Saturday, March 6, 2010

::walt disney world tips:: Disney Dining Plan

Josh's first trip to Disney. January 2003


Our last trip to Disney October 2009.  Trip 10 for Josh, trip 30 for me.

BUY THE MEAL PLAN!!!  

Need more detail than that?  Then read the rest.
We  love to eat in fun or interesting restaurants, which is one big reason that Disney is our family Mecca. Disney is an expensive place for us to let our beer budget life style off the hook, so we ALWAYS buy the dining plan.  
We tried to cut some costs last time and we didn’t do the dinning plan.  HUGE mistake.  It ended up costing us about the same and we just didn’t get to enjoy the food as much because we were too worried about going over our food budget.  On the plan we knew about how much we would be spending every day.  It makes planning our finances out so much easier. 
We go with the Disney Dinning Plan, which allows each member of our family over age three to get:
One counter service meal  
Which we use for a quick grab and go lunch
This is fast food type eating
You get a drink, an entrée and a dessert
One snack
Which we use way more than what we get on the plan
GOD BLESS MICKEY MOUSE ICE CREAM
One table service meal
Which we use for dinner
You get a drink, an entrée and a dessert
Let me say that the table service meal does not cover tip or alcohol.  With Josh’s Disney margarita fetish and my love of weird drinks with names like “turtle crawl” we can do some pretty serious damage on that alcohol tab, so just don’t let that get away from you.  
You can make dinning reservations up to 180 days out.  I set a reminder for that date in my calender and I make the reservations on the very first day that I possibly can.  I have made these reservations on my lunch breaks at work before just to make sure that all 8 of us got to go to Cinderella’s Castle.  You have to do it ahead if you really don’t have a ton of flexibility, like a large party, or little kids that need to eat close to certain times.  You can now do reservations online which is WONDERFUL, because the old school phone call option felt dated and was very boring to me.  I have no tolerance for boredom so I often was a grumpy grumperson by the time I finished the call.  Not very Disney.  
So, here is a basic example of how it works:
Josh, myself, Emma (12), Lily, (6), and Max (2) are going to Disney for seven nights the first week of October 
We buy the Disney Dinning plan when we check in at our hotel
3 adults X 7 nights 
Emma counts as an adult because she is 10 and over
1 child X 7 nights 
Max is free and just eats off all our plates
After we hand over our money we are now the proud owners of:
21 adult counter service meals
28 snacks
21 adults table service meals
7 kid service meals
All of this fun is placed directly on our Key to the World Card, which acts as your room key, park ticket, meal plan voucher, and room charge(PICTURES) .  Isn’t Disney so flipping awesome?  With one key to the world card for each party you can access and use all the vouchers.  So we can all eat dinner and Josh just hands them his key to world card and “pays” for the meal.
Misc:
All points expire at midnight on the day you check out
            Use it or loose it  
Pricing varies so call 407-WDW-Dine for details
Yes I have that number memorized and in my speed dial  
This is a sample of how we utilize the Dinning Plan.  

Day
Counter
Snack
Table Service
Monday – arrive, eat lunch at pool, dinner at Hotel
Adults 21–3=18
Kids 7-1=6
Ice cream 
28-4=24
Waters
24-2=22
Adults 21–3=18
Kids 7-1=6
Tuesday -
Park
Quick lunch
Table dinner
Adults 18-3=15
Kids 6-1=5
Waters 
22-4=18
Popcorn
18-2=16
Adults 18-3=15
Kids 6-1=5
Wednesday 
Park
Quick lunch
Table dinner
Adults 15-3=12
Kids 5-1=4
Soda
16-3=13
Ice cream
13-5=8
Adults 15-3=12
Kids 5-1=4
Thursday
Pool and shopping
Quick lunch
2 point table dinner
Adults 12-3=9
Kids 4-1=3

Waters
8-4=4
Ice cream
4-4=0
Used up all snack vouchers
Use cash from this point
Adults 12-6=6
Kids 4-2=2
Subtract double points
Friday
Park
Quick lunch
Table dinner
Adults 9-3=6
Kids 3-1=2
Cash or room charge
Adults 6-3=3
Kids 2-1=1
Saturday
Pool and shopping
Quick lunch
Off plan dinner
Adults 6-3=3
Kids 2-1=1
Cash or room charge
Off plan meal
Cash or room charge
Sunday 
Park
Quick lunch
Table dinner
Adults 3-3=0
Kids 1-1=0
Cash or room charge
Adults 3-3=0
Kids 1-1=0
Please ask me any questions you want about this.  I LOVE TALKING DISNEY!!!!!!  


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