Dining plans at WDW

jbvenn · Post by **jbvenn** » Jan Tue 23, 2007 9:30 pm

After thinking I would not be back at WDW for ages, my DH is showing signs of relenting in his opposition to another WDW vacation (I think it had something to do with me bursting into tears while watching a WDW ad on TV).

So we might be back for a short visit in the next few months, and a friend who is a fellow WDW addict tells me that dining at the World is much more complicated these days, that if you don't sign up for a dining plan, you may have trouble getting into restaurants, making priority seating arrangements, etc. (My last visit was in March 2004 and we just made our own dining plans, usually not very far in advance).

Is this true? I really don't want to get locked into a meal plan; if I don't am I going to have a hard time getting reservations at restaurants?

TheGreatGonzo · Post by **TheGreatGonzo** » Jan Tue 23, 2007 10:34 pm

All I'd suggest is making Advance Dinner Reservations arrangements for any table service meals you don't want to miss or you may be waiting over an hour or two for a table. You don't have to be on the dinning plan to do this. What this does is move you to the front of the line when you show up for your ADR time (kind of like a fastpass). Do this early if possible since some of the restaraunts fill up within a few days of when you're allowed to request priority seating. You can make your ADR requests 180 days in advance by calling (407) WDW-DINE.

Post by **rdeacon** » Jan Tue 23, 2007 10:38 pm

jbvenn, the problem is the dining plan is causing a shortage in reservations at the restaurants. Since the dining plan includes the sit down restaurant the availability has dropped.

With the basic dining plan, you can choose to eat at more than 100 participating Disney restaurants. For each night of your package stay, the dining plan will allow each person to get:

--One table-service meal (including appetizer, entree, dessert, or full buffet, non-alcoholic beverage, and gratuity/service charge; dessert not available at breakfast)

I would call as early as possible. It's hard to get a reservation at a restaurant now at short notice....

I remember the good old days when you could walk into the park and get basically any restaurant you wanted.

Rich

Post by **js3901** » Jan Wed 24, 2007 12:46 am

ok, here's what I know to help you in deciding what to do.

You do not NEED the dining plan to make a reservation to any restaurant. It just helps you pay for the meal, as you do not need to carry cash with you for the food. Plus, your tax/gratuity is included with the dining plan. no need to figure that stuff out at the table when the check comes.

Dining reservations, as stated, can be made 180 days in advance. To make sure you get what you want, the recommend calling as soon as the dining hotline is open (I belive at like 7:00 AM) exactly 180 days in advance. Otherwwise, the best places fill up FAST (within a couple of hours/days of when they become available).

In some RARE instances, there are cancellations of dining reservations by other guests, this may allow you to make your own reservations up to the same day as the reservation (usually made at the concierge desk at your resort if you're on property). You can also try going to a restaurant and see if they have anything open during the day.

The meal plan itself isn;t bad from what I can work out, so you're not really "locked into it" You get
1 snack per person per night
1 quick-service meal per person per night
1 table-service meal per person per night
the cost of the meal plan works out to 39.95/day. if your typical meals at WDW work out to this much or more (with the tax/gratuity), it's be a good idea to get it.

Post by **subsonic** » Jan Wed 24, 2007 11:57 am

I thought the cost of the plan worked out to be 30 bucks a day. I hadn't been to WDW in years. The Dining plan was new to me but we went with it anyways. The snack portion is weak but if you know how to work the table service you can save a lot of money. I figured out the trick, it's what people here are saying, make reservations to the more expensive places. Places like Japan's Teppanyaki, those meals can cost up to 40-50 dollars a person alone. Our first few days I felt we were losing money on the plans, but once we started making reservations we came out ahead. We went in January and didn't make reservations until we arrived other than Cinderella's Royal Table which we made months in advance. When we started calling to make reservations for the next day the didn't have much for dinner but had plenty of options for lunch. That's the way to go.

Post by **js3901** » Jan Wed 24, 2007 12:14 pm

the women I'm pricing the 2007 WDW meet with said the dining runs 39.95 for the plan per night of stay. That price could be wrong, but being a travel agent who prices these trips for a living, as well as having to go to special selling seminars and stuff, I think she may be right...

Post by **subsonic** » Jan Wed 24, 2007 12:16 pm

I wonder if they raised it for 2007.

TheGreatGonzo · Post by **TheGreatGonzo** » Jan Wed 24, 2007 2:29 pm

The dinning plan is $38.99 per day for youth / adults and $10.99 for children (ages 3 - 9). You must purchase a package with at least a one day park ticket. Everyone in the room must be on the same package and ticket options. The plan must be for the legnth of your stay. The Plan includes one Quick Service Meal, one Snack, and one Table Service Meal per person, per night of your package stay for everyone in the party ages 3 and over. Tax and tips are included in the plan (18%), however if you get a good server you can tip more if you want. More information can be found at http://www.wdwinfo.com/MagicYourWaydining.htm including a list of restaraunts and links to their menus with prices.

jbvenn · Post by **jbvenn** » Jan Wed 24, 2007 11:51 pm

Thanks for all the info. I was thinking that the meal plan locks you into three big meals a day, which we just don't do when we're at WDW. But the meals described by js3901 look pretty close to what we might do in a day (a quick bite for breakfast, a counter lunch, a sit-down dinner), and at a fairly reasonable price. I guess if we go I'll just have to be more diligent about planning and making any PS arrangements we might want. In the past, we never worried about more than reservations for the castle and for Rose & Crown IllumiNations seating.

Still not sure if we're even going to go (our kids are on different spring break schedules, which makes things more complicated). But al least it sounds like the dining plan is manageable.

Sarah Turp · Post by **Sarah Turp** » Jan Thu 25, 2007 6:39 am

The dining plan is a great way of paying for your food on holiday and does give you quite a lot of flexiblity, but watch out if you have a villa or are planning to spend several days either in other themeparks or just out and about.

Obviously if you spend a couple days in universal, one at seaworld, discovery cove etc. thats a lot of meals that you miss!

Post by **js3901** » Jan Thu 25, 2007 11:32 am

one thing with the dining plan and the "breakdown" I described... you don't have to use it like that. it's just what it would break down to per night of your stay. If you wanted to do 2 snacks in one day, you could. you just wouldn;t be able to use the one snack on another day. It basically works on a credit-type system. if you use all your credits, you have none left for other days. Not to make it sound confusing or anything. If you just think of it as the 1 table service, one counter service, and 1 snack per day, it works.

Post by **subsonic** » Jan Thu 25, 2007 11:37 am

jbvenn wrote:But the meals described by js3901 look pretty close to what we might do in a day (a quick bite for breakfast, a counter lunch, a sit-down dinner), and at a fairly reasonable price.

The plan doesn't account for breakfast. The snack is not a meal. A snack means a soda or an apple, or something similiar that's one item.

We found ourselves having to pay for a decent breakfast. Now that the price is almost 40 (I could swear it was 30 a day when I booked last year) and you have to pay for breakfast, 50 dollars a day might not be worth it.

TestTrack1 · Post by **TestTrack1** » Jan Sun 28, 2007 12:38 pm

Hi Jbvenn

My husband and I just recently returned from WDW, december 06. This was out third trip and we have used the dining plan every trip.

We find that the dining plan is the best way to go. We never paid for a breakfast, although sometimes we just had a muffing because we were still full from dinner the ight before. Muffin is considered a snack option. Two days we did split a breakfast at the Mara which is located at Animal Kingdom Lodge and used one counter service for that, had a breakfast sandwich and fresh fruit, again counter service was used.
We did sometimes split a lunch using a counter service because we knew we were having a big dinner.
One restaurant that we know fills up fast for table service dining are Le Cellier at Epcot.

Another good restaurant that we have eaten at is Flying Fish Cafe on the Boardwalk, business casual and a very nice atmosphere with a great menu.

We only used cash for popcorn, could have used a snack option but decided against it.

You can use 3 snack a day if you want, they do not limit you to 1 table, 1 counter and 1 snack per day this dining plan is very flexible.

Have a good trip, don't stress ove meals it all works out.

AKLRULZ · Post by **AKLRULZ** » Jan Sun 28, 2007 4:23 pm

subsonic wrote:The plan doesn't account for breakfast.

You can use your table service credits for a any sit down table service breakfast. Of course that leaves you without a TS credit for the evening, but the credits are totally flexible. Overall, you'll save about 40% on what you'd have spent on those meals (TS, CS, Snack) each day.

jbvenn · Post by **jbvenn** » Jan Sun 28, 2007 4:50 pm

Sarah Turp wrote:The dining plan is a great way of paying for your food on holiday and does give you quite a lot of flexiblity, but watch out if you have a villa or are planning to spend several days either in other themeparks or just out and about.

Obviously if you spend a couple days in universal, one at seaworld, discovery cove etc. thats a lot of meals that you miss!

I guess that's something to consider, since we usually take a day away from the parks to go to the beach.