[hrbib21]

Yes, I know, the asked a million times question. I just can't decide. We'll (3 adults) be at WDW 9/23-9/30 (actual arrival time will be Friday night; offsite motel), I just paid off my trip tonight (throwing $1000 around is fun), and I can't decide if the dining plan is for me or not. The AAA rep seems to think it is but I don't know.

Here's the situation: We're going to Universal for two days so we'll only be using the dinners on those days BUT, we can use the counter meals on breakfast instaed of lunch. We also don't like the idea of making ADR's for every night before we leave because we don't know when we'll be where. Sure, I'm making reservations for a couple spots like Boma but I we don't like being on a set schedule. We'd rather wake up in the morning and say "Today looks like a good day for dinner in Mexico." and then make the reservation. I'm also not a "dress up for dinner" type of person. I live at the beach so I like the casual beach attire (shorts, shirt, sneakers) thing. Hey, a tshirt is even a step up from my normal tank top.

However, it seems like it's too good of a deal to pass up. I have visions of lobster and filet for a week dancing in my head. I also like the idea of paying for all this in advance and basically only needing souvenir money, which I don't spend much on anyway. I've also always wanted to try many of the Disney restaurants. Usually we just stick to a couple and eat outside the park for the rest of the time.

What do you guys think? Would I be a good candidate for the dining plan? Suggestions or ideas I'm not considering are welcome. And, again, sorry for the millionth post on this topic but I wanted to personalize it.

[millermouse]

If your concern is making ADR's it's not only a dinning plan problem! If you are on the DP or not you still need to make arrangements to eat or choose to fly by the seat of your pants. Just remember the DP costs around $38 per adult per day and you could easily spend much more than that at one dinner per adult. I questioned this plan when it first came out, but research proved it was a great deal. Check out allearsnet.com for pricing and ideas for dinning, it will help you make a final decision!

[Erin]

If your family REALLY loves to eat -and I mean REALLY loves to eat - at NICE dinners - then, yeah - it's for you!

If you plan on having sitdown dinners most nights, anyway, well, then the plan pays for itsself!

I hope you enjoy!

[hrbib21]

Originally Posted by millermouse

If your concern is making ADR's it's not only a dinning plan problem! If you are on the DP or not you still need to make arrangements to eat or choose to fly by the seat of your pants.

True. We normally only eat on Disney property a couple of nights out of a weeks stay (we do make ADRs for that, though) so eating at Disney every night would be new to me. I have both The Unofficial Guide and Birnbaums so I've been perusing them to help me decide, too.

I'm really leaning towards this. I have to talk it over with our third person to see what he thinks, though.

[Floridasunshine]

True. We normally only eat on Disney property a couple of nights out of a weeks stay (we do make ADRs for that, though) so eating at Disney every night would be new to me.

Just remember that you do not HAVE to use your credits up each night... For example on the two days you go to Universal, you can use your table credits another day/night and maybe go to a nice '2 credit' dinner show or signature meal. All your credits are pooled, so if you wanted to go to a 2 credit Cinderella Castle Breakfast, and then go to the HoopdeDoo Revue at night, you can and use up 4 'nights' of credits in one day... It is perfectly okay to use them that way.

It is too bad you did not sign up for the free dining before 6/25/06, because you are going during the period when it was offered for free... Then it would have been a no brainer... you could have gotten it free and used it if you want or not used it if you found you did not like the schedules and such.

But even paying for it at $38 was WELL worth it when we went in March.

[alicefan]

You can double up your points as people have said, BUT Hoop-dee-doo and CRT are HARD to get last minute so you better book them soon! You can always do a nice character breakfast and then a sit down dinner on the same day to use up the 2 that you will miss when you go to Universal......Until our last 2 trips we never made ADR's and always had no problem getting seated. Sometimes we had to wait a while but we never got turned away. The only thing is now, with the new Dining Plan, do the resturants fill up to max capacity? I wonder if people are being turned away these days?........PS - where DO you get lobster at WDW????

[bribert]

I was also wondering about the lobster thing. Last Sept. we did the free dining plan & I had lobster at Coral Reef, but was told that because of the dining plan they were taking it off the menu. Sure enough, it's gone.
Also, I agree that you should get going making your ADR's! I looked into moving our ADR at Le Cellier from 9/23 to 9/22 & it's full!
PS-too bad you weren't thinking about this a month ago, when the free dining plan was being offered!!

[hrbib21]

^That's me, always missing the boat. Yeah, free would've been great but $38/day isn't too bad, I guess.

I'm going to make the call today and see what the availability is on a couple of the places I want to eat. Le Cellier is one of them but maybe I'll fine something. The 3 of us that are going are all adults and we can really eat anytime in the evening, early or late, so maybe that will help me get what I want restaurant-wise.

To clarify about Universal, the plan would be that we would go there during the day and only eat lunch there. At night, we'd come back and eat at Disney.

[bribren]

One of the problems is if you get up and say..Today I feel like Mexican, there is a good chance that you wouldn't get a res anyhow and you would end up somewhere you don't want. Either go with the plan and the ADR's or plan oun counterservice. If you only eat at a buffet, you probably come out even anyhoo..

[Disneyfever]

I would do the dining plan if I were you. We are doing it for the first time in Sept. (we will be there the same week as you). I'm SO sorry you weren't able to take advantage of the free dining. It seems like a lot of people did not know about it. I would not have known either if I wasn't such a big Disney freak! When I mentioned it to people at work, and even some people from Florida, none of them knew.

Even if we had to pay for it, we would do it. When we have gone in the past, we have always just eaten at mostly counter service. But those added up too. It seems like it is well worth the price of the dining plan to be able to enjoy a sit-down restaurant every day. We have never done that before.

We will also be going to Universal. We plan on using one of the counter service meals at Disney for dinner the night we get back from Universal. We booked Hoop Dee Doo another night, which counts as two meals. So it works out perfectly.
I hope you enjoy your trip!

[hrbib21]

Originally Posted by bribren

One of the problems is if you get up and say..Today I feel like Mexican, there is a good chance that you wouldn't get a res anyhow and you would end up somewhere you don't want. Either go with the plan and the ADR's or plan oun counterservice. If you only eat at a buffet, you probably come out even anyhoo..

I've never once had a problem getting a reservation at a Disney restaurant on the day of. Sure, I won't get a prime slot like 5pm but I'm on vacation, I don't follow a normal schedule anyhow. But I know things change (drastically) and I haven't been there in 6 years so I'll trust your judgement on that.

Having said that, we definitely will make ADRs (today, actually) for the 2 or 3 we REALLY want, whether we go with the dining plan or not. BUT, it looks like we may be going with the dining plan. They tell us we have up to 14 days prior to our trip to add it so there's no rush, I guess.

[jk8]

Keep us posted if you get those ADRs!

[llama]

Originally Posted by alicefan

PS - where DO you get lobster at WDW????

Le Cellier. Their steak and lobster special is YUM!

[Allyson]

Originally Posted by hrbib21

I've never once had a problem getting a reservation at a Disney restaurant on the day of.

And I truly hope you don't this time either...but unless any of your other vacations have been during a time free dining was offered, I wouldn't count on this trip being the same way.

Glad to see you're going to make some ADRs...I think that's the best way to go. (BTW...we'll also be there that same week!)

[hrbib21]

I've decided that I'm really bummed that I missed out on the free dining. Everyone who had a package already scheduled should've gotten it, IMO. I don't know, it just seems a little shady not to do that. Now I have to spend about $820 for 3 people to get the dining plan. That's not a HUGE amount of money to me but it sure is a lot more than FREE.

I am getting the plan added, BTW. It's still a good deal, regardless.