Just booked a week @ Disney World for month's end. Have not been for 10 years & not since the implementation of the Dining Plan. We're two adults, no kids, but at this time we have no idea when & where we want to dine on certain nights. I'm told restaurants reservations are booked weeks in advance, so even if I knew where I'd want to dine on Tuesday 25SEP, I suspect I'd not get a reservation @ this late date. Any opinions on the Disney Dining Plan, should we sign on @ this late date or scrap it?

We used it in August and booked our reservations about 10 days ahead. We didn't get the places that we wanted. We got a lot of "late dining" openings such as 8:30 and 9:00pm, which was fine for us because we're on West Coast time.

It's a good deal if you're big eaters. For $38 you get a morning snack such as a piece of fruit, a fast-food lunch which would normally set you back about $8, and a full dinner with appetizer, entree, dessert & beverage. What makes it a very good deal is that tax and tip is included.

We ate VERY well. Good steaks, salmon, shrimp, scallops...a couple of good buffets. It was solid value but not for light eaters. It is for the "adventurous" diner who wants to try lots of stuff at a good price.

I can recommend Chefs de France in Epcot, Coral Seas in Epcot, Boma Buffet in Animal Kingdom, Grand Floridian Cafe in the hotel, Kona Cafe in the Polynesian Hotel, Le Cellier in Epcot and Spoodles at the Beach Club.

Call the dining reservation line and make reservations for some meals. The reservationist doesn't really know if you've purchased the dining plan or not, she just takes your name and phone number. If you can't get reservations at decent restaurants & decent times, then don't purchase the dining plan.
But if you can get some restaurants that appeal to you at times that you like, it's a good deal.

Allearsnet.com has all the menus for all the participating restaurants (the dining plan is not accepted at ALL Disney restaurants..and some stellar restaurants require 2 nights credits for 1 meal)

Some restaurants will have walk-in openings when you approach the hostess and you won't need a reservation. Also, changing reservations is easy. You can walk up to any guest services booth at the parks, or any concierge in any hotel, or any hostess at any restaurant. and they can change your reservation for you or check for availability at other restaurants for you. So, once you make a rez it is not set in stone. If you're not hungry enough to eat at 6pm that night, or if you're running late that night, you should be able to find something else without much problem. Might not be the BEST restaurant ever, but you won't starve.

We used the dining plan 1 1/2 years ago when the plan was relatively new. 2 adults 2 kids. LOVED IT! We are not big eaters but we ate great and got to experience things we never would have otherwise. We would've eaten hamburgers all week for the most part without it. It also was a big stress reliever to know that the food was incorporated into the budget and already taken care of. We ate at Coral Reef, LeCellier, Whispering Canyon, Castle for breakfast, 1900 Faire and Ohana's dinner. All were great. LeCellier and Ohana's were our favorites. I would do as other poster suggested and call the dining reservations and see if you can get the res you would want. If so, then add the dining plan. If you can't get them then there is no point. I had to talk my husband into doing it and now he tells anyone that is going there that they should. He really liked not having to pay at each meal - yes you are paying for it but it is a different mental state. And I made sure we picked restaurants that we got our monies worth. You will have a great time either way! Our once in a lifetime trip will happen again. We all want to go again sometime.

Bookmarking and thanking all for this thread!! I fear Disney is in our future.

I agree that you should just call Disney Dining at 407-WDW-DINE and try to make reservations at the restaurants you're interested in. If you are happy with your choices, add the Dining Plan to your reservation. If they ask you if you are on the Dining Plan when making the reservation, just say I'm not sure yet. It doesn't matter.

We just returned from Disney last week and we were on the Dining Plan for the first time - four adults. Now, we had the Dining Plan for free (a promotion that was offered earlier in the year) and it was fabulous. I kept track of the costs and we ate $800 worth of food.

Sorry, I hit the post too soon.

Even if we had paid for the Dining Plan, it would have been worth it. Our counter service meals were usually $13-14 each. We could have an entree (e.g., burger and fries, or grilled chicken sandwich and fries), non-alcoholic beverage and dessert. It was at least $13 each time.

You also get a snack everyday worth up to $4.00. A nice treat during the day.

We ate at Chefs deFrance one night and that meal for the four of us would have been well over $200 with tax and tip. We each had an appetizer, entree, non-alcoholic beverage, dessert, tax and tip. It was a very nice meal.

The dinner buffets at Disney usually run about $26 per person, then you have to add tax and tip.

I think the Dining Plan is worth if you want to dine on the Disney property.

We thought it was great fun.

I suggest you go to allearsnet.com to see all the restaurant menus. That may help you decide where you want to dine.

The end of September should be minimal crowds and you should be able to get into any Disney restaurant at any time, unless they limit seating to dining plan patrons.

We have done the dining plan in the past and like the others been very pleased.

Just a note for future readers of this topic...apparently the dining plan is changing soon and will no longer include appetizers or the tip. I'm not sure if the price per person will go down enough to make it worth it. And also I've heard they plan to start charging a per-person rate for the Magical Express airport transportation.