have gotten a lot of information. You guys are great! Does Disney charge tax on the MYW dining plan? I thought I read somewhere that it will be taxed at the resort rate, which I think is about 12%. Also, when I was making dining reservations, the CM told me that I could not "upgrade" from room only to a MYW package without cancelling my reservation and starting over. Do you think that is true? I'm going to WDW in June and am still trying to figure out if the meal plan is worth it. I was going to order my tickets from ticketmania, but obviously can't do that if I add the meal plan. Thanks for your help!

 

[eddieras]

the price, tax AND tip included is $35 per adult and 10 per kid. i can't see how it's not worth it. i tracked what our food would have cost for our 5 nites. we paid $450 for the plan (2 adults, 2 kids) and our food if paid out of pocket would have totaled $765! and we didn't use 2 counter and one snack!
good luck!

 

[Marseeya]

We just got back from DW using MYW dining. It really does work out. The only problem we had was trying to fit in all the snacks. We had 9 left yesterday before we left, and just bought anything that would go through. Will post more later, but the staff seems to be eager to help you maximize the plan, especially at TS restaurants where they get 15% of the value of your meal. Our biggest savings was at California Grill where the waitress helped us run up a $250.00 tab for the signature option, approximately $90-100 cost if you figure it, and it paid for her with a $42.00 tip from Disney. We made sure we tipped above the plan for good service everywhere and received excellent service almost every place.

I'm so glad to hear this about the waitstaff! I've heard a few times that the servers were kind of rude to the folks on the dining plan. I've also experienced in other restaurants where you pre-pay the tip, the servers can be so neglectful and rude sometimes.

 

[rifamtrav]

bkhisiscus - can't wait to see your trip report/dining experience. I'm particularly curious about California Grill, looking at their menu on allearsnet.com it seems like everything is so expensive it would be easy to run up a high bill, and well worth the 2TS credits per person.
Did you have kids with you? I'm wondering if we should make this our farewell to WDW late night dinner. My DDs are 12,10,10. They sometimes fade at night, but behavior shouldn't be a problem. I'm wondering if we could time it for fireworks whether that would be enough of a draw for them. Is it ok for the kids to go out on the observation area during/throughout the meal?

 

[jenndisney]

the price, tax AND tip included is $35 per adult and 10 per kid. i can't see how it's not worth it. i tracked what our food would have cost for our 5 nites. we paid $450 for the plan (2 adults, 2 kids) and our food if paid out of pocket would have totaled $765! and we didn't use 2 counter and one snack!
good luck!

This is what I am hoping happens with us also. We are doing the plan in less than two weeks. I personally think it is a great deal!

 

[Nora94]

seems like half the questions on this board would be answered with this one post as a sticky.

 

[jenndisney]

For those who have used the plan...if there is a mistake, is it easier to fix it at the restaurant or wait and fix it when we get back to the hotel?

 

[dani12]

It's easy to fix right on the spot. Just point it out to your server or CM and they can take care of it. When we went to CRT for breakfast, we forgot to tell our server that we had the dining plan and just gave her our MYW pass. Since we had charging privelages on it, she just charged our meal. After looking at the receipt, we realized that we had forgotten to tell her and she quickly fixed it for us. She was even nice about it for those who are worried about server friendliness and the dining plan

 

[Nora94]

for us we found it easier to fix back at the front desk of the hotel.

We had a few instances of errors
1. At a counter service we knew we should have 18 left, but it showed only 16 left. We went to the front desk and one place had rung up our meal twice, a few hours apart, they just took off the error ones.

2. Whispering Canyon, they took 30 minutes to fix an error in our bill, it was VERY late for our girls by the time they were done and we were pretty po'd.

3. Yacth Club Galley, the waiter put down 4 guests for our 3 meals, so it took off 4 credits. He assurred us it was fixed in the computer, we knew if we had him try to fix it we would miss the fireworks, so we just let it go. Took care of it the next morning at the front desk in 5 minutes.

Easier at front desk.
Nora

 

[Carrieberry]

There have been a lot of people wondering and thought I would ask all of you if you knew: Will the dining plan continue into the 2006 packages? The rates for 2006 packages should be coming out the end of June/start of July according to CM I talked to. Does anyone know if the dining plan will continue as it is now (allowing for the increase in the room cost of course) or if it will be changed back to the gold/silver type of plan etc? Thanks for any info!

 

[HaleyB]

That is why I want to go in October!!! This plan seems too good to last as it is now. The child's price is a great value even if you only use it to order off of childs menus.

 

[jenr812]

I understand that children aged 3-9 must participate in the dining plan - but can you purchase the dining plan for a 2+year old? Or is it only available if the child is at least 3 years old? Anyone tried to purchase the plan for a child under 3?

You can purchase the plan for a 2 yo child. However, you then would also have to purchase a park ticket for the child as well, as it is part of a package. However, everyone who has used the plan has said that it is plenty of food to share. If you think your 2 yo would be hungry enough, it would be most financially wise to simply pay out of pocket for a kids' meal. HTH

 

[Nora94]

I don't personally think this meal plan is just for the 50th celebration. They used to have other dining plans and replaced it with this one. Also this started with the new ticket structure in January, not with Magic Express bus service in May. Therefore, I think that this is a new meal plan they will keep.

Also instead of taking off resturants, they are adding new ones all the time. They know that you can lump all the credits together and aren't changing that. They are adding more snacks too. Why would they do all that if they were just going to take it away in a year or two?

Nora

 

[scrapperjill]

More questions....Looking at the dinning plan and wondering what kind of "snack" options are available to pick from? To me more specfic would coffee drinks like espresso's, latte, and mocha be consider a "snack".....or for that matter would/could those be considered a drink/beverage to pick at breakfast or other meal CS or TS?