Am I thinking about the dining plan wrong?

[pbarager]

We used DDP last month for the first time and we won't use it again. It was way too much food for us and we wasted wood at every meal. When we checked out we had 4 QS meals and 12 Snacks left over! I really thought it was the way to go until we used it for ourselves.

[ItsNotMuchofaTail]

I like the dining plan because I am cheap, LOL. I just said this in another thread, but I would never allow myself to order the $28 fish for lunch, I would make myself order the $17 chicken (or whatever) because I am cheap. On the DDP, I enjoyed every bite of that fish, and I enjoyed the dessert too.

The piece of mind it gives me that I can splurge on myself is priceless IMO. I haven't done hard number crunching, but I had a dinner at Akershus that cost more than my DDP for the whole day. It was extra expensive, for sure, and I ordered fancy drinks I wouldn't have gotten if paying OOP. There are two ways to look at that: one - I inflated my bill to make it "worth it," two - I treated myself because I can and I deserve it. And I loved the dinner at Akershus.

[smiths02]

I think I would also price out doing onsite first. That way you can stay in a value and get your tickets (and not have to mess with renting DVC)

I know there is a worry that it will "spoil" you, but it also might be good to get all that eating and character meeting out of the way. Then you will be ready for some regular food.

ETA: And if you are worried about it being too much food...if you have leftover CS or snacks, then you can get them your last day and have leftovers in the offsite house.

[crusoemom]

I have been in your situation several times, first staying in a DVC villa with extended family where we ate in nearly every night, then staying a day or two extra in a studio with just the 4 of us and eating out every time. We've never done the DDP because our kids didn't eat much. This year just DS and I will be in the studio, with no extended family, and we're trying the DDP. Me, the cheapskate. Why? Because DS is 13 and loves nothing better than a 16-oz sirloin once a day, or a full seafood buffet at Cape May. He will totally get his money's worth,and eat only the foods that he likes. And most importantly, he won't have to worry that it's the most expensive thing on the menu, which we've never let him eat at any restaurant (see cheapskate above).

It's my time to splurge, it's the food that he likes, we're only doing it for half of our trip (we have a split stay), and it keeps me from worrying about those dollar signs on the menus.

As everyone has already said, it's totally up to your own family style.

[minerva78]

Originally Posted by smiths02

I think I would also price out doing onsite first. That way you can stay in a value and get your tickets (and not have to mess with renting DVC)

I know there is a worry that it will "spoil" you, but it also might be good to get all that eating and character meeting out of the way. Then you will be ready for some regular food.

ETA: And if you are worried about it being too much food...if you have leftover CS or snacks, then you can get them your last day and have leftovers in the offsite house.

I actually recently looked into doing the onsite stay first, mainly because I really would love to begin the vacation with a character meal, and I just didn't feel like dealing with the expense of paying for one of those OOP when I would be doing the dining plan later. I think it will actually work better to do the character meals and dining plan first so I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to do - 4 days onsite, 4 days offsite in a rental house. I still think I'll rent DVC points though, because based on the current rates, I could do a package at a value resort for almost the exact same price of renting at BWV and adding the dining plan and tickets separately. I don't think it will be too much food for our family, other than maybe having extra snack credits. But there are so many ways to use those up I'm not too worried! I'll have to crunch the numbers again, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to do the dining plan now. When I thought realistically about what I want to eat, it still looks like I'll come out ahead.

[eliza61]

Originally Posted by minerva78

I'm planning a Disney trip in 2014 in which I decided we will spend about 6 nights in a rental house with extended family for the first part of our trip and stay onsite for 3 nights with just my DH and 2 DDs. Since I'm going to purchase tickets through Undercover Tourist, I calculated it would likely be cheaper to rent points to stay at a DVC villa and add the dining plan than to stay at AoA then add a one day ticket and the dining plan. . I still have quite a while to decide, but I'm trying to wrap my mind around possible costs as early as possible since we're saving up for this trip.

So...I know a big debate of the dining plan is "is it worth it?" And I know people tell you to calculate based on how you would normally eat, but for frugal people like me, isn't the reality that your dining habits would probably change if you prepay your meals? Or is it just me? I'm starting to sound like a person who would try to maximize their meals on the dining plan to get the best value, and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing!

Nope. when I'm on vacation I want above all is to be comfortable and relaxed.
The great thing about disney is that with all the information out there we can know way ahead of time how much we plan on spending ahead of time.

Imo the last sentence is one of the reasons why we stopped doing the dining plan. There were days when I really wasnt hungry, just wanted an appertizer but God forbid I did not get my monies worth so low and behold I forced myself to eat a big meal.

I come from a restaurant family, I grew up with siblings, cousins and family working in the restaurant. Dining is supposed to be pleasurable. It supposed to be about enjoying your meal and your dining companions. not about whether you ate XXX dollars worth of food

Every trip we've taken we see the same thing almost every day. some poor family in the gift shop trying their best to use up remaining snack points. I hear mothers yelling "just pick any thing" so no points go wasted. sorry so not my idea of a stressless vacation.

We no longer do the ddp. we eat how we want, when we want. we make a realistic budget on how we really eat,