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Old 23 Oct 06, 08:32 PM  
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Free Food!

Hiya

We have returned from yet another foray into our favourite fantasy world that is WDW, complete with that familiar feeling of being heavier in body and lighter in pocket!

I’ll post some food reviews soon, but in the meantime tell you a bit about our recent experience with the Free Disney Dining Plan.
We had 10 days on the Free Dining Plan at CBR and then 6 days at AKL with just our DDE card, so it was easy to make comparisons regarding food and service both on and off the plan.

I do admit I was a tad dubious as I’ve not been a big fan of the introduction of the Dining Plan.
If we were to pay the normal cost of $38 each per day for the Dining Plan I think that the DDE card, which saves 20% on all food and alcohol at Table Service locations, is still our preferred way to save those $$$. It allows for more flexibility and is more suitable for the way we personally like to eat at WDW.
But…….. As a partaker in the Free Disney Dining Plan I must say our experience was pretty amazing, if a little obsessive – not to mention excessive!
*At this point mcsue contemplates the vast amount of food consumed, rubs still very chubby tummy and groans…….

We jotted down the cost of our receipts and found we’d spent/saved just over $1200 on food in 10 days.
The big temptation is to wring the greatest value possible when perusing the menus, but there is so much food available we found that it’s best to choose just what you fancy at the time regardless of price. It’s great value whatever you choose!
As a veggie Paul always chose the cheapest entrée on the menu and even if we’d paid for the plan we’d still be quids in.
We don’t drink sodas with dinner so always had coffee at the end of the meal. We were not allowed an espresso or cappuccino, and most often a cafitiere of coffee was served which I thought tasted very acceptable everywhere we dined.
Our snack credits were spent either on tasty treats from the Food and Wine Festival booths or on prepared fruit cups, melon and pineapple from the food court for breakfast in our room.
Counter Service meals always seemed to come out at around $28 for the two of us we noticed no matter what we ordered.
I’ll admit we chucked a few of the desserts as they tasted very processed and we find fizzy drinks too filling so wherever we could we chose a bottle of orange juice or water as our beverage.
We really didn’t need all of the Counter Service credits, but used them anyway, often out of sheer indulgence.

Service was not in the least bit affected by the use of the plan. Believe me; I would have been aware if it was below par.
Those of you in the know will be aware I can't stand shoddy service, whether I’m paying £5 or £500!
I’d read reports of people feeling they’d received inferior service because they were on the Dining Plan, so was a little circumspect.
I’m pleased to report that I detected no disparity in levels of service whatsoever though, and even tested them out a bit by revealing we were on the plan at different times throughout the meal.
On a couple of occasions I didn’t disclose we were on the Dining Plan till it was time for the check and sometimes mentioned it right from the start of our meal.
It made no difference to how we were treated at any point throughout the meal. The servers we had this time were enthusiastic, helpful and friendly (except the one at Yachtsman’s Steakhouse who made us feel very rushed and was rather brusque, but that was his general personality and nothing to do with the Dining Plan))
The servers are all very familiar with the plan now and not thrown by our using it at all.

I’d done my homework well and was aware of exactly what we were entitled to on the plan, which made it more relaxing for me, but if you are not as obsessive about these things then I suggest you mention you are on the plan as soon as you meet your server and they’ll explain it all to you. They seem to want you to have a good experience and quite often ask you if you are on the plan anyway.

For those of you who’ll be using your DDE card in conjunction with the Disney Dining Plan…..
We used our DDE card for our alcoholic drinks and any extra side dishes at all table service restaurants. With only one exception (Flying Fish) an extra 18% gratuity had automatically been deducted from our credit card.
I’m glad a friend told me this would be the case, as it was what he encountered in May ( jj) I’d have known nothing about this practice otherwise since this is not usually the case when using the DDE, and I prefer to reward my own tipping amounts..
As I say, only once was it not deducted and as a result we chose to give our extremely efficient and friendly waitress, Theresa at the Flying Fish, an extra tip of 30%.
It’s not a biggie and I’m not being tight; but it only happens when the DDE card is used in conjunction with the Dining Plan and nobody ever mentions that is what has been taken before you sign your check.
Only one waiter (Citricos) saw fit to tell us the extra 18% had been deducted and there was no need to leave anything further, the others all left the box open for extra tips.
I know you only have to scour the check to see that an extra 18% has already been deducted but I’m used to making additional tips myself – and I don’t want to be double-checking things at this point, especially as I’ve always had a few glasses of wine by the end of the meal

On the other hand the 18% tip included for all food included on the Dining Plan was very fair in all cases I thought. The level of service was very good (better than in May actually) and that is roughly the amount we usually leave anyway - it was rather nice not to have to keep dipping into the coffers.

I love thinking about, and of course eating food at WDW as you know , but it really is such a lot to eat what with ‘too hard to resist’ appetisers and desserts at every meal. So we swapped an extra couple of our planned Table Service meals (1 credit) for Signature meals (2 credits) so we could enjoy the food more, rather than just plough through it.
We had no problem changing the days and locations of the ADR’s we’d made and got most of the dining times we wanted too. Probably, it was easier with it being just the two of us and also being there right at the end of the free dining period.

Our most excellent meals on the Free Dining Plan were at Flying Fish (2ts) and Citricos (2ts). We had outstanding meals and service at both restaurants.
Coral Reef (1ts) and Kona Café (1ts) were brilliant too, with really tasty food and friendly service.
Wolfgang Puck Express and Tusker House were our tastiest counter service meals and we ate at both locations twice.

The most disappointing meals this time were old faves Chefs de France (1ts) and sad to say, Yachtsman’s Steakhouse (2ts). The food was not up to scratch at all - Paul’s veggie dishes being the better at both locations.
Oh and our burgers at Pecos Bills (cs) were absolutely gross!

Offsite, our faves were Seasons52 and Bluezoo. They are both staying on the list for next time.

We had some more gluttonous good times at the Food and Wine Festival – especially on the evening we met up with Bob and Dawn and their friend Claudia.
It was most satisfying to snack on skewers of spicy South African Durban Chicken and Chinese Chicken Sha Cha and to chomp on lovely lamb chops together with my fellow meat eaters, rather than have a covertly carnivorous nibble alongside my vegetarian hubby
And of course it was terrific to once again meet up for a real life chat with our cyber friends in WDW.
There did seem to be a few more veggie samples on offer this year, although Paul noticed the portions were very small compared to previous visits.

We had some really delicious meals, both on and off the Dining Plan and I am determined to get myself back into the scary realms of the local gym before I book the next holiday, otherwise I’m convinced I shall at some point, spontaneously combust!

Would we take advantage of the Free Disney Dining Plan in the future?
Definitely!
If you enjoy planning, are very keen on your food and like to take some time away from the hustle and bustle of the parks to enjoy quite a few sit down meals it’s a win-win situation!

Now what are we doing next September? Must check the diary and the brochures……
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Old 23 Oct 06, 08:48 PM  
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Sue
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Thanks for that Sue - really appreciate the time you took to compare these things. Great to hear about Coral Reef and Kona, we are doing these and shame about the Yachtsman - hope we don't get that server!
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Old 23 Oct 06, 09:24 PM  
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Useful comparison of DDP and DDE. I'm not convinced the Dining Plan suits the way we eat at WDW, but if it's free how could you resist. It sounds like you made good use of your credits.
Did you encounter restrictions on choices using the Dining Plan? We were asked almost everywhere if we were on the plan when we were first seated (we weren't) I'm just wondering the reason for this.
Looking forward to your reports and pics.
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Old 23 Oct 06, 09:28 PM  
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Hi there - great detailed info, really good to know. One thing though - did you do ADR's for all of your meals and if not, did you find eating at the resturant of your choice at your chosen time difficult? Would you recommend doing ADR's for all table service meals throughout your stay?

Thanks!
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Old 23 Oct 06, 09:44 PM  
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soozicue - your article on the DDP is a recommended read for anyone on the plan. As I've said before it's very well researched and accurate. Our server at YS was BIG Jon, so don't get your Jons muddled in Dec


Loadsapixiedust - Welcome home We didn't have any restrictions I can recall other than moody BIG Jon at YS wouldn't let us have another dessert if we had the dessert platter.

cerigirl - We made all ADRs before we left home but swapped them about quite a bit once we got there with no probs.
In future I'd still make them beforehand - just to make sure we have ressies in the places we really want to eat at, if it turns out to be a busy time once you get there.
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Old 24 Oct 06, 08:15 AM  
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Thanks for this review Sue - we also found that there was way too much food but you felt "obliged" to have a starter and a desert We had about 9 snack and 4 CS credits left over from our 8 days on the plan.

I've ordered the DDE card for our December trip and will use it in the summer as well (although we've booked the dining plan through DVC for the last 3 days) so I will be interested to see how this works for us.

Originally Posted by mcsue
... Would we take advantage of the Free Disney Dining Plan in the future?
Definitely!... …
Would you "purchase" the dining plan if it wasn't free
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Old 24 Oct 06, 09:38 AM  
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That's great to hear Sue, thanks for posting this. What a shame the Yachtsman wasn't upto scratch, I'm looking forward to that next year basedon your past review.

Can't wait to read your food reviews, you're my favourite reviewer on the Dibb!

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Old 24 Oct 06, 11:59 AM  
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Thanks for that Sue, a very detailed comparison.

Our DDE was worth it this year although we don't drink much alcohol, the 20% discount paid for tips. Next year with free DDP we will be 'quids in' although plan to pay for a couple of extra meals. We are not big counter service fans and will probably have a few left over.

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Old 24 Oct 06, 07:36 PM  
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looking forward to your reviews Sue
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Old 25 Oct 06, 12:13 AM  
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Thanks Sue for all the info and insight. Looking forward to all reviews and pics!

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