Just returned....my dining plan opinion

[vacationqueen]

First of all, I realize that everyone could go to the same places and all have different opinions. We have been to WDW numerous times and just returned. This was our first time to use the Dining Plan. After reading these boards and talking with friends we opted to try it. First of all, I laughed when I read about people saying they had snacks left. No way! Everyone drinks at least 1 water a day. Well, the last day I was running around getting rice krispie treats etc to use them up. It is because you stay so ful you never want a snack. This was a wonderful addition to the Disney choices. If they keep the price fair like it is now there is no way I would ever go back without it. We had four families and all but one of those purchased the plan. They wished they had. It was SO much food. I used counter service sometimes at breakfast and sometimes at lunch. Also, a piece of fruit and a cup of coffee could be breakfast as 2 snacks. My favorites table service restaurants were LeCellier and Wolf Gang Puck Cafe. The food at these two were amazing and plentiful. I was also very impressed with the lunch we had at Sci Fi. Having eaten there before, I was not excited that my daughter wanted to eat there. I was not expecting much. I got the shrimp pasta which was WONDERFUL and the cheesecake. I have now changed my view of the food at Sci Fi and will go back. My least favorite two table services were Chef Mickey's (however, this was strictly for characters) and 50's Prime Time( next time we will do Sci Fi only). I had heard very positive comments about 50's. While our waitor was GREAT..........the food was average at best. If you go skip the cobbler and get the strawberry shortcake. It was a plateful of fresh fruit. My favorite counter service was at the Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. My least favorite was the Terrace Noodle Station........We had to throw it out and start over. We have stayed at practically every moderate and deluxe resort at WDW. This time we were at the Port Orleans Riverside and the food there was very good as well.

Hope this helps. I am now a firm supporter of the dining plan. Do make reservations ahead of time. We heard numerous people being turned down at every restaurant because they were booked up. It will be the best 10 pounds you've ever gained

 

[tinkerbeth]

Wow - I'm surprised to hear that about the noodle place! That was one of my favourites. We ate there just after it opened. I wonder if it has gone down hill a bit since then?? I liked the idea of it b/c it's not burgers and fries but it's quick.

Thanks for the review. I've looked at the dining plan but the AP plan works out cheaper for us b/c we get two trips (maybe three... ) out of the passes and we get the hotel discount as well.

Beth

 

[rgf207]

Thanks for the review. We had the dining plan for the first time back in Sept '05 when it was free. It was great. So much food and so much variety and you dont have to worry about paying for a thing. We stayed at POR also and loved it. We are going back in May and have the dining plan again. We loved it. Even when paying for it, we are still saving over 800 on our meal choices

 

[MickeyEars]

Thanks for posting!! We will be doing the dining plan for the first time on our next trip thanks to all the wonderful reviews and comments here on the DIS. I can't wait!!!

Carla

 

[jonimce]

I agree about 50's Prime Time. We loved the experence, but the food was just OK. The meat loaf was nothing special. But we bought the Disney Chefs cook book and when we made the meat loaf, it was amazing.

 

[daisyduck123]

Well, the last day I was running around getting rice krispie treats etc to use them up. It is because you stay so ful you never want a snack. This was a wonderful addition to the Disney choices.

This is exactly what happened to us in January!

 

[2pinkpiglet2]

Thanks for the info. I have been wondering if I should try the Dining Plan. How about for shorter trips? Say four days?

 

[ObieTrice]

It will be the best 10 pounds you've ever gained

This is exactly what I am afraid of!!!

Jackie

 

[rgf207]

Thanks for the info. I have been wondering if I should try the Dining Plan. How about for shorter trips? Say four days?

I think the dining plan is great no matter how many days you are there. You get a lot of food and you dont have to worry about how you will pay. They only thing you have to worry about is which restaurant to eat at. All so good

 

[formernyer]

: First of all, I laughed when I read about people saying they had snacks left. No way!

I did the same thing. I was reading that thread before I left last week about how many credits you had left over. I couldn't believe anybody had ANYTHING left over. We went crazy trying to use them up the last day though, and we only had three days of DDP (four days in the parks, but only three nights hotel stay). Here's how we worked our credits (myself, DD, DS):

Day 1 (MK) - used one CS credit at Cosmic Rays and split the chicken/ribs combo. It also came with potato, veggie, and dessert. All three of us split this at about 11am and we decided we'd do it again in the late afternoon because our dinner reservations were at 7:40pm. We never got hungry again. We didn't even use any snack credits that day. We used three TS credits for dinner at CP.

CREDITS "SAVED" ON DAY 1 - 2 CS AND 3 SNACKS

Day 2 (MGM) - used 3 TS credits for 11:10am lunch at Sci-Fi and it filled us all to the point that we felt sick. In the late afternoon we used 2 snack credits for Mickey Bars. We still weren't too hungry at dinner time, so we ordered one CS pizza combo from the Toy Story pizza place. My kids split the pizza and I ate the salad. The Mickey Crispy treat that came with it for dessert we just brought back to the hotel that night...none of us were hungry enough to eat it. I ordered a CS meal at about 10pm at the hotel.

CREDITS "SAVED" ON DAY 2 - 1 CS and 1 SNACK

Day 3 (Epcot) - used 3 TS credits for lunch at Coral Reef and once again we were filled to the point we felt sick. Later that day my kids used 2 snack credits. We were going to do CS dinner at Epcot, but never got hungry for it.

CREDITS "SAVED" ON DAY 3 - 3 CS and 1 SNACK

Day 4 (AK) - we weren't even supposed to have a meal plan for today, but we now had 6 CS meals left and 5 snacks. We started the day by splitting two CS breakfast meals at the hotel, then we checked out of the hotel and went to AK. For lunch we ordered two CS rib meals at the Flame Tree BBQ. It was enough food to stuff all three of us. When we were leaving the park we grabbed three ice creams on the way out to use up 3 snack credits. My daughter wanted to see the big Rubix Cubes at the Pop Century Hotel, so we headed over there. While we were there we grabbed an early dinner with the last two CS credits. We put the desserts into takeout boxes since we weren't that hungry. The kids wanted slushies for drinks, so we were going to just use the refillable mug from the other hotel and count it as the CS drink. The lady at the counter told us to just refill the mugs and also get two refrigerated drinks home with us as part of the CS meals. When we were leaving the hotel I used my last two snack credits to get two choc-covered Mickey Krispy Treats to take home.

SO BASICALLY OUR 3 DAYS OF DDP LASTED US FOUR DAYS AND WE TOOK HOME TWO DESSERTS, TWO DRINKS, AND TWO SNACKS.