Dining plan questions

[ehmom]

first, can you eat at a restaurant in a park that you aren't going to that day? i was thinking of the garden grill restaurant in epcot, but we weren't planning on going to epcot. can we still eat there for dinner?
also, is the ding plan a good deal if we are only planning on being there for three days? i know we are going to try to eat breakfast in the castle and maybe one other character meal. the rest we can just pick up snacks, etc. it seams like it would be a pretty good deal to do the basic plan since the character meals are so expensive. any thoughts?
thanks so much. we are just beginning to plan for a trip either the end of september, or beginning of december to be in value season.

[egoldber]

first, can you eat at a restaurant in a park that you aren't going to that day? i was thinking of the garden grill restaurant in epcot, but we weren't planning on going to epcot. can we still eat there for dinner?

Entry into a park ALWAYS requires a park ticket, even if you just plan to eat in a restaurant.

Some meals require two table service credits, and a meal in the castle is one of them.

[infomama]

Can I just say that if you skip Sorin' in Epcot you will be missing an AWESOME ride. We didn't have any idea we would like Epcot as much as we did as many of our friends told us it was pretty much a waste of time (it's not).

The dining plan was wonderful for us (we went when they had the "free dining" promotion last year). Here is a link to a very detailed resource for the DDP
http://allears.net/din/restnews.htm

Here is one with pictures and menus
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-dining-plan.htm

and yet another...this one had a whole thread on "confirmed snacks"
http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=116

[JTsMom]

First, I just have to say go for December if you can- the weather will be about 1000X nicer!

Moving on to what you actually asked... ;)

I don't think the length of stay will have much to do with what value you get from the plan. Instead, I'd try to figure out roughly what you'd pay to eat if you weren't on it, vs. the cost of the plan. Don't forget that the number of meals you get is based on the nights you stay, not the days. If you don't arrive until 9 the first night, for example, you still have to use those meals.

We went back in Dec. for 8 nights, and did the dining plan for 7 of them (2 seperate ressies). It worked out GREAT for us. We used all of credits, and I think actually paid for 2 cs meals oop.

We too did several character meals, and the HDDR, plus it was nice not to have to worry about the cost of ordering something. Order the most expensive thing on the menu if you want. :) The constant desserts get to be a bit much though.

[Momof3Labs]

Just wanted to add that you can see full menus with prices on www.allearsnet.com to help you figure out how much you'd spend on and off the dining plan. Keep in mind that tips are always out of pocket. The dining plan gets you a ton of food (way more desserts than we'd ever order) but for 3 days, it may still be worth it.

I'd also encourage you to reconsider not visiting Epcot. It is by far my boys' favorite park. They both like different rides there, but there is plenty to make them happy, and I love all the open space and wandering around the various countries. Lots more food options than the other parks, too!

[ehmom]

thanks so much for all of the advice. i have already reconsidered the epcot thing, by the way. i looked at all the details of the park and i think my kids would really like it. dh would probably like it too since he love international food of all kinds.
thanks also for mentioning the thing about having the dining for each night you are there. it never occured to me that i could get dining for the day we arrived to get an extra credit to apply toward the cinderella castle meal. i wish there was more character interaction at this meal, but i think the kids will love the idea of eating in the castle. i still remember what i ate for lunch when i ate in the castle when i was six. :)

[erosenst]

As a PP said, menus are posted at allears.net. To the extent you can, think about EVERY meal and snack your family is likely to eat, and what they are likely to eat, and price it out. Then compare that to the dining plan. Remember that you'll have to add tip and tax to both, so you can basically ignore that.

I did the math. For our trip (2 adults, one child; ate breakfast at the Castle which is two dining credits each, and DH and I had dinner at California Grill,which is also two dining credits) we were very slightly ahead if we ate EVERY meal we had planned, and all snacks. Missing even one put us behind...so we elected not to do it. Turned out not doing it was a good choice for us.

(Also remember that when this first came out a few years ago, it was an incredible deal. It's gotten slightly less incredible each year, to the point where it's now a losing proposition for many unless you plan to maximize it.)

HTH -

Emily