[Goofy3]

We just got back Sunday from WDW. I know folks have been curious about the dining plan. We used the Magic your way plan on this trip with Dining. I finally had a chance to put the numbers together and here's what I've found..

The dining plan cost us $690 to add. (3 adults & 1 child for 6 nights). I kept a running total of what our meals would have cost us if we had paid for them. The total was $929.88. (Including the snacks). Of course if we did not have the plan, we would not have eaten so much (desserts, etc). But it actually worked out quite well. Most of the desserts were portable (brownies, rice krispy treats, etc) and we just took them with us!

We ate at the following places using the plan.
Casey's
Columbia Harbour House
Liberty Inn
Ohana
Donald's Breakfastasaurus
Pizza Planet
Sci-Fi Dine In
Rose & Crown
CRT Princess Breakfast
Crystal Palace (Dinner)
Pecos Bills
Electric Umbrella

All in all I was VERY Pleased with the plan and we are planning on adding it to our next trip as well. We did not have any problems with CM's not knowing about it. They all seemed pretty informed and at the sit down places they knew what was included, etc. 15% gratuity was automatically included on the sit-down meals.

Oh, and on the children's menus at the sit-down places they have added little "appetizers" that they can get. Like carrots w/ranch or fruit. It was really nice that our daughter got her own appetizer.

If you have some questions I can answer, please ask away!

[Baloo85]

Did you like the Columbia Harbor House???...we usually eat there all the time...I like staring out the windows on the second floor at the huge line for the Haunted Mansion

[PrincessJ9]

Sounds like Disney has done a good thing with this Dining plan! I am so happy to hear positive feedback on it - especially since it is so popular. Glad you had a great time!!

[BuzzLightyear]

Great! Thanks so much for reporting that.
We just added the dining plan after much hesitation.
It was good to hear the you like it.

[jo-jo]

Did you have any problems with snacks? I heard people say that each snack had to rung up separately. Also what type of snacks did you get? Would you have gone to the same places if you didn't have the plan? I'm debating on the plan. My DH thinks it will be too much food (but of course, will have to order appetizers and desserts) and then he won't feel like walking around. But I'm thinking without the plan, would we go to that many sitdown dinners, even if we shared some items. Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for keeping the running total. It nice to see the plan cost "X" amount, but we would have spent "Y" amount

[Dana]

Now I just have to decide if I will save more money on the food with MYW or keep my AP and save money on the room.... I wish we could all have it both ways. I ma so glad that they added kids' appetizers to the menus.

[queensmama]

Sounds great.......I know that the dining plan is way worth it for my family.
I do have one question. Did you share any of your meals to get more use of the plan? Will/did/do they allow this.

[Goofy3]

We didn't share any of the meals, but I'm sure you could. At all the counter service places my daughter & I got a table while hubby & BIL stood in line for food. So it would be easy to share the meals. But you have to remember that the meals expire after your last day (the day you check out of hotel). Most days we just had cereal bars for breakfast, then big lunch & dinner! It worked out great!

As far as snacks go, we got mostly cokes & ice cream bars. They were able to ring up everything together and we just used one card to run it through. Actually, in Animal Kingdom we got 3 cokes and a bag of chips and the guy only charged us for one snack! I didn't realize it until we sat down with all the receipts to do the total. So we actually got a little extra milage out of it!

[mickey]

Thanks for the great report, that will be helpful for many of us.

I just want to know, after eating appetizers and desserts for a week, how much weight did everyone gain? (no need to actually reveal that information, just a silly question)

[Goofy3]

I have no idea! That's a good (??) question! I'm sure we all gained a little, but all that walking helps even things out a bit too!

[queensmama]

Originally Posted by mickey

I just want to know, after eating appetizers and desserts for a week, how much weight did everyone gain? (no need to actually reveal that information, just a silly question)

AWWWWWWWW, Mickey is concerned for our health.

[BuzzLightyear]

Do you get a desert with the counter meals also?

I have read conflicting info on this.
Thanks

[kizzmitt]

I'm glad to hear you liked the meal plan. It must be fun just ordering whatever you want without any concern for the bill! Were there any restrictions on what you could order? We are planning to share some dinners so we can stretch it out a bit and dine at a couple of signature restaurants. Do you think this would work? My DD is 11 and I'm thinking there should be more than enough food for us to share!

[Goofy3]

Yes, you do get dessert with the counter service meals. Whenever we could we got portable desserts and saved them for the hotel room (or breakfast, shhh, I know brownies for breakfast aren't good for you, but it's vacation!)

I don't see why sharing would be a problem at the sit downs, but we didn't try it either! The counter service I know there wouldn't be a problem, just send 1 or 2 people to get the food, the rest get a table. They'll never know how many are in your party. At a sit down I know Disney policy allows sharing, so I don't see why it would be any different. The meals do expire at midnight on your check-out day, so just make sure you use them all! We actually got 7 snacks on our last day just to use them up! (Got drinks for the car!)

I hope I'm answering everyone's questions! Keep them coming!

[mkstlowe]

Thanks so much for the info. Been waiting to get some feed back. From your numbers. it looks like our family will save. I already tried to do the totaling from home on the aveage meal, snack etc. And it will save

Thanks again