Dining plan worth it?

[Tez]

We have never done the dining plan and might be interested in doing it for our next trip but is it really worth it for how we eat?

Typically we eat breakfast at the resort, have a snack / light lunch in the afternoon and then have a nice sit down meal with wine (I know adult beverages are not included in the dining plan) and desert at nice places like Fultons, California Grille, Jiko, Artist Point, etc...in the evening.

We will be traveling with four adults and will be there for 7 or 10 nights. We usually budget $70 / day for food. Some days we go over our budget and other we do not.

[faline]

Most of our trips have been without the dining plan as the plan does seem to offer quite a lot of food. We did the free dining the first year it was offered and will be doing it again this year.

Run the numbers to see if it works out for you. Typically, we are too full to eat dessert after dinner, particuarly if we've started our meal with an appetizer (was included on the dining plan the last go-round). Generally, we'd have them pack up our dessert, bring it back to our resort and that would become "breakfast" the next day.

I'd price out the costs if you paid out of pocket versus what the dining plan will cost you (If you get free dining, it's almost a no-brainer) and make your decision based on that.

[yjgirl32]

I personally like the DP. I have it all paid for before we get to Disney so I don't have to worry about the money and when I actually go to the restaraunt I don't have to look at prices. The previous poster is correct crunch the #'s and see which is better for you.

[betteratmk]

:number1: We also like the DDP, we have used it for the past 8 years with the exception of the one trip DS was turning 10. He was a very small eater!!! We went back to the plan!! We have always saved about $300 with the plan. We are small breakfast eaters and pay oop for this, for the 3 of us it usually runs around or less than $20. Counter service for lunch and a sit down for dinner. We usually pack up th CS dessert and take it back to the resort if we need a snack. I like not having to worry a
b out price, can order what we want and not have to carry alot of cash!! Works for us!

But then again we don't feel the need to eat more than we would normally either.

[DizneyRox]

I have never found the dining plans to offer any sort of value whatsoever for how we eat.

On a recent trip I tried to do the math in my head at each meal, and we would have spent at least $20 more per day by using the dining plan than paying OOP. As a matter of fact, the only time I think we would of benefited by the DDP is our Narcossees meal and only if we both ate one of the two meals that were over $50.

I'd pass...

[princessgirls]

It is a matter of opinion, and we can be frugal at home with meals and going out. That being said, I LOVE the Dining Plan. It makes my vacation life easy and enjoyable! My kids enjoy it too!

Julie:mickey:

[MarkC]

We personally do not feel the dining plan is worth the $$$. However, if you like to really do fine dining it could be for you. I do have a question-- you said you budget $70/day for food. Is that for one or both of you? We normally budget about $125 for 4/day, so the dining plan doesn't make much sense for us financially. It really is an individual decision on whether you want to try and save some $$, or not worry about the cost and really enjoy eating at all the different places Disney has to offer. Only you can make that decision on whether it's worth it to you, although I do think you were smart to ask others their thoughts based on their past experience. Good luck. Mark

[elmjimmlm]

We have used the dining plan and we love it...I love that we don't have to worry about paying when we get there and if you are big eaters then this is for you...We have done with and without it and I don't think that we will go back to not having it...

[gaffz70]

According to what you would be eating, you would prob break even or save a little by not using the DDP. However, for me as the person who does our finances etc, using the DDP helps make it the ultimate vacation for me. We get to go out for lunch and dinner every day... and I don't have to stress about how much over we went( I am neurotic and would be crunching #'s at dinner - not fun on vacation)

So, for me, it is worth every penny:thumbsup:

[DVCDisneyMom]

We enjoy having the dining plan mainly because we don't have to watch or budget our money. The one time we went without it we spent much more than we would have otherwise, but we wanted to give it a try and probably won't ever do that again!!! Your description of how you dine indicates to me that you would benefit from having the plan.

ENJOY!!

[Mickey'sGirl]

We aren't huge fans of the Dining Plan, although we like the convenience of having paid for food up front (other than tips). Even so, we find it is not in line with how we eat, especially for our children who are not mac'n'cheese chicken nugget guys. We do not often order dessert (our children would rather have a :bar: later on), and we like the odd appetizer, so we find the Tables in Wonderland card (which saves 20% on TS meals incl adult beverages) fits our style more.

An Annual Pass becomes a break even thing once you hit 10 days of park passes, and with it you can purchase the Tables in Wonderland card, which allows you the discount. We find that it's what works best for us.

[Disney Doll]

We don't use the ddp. When it first came out I did the math and it didn't make sense for us. It all depends on the person and how you prefer to dine. When I did the calculation I looked at some of the current menus and priced out what we might spend on different meals and snacks. All the information is there so it's easy to do the math for your situation. Personally I like the freedom of paying out of pocket. We eat what we want when we want and don't worry about how many credits we have. The prepay option isn't really a big advantage in my mind because we always have money set aside anyway.

[ransam]

i like the dining plan and do think it's worth the money.
We just got the free dining plan and it saved us about 300 dollars a piece. we're there for 10 nights...so i figure 30 dollars a night....can you honestly say you can have a snack, a good dinner, and lunch for 30 dollars at Disneyworld?

not to mention the fact that you can pay for the dining plan, your package....and then go to disney, and basically if you don't want to, you don't have to spend a dime while you're there.

[DizneyRox]

i like the dining plan and do think it's worth the money.
We just got the free dining plan and it saved us about 300 dollars a piece. we're there for 10 nights...so i figure 30 dollars a night....can you honestly say you can have a snack, a good dinner, and lunch for 30 dollars at Disneyworld?

not to mention the fact that you can pay for the dining plan, your package....and then go to disney, and basically if you don't want to, you don't have to spend a dime while you're there.
Actually, the cost of the DDP (adult) is $40 plus tip, and yes, I think we can and have eaten cheaper than that at Disney per day.

"Free" dining requires park tickets and paying rack rate on a room. So it's tougher to really compare apples to apples. I have never paid rack rate for a room. The room discount and paying OOP has alwaays worked out better for us.

[blondeinbrandon]

I never could see how the DDP would work for our family as we rarely eat TS meals. We live in Florida and have passes so we get room only discounts. On the last long trip I figured on the $40 per person per day and bought a gift card for that amount. We used the gift card for food only. But on the last day spent the money (and there was a lot) on souvenirs. I did really like having the food "prepaid" but it was nice to get the money back. If we don't use all the credits on the DDP you lose them. :( I will be buying a gift card for food from now on.:thumbsup:
Debbie

[Tez]

The $70 / day we figure is per person. We do not worry about sticking to the budget as I even build in the food budget for the travel days. We know that somedays we will go over and others we will not and so it kind of all evens out.

Eveyone has different opinions and we are looking at it real serious to see if it will or will not work for us. Of course if it were to be a FREE option during our stay that is a no brainer. Another thing that someone brought up was not having to worry about keeping track of how many snacks or whatever left. I think that might be an issue also.

Thanks everyone! I look forward to reading more.

[barnaby]

We used the dining plan last trip and basically broke even. However, I liked the fact that your 2 meals/day are paid for, so I never worried about the price of the food we ordered. We typically ordered higher priced menu items that we may not have ordered if we didn't have the plan. But again, we broke even money-wise, so the comfort was more piece of mind.

[ransam]

Actually, the cost of the DDP (adult) is $40 plus tip, and yes, I think we can and have eaten cheaper than that at Disney per day.

"Free" dining requires park tickets and paying rack rate on a room. So it's tougher to really compare apples to apples. I have never paid rack rate for a room. The room discount and paying OOP has alwaays worked out better for us.


Actually the dining plan is $40 per night for one night.
if you get it part of your package for multiple nights, the cost goes down.
I'm staying at disney in december for 10 nights...we got free dining and it knocked $630 off our bill...so per person i figure we were paying about 31. 50 for the dining plan each night...
you can not eat a lunch, dinner, and snack for less than that.

[Tez]

Actually the dining plan is $40 per night for one night.
if you get it part of your package for multiple nights, the cost goes down.
I'm staying at disney in december for 10 nights...we got free dining and it knocked $630 off our bill...so per person i figure we were paying about 31. 50 for the dining plan each night...
you can not eat a lunch, dinner, and snack for less than that.

How did you get the free dining plan in December? I thought it was only free into October?

[joonyer]

How did you get the free dining plan in December? I thought it was only free into October?

Special pin code email offers have been sent to some offering the free dining for certain dates all the way up to Dec. 17 (Thanksgiving week excluded).

[joonyer]

Actually the dining plan is $40 per night for one night.
if you get it part of your package for multiple nights, the cost goes down.
I'm staying at disney in december for 10 nights...we got free dining and it knocked $630 off our bill...so per person i figure we were paying about 31. 50 for the dining plan each night...
you can not eat a lunch, dinner, and snack for less than that.

Yes. but remember the cost of your room goes up when you use free dining promotions. You're paying rack rate for the room instead of any room discounts that may be available, which accounts for the different amount of savings on the package.

[Cinderella's Lady in Waiting]

We figured it out one year and it was not worth it for our family of four. We're not really big eaters at Disney......go....go.....go...great diet tip!!:mickey:. As for the financing aspect of the DDP, for us, whether we pay for it 4 weeks before or 4 weeks after the trip it still has to be paid for.

[swampfox28]

I never could see how the DDP would work for our family as we rarely eat TS meals. We live in Florida and have passes so we get room only discounts. On the last long trip I figured on the $40 per person per day and bought a gift card for that amount. We used the gift card for food only. But on the last day spent the money (and there was a lot) on souvenirs. I did really like having the food "prepaid" but it was nice to get the money back. If we don't use all the credits on the DDP you lose them. :( I will be buying a gift card for food from now on.:thumbsup:
Debbie


THAT'S an idea I never thought of. Pretty interesting and smart, IMO...!

[Madzac]

We have used the DDP the last two trips. I LOVE that it is prepaid. I also had never gone to character meals or TS before, so with prepaying it, it seemed easier to go to those type of places. I know that sounds weird, but it was easier to have it prepaid when my DD ate one bite. I liked not having to carry money back when tips were included as well.

This last trip, we realized it was just too much. With 4 of us on the plan, it was too much food. We got dessert becuase it was "paid for". We ate because it was time for the ADR, not neccesarily because we were that hungry. We ended up with leftover snacks as we were just too full often. We realized we could have shared many CS meals, and ate 2-3 TS/character meals, and grabbed a few things at yummy, less expensive places offsite, and we would have saved a ton. It just didnt make as much financial sense to us. I still loved it being prepaid (the gift card idea is a great one though!), and it is fun to try the TS places, but overall I dont think we will do it again for a bit. Especially once our DD now 7 is considered an adult as she eats less than our 1 yr old! Maybe someday when our two boys and eating like crazy!!!

i can see how it could be a value to those who like to eat big meals, do TS everyday, especially the higher end places, buy snacks regularly, etc. I just finally accepted it really wasnt for us at this stage in our live...

I think if you, OP, budget 70/day per person, you would likely do well, unless all your TS choices are 2 credit places.

[DizneyRox]

Sorry to take this off topic, but I ran into something recently and figured I'd share it.

We tried to use a [Visa] gift card at a disney restaurant and it was declined. According to the staff, because of the way it has to go through, they don't work.

I thought it had something to do with the hold and then the real charge and one of the servers confirmed it. For example, you have a $100 bill, they will put it through at (maybe) $120 because you haven't had the chance to add tip to the bill yet, and then after you sign, it goes through for whatever you ultimately decide to do.

The gift card didn't work at any of the table service locations, but DID work at the counter service locations.

Thought I'd pass that along since many of you are considering gift cards for food budgeting... These were Visa gift cards issued by DVC as part of the one of the purchase incentives.

[sgdisney]

Typically we eat breakfast at the resort, have a snack / light lunch in the afternoon and then have a nice sit down meal with wine (I know adult beverages are not included in the dining plan) and desert at nice places like Fultons, California Grille, Jiko, Artist Point, etc...in the evening.




Keep in mind that most of the places you listed above are considered Signature Restaurants and will take two table service meals from your dining plan.