To get Dining Plan or Not Oh BOY

[ANG]

Seeing your choices, I'm thinking you're probably going to spend less without the plan. But I would have to do the math to be sure.

Ditto!

We get the dining plan every time but we make it worth it. We book the more expensive sit downs. And while I won't order the most pricey menu item, I love being able to get a seafood or something really awesome for the same price as a sandwich. We also use our snack credits for more pricey things as well. If you know how to work it, it can be a great plan

[DizneyRox]

I bet 9 out of 10 people would be better off using whatever room only discounts and paying out of pocket for everything else than getting the dining plan.

Disney wouldn't have the dining plan if it wasn't a sizable revenue stream. Consideing all the process behind it, and it's still so heavily promoted, it's probably the money tree for the parks.

Packages have never been a value going way back.

[Janmac]

Destiney, you probably need to do the math. This is what I have done every Disney trip that we thought we might want the Dining Plan.

Like you, we pretty much know where we want to eat, and on what day. We like our sit down meals. So I look at the menus, figuring about what folks will get. I know my niece is going for beef, DH is going for pork, my sister might choose fish here or lamb there and I generally go for the fish. It's easy enough to get an estimate of what we'd spend.

I have also saved receipts to double check.

In recent years we got the Dining Plan in 2008, 2010 and 2012 but not in 2013. And probably won't the next trip. We were doing slightly better with the Dining Plan but there were a couple of things that edged us away from the plan.

One is desserts. Most of the time we're ok with the dessert but in a couple of restaurants we'd rather have an appetizer, and that's OOP. Recently, Disney has allowed a salad instead of a dessert for the counter service option and this is nice.

Another, and maybe bigger problem, was the lack of real food on the kids' menus. The kid in our group, even as a toddler, would rather not eat chicken nuggets or any kind of sandwich. She would eat Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, and especially seafood.

And a third problem is if someone gets sick. This happened in 2010 and 2012. For the first time we were leaving Disney with unused credits.

One benefit to the plan was snacks. We would not normally get a snack in a park. We found that with the plan, we would get more snacks, sometimes only water. We were less dehydrated and maybe less cranky too.

Another benefit is at some of the counter service places that offer combo meals that are one credit on the dining plan. DH, the kid and I can share one of these, with a side order (sometimes obtained with a snack credit) and have counter service vouchers left over (see below for trip home).

I want to mention one thing about the plan and that is while you're allowed one table service, one counter service and one snack per day per person, you do not have to use them that way. If you're two adults at Disney for 7 days, you'll have 14 table service credits, which you could use for 3 signature dining meals.

We drive to Disney usually, and have stocked up on snacks at the end of our trip, for the car ride, along with some counter service sandwiches. Every few days I'd stop in at the front desk and ask for a printout of our Dining Plan to keep track.

As DisneyRox says, if the plan didn't make Disney money, they wouldn't still be offering it. Doesn't make it inherently bad, just makes it your job to figure out if/how it works for you.

Jan

[SBETigg]

How many nights are you staying? Your dining credits are assigned per nights of stay and your BOG is lunch, so it will be a counter service meal. If you do go with the plan, and if you're taking advantage of a free dining plan offer then it makes more sense, you might be able to add on another table service restaurant or more.

[disneyfamilyforever]

Thank you everyone. Some of you suggest I do the math, where is a good place to get accurate menu prices? So that I may do that.

Also we are staying 6 nights.


Thanks again,

Destiney

[yankeesfan123]

Thank you everyone. Some of you suggest I do the math, where is a good place to get accurate menu prices? So that I may do that.

Also we are staying 6 nights.


Thanks again,

Destiney

I'm just wrapping up a vacation and we have done all the math. 4 adults, 6 days.

We spent about $45 for lunch each day. $125 for dinner. $20 on snacks.

It was much cheaper than using the dining plan which would have cost about $1400.

[SBETigg]

The official Walt Disney World website has full descriptions of all restaurants including menus. If you Google Disney menus, you will get other sites that have up to date menus with prices, too. Staying six nights, if you do go with the dining plan, you will be able to add one more table service option (since BOG lunch is counted as a quick service).