Dining plan or not at Disney

As you can see, personal choices very a lot, just like what kind of RV is best. We go to the Fort several times a year, and some times if we have only a few days, we will stay at the Wilderness Lodge. We have never used any of the "regular" dining plans. We purchase a "Tables in Wonderland" card annually, that gets us a dining discount, but it is only worth the cost if you visit WDW often. That said, even when our kids were little, we would take pre-prepared or pre-packaged breakfast items with us and munch while waiting for a bus or boat. We make reservations in advance for one big meal/day if in parks, mid-afternoon that serves both as lunch and dinner. If we get hungry later, we will just get a snack. The Trail's End offerings have been mentioned by others. But also consider that many other "fast food" places are available by a simple boat ride. For example, Roaring Fork over at the Wilderness Lodge which has burgers & pizza stuff. Additionally, you could go to either of the Trading Posts at the Fort and buy lunch meat & bread/rolls for sandwiches or purchase other less expensive meal items.

In our style of doing Disney, we cannot imagine using all the meals of a regular dining plan. But, that's us. Additionally, the dining plan would have us eating more, thereby decreasing the time actually enjoying the park.

Having been to WDW in all seasons, we would agree with others about the Florida heat in the summer, especially as it relates to kids. Consider an afternoon break, either back at the Fort, or a cool lobby area like the hotels on the monorail loop. Everyone should consider a mid-afternoon break in the heat, and drink plenty of fluids.

Have a great trip.

Back in the early days of the dining plan it was a good deal because you also had appetizers and the tip was included but those days are no longer. If you're camping at the fort, I'm assuming you're going to eat some meals there plus if you eat like you normally would order off the menu rarely does the dining plan pay for itself ( for example we would never order desserts because we are always full after the meal. ) It is a convenient way to go but I know it's something that I would not do. You need to do the math on this to see if it's right for you.

qtla9111 wrote:
Wow, you guys must be rich. I did a quick three-day plan for two that came out to $70 a day. We don't even spend that much at the grocery store in a week. Yikes!

Sounds like fun though.

Dinners at typical Disney full service restaurants run in the $35 +/- per person range. Counter meals that you might get for lunch like hamburgers, pizza, etc. will be around $10-15 per person. Drinks/snacks runs a few dollars more. So you can figure $50-60 per person per day IF you always eat a full course dinner at one of the full service restaurants plus a lunch plus a snack. More if you order appetizers and desserts. If you do that every day, the dining plan would pay for itself. Otherwise, you are better off paying as you go.

Disney forum

Fort Fiends

Allears

Wife says this is the best site for checking out the dining plan.

My wife, Tour Guide Barbie has planned all of our Disney trips for 30+ years. We are native Californians and at times had annual passes for both places.

The airline trips became cattle cars and we left Calif. and now leave very close to WDW. The Fort is a lot of fun.

With a two year old you will need to really be aware of how they wear out quickly. Being at eye level all day with, well the south end of north bound people they can get exhausted easily. Plenty of water.

We have been visiting the Fort almost every year for the past 25 years or so and have never had the dining plan.

To Us , the plan works for those that have no means of cooking, or taking food of any type in and storing it. We usually will visit either Sams Club, or Costco and stock up for the trip once there.

We will plan a few meals out each trip, with usually a breakfast at the Fort, and a couple dinners at one or 2 of the hotels, but the rest is at the camper..

For those that like fried chicken, we found that the take out down at Crockets tavern can't be beat ! We enjoy either taking it down to the beach and eating, or at the table back at the site.

qtla9111 wrote:
Wow, you guys must be rich. I did a quick three-day plan for two that came out to $70 a day. We don't even spend that much at the grocery store in a week. Yikes!

Sounds like fun though.

If you were to purchase the same type of food it will come out to at least $100. we went in Nov and the weather was perfect. no need to waste time running to and from the RV to make food.

Wow, you guys must be rich. I did a quick three-day plan for two that came out to $70 a day. We don't even spend that much at the grocery store in a week. Yikes!

Sounds like fun though.

rtaylor0830 wrote:
I know this question has been asked a lot. I will be going to fort wilderness in august fo 10 days it will be my wife my 2,6, and 9 year old daughters. Do you think I would be better paying out of pocket or doing the dining plan. We do plan on doing 2 or 3 character dinner.

I may have missed this, but when are you going? If it is during the summer, you may want to (as suggested earlier) return to your camper mid-day to relax... in which case, you might want to cook your own meals. It does take a little longer than you might think to go from the campground to the parks - can be an hour between waiting for the bus or boat and then travel time. Your 2 and 6 year olds may get a little overwhelmed at Disney, keep a contingency plan in mind where one parent takes the little ones back to relax at the campground and the other parent goes with the oldest child to stay in the parks.

By the way... traveling on the boat from the campground to Magic Kingdom in the morning is REALLY cool!

We went in October (back in 2011), and my wife did not want to be cooking and cleaning in the camper. We got the 2 meal a day plus snack plan. Worked out great - we had a simple breakfast in the camper, then lunch and dinner in the parks. Sometimes at the end of the day we would grab a snack at the last minute to bring back to the camper, but we actually had "snack credits" left over that we used to get some snacks on the last day for the ride home. Also, the Trail's End restaurant in the campground has a great "to go" fried chicken meal that is BIG, and great to bring back to the camper.

We made reservations at a few "character dinners" well in advance... it would be great if you can do the Cinderella's Castle meal, it is pretty cool to get a picture with Cinderella and then eat in the castle - it is very much geared towards young kids.

We also made a reservation at one of the "high end" restaurants, California Grill on top of the Contemporary Hotel. Really good food, and we got to watch one of the nightly fireworks displays from the deck overlooking Magic Kingdom.

There are a LOT of restaurants and eating spots in Disney! If you don't have a reservation at a spot, and there is a line for a meal, take a look around - there might be a "counter service" (cafeteria style) restaurant right around the corner that is half empty.

The meal plan worked out well for us. Keep an open mind about your schedule, and try not to plan every single second of your day. One day we actually slept in! Gasp!

Also... with the meal plan, meals are prepaid, so you don't have to worry about not having money for a meal. For me, it made it nicer to enjoy the place knowing things were already paid for.

Feel free to keep asking questions, and check out some the Disney forums on the internet.

If you're eating at Disney the entire time then get the plan. If you plan on eating some snacks there (either bring them or get them) then eating out at least 1 meal a night then don't bother getting the plan.

Plenty of awesome places to eat in orlando. Fire up trip adviser and check them out. Much better food than Disney offers and cheaper.

Went to Disney World this summer with one of my daughters, her husband and the twins (7years). Had a blast, came home totally exhausted. Took a couple of months to recover. Anyway, she had vacationed their before and signed us all up for a dinning plan, 2 meals and snacks each day. It was well worth the investment as food is rather expensive if purchased on the spot. Two meals meant dinner and usually a brunch and snacks permitted drinks and stuff at the parks. You get electronic bracelets that track your purchases and forward overages to your credit card. Purchases can be delivered to your location at the end of the day, so you need not carry stuff around. DO GET THE PHOTO PASS. All around the parks are photographers and with the photo pass added to your bracelet the pictures are uploaded to your cell instantly, and you can upload to your computer for 30 days. You can also order prints. The people at Disney have made a science of separating guests from their money in the painless manor possible. Have a wonderful time. Don't feed the alligators (never smile at a crocodile). If you have time, take a drive to the NASA Kennedy Space Center. Wonderful day long tour. Happy Trails. PS: if you intend dinners with characters you better make reservations well in advance. My daughter also made fast-pass reservations for the special rides the boys wanted. Especially the Star-Wars training camp. Without fast-pass it would be almost impossible to get a spot on stage. Again, Happy Trails.