Is Disney Dining Plan all its cracked up to be?

[married2mm]

Our first few trips -no dining plan.

Free dining seemed like a wonderful idea

First time with ddp: felt we were restricted in where we had to be at certain times & did not enjoy it

We still bought supermarket items as I'm rather selective & for fruit, water etc.

Second time -we actually wanted to switch to qsdp-but would have been charged & simply ate where we wanted, when we wanted and the only adrs we made were for breakfast & didn't worry about left over credits

The following visit we had qsdp and much preferred it...

Then found the art of planning and the full wonders of free dining were discovered

And yes-we still buy extra bits & pieces.

[Floridafour]

For us no. We did it last trip and have opted not to for this August. We just found it stressful and restrictive, we prefer to go with the flow more on holiday,eating where & when we fancy suits us better.

Also, dare I say it it's a LOT of food, too much really & I felt there were times we were eating for the sake of it. Each to their own though & you can't deny the financial side of it especially if you have hungry teenagers to satisfy.

[dx4100]

Originally Posted by matt987106

Freedom ? ? ? in our experience, its completely the opposite, a Lunch / Evening ADR means you are tied to getting to that place in time

If you spend a few days off-site at lets say " uni and IOA " you are left with spare meals, so you either do a 2 X TS meal or you cram in a breakfast and a evening meal, so Ohana for breakfast, day at MK ( its make sense you are next door ) then a evening meal at BOG, you really do watch the clock

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I think its more sense to have a couple of nights at the Hard rock etc and get the express pass if your going to do uni / ioa

[dx4100]

With a 8 and 4 year old the “restrictive” part is something of a bonus. I know everyday at 12 noon we are booked into a resturant and we are all going to be forced to sit down and take a couple of hours out. Its good for us and it’s specially good for the kids. No arguments about where to eat - no indecision. Just an hour or two out of the sun sat down - recharging the batteries.

I can see if your just a couple this would be less than ideal but I think for a family its a no brainier.

[Gally1968]

Have done QS & DDP and cannot find any negatives to be honest. Yes you feel the need to book your ADR’s but these aren’t tablets of stone. We’ve cancelled loads of bookings and got into restaurants of our choice. I think the only time we’ve been unlucky was trying to book Narcoossee’s last minute, otherwise never had an issue.

We never go height of the season to be fair and are quite relaxed re time etc as no youngsters with us.

Having a week in May without the plan, staying at HRH, and expect to spend quite a few $’s on meals but back on DDP in December at AK & other than tips & drinks do not foresee spending much on food.

[blades]

I understand the restrictive and agree as we were quite worried about this but as we only go for a week at a time (some people think it’s mad but it works for us) the ddp was really good so much so that our youth asked if we could go back to the yacht club next year for the food and wine at Epcot

[Guest]

We got free DDP as a couple last year and thought it was excellent. I spent many happy months chopping and changing our plans and never having to worry about looking at the prices. We also chopped and changed a fair bit whilst we were there.

We went to BOG, CRT, Chef Mickey’s, places I don’t think we could have justified the expense of if we were paying cash.

I did not feel remotely restricted, I definitely felt liberated to go wherever I fancied. We did not step foot off site and I don’t think it is that hard to keep a meal reservation. If you want to go somewhere in particular you have to book it anyway, there are few places you can just rock up to because you fancy it on the day.

We thought the quantity of food was fine, we tended to use QS /TS for breakfast and dinner and a snack for lunch. We had some credits left over as we don’t feel the need to stuff our faces at buffets or buy sugary snacks to take home because it is free. I do not get comments about eating too much or being fooded out - three meals is normal for me and I remain in control of what quantity I eat. Nobody force fed me too much food anyway.

We spent some money on alcohol with meals and the occasional starter - we like starters but rarely have a dessert so that part if the plan is a waste for us.

[choccielover]

We’ve done ddp and loved it but I adore the planning aspect.

We didn’t last year as we were in a villa but still did some meals... I didn’t mind paying $160 for a character breakfast but it stung a bit knowing it was “free” the previous year 😂

[HelenJNT]

We are QSDP people at heart but that’s because we have no kids and like to hit the parks from dawn to dusk. The one year we had the dining plan, I think we got it a bit wrong - we booked an evening meal most nights and so felt under pressure all the time to stop what we were doing and get to a restaurant. We gave up in the end, I think mainly as it was so hot and we were so tired that we couldn’t face any more two course meals. I think we had about 4 credits left over.

This year we are back on the DDP but I think it’ll be more manageable as we are staying at the Beach Club where there are so many restaurants within walking distance. I’m going to book more signatures and more breakfasts in order to keep some evenings free. Also, it won’t be as hot in November so hopefully we won’t be as flustered as we were in May.

The one thing that does grind my gears is that I love starters and never eat dessert at home (savoury tooth not sweet) and I felt sad looking at all the lovely starters I’d have to pay extra to have, then wasting a dessert that I never really wanted in the first place. I asked in every single restaurant whether they allowed substitutions for the dessert (like a soup or salad) and was told no in all of them. However, the inclusion of alcohol this year will soften the blow!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by HelenJNT

The one thing that does grind my gears is that I love starters and never eat dessert at home (savoury tooth not sweet) and I felt sad looking at all the lovely starters I’d have to pay extra to have, then wasting a dessert that I never really wanted in the first place. I asked in every single restaurant whether they allowed substitutions for the dessert (like a soup or salad) and was told no in all of them. However, the inclusion of alcohol this year will soften the blow!

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Totally agree with that, I have zero interest in dessert. Going without a starter, especially at a signature feels wrong though.