Is the price for the Disney Dining Plan really worth it??

[New To Mom]

I'm still planning our trip but well be doing dining. Im doing it bc I'm paying in full for trip. We've never been before, but I love the idea that our meals will be paid for before we leave. I might not order the most expensive item, but I'm happy I won't have to worry about how much money we have saved. I also like to order foods I don't normally order at a restaurant on vacation.

[vdub322]

Originally Posted by North of Mouse

Never, for us. It's dh & I. We just got back tonight from 10 days at Disney and I was just checking our print - out (we room charge all meals, snacks, etc.) We spent $680.00 total for the two of us, eating everything we wanted and were stuffed. The DDP would have cost us $1,120.00.

We could never eat a TS, plus CS plus snacks every day. Plus, we weren't trying to order the most expensive thing on the menu to get our *money's worth*. Also, remember that you tip on the total, so ordering the more expensive items just to *get more value* makes you pay more because of the tip total.

We ordered only what we wanted, and never desserts at meal time. We prefer to order ours in between times. Even at that, there were so many desserts/snacks we really would have liked to try, but didn't have room for - LOL We ate when we were hungry and could enjoy it, not just when the clock said it was meal time.

I can see that for families with 3-4 children under 10, there might be more value. It all depends on how you, as a family, dine.

I think this is a very good point to remember. We shelled out a lot in tips when we were on the DDP. It's a good idea to plan ahead for this expense.

[OThopeful35]

When DS10 was a disney child and we did lots of character meals and buffets, it was worth it. Now that he is a disney adult and the price has increased, it would not be worth it so we are skipping the DDP on our next trip. We will still order whatever we want, we are not big steak eaters so we do not always want the highest priced food item.

As a PP commented, we also payed lots of money in tips. Most of our desserts went half eaten, we prefer to buy desserts in later on in the park. DS had a back pack full of CS desserts I thought he was eating them On on our next trip, we will definitely save money because we will be alternating between kids meals and adult meals for DS.

[FoxwithEars]

wow thanks for all of your advice!! Yeah I think we are going to skip the DDP and just pay OOP. Thanks everyone!!!