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Disney dining plan? If fancy dinners not important to you is it worth it? |
Travel Info Two adults going to WDW in December. We don't really care about sit down fancy dinners and we are finding some of the restaurants that sound nice are ALL READY booked NOW! I don't want to have to decide now what I want to eat in 6 months! I understand the financial value of the plan, but it you are only going to end up eating food court burgers or resort buffets is it worth it? I want the focus of my vacation to be on fun, rides, shops and souveniers. Can I forgo the dining plan and not starve while there? Isn't there a McDonald's? Travel Tips If you don't want to eat at the nicer restaurants there really is no reason to get the dining plan, since half of your meals would be for sit down meals. For example, if you go 5 nights, you would get 5 counter service, 5 table service and 5 snacks. It is a great plan and well worth the money, but only under a few circumstances. 1). If you plan to eat at the sit-down restaurants, you won't be able to get them for less than you can on the plan. 2). You want to have everything paid for ahead of time so you don't have to worry about it when you are there. 3). You can get reservations for the places you want to go. If you only want counter service and maybe a few sit-downs you will probably be better going with out. Counter service meals usually average around $10 per person, give or take a little depending on what you will be eating. Some counter service places are a little nicer than others, so doing a little research can really help. If you can't get reservations that is another reason not to get it. There is nothing worse than already having meals paid for and then not being able to get into anything nice. If there is any place you really want to go, you should try to get a reservation or you may not be able to get in. Since the dining plan is so popular the Disney restaurants can sell out fast. If you don't want to be tied down to reservations than you may want to consider staying away from sit-down meals in general. When you do sit-down meals you really should reserve them so you know you have some place to go. It can take a little enjoyment out of the day when you have to watch the time to make sure you don't miss dinner, but I think you kind of learn to get used to it. If you want to enjoy the parks more and have a good time and don't care about where you eat, then going with counterservice is the way to go. You may have a line when you get there, but usually it isn't too long. And, in most cases it is the only way you can just walk in to eat. Since counter service meals don't take reservations you don't have to worry about not getting in. Normally I do recommend the dining plan, it is a great plan, saves money and you get nice meals. But, for your situation I think you would be better off without. Not sure if you will have a car or not. If so you can go all over Orlando for meals. There are several McDonalds outside of Disney and one right in Downtown Disney as well. Hope this helps Have a great time Others Its not worth it, but depend on what you would like. McDonald?? Its all over the world, but isn't it a kids snack? There are TONS of ADULT restaurant in Orlando especially along International Drive. You would have TOO MANY choices. There are plenty of counter-service restaurants you can eat at. So if you don't want to eat at sit-down, you don't need the dining plan. It does stink how you can't get in anymore except months in advance! We did the dining plan but would not do it again. You feel tied to eating a certain restaurants (fast food and sit down) and we left with points remaining. I was especially disappointed with the dinners. First, we couldn't get into anywhere we wanted to go, they were full. The ones we could get into were not on the list of excepted restaurants. We made reservations early for the Luau and our seats were terrible. The last night we were there we made reservations for the Wolfgang Puck restaurants and nearly killing ourselves getting across Disney World in time for our reservations we told that our dining plan was for the cafe (downstairs) and not the nice part of the restaurant upstairs. The staff was VERY nasty and we we seated downstairs where we didn't need reservations at all. It was a very disappointing evening. If the focus is fun - don't spend the money for dining plan. We just returned and would not do the dining plan again. i hope you are not going the week after Christmas as this is the busiest week of the year and crowds are terrible! After Jan. 2 - the park is relatively empty, weather is good and no lines! Snack, bring a backpack and enjoy the rides, shopping and more without tying yourselves down with reservations! ENJOY!! recent experience My sister & I were there last spring. We stayed at one of the cheap disney hotels (Pop Century Resort I think, it was like $99 a night) & didn't get the dining plan. We were fine, we did book 1 nice restaurant and then the rest we did at our hotel, which is much like a food court, they had places you could order food, or a cooler that had sandwiches, salads, etc. It was fairly reasonable, we brought our own bagels so in the mornings all we had to do was buy cream cheese from the little food court. We paid the $12 for the disney cup but it was free refills on soda for the rest of the visit from our dining hall, so I think it was worth the $12, because we were there for a few days.... Our Disney hotel room also had a small fridge, so I'm sure you can bring some of your own food. While we were in the parks at lunch we just stopped off and got a burger or sandwich, most of those restaurants don't require reservations, if you don't mind sitting outside at the picnic tables. Also there is a McDonald's at downtown Disney, I think there is also some other restaurants there, which is not inside a park and it is more like an outdoor mall. |
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