Husband & I just used dining plan for 7 nights....we probably would not do it again nor would we recommend it specifically to the 1 or 2 family/friends with upcoming trips.
We did TS @ Concourse Steakhouse - the server was rude & bored with the Dining Plan, prime rib & steak was ok, the lobster bisque was lukewarm, the bill was $97. I would not have wanted to pay that out of pocket.
Cape May was OK - the dessert buffet was great (oreo bon-bon's) - again I would not want to pay out of pocket.
Boatwright's Valentine's Day - prime rib was ok....by 3rd evening DP was not so exciting....chocolate fudge cake, carrot cake, cheesecake not much choice (we don't order dessert as a rule).
The best was Le Cellier - server was wonderful as was the prime rib & potatoes & the creme brulee was fabulous.
Chef Mickey's for dinner on Thursday - this was awful. Sorry - we knew it was character buffet having done it last in '99 - food was blah - character interaction was great though & desserts on buffet were good - mickey domes (?)
Used our TS Friday for breakfast @ Boatwright's. Food was OK but for some reason our server insisted that we could not have appetizer...I wanted strawberries w/cream - she said I could have a fruit smoothie - 2 drinks (??)...well I already had orange juice & didn't care for the raspberry smoothie. It was too sweet. I would have liked it if it were more like raspberry sherbert....this was way too sugary. Although there were many empty tables she hurried us out.
On our last night (Sat.) we did Boatwright's for dinner & it was better than a few days before - Prime rib was good but the potatoes were not so great. "Boatwright potatoes" were escalloped potatoes with quite a bit of onion. the server said they were "au gratin with parmesan cheese - NOT - the different person who brought our dinner said "scalloped potatoes". This time we were offered the "mickey sundae" which hit the spot for dessert.
The DP was way too much food for us. We don't usually each order appetizers or dessert. We did with the dining plan. & We missed having a "regular" tossed salad & there were no vegetables. The dinners consisted of appetizer like shrimp cocktail (these were huge-easily shared), soup, crab cakes & generally the "meat & potatoes" part. Also, we were looking for real yeasty type dinner rolls or french bread - got tired of the corn bread & bread sticks.
We did fine splitting CS for breakfast & lunch & actually had 7 snack credits left. We got a couple of waters, chips, mickey rice crispie things. 8 AM (had to catch ME @ 9) is not a good time to get cookies. They don't have them until 11 AM or so & we had nothing (like a ziploc baggie) to keep them fresh from the day before.
Just our recent experience....glad we tried the DP - we would not do it again as it wasn't so great. Also, we did not go to any 2 TS places like Yachtsman or some of the other 2 TS places. Also ADR's were great as we tried to change midweek to add Le Cellier on for our last Sat. night. no luck as they were booked full plus the girl said they were 30% overbooked - don't know if this was usual for Sat. night or because it was the beginning of President's week.
We surely saved $$ - we did get our money's worth but we ate more food than we needed/wanted & quickly tired of Disney food
We did not have car so we would not have gone off Disney property anyway. I think we would have just eaten more CS, chef salads, taco salads, burgers.