[Val32]

Iam on the Disney Dining Plan and appreciate any advice or comments, good or bad

(I might fly in the evening of the 28th late, these plans aren't firm yet)
Sat 10/29 - (Sea World Possibility)-
Snack or Lunch at Roaring Forks @ WL - (1 CS meal)
Dinner - Luau @ Poly 8pm ADR ( 1 TS meal)

Sun 10/30- MGM
Breakfast - Cape May Cafe Character Buffet @ BC ( 1 TS meal)
Lunch- Abc Commissary @ MGM ( 1 CS meal)
Dinner- Hollywood @ Vine (Fantasmic) - ( 1 TS meal)

Mon 10/31- MK
Breakfast - CRT or CM (1 TS meal)
Lunch- nothing
Dinner- LTT 5:20 ADR (1 TS meal)

Tue 11/1 - Epcot
Breakfast- Roaring Forks @ WL ( 1 CS Meal) or CM (1 TS meal)
Lunch- Electric Umbrella (1 CS meal)
Dinner - LeCellier (1 TS meal)

Wed 11/2 - TL/DD
Breakast- Ohana Character Breakfast @ Poly (1 TS Meal)
Lunch- Typhoon Tillys(?) @ TL - (1 CS meal)
Dinner- Whispering Canyon Cafe @ WL - (1 TS meal)

Thu 11/3 - AK
Breakfast - Whispering Canyon Cafe @ WL (1 TS meal)
Lunch- nothing
Dinner- Tusker House @ AK - (1 CS meal)

Fri 11/4 - MK
Breakfast - Kona cafe @ poly (1 TS meal)
Lunch- nothing
Dinner - 1900 Park Fare @ GF (1 TS meal )

Sat 11/5 - Departure day (flight in early evening)
Breakfast- Roarking Forks @ WL (1 CS meal)

On the dining plan, your allowed 1 CS (counter service meal) and 1 TS (table service meal or Character Dining) and 1 snack per day/nite of your trip.

I heard that you have to use up 7 counter service and 7 table service meals by the end of your trip, so I think I can combine them to more than 1 a day.

Arrival and Departure day I left flexible as to my plans

In total I have 7 CS meals and 12 TS meals (meaning I have to pay for 5 of those TS/Character meals). Not too bad, I just have to figure 5 of those meals into my budget and try to collect Disney dollars for them.

I also want to squeeze in The Wonderland Tea Party at the GF 1 afternoon.
Iam probably going to do it on 1 of my MK days.

[DisneyTeacher]

Your plans looked great! You have picked some good restaurants.

[Dana]

WOW! You really got it all together there. Lots of dining in those plans. It's going to be hectic with getting from one place to the next, but it's your trip and you know what you and your family likes.

[Val32]

Last year we did some resort dining for breakfast and then off to the parks. Iam really not in a hurry in the mornings so whatever time our ADR is for breakfast then we take our time getting to our destination! Alot of the times it was close to noon by the time we got to the parks which was no big deal because we didnt go back to the hotel for a stop or anything.

When I go to TL it's the same thing. Last year we went back to the hotel to change our clothes (which I added dinner there this time) and then we went off to DD for the evening for a stroll and shopping (we did RFC for dinner here last year, no PS).
And on our last MK day, we took the monorail to GF for dinner which was nice too.
Its a little break in a way your not in the same place ALL day!
Crazy I know it seems, but it was do-able since I had the car rental and my mom isn't an early riser.
I was struggling to use up the Counter Service meals, which I thought were tough since I didnt eat at any one of those last years. We just need a Good Breakfast and Dinner EVERY day! On days I had nothing booked (last year), I ended up doing something anyways. My mom is very picky and wants a breakfast everyday (didn't care too much for the food court at the CBR) and a dinner, she is not into fast food either.
And of course there was a few places that I *ahem* wanted to try and a few places I wanted to go back to.


Thank you Dana and DT for your inputs!

[Dana]

You are welcome Val. I don't presume to make assumptions anymore. I felt badly the last time I commented about how many PSes people chose to make. Everyone knows what they want out of their WDW trips and with all the money we pay to go there, we should have exactly what we expect.

[Val32]

Originally Posted by Dana

You are welcome Val. I don't presume to make assumptions anymore. I felt badly the last time I commented about how many PSes people chose to make. Everyone knows what they want out of their WDW trips and with all the money we pay to go there, we should have exactly what we expect.

that is quite alright Dana!
I didnt book that much last year and I ended up making some at the last minute or walking in some places like CM's w/no PS. I figure I can always cancel what I dont use!
But with this Dining plan it's very hard I must say in planning!
Plus I want to get my $$"s worth too!!!

When I first went through my plans I did not have enough Counter service meals so I had to throw some in there (which we really dont need a lunch). And most of those are going to be a toss in the air since Breakfast carries us all the way till Dinner.
I was soo aggravated I must tell you for the past 2-3 hours, my DD kept interrupting me and I kept telling her "dont bother Mommy, Mommy is doing something very important" LOL

[ChernabogHades]

Did you know that both Le Celier and Spirit of Aloha now cost 2TS a piece?

[Dana]

Originally Posted by Val32

that is quite alright Dana!
I didnt book that much last year and I ended up making some at the last minute or walking in some places like CM's w/no PS. I figure I can always cancel what I dont use!
But with this Dining plan it's very hard I must say in planning!
Plus I want to get my $$"s worth too!!!

When I first went through my plans I did not have enough Counter service meals so I had to throw some in there (which we really dont need a lunch). And most of those are going to be a toss in the air since Breakfast carries us all the way till Dinner.
I was soo aggravated I must tell you for the past 2-3 hours, my DD kept interrupting me and I kept telling her "dont bother Mommy, Mommy is doing something very important" LOL

You could always have your counter service for dinner or breakfast and use your TS for whichever you don't use for breakfast. Make lunch your snack that you get if you don't usually eat lunch at WDW. I cut back a lot for this upcoming trip and did just one table service for day expcet for Halloween day. I have a breakfast and a dinner that day. I cut back on my character breakfasts and am having many of my breakfasts at the resort. DD wasn't any fun to get up and moving on this last trip. I found it easier to get up and ready and then bring breakfast to the room for her so she could eat while she got ready for the day. WE are doing breakfastsaurus and CP only for breakfasts. They were her choice. I could have went without them. I told her only one a day. With her now costing the same as me for a meal, I had to scale things back some.

I had to laugh at your "mommy is doing something important" statement. My DD comes into my room and sees the "notebook" out and runs for the hills...lol

[Val32]

Originally Posted by Dana

You could always have your counter service for dinner or breakfast and use your TS for whichever you don't use for breakfast.

Some of them Iam (ie Roaring Forks (WL) iam doing twice for Breakfast and Tusker House (AK) Iam doing for Dinner. And like I said before, it was really hard for me to pick a restaraunt for Breakfast/Dinner as Counter meal since I never eaten at a counter service restaurant before, I was really searching thru my Dining guide book and looking at the menus on Allears.net. Most of the places I want to eat at is the Table service restaurants. The others I threw in for Lunch. With only 1 WDW trip on my belt, it's hard to pick places I never eaten at before plus there are ALOT of places I want to try and then there are places I want to go back to as well. Not very easy I must say!! I need like a month at WDW!!!

Anyways, I feel your pain with your DD, I really need something to get my mom going in the morning, like a rocket!!!
I think my mom would kill me though if I brought food back, for me it just dont work! She's old and she's Italian!

Originally Posted by Dana

I had to laugh at your "mommy is doing something important" statement. My DD comes into my room and sees the "notebook" out and runs for the hills...lol

LMAO!!!!!
My DD is still new at this so she'll catch on after a year or two!

[Val32]

Originally Posted by ChernabogHades

Did you know that both Le Celier and Spirit of Aloha now cost 2TS a piece?

The Luau, yes, Iam aware and counted it Twice.
LeCellier they took off as signature dining and you can now dine there using 1 option!!! (this was only changed a month or two ago.)
Thank you!!

[cinderbella]

Looks good and yummy!!!
You have a lot of PSes but it dosn't look like you have to hop from park to park to get there (that's when it gets annoying and more of a pain than pleasure!)
Looks good!! Can't wait to read that TR!

[Val32]

Originally Posted by cinderbella

Looks good and yummy!!!
You have a lot of PSes but it dosn't look like you have to hop from park to park to get there (that's when it gets annoying and more of a pain than pleasure!)
Looks good!! Can't wait to read that TR!

Bella, you used the Dining Plan before. Did you find it hard trying to find places for your counter service and table service meals? And did you go over?
I know you did say it was a little much.
Just curious about what you though on that. And can I do 2 TS and 1 CS in 1 day?? I think I can but not sure.

Thank you on your input!!!

I thought it was alot of fun hopping on the monorail from the MK to go to dinner at the GF! That was my fav place for dinner besides Ohana so I had to do it again!

Oh FYI I only have 2 ADR's so far
1 for the Luau
and the 2nd is for LTT on Halloween nite MNSSHP.

I dont know if Iam going to be able to get everything once I call in but at least I dont have to call EVERY morning at 7am!! ( I start work at 6:30am!!)

[lovemysons]

So Val, does this mean it isn't a possibility anymore but a reality?? YEA! Sounds like you have great plans in place already.

[Val32]

Originally Posted by lovemysons

So Val, does this mean it isn't a possibility anymore but a reality?? YEA! Sounds like you have great plans in place already.

It won't become a reality until I pay my trip off in FULL!!
I dont want to put all my eggs in 1 basket now neither do I want to Jinx my trip!
I was stupid enough to not put away any $$ thus far, something was always coming up like BILLS and my paycheck doesn't go very far!
So until I pay off my trip *pixie dust* *pixie dust*, "TINK where are you???????????" it's all a possibility (darn that Mega Millions lottery for not letting us win ).
But once it is paid off and it becomes reality, ALL Of you will know it!!!

[cinderbella]

Originally Posted by Val32

Bella, you used the Dining Plan before. Did you find it hard trying to find places for your counter service and table service meals? And did you go over?
I know you did say it was a little much.
Just curious about what you though on that. And can I do 2 TS and 1 CS in 1 day?? I think I can but not sure.

I thought it was a little much--but when I went back in June and didn't use the dining plan..and dave was fully healthy I think it would have benefited us...when the AP's run out and if the discounts continue to be not so great, I'll probaly book again with the meal plan...
I didn't find it hard to find places that took the meal plan because pretty much everywhere you want to eat does...the problem is, say you want a mid-day hotdog for a snack, it counts as a full CS meal...theres no way around it, so you may as well just skip the snack and eat a lot at the meals you've already paid for!
You can eat as many TS and as many CS's and as many snacks in a day as you want..it dosn't matter and all your recepits tell you how many of each meal you have left on your plan..so you'll know when you run out!