DDP questions if I may?

[adamkat]

Trying to plan out where we would like to eat on the dining plan. I've looked in the Disney Dining forum but can not see an answer (or I am overwhelmed by all the information there)

How does one know when a place switches from Lunch to Dinner?
Also where do you love to go?
My boys are 11 and 13 when we go in October so they had to have adult dining plan but they are notoriously picky eaters. (insert mom eye roll)

TIA
Kat

 

[CaptainJack4077913]

Disney publishes the times when restaurants go from lunch to dinner.

Are you looking for character meals or menu dining? We've ways enjoyed family style too.

 

[adamkat]

Duh on the WDW website? I've been all over this site and allears.net
Some character we will do Chef Mickey for breakfast one day. but mostly just want to see when we can book early Dinner to use up TS credits.

 

[KayaWildfire]

Trying to plan out where we would like to eat on the dining plan. I've looked in the Disney Dining forum but can not see an answer (or I am overwhelmed by all the information there)

How does one know when a place switches from Lunch to Dinner?
Also where do you love to go?
My boys are 11 and 13 when we go in October so they had to have adult dining plan but they are notoriously picky eaters. (insert mom eye roll)

TIA
Kat

As the previous poster pointed out, the official wdw website is your best place. I attached a screenshot to prove my point-just click on each restaurant from the restaurants list and it will show the hours of each meal. Do your boys have any specific likes or dislikes? Any interest in character meals? One of our favorites are the garden grill at Epcot(family style dining with mickey with not too adventurous choices and lots of food for hungry teenage boys).

 

[adamkat]

As the previous poster pointed out, the official wdw website is your best place. I attached a screenshot to prove my point-just click on each restaurant from the restaurants list and it will show the hours of each meal. Do your boys have any specific likes or dislikes? Any interest in character meals? One of our favorites are the garden grill at Epcot(family style dining with mickey with not too adventurous choices and lots of food for hungry teenage boys).

Thank you for that.
My oldest is very standard, waffles, pizza, chicken nuggets and doesnt' eat a whole lot (yet) Character meals will be hit and miss but Chef Mickey for sure maybe Tusker House.
I will look at the garden grill for sure wasn't even on my radar.
Thanks, K

 

[starry_solo]

Are you sure the DDP is for you?

 

[adamkat]

Are you sure the DDP is for you?

No but hubby is insisting on it. Our trip isn’t till October so I’m researching Everything to get our moneys worth

 

[deedubb]

I believe at most places, the lunch menu is the same as the dinner menu, but as mentioned above, the Disney website will let you know what time they switch over. To maximize value, go to buffets (lunch or dinner).

https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/d...meals-shows-and-all-you-care-to-eat-platters/

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Dining plan is only "worth it" if you are going to drink the alcohol (& your kids' portions cant be used to get adult drinks) and/or going to do as many character meals as you can. Otherwise it is an overpriced pre-payment option & it's not prepay anyway as you have to tip at the end.

 

[adamkat]

Dining plan is only "worth it" if you are going to drink the alcohol (& your kids' portions cant be used to get adult drinks) and/or going to do as many character meals as you can. Otherwise it is an overpriced pre-payment option & it's not prepay anyway as you have to tip at the end.

Definitely going to drink the alcohol and right now going to aim for at least 3 character meals and a BOG dinner. (fingers crossed)
Didn't think to look at the WDW website for times of meals. (eye roll)
Tipping is at all meals or typically only TS and character meals?

 

[AngelDisney]

Definitely going to drink the alcohol and right now going to aim for at least 3 character meals and a BOG dinner. (fingers crossed)
Didn't think to look at the WDW website for times of meals. (eye roll)
Tipping is at all meals or typically only TS and character meals?

Tipping is at all TS restaurants including character meals.

 

[deedubb]

Dining plan is only "worth it" if you are going to drink the alcohol (& your kids' portions cant be used to get adult drinks) and/or going to do as many character meals as you can. Otherwise it is an overpriced pre-payment option & it's not prepay anyway as you have to tip at the end.

I agree with this. The other problem is, in order to get value out of it, many people will order the most expensive thing on the menu, and order the most expensive drink or a drink that they otherwise might not buy if paying OOP. All that increases the amount of tip you feel obligated to leave, so that will cost you more in the end.

 

[joech]

It also depends on how long you are going as you have to get the dining plan for the duration of your stay. We always get the dinning plan when DD & DS was under 10 (funny Disney consider 10 years old an adult) But we stopped getting the dinning plan once my DD turned 10 years old (6 years ago)

Below are the restaurants we always went when we bought the dinning plan.
Boma
Cinderella's Royal Table
Teppan Edo
Mama Melrose's (Fantasmic dinner package)
Ohana
Cape May
Chef Mickeys
Chef de france

 

[kuhltiffany]

We loved getting cool drinks at Starbucks and treats to bring home from Pandora to use up our snack credits

 

[deedubb]

For us, the only time the DDP makes sense is when we do a split stay and get the DDP for one of the 2 stays. We did this over our recent Xmas/NYE trip. Two days at Caribbean Beach with the DDP, then 9 days at Boardwalk without. For the 2 days, we did 1900 Park Fare, Boma, Tangierine Cafe, Satu'li Canteen, and used most of our snack credits at the food booths in Epcot. IMO, that was well worth it. We would not be able to get our moneys worth if we did the full 11 days. Too much food and we just can't eat like that for so many days in a row. Will probably do the same for our next trip which is also a split stay.

 

[badiggio]

We used it once, as our daughter paid our trip for us, and after that decided it was not for us.The last time we used it,the tip was 18% and automatically added to your bill.I don't know if it's changed or not,just putting it out there in case some were under the impression that how much to tip was up to them; of course you could tip more.

 

[samsteele]

As well as the DIS' updated menus, check out Tom Bricker's website. Just google the name to find. He regularly updates his articles featuring best restaurants to max out the DDP. All Ears has also been a reliable standby for updated menu listings. However, like a PP mentioned, WDW's own list on orlando dining has become the most up to date. For years, it lagged behind independent websites for updated info. Enjoy!

 

[Donald - my hero]

aanother suggestion is to get a general idea of how much you might spend on the dining plan, look at menus and figure out what you would actually order, not what you'd feel you should to maximize your credits and then put that onto gift cards.
we found as others mentioned the tip can really hit you hard when you order the most expense items because you tell yourself you've already paid. Now if you'd order those items anyways plus the alcohol and dessert then it might be a wash. Disney math is complicated!!

ETA:while you can't directly earn airmiles on these gift cards there are still ways to do that : using your credit card if it gives you miles, when sobey's has their gift card promo, buy one of those and then use it to buy a Disney card.