Walt Disney World Dining Plan

We loved using our plan. We could have anything on the menu, drink and dessert and it was more than we could eat. We didn't need every meal so we used two credits and went to the Brown Derby the last day for dinner and relaxed. Make reservations before you go for dinners using their online system...character restaurants are often two credits, but we lucked out and went to one that had Winnie the Poo characters that was only a one meal pass. Our two year old pitched a fit when we didn't get in line to get Piglet's autograph and the place was a God send. The food and atmosphere of the eateries was great and we couldn't afford to take advantage of them without the plan.

We went to a Seafood place in Epcot that had a tank with scuba divers and swimming by. Liked the French Bakery there too, and should have used more lunch tickets there. MGM: make reservations for the old-fashioned cafe I think it was the 50's cafe, and clean your plate and mind your manners...great fun!

Two more tips: You can use a snack credit sometimes to get cereal and milk or, we just didn't want to mess with taking the time for this so we brought fruit and granola bars to put off hunger. Ate an early lunch or had a snack and then late lunch (we were able to look for seatings that were less popular this way) and if we had an early lunch we tried to do an early dinner. That way we got to go to popular restaurants by being flexible with times. Have fun!

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I have read all of the responses, and noticed that no one has addressed the specific "deluxe" part of your question. We went last summer (going again next month) with the basic dining plan. The only drawback for the deluxe plan is that to get your money's worth, you would have to do all, if not most, of your meals at sit-down restaurants. That is just very time-consuming for our children. We ate breakfast in our room (cereal, honey buns, etc), counter-service for lunch, and a nice, table service for dinner. We did do a couple of things that used 2 table services. We paid for the less expensive meals in order to save up. If you haven't been on Mom's Panel on disney's website, you should check it out. Here is the address: http://disneyworldforum.disney.go.com/home.aspx. I love the panel, have gotten lots of info. Also, Advanced Reservations are a must. Do them ASAP. The hardest to get are Le Cellier and Coral Reef (Epcot). You can also look at menus at http://allears.net/index.html. I do think you save $$, but it is also very nice that meals are paid for when we get there. Hope I've helped!!
K.

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Hi K.,
We went to Disney World this past summer and we also bought the dining plan. I am very glad I did, as it made meal planning one less thing to worry about! I planned several "sit down" meals with differnt characters and then we used several of them at the resort. (The food there isn't too bad!) We also used them at the various parks for water, ice cream, etc. But I tried to watch very carefully not to use them all up before we left. As it turned out, we had snacks and a couple of meals left, so before we checked out, we went to the resort dining area and I let the kids pick out several snacks for the road! (I drove) We got chicken nuggets, or something like that, to share and that used all of our dining plan. I felt it saved me money b.c my daughter, for example, only cost $9.99 per day. You just cant feed anyone on that anymore and she had more than her fill everyday! I kept every receipt and as it turned out, I did save by purchasing the plan, versus us picking restaurants or eating out elsewhere. Seems most of the people at the resort were using dining plan cards too. I would also suggest you make sit down dining reservations in advance, ss we didn't have to wait in any lines to eat. The best meal we had was breakfast at Cape May Cafe (I believe that was the name; it's in a NICE hotel right outside of Epcot) The others were ok, but I wouldn't recomment the Brown Derby. Worst meal, service and was the most expensive; took two sit down meals for all of us. Of course, the dining plan covered itl. You do have to pay for alcohol and any extras so be aware of that also. But all in all, I'd definitely purchase the dining plan again! Have fun! Kaylyn

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We used it when we went last year and we loved it. My kids were older so I didn't have to worry about the character meals (17 yrs & 14 yrs) The coolest thing was that we all picked a place and tried new things. My daughter chose the Moraccan dinner.....not my favorite but she loved it. My son chose the seafood. Since it was already paid for we expanded our horizons and ventured into new areas. It seems like if we have to shell out money immediately we tend to stick with the tried & true but this was like having free meals! Another tip that I received and it saved us TONS was at the park ask for cups of water & not bottle water.....it was free!

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Check this link out for discounts:

http://www.res99.com/nexres/activities/search_results.cgi...

or go to trillionairesluxury.com under Extras, Tickets and Attractions. You can get some GREAT DEALS here.

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Hi K., we went to WDW with our two boys last August, and used the dining plan. I don't think it was the deluxe...but it was really plenty of food. We were very pleased, and my husband and I both felt that it took a lot of stress off of us! I believe deluxe gives you more sit down meals? In our experience, we just chose the restaurant that was in the park/vicinity of where we were on a given day and I made our ADR at that restaurant. We did some of our sit downs at lunch, some at dinner. If you don't get a place that you really want, keep calling and be flexible on your times--but I would lean towards earlier rather than later for dinner. The kids got hungry and tired and after sitting down for dinner we enjoyed the pool at our hotel and getting to bed fairly early. You know you want to be at the parks at opening, right? Sitting down for a meal after waits, etc. even with ADRs takes a chunk of time so doing that more than once a day is, IMHO, taking away valuable park time!

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The dining plan is great. It allows you to try all sorts of food without the guilt of the pricing involved at some of the restaurants. Most sit down restaurants are close to $20 per plate for the entree alone.

Biggest piece of advice, plan what parks you are going to go to on what days. Then make reservations for the restaurants you want to dine in (sit down restaurants). We went in 07 on our familymoon and with the wedding prior to our going, I never sat down and made reservations at the restaurants. We did it when we got there, and by that time didn't get to dine in a couple of places that we wanted.

I will never go to Disney again without the dining plan.

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You most definately need to by the dining plan. It saved us alot of money and it was so much food. It is definately a must when going to Walt Disney World. Have fun!!!

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We just went last June and LOVED it! You get so much food!! One great fast food, but nice place was Wolf Gang Puck's restaurant at the pier with all the shopping. It was a boat ride from Port Orleans resort, so I can't remember. Wow, you just get so much food! The snacks are great and you just have to figure out the best strategy. One thing that someone told us was to get the water bottle, you can get one of those huge Smart Waters as one of your morning drinks. We took that and just re-filled it at the fountains and would sometimes put the Crystal lite powder in them. One drink counts a snack, so we just did that so we could have snacks instead. My favorite snack was in Epcot at the French pastry place. MMMMmmm. Believe it or not, we had lost weight there from all the walking even though we ate so much. OH, we did use double our dining points at Whispering Canyon and that was a BLAST! We must have been there 4 hours with all they have going on, its kind of like another event. My only other advice is to make sure your children are getting the kids meals at your resort. Our son would get a personal pizza and it was not on his plan. So, he ended up using our dining points and then we missed out on a lot more food we could have taken back to our room. Apple pie for breakfast baby! ;)

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My parents took our entire family to Disney for their 45th wedding anniversary 2 years ago and got us all the meal plan. I am not sure of the cost savings (they wanted us all to be able to eat together) because they paid for it. However, it was very handy if you want to be organized. You can plan ahead for the day and choose where you may want to eat. It does make it a lot easier because you don't have to carry around cash. We really enjoyed it. I would recommend keeping track of your meals and snack so you make sure you use them all before you leave. We had a bunch of snacks left over so we went to the gift shop at the polynesian and bought snacks for the flight home. Please feel free to message me if you have any specific questions.

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My husband and I went in October and used the meal plan. We liked having the meal plan for all the reasons others have stated. On our plan, every day we each had one counter service, one sit-down meal, and one snack each day. We like to eat breakfast, so we used one of our counter-service meals for breakfast and split it, one counter-service meal for lunch and split it, and then a sit-down meal in the evening. We had plenty of food and were using up the rest of our snacks on the last day. The only sit-down meal we thought was worth it was the character breakfast. You may find the Deluxe Plan to be too much food depending on how much you like to eat. Have a fun trip!

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