We went January this year. Food at Disney is expensive. Fast food lunch for 4 cost us about $40. Your best bet is to get off-property to eat. There are dozens of off-property restaurants within 10 minutes of any of the parks. For lunch, this isn't terribly practical, but for breakfast and dinner, it'll save you a fortune.
A friend who went the year before us said there were two things he wished he would've done differently: 1) use a car instead of Disney transportation, and 2) NOT get the dining plan. We followed both pieces of advice and were glad we did.
We spent $300 on one meal for two so it seems like a deal. But it was our anniversary and we had the 8 course French meal at France with 6 wines. It is not on the dining plan but if you can eat for $10 per person per meal at Disney it is reasonable. We usually eat supper and breakfast at the RV so it is not a good deal for us.
Richard and Babs and a Bob Tail Cat
97 Beaver Patriot 40 Kitchen Slide
330 HP Member FMCA, BAC, Good Sam, CAT RV Club
Toad 04 Durango HEMI
We went last year in October, DW made reservations so I don't know the cost, stayed in a Disney resort (5 of us) and had the meal plan. The food is very expensive there and we figured we did save money. Had at least one sit down meal every day and they will give you the reciept as if you paid for it and those sit down meals were all over $100 each. Plus if you are staying in the resort, you can go to the resort store and buy a whole box of doughnuts, nabs or whetever and that will count as one snack that you could use in the park for the whole family. If you use it right it can more than pay for itself. If you choose cheaper places to eat you may loose money. Good luck with your choice and have fun. We will be heading that way again in October as well. We will be taking our kids on the Disney Cruise. Never done that before so it ought to be different.
2004 F-250 FX4 CC PSD, P3 Brake Controller, Valley Hitch w/ slide
2007 Wildcat 32QBBS, 1 1/2 bath
We were there for 13 days in June and I will whole heartedly do the dining plan again. We figured it up after we got back and we saved more than $700. We ate at nice rest. each evening and no meal was less than $100, but since we had the dining plan it was simply just a table service meal. We did the base plan, the one snack, one quick service, one table service per person, per night of stay. You can swap the table service meals for your character dining as well. We left and still had 2 quickservice meals and about 3 snacks unused, we simply couldn't use them all. I don't think you would regret using the dining plan. Each lunch or quickservice meal we had was also $40 plus. BTW it was myself, DW, DD(9) & DS(5). Hope this helps. Be glad to recommend rest. if you need them. Just PM me.
We were there in March, for Spring Break. Bought the dining plan for my family of four, 2 kids - ages 10 and 7.
When I bought the plan, she was 9, so I didn’t pay attention to the fact that I was paying an Adult price for her to be in the dining plan. And for the dining plan, kids 10 and up order from the Adult menu. NO exceptions.
She didn’t like the majority of the adult menu choices. Visit www.allears.net and you can see all the restaurants and their menus to see the choices BEFORE you make your reservations, before you book the plan, let your kids see the choices.
We chose “American” fare, and you have to make your reservations in advance for the sit down meals. Because we were there at peak time, I had to do this far in advance. Many of my first choices were gone.
She’s not a super picky eater, but she likes “kid” food. Not “Pasta with Spinach and pine nuts and andouille sausage”. That’s not “spaghetti” to a kid, and it’s certainly not what I consider “American Fare” and good luck asking for plain pasta. She likes meatloaf, but not when it comes smothered in bbq sauce. She just wanted mac n’ cheese, LOL.
Even though we paid for the Adult price, and they would make MORE profit by letting her order off the kids menu, it’s not allowed. Makes no sense to me. Buffets worked out well for us, cause then she could pick whatever she wanted. Hubby is picky too, that’s where she gets it from. So that’s partly why I wouldn’t do the plan again.
Also, there’s no rhyme or reason to the “snack” portion of the plan. 1 $2.00 bottle of water is equal to a $4 ice cream order at the Edy’s shop in Epcot?
Anyway, no I would not pay for it again. You can still do a character breakfast, just pay for it normally. Be sure to make a reservation! We actually preferred the food court counter meals at the All-star to many of the restaurants where we had sit-down dinners.
The food at the sit-downs just wasn’t worth the cost of the dining plan, and it certainly wasn’t worth the price shown on the menus. The portions at the food court are very large, a lot of times hubby and I would split a Burger and Fries, it was plenty for us ‘cause your snacking all day.
I didn’t like having to break up our day to spend 2 hours at a sit down restaurant. And it easily will take you 2 hours or more depending on where you go, even with a reservation. Buffets were quicker, about an hour. Regular sit-downs easily 2 hours total. But if you want that kind of break, then ok. (We waited at the Plaza for 45 minutes for the waitress to get around to settling our bill and we grew ever-frustrated by the minute wanting to be on the rides, that was aggravating)…..We didn’t always enjoy that ‘break’. If you can schedule your sit-down meal for a time when you won’t feel frustrated if it takes along time.….
We really enjoyed and would recommend the Trails End Café, the Whispering Canyon, and the Tusker House Buffet at AK. Despised The Plaza restaurant, liked the Grand Floridian Café (pricey though) Turf Club was o.k. but both restaurants were slooooowwwwww…I’m talking 2+ hours for a very-leisurely dinner.
Everyone’s wants/needs are different but I thought I’d share my experience.
Were going in Nov. and are trying to decide the same thing. the only thing that gets me is for some of the sit downs you need to make resv. now! they`re telling us. I have no idea which park we`ll be in on any given day! I`m starting to think disney may end up being a big let down. jsut too much planning for a trip. we took a 2 week trip out to MT. and I didn`t go through this much planning and agravation.
Wife kim
Son brandon 7yrs
Daughter marissa 6yrs
Dog shadow
07 Cherokee 32B
02 Excursion 4X4 V-10 4.30 gear
Reese HP dualcam,Prodigy brake controller,
Air lift air bags.
Better to have a bad day of
camping than a good day at work!
We stayed off Disney last time and saved a ton of money. Forget the extra benefits they so you get, you won't miss any of them. You can stay off Disney and eat for what they are charging for meals. Hotels are cheap in that area and remember you sleep there. If you are off Disney you can eat where you want shop where you want. Our room had a refrigerator and microwave. We would take a bottle of water put it in the freezer the night before then we had these bottle holders that clipped to your belt. It would not only give you a cold drink but felt great in the heat hanging on your side. We would fill them at the water fountain when empty. We still bought drinks and food in the park but this saved us a ton of money. We thought we would give it a try and if it didn't we wouldn't do it again. My kids liked staying off Disney better then staying on since there's a lot to do outside the park, the food choices were better and they like the frozen water idea. If I go back I might try the campground but won't stay at one of the on property hotels. Oh and the Disney property's are very larger so you might not be as close to the park as you think. One of there hotels was a few blocks down from ours. Kisseeme (spelling might be off on that) isn't far from Disney and the prices are great.
dodge guy wrote: Were going in Nov. and are trying to decide the same thing. the only thing that gets me is for some of the sit downs you need to make resv. now! they`re telling us. I have no idea which park we`ll be in on any given day! I`m starting to think disney may end up being a big let down. jsut too much planning for a trip. we took a 2 week trip out to MT. and I didn`t go through this much planning and agravation.
We only made 4 reservations prior to our trip, Mickey's Backyard BBQ which was totally awesome, the Kona Cafe which is in the Polynesian resort, again great rest, breakfast at the crystal palace and for the Fantasmic show. We would just call the reservation line that morning and see if they had availability at where we wanted to go, we only had one that didn't work. also, by staying in disney it is really easy to get to the various rests. without trouble we thought. i will repeat from previous post the dining plan worked for us, but i guess it depends on the family and what time of dining you are accustomed to. we like to try new things so we really didn't have trouble finding places to eat.
Offline
