There were 6 of us.....
Mom (me)
Dad
15yr old Daughter
15yr old Daughter's BF
11yr old Son
8yr old Daughter
$1647.52 - Cost of plan
$2628.67 - Total from our receipts
$1800.00 - This is what we WOULD have budgeted if we didn't do the dining plan. ($200 a day x 9)
PROS:
1. It was less $$ than doing it on our own.
2. Didn't have to worry about cost. If we weren't on the dining plan, kids would have ordered from the kid's menu a lot...with the plan, kids could order filet mignon.
3. Got to try a ton of new appetizers and desserts that normally we would not have. In the past we would order MAYBE one appetizer, and never dessert. The kids thought it was SOOOOO cool ordering there own dessert.
CONS:
1. Biggest gripe......we got 2 rooms so they split our cards 3 and 3. Most CMs didn't realize you could just use 1 card for all 6 of us. So some insisted we use both cards...some would use 1 card but would ring up 2 different transactions...some only wanted 1 card....and because of this we had uneven credits on the cards. Made it hard to keep track of credits. So towards the end of the trip only one of our cards had credits and one CM gave us a hard time when we wanted to order 6 meals when it only had 3 people on the card. Had to explain the 2 rooms/but same party.... blah, blah, blah, way to many times . Most people won't have this problem, but a heads up for larger families/2 rooms.
2. This is the first time (out of 6 trips) that we have eaten at that many counter services. Not a big fan of them. Wish you could swap 2 CS for 1 TS and only order a drink and entree or something similar to that.
3. Way too much food...too much waste. I know we didn't HAVE to order all of that but that was part of the fun. Unfortunatly, we were stuffed all the time. Not a good feeling leaving half of a 7oz filet mignon (which isn't that big to begin with) on your plate because if you take one more bite you will EXPLODE.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Besides #1 on the CONS, we enjoyed the Dining Plan and would do it again. We didn't feel that we were treated any different by the waitstaff. We used our snack credits for breakfast items (not big breakfast eaters) but the last 3 days we skipped breakfast because we were never hungry for our other meals so this helped some. We used our kid credits for kid's meals at TS, but at some of the CS ordered off regular menu, mostly because the kids menu was at some of the CS places. Again, the kids LOVED being able to order appetizer, an adult meal, and thier own dessert. On our last day we had 6 snack credits and 4 CS credits left (not sure how that happened)...so grabbed some stuff to bring home. Overall would give it a big and would do it again.
Thanks for listening and if you have any questions....ask away!
Mom (me)
Dad
15yr old Daughter
15yr old Daughter's BF
11yr old Son
8yr old Daughter
$1647.52 - Cost of plan
$2628.67 - Total from our receipts
$1800.00 - This is what we WOULD have budgeted if we didn't do the dining plan. ($200 a day x 9)
PROS:
1. It was less $$ than doing it on our own.
2. Didn't have to worry about cost. If we weren't on the dining plan, kids would have ordered from the kid's menu a lot...with the plan, kids could order filet mignon.
3. Got to try a ton of new appetizers and desserts that normally we would not have. In the past we would order MAYBE one appetizer, and never dessert. The kids thought it was SOOOOO cool ordering there own dessert.
CONS:
1. Biggest gripe......we got 2 rooms so they split our cards 3 and 3. Most CMs didn't realize you could just use 1 card for all 6 of us. So some insisted we use both cards...some would use 1 card but would ring up 2 different transactions...some only wanted 1 card....and because of this we had uneven credits on the cards. Made it hard to keep track of credits. So towards the end of the trip only one of our cards had credits and one CM gave us a hard time when we wanted to order 6 meals when it only had 3 people on the card. Had to explain the 2 rooms/but same party.... blah, blah, blah, way to many times . Most people won't have this problem, but a heads up for larger families/2 rooms.
2. This is the first time (out of 6 trips) that we have eaten at that many counter services. Not a big fan of them. Wish you could swap 2 CS for 1 TS and only order a drink and entree or something similar to that.
3. Way too much food...too much waste. I know we didn't HAVE to order all of that but that was part of the fun. Unfortunatly, we were stuffed all the time. Not a good feeling leaving half of a 7oz filet mignon (which isn't that big to begin with) on your plate because if you take one more bite you will EXPLODE.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Besides #1 on the CONS, we enjoyed the Dining Plan and would do it again. We didn't feel that we were treated any different by the waitstaff. We used our snack credits for breakfast items (not big breakfast eaters) but the last 3 days we skipped breakfast because we were never hungry for our other meals so this helped some. We used our kid credits for kid's meals at TS, but at some of the CS ordered off regular menu, mostly because the kids menu was at some of the CS places. Again, the kids LOVED being able to order appetizer, an adult meal, and thier own dessert. On our last day we had 6 snack credits and 4 CS credits left (not sure how that happened)...so grabbed some stuff to bring home. Overall would give it a big and would do it again.
Thanks for listening and if you have any questions....ask away!