Is the Dining Plan Worth it?

[jessbarbo]

We are making our first trip to Disney with two small children and I am wondering if it would be worth it for us to do the dining plan? My husband and I are light eaters but we do love to eat as good food is usually the highlight of a trip! If so, which plan do you suggest and can you select anything from the menu?

[baylakebisi]

the plan all depends on your eating habits and your ability to plan in advance for Table Service meals. The basic plan gives u one counter and 1 table service per day and 1 snack per day. IMOP use your counter service on a breakfast because you get a meal, 1 coffee and 1 juice or choc milk. For table service, you get an entree and dessert and 1 drink. app is extra and so is tip. You can eat anywhere and choose anything from the menu. We typically do 1 or 2 signature meals per visit which cost 2 table service credits each. We typically will not use the TS on the 1st day and last day of our trip and use those left overs for 2 signature meals. All in all we have always found it worth the money.

[jessbarbo]

Thanks for the information. So every TS meal must be scheduled in advance? If so, that may prove a bit challenging! :c) Do you have favorite restaurants to use for signature meals? I was hoping to do a character dining experience for our girls. Do you have one that you recommend?

[brp]

So every TS meal must be scheduled in advance?

Has to be? No. Should be? Yes. We went last August, and I knew nothing about ADRs. We did manage to get TS meals every time we wanted one, but it may not have been at our first choice place.

We're going again in less than a month, and I started booking this past weekend, and have not been having any problems. But, yes, it will require some discipline in planning when we're there.

Cheers.

[PrincessTiffany]

Thanks for the information. So every TS meal must be scheduled in advance? If so, that may prove a bit challenging! :c) Do you have favorite restaurants to use for signature meals? I was hoping to do a character dining experience for our girls. Do you have one that you recommend?
Yes, you need to make your TS reservations in advance, at your 90 day mark if possible, especially if you are wanting to do character meals or any other popular places. The easiest way to plan your ADRs is to decide which parks you will be in on which days and then pick a restaurant in that park or in that vicinity.

The Disney site allearsnet.com has a great list of all of the Disney Restaurant Menus.

And yes, I think the DDP is totally worth it. There's no way I would feed my kids for $10.00 per day at Disney without the DDP.

[Whitewater]

As a newly-married couple on a budget, we found the DDP invaluable, and in fact, the Free Dining is what's making our Disney honeymoon affordable.

Is it worth it? For us, it certainly is. For us, we're getting 95% of our food cost paid for by Disney. That's saving us about $500!! Now, that might not seem like a big deal to some folks, but it's quite a bit to us.

Granted, we don't have children, young or otherwise, so every situation is different, but we are thrilled to be on the Disney Dining Plan and to have gotten the Free Dining as well.

And as for making reservations in advance, yep, you want to do that. It will save you a lot of hassle down the road. Particularly with young kids, you don't want to be stuck trying to find somewhere that has room for you to eat! And you don't want to try to get into a character meal at the last minute, for me (I have young nephews, and I'd like to take a family vacation with my DH and my bro and sis-in-law and their two kids, as soon as the kids are old enough . . . in about 5 years!) . . . I would be so miserable and feel so guilty if I couldn't give my nephews what my own parents gave me.

Get your reservations as soon as you can! You can always change or cancel them later if you need to. I get that with young kids your schedules may change and you might need flexibility, but there's something to be said for seeing Donald Duck, Chip 'n' Dale, Tigger or the princesses at Disney -- and to do that, the smart money is on making a reservation.

This website (and probably the forums too, somewhere) has a list of which restaurants are on the DDP and which aren't, so you can narrow it down by that, first.

This might be my first trip to WDW as an adult, but I've already learned how important reservations can be to making your trip work. My travel agent wouldn't let me *not* have ADR's! And I admit, for me personally, there's something reassuring in knowing that each day has at least one thing planned in advance. 'Cause I'm like that.

I hope everything works out!


Whitewater

[stace1214]

My husband and I had the dining plan for the first time on our trip last August. We went back and forth about it for a while and are so happy we did. We didn't make reservations until about 60 days before our trip but were able to get all of the reservations we wanted. When we got home we figured out what we would have paid out of pocket and we ended up saving about $200. Well worth it in my opinion. We won't be going back for a few years, but will definitely get the dining plan again when we do.

[caroline1851]

I didn't know if it would be worth it either, so i took a look at all the menus of places we wanted to eat and added up roughly what we would order. We came out ahead with the dining plan so we went with it. I also liked the idea of it being prepaid so didn't have to stress over the cost of stuff-like i usually do.

Yes, you have to make ADRS. We never found it inconvenient once to go to one of our ADRS-it was convenient to know when/where you were going to eat.

We went with dd2 and ds6 and these were our ts: Maya Grill, Crystal palace, CRT breakfast, Sci Fi and Coral Reef. We loved every meal. The kids got a bit antsy at Maya Grill since it was not kid themed at all, but the food was fantastic.

[Alesia]

I'll be the dissenting view.

We didn't use the dining plan and I'm glad. We had 3 TS meals when we were there. The rest were CS and snacks. Eating CS every day is not like eating at McDonald's every day. There are a lot of really good CS choices.

With the DDP, you really do need to make your ADRs in advance. During busier times of the year, TS restaurants won't even take walkups. If you don't love being on a strict schedule, the DDP can be really stressful.

You also have to take tipping into account. If you wouldn't normally eat a TS meal everyday, you would save a lot in tips.

Also, since you are not big eaters, you could also share meals. Portions are huge in WDW!

We were there for 9 days and ate exactly what we wanted when we wanted and saved about $300 over getting the DDP.

[thepwa]

We are making our first trip to Disney with two small children and I am wondering if it would be worth it for us to do the dining plan? My husband and I are light eaters but we do love to eat as good food is usually the highlight of a trip! If so, which plan do you suggest and can you select anything from the menu?

Just got back from a 7 night 8 day trip. I debated endlessly about purchasing the DDP this year, and at the end, decided against it, and I am so glad I did.

I spent so much less money on food, tips, etc because I decided to not focus on food, which, to me, I was doing in previous years being on the DDP (albeit, free in those years!).

What made the difference in the decision was to stop adding up what was the most expesive meals I could get on the DDP and comparing that, but comparing what we would actually eat. That math problem made not getting the DDP a close call.

But in reality, we were never hungry come dinner time. We had a light breakfast in the room, had lunch, and then we were either not hungry, or too busy to take time out for dinner. The result was spending much less out of pocket than I had anticipated.

For us, it was a hard decision to not purchase the DDP, but in the end, it was a great decision!

Now..if it's free? That's different!

[caroline1851]

Oh, i forgot to add, my favorite way to plan with little kids was to have a TS lunch adr around 1:00 or so. It was a great way for all of us to just rest, be in the airconditioning and have a great meal.

[Goseethemouse]

I have to agree that whether the dining plan is worth it depends on your dining habits. However, going by what you said I would think that it will work for you:

Generally, the dining plan tends to work for people who would eat at table service restaurants anyway.

Depending on the age of your kids, the dining plan will probably be a good deal. If you intend to do any buffets/character dining, that meal alone would often cost the same or more than the dining plan for that day.

However, in order to be sure you will have to delve a bit deeper. One way is to imagine one or two days at WDW and what you would eat. Then add up the cost of those meals and compare to what you would pay with DDP.

[jessbarbo]

Thanks everyone. Good food for thought; pun intended! :) I'll take a look at the menus and costs associated with items that we would select. I think that this will help me decide what is cost effective. I am a planner so I think that I could do the required advance reservations. The kids are indeed the wild card. They are 1 and 4 and I'm not sure how Disney will wear on them. Thanks so much.

[Deffenm]

We have always gotten the DDP but now that our oldest is 10 and considered an "Adult" by WDW we won't be getting it for our next trip. He won't eat off the Adult menu so it is cheaper for us to pay OOP.

My kids also love to eat oatmeal for breakfast so I will pack that and we will eat in hotel for breakfast and then we like to eat lunch at a sit down resteraunt to rest before enjoying the park the rest of the evening. If my kids are hungry we will usually share a counter service meal or they will just eat a snack. for dinner. We find that if it is hot out we don't eat as much.

I am glad my babies are growing up but I wish WDW would consider them children until at least 12.

[KellyNY]

We do not use DP. We love when it is free, but if we have to pay for it, it is not good for us. We do only 1 or 2 restaurants per stay, and we do not really plan this experince, so if we get into mood for it, we just go and if place is overbooked, we will go for the alternative. ADRs for everyday of stay are kind of obligating.