I'm a believer! How the DxDP worked for us--spreadsheet planning, mini-reviews & thoughts! UPDATED

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Everyone was so helpful on this board as I was planning that I wanted to report back on my experience with the dining plan. I’m going to give away the ending, but we loved it and found that it really enhanced our enjoyment of WDW.

A little background …

The kids:


We—DH, DW (me), DS20 (special needs) and DD17—are from California and have been going to Disneyland for a long time. I think I went the first time in 1972 (my mom went the first year the park opened!) and the kids have probably averaged 5-20 days a year since my son was 2. He loves it. Think Buddy the Elf with Santa and you have an idea of what he’s like with the characters We’ve had annual passes most of those years, and purchased DVC at the Grand Californian when it opened. So right away, I’m going to admit a huge west coast park bias

I’ve been to WDW a handful of times, but our only family trip was about eight years ago. The kids didn’t love it When you are used to going back and forth between the parks in a couple minutes and having an entrance to one park literally on the hotel doorstep, the buses and spreading out of the rides was frustrating for them. I'm happy to say they had a much better experience this go around--more on that later.

This has been a very busy travel summer for us, but I talked the kids into joining me for a few days after a conference in Orlando. Unfortunately, DH couldn’t take off any more for work, so DD17 agreed to fly her brother out to meet me. This was the first time she’d ever traveled alone with him, and I’m relieved to say it went well. I was very happy to see this!


We planned this about five months ago. I originally booked a summer discount, but after doing the Dark Side half, I upgraded to a gold pass with my DVC discount and was able to take advantage of an even better annual pass rate. We picked Kidani at the Animal Kingdom Lodge mostly for the one bedroom with the two bathrooms. My son and I had stayed at Jamba House on the two night trip with my mother a few years back, and he loved to watch the animals. My daughter is an animal lover, too, and I knew she would love it. So Savanna view it was—which turned out to be a great choice. To defray the bus issue (we hate the buses and always seem to have horrible luck), I'd promised them we could uber around. This worked awesome, and I’m sold for all future trips. The incremental cost (maybe $160 total for our five day trip average 3-4 ubers a day) was well worth it in stress and frustration.

View from our room:



To dining plan or not to dining plan?

At Disneyland, food/eating isn’t that big of a deal. We weren’t used to pre-planning for meals, and typically didn’t have problems walking up to restaurants. That’s changed a little recently but did require a complete change of mentality for me when approaching a trip to WDW.

My mom and I took my son a few years ago for a couple days before a cruise (my husband and daughter were traveling in Europe for a sporting event), and we tried out the dining plan. It seemed to work well, but I didn’t give it much pre-trip analysis since it was only for a couple days.

Our trip was July 29-August 2, so 5 days and 4 nights. The kids weren’t going to get in until late afternoon on Sat, and our flight back on Wed was at 6 pm, which would give us a full 4 days of meals.

After pouring over a lot of dining reports and some great spreadsheet threads, I compiled my own list of restaurants, went through the menus, and came up with a mock order to try to calculate whether the dining plan might make sense.

I’ve been wanting to give WDW restaurants more of a try, and figured that with me flying solo without DH, it would be nice to have longer meals in AC and give everyone a chance to decompress a little.

Here are the restaurants I picked:

Tusker House (character dinner)
Trattoria al Forno (character breakfast)
Cinderella's (2 credit character dinner)
Boma (breakfast)
California Grill (2 credit brunch)
Sanaa (lunch)
Teppan Edo (lunch)
50s Prime Time (lunch)
Mama Melrose (dinner)
Be our Guest (dinner)

Here’s what I came up with: (note: I am not an excel expert so excuse the simplistic layout)



From this you can see that I didn’t include the mug because I wasn’t sure we’d get much value out of it—I should have factored it in as we ended up loving it for morning coffee. The red shaded restaurants are the fixed price restaurants. The grayed out boxes are restaurants I was contemplating. I also tried to factor in just using my annual pass discount. You can see that it looked like from my likely choices that it seemed as if the Deluxe DP was going to be a slightly better savings for me. I’m not much of a dessert eater, but I almost always order an appetizer. The kids tend to get appetizers and dessert about half the time. I tried to factor this in with my “likely.” I did this a while ago, so I can’t remember exactly what I did, but you get the idea.

From my research I'd heard that character meals and signatures are usually best for the DxDP, and this initial analysis certainly seemed to bear that out. As you can see from my choices, we were very character meal heavy thanks to DS.

With the decision made and the Deluxe Dining Plan purchased, all that was left was to sit back and wait to make my 60 day FP+ reservations and somehow try to coordinate this with the restaurant reservations I’d already made. As I didn’t book 6 months out, I had a couple of popular reservations that didn’t give me much room to move around (Be our Guest dinner, Cinderella’s Royal Table, and California Grill brunch).

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Planning overload:

In addition to the inconvenience of park hopping at WDW compared to Disneyland, one of the things holding me back from another trip to WDW was all the planning involved. For our trips to Disneyland, I essentially do nothing. DS has a short expiration date, so we typically get a late start in the morning, go back in the early afternoon, rest a few hours, have dinner, and then do a few more rides. Being flexible with him is key, and the idea of setting in stone where we were going to be six months out didn’t seem as if it would work well. Then having to possibly change all those carefully arranged meals with FP+ selections 2 months out… ugh.

But as you can see from the spreadsheet above and the planner below, I’m anal, and once the decision to plan is made, I’m all in. It was a little frustrating having to rearrange restaurant reservations around important fast pass times, but I’m happy to report that once the schedule was set, it ended up working out pretty well. I picked a park in the morning for FP+ reservations and then an evening park around where we were going to eat. Instead of hopping between parks, we’d eat lunch, uber back to the room, and then uber to the park where we were having dinner. I gave each park two visits with the exception of Epcot, which is ride challenged . The kids aren’t shoppers so the world showcase didn’t hold much interest for them. I knew I wanted to start and end with Animal Kingdom as we were staying there. AK got two FP days because of the new rides (both of which were awesome BTW—flight is now my all-time favorite Disney ride! Loved it even more than Shanghai Disney Pirates).




The numbers and mini reviews:

Tusker Houser Character Dinner: Fixed price total $148.64
My son loves characters, and as this is one of the best reviewed character meals, we’d eaten here before for breakfast on the pre-cruise trip. I was nervous that we might miss this if the kids’ flight was late, but they were in early, and it wasn’t an issue. I’m not big on buffets in general, but this one was fine. My daughter and I had the roast chicken, and my son had the pork. We definitely never eat our money’s worth at these kind of places, but I know that going in, and we’re there for the characters. Success with that!


California Grill Brunch: Fixed price total $255.60
I’d read some great food reports about this one, and we loved it. It was pouring rain most of the day, and it couldn’t have worked out better for a long, leisurely lunch. I loved the buffet part of the menu (and the mimosas ). The standouts for me where the sushi, the meats/cheese, and the cheese biscuits. I may not like dessert that much, but I love my bread! I could have eaten a few of those and called it a day I ended up ordering the steak and eggs without the eggs It was a great meal, and it’s going #1 on the list for the next trip. We’d had a small breakfast of oatmeal and fruit (using snack credits) and our noonish reservation ended up working out well with our dinner plans. We left the restaurant full but not stuffed. Not overeating was hard, but I knew we had a lot of food in front of us the next few days.

The kids and my half-eaten steak (I always forget to take pictures!):



A short aside to say that not overeating was pretty much the mantra: I went into this with the idea that we were definitely NOT going to maximize the plan. I pretty much don’t eat dessert so there was $5-10 off every meal. I told the kids to only order what they want and don’t worry if they didn’t feel like an appetizer or dessert. I reminded them that we paid tips on the total so if they didn’t want it—don’t order it. There were only one or two times where we threw this aside (I’ll point out when I get to them).

Mama Melrose’s Dinner: total $111.80
This was the restaurant I went back and forth on the most. It gets very inconsistent reviews, but the restaurants in Hollywood studios are limited and all kind of get so-so reviews. I figured the kids would be happy with pasta so we gave it a shot. I’m glad I did. We all ended up being very pleasantly surprised. I was expecting Olive Garden, but it was definitely a nice step up from that. I ordered the baked chicken parm and really enjoyed it. We all had appetizer salads and DS had dessert. Apparently I forgot to take any pictures--sorry about that!

Trattoria al Forno Character Breakfast: Fixed priced total: $108.63
Our biggest restaurant day started out early with a reservation at the newest character breakfast option. I lucked out when I was making reservations as they’d just opened and were pretty much wide open. I’ve already given my thoughts on character meals, but this one turned out to be surprisingly good—maybe the biggest surprise of the trip. I loved my pancakes, and the berry compote was really good. The starter breads were too sweet for all of us (even DS who has a breakfast sweet tooth) but we liked the fruit. The character interactions were great, and I’m putting it on the list for next time. Hope they keep the quality there.

My pancakes and the kids with Flynn Rider:




Teppan Edo lunch: total $154.27
I’m a sucker for Benihana. Love that place. This place wasn’t as good, but it hit the same notes. The worst part of the meal was my $4 miso soup appetizer (proof that I wasn’t trying to maximize the plan, LOL). It was bland and watery. I ordered steak and shrimp, and it was yummy. Love the veggie noodles, too, but missed the Benihana friend rice. None of us had dessert. It’s a fun place, and we’d definitely go back.

Clearly I need to improve my food porn skills as I couldn't find any pictures of the food from this.

Be Our Guest dinner: total $148.56
Despite our 8:30 dinner reservation, DD and I weren’t very hungry after gorging ourselves at lunch. Three big meals a day is definitely a lot—even when you aren’t eating everything that is included on the plan. I wasn’t expecting much food-wise so I wasn’t disappointed We were there for the ambiance and the new restaurant factor—and to see Beast. I’d already had more steak than I would typically eat in a month the past couple of days, but I ended up ordering the steak for dinner. Nothing else really appealed, and I was in the rare mood for french fries. DD and I split the meat/cheese charturie plate, and it as okay. One of the meats was really smokey, and there were only a couple of small pieces of cheese. The bread served on the table was better than the baguette it was served with. The kids ordered gray stuff because we’d heard so much about it. We probably only should have done one as they both took a bite and decided they were too full to eat it. I guess it wasn’t that good BOG was fine, but it wasn’t a place I feel the need to rush back to. The big room felt like a cafeteria, and the service was relatively slow.

The famous gray stuff! (aka cookies and cream )



50s Prime Time: total $122.48
I wasn’t expecting much from this place, but it was very fun. We had a great waitress and the food was pretty good. You should have seen my son’s face when she told him to get his elbows off the table. Too funny. We all had shakes/floats for our drinks—I probably could have just stopped with that! I ordered the wedge salad (way too much dressing), and the meatloaf, which was pretty good. The standout was DD’s fried chicken. In retrospect, I should have ordered that, but I was trying to be careful to not overeat. I figured I wouldn’t be tempted to overeat the meatloaf, and I was right The kids ordered dessert and took only a couple bites of their sundaes. Had we not been on the plan, I probably wouldn’t have let them order it after the shakes. So here’s a place the plan may have affected our choices.

Once again... no pics! My bad!

Cinderella’s Table Character Dinner: Fixed price total $237.30
We were definitely here for the ambiance and characters—DS was in heaven with all the princesses—but the dinner was good. Really love that room and we’ll be back with DH in February just to eat there again hopefully without the rush. We had a 7:20 dinner time and didn’t sit until closer to 7:40, which put us very close to the 8:45 make it or break it line for fireworks. If you aren’t out by 8:45 you are stuck inside until 9:30. We’d gotten caught in the crowd of people leaving the park the night before after BOG, and didn’t want a repeat. Our waiter was awesome and got us out just in time. I had … wait for it … steak again! Although this time it was in a salad. It was really good, but DD out ordered me with the fish pasta. It was in a rare-for-a-theme-park tomato sauce, and it was really good. We all had the lemon sorbet for dessert but left most of it aside to rush out of there. I’m typically a vacation drinker, but one unexpected result with the dining plan was that I didn’t do much drinking because a non-alcoholic drink was included. Instead of wine or beer, I had ice-tea. This saved me quite a bit, considering my $27 bar bill at Cinderella’s I’m looking forward to having the alcoholic drink included in 2018.


Boma Breakfast: Fixed price total $79.88
We’d been here before, and it’s a solid choice for buffet breakfasts. I had an omelette, which was really good, and finally tried some of the bread pudding that everyone raves about. It was delicious, but really rich. Reminded me of buttered raisin toast. The weakest part of the meal was the coffee. We’d been getting free coffee every morning over at Kidani, and they must have a different blend or someone screwed up on our pot. My son was thrilled with the donuts I also tried a grapefruit, guava, avocado salad that was different and good. We ate so fast I forgot to take a picture!

Sanaa lunch: total $154.41
We saved one of my favorites for last. As I mentioned earlier, I could just eat bread for most meals. The bread service of naan at Sanaa is awesome and counts as only one appetizer. We ended up ordering two salad samplers as well. In retrospect, I probably should have only ordered one as the bread sampler was so filling. I got the buttered chicken, the potatoes and the saag, which were all delicious. My son had the tandoori shrimp sandwich, which looked awesome. He ordered the butterscotch dessert since it was the last meal and really enjoyed it.



Restaurant round up:
A resounding success! I would eat at all the restaurants we went to again, although I probably won’t rush back to BOG.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

The rest:

Snacks:
We mostly used these for the two breakfasts that we had at the hotel and a midday Starbucks break. The first day the kids had ice cream bars, I had a pretzel, and the kids each bought a bag of candy (and one for their dad).

Mugs:
As I mentioned above, I would never have bought these without the dining plan, but I felt as if we got a lot of value for them so I included them in my spreadsheet. We aren’t huge soda drinkers, but we all drink coffee. Also, a couple times it was nice to relax in the room and watch the giraffes with something cold to drink.

Grand totals:

So here it is all added up with the snacks and mug: (again excuse the simplistic spreadsheet!)


So even considering the fact that we definitely didn’t max out the plan by ordering the most expensive or ordering everything we could have, it definitely made sense for us given all the character meals and fixed price offerings we had planned. Except for the few instances I mentioned, we didn’t order any differently than we would have had we not been on the plan.

I have a question mark after cost because I'm not sure exactly what I was charged, although I think this is correct. One of the frustrating things is that Disney does not line item the hotel and food in their bills! Similarly, they don't do it on receipts unless you ask for it. I made the mistake the first day, and we had to go back and figure it out. I guess they don't want people doing the numbers! So if you want to run your actual numbers don't forget to ask for the actual receipt or you will just get the zeroed out version.

General thoughts:
I prefer the table service offerings at WDW and this trip really established that for our family having a couple table service meals a day is the way to go. The one day we had three was a lot—I’m not sure I’d plan to do that again. I might substitute another signature in there instead. But the ability to come in from the heat—or for one day the rain—and sit down to eat was great. It really helped with the stress of “where do you want to eat” decisions and/or finding seats in crowded quick serves. The food quality was much better, too, and despite all the sit downs, I feel better about the food choices. We had plenty of greens and vegetables, and not a lot of fried food, which is hard to do with quick serves.

People complain about time away from parks with the dining plan, but it was absolutely not an issue for us. We sat pretty close to our reservation times with the exception of Cinderella’s table, which was about 20 minutes past. Our longest dining time was about an hour and a half with the brunch and BOG. The brunch was purposefully leisurely to get out of the rain. BOG felt a little slow. 50’s prime time also felt a little slow, but it was only a little over an hour. Most were less than an hour. Some of the places (Boma, Mama Melrose, Tuskers) we were out in not much longer than a quick serve. Boma was literally about thirty minutes!

I should probably mentioned that we also did one of the dessert fireworks shows, mostly to not have to wait forever to stake out a spot. My son is a huge Star Wars fan so I figured that would be a good one to try. We really liked the World of Color dessert party at California Adventure, but Star Wars was a step down. They didn’t have seats, which I knew but didn’t really process. The desserts were okay, but with the dining plan no one was eating. I took a few bites and tossed, and the kids pretty much did the same. I think they had half a scoop of ice cream. With me being the only over 21er, I took advantage of the open bar, but the amount of alcohol was a joke. I had 5 of the vodka lemonades and didn’t feel a thing. We left the tie fighter things they gave us in the room as they were way too big to take on the plane or store later. A WDW dessert party was probably a one and done for us.

The main table:


The freeze dried nutella:


The crowd (pretty crowded especially around tables):


DD's fun interaction with Storm troopers:


What I’ve learned:

I think the biggest thing for me was learning to appreciate WDW for what it is—and not try to jam it into the same experience box as Disneyland. They are vastly different beasts, and each have different things to offer. We can’t tour the parks the same way, and once I realized this, the experience at WDW got a lot better. Avoiding the buses by using Uber also helped a lot with the overall enjoyment factor.

We are returning to WDW in February for the Princess half, this time with DH and without DD who is off to university, and we will definitely be doing the DxDP again. DH doesn’t drink so the alcohol add-on is a double bonus for me I’m looking forward to sharing the better WDW experience with DH, and now that I have a good trip under my belt, I feel as if the planning will be much easier next time around. The one day we had three meals was fine, but if I can avoid that next time, I probably will. The snack credit for oatmeal worked out really well for a light breakfast, and we can probably find a snack credit lunch somewhere for days we want a character breakfast.

I was surprised how much I liked sitting in a restaurant for most of our meals. We are used to quick serves at Disneyland, but it was really nice not to have to worry about where to eat and have to fend for a seat in the rain or sun. It made the trip much more relaxing even though we probably did the same number of rides that we would have—probably more with the Uber factor. Disneyland is improving but they just don’t have the number of dining options that WDW has to make all sit downs an option.

I was also surprised that I didn’t feel constrained or hemmed in by having a schedule. It was actually kind of nice to not have to figure it out on the go. The only thing I might have changed was not going back to Magic Kingdom twice in a row for dinner but that was when the reservations were available. It was the least Uber friendly park (you get dropped of at ticket station, which was a pain), and the ride offerings for my kids were too similar to Disneyland. Next time I’ll plan more time at Animal Kingdom—they loved the new rides and Expedition Everest. Hollywood studios also has a lot of rides they like, but I wish they’d improve the food offerings.

My kids tend to go with the flow so having everything planned didn’t bug them. Other’s mileage may vary on that

 

[Mich123]

Great review of the DxDP--your spreadsheets are awesome! We love the DxDP and I've analyzed it a few ways and always figured that we'd at least break even because we like appetizers and desserts.

We are also DL fans and I agree that it's a completely different experience. I really don't think about food half as much at DL, and, amazingly, I have never starved! There's always something easy to pick up.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Great review of the DxDP--your spreadsheets are awesome! We love the DxDP and I've analyzed it a few ways and always figured that we'd at least break even because we like appetizers and desserts.

We are also DL fans and I agree that it's a completely different experience. I really don't think about food half as much at DL, and, amazingly, I have never starved! There's always something easy to pick up.

Thanks so much. I'm glad you enjoyed!

I hope some other new-to-WDW planning find it useful. I know I loved all the spreadsheet posts when I was doing my initial research. I was pretty amazed by how much we saved without trying to maximize the plan or really even think about it. Even figuring $50 for a couple extra desserts and appetizers we may not have ordered, it was a great deal for us. Agree about Disneyland. I think the best part of this whole DxDP experience was that it really gave me an entirely new appreciation for WDW and stopped me trying to make it the same experience as DLR. We are really looking forward to our next trip. DH was very jealous of all the pictures we were sending him.

 

[gardengirl628]

Great reviews. Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Great reviews. Thanks so much for sharing!

Glad you enjoyed. I was thrilled by how well it worked out for us without really even trying

 

[DeterminedOne]

Thanks so much for sharing. I agree with you about the DxDP. I love it so much I don't even worry about "getting our monies worth." I love the convenience of it, and agree dining is a good way to escape the weather conditions. I especially appreciated your list of how much you paid in tips. I need to budget for that. The last time we were at Disney using the Premium plan, tips were included in the price of the package.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Thanks so much for sharing. I agree with you about the DxDP. I love it so much I don't even worry about "getting our monies worth." I love the convenience of it, and agree dining is a good way to escape the weather conditions. I especially appreciated your list of how much you paid in tips. I need to budget for that. The last time we were at Disney using the Premium plan, tips were included in the price of the package.

So glad you enjoyed! We loved it, too. I don't think I'll bother keeping track next time we go in February. We were so far in the green with our normal ordering, I'm not worried about breaking even (especially since DH will be with us and he's the biggest eater in the family). Yes, those tips can add up, which was why I'd cautioned the kids not to order things they didn't want. I wish they were still included. That would have been really nice.

 

[Mamabun]

Excellent review - you hit exactly all the math I had been wondering about. Thank you. And what great lookin' kiddos you have - love seeing the big kids havin' fun with the characters

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Excellent review - you hit exactly all the math I had been wondering about. Thank you. And what great lookin' kiddos you have - love seeing the big kids havin' fun with the characters

Aw, thanks! I appreciate it. They are good kids, too--we have a lot of fun. Glad you enjoyed and appreciated the math I know some people don't like to think about it, but I love to see how it all works out.

 

[DrunkJam]

Thank you for sharing this! it's really helpful. We have the DXDP (2 adults, 1 disney adult and 1 child). I hope we come out ahead, but, we love the convenience of the plan for knowing everything is booked, and anyone can choose anything without worrying about adding up costs

 

[NuJoy]

()

 

[Texans_loyal]

I enjoyed your review and appreciate the math! we will be on the DDP for the first time next month and this gave me a rough estimate on cost.

 

[vettegirl]

Wow!! Thank you so much for sharing this with us

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Where were you let out at after Cinderella's Royal Table and where were you able to view the fireworks from?

Thank you for the wonderful analysis of your trip! I'm glad you all had a good time. It's nice to see some of the similarities and differences mentioned between Disney World and Disney Land. I was stationed in California for 4 years but never made it out to DL. Now that I have kids, I might have to rectify that.

 

[North of Mouse]

Enjoyed your dining review! The dining plans definitely work differently for different families depending on your eating habits. We just never eat that much food. One main meal, one very light one, then a couple snacks during the day at Disney is all we ever want. We never order apps or desserts with our meals.

From talking with people and reading reviews, most people do not eat like you did, or they order 'everything' and seldom touch the desserts (taking it with them to hotel to---- you guessed it, throw away when leaving!! No time, or appetite to play 'catch up', with more food waiting!

So, yes, it does work for a very few families (especially those who get lots of character buffets and with kids prices), but for the majority, I would say it's mostly convenience, but pay lots of tips on uneaten/unwanted food! (you didn't - that is not the usual!!)

Personally, we don't get the supposed 'convenience' factor.
We eat when, where, how we want, charge to room, and that's that!! Easy, peasy!! Also, although we make about 3 ressies for our 10 day stays, we prefer to eat when we are hungry - not a set time (our Disney (vacation) way of eating is definitely not our norms which we love.)

Again, thanks for your families' dining experiences at Disney!!

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Great dining review. I used to think I wanted to try the deluxe Dining Plan. Now we tend to eat at the Swan and Dolphin restaurants that don't include the Dining Plan. It looks like a lot of fun though. I miss doing character meals.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Thank you for sharing this! it's really helpful. We have the DXDP (2 adults, 1 disney adult and 1 child). I hope we come out ahead, but, we love the convenience of the plan for knowing everything is booked, and anyone can choose anything without worrying about adding up costs

Thank you so much for reading! I'm glad it was helpful. I was surprised how convenient it was not to think about it and have everything booked. I really resisted, but once I went with it, I really liked it.

Looks delicious. I am thinking of ordering the steak & eggs when we go back in September; but this looks like an enormous portion. Do you think you were given more steak to compensate for no eggs? I'm also thinking of getting half steak & eggs and half shrimp & grits.


Lots of people say the party has heavy pours; but that's not been my experience in 3 parties. However, I have discovered I react differently to different alcohols. Wine and bourbon, specifically Southern Comfort, give me a very good feeling very quickly. I can drink 5 or 6 rum drinks and feel absolutely nothing...I just get sick from all the sugar in a cocktail. Tequila makes me irritable if I drink too much; but at the SWaGS dessert party, I drink that because it's the only way I'll feel anything at all.


Agree. I make a detailed sample itinerary in MDE app because I have trouble remembering things later if it's not written down. This way we don't miss out on the little things we wanted to do like the new muppets show in MK. We don't make ourselves follow it; but I like to know ahead of time that if we wanted to, so & so is a good time to do such & such as we go about our day...or which rides are super fun especially at night when planning our evening EMH.

I think the steak was that big with or without the eggs. The portions were huge. A half portion to try sounds great.
Definitely no heavy pours for me I felt nothing--except a little sick from all that sugar. Those drinks are sweet!

I enjoyed your review and appreciate the math! we will be on the DDP for the first time next month and this gave me a rough estimate on cost.

Thanks so much! Hope it works out for you guys, too. Happy dining

Wow!! Thank you so much for sharing this with us

Thanks for reading!

Where were you let out at after Cinderella's Royal Table and where were you able to view the fireworks from?

Thank you for the wonderful analysis of your trip! I'm glad you all had a good time. It's nice to see some of the similarities and differences mentioned between Disney World and Disney Land. I was stationed in California for 4 years but never made it out to DL. Now that I have kids, I might have to rectify that.

DS doesn't like fireworks so we didn't watch. The let us out the main entrance and then escorted us to the roped off area near the merry go round.

Glad you enjoyed the report. We had a great time and really enjoyed Disney World, but Disneyland is still our "home" park We just love the convenience and being able to walk back and forth between the parks, but this trip has definitely given me a new appreciation for Disney World. Definitely get back out there sometime! (And thank you for your service!).

Enjoyed your dining review! The dining plans definitely work differently for different families depending on your eating habits. We just never eat that much food. One main meal, one very light one, then a couple snacks during the day at Disney is all we ever want. We never order apps or desserts with our meals.

From talking with people and reading reviews, most people do not eat like you did, or they order 'everything' and seldom touch the desserts (taking it with them to hotel to---- you guessed it, throw away when leaving!! No time, or appetite to play 'catch up', with more food waiting!

So, yes, it does work for a very few families (especially those who get lots of character buffets and with kids prices), but for the majority, I would say it's mostly convenience, but pay lots of tips on uneaten/unwanted food! (you didn't - that is not the usual!!)

Personally, we don't get the supposed 'convenience' factor.
We eat when, where, how we want, charge to room, and that's that!! Easy, peasy!! Also, although we make about 3 ressies for our 10 day stays, we prefer to eat when we are hungry - not a set time (our Disney (vacation) way of eating is definitely not our norms which we love.)

Again, thanks for your families' dining experiences at Disney!!

Thanks so much for reading! Yes, I read a ton of reviews and there were so many differing opinions, I finally just gave up and decided we'd have to try it out for ourselves. I'm not pretty sold, but we'll see what DH has to say.

With DS special needs Character meals are forever in our future

Great dining review. I used to think I wanted to try the deluxe Dining Plan. Now we tend to eat at the Swan and Dolphin restaurants that don't include the Dining Plan. It looks like a lot of fun though. I miss doing character meals.

Too funny! I was at the S&D for my conference before and enjoyed a couple of the restaurants there. Il Mulano was my favorite of the bunch this time, but Shula's is always good, too.

 

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Loved this review! Thank you for taking the time.