i.love.lucy Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 It appears that it would only cost $198 more to upgrade us to the dining plan that includes table service. Is it worth it? We are on a tight budget but do like good food. I will say though, that we aren't going there for the food. A trip to Tuscany maybe yes for the food, but not Disney. I just wonder if once there we will wish we could relax and a few of the nicer restaurants. I know if we decided to "splurge" on a nice restaurant we could easily blow through $198 in 2 meals. We don't eat out very often at home and do enjoy it a lot when we do. Hmmmm. It sounds like I'm talking myself into it! Also, it only costs to upgrade juniors and adults. So I guess my son still would order off the kids menu and he's a free upgrade? Is it worth it to buy a subscription to Tour Guide Mike? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I would absolutely upgrade for that price, for the reasons you mentioned. It will be a nice change to be able to eat a leisurely (note that I didn't say "tasty") meal that someone who is not you brings to your table. You may have a harder time getting seating at the TS restaurants, but with some planning, asking in at odd times and trying some off-the-beaten-path options, you are likely to get in most anywhere you want. Our favorite table service meal at Epcot is the Rose & Crown, the British restaurant. We have always been able to get in as walk-ups, and the service and food have always been relaxing and refreshing. Tony's in the MK also seems to be an off-the-beaten-path option, and we have gotten in there with little- to no wait. Enjoy! Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Yuppers!! Just think... the soup is what... $7.00 for one person... at the spots where you have to find a seat?? I'd pay the $200 and not even think about it!! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brown4girls Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 :iagree: I would definitely upgrade and not think twice about the decision! When we did WDW, we opted for the dining plan with table service. We were able to use those for character meals. Enjoy your trip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 When are you going? I've been a TGM subscriber for years. The best days chart combined with the help in the forums (join your month's Vacation Club!) are invaluable. You can also go to the free www.EasyWDW.com website plus those forums for similar information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I know folks who have suggested NOT to upgrade to table service because you have to make reservations, then take time out of riding rides/etc to make sure you are in a specific place at a specific time and this can interfere with the park. Maybe you'll decide NOT to get in line at a specific ride because you are not sure you will be out in time -- or you will have to leave an area early to make it to a different part of the park (or even a different park) at a specific time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 If I were planning to do the dining plan anyway, yes. We don't do the dining plan because we stay off site. When are you going? Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edithcrawley Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Do it! The dining plan makes things so much easier, because you know (aside from souvenirs) exactly how much money the trip will cost before you leave your house. Plan your reservations for the off times, just make sure that you finish dinner in time to be able to see the evening parades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGK Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Is it worth it to buy a subscription to Tour Guide Mike? I love Tour Guide Mike, and always subscribe before our Disney trips. If you like to research and plan, you'll enjoy TGM. I would definitely upgrade to table service dining for that price. There are some really fun and unique places to eat at Disney, and the food is good - not fine dining - but for a theme park, really quite good. We have found that even in the slow times of year, we need reservations to the more popular restaurants, so I would definitely keep that in mind. Because I'm an obsessive planner, I like to check out the menus here http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm, before deciding on restaurants. Have fun planning your trip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paintedlady Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Yes, the upgrade is worth it! We went last October and were so happy to have one sit down meal that didn't include eating french fries every day. ;) It was nice to be inside having some peace and quiet too. And for less than $200 I'd definitely do it. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murmer Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I recommend upgrading too....last time we went we had the quick service only meal plan and by about the 5th day we were sick of the quick burger type foods...and we did try a lot of different places but most of it was similar. This time we upgraded just to get a variety of foods into our diets and for the rest...we are also using it to do most of our character stuff because dd would not be able to wait in line for characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Upgrade! It's completely worth it. We don't go to Disney for the food either, but we love having one sit-down meal everyday. You get to take an hour long break in the air-conditioning and eat something decent instead of fast food. My kids are small, so I have scheduled all of our sit-down meals as character meals when we have gone. The kids get to meet Mickey and all the Princesses without standing in line in the heat. As far as Tour Guide Mike, I've never used it, but I've heard great things about it. I think it's pretty much common sense to avoid the worst crowds, though. The park that is having early magic hours or late magic hours will be the most crowded, so go somewhere else. Most people don't get to the park until mid-morning, so it makes sense to get to the park before opening and be the first ones through the turnstiles. You can almost walk onto rides that first hour until it starts to get crowded. Use fastpasses. Have a plan for what you most want to do. Don't be the family that wanders from one ride to another looking at the posted wait-time and considering whether 30 min is too long to wait. Choose something and get in line (cause that line is only getting longer ;)). You get the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 YES!!!! IF . . . . you plan for it. Many of the nicer restaurants need reservations to get in. Some of them months in advance. Yes, you'll need to take time out of your day, but if you plan it right - you'll be in the same park or near it. For example, when we went, we ate at Coral Reef one day. It's in Epcot, so we went to Epcot that day. Same with Le Cellier. We also went to O'Hana's. It's at the Polynesian resort which is on the monorail. So, we went to Magic Kingdom that day so that it was a very quick ride to dinner. The one night we chose to go to a resort for dinner (Wilderness Lodge), we chose the park that closed at 5 pm (Animal Kingdom) and had reservations at 6. Plenty of time to get there in a car. We chose to eat at Boma - also in a resort. That was one of our planned days off from the parks. If you do decide to upgrade, know that you still have to pay for a tip. So, at some of the nicer restaurants (where dinner for our family was nearly $300!), that can add up. Also, when you get there - be sure to ask exactly what is included in the dining plan so you're not stuck with unexpected charges. If you want restaurant suggestions, please let us know!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OH_Homeschooler Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I'm with Jennifer. We went last year and having the dining plan actually forced me to get my butt in gear and make restaurant reservations a few months before the trip. Once I had the reservations, it made it easy to plan the rest of our trip. We knew on Monday we had to be in Epcot, Tuesday we had to be in Magic Kingdom, etc. And definitely look into the resort restaurants, they offer some great options. I heard that some restaurants are impossible to get into unless you book them like a year in advance. I didn't have any trouble. I was flexible about times and didn't care about getting into the best, I just had a few preferences. You can make reservations online by the way, which I loved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Yes, yes, YES!!! Upgrade. We just went to WDW in March and it was SOOOO nice to take a break each day and enjoy a sit down meal. It wasn't always dinner that we chose for the sit-down either. We had breakfast at the Crystal Palace one day and a couple of lunches (Liberty Tree Tavern at MK and 50s Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood). It was worth Every. Stinking. Penny. Do it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherbrother Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I would definitely upgrade, although the tips were something I hadn't thought about. We had many good meals at the sit down restaurants. The Italian restaurant was amazing, I also really like the Mexican restaurant. The character meals with buffets weren't great for the food, but it sure was easy to see the characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiseOwlKnits Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 We did the upgrade and used a lot of the meals for character dining. It was AWESOME to have a meal where the characters came to you to do pics and autographs instead of having to stand in line forever waiting for them. We got all the princesses DD cared about and all the basics (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Winnie the Pooh, etc) out of the way easily. Definitely worth it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 For that price, yes, I'd upgrade....but ONLY if your trip is still a ways off. If it's in the next month or two, then you might not can get very many table service reservations. So then it would not be worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 The only way I'd want to go with the quick service plan is if it were a very short (say less than 4 or 5 days) trip, and I didn't want to spend the time sitting in restaurants. Tips are definitely something to think about though...last year was the first time we were there on the dining plan since it stopped covering tips, and they add up really fast since the meals are so expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tearose Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I agree with a previous poster to remember to budget for tips if you upgrade. You can get a good idea by perusing menus here: allears.net/menu/menus.htm I also find looking at menus in advance helpful if you have a picky eater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Kirsten~ Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I would definitely upgrade, although the tips were something I hadn't thought about. We had many good meals at the sit down restaurants. The Italian restaurant was amazing, I also really like the Mexican restaurant. The character meals with buffets weren't great for the food, but it sure was easy to see the characters. I wanted to be sure to point this out. You will still need to tip, and the meals will indeed be pricey. Now, I'd upgrade. I'm not sure when you're going, but if it's within the next 6 months, you can see what kind of reservations are available right now. Perhaps do that first, before the upgrade (you don't have to have the dining plan to use the dining reservations part of Disney's web page). Make sure you can schedule a couple of meals that sound good to you. Use the allears website a previous poster mentioned to guesstimate how much your meal will be to allow for tips. On the dining plan, you'll get a drink, a main course, and a dessert, so make sure to add that in for tipping purposes. Also as another poster mentions, you can use the meals to meet characters you want instead of wasting time in the parks waiting for them. That right there is always, always worth it to me! :D I'm a huge fan of Tour Guide Mike also. He has a slightly different approach to suggesting which parks to visit on which days than some of the other ones out there. My husband mentioned on our first trip that $20 in the grand scheme of how much we'd spend on the vacation itself was nothing (I was agonizing over whether it was "worth it"). I love his suggested style of touring (as a hint, you don't stay in the parks from open until close, exhausting yourselves), and in several trips, we never wait more than 10 minutes for anything. One trip, one ride, we waited about 45 minutes, but that was my mistake rather than TGM's. ;) Have a fantastic, magical trip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.love.lucy Posted May 5, 2011 Author Share Posted May 5, 2011 Thanks everyone!!! Our trip is the end of September. I do believe we will take a break and head back to the room to rest/nap/swim and I can be thinking about that when I plan restaurants. I saw some great choices at the reservations site. I know we will do Coral Reef. DH and I ate there many, many years ago before kids and I just know how much he'd love to share that with our kids. And a friend recommended having breakfast as early as we can at Tuskers in AK for all the characters at breakfast and they we can hit the safari ride as soon as we are done eating. I assume we could have a light lunch of snacks and then an early dinner that night. I want to minimize our out of pocket expenses and we are on-site so we can't cook in the room or anything. Other than that...not sure. We are in TX, so Mexican is one of our favs but easy to get here. I do have one small quite picky eater (ds) and one large ravenous eater (dh), so I will have an eye on the menus for that. Thanks for the reminder about tips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cera Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Another thing to consider is the heat. If you are going in the summer it is very nice to get out of the heat and sit down somewhere cool for a meal. My kids especially preferred it to sitting at a picnic table in the sun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickadoodle3 Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Never been but hope to sometime. Have a great time.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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