Food at Port Orleans Riverside

[craigg]

Hi All,

Can you get any vouchers for a 2 week holiday.

Previously when we have visited both Caribbean Beach resort and All-star we got "FREE" breakfast vouchers for the kids from Disney / Virgin.

I have not seen a similar offer this time, but wondered if its something you automatically get.

I don't want to go the full dinning plan route but even if I did then I don't think I can now anyway.

I have a friend out there at the moment and although I have been 7 previous times from the UK and my friends family have been 3 times, he has stated that food costs this year are incredibly high with them having to spend easily $100--$120 per day for 4.....I have 5 in my family, so bar making sandwiches etc I am concerned that food will hit us hard.

Advice?

Thanks

Craig

[Admin]

If there are any such offers, they are probably organised by the UK travel company rather than by WDW. Disney do not offer free breakfasts for anyone I'm afraid. If your friends are spending $120/day for four (2 adults, 2 kids?) then maybe the Dining Plan might just have worked out for them?

This August, we spent about $2000 over 16 days on meals for the four of us (3 adults, 1 child) which is a tiny bit less per day than we spent last year - but I think we probably did less table-service meals than we did last year. That's plus walk-around items like drinks, ice-creams, Dole whips, etc. And of course the dollar/pound exchange rate doesn't help us Brits at the moment.

A.

[craigg]

thanks for your super fast reply.

Do you know if you can "buy" the dinning plan when we turn up at the desk? We are staying obviously in PO and have FULL Disney passes for all of us.

Sure I read you have to book at the time of purchasing the tickets but it could be an option if not.

Craig

[Admin]

I don't think you can buy the Dining Plan when you arrive, I think it has to be prebooked (usually by a certain date). However it might be worth asking on one of the wider accessed general Disney forums such as The DIBB.

A.

[craigg]

Thanks and sorry for all the questions.

I have another one now, I have checked out DIBB and they actually recommend "• the portions are often very large, so for example 4 adults could share 2 counter/quick service meals reserving some for another meal if required."

Now there are 5 in my group, and we will have to pay the full adult price for 4 of us.

Do you think I would get away with booking for 2 adult and the child, and that would cover me for quick service meals for all of us? I know table meals are different and could pay for the other 2 on a need to do basis,#

I'm checking the official route via Virgin but has anyone done this?

Thanks

craig

[Admin]

I don't think you can buy the Dining Plans selectively, I think it needs to be the same plan for the whole group for the entire length of your stay, but again the DIBB's Dining forum would probably be your best place to ask as I don't use the DDP. They are right about portions though, one of the reasons that I don't use it is that I can't see us eating 14 table-service meals in a two-week stay - usually 7 or 8 is ample for us.

A.

[craigg]

Update

You are correct..

Not possible, if you go the route of the DDP then ALL booked members of the family have to also purchase a DDP.

For us that would be £1500 so sadly I wont be bothering as we absolutely wont be spending 14 days in Disney and don't want to rush back when at Cyprus, NASA or Universal.

We like to explore a bit and don't want to be tied to our resort or Disney parks especially when Animal Kingdom is sooooooo boring. Half a day there is enough for anyone IMHO lol

Still 2 days at Magic is easy, possibly 2 days at MGM and although its my favourite park I can only imagine spending one full day at Epcot. Then of course there's the waterparks which are great but lets hope the weather in Oct / Nov is warm enough, as it certainly isnt in Feb / March.

Thanks for all the answers.

CRaig

[lisam427]

craig i would keep an eye out for specials. disney offers free dining for certain parts of the year. if you stay at port orleans or any moderate/deluxe they give you the regular dining for free. this includes a snack, a counter service, and a sit down restaurant each evening you are at the resort for each person in your room, all for free. both the counter service and sit down restaurant include a drink, entree, and desert. you choose how, where and when you use your credits. this special has been offered to people from England as well. our family of six went to riverside this past september on free dining. we saved a ton of money. we also went to riverside september 2008, when free dining was offered

usually the announcement for free dining comes out in april but you would have to book your trip for sometime in august/ september/oct. there was special for free dining this oct thru dec too. i'm not sure if that has expired yet. a really good website to check out for these specials is http://www.mousesavers.com. they will defenetely have the code for free dining and other specials regularly. another good site to check is http://www.wdwinfo.com.

you would then let your travel agent know of the codes for the special you choose to participate in and have them update your reservation in order to get it. i know they do have a current special where you buy 4 nights of hotel and park tickets and they give you three nights of both for free. i always look for specials as i try to get my yearly disney fix and save as much money as possible. it takes a little reasearch, but it is worth it. hope this helps.
lisa

[Rascal]

We just recently booked our 7 day stay the at POFQ, for early November, but we got the quick service dining plan instead of the table service plan, as we only plan on eating at a table service restaurant 3 of the 7 days. We tried the table service Dining plan last Feb when we were there and found it to be too much food to eat everyday.