Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
If you intend to eat Disney food, the counter-service meal plan is a good option. We
didn't want the full plan because the restaurants seemed overpriced, and the neces-
sity of reservations months in advance seemed crazy and a bar to flexibility. You get
two counter-service meals (entrée/combo, dessert, drink) and two snacks (food item
or drink) per person as part of the plan, and even though kids' meals are cheaper,
there is no distinction when you order—kids can order (more-expensive) adult meals
.
But a reader from The Woodlands, Texas, laments that the plan has altered the
focus of her vacation:
For me, the dining plan has taken a lot of the fun out of going to Disney World. Now,
dining for each day must be planned months in advance unless one is to eat just hot
dogs, pizza, and other walk-up items. I want to have fun. I
don't
want to be locked
into a tight schedule, always worrying about where we need to be when it's time to
eat, and I don't want to eat when I'm not hungry just because I have a reservation
somewhere
.
AmomfromOrlandPark,Illinois,commentsonthedifficultyofgettingAdvance
Reservations:
It's impossible to get table reservations anywhere good—the restaurants that are
available are available for a reason. We found ourselves taking whatever was open
and were unhappy with every sit-down meal we had, except for lunch at Liberty Tree
Tavern. I don't enjoy planning my day exclusively around eating at a certain restaur-
ant at a certain time, but that is what you must do six months in advance if you want
to eat at a good sit-down restaurant in Disney. That is ridiculous
.
In a similar vein, a San Jose, California, reader says that guests who are not on
the dining plan need to know how it has affected obtaining Advance Reservations:
The Disney Dining Plan has almost eliminated any chance of spontaneity when vis-
iting any of the sit-down restaurants. When planning 90 days out for the off-season,
I was told by the Disney rep to make all my Advance Reservations then because the
restaurants are booked by people on the dining plan. In fact, I was told that most of
the sit-down restaurants don't even take walk-ins anymore. Sure enough, even though
I was well over 90 days away from my vacation, a lot of my restaurant choices were
unavailable. I had to rearrange my entire schedule to fit the open slots at the restaur-
ants I didn't want to miss.
