Do campers need dining plans?

[keith_h 420]

Rene and I looked at the DDP and decided we wouldn't really utilize it enough to be cost effective. While we might eat out each day it is not on a set schedule and we usually be eating two meals each day at the trailer. About the only way we saw that it might be worthwhile was if we still had the kids around and were staying at a WDW resort. In this situation we would be eating all of our meals at WDW restaurants making it worth the cost.

[MousingAround 0]

Thank you all for the suggestions everyone.  I was online for an hour making Fast Pass reservations....what a work out.  Took me a few tries to figure out how to work the system.  While dear husband slept I booked us for some must try rides.  

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Alright... sorry I'm just posting these, but here are my favorite budget friendly meals....

 

1) Giddy Up and Go takeout dinner at Trail's End- Request all white meat and you get 10 breasts. For your crew of 5, you might want to add an extra side. Even so, you'll feed your whole family for about $33. 

 

2) Pizza at Via Napoli in Epcot (TS)- This is a cheap meal if you stick to the pizza. The mezzo metro should feed your whole family, and the pizza here is fantastic. Seriously, really good. I think I've dreamed about it. The pitcher of sangria is also probably the cheapest adult beverage in Disney. 

 

3) Sunshine Seasons in Epcot (CS)- This place has something for everyone. The kid's Caesar is huge, as are most of the adult portions. You get quality food too.

 

4) Trails End lunch (TS)- This isn't a buffet like lunch and dinner. The food is awesome and it's never crowded.

 

5) The Plaza in MK (TS)- This is mostly just sandwiches and salads, but the food is really good and not much more than a CS place. It books up because it's a semi-well known secret. Next time I go, I'm making Jason split a sandwich, so I'll have room for dessert.  

 

Splurges that are worth it:

1) `Ohana

2) HDDR (your kids will like this more than you'd think)

3) Mickey's Backyard BBQ (your kids are a good age for this) 

[Campsight 0]

GaDawgFan.....Kelly, on 11 Feb 2015 - 6:34 PM, said:

Alright... sorry I'm just posting these, but here are my favorite budget friendly meals....

 

1) Giddy Up and Go takeout dinner at Trail's End- Request all white meat and you get 10 breasts. For your crew of 5, you might want to add an extra side. Even so, you'll feed your whole family for about $33. 

 

2) Pizza at Via Napoli in Epcot (TS)- This is a cheap meal if you stick to the pizza. The mezzo metro should feed your whole family, and the pizza here is fantastic. Seriously, really good. I think I've dreamed about it. The pitcher of sangria is also probably the cheapest adult beverage in Disney. 

 

3) Sunshine Seasons in Epcot (CS)- This place has something for everyone. The kid's Caesar is huge, as are most of the adult portions. You get quality food too.

 

4) Trails End lunch (TS)- This isn't a buffet like lunch and dinner. The food is awesome and it's never crowded.

 

5) The Plaza in MK (TS)- This is mostly just sandwiches and salads, but the food is really good and not much more than a CS place. It books up because it's a semi-well known secret. Next time I go, I'm making Jason split a sandwich, so I'll have room for dessert.  

 

Splurges that are worth it:

1) `Ohana

2) HDDR (your kids will like this more than you'd think)

3) Mickey's Backyard BBQ (your kids are a good age for this) 

Thanks for the suggestions.  These seem like really good options!

[Cyclonic 55]

I would love to hear for experienced Fort Fiends about dining recommendations and FAST PASS recommendations.  Tomorrow I can make our Fast Pass reservations...so excited.  I have booked some dining reservations already...and will try to get into Be Our Guest for lunch during our stay.  We will be staying at FW for three weeks...then headed up to Hershey, PA.....and eventually back to sweet California...via Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, Seattle and down the Oregon/California coast to home.  Thank you for a wonderful site...full of very useful info!!

 

If you are spending a couple of days in the Hershey area, take a day trip to Knoebels, you won't regret it.

[Cyclonic 55]

Hello, we'll be 1st timers at WDW and I wondered if meal plans are necessary for campers at Fort Wilderness.  (I didn't know how quickly we can make it from the campground to the park.). Thanks in advance!

 

Like many others here, we ate nearly every breakfast at the camper (some morning we were up really early so took a ride out to Waffle House or Denny's instead), lunch was often snacks we took with us to the parks, and dinner was either out at a nice place or back at the camper.  We used the crock pot a few times and had a nice dinner waiting for us when we got back.

 

I can understand the appeal of the all inclusiveness of the dinning plan, and it even makes a good deal of sense when staying in a hotel, but for camping, I just think it would be a waste of money unless you really want to eat a very nice meal out every night.

[Retired and Happy (Ken) 101]

Thanks, Kristie.  We are mainly a Christmas/New Years group, but are considering Thanksgiving this year.  For either, we take the kids out of school for a few extra days when necessary.  Last year we had to provide one of the schools an outline as to how this would be considered an educational experience.  I was able to type up a pageful in no time.  

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Thanks for the suggestions.  These seem like really good options!

 

You're welcome! You inspired me to create a whole new thread, so I hope you check that out. Even if you eat out every day, I think you'll find the dining plan isn't worth it if you run some numbers. 

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

Thanks, Kristie.  We are mainly a Christmas/New Years group, but are considering Thanksgiving this year.  For either, we take the kids out of school for a few extra days when necessary.  Last year we had to provide one of the schools an outline as to how this would be considered an educational experience.  I was able to type up a pageful in no time.  

We will be done in January 2016 but I think you all will be gone by then.  Funny about the school requirement. I bet you could have written up more than just one.  How is Judy doing btw?

[Foxesdensouth 1]

I am leaning more to the dining plan - I really don't want to spend my vacation cooking and cleaning!  I worked out the dining we wanted, and just for the three off us, to do the Character Meals we want its going to be over $800!  Has anyone done the regualr dining pkg?  Thoughts?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I am leaning more to the dining plan - I really don't want to spend my vacation cooking and cleaning!  I worked out the dining we wanted, and just for the three off us, to do the Character Meals we want its going to be over $800!  Has anyone done the regualr dining pkg?  Thoughts?

 

If you have an RV, you can prepare some simple meals for your family and won't be spending your vacation cooking and cleaning.  You can save a ton of money by eating breakfast at the RV, taking along a snack or light lunch (or returning to the RV for lunch), and spend you money on one big meal a day at a park or resort.  That will come out way cheaper than the Dining Plan.

 

TCD

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

We haven't done the dining plan in a while, but these days I'd say the biggest tip would be to book your ADRs asap. With one table service meal a day to line up, unless you're super flexible about where/when you eat, you could end up scrambling to find a place to use them.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

First tip is to order the most expensive thing on the menu. Check the me is at the places you want to eat at carefully. A $10 salad for TS credit might not be the best way to use the DP.

Another tip. You will more than likely have levy over snack credits. There was 3 of us for a week and we had about 6 snack credits the day we were checking out. Go to the meadows and buy snacks that you can take home. Candy, nuts, etc

Third tip. There are some snacks that' are big enough to make a meal. IIRC the biscuits and gravy at the food court at the AS resorts use a snack credit.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Forgot one. Plan, plan, plan how best to use your DP.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

First tip is to order the most expensive thing on the menu. Check the me is at the places you want to eat at carefully. A $10 salad for TS credit might not be the best way to use the DP.

Another tip. You will more than likely have levy over snack credits. There was 3 of us for a week and we had about 6 snack credits the day we were checking out. Go to the meadows and buy snacks that you can take home. Candy, nuts, etc

Third tip. There are some snacks that' are big enough to make a meal. IIRC the biscuits and gravy at the food court at the AS resorts use a snack credit.

 

 

Forgot one. Plan, plan, plan how best to use your DP.

 

You are making the case for not paying for the dining plan.

 

Did you ever stop to think how much those "free" snacks that you didn't have time to eat during your actual trip cost you?

 

And plan, plan, plan?

 

No thanks. 

 

TCD

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

You are making the case for not paying for the dining plan.

Did you ever stop to think how much those "free" snacks that you didn't have time to eat during your actual trip cost you?

And plan, plan, plan?

No thanks.

TCD

Your right, I'm not making the case for the DDP at all.

I've used it and I won't use it again. I too don't thnk it's worth it

But OP said they were leaning towards using it. And if they are going to use it I want to give them some advice on how to make the most of it.

"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink."

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Agree that DDP isn't for everyone (it's not for us anymore) but also agree with Ray that, if you are going to use it, get all you can out of it.

 

Back before the last big change, we got all our money's worth and then some out of it, and ate places we never would have sprung for out of pocket.

 

That's a lot harder to do these days, but that doesn't mean it still can't work for some people.  Best advice in terms of if the cost alone is worth it... crunch the numbers.  Plot out how you'd be likely to eat on and off the DDP and plug in the numbers from the menus you can find online.  While one Character meal may be super pricey, if you realize that beyond that, you wouldn't be likely to use all the snacks or eat out table service every night, you might find out that in the end, it's still cheaper without DDP.

 

I did a quickie spreadsheet a couple of years ago to see if it would work for us during F&W, since snack credits can be used for most of the F&W food offerings.

 

Since we had a TiW card, and based on how we'd eat the rest of the time, DDP didn't end up saving us any money vs paying out-of-pocket.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Here's a place where you can plug in things to see if it's worth it for you. Last time I did it, the DDP would have cost us $400 more than paying out of pocket. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Here's a place where you can plug in things to see if it's worth it for you. Last time I did it, the DDP would have cost us $400 more than paying out of pocket. 

 

Did you forget to post the link?

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I did! Oops. 

 

Here it is. http://www.distripplanner.com/

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

Ok, that link brought me back to the beginning of this thread. I am so confused.....

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Ok, that link brought me back to the beginning of this thread. I am so confused.....

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

Well that's weird!

 

Try this...

http://www.distripplanner.com/

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well that's weird!

 

Try this...

http://www.distripplanner.com/

 

That one works.

 

That's a very interesting site.

 

I just played around with some dates and plugged in the way that we typically eat during our WDW visits.

 

In every instance, we would save money not paying for the dining plan and paying out of pocket.

 

This just reinforces what most of us have been saying- the DDP will not result in any savings unless you were planning to pay out of pocket for all of those snacks and desserts and ordering the most expensive thing on every menu.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

That one works.

 

That's a very interesting site.

 

I just played around with some dates and plugged in the way that we typically eat during our WDW visits.

 

In every instance, we would save money not paying for the dining plan and paying out of pocket.

 

This just reinforces what most of us have been saying- the DDP will not result in any savings unless you were planning to pay out of pocket for all of those snacks and desserts and ordering the most expensive thing on every menu.

 

TCD

 

Yep, pretty much!

 

And I fixed my link. I'm not sure how that even happened. I just cut and pasted. 

[TN22.....Brady 22]

Ouuuch! $650 - $1550 more for the DDP. I knew the DDP was not for us, but I did not realize how much difference there was.