I Am Considering The Dining Plan...And An Apology

[Disney8704]

To everyone who was reading my last post back in the hotel section I appologize about the dining plan. I did not realize that prices have sky rocketed in disney until I saw the menus. If someone had told me to look at the menus and that prices have gone wayyyyyyyy up none of this probably would have happend. So right now I am contacting AAA and get a price quote for this yr so I have an idea how much it will be for next yr.

 

[NancyIL]

I'm happy to hear you're going to look into it further! There's a whole section of the Restaurants Board devoted to the Dining Plan: http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=116

 

[Disney8704]

Just out of curiosity but how many of you have used the snack option for your breakfasts? I am considering doing this so we can have a good lunch and dinner. However we are gonna take some extra money down for food if we decide to eat somewhere the plan isnt covered or if we decide to leave the snack option alone for a day or 2 and eat regular meals. Also would it be better to waste 2 credits for cindereallas castle or just pay out of pocket?

 

[NancyIL]

Just out of curiosity but how many of you have used the snack option for your breakfasts? I am considering doing this so we can have a good lunch and dinner. However we are gonna take some extra money down for food if we decide to eat somewhere the plan isnt covered or if we decide to leave the snack option alone for a day or 2 and eat regular meals. Also would it be better to waste 2 credits for cindereallas castle or just pay out of pocket?

I haven't used the Dining Plan - because it isn't available at the Swan or Dolphin where I usually stay. Since Cinderella's is now a fixed price menu and requires 2 table service credits - I would probably recommend eating lunch at the castle (less expensive than dinner) and paying out of pocket, and saving the TS credits for a more expensive restaurant. But you can decide that after figuring out which other table service restaurants interest you, and which give more "bang for the dining plan credit"!

 

[eeyore45]

I dont use the snack for my breakfast - I use a counter service to buy a breakfast "meal" and dh and I split that meal - sometimes I may buy an extra fruit, banana, or a side of bacon... then we also share our CS lunch, like at MK we go to tomorrowland and get the chicken MEAL - and split it - it is so much food.... I always order a large soda, no ice, then I go to another line and get the free cup of ice, so we split the large soda...

You sounded so enthusiastic, and excited to plan your trip... dont worry, you have so much time to get the details figured in - just keep up the excitement!!

We're going for 10 days, and will spend all 10 days in the parks too - some of those days from open till close, but some of them we'll hit the park at opening, eat lunch, and then head back to rest and relax at the resort - its hard for me to "tone it down" and relax, I just get so excited!! This time with the 10 day park hopper I plan on reminding myself, each day is $21 so I will get my monies worth!!

I am planning on paying oop for Cindy's castle because you're right it is 2 TS, and its not worth it, but the photo isnt food, so I plan on paying out of pocket and using our souvenier money for that meal - paying on a credit card 7 months before we go, and having that credit card paid off before we go!!

There is also a thread on the Budget Board on how they spent just a little amount of money on food!!

 

[english rose 47]

Can you get free cups of ice at all the parks ,that is a grat idea as we plan on filling water bottles with lemonade for refillable mugs and some ice added after a while would be nice for 4 of us me I like warm cold drinks, ( check out my name)!Also is the water really bad I heard yes and no???????We're planning on eating TS at dinner just to have a little restbefore the evening.

 

[Princess89]

I followed your last post, but chose not to comment. In there you said that you do CS meals sometimes lunch and dinner. Well if that is the case do CRT with the 2 TS credits say monday, and then on Tuesday do lunch CS and dinner CS in the end it should work out. Especially since with a lunch and dinner CS you do get a desert. The desert varies from place to place but could be a slice of cake to a rice krispies treat. As far as breakfasts are concerned I would pay oop for them and save the snack option for a water in the park or something of that nature, unless you do a sit down breakfast.

If you are there 9 nights, that equals 18 TS, CS and snack since there are two of you. I am sure you can work around that. I am a member of the clean plate club, and I can't even eat that much.

check out www.allearsnet.com you can find the menus and prices as well as other useful information.

 

[tndisneyfan]

There are a lot breakfast items you can get with a snack on the DDP. Boxes of donuts, bakery items, and fruit just to name a few. There is a thread on the dining plan board on the confirmed snack items.

BTW, I have been reading your thread on the resort booard. Have you considered a moderate resort? They are just a little higher than the values with more amenities.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I just finished reading your resort thread as well.

My advice? Do some research. Don't just run numbers through AAA because there is a lot to learn since you last went. You haven't spent anytime checking out the various options, prices, hotel options, and new promotions.

People on that thread took a lot of time to give you link after link and tons of info. Go back to it and start researching on your own. Click over to the Disney Dining Plan board at the top of the page (where this thread will likely be moved) and read.

EVERYTHING you need to know will be found in those places. If you have questions then, there are people on the Dining Plan board that will be happy to help you understand things. There are tons of threads already on there asking how people spend their credits, how they covered 3 meals a day, etc. I promise you'll find practically anything you need to know there.

 

[Spoodleink]

I posted on the other thread about the dining plan as far as how we worked out breakfast but I know the snacks have been greatly expanded since we were there last time.

Also I am not sure if this is still true But my dad is DOD and my parents tried to book a room at SOG in July for a Sept trip ( i told them to do it earlier) but it was all booked up but they did get a great rate for AKL It was more than SOG but i am pretty sure it was lower than the AAA discount. You might want to check out the rate closer to your trip and do it that way I am pretty sure SOG is booked months in advance

They went in 2004 so you may no longer be able to "transfer" the military discount.

 

[Spoodleink]

my post from the other thread

We used the Dining plan last year during free dining and paid for 1 meal out of pocket (brown derby b/c it was 2) but ended up with credits left on our card the last day so we should have just used the DP. We dont really eat breakfast and if we do its small so we were ok paying for a bagel or some fruit OOP. We would do a small breakfast OOP or split a bigger one on the DP then have our snack and our TS mid afternoon around 2 or 3. Then grab a CS later around 7 or 8 at the park or the resort. Or a small breakfast a big CS lunch(like cosmic rays) and a late TS meal when we did this we were able to bring alot of food back to the room for breakfast the next day ( we had a fridge in our room at POP). our first day we went to wolfgang pucks there were 5 of us so we had 5 apps 5 entrees and 5 desserts and bread basket we ended up bring about half the food back to our rooms. We also almost always got the rice krispie treat as our CS deserts and couldn't eat them with our meal so we had a "free" snack for that night or the next day. There is a ton of food for both the TS and CS and if you choose and plan well you can get by on none or very little OOP each day. what is really great is that you get to walk into the resturant and pick whatever you want off the menu with out worring how much it costs. We love Teppenyaki in Japan but when we went in 2003 with no dining plan we both got chicken b/c of the cost. But last sept we all got sushi apps and filet and shrimp or scallops which was nice. We had a ton of snacks left at the end too which we just used up at the POP food court before we left.

I really think if you are having the HUGE meals on the DDP you won't want 3 full meals a day.

I personally the dining plan and we are going in Sept again this year for the free dining

We didnt have any PS/ADRs last year and really didnt plan out any meals. This year we have a plan and should use it more effeciantly (sp?)


PS i just realized it sounds like we didn't use all our credits we just had 2 TS and took a CS to go and lots of snacks on our last day (our flight was at about 8 so we had time)

 

[brymolmom]

Can you get free cups of ice at all the parks ,that is a grat idea as we plan on filling water bottles with lemonade for refillable mugs and some ice added after a while would be nice for 4 of us me I like warm cold drinks, ( check out my name)!Also is the water really bad I heard yes and no???????We're planning on eating TS at dinner just to have a little restbefore the evening.

We did this last Sept. We actually brought some bottled water but stayed at a Value and since we were doing DP we didn't pay the extra for a frig in the room. So, we threw a few warm bottles of water in the backpack and brought a sports water bottle that we had filled up with ice at every opportunity. Just one heads-up - not every snack stand can give you ice - like the places that just sell cold water bottles. You need to have a place with an ice machine (that sells cups of beverages) - SO keep your eyes peeled and any time you come across a place with no line - THAT'S the time to fill your cups with ice. We never had a problem at all - even when we weren't buying anything else.

Plan to do it again this Sept.

 

[belle&beast]

Just out of curiosity but how many of you have used the snack option for your breakfasts? I am considering doing this so we can have a good lunch and dinner. However we are gonna take some extra money down for food if we decide to eat somewhere the plan isnt covered or if we decide to leave the snack option alone for a day or 2 and eat regular meals. Also would it be better to waste 2 credits for cindereallas castle or just pay out of pocket?

We also shared CS breakfasts and we brought cereal and granola bars- we are not big breakfast eaters. One thing about using a 2 TS meal is that if you check in or out on a day that you will not be using your plan, you will have extra. My example: We arrived on a Saturday evening and used a 1 CS per person that night, so we had extra snacks and TS. We were able to book the Spirit of Aloha show which took 2 TS credits and still we were able to eat on the other days. I really recommend the dining plan- it was a great way to try all the different restaurants we never would have!

 

[Disney8704]

Now I understand you can trade a CS for a TS or is it a TS for a CS? Either way, how do you go about doing that?

 

[JoiseyMom]

Now I understand you can trade a CS for a TS or is it a TS for a CS? Either way, how do you go about doing that?

I think you can use a TS for a CS (not the best thing to do to get your money's worth, but worth it not to waste it). You cannot trade a CS for a TS. You do have flexibility in when and how you use your credits. You can use 6 cs's one day, and 4 ts the next, and nothing on the third. We used the dining plan last August and plan on doing it again this August. I set up a spread sheet using Excel and figure out which days we are going to which parks, which day just hang at the pool, and plan our meals accordingly. Some days we have only TS's and others on CS's, and by using a spreadsheet I can keep track or where, what restaurant and when, and how many credits. I also use it to make my adrs, and keep my confirmation numbers. Dh and I are big eaters, we like our appys' and desserts. We had SO MUCH FOOD last year. We also like to eat breakfast. We were able to share, and use CS's for breakfast, and not use too many OOP. You have time to plan and play with the numbers. Also, use a spreadsheet to enter the cost of the trip using different methods to see which is cheaper.

Good Luck!

 

[Disney8704]

I know I am jumping the gun here but I already laid out my dining plans LOL! It took awhile to go through the menus and pick our favorite restraunts plus ones we never tried. 3/4 of them are one we havent tried before so this should be interesting. I just hope the restraunt list doesnt change on me so I have to redo it all over again. Weird thing was, I had a lot of fun putting this list together. Took awhile but I had fun So heres my list tell me what you think:

Breakfasts will be done by using snack credits (maybe, we might just save those for during the afternoon), a couple trips to the GF Cafe (gotta have those chocolate frozen cappacinos LOL) and the rest Boma and Mara.

Lunches will be FoodQuest @ DTD (just a snack on the day we arrive because we will be eating a big dinner later at Boma), Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe, El Pirata y el Perico Restaurante, and Pecos Bill Tale Tale Inn in MK, Liberty Inn and Sunshine Seasons in Epcot, Backlot Express and Toy Story Pizza Planet in MGM and Pizzafari in AK.

Dinners will be of course at Boma at AKL for the first night, The Crystal Palace, Liberty Tree Tavern and Cinderellas in MK, Coral Reef and Les Chefs de France in Epcot, 50s Prime Time and Sci-Fi in MGM and Flame Tree in AK.

All my credits will be used up during lunch and dinners so we will have to pay out of pocket for breakfasts unless we use our snack credits for breakfasts. Unless we go somewhere for lunch that will turn out to be cheaper then GF, Boma or Mara then we will use a credit for the breakfast and pay out of pocket for Lunch. We will use 2 credits for Cinderella because I would rather pay out of pocket for 2 lunches that will be way cheaper then Cinderellas. Now like I said 3/4 of the places we are going to we never ate at, so can I get everyones opinion on these places:

FoodQuest (snacks), El Pirata y el Perico Restaurante and Crystal Palace in MK, Sunshine Seasons and Coral Reef in Epcot, Boma and Mara at AKL, 50s Prime Time in MGM and Flame Tree in AK.

 

[Disney8704]

OK now I'm stuck I did a comparsion. Being that we are bringing down $300 extra for like breakfast and for extra water and stuff I'm coming up with $1020 for the dining plan. Now if we just ordered everything normally at the same restraunts as I just listed without the dining plan but not get deserts and appitizers it will only be $1000. So for $20 more we get way more food but is it worth the extra $20 when we hardly ever buy appitizers and deserts?

 

[shondad]

I kept up with your thread on the "Resort" forum until it was closed; only one comment, glad things have calmed down.

In my opinion and the opinion of many others, I think you both will simply love the dining plan if you opt to use it.

I tried FlameTree at Animal Kingdom last year on the dining plan, me, DH, DD6, and DS2 (at the time). Paid OOP for DS kid's meal and a side of fries. On the plan, We had a Chicken meal w/coleslaw and baked beans, two rib meals w/beans, corn on the cob, desserts were: 1 key lime pie and 2 frozen lemonades. We ate near the water, a lake I guess. There we could see if I remember correctly Expedition Everest in progress (under construction). Only problem was this huge bird that perched itself on the ledge/railing leaving bird droppings (I'm sorry gross I know) and some silly people feeding it, therefore it went nowhere. Other than that, it was a great location and the food was good and plentiful. We ate around 3 of 330pm and took at least half of it with us as we had an 0830 ADR at Donald's that morning, and just weren't that hungry (but could not pass up the opportunity on eating there, it was our first trip and I did not know when we were going back, to Disney that is). I would recommend it and intend to go back in the future, but next time I will try Tusker House, all the pics look good as well as the reviews. I want to try all new places with each visit until I run out of those that interest me. BTW, the kids meal had, like four wings, corn on the cob and applesauce, seemed like a lot of food for a kid's meal.

If you haven't already, you should look at the disney food thread, tons of marvelous photos, helped me plan and make my ADRs for our upcoming trip.

 

[shondad]

OK now I'm stuck I did a comparsion. Being that we are bringing down $300 extra for like breakfast and for extra water and stuff I'm coming up with $1020 for the dining plan. Now if we just ordered everything normally at the same restraunts as I just listed without the dining plan but not get deserts and appitizers it will only be $1000. So for $20 more we get way more food but is it worth the extra $20 when we hardly ever buy appitizers and deserts?

Honestly,

Whether you ever buy appetizers and desserts is simply not the point, the beauty of it is that you can. You are not "required" to get either the appy or the dessert, but why not? You can always take it back to your room for a late night snack/indulgence, or you can simply not order it. Besides, I'm fairly certain there's something in the line of an appy or dessert you and/or your DH would be interested in trying. Having the dining plan allows you to try new and different things at an affordable rate, and if you don't like it you won't be out as much as if you had paid OOP for everything.

JMO.

 

[Disney8704]

Those deserts at each restraunt I mentioned did look ohhhhhhhhh so wonderful! LOL. If its chocolate, I'll eat it in a heart beat lol. The yummy smores, OMG, I need to stop, LOL!

Honestly,

Whether you ever buy appetizers and desserts is simply not the point, the beauty of it is that you can. You are not "required" to get either the appy or the dessert, but why not? You can always take it back to your room for a late night snack/indulgence, or you can simply not order it. Besides, I'm fairly certain there's something in the line of an appy or dessert you and/or your DH would be interested in trying. Having the dining plan allows you to try new and different things at an affordable rate, and if you don't like it you won't be out as much as if you had paid OOP for everything.

JMO.