When You Went to Disney Did You Use the Dining Plan?

oh yes we did. it was a lifesaver as disney food is very expensive. in fact i remember distinctly after having dinner (with all the appetizers, main course, and yummi dessert), they bring out the bill and you see how much that would have cost and for my husband and myself and our 2 year olds would have been 200+, we always left tip though. so yes i highly recommend it. use www.mousesavers.com to see if there are any specials (coupon codes) you can use when making the booking.

we did not use the meal plan and we ended up spending a massive amount on eats and drinks. I think when we go on our next trip (which won't be a for a few years) we will most definitely look into the meal plans. I have a girlfriend who goes every few years and she says that it is definitely worth it to purchase the dining plan!!! Hope y'all have a good and safe trip!!!

We didn't do the meal plan. Instead, I packed bottles of water in a backpack with granola bars, fruit, and crackers. We ate a big breakfast at the hotel, then ate one meal a day around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and when we did, the kids shared an adult meal. Other than that 1 big meal, we just gave the kids and ourselves healthy snacks that we brought. We only spent about $30 on food per day this way for 2 adults and 2 kids. It was cheap! We went through 8 bottles of water, just to give you an idea of how much you should pack!

We went 2 years in a row a few years back when my granddaughter was 3 and 4. We used the plan and LOVED it. At the end, we had a lot of snacks left over but we just got some of the Mickey Mouse Chocolate-covered Rice Krispie Treats to bring home to share with her preschool class. That was a hit. We LOVED the character meals each day and when we got our receipt, we saw how much more it would have cost without the plan. Take comfortable shoes and have a great time!

Some friends of mine looked into it and they said it is totally worth it IF you do character meals with it. They chose NOT to do it because they felt it was MORE expensive than to just buy one or two fast meals in the parks. LOTS of hotels offer nice breakfasts for FREE so you can eat a good meal before you go....... (This family is very money conscious and did the math to come to this.....)

We just went in Jan. and stayed in a condo/timeshare. So we ate a large homemade breakfast before going to the parks, packed sandwiches and items for lunch and snacks, and then left the parks between 6 and 7:30 at night to go "home" for a nice sit down home cooked supper. Walmart was close so we just picked up some food from there and did our own cooking. It saved a TON of money........ We DID do ONE character meal though. Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. Our daughter loves the princesses and it was worth it to see her face! (She was almost 5 and our son was 2 1/2. There were 6 adults and the 2 kids.)

PS> On a side note. IF you do ANY character meals, MOST fill up fast. You need to book them 90 days from the day of your trip! Whether you do the plan or not........

we did two years ago....and we loved it and wouldn't go without using it again. we got to do a character meal everyday which the kids loved and in fact so did we. we went with another family and we had a total of 3 kids....ages 6,7,&8. and if you have any snack credits left they have mickey mouse animal crackers which make a wonderful sovenoir for friends!!!!

We went a few years ago and LOVED the Dining Plan. We kept the receipts for all of our meals and calculated that we were close to $1200 in food and drink, all fo rhte $575 cost of the Dining Plan. It has probably gone up by now, but I am sure all of the prices have. A "food court" meal at the All Star resort would have cost the four of us almost $60 per meal. We were able to use our hotel concierge to make any reservations we needed for sit down meals and loved every place he sent us. We did two character meals, one was an early morning breakfast, that would have cost around $200. We did book the character meals a few months before our trip. We ended up with "snacks" leftover at the end of the week. My son went into the Food Court market at the resort and used the rest of our snacks to buy all of his friend the mickey rice krispie treats. That was a great treat when we returned home. I HIGHLY recommend the Dining Plan. I also have a friend who goes to Disney every year and they use the plan every trip.

We used the dining plan and loved it. We did character meals almost every day. You don't have to pay for the kids under 3 and they either share off your plate, or some places actually let them order a meal for free. We had the plan with 1 table service and 1 counter service and 1 snack. We paid for me, my husband and our 6 year old and had more than enough to share with our 1 and 2 year olds.

We went last month and did NOT use the plan. It seemed too complicated, and we just prefer to pay as we go. We wanted more flexibility. Sometimes our kids eat traditional "kids meals" but sometimes our 10 year old eats an appetizer or a little something from the adult menu, sometimes we share things, share beverages, have a bigger snack and a lighter meal by the pool, DH is vegetarian, etc. I'm thinking we might have often paid for food we didn't eat if we used the plan. We have 2 girls, ages 8 and 10. Character meals are not our thing. We go for the attractions at the parks and pool/hotel recreation, food is not the focus. We ate every breakfast in our room (cereal, muffins, etc), did a quick fast-lunch at the parks (actually the fast-service food was quite good, except Pizzafari at Animal Kingdom, which was awful), and a sit-down restaurant only for most of our dinners. Even with older kids, you never know when the family can't do another table-service meal, especially at the pace of a WDW vacation. I do highly recommend using the WDW web site and making advanced dining reservations. It was so slick, we hardly waited at all during the peak season, week before Easter. And there is no penalty for not showing on most of the places if you find yourself otherwise occupied on that day and time. Good luck, I so love WDW, you will have a great time!!!

We have stayed at the All Star Resorts at Disney many times and did not need the Dining Plan. I work in the travel industry and even with any discounts that I could get at offsite properties, we choose to stay on the Disney property. The nice thing about the All Star Resorts is that each one has its own "food court". The "food court" has everything that children love to eat.....nothing fancy or crazy priced. They also have insulated mugs that are refillable and definately worth it. We used our mugs for coffee in the morning and soft drinks, juice, water, etc during the rest of the day. We usually eat really light for breakfast and lunch and then have a good dinner. For us, the Dining Plan was not necessary. Have fun!

I think it depends on how much you eat and how often you stop to eat. We went a few years ago and my sister swore by the meal plan so we did it, but we found that we couldn't keep up with the eating! We just weren't hungry for the snacks and stuff, and when we did have meals, you get a lot of food and we didn't want all the food. We ended up getting bottles of water as our snack every day because that's all we really wanted toward the end of the day and needed to use up our credits.