Is it worth it?

[r4kids]

We are looking to go in Jan/Feb 2009. Is the dining plan worth it? We are a family of 6 and have done the dining plan in our previous trips but I am curious since the new changes if there is really any savings. Kids will be 14,8,11,5. We save our table services for dinner and our CS for lunch, breakfast in the room. Any info on your thoughts about the new plan is appreciated :mickey:

[KylesMom]

I'd start with the 2008 Dining Plan Estimator . . . although you'll need to have a rough estimate of where you want to eat, it will assist you in whether or not the dining plan would be worth it for the locations you may want to dine. You can find it here: http://http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/dining/diningplan/estimator.asp

I tried it myself and was very specific as to where we will be eating our TS & CS meals - for us, the DDP probably would not be worth it. However, for many families (especially where two of the kids are "adults" in Disney's eyes) it may pay off for you! The one thing that may hurt this time around is that the tip is no longer included - you'd have to pay the automatic 18% gratuity for your party size out of your pocket. This could make a huge difference . . .

[r4kids]

That is so funny you mentioned that. I was doing just that before I rechecked my thread. It says it is a great value for our family.

[Natazu]

Depending on how the kids eat, you may be better off without the dining plan. You've done it before so you probably have a good idea how the removal of the appetizer and pre-paid gratuity will effect your dining choices. Simply put, the new dining plan is about 35% more expensive for people who eat appetizers and stay away from buffets/pre-plated/AYCE meals.

[Polynesian Dweller]

The effectiveness of the dining plan always depends on how you prefer to eat. In our case, after trying if for the last few trips we've decided it doesn't work out for us. We simply will never use enough TS credits and snacks to make it work out for us. We just don't eat that heavily. For others, it works out well.

The important thing in using the estimators is to be very honest with yourself about how you'll eat. When we originally tried it (for our first DDP several trips ago), we convinced ourselves that sure, we could use TS at lunch (never had had TS at lunch prior) and we could use all of our snack credits. We fooled ourselves. Once we got there, we found that we just couldn't eat like that and every trip had way too many credits left.

[Gator]

It's still worth it. It makes it more of a vacation for me because I don't have to think if a meal on an entree is too expensive. Thee DDP let's me get whatever I want, and that's what I want on my WDW vacation.

[Kidsmom]

We have done it both ways. Family of 6 last year with 4 kids...it was worth it $$ wise. But we started thinking...we would NEVER have ordered that much food. We wasted tons!

This year with our family...one child is now an adult. We ate and ordered what we wanted and how we do at home. We share meals. Maybe 1 childs and 3 adult meals. (I have a small appetite so I could share a steak with my two daughters, or sometimes 3 kids got an adult meal....the wait person always made out well, because we ordered wine appetisers and desserts and never skimped.

After we took out the tip, wine and appet. we found we saved anywhere from $25 - $60/day including CS and snack.

We stay for usually 8- 10 days so that is a significant savings. We also were always STUFFED!

For our family this will be how we do it in the future....until the kids are full-blown teenagers with BIG appetites!

[r4kids]

It does tend to be alot of food. We don't usually eat at home like we do in Disney. We do like having the meals "prepaid" and I hate trying to figure out how much we are spending on the meal. On the flip side though I was thinking we need a meal for each person, but we can totally share. We never finish and I do hate to waste. The responses have given me some things to consider. I did do the estimator and it says a great value for our group. Our top 3 favs are Ohana, CRT and Le Cellier so we would eat there on the dining plan or not. :mickey:

[Kidsmom]

To add to my comments since your last post:

Since you are planning TS at multiple credit rest. that comes into consideration to.

Our last trip when we didn't do the DDP we went to Hoop De Doo, Cali Grill, Jiko (which were all 2 credits and had what would have been 1 credit TS service dinners all the other nights also. I don't know how we would have done this on the plan.

Just to consider.....

[pdrlkr]

As far as economics go it is a good deal. However, we felt like all we did was eat. We were not able to get as much done in the parks and were always counting down to the next ADR. If you are just interested in saving money, then I say do it. But, I don't think we will do it again. :mickey:

[RockinRollerMom]

I am a big fan of the DP. With all of the changes we were thinking of not getting it for our next trip. If we ate all CS meals with maybe only one TS meal it would have been worth it $$ wise for us not to purchase the plan. The thought of not being bound to our ADR's and being a little more spontaneous was really appealing to me.

Then as it got closer to booking our trip DD says, "well, we'll still be able to eat at Chef Mickey's, Cape May, and do the Mary Poppins breakfast right?) Then DH tells me that he is a little worried about how his stomach will handle all of the TS food. (He has a sensitive tummy:sick:) So we decided to book the DP. I am so glad we did. Part of the fun of a Disney trip for me is all of the fun places I get to eat. I love going back to some of our favorites and I love trying someplace new. (this year we will be trying Boma and Cali grill for the first time.) Yes, it is a lot of food, but without the appetizer I don't hink it will be as overwhelming as in years past. We also tend to do a lot of buffets. DD isn't confined to the kids menu, we often get character interaction, and we eat as little or as much as we want. I haved to admit that we are the commando type when it comes to touring so sitting down for a few hours in the evening for us is a blessing.

I think that it comes down to how your family likes to eat. If you are going to be doing a bunch of TS anyways, it might be worth the $$ to purchase the plan.