UGH! Anyone else so frustrated with the dining plan...

[momto2girls]

... that you are considering cancelling your trip?

I am. I am so frustrated by reading all of these threads about the changes in the dining plan and the threats of limiting sharing. It truly is putting a damper on my trip and I'm thinking about cancelling it before I have to pay for the rest of my package (in mid-August). Anyone else?

FWIW, we had the free dining package last year. It was sooooo much food and a ton was wasted. Plus, we ended up eating more than we would have because it was there.

So, when we signed up for free dining this year, we planned to share some of our TS meals. Our children are 3 and 6 and literally survive on air. They eat next to nothing. Splitting a children's meal between the two of them still results in over half of it being left on the plate. Plus, DH and I expected that we would share some meals too. We just can't each eat a full meal, appetizer and dessert.

However, now that it seems like we might be treated like criminals if we ask to share, I'm re-thinking this whole trip. The "free" dining (which isn't free because we are paying rack rate) seems like a whole lot of trouble now. So, since this will be our third trip in a year , I'm thinking of cancelling and going in the future when I can get a good room rate and just give up the dining plan altogether.

Just wondering if anyone else is this frustrated.

And if I do decide to cancel, I'll be sure to give everyone here a heads up when I cancel my Le Cellier reservations.

 

[Sammie]

Instead of cancelling your trip, either cancel the Dining Plan if you truly feel like it is too much food and too stressful to deal with the uncertainities, or stop reading this particular forum.

Based on info from friends that work in Dining, until the credits are divided which should happen later in the year, I don't think you will have any problems sharing among your family members.

Excluding using child entitlements to purchase an adult meal and sharing with someone not on your plan, I don't think you will be limited.

So if you are comfortable within those parameters you should be fine.

 

[aclov]

Since it's just DH and myself, I don't have to worry about children or sharing which I think would be more challenging to figure out. I enjoying researching and planning but DH doesn't so he's clueless. This is our first time doing DDP but I would hope the servers and cast members are experienced and can help. Also, these boards are a great resource.

 

[JimMIA]

I don't think you'll have any problem the way you describe dining. There have been a number of threads from folks who have done exactly what you want to do.

The people who will experience difficulties are those who try to feed adults with child credits...and maybe some of those who try to use their credits to feed people not on the plan.

 

[Dina]

We're on the free dining-- my kids eat like birds as well (they're also 3 and soon to be 6)-- actually, they don't eat (breakfast they eat well, and that's it) I'm just gonna order their food, and unfortunately alot will be wasted. I'm not stressing about it though-- we're not going to share or pool or anything like that. Na, I wouldn't cancel-- it's free, its not like I'm paying for the plan. I don't really understand what your stress is about-- is it just the waste of food that bothers you???? (I'm not being snarkey-- just wondering)

 

[Muushka]

I must be a dim bulb, but I don't get it. Are you going to have friends not on the dining plan join you for meals? Why is everyone (well not everyone, but many) wanting to share meals??

Life just gets so complicated.

Hakuna Matata This thread will help....

 

[JoiseyMom]

Don't cancel! I am sure you are going to be able to share food, you aren't trying to screw anyone. Nothing official has come down saying you can't share food.

Go, eat, share, and enjoy!!

 

[kellyf2626]

Honestly, I think you will be fine. Like others have said - as long as you aren't trying to order an adult meal with a child credit, I don't think 2 kids sharing a meal should be an issue? I wouldn't cancel your whole trip to Disney b/c of these concerns!! And, even though you are paying rack rate for rooms, free dining really is a great deal. I think if you priced out what the expense would be to pay for food, it would be a great deal more than paying the difference between rack rate and a discounted rate!

 

[Minnie&Nana]

I understand what you're going through. I don't have young kids anymore, but paying rack rate for free dining bothered me a bit too, especially with the easte of so much food. Nevertheless, I did plan to go in August, although had to cancel for other reasons that had nothing to with the dining plan.

Even paying rack rate it feels free! The free dining with can be booked with the AAA discount, booking directly through AAA.

Hope it works out for you! Try not to stress if you do go and have a great time!

 

[Tjaleks]

Don't cancel. I think you are stressing too much over what everyone on here is bickering about. There is nothing wrong with sharing, nor is there anything mentioned in any of the Disney literature about sharing. We, a family of 4, shared 2 meals in Dec. and had no problem. The waitress even had the kitchen put the food on seperate plates for us. She was great and didn't give us a hard time. Go. Have a good time. Eat and enjoy.

 

[Dina]

You know what, I wasn't thinking about the rack rate thing vs. AAA rate or AP rate. We're staying at All Star Movies, and paying rack rate isn't that much more than the discounted rate-- so for us it was a no brainer. When we stayed at Wilderness Lodge, the AP rate really saved us some money-- now it wouldn't save us all that much. I think I understand more of what you're saying now.

 

[thunderbird1]

Just wondering if anyone else is this frustrated.

Short answer-no. Seriously, if it's causing you this much stress, then you're not doing it right. You've done it before so you know how much food it is. You're not required to order all 4 of you appetizers, entrees and desserts. Unless you have too many TS meals planned (or too many signature TS's), there's no need to try to share and stockpile the credits for later--just use what you want and don't use what you feel is excessive. If you do have too many TS meals planned and want to share, I would ask if you could do one meal off the plan for one adult and one child, then order just an extra entree and drink for the other adult and other child and pay OOP. You'd have less food and you wouldn't look like you're trying to cheat the system. I think if you explain that you just want to cut down on the amount of food, most places will probably understand. The worst they can do is say no, right?

Unless what you're saying is you could go at a different time, get the room discount, not get the dining plan, and eat for less than the difference between discounted room rate and the rack rate. Or at least not worry about being treated like a criminal for wanting to share meals. If that would make your vacation less stressful (or keep you from gaining ten pounds on vacation!) then I don't see anything wrong with considering that. Really, the dining plan doesn't work for everyone (even if it's free), and if it's going to stress you out, you shouldn't bother with it.

I will, however, gladly take your Le Cellier ressie!

 

[beattyfamily]

UGH! Anyone else so frustrated with the dining plan...
... that you are considering cancelling your trip?
I am. I am so frustrated by reading all of these threads about the changes in the dining plan and the threats of limiting sharing. It truly is putting a damper on my trip and I'm thinking about cancelling it before I have to pay for the rest of my package (in mid-August). Anyone else?

FWIW, we had the free dining package last year. It was sooooo much food and a ton was wasted. Plus, we ended up eating more than we would have because it was there.

So, when we signed up for free dining this year, we planned to share some of our TS meals. Our children are 3 and 6 and literally survive on air. They eat next to nothing. Splitting a children's meal between the two of them still results in over half of it being left on the plate. Plus, DH and I expected that we would share some meals too. We just can't each eat a full meal, appetizer and dessert.

However, now that it seems like we might be treated like criminals if we ask to share, I'm re-thinking this whole trip. The "free" dining (which isn't free because we are paying rack rate) seems like a whole lot of trouble now. So, since this will be our third trip in a year , I'm thinking of cancelling and going in the future when I can get a good room rate and just give up the dining plan altogether.

Just wondering if anyone else is this frustrated.

And if I do decide to cancel, I'll be sure to give everyone here a heads up when I cancel my Le Cellier reservations.

Nope, not at all. I enjoy it and I'm so glad I can go for the free dining again. We went on a girls only trip last Sept (my DDs are 6 1/2 and 10 now and were 5 1/2 and 9 last time) and had a great time and we're doing it again the end of August. They did share a couple of meals so we could eat one extra TS but I would have been just fine with no sharing even though my 6 year old eats like a bird and is VERY picky.

This year I just saw how many TS I have (5 each) and booked 5 restaurants and just picked our favorite restaurants. I didn't put much thought into it at all.

I can't wait. If food gets wasted, then it gets wasted. At least it was free.

 

[Nancyg56]

I'm not frustrated at all. I am over my TS allowance, but that is by my own design. I know ahead of time which meals I am going to pay OOP for, and which I will use the DDP for. If you are worrying about it, maybe you are overthinking it. I also believe that the people who are having issues are trying to maximize the plan by using child credits for adult meals. If this is not your plan, you should be fine, just enjoy yourself on your vacation.

 

[DisneyKidds]

However, now that it seems like we might be treated like criminals if we ask to share, I'm re-thinking this whole trip. The "free" dining (which isn't free because we are paying rack rate) seems like a whole lot of trouble now. So, since this will be our third trip in a year , I'm thinking of cancelling and going in the future when I can get a good room rate and just give up the dining plan altogether.

You are seriously overreacting to a proliferation of frivolous threads on this silly sharing subject. Just stop reading them.....and go and enjoy your trip. I suppose you could have some pangs of guilt that might eat away at you, causing you to cancel your trip, if your intention was to have your kids share all their meals so you and your husband could use all those hoarded child credits to eat expensive adult meals at other places, but that doesn't seem to be the case, so stop taking all these rediculous threads so seriously.

Sorry if I was blunt, but the idea that someone would consider cancelling a trip on which they received a great deal (rack rate or not) with the DDP just because a bunch of people here seem to be overcomplicating the situation is INSANE.

 

[ssdeverell]

Short answer-no. Seriously, if it's causing you this much stress, then you're not doing it right. You've done it before so you know how much food it is. You're not required to order all 4 of you appetizers, entrees and desserts. Unless you have too many TS meals planned (or too many signature TS's), there's no need to try to share and stockpile the credits for later--just use what you want and don't use what you feel is excessive. If you do have too many TS meals planned and want to share, I would ask if you could do one meal off the plan for one adult and one child, then order just an extra entree and drink for the other adult and other child and pay OOP. You'd have less food and you wouldn't look like you're trying to cheat the system. I think if you explain that you just want to cut down on the amount of food, most places will probably understand. The worst they can do is say no, right?

Unless what you're saying is you could go at a different time, get the room discount, not get the dining plan, and eat for less than the difference between discounted room rate and the rack rate. Or at least not worry about being treated like a criminal for wanting to share meals. If that would make your vacation less stressful (or keep you from gaining ten pounds on vacation!) then I don't see anything wrong with considering that. Really, the dining plan doesn't work for everyone (even if it's free), and if it's going to stress you out, you shouldn't bother with it.

I will, however, gladly take your Le Cellier ressie!

Thunderbird is right. Just do not order all that is included. DH and I did not order dessert at any TS and by the end of the week, we were sharing our appetizers. Some of the waitstaff tried to talk us into it, but we really just could not eat all of that food (DH was sick and I had just started WW a couple of months before). This year we were going to actually pay for the plan before free dining came out, but I was still not going to feel like I had to order everything included. I just enjoy watching DH not stress about what it is costing.

Are you trying to save some credits for a special dinner or extra meals? If not, I say order everyone a meal and just limit what you order. I hope you decide not to cancel and have a wonderful time.

 

[HaleyB]

Take a deep breath and step away from the dining board

No one thing will make or break a Disney trip. We got rained out on Fantasmic and missed Illuminations do to my poor time management on our last trip and it was still fantastic. If you can not share on the plan, it will not be the end of the world. I personally doubt you will have a problem.

Plan to share meals and do things like you have done in the past. Make a back-up plan in case they do make a no shareing rule, figure out which ADR's you will drop or decide to pay oop for.

Or do what I did, decide that it is more fun not to share! That was my stress free plan. I think I would eat MORE not less if we tried to split meals because I would want my own dessert, so if we did 18 TS meals instead of 9 I would end up eating 18 desserts instead of 9. I will eat less by leaving food on my plate.

 

[Lila95]

Sit back and look at the big picture. I did this last night because I was starting to wonder if the DP was cost effective for us. We would never order a 3 course meal for each of us, and I thought perhaps it would be cheaper to buy a smaller amount of food and pay OOP. Boy was I wrong. First of all, the kids are $10.99/day. With our ADR's O'Hanna, LLT, Beirgarten, and HDDR charge more than that just for the childs dinner. The plan pays for itself in that one meal and still gives us a CS and snack which end up being free. With the adult DDP being $37.99/day, those dinners would take up the entire price once we added a tip. Once again our CS and snack would end up being free.

Your room will most likely have a fridge, so box up your dessert and take it back for a snack. Don't stress over the small things. Just enjoy the magic of Disney

 

[bluejasmine]

I agree, everyone seems to be obsessing over the dp because of the sharing issue. While I dont understand the need to share meals there has been sevaral ppl who have come back recentley from WDW have said they were able to share non buffet meals. Besides I dont know about everyone else food is not the reason we go to WDW. Its an added plus especially getting the DP free, oh and thats another thing I dont get ppl complaining about supposidly not being able to share when some of them are getting it for free!! Everyone breathe relax and remember your going to WDW!!!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

What's really sad about this whole situation is most of the information that's been being given is based on pure speculation...nothing more. Just go and order what you want. You'll have plenty of food and so will your kids. If you have to supplement here or there because you've used your meal credits, so what -- look at all the food you got for FREE! Honestly, the only people being frustrated by this are the ones that are either trying to do things they know they shouldn't (ie: use child credits for adults) or use the DDP to get twice as many meals by sharing everything. If you can pull it off, fine. If not, why let it ruin your trip?