Disney Dining Plan...Is it Worth the Money?

Ok...I am going to be more open than I would ever be with something as personal as the costs of our vacation. So many friends and clients struggle with whether or not they should pay for the "Disney Dining Plan." Disney advertises the plan as a "savings" to your overall food budget but what I wanted to do on this last trip is determine if there truly is a savings or not.

Here is the plan in a nutshell. A family of 4 would pay in advance for meals and snacks that they will be eating during their WDW vacation. Disney gives you credits on your resort room key that you then use each time you eat snack or meal. So say that you and your family will be staying 7 nights. The cost is determined by how many adults (ages 10 and up) and how many children (ages 3-9) there are in your party. So a family of 2 adults and 2 children would pay $39.98 per adult and $10.98 per child (and then multiply that by the number of nights staying, 7) for a total of $713.44. That would be the cost without tips and any extra meals and snacks. The plan gives you the following credits per night, per person: 1 Table Service (TS), 1 Counter Service (CS) and 1 snack. So each person in this scenario would get 7 TS, 7 CS, and 7 snack credits. I hope you are following me so far. So one thing that needs to be pointed out is that there is technically a meal credit missing in the plan. On the plan...you will be eating at least one meal a day out of pocket on average. So you have to consider extra meal costs as well as the added tips that are no longer a part of the package to get a true cost.

With all of that said and explained...let me know get to our trip and actual costs. Had we paid for the plan, I figured our "actual Dining plan costs" would have been:

Dining Plan (2 adults, 7 nights)= $559.72
Tips (est.) =$105.00
Extra Snacks/Misc=$64.00
Extra Meal per day(CS)=$161.00
Estimated Total for 2 adults, 7 nights=$889.72

Now keep in mind that the above totals include at least 7 TS meals. Now since we were not on the plan, we only scheduled 4 TS meals and had one lunch at a restaurant at Downtown Disney that would have also used a TS credit for a total of 5 TS meals and the rest being CS.

We kept receipts for every food related purchase so we would have our exact costs to the penny. Here is how much we spent:

Dinners (any tips included): $262.12
Lunch (any tips included): $275.88
Breakfast (any tips included): $165.22
Snacks: $214.01
Grand Total: $917.23

Now this total takes into account food we bought going to and coming home from Walt Disney World. Even if you consider the fact that we would have been able to eat at least 2 more TS restaurants during our trip had we been on the dining plan, it still would not have been a "cost savings." And as you can see...we enjoyed SEVERAL snacks during our trip which were above the 1 snack credit that you get with the plan.

So the question is...is the Dining Plan Worth it?? The final answer...it depends. :) Here is what I mean by that. If you are one who can eat only a light snack or meal in place of the one the plan does not cover and if you are someone who can maybe bring grocery items with you so you can eat that meal in the room and if you are someone that can do just fine with 1 snack per day (i.e an ice cream bar, bottle of water etc), then you are someone that can probably make the plan work for you and your family and possible make it a savings.

But so many people do not add in the costs of the extra snacks, tips and meals that they spend money on above and beyond the plan. Also...the Dining plan demands rigid and well-organized meal planning. You are only able to make ADR's 90 days in advance of your trip and everyone on the plan is anxiously awaiting that date so they can get into their favorite restaurants. This means you have to be willing to plan things out and have every day set well in advance of your trip. For some...that works perfect. But for others who like to hop from park to park or who decide they are really just ready to go back to the resort, having a set schedule can be more of a hassle and stressful. For example...on a day we did not have an ADR, we entered Animal Kingdom for morning EMH's. We had done everything on our "wish" list by 10:30AM so we decided to head back to the resort and then hop over to the Magic Kingdom later that day. If we would have had an ADR in the Animal Kingdom for later that afternoon or evening, we would have felt the need to stay in a park or come back to park that we were technically finished with. Having some select ADR's leaves room for change in your schedule where the Dining Plan demands that you have a set schedule which is perfect for a lot of folks.

So that is why I say it is worth it for some and not for others. The cost savings are no where near the 40% that Disney advertises so please do not make the decision to go with the plan based on the idea you will save a lot of money. At best shoot for a break-even and know you have at least several good TS meals.

And also beware of those special TS meals which take 2 credits such as Cinderella's Round Table.

I hope this helps give a truer picture of what the plan costs and please let me know if you have any questions and I welcome your comments.

Disney Dining Review 2009

I wanted to write a quick review of the dining experiences we had during this last trip to Walt Disney World. Dining is a big part of anyone's trip to the "Happiest Place on Earth." If you are someone who also takes advantage of Disney's "Dining Plan," you also know how important it is to have your all of your reservations planned out well in advance of your actual trip date.

So with that said, here is my summary and critique of the dining venues we chose to visit during our stay.

Our first advance dining reservation (ADR) was at "The Sci-fi Dinner Theater" in Hollywood Studios. The experience is what you pay for here. You are seated in a mock 1950's car where you face a big movie screen which is playing old 1950's black and white sci-fi movie trailers. The inside of the restaurant is constructed to feel like you are outside at an old drive-in theater. Everyone seated in one of the "cars" is facing forward so a party of 6 in a car would all be looking forward out the front of the car towards the movie screen. It is just a overall fun experience. The food, on the other hand, was mediocre. The dinner menu choices were somewhat limited and offered what I will call an eclectic selection. I had the butcher steak which came out over cooked and the veggies were already cool by the time my food arrived. So the food there does not really get a passing grade from me. The shakes, on the other hand, do. My wife commented that her shake was one of the best she ever had. So if you just want a fun place to dine during your trip, then this might be the place. We will probably look to other places now that we have experienced it this one time.

Our next ADR was a character breakfast at the Tusker House inside the Animal Kingdom (Donald's Safari Breakfast). This gets an overall grade of A+ from us. The buffet was well laid out so you never had to wait to get something on your plate. The food was hot and kept plentiful on the buffet line. But here is where it really makes the grade; for you who have children, the characters made their rounds quickly and easily. Everyone had the chance to get their picture made and autograph books signed. The staff also encouraged the children to join in on a parade with one of the characters around the restaurant. Just a great experience and one we will probably try to book again in the future.

Next...we had an ADR at The Coral Reef in Epcot. This was our most expensive meal during the trip. The main choices are either fish or steak. Since it is a ocean-themed venue, we chose to try a couple of the fish selections and were both fantastic. I would grade the food here an A-. The restaurant has a huge glass wall looking into a giant fish aquarium. It was nice to just sit there and watch the variety of fish swim by and our view was fine even though we were seated about as far away from the aquarium as you could get. The only major issue I had with the experience is that it was loud. You pay a lot of money to eat here ($80+ for 2 without dessert or alcohol) and you sort of expect a nice quiet dining experience. But since it is a restaurant on the dining plan, you will get large groups and families which can make for a not-so quiet experience and lacks the ambiance that you would expect for a $80-100 meal somewhere else. But I have no problem recommending this restaurant to someone else and we will probably visit it again someday.

Our last ADR was at Mama Melrose in Hollywood Studios. This is an Italian themed restaurant with a California twist. The decor is Italian intermingled with items representing Southern California. As with every ADR on this trip...we were seated quickly, but our service was very slow. This ADR was on a Sunday afternoon and was a part of the Fantasmic Dinner Package. The package includes a fixed price menu where you can select one appetizer per person, one entree and one dessert and a non-alcoholic beverage. The package also then gets you into a reserved seating area for watching the show "Fantasmic" (more on that in a bit). The food, once it arrived, was good. We were a little surprised to see the lack of actual pasta dishes in the menu (no typical lasagna offering or spaghetti and meatballs), but our choices were still good. For the price though, as a part of the package, it was not worth the extra money. Because they have now cut the Fantasmic show down to only a few nights a week, they still recommend those who pay for the package to line up at least 1 hour early which to me negates the value of the dinner package. Overall...the slow service and loud 60's California-themed music took away from the experience for us at this restaurant. We might give it a second chance on a future visit.

Those were the 4 table service restaurants (TS) we chose to eat at during our trip. The dining surprise on our trip were those places outside of the parks, but still on Disney property. I cannot say enough good things about "Everything Pop" which is the food court area inside the Pop Century Resort. Keep in mind I am speaking of counter service meals now versus the table service venues above, but we actually felt like we got more of our money's worth at the Pop then we did at any of our ADR's minus the character breakfast. Everything Pop had choices ranging from Salmon to beef stir fry to pizza to a bacon double cheeseburger. And on each night, they offered a "Mom's special" featuring some form of comfort food that your mom would have made back at home. We tried Mom's fried chicken and it was fantastic. Breakfast choices were also abundant ranging from omelets to pancakes to healthier choices. Some may disagree with me, but I feel our money was better spent eating back at the Pop then in most of the TS venues we chose on this trip. I haven't even mentioned the dessert choices yet at the Pop which ranged from a "tie-dyed cheesecake to hand made sundaes.

The next "out of park" meal that we had was at Downtown Disney. This meal was our best meal during our trip. We ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe. Since it is on Disney Property, you can still eat there as a part of the dining plan or pay using your resort room key. We got seated immediately for lunch on a Saturday without any need of an ADR. Our service was what you expect at a place where the lunch is going to cost $40+ for 2. And the food was the best on our entire trip. You have to try their bacon wrapped meatloaf. All I can say is WOW! Their wood-fired pizzas are also fantastic. Don't overlook the dining choices at Downtown Disney during your trip. It was a nice break away from the crowds and noise of most of the venues inside the parks.

The 2 counter-service restaurants I will mention are Flame Tree Barbecue inside Animal Kingdom and the Columbia Harbor House in the Magic Kingdom. Food is good, not great, but the thing we like is the abundance of seating. Flame Tree's seating goes way back, further than people think and it is all mostly in the shade. In fact...I saw one man sitting on a ledge eating because he did not realize how much seating there was further back.

Columbia Harbor House is a step better because its seating is indoors. This counter service venue has seating upstairs as well as down and it is huge. We have gone during peak lunch times and have never seen every seat filled. We can usually find a window seat overlooking either part of Fantasyland or Liberty Square.

This concludes my short dining review. Next I will be writing a note which gives details of actual food costs and then comparing that with the "actual cost" of the Disney Dining Plan.

Walt Disney World Vacation 2009

Day 1: Arrival

Wow...what a day. We got up at the crack of dawn in Kansas City to catch our 6:45AM flight to Orlando. Flight was great and actually arrived in Orlando at 10:20AM (Southwest Airlines). We headed for Magical Express and was on our designated bus by 10:50AM. Our driver had a couple of issues which made what is normally a 35-40 minute drive from the airport to your resort into about a 60 minute trip. We had taken advantage of Disney's online check in which made checking into our resort a breeze. We dropped a couple of things off at the room and headed for the bus bound for EPCOT. We were in EPCOT by 1:00PM and went straight to the Land Pavilion where we got one of the last "Fastpasses" for Soarin and then ate lunch at Sunshine Seasons.

After lunch we headed for Mission Space and Test Track. Mission Space was only a 15 minute wait so we jumped right in line. Test Track on the other hand was at least a 60 minute wait so we opted to get in the single rider line and just so happened ended up in the same ride car anyways and was on riding Test Track in 10 minutes.

After Test Track we headed over Spaceship Earth (15 minute wait) and then into World Showcase to walk through Mexico and then head over to Paris to grab a quick snack at our favorite sweet shop (see picture on profile). After that we headed over to visit The Seas with Nemo and Friends (no wait at all) and then got right in to see "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" 3D Show. We then headed back over to Mission Space and got right on (5 minute wait or less) and then back to Mexico for a quick dinner.

After dinner it was time to head to Soarin to use our Fastpasses and got on within 20 minutes. The standby line was still 60 minutes at 6:45PM. After Soarin...back into the World Showcase to take our normal stroll "around the world" before finding our seat for Illuminations near Morocco.

We got in every ride on our list in basically a half of a day. We waited only 16 minutes to catch our bus back to Pop Century and, after walking through "Everything Pop" we were back in our room by 10:30PM.

Tomorrow....Hollywood Studios. :)

Day 2: Hollywood Studios

Having a great day today. Weather...low 80's and no a bit of humidity. After a short 15 minute bus ride to Disney's Hollywood Studios, we waited a brief 10 minutes for the park to officially open. Due to the popularity of the new Toy Story Mania attraction, we headed straight there as soon as the park opened. We opted to get in line for the ride instead of jumping in line to get a Fastpass which so many did. Our wait was only 15 minutes so we then headed for the Fastpass booths after the ride and were able to obtain one for later that afternoon (shortly after lunch). After that...we headed for Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster. Got a Fastpass for RnR and jumped in line for ToT which was only a 20 min wait for stand by.

Crowds overall are medium. 60 minutes for TSM and 45 minutes for RnR seem to be what you can expect today of you don't have a FP. We also were able to ride Star Tours with only a 2 minute wait. The surprise of the day was the show "The Magic of Disney Animation." Here is a nice tip. If you have children (or if you are big kids like us), after the show you exit into an area where you can have photo ops with Mickey and several other characters with little or no lines. Yes...we got our picture with Mickey!

Around 1:30PM...we decided it was time to head back to our resort for some R&R and are planning on being back in Hollywood Studios later on for the extra magic hours and also our ADR at Disney's Sci-Fi Theater Restaurant. (Side note: acronyms are huge among Disney fans so if you are not sure what some mean, send me a note and I can give you the official cheat sheet.)

Not going to write too much tonight due to being a little worn out from a great day. We made it back to Hollywood Studios by about 6:00Pm where we headed to The Great Movie Ride which had zero people in line so we got right on which worked perfect for our ADR at the Sci-fi Dinner Theater (more about the dining later). Since it was EMH's, we were able to ride the big 3 again before the 10PM closing time. So to quickly recap, we rode ToT and TSM 3 times today and RnR twice. That is a sign of a great day!

Tomorrow...the Magic Kingdom.

Day 3: The Magic Kingdom

It was "Extra Magic Hours" in the morning. We were able to ride Buzz Lightyear, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad all before 9:00AM. After our usual morning breakfast in the Magic Kingdom at the Bakery on Main Street, we then headed for Fantasyland where we were able to ride Dumbo, Pinocchio, It's a Small World, watch Mickey's Philharmagic and the Haunted Mansion before crowds got too bad. The longest wait time we had before lunch was 20 minutes and that was for Pinocchio.

We ate at our favorite counter service restaurant where Fantasyland and Liberty Square meet called the Columbia Harbor House. Here is a tip: If you want a nice place to eat a quick meal and be able to have indoor seating, try the Columbia Harbor House. They mainly offer chicken or fish, but you can usually find a good indoor seat out of the heat of the day.

After lunch we noticed that the crowds were getting heavy due to the arrival of the "grads" for "Grad Night" on Friday and Saturday so we headed back to the resort for some rest and pool time. After our break...we loaded back on the bus to head back to Magic Kingdom for some late night rides, Spectromagic and the Wishes Fireworks Show.

Day 4: The Animal Kingdom

This was a day were were extra excited about. We had an 8:10AM ADR at the Tusker House for Donald's Safari Breakfast. This is one I would highly recommend. The characters incuded Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Daisy and they made their rounds in a very orderly fashion and made sure everyone, even the adults, had their picture opportunities. The buffet was easy to work around and had all of the usual fare plus some unique African items. Since we were so close to the Kiliminjaro Safari, we immediately headed there first. The animals were out and very active this morning. The weather was ideal for the ride and we had some up close encounters with some Giraffes and Rhinos. After that it was time to head to Expedition Everest where the line was not too long as of yet so we rode after a short 15 minute wait and then got another fastpass and then headed for Dinoland where we got on Dinosaur immediately. Primeval Whirl did not have their fastpass machines working so we opted not to wait 40 minutes for that attraction and instead decided it was time to see "It's Tough to be a Bug."

We then headed to see Nemo, the Musical (I highly recommend) and then made our way to lunch at the Flame Tree Barbecue. This is a good counter service option due to it having a lot of seating and shade.

After lunch we made our way to our fabvorite,

After the shows and after riding Expedition Everest one more time, we decided it was time for a break again and we headed back to our resort.

We had an 8:20PM ADR for Coral Reef in Epcot so we hopped on the bus and made it into Epcot by 7:00PM. We were able to ride Spaceship Earth, Nemo and Living with the Land before it was time for our dinner. We were some of the lucky ones at dinner. When we checked in, we found out that the restaurant's computer system had crashed so they were very backed up and said we could be later getting into to eat. Well...we were actually seated right on time but found out by listening to others that some had waited over an hour to be seated for dinner even though they had an ADR.

I plan on writing an entire note later on the dining experiences so I will just leave you with that.

After dinner we were able to ride Mission Space again and Soarin due to evening Extra Magic Hours. We also took a nice stroll through Mexico and Norway where we stopped in one of Norway's snack/sweet shops and enjoyed an authentic Norwegian pastry for our dessert.

Tomorrow....Downtown Disney

Day 5: Downtown Disney

Today was our rest and relaxation day. You have to have one of these if you are staying more than 5 nights at WDW. We slept in, ate a nice breakfast at the resort and then headed out for some shopping.

When you need a break from the parks...nothing better to do than shop. No better place to shop than Downtown Disney. The shopping there is second to none. We spent most of our time in the "Art of Disney" and in the "World of Disney."

We also spent some time in Disney Quest. DQ, as I will call it, is an interactive experience where you can be "in the game" via simulation and 3D. It is a place where the whole family can join in on the fun with a 3D Pirates of the Caribbean experience or a simulated raft ride down a raging river. After taking our time getting to know the layout and enjoying some of the games...we headed back out for some more shopping and lunch.

I have to say that our best lunch during our entire trip was here at Downtown Disney. We were able to get right in at the Wolfgang Puck Cafe. The food and service were terrific. More about that when I do a "Disney Dining review."

After lunch and a snack at DD, we then headed back to our resort for some more pool time and a nice leisurely dinner at "Everything Pop."

Tomorrow...Hollywood Studios again

Day 6: Hollywood Studios

We entered the park later in the afternoon and headed for a few of attractions we had yet to visit like Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. We had a 3:35 ADR at Mama Melrose as a part of the Fantasmic Dinner Package. Here is something new and not necessarily a good thing. Fantasmic is now only being shown on certain nights. Because of that...crowds are now lining up 2 hours in advance of the show times. If you do the Fantasmic Dinner package, which gives you priority seating at the show, they are still telling you to be in line up to an hour early to be guaranteed a seat. That is a long time to wait for seating that you are supposed to be guaranteed as a part of you paying for the dinner package. So I cannot recommend paying for the dinner package any longer.

We ended up skipping out on Fantasmic and tried to get in some of our favorite attractions again before closing time. We were able to ride ToT, TSM, ST's and RnR again so we really felt we did well at this park. In fact...we were able to get a late Fastpass for TSM which tells you the crowds were much better now that "Grad NIght" was over.

Tomorrow....Free Day!

Day 7: Free Day

We left this as a free day on our schedule so we could make it a day to visit any park where we felt we didn't get enough time previously. We decided to head first to AK again for morning EMH. This turned out to be a great decision. We walked on Dinosaur (no wait) and then walked on Primeval Whirl (no wait) and then headed for Expedition Everest. Not only did we also walk right on again, but we were able to get off and walk back on 4 times and all of this before the official 9AM opening. After the park opened up to the rest of the public, we took a walk through the Maharajah Jungle trek where the tigers were out and active. We also then headed for Kali River Rapids and once again...walked right on. After Kali...we walked right into "It's Tough to be a Bug." After the show we looked at our watches and realized we had done all of this before 10:30AM. We felt very satisfied and also noted that the crowds were getting heavier so we opted to leave and catch a bus back to our resort where we had a nice lunch again at "Everything Pop." We again had some R&R before hopping on a bus headed for the Magic Kingdom. We had 3 goals in mind when we reached the MK; ride Splash Mountain again, see Mickey's Philharmagic again and shop some more. We were able to get a FP for Splash Mountain so we headed back to Fantasyland to watch Philharmagic. It was obvious that the crowds in Fantasyland and Frontierland were heavier due to the refurbishment of Space Mountain. There were long waits at most attractions (50-60+mins). Tomorrowland, on the other hand felt empty. We were able to get into ride Buzz again with little or no line. We got in our Splash Mountain ride and decided we should work our way out of the park by shopping down Main Street and also enjoying one last snack at the Main Street Bakery (they have the best cinnamon rolls). Here is another tip: If you are going to splurge on something...make sure you first splurge on adding the "Park Hopper"option to your park tickets. Today proved its value. We had really done all we wanted to do in AK before lunch time. If you do not have the hopper option, you are either stuck staying at a park that you are really finished with or just having to go back to your hotel or resort. The Park Hopper option gives you flexibility which allowed us the chance to spend the afternoon at another park and focus on a few more things we wanted to do before our trip was over.

We "hopped" at least twice on this trip and really were thankful we had that option and flexibility.

Well...this brings us to the conclusion of our latest journey to "The House of Mouse." we spent our last morning hanging out at the resort before catching our 2:15PM bus back to the airport. Stay tuned later for my dining review as well as my update of my analysis of the Disney Dining plan. Thanks for following along with us. This trip was a celebration of my wife's 5 year mark of being cancer free so it was truly a celebration for both of us.