No dining plan - would you eat anywhere onsite?

[sunseeker100]

Hi everyone so we’re staying offsite again and have a good list of foods and restaurants offsite to tick off. We’ve never had the dining plan and never eaten at a Disney restaurant other than the counter service places, but am I missing anything? I’m tempted by Garden Grill and maybe Homecoming at DS, but not sure if they are worth paying out of pocket for...

Thoughts and recommendations of what you would pay OOP for would be great thanks

[Uptonspark]

In the days before the dining plan we used to eat at the following, Mama Melrose, Artist Point, Coral Reef, Tonys and a couple more in the Disney Village that no longer exist! (Blimey i'm def getting old)

[elliemay]

we never have a dining plan just go where we fancy at the time

[Andi]

We ate in that many restaurants at Disney in November, paid for, that we decided we would mostly just use counter service in August. However, we will be going to Yak and Yeti as we are very happy to pay every time to eat at Yak and Yeti in Animal Kingdom.

[sunseeker100]

Thanks for the replies. Yak and Yeti could be an option 😀

[nquart]

Do you have children? Do you like characters or fine dining?

Garden grill is good food & characters - bonus!

We all loved Tusker House (2 adults, 5 year old) as the food had some different options but also the usual fare, plus characters.

hot dogs at Casey's corner were huge & very tasty, we shared 2 foot longs between 3.

Heard lots of good things about Columbia Harbour House, plus different options to the usual burgers /chips/nuggets etc.

We booked an 8am breakfast at Be Our Guest but only paid for cakes & drinks, got free pastries & were first in the queue for the fairy tale hall, can also be a good way to get on popular rides such as 7DMT and Peter pan.

[Guest]

I wouldn’t pay OOP for Garden Grill or any of the buffet / family style. I would pay for Chef Arts and I would pay for the odd signature for a treat.

[sunseeker100]

Originally Posted by nquart

Do you have children? Do you like characters or fine dining?

Garden grill is good food & characters - bonus!

We all loved Tusker House (2 adults, 5 year old) as the food had some different options but also the usual fare, plus characters.

hot dogs at Casey's corner were huge & very tasty, we shared 2 foot longs between 3.

Heard lots of good things about Columbia Harbour House, plus different options to the usual burgers /chips/nuggets etc.

We booked an 8am breakfast at Be Our Guest but only paid for cakes & drinks, got free pastries & were first in the queue for the fairy tale hall, can also be a good way to get on popular rides such as 7DMT and Peter pan.

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No children just 2 food loving adults and yes we do like the characters

Seen so many nice meals on trip reports but never sure if the person has eaten there because of the food, or because they have dining plan. Thanks for your suggestions x

[sunseeker100]

Originally Posted by Claudette

I wouldn’t pay OOP for Garden Grill or any of the buffet / family style. I would pay for Chef Arts and I would pay for the odd signature for a treat.

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I think that is what I’m leaning to tbh

[joanna23]

I’ve used the dining plan to eat in most of the recommended places both QS and Table. There isn’t any of them that I think are worth the value unfortunately. We usually have weeks offsite and the food experience is just as good.