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juanvi
Get Out!
Member since 10/06 4463 total posts
Name:
Christina
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disney dining packages worth it?
Everyone's telling me to look into them but I just don't understand them. Are they worth it?
TIA!!!
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Posted 7/6/12 5:08 PM  |
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saraH
happy birthday sweet kate!
Member since 5/05 16555 total posts
Name:
I know that God exsists, I held her in my arms...
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
IMO, yes.
We do the qs plan. One qs (quick service) meal and one sit down meal. And one snack per person.
We use our qs for lunch and sit down for dinner. Unless we use the sit down for a character breakfast.
It's complelty worth it, you can find a plan that will work for you and your family.
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| Posted 7/6/12 8:32 PM |
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phoenix913
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 3034 total posts
Name:
V
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
I think it really depends on how much you eat and where you want to eat. We never used it b/c we tend to split entrees, or just get appetizer and dessert. You can't do that with the plan, or if you can, it's complicated.
First try and figure out what places you might like to eat each day and then look into the plans to see if it fits.
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| Posted 7/6/12 9:11 PM |
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Lillykat
going along for the ride...
Member since 5/05 16253 total posts
Name:
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
I think the answer is that it depends. For some (we often find it a good deal) we always come out way ahead but for others it doesn't pay.
I don't recommend tha qs (quick service) plan. You will be lucky to break even. Only recommend it for convenience. It only gives counter service and snacks.
I would say look at the basic dining plan. It gives a counter service meal, snack and table service meal every night ( and a resort mug). There is a higher plan but for most it is too much food. I would only look into that plan if you want to do 2 sit downs a day or do a bunch of 2ts places. I have a friend who does it but I think for most it isn't worth it. They do character breakfasts and ts dinners and places like CRT or the dinner shows which are 2ts credits.
If you want to eat mostly at lesser expensive places (sci fi drive in, plaza restaurant etc), eat mostly vegetarian, or pastas or lesser expensive items it might not be worth it for you. If you want to do character breakfasts or sit down breakfasts it might not pay.
However- character dinners tend to be expensive as are places like Ohana. (Think around $40+ pp). It is often worth it. Also if you want to go to places like coral reef, etc and like fish or steaks that often runs around $31+ and you still get drink (nonalcoholic) and dessert. So you are looking at $40-50, then you get a counter service meal (around $10-15) and you get a snack (~$4 ). Plan runs about $52+ depending a
on season.
My suggestion is to go to www.allearsnet.com they have a fabulous area that includes all the menus for every table service restaurant, counter service and snack cart in WDW. It is a great way to see what you are interested in and come up with an approximate amount that you might spend to determine if the plan works for you.
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| Posted 7/6/12 9:33 PM |
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juanvi
Get Out!
Member since 10/06 4463 total posts
Name:
Christina
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
wow thanks for all the advice
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| Posted 7/6/12 9:53 PM |
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Mouse Tales Travel
LIFamilies Business
Member since 7/08 417 total posts
Name:
Melissa Salinas
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by juanvi
Everyone's telling me to look into them but I just don't understand them. Are they worth it?
TIA!!!
In the simplest terms for those that don't want to go to extensive research, if you're going to dine at a table-service restaurant 2 or more times and you don't always order the cheapest thing on the menu, the Disney Dining Plan is a good value.
Obviously, that varies by family (someone eats like a bird, you only order salads, etc.) but it's a good rule of thumb.
The Deluxe Dining Plan becomes a good choice when you're looking for an all-inclusive feel, (ie: not reaching for your wallet every 10 minutes) or if you plan to dine in 2 or more Signature dining venues or if you want a sit-down meal more than once a day.
- Kimberly Hill
Mouse Tales® Travel
LIFamilies Vendor
Creating Magical Vacations for LIFamilies since 200
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| Posted 7/7/12 9:32 AM |
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JenniferEver
The Disney Lady
Member since 5/05 18163 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by saraH
IMO, yes.
We do the qs plan. One qs (quick service) meal and one sit down meal. And one snack per person.
We use our qs for lunch and sit down for dinner. Unless we use the sit down for a character breakfast.
It's complelty worth it, you can find a plan that will work for you and your family.
Sarah, this is the regular "Plus Dining" plan. The Quick Service Dining Plan has 2 Quick Service meals and 1 snack. NO Table Service.
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| Posted 7/7/12 12:33 PM |
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JenniferEver
The Disney Lady
Member since 5/05 18163 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Have you given any thought to where you want to eat? If you are doing character meals or some of the more expensive 1 credit meals (like 'Ohana or Boma), then the Dining Plan becomes much more "worth it".
I think for most people, the Dining Plan is worth it just for peace of mind. You go there having already paid for most of your meals and knowing exactly what your meal budget is. If you would eat that way anyway (1 QS, 1 TS, 1 Snack, dessrts at both meals), and not order the cheapest on the menu, then you are going to see a savings of up to 20% on your food expenses. Some people really go to extents to make the most of their dining plan, and I do recommend keeping that in mind ot an extent (if you go over your meals, pay cash for the cheapest, use snack credits for $4 snacks and pay for the $2 ones out of pocket), but you don't have to go crazy.
if you plan to do a lot of sit down dining (2 meals per day) or you want to try some of the signature dining or other 2 credit meals (like Cinderella's royal table), then the Deluxe Dining Plan, and Kimberly said, might be good for you.
DH and I are not the biggest eaters, but we have made the dining plan work for us. We would save our desserts from some meals and eat them later as snacks, and then use our snack credits to buy muffins for breakfast. We were able to make the DDP cover all 3 meals for us.
It sounds like you're a first time traveler, or you haven't been in awhile. I think the dining plan really helps in that case since you just don't have to worry. When is your trip? if it's within 6 months, you'll want to start making dining reservations. It would probably help you to plan your trip with a Disney specialist so you can get answers to all of these questions that are specific to YOUR family, KWIM?
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| Posted 7/7/12 12:41 PM |
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JennP
LIF Adult
Member since 10/06 3986 total posts
Name:
Jenn
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by Mouse Tales Travel
Posted by juanvi
Everyone's telling me to look into them but I just don't understand them. Are they worth it?
TIA!!!
In the simplest terms for those that don't want to go to extensive research, if you're going to dine at a table-service restaurant 2 or more times and you don't always order the cheapest thing on the menu, the Disney Dining Plan is a good value.
When you say two or more times, do you mean per day or for the whole trip?
From this post I am inferring you can save up your credits and use them whenever you want. Is that correct?
I am asking because we will also be visiting family in the area and one night we will probably eat off site. So if we did the DP we could save a ts credit from that night and combine it with another ts credit for a more expensive meal, right?
I don't think the DP is for us but I'm just double checking that I understand it correctly.
Thanks!
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| Posted 7/7/12 1:57 PM |
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Lillykat
going along for the ride...
Member since 5/05 16253 total posts
Name:
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by JennP
Posted by Mouse Tales Travel
Posted by juanvi
Everyone's telling me to look into them but I just don't understand them. Are they worth it?
TIA!!!
In the simplest terms for those that don't want to go to extensive research, if you're going to dine at a table-service restaurant 2 or more times and you don't always order the cheapest thing on the menu, the Disney Dining Plan is a good value.
When you say two or more times, do you mean per day or for the whole trip?
From this post I am inferring you can save up your credits and use them whenever you want. Is that correct?
I am asking because we will also be visiting family in the area and one night we will probably eat off site. So if we did the DP we could save a ts credit from that night and combine it with another ts credit for a more expensive meal, right?
I don't think the DP is for us but I'm just double checking that I understand it correctly.
Thanks!
You get 1 TS, 1QS, and 1 snack per night. So if you stay 6 nights you will get 6TS, 6 QS, etc. You can use 3 TS in one day if you want. Or one a day. You have until something like midnight check out day to use them or lose them.
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| Posted 7/7/12 2:12 PM |
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Mouse Tales Travel
LIFamilies Business
Member since 7/08 417 total posts
Name:
Melissa Salinas
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by JennP
When you say two or more times, do you mean per day or for the whole trip?
From this post I am inferring you can save up your credits and use them whenever you want. Is that correct?
I am asking because we will also be visiting family in the area and one night we will probably eat off site. So if we did the DP we could save a ts credit from that night and combine it with another ts credit for a more expensive meal, right?
I don't think the DP is for us but I'm just double checking that I understand it correctly.
Thanks!
Your dining credits are loaded to your Key to the World card at check-in so you can use them as you like. This works GREAT for those people taking a day off to see Harry Potter or visit family or Legoland. Now you can double up on another day or get that Signature reservation without shorting yourself a different day.
- Kimberly Hill
Mouse Tales® Travel
LIFamilies Vendor
Creating Magical Vacations for LIFamilies since 2008
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| Posted 7/7/12 3:58 PM |
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saraH
happy birthday sweet kate!
Member since 5/05 16555 total posts
Name:
I know that God exsists, I held her in my arms...
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by JenniferEver
Posted by saraH
IMO, yes.
We do the qs plan. One qs (quick service) meal and one sit down meal. And one snack per person.
We use our qs for lunch and sit down for dinner. Unless we use the sit down for a character breakfast.
It's complelty worth it, you can find a plan that will work for you and your family.
Sarah, this is the regular "Plus Dining" plan. The Quick Service Dining Plan has 2 Quick Service meals and 1 snack. NO Table Service.
Yes, right. I get them confused. We do do the one with the one as and one sit down meal though. Idk if it's the deluxe plan. But that's the plan that works for us.
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| Posted 7/8/12 8:11 AM |
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JenniferEver
The Disney Lady
Member since 5/05 18163 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
To be clear -
Quick Service Dining Plan - 2 Quick Service meals and 2 snack per day, refillable mug
Plus Dining Plan (this is the regular/standard plan) - 1 Quick Service, 1 Table Service, and 1 snack per day, refillable mug
Deluxe Dining Plan - 3 meals (can be used as TS or QS) and 2 snacks per day, refillable mug
The Premium and Platinum take it 10 steps further by including signature meals as 1 credit and including tours, golf, etc, etc for an "all inclusive" package.
Message edited 7/8/2012 1:39:15 PM.
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| Posted 7/8/12 11:47 AM |
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KarenK122
The Journey is the Destination
Member since 5/05 4431 total posts
Name:
Karen
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disney dining packages worth it?
For us the dining plan was never saving us any money. Most dining plans include dessert and we do not eat big desserts every day so we would be wasting part of what we would be paying for. It also does not include tax, tip and drinks. If your an annual pass holder or a DVC member you can get a TIW card and that saves 20% on your entire bill, drinks included. If you have the time, look up the prices of the meals you'd be getting online, add up what you'd spend for the day paying out of pocket and compare to the dining plan.
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| Posted 7/8/12 12:50 PM |
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Lillykat
going along for the ride...
Member since 5/05 16253 total posts
Name:
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by KarenK122
For us the dining plan was never saving us any money. Most dining plans include dessert and we do not eat big desserts every day so we would be wasting part of what we would be paying for. It also does not include tax, tip and drinks. If your an annual pass holder or a DVC member you can get a TIW card and that saves 20% on your entire bill, drinks included. If you have the time, look up the prices of the meals you'd be getting online, add up what you'd spend for the day paying out of pocket and compare to the dining plan.
This is not completly true. The dining plan does include tax and non-alcoholic drinks. It does not include alcohol (except in the cases where alcohol is included with the meal i.e. dinner shows) and it no longer includes a tip.
It is true that it includes dessrt but depending on where you eat you can still come out ahead. Places like Akershus, ohana, chef mickeys etc are one price so there is no choice. This is why it is important to look at where you want to eat and price it all out. As far as dessert with lunch. We almost never get dessrt but we do always get something out of it. You can get fruit or sometimes a bottle of water instead of dessert at the CS places so you really get an extra snack for later but again it really depends on where you want you TS choices to see if you come out ahead. Even if you come out only slightly ahead it is convenient. But really it depends on your personal preferences.
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| Posted 7/8/12 2:01 PM |
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saraH
happy birthday sweet kate!
Member since 5/05 16555 total posts
Name:
I know that God exsists, I held her in my arms...
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
For us, tiw would not pay. We like the ddp, because we can customize it to fit us.
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| Posted 7/8/12 8:25 PM |
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neener1211
:-)
Member since 4/07 22952 total posts
Name:
J
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
I had this same issue when I was planning for our trip. We decided to pay out of pocket for the dining. Let me tell you that when you are getting the bill for the dining, you want to fall off your chair for a $100+ lunch bill. But I added up all of our meals , snacks, etc, and we came in $400+ under what the dining plan would have cost us. We rarely got all those little extras that we would have felt obligated to use with the Dining Plan because we had paid in advance for it.
We found that we didn't eat snacks all day long and hardly ever ate dessert after our meals. We froze water and sodas and brought them in a soft cooler with us so that we weren't paying $4 for a drink every 2 hours.
I would not get the Dining Plan in the future.
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| Posted 7/9/12 10:29 AM |
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JenniferEver
The Disney Lady
Member since 5/05 18163 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
It also depends on the ages of your kids and how much they eat.
If you have a 3 year old who only eats dry pasta, and you're not doing character or fixed price meals, then DDP might not be for you. If you have a 9 year old who will eat all of those meals (Ages 3-9 on the dining plan are a great price IMO), especially if you're doing character meals or other fixed price meals like Boma and 'Ohana, it will really add up and you can save a lot. The children's dining plan is roughly $15 a day, but ONE character meal for kids is often over $20. You're saving with ONE meal and that doesn't count the Quick service and snack for day
Message edited 7/9/2012 10:49:20 AM.
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| Posted 7/9/12 10:37 AM |
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saraH
happy birthday sweet kate!
Member since 5/05 16555 total posts
Name:
I know that God exsists, I held her in my arms...
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
The first time we did the ddp was on our hm. I think the only option was apps., entree and dessert. Way too much for us. Now we get the entree/ drink option for our sit down meals. If we want an app or alcohol we pay out of pocket.
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| Posted 7/9/12 3:16 PM |
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Lillykat
going along for the ride...
Member since 5/05 16253 total posts
Name:
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by saraH
The first time we did the ddp was on our hm. I think the only option was apps., entree and dessert. Way too much for us. Now we get the entree/ drink option for our sit down meals. If we want an app or alcohol we pay out of pocket.
It did used to be a much better deal when it included one app, one entree and a dessert AND the TIP. Then they got rid of the tip and the app. Less of a good deal but we do expensive places so we come out ahead even when we don't get the dessert. But I wish they would change it for 2013 so that you could get an app OR dessert. I like having a salad at dinner but they don't allow subs. But I'm sure that won't happen. I think they bank on the fact that people will pay for apps OOP and will be too full and not get dessert. I can't see them adding anything - more taking away
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| Posted 7/9/12 5:18 PM |
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JenniferEver
The Disney Lady
Member since 5/05 18163 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by Lillykat
Posted by saraH
The first time we did the ddp was on our hm. I think the only option was apps., entree and dessert. Way too much for us. Now we get the entree/ drink option for our sit down meals. If we want an app or alcohol we pay out of pocket.
It did used to be a much better deal when it included one app, one entree and a dessert AND the TIP. Then they got rid of the tip and the app. Less of a good deal but we do expensive places so we come out ahead even when we don't get the dessert. But I wish they would change it for 2013 so that you could get an app OR dessert. I like having a salad at dinner but they don't allow subs. But I'm sure that won't happen. I think they bank on the fact that people will pay for apps OOP and will be too full and not get dessert. I can't see them adding anything - more taking away
I agree. I wish they would do that, too
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| Posted 7/9/12 5:45 PM |
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Lillykat
going along for the ride...
Member since 5/05 16253 total posts
Name:
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by JenniferEver
Posted by Lillykat
Posted by saraH
The first time we did the ddp was on our hm. I think the only option was apps., entree and dessert. Way too much for us. Now we get the entree/ drink option for our sit down meals. If we want an app or alcohol we pay out of pocket.
It did used to be a much better deal when it included one app, one entree and a dessert AND the TIP. Then they got rid of the tip and the app. Less of a good deal but we do expensive places so we come out ahead even when we don't get the dessert. But I wish they would change it for 2013 so that you could get an app OR dessert. I like having a salad at dinner but they don't allow subs. But I'm sure that won't happen. I think they bank on the fact that people will pay for apps OOP and will be too full and not get dessert. I can't see them adding anything - more taking away
I agree. I wish they would do that, too
I would be okay if they just said say $8 and under app OR dessert. I don't like big apps but a nice salad before dinner rather than dessert is nice to have. The problem I find is that a while back we thought we could do it cheaper and we couldn't. Even before we add desserts to any meal when we price it all out at home we always come out way ahead. Now we order the desserts but take 2 bites out of it and leave. I think they bank on the fact that many will NOT get it and lose money that way. I know many people don't use their snack credits. I won't use mine on anything less than the $4. LOL We have friends who do the deluxe plan because do TS breakfasts and Dinners - things like CRT etc with 3 kids. They never use their snacks so the last day they go to the store in MK and buy a TON of the mickey head rice crispies and other candy to take home with them. I couldn't imagine doing the deluxe plan. Seems like all you would do is eat all day.
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| Posted 7/10/12 6:30 PM |
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JenniferEver
The Disney Lady
Member since 5/05 18163 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
I'd love to do DxDP and use it for all Signature Dining. That would be QUITE a trip, and it wouldn't mean eating all day every day.
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| Posted 7/10/12 6:54 PM |
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saraH
happy birthday sweet kate!
Member since 5/05 16555 total posts
Name:
I know that God exsists, I held her in my arms...
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
We usually use our snack credits. Any we have left we to to the food court and get snacks for the plane.
They don't go to waste for us.
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| Posted 7/10/12 8:02 PM |
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Lillykat
going along for the ride...
Member since 5/05 16253 total posts
Name:
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Re: disney dining packages worth it?
Posted by JenniferEver
I'd love to do DxDP and use it for all Signature Dining. That would be QUITE a trip, and it wouldn't mean eating all day every day.
That was what we basically did for our honeymoon we ate at California Grill, Narcossees, jiko and bistro de paris, Marrakesh, coral reef and I think Boma and San Angel Inn. It was nice but still too much food. Not something you can really do with young kids. Better for childless couples and retirees. You really do well with the regular dining plan when you have kids with many of the character meals that cost much more than the plan for the night then they still get a snack and CS meal. So even if you don't eat dessert you come out ahead there.
We try to get 2 snacks in by taking fruit for dessert to eat later. I think some don't realize there is wiggle room with the CS snacks.
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| Posted 7/10/12 8:27 PM |
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