Disney Dining Plan - Yes or No

[Sleeping Becca]

My discount was a AAA room only discount, not an AP discount. Still, I was under the impression that you did not get to keep your AP discount and get a package. I thought all packages were rack rate.

 

[marmar]

We don't do DDP because we eat at the 2TS restaurants. It is just DH & myself in our 50's. We use our trips to WDW to relax and eating at the nicer restaurants is part of it. On our last trip we ate at three 2TS places out of our 5 days. The previous trip was 3 out of 4 days.

Le Cellier used to be our favorite restaurant. The first year the DDP started it was a 2TS. Now that it is 1TS it is difficult to get a ressie. THe quality has declined a bit from the olden (preDDP days).


Where do we eat?
Artist point
Brown Derby
Flying Fish
Jiko
Calif Grill
Yachtsman
Fulton Crab House

 

[boxer]

My discount was a AAA room only discount, not an AP discount. Still, I was under the impression that you did not get to keep your AP discount and get a package. I thought all packages were rack rate.

No, that just changed this year that AP discounts can add the DDP and still keep the room rate (although no discount on the DDP).

 

[Sleeping Becca]

No, that just changed this year that AP discounts can add the DDP and still keep the room rate (although no discount on the DDP).

That is good to know.

 

[le9397]

We enjoy going out to eat and our trip to Disney last year was no exception. We were there for free dining and enjoyed using the plan, not having to worry about cost once we got there. We are going in December and decided to do the deluxe this time. My DBF isn't much for dessert but we always get an appetizer. I think it will work well for us. We're looking forward to all the table service meals that are included.

 

[ptcbass]

Last time we went and got the DP was 3 years ago before the changes. We are disappointed in the gratuity not being included this time! We are going this year during the free DP period so it was a no brainer (Free food!). We did enjoy eating TS last time and didn't have trouble meeting the ADR's. I don't think I could meet all the reservation times with the deluxe plan though. That would have been too much to keep up with. We did eat good and I mean fillet, pork loin, etc. It was really nice being able to pick anything I wanted off the menu and not having to look at prices! We did get way more food than needed and this year they have cut out the appetizers so it is probably more of what we really would eat so no big deal. We added it up last time and saved aprox $500. But that is IF we would have bought all that food without being on the plan. Really probably would cost us about the same OOP for CS's as we paid for the plan. With the DP we got nicer food at the TS's than the CS's. The only way you will know if it is worth it for you is to look at the menu's posted on the internet and add it up. As far as having snack credits left over it was no problem for us. We just popped in Earl of Sandwich and used all our credits up and stored them (brownies and cookies) in our carry on bag and ate them for the rest of the week at home. No waist with us! I really liked experiencing the TS's that without the plan we couldn't have eat at (ex: CRT, Le Cellier, O'hana's, etc.). It really added that extra something to the whole experience. Also some complain about having to sit down at a meal for 60-90 minutes. I looked at it as a much needed air conditioned break cause we usually don't go back to the room mid-day for a break.
It is different for every family. Next time if they keep changing it and I have to pay for it I will have to really look at it to see if it would be good for us. I have never regretted having it in the past though.
Oh also if you do choose the DP go ahead and make those ADR's! I just booked us for our September trip and several of the places were already booked up for when we wanted.

This time: Beirgarten, Chef Mickeys, Coral Reef, Whispering Canyon, Boma, San Angel Inn

 

[Sleeping Becca]

Deluxe dining plan includes appetizer and dessert.

 

[TiggerGuy67]

This is one of those subjects, like whether to stay in the park or out, that is just going to change from one person to the next. Personally, we would not go without DDP. We consider dining to be a big part of our vacation. We pick our ADR's and work our park plans around them. It's really not that difficult. I am a fly by the seat of my pants kind of guy and my DW is a planner. We've learned to compromise quite a bit so everyone is happy.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

If I have an AP, do I still have to buy 1 day park tickets to get the dining plan?

 

[delmar411]

If I have an AP, do I still have to buy 1 day park tickets to get the dining plan?

not anymore.

 

[jackie101]

not anymore.

I just called Disney & Triple A and they both told me you have to buy at least a 1 day pass for everyone in your party to get the dining plan

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I just called Disney & Triple A and they both told me you have to buy at least a 1 day pass for everyone in your party to get the dining plan

As stated, Pssholders can book room + dining packages without tickets. This is a fairly new offering. You can even do it through the Passholder section of the website because I compared prices between our "free dining" package and a room+dining package with the current AP discount being offered for Aug/Sept.

AAA may not be aware of the changes, but Disney CMs should be. If you specifically asked if Passholders could book packages with dining but without tickets and were told no, the CM was mistaken.

 

[delmar411]

I just called Disney & Triple A and they both told me you have to buy at least a 1 day pass for everyone in your party to get the dining plan

They are mistaken. I know this because I hold an AP and had the dining plan, this year.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We've never done the DDP. DS12 and DD8 just don't eat enough to justify the cost plus DS12 has been considered an adult the last trip and this upcoming trip.

We don't usually book more than 2 TS although our upcoming trip has 3 TS with all of us and a 4th with just DD and I. We are trying more TS to see how it goes.

We didn't like to be tied down to eat TS either - we usually go, go, go and I'm trying to change that a bit.

I also don't like losing my room discounts - we usually go in June due to school so there's no free DDP then.

So that's all of our reasons why we don't have the DDP.

Maybe it would help you to list them if you know all of yours along with the prices of the places you'd eat, the room discount you would lose and the ticket discount you would lose if you buy them seperate.

Seeing the numbers might help you decide.

 

[jackie101]

As stated, Pssholders can book room + dining packages without tickets. This is a fairly new offering. You can even do it through the Passholder section of the website because I compared prices between our "free dining" package and a room+dining package with the current AP discount being offered for Aug/Sept.

AAA may not be aware of the changes, but Disney CMs should be. If you specifically asked if Passholders could book packages with dining but without tickets and were told no, the CM was mistaken.

I am not sure what a passholder is, I just asked if I could book the room and dining package and get my passes elsewhere???

 

[delmar411]

I am not sure what a passholder is, I just asked if I could book the room and dining package and get my passes elsewhere???

You have to hold an annual pass or AP voucher to book like that. You can't just buy any kind of tickets elsewhere. This is a 'perk' for annual passholders. So I'd assume they thought you meant you would buy park tickets elsewhere and weren't referring to AP's.

 

[jackie101]

You have to hold an annual pass or AP voucher to book like that. You can't just buy any kind of tickets elsewhere. This is a 'perk' for annual passholders. So I'd assume they thought you meant you would buy park tickets elsewhere and weren't referring to AP's.

Thanks and yes that is what I was wanting to do buy my passes elsewhere but with the making you buy a 1 day pass for everyone it isn't any cheaper so I will stick with the package.

 

[mmmears]

We skip the DDP, too. It's way too much food and focus on food rather than having fun! We just eat when and where we want to (usually not as much food as is covered on the plan). Using 2 TS credits for one meal didn't seem like a good value for us -- we got an AP with a hotel discount and then added the DDE card to it. We figured we saved money in the end.

 

[micki1]

We tried the ddp last Aug. I agree that we had meals at places I would usually not reserve because of the price and that part was a great experience. However, I also agree that the family got tired of having to be somewhere they didn't want to be because we had a reservation. Unfortunately for them I paid for it before I realized it was during the free time and it was hard to get reservations when and where we wanted to be. We also had 2 very big eaters and they thought it was too much food. Maybe they should have two packages, one with desserts and one without. We left a lot of desserts in the fridge and those were only the ones we didn't give away.

 

[vtwep]

the best thing to do with the dining plan (assuming you will plan some TS meals) is to do a draft of your daily schedule and pencil in all the TS meals you WANT to eat if you were NOT on the DDP. Once you have that down, THEN compare DDP pricing vs OOP pricing. Only then can you see if it's a good deal for you or not. We originally booked our package WITHOUT the plan as I didn't want to be tied to ADR's, etc, either. However, we started looking at the dinners we wanted (3 are TS), and the breakfasts (3 are TS), and then assumed the rest are CS. Based on our math, we'll save approx. $190 using the DDP...so for us, it's worth it (we saved $235 last year).

Anyway, there isn't just one answer to this - it relies solely on your own dining desires and scheduling.

Good luck!