[EKUAlum05]

DINING PLAN

I love food, more importantly the "experience" of food. Disney is all about the experience and they have one of the finest collections of fine dining anywhere.

Most resorts have a signature restaurant associated with it. Downtown Disney (no admission needed), The Boardwalk (no admission needed), and Epcot are all littered with awesome restaurants with a variety of styles and ambient settings. In the other parks there are a handful of character meals and sit down restaurants all designed to be unique. The problem is, you most definitely will pay for these experiences if you dine there ala carte.

The Meal Plan is available ONLY to Disney Resort Guests and there are different variations to the plans which you can choose... I will stock with the general plan as the frame of reference since it is most common and what you could potentially get for free.

Disney's restaurants/food options are arranged in categories:

Snacks- Single serve items such as non-alcoholic beverages, ice creams, popcorns, fruit cups, pastries, etc

Quick Service- Think Fast Food. Burgers, breakfasts, individual pizza's, sandwiches, etc. On the meal plan a Snak consists of an entree (ex: BBQ Sandwich and Fries), a drink, and a dessert (exingle serve cheesecake). Can either be a venue at a park, a foodcourt at a hotel, or a snack stand at like a water park.

Table Service: Think Sit Down Restaurant with a server. These can range from a casual Mexican Restaurant, a family style table, a buffet, a character meal, or a traditional meal at hotel's main restaurant.

Dinner Show- Think Dixie Stampede or a Luau (sp?). They serve you and they entertain you at the same time.

Signature Restaurants- These are the elite restaurants. Think 5*, famous chefs, and true cuisine. Some places require you to meet a specific dress code or offer a unique experience like a private balcony to watch fireworks from.

With the standard dining plan each person in the party gets (1) Snack, (1) Quick Service, and (1) Table Service per day. These are cumulative of your entire stay. So if you are staying 4 days and have 4 in your group...you will have a pool of (16) Snacks, (1) Quick Service, and (16 Table Service) for your time there. In other words if you used (2) Quick Serves the first day, but not any of your table service...then you still have (16) Table Service for the entire stay, but only (8) Quick Service moving forward. Your room key acts as your credit card and form of payment (unless you leave a tip which is not included).

The Signature Restaurants and Dinner Shows require (2) Table Service credits per person. IMHO, unless you just accidentally have a surplus I don't think you necessarily should do either. There are plenty of unbelievable restaurants as standard Table Service and you can see shows all day at the parks.

When we went for Thanksgiving we did the meal plan and it essentially paid for itself by Day 2. We would use our snack for breakfast coupled with our own stuff we brought in the room(I would get a delicious cheese danish for example), we would use the Quick Service in the parks (EX: Taco salad in Adventureland) or at the foodcourt of the hotel between going to different parks (ex: Meatball Sub, fries, chocolate cake and drink) then we made reservations for our Table Service for Dinner.

For example here is what we used it for this last time:
Night 1: The Garden Grill at Epcot's "The Land". Revolving restaurant that has constantly changing scenery and a character meal where you can take pictures and interact with several characters. Family style serving where they keep bringing food until you tell them to stop. fetauring fresh bread, tossed salad bowl, drinks, beef tenderloion, turkey and gravy, Mahi Mahi, rice pilaf, horseradish mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables, and a cobbler for dessert.

Night 2: Coral Reef Restaurant at Epcot's "The Seas". Ala Carte ordering from the menu. It is set with the massive aquarium used for the pavilion with all the sharks, sea turtles, and fish swimming by beside you.Serve bread and drinks, I chose a NY Strip with mashed potatoes as my entree, then I choose a chocolate souffle for desert.

Night 3: Ohana at the Polynesian Resort. Amazing experience. Hawaiian setting with live entertainment and music. Family style with pineapple bread, drinks, pot stickers, noodles, wings, and salad as appetizers. Then they constantly come around with skewers of steak, chicken, shrimp, and pork grilled over a woodfire and literally feed you until you are stuffed. They had a bread pudding for dessert which I could not eat. When the fireworks in the Magic Kingdom started they played the soundtrack over the speaker system and you could see them from your seat.

If you do the Dining Plan then reservations are a MUST as soon as you book your trip. The peak seasons fill up a year in advance at some places.

If you can get a free Dining Plan then you are looking at potentially saving 80.00-120.00 per person per day over hat you would have had to spend. Of course, this is all relative as if you so choose to you coudl eat for much less off site, but you probably wouldn't have the same experience.