Disney Dining Plan 2008

[Princess Ploppy]

Has anyone looked at the restaurants included in the plan for 2008??

It appears there are quite a few missing from Epcot - only about 2 restaurants from the countries. And hardly any from downtown disney.

Anyone know why? Am starting to wonder whether I should do the plan next year because a couple of the restaurants I would choose are missing.

[Disneybunny]

They will most likely be added later.

[TracyW]

Where can I find the list for 2008 please?

[cityblueboy]

It was the same last year when they released the list, others are usually added at a later date, I wouldn't worry.

I have heard a rumour that the DDP for 2008 does not include tip, is this just an urban myth or is it true?

[thebuckys]

It's true that the 2008 DDP does not include tips. The starter has also been withdrawn. This is a shame but we have booked during the Free DDP period next year so it's still pretty good for nothing !

Steve

[cityblueboy]

Great if its free yes but not as good value to buy now

[Princess Ploppy]

Hmm I agree. Not sure will be bothering with this now then. We're DVC members so unfortunately can't benefit from the free offer so having to pay for it makes it much less worthwhile without tips and starters.

Think I shall just go back to using my Disney Dinind Experience discount card

[starwarsclark]

Hi I am really confused about this DDP so I hope someone can help me out. We are looking at booking 2 weeks at Coronado Springs in Aug 08 as they have the free DDP (normally could not afford to stay at Disney) as there are 6 of us we thought that this would actually be a way of saving some money. My questions are:
Is DDP really worth it for 6 people?
I notice that it doesn't include the 18% tip which concerns me as this will amount to a lot of money over the 2 week period.
It also seems to mention that the 18% tip seems to be applicable for parties of 6 and over only, we are going to have to stay in 2 rooms so can we avoid the automatic 18% as we will effectively be 2 groups of 3.

Sorry for the questions but I am trying to weigh up the optoin of getting free food when you may have to pay 18% to get it.

Any help and advise would be greatly appreciated.

[BevS97]

Missing restaurants happen every year and then they get added later. The usual explanation is that they are restaurants not owned by Disney and they are still in negotiations.


It also seems to mention that the 18% tip seems to be applicable for parties of 6 and over only, we are going to have to stay in 2 rooms so can we avoid the automatic 18% as we will effectively be 2 groups of 3.


my thoughts.
The party of 6 is not related to which room you are sleeping in, but how many are sitting around the table - if we eat with our friends, we will be a party of 8 and will be charged the tip automatically.

2ndly - there are no rooms that sleep 6 (well v. v. few)

18% is added automatically for parties of 6 - BUT if you aren't a party of 6 you are still SUPPOSED to pay. They won't make you pay, but it's not really on to walk out without leaving a tip.

i can't see how free dining can possibly be a bad deal - if you didn't have it you would have to pay 118% for those meals. Even if you don't eat all the meals - they were free so you haven't actually lost anything.

[starwarsclark]

BevS97 thank you for your quick response.
I would never, of course, not leave a tip as if the service merits it then they deserve it. In my opinion 18% is quite a lot as I would have thought that a typical evening meal would be in excess of $100 therefore $18 so over the whole 2 weeks and as a rough guess a party of 6 would leave about $700 worth of tips (Breakfast @ $14, lunch @ $18, evening meal @ $18 all times the number of days i.e. 14)
I am not trying to be cheap just trying to work out the costs as the actually holiday is going to cost of £7k as it is.
Any particular tips and tricks worth trying out for DDP? Any recommendations?

[BevS97]

Ok - quick lesson on the dining plan. :)

Each day you will be getting

1 snack
1 counter service meal
1 sit-down meal
per person

you don't need to tip for the counter service meal, so really only needing to tip $18/day or $252 over a fortnight.

You probably won't need to buy breakfast as you can use the snacks or share your counter service (say buy 4 counters for the 6 of you to share and then use the saved ones for breakfast another day)

[starwarsclark]

A very worth while quick tip - Thank you for explaining that. So we only pay the tip when we actually sit down for a meal - Brilliant that makes me feel a lot better and clears that up. Also helps on saving up credits as I am certain that going by the size of the portions in America there is no way we are going to need 6 lunch meals a day. This website is brilliant and all the people on it are really helpful - Thanks. (I am sure that I will come back with more questions - sorry about that!)

[BevS97]

you can in theory share the sit-downs as well, as long as it's not a buffet, but I think it's harder to do that, and also harder to use the saved ones but if you have 2 kids who don't eat a lot they could in theory order only one meal and only spend one TS credit.

[starwarsclark]

We have always tried to fill the kids up at breakfast - does that make sense on the DDP or would it be better to have a light breakfast and then have a bigger lunch using the counter service? Do they mind if you take some fruit or snacks away with you as we will be spending a few days at Universal and it would be nice to have a couple of snacks with us to get them through the day.
Thanks once again.

[BevS97]

you can use the counter service for breakfast and skip lunch, but I think the breakfasts are smaller then the lunches so not such a great plan financially - but use it anyway you like.

you can also book sit-down breakfasts but that would be your one sit=down for the day. If you are going to spend 3 days in universal (for example), thne on 3 other days you could have both a character breakfast and a sit-down dinner - you can spend your credits all on one day and none on another.

you can spend your snacks on lots of things and there will certainly be fruit or other transportable things that you could pick up in the resort shop and take to universal for the day.

[starwarsclark]

Aha that makes sense. I think that we may just skip breakfast a few times and just have early lunch in the parks - I take it that we could just have lunch at about 11.00AM?

[BevS97]

yes, most of the places open for lunch at 11 - we tend to have either a tiny breakfast and an early lunch, or a very late lunch (you can eat as late as 3pm) and then not much dinner. I have booked quite a few full service lunches for 2-3pm as the kids aren't such good eaters in the evening.

[starwarsclark]

Thank you for your help in all this, I feel much happier now and understans a lot more of what and how to do it.

Starwarsclark