Planning a trip w/o dining plan

[iheartdisney]

Educating myself with the other threads floating around here I've decided the dining plan is no longer for us. (Unless it's free, of course.) We've taken advantage of the dining plan for every trip since it was first introduced. So I have no idea how to budget for a day at WDW anymore. Can anyone help?

We like to sit down for at least one meal per day. Counter service is fine for another meal. Most breakfasts we eat in the room. The only snacks we purchase might be a Mickey bar or some popcorn. (We bring our own water bottles from home.)

About how much should we budget per day for a family of 4? We have 2 adults and 2 kids (ages 8 and 9).

How do you plan for dining at WDW?

[iheartdisney]

Ok. So now I see another post that has been started singing the praises of the dining plan. With plenty of comments agreeing with the OP.

Am I the only one out there to consider NOT using the dining plan? Can you eat at WDW on less than $50 a day that includes a sit-down meal?

Anyone?

[TinkerbellT421]

Ok. So now I see another post that has been started singing the praises of the dining plan. With plenty of comments agreeing with the OP.

Am I the only one out there to consider NOT using the dining plan? Can you eat at WDW on less than $50 a day that includes a sit-down meal?

Anyone?

1) Personally, DBF and I do not see the value in the DDP, for us and how we eat. If we ate everything that the DDP provides, sure it's "worth" it, but you're not certaintly not going to save hundreds, atleast I don't think so. But again, it's personal preference, eating habits, etc.

This past trip in January for instance we ate at:
1) O'hana (Dinner)
2) Cape May Cafe (Dinner)
3) ESPN Club (Late lunch)
4) Beirgarten (Lunch)
5) Whispering Canyon (Lunch)
6) House of Blues (dinner)
7) Garden Grove (Breakfast)
8) Beaches and Cream (Lunch)
and several counter services

We did not starve or want for anything, paid OOP and came hom $200.00 under budget, our budget was $600.00 for the week. (Food only, tips are based under a different budget). So for us, we still ate some pretty pricy meals, ie Cape May, O'Hana. Most days we ate a lunch like ESPN Club, Beirgarten and Whispering Canyon and were not hungry for the rest of the day so those were our only meals.

Moral of my tangent lol is that I think you have to compare your eating habits, personal preference, etc., into the decision of whether or not the DDP works for you or not.

2) For a just DBF and I, it's impossible to have one sit down meal for two of us under $50.00. I mean I don't have a calculator in front of me or the receipts, DBF handles that, but from every receipt I am running through my head, it would be impossible for your family of four to eat under $50.00 a day and to include a sit down meal, unless you split a counter service meal between you and a table service meal between you. We do not go with kids but to give you an example or a starting point, we budget $75.00 per day for food, some days we come out less very rarely do we come out more. But we went with $600.00 and only spent about $400.00. It would have cost us: $825.00 give or take some cents for the dinning plan, so I would rather have the $425.00 to go into next trips budget, than have $0.00 in next years budget.

But again, this is all my personal opinion and preference, each is different.

[Disney4us2]

All our trips to WDW have been with the DDP. For our upcoming October trip, we will be paying OOP using the TiW card instead. It kind of scares me not to have the DDP since I don't have to think about "paying" for meals at the time we dine. I liked that it is all pre-paid. On the other hand, think the TiW card will actually save us more money than the DDP would.

Last trip I had a lot of snack credits left over. Bought some cashews from the gift store before leaving for the airport. I was so stuffed the whole time, and that is with the regular DDP. I could really skip the desserts. We will still be doing at least one TS per day, maybe a TS lunch as well.

[spinnerf]

I never do the dining plan, we had it once when someone paid for it for us as a gift and the amount of food was waaaayyyy too much. Having left over snacks is not an asset, you paid for that and now you are just grabbing extra food that you would have never otherwise eaten. I also dont think alot of people are prepared for the tip as the way they eat on the DDP is not how they eat in reality. And dessert with every meal? it all ends up just not being healthy or truly economical. I bet if you choose wisely and dont drink alcohol you could make it on $50 (with breakfast in the room one cs and one ts)

[forever a child]

Am I the only one out there to consider NOT using the dining plan? Can you eat at WDW on less than $50 a day that includes a sit-down meal?

Anyone?

Are you asking about $50 per person per day or for a family of four? If you are asking per person, than yes! You should be able to eat all your meals each day for less. But how often do you like to do TS meals? Do you ever eat in your room breakfast? Do you plan to share any meals/appetizers?

You should be able to look at menus and figure out places/costs of items you would likely order and have a good idea what your costs are. There are other websites where the menus are pretty up to date that you can calculate that out.

How about sharing desserts? Bringing your own water or bottled drinks to the parks when you eat CS meals...there are many ways to cut costs and save. It just takes a little pre-planing.

Like one of the other posters...there are just two of us and I usually budget for $600 for a 6/7 day trip. We never go over budget and we are always under anywhere for $50 or even over $100 less than I planned to spend just depending on our appetites during the week. We eat more during winter trips and less during hot weather trips.

[iheartdisney]

1)
but from every receipt I am running through my head, it would be impossible for your family of four to eat under $50.00 a day and to include a sit down meal, unless you split a counter service meal between you and a table service meal between you.

I should have clarified....$50 per person/per day (which is about what the dining plan costs.) Sorry!

[TinkerbellT421]

I should have clarified....$50 per person/per day (which is about what the dining plan costs.) Sorry!

lol!! Okay good, then yes I think that would be plenty! Except with O'Hana and Cape May, off the top of my head, I dont know their exact costs but it would be pretty darn close to $40 or so per adult if that helps you at all :mickey:

[iheartdisney]

Thanks, Tinkerbell, forever a child, spinner and Disney4us!

I think we ARE going to skip DDP this time. As other posters have said in the other posts - it's A LOT of food. At home, we only have dessert about 4 nights a week. Never mind, twice a day. And if our daughter joins us, she and I often split meals. I'll budget for $50 per person (:blush:) per day and hope for a little left over at the end of the trip!

[MushuGrl]

The only time we've ever used a dining plan is if it's free. We are hit & runners, usually doing counter service, and as you said with you and your daughter, we've found we can split alot of stuff and be satisfied instead of stuffed, AND save money. We love our dessert but again, tend to share it.

(Now I say that, and it sounds all good and stuff, but truth is, I do tend to spend more on snacks as I'm not as stuffed from dinner - ESPECIALLY at Epcot.) :blush:

[TinkerbellT421]

Thanks, Tinkerbell, forever a child, spinner and Disney4us!

I think we ARE going to skip DDP this time. As other posters have said in the other posts - it's A LOT of food. At home, we only have dessert about 4 nights a week. Never mind, twice a day. And if our daughter joins us, she and I often split meals. I'll budget for $50 per person (:blush:) per day and hope for a little left over at the end of the trip!

That sounds like a good plan, maybe plan an extra $100.00 somewhere along the lines so if anything unforseen happens you have a little extra cushion. Maybe you are in the mood to splurge on something expensive or something happens you don't have to stress about it. Just a thought. And you should be fine if once and a while the mood strikes for you to have a desert or a snack, that's what DBF and I do, we make a seperate column budget for "Together money" which means we splurge on a couple of frozen lemonades, a desert, a pretzel or snack, and those splurges come out of that money. A lot of times at dinner if the mood strikes we will split a desert because a lot of times we are so stuffed from dinner that each of us having a desert makes us want to :sick:

[renecat]

Do your kids eat of the childrens menu? If so you should do fine at 50.00 per person if you are counting your children for 50.00 a day also.

[Bethis26fan]

We are going to skip the DP on our next trip too. I just want to see what i like better.

[crmark1]

$50 a day per person. You can do the DDP for $45.99 per adult and $11.99 per child (3-9).

[AmandaChan]

This is how DH and I have always done our trips... and remember some days you can always just do all counter service and not mess with a sit down meal esp if you are planning a long day and just want something quick for dinner and relax in the hotel. You can look at menus online and get an idea of what everything costs esp for kids. Of course I also haven't had to plan out buying meals for kids (we took DS first time last year and he was only 1 yo and he ate off our plates)... but for DH and I, at a sit down (we usually get alcoholic beverages and sometimes an appetizer.) and factor in tip... we always spend at least $100 for most sit downs. But then daytimes were never too bad, sometimes we'd split a CS and eat our own snacks, etc.

[Jared]

I would never use the dining plan -- even if it's "free." The resort discounts are always a better than deal than paying the rack rate and taking advantage of the (not so) free dining plan promotion.

You can definitely eat at Disney for $50 per day, even with a table-service. You may have to avoid the signature locations, but all the "one-credit" places should fit within your budget, especially if you plan to split dishes.

We never order all the beverages and desserts that come with the dining plan. We generally just drink water and share a dessert. For most people (I said most, not all) the dining plan is a bad deal.

[diz_girl]

$50 a day per person. You can do the DDP for $45.99 per adult and $11.99 per child (3-9).

But TS tips are not included in that total, so tack on another $25-30 per day for tips, especially if you tend to choose the more expensive items on the menu.

$50pp per day as an estimate may be a little on the high side. I was going to say $50 per adult and $25 per child per day, which brings you to $150 per day. But that's if you have dinner as your TS meal. If you eat lunch as your TS meal, then it might cost you less. However, the Dining Plan only makes financial sense if you're using the TS credit for dinner. Plus, appetizers are extra (and don't forget the tip on that) and you can get sick of desserts at each lunch and dinner real fast.

You can actually find somewhat economical TS dinners at WDW, like Trail's End Buffet or pizza at Via Napoli. While the pizza at Via Napoli is expensive for pizza, if you only have pizza, non-alcoholic beverages, and split a couple of gelatos, you can have a dinner for four (two adults and two kids) for about $75-80 (tax and tip included), which is an inexpensive TS meal for Disney.

[Janmac]

The question was how do we plan for dining at WDW so . . .

I start out every trip by figuring out what restaurants we want to eat for breakfast and supper and what counter service places for lunch. Most of the members of our extended family have defined food interests, such as DH will almost always go for the pork dish, my niece will go for a thick cut of beef, and I want seafood.

Once we have those places figured out, I use the posted menus to figure those costs.

Then I add up the estimated costs, compare to DDP, add in tips, and estimates for alcoholic beverages.

Most days we save at least few dollars using the DDP. I refigure this every trip because we expect some year that the DDP saves no money and then we'll just pay out of pocket. I also figure this every trip because the various extended family members want to know what their trip costs are.

Each family is different, with their own points to consider. I like to do the cost estimating while my sister would figure whatever the DDP cost would be worth it so she wouldn't look at the price column on the menu while on vacation.

As for how much should you budget each day? You could look at some menus and get some ideas from there. You could certainly make $50 a day per adult work depending on choices.

Jan

[KatrinaJ91]

We also love the QS Plan....it is cheaper and it works really well for us! We just like the idea of having everything paid for in advance. That way, we are not worried about what to order and how much we are spending and can just relax and get whatever we want. We worked out both ways a few years ago and the cost was pretty much the same as if we had paid OOP.
Of course, everyone is different. Like it was said before, you have to take into account what your family usually eats and where you want to go.

[mickeys_princess_mom]

The only time we've ever used a dining plan is if it's free. We are hit & runners, usually doing counter service, and as you said with you and your daughter, we've found we can split alot of stuff and be satisfied instead of stuffed, AND save money. We love our dessert but again, tend to share it.

This is pretty much where we are, too. We enjoy it thoroughly, but DD(adult) and I are often content splitting things and we do fine when we don't get it, too. This time it was a good deal (free), actually better than the resort deal for us. Looking forward to it! :chef::eat:

[RavsRuleDisney!]

this coming trip will be our first without utilizing the ddp. Me, DW and 2 DS'. The wife crunched the numbers and we should definately save some bucks without starving around the parks! It's really personal preference coupled with finances as to what you can/want to do. We are not looking to do any character type meals (did plenty of them) and our breakfast and lunch choices will be more the grab-n-go type options. Also will have some snacks and drinks in the room which we have never really taken advantage of in the past. Definately a few sit-downs for dinner but that's the game plan.

[Pirate Granny]

If you plan to go to some character meals...I would go DDP...have you taken a look at what they charge for KIDS ???? For adults only perhaps no DDP. We went as all adults and we didn't eat in the rooms at all. Breakfast at FQ was around $10 each day, lunch counter services averaged $15 have to include soft drinks/water and dinners averaged $35 (no alcohol). Next trip with children and same adults we did DDP...so much easier and those character meals tipped the scale vs out of pocket...even with the TIW discounts.

[iheartdisney]

Thanks to everyone for your opinions and experiences. But now, I'm officially confused. Again. :) Looks like I need to number crunch and find out if the boys want to do any character meals. Still interested in other experiences, however. So keep 'em comin'. :mickey:

[minnie-mouse]

I usually do a spreadsheet and include what character meals we want to do, etc. That way I can see how much we plan to spend a day on food. If you are doing a lot of TS meal, then the dining plan might be a better option.

[disneynarula]

I would plan where you want to eat and check out some menus and add up the prices.

As someone else posted if you are going to do several character meals or buffet it might be worth it.

Having kids who are charged the kids dining plan prices also changes the matrix a little. Quite a few people who thought the dining plan was not worth it did not have kids and I would tend to agree.

The kids price for the dining plan per day is about the price of most character meals. The same is true for most buffets. You come out ahead on days where you do character meals or fixed price meals like Chef Mickeys, Boma or O'Hana.

If you are just going to do non-character and non buffet meals it might not be worth it. Especially if you are going to split meals.

Are you annual pass holders?

[TikiGoddess]

Here is an idea... buy a Visa debit card and put the same amount of cash on it that you would have paid for the dining plan. Then, use the card to pay for all of your dining expenses. See how much money you have left at the end of the trip.

That way you're budgeting ahead of time for the cost of food -- getting the 'prepaid' perk of the dining plan -- but you're not tied to the dining plan's limitations.

Kathy

[iheartdisney]

What a great idea, TikiGoddess! I love it!

[tinksmom02]

We usually did the DDP, whether we pay for it (get a room discount) or get it free. I keep track of the costs & we usually end up coming out ahead, considering what we eat and all. Usually it's just DD and I, sometimes DH.

For our upcoming trip, I decided against it, primarily because DD will be 10 and I know there is no way she will eat $46 worth of food a day. I am concerned about paying for everything OOP, but am leaning towards getting annual passes, so will obviously get the TiW card, which should help. I do love the idea of getting the Visa debit card!

But I think we'll be OK--on past trips DD and I have shared the largest CS breakfast available, and it'll be August, so we probably won't want to eat that heavy, anyway. We have ADRs at 'Ohana for dinner, which will be costly but is a must-do, and lunches at Sci Fi and Via Napoli, which are some of the "lesser-expensive" places in the World, especially at lunch. What's going to hurt is having to PAY for our Pineapple Floats, instead of using snack credits! ;)