I keep reading good and bad about the disney dining plan. ; As we've never been to Disney World and I have read that you need reservations to for sit down meals, I have been hesitant about getting the DDP. ; How do you know where to eat, if you have no idea where to start. Any ideas on the dining plan? ; I have spent so much time selecting the resort, and looking for discounts, I am just starting to research the dining. Is the Disney Dining Plan the way to go?
As far as knowing where to eat, the best thing to do is figure out what parks you will visit on which days and then correspond your dining with the park and fireworks etc. ; Also posting and letting people know exactly what you are looking for, what you like etc. and you will get tons of suggestions. A lot depends on what you want to eat, having young children etc. ; I would read other people's dining experiences and then check out the menus online. ; http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm ; this site has the menus online and may be of some help. If you want table service at some of the more frequented restaurants (Le Cellier, Coral Reef etc.) you will definitely need ADR's. ; It also depends on the time of year you are going but the rule of thumb for the finer table service restaurants is to book an ADR. If you are not interested in table service everyday (perhaps skipping one day and using 2 credits on another) then I would not do the dining plan. ; It is a lot of food!
YES!!! Disney's dining plan for 2008 saves you about 30% on the cost of food. ; Yet, you can ONLY purchase the dining plan if you are on a Magic Your Way Package OR a DVC member/renting DVC points. I HIGHLY recommend it if you are interested in doing character meals, sit down restaurants and the like. ; If you do want to take advantage of all Disney has to offer by having dinner with the Princesses or lunch in France, then the dining plan is for you as it does work out cheaper.
<<<As we've never been to Disney World and I have read that you need reservations to for sit down meals....How do you know where to eat, if you have no idea where to start.>>> Work with a Disney TA. ; I build a spreadsheet for my clients that show hours each park is open, which has extra magic hours, hours for parades/ fireworks, etc.; and then we look at where to eat - depending on kids, whether want many character meals, what parks plan to be on which day, etc. <<<Any ideas on the dining plan? ; I have spent so much time selecting the resort, and looking for discounts, I am just starting to research the dining.>>> Depends on your family and how you like to eat. ; My family of 4 just came back. ; We had the dining plan. ; Ate very well the whole trip - and used it all up (although took some counter service credits as bagged lunches back to the airport). ; It's a lot of food for us (2 kids are small, but one was under 3 so she just ate off my plate) - but even with table service meals that count for 2 credits, we found we have enough food to eat. We really enjoy the dining plan. ; Next year's plan will be different (2 tiers, changes to current plan - e.g. no gratuities included) so it's a wait and see how that goes. ; But, you still save a good deal of money over what you'd pay for each thing individually.
Your gonna love this answer. It depends! ; So many factors go into whether the dinning plan is worth it or not. If you plan on eating a table service meal every day then the dinning plan can be worthwhile. If you miss just one table service meal it's not worth it. On my December trip I calculated every meal and how we ate and it came out cheaper not being on the dinning plan and now with gratuities not being included its even harder to make the dinning plan work. One suggestion I would make before deciding on whether to go with the dinning plan is to decide if you want to take the time out of touring the parks to have a sit down dinner every night. I have been many times so I enjoy taking time out to relax but for the first few times I went I needed to see everything and spending 2 hour for dinner wasn't an option.
