Did Anyone Actually Save Money Using the Dining Plan?

[sgthero]

The string could go on and on. After reading all the post and taking my families eating considerations in to count, I will just spend the extra on DDP. Rather pay up front, then get hit with a large bill at the end.

 

[skatalite]

The string could go on and on. After reading all the post and taking my families eating considerations in to count, I will just spend the extra on DDP. Rather pay up front, then get hit with a large bill at the end.

Or, you could put the food budget money on Disney gift cards now, and would probably have money leftover that can be used for souvenirs or extra snacks. That way you get the up-front benefit and the OOP benefit (potential savings over dining plan).

 

[Tinkabon0813]

This is my 76th trip in 22 years, I have saved a lot of money when the fd first came out. This trip I am hoping for free dining as I am paying for my father and my daughters bf and my family of 5. So I am crossing my fingers that sept 23 thru sept 30 the free dining is going to be available. I have already made my dining plans and I am ready to go either way. I just really like having all my meals paid for in advance.

I like not having to worry about the cost of meals

 

[aaarcher86]

Or, you could put the food budget money on Disney gift cards now, and would probably have money leftover that can be used for souvenirs or extra snacks. That way you get the up-front benefit and the OOP benefit (potential savings over dining plan).

That wouldn't work for me. It'd be no different than just paying OOP on my bank card in my head. If I have X amount of dollars I can't to over, it really doesn't matter to me if it's on a GC or cash. I'll still be looking at prices and adjusting what I order.

 

[LibertyTree]

The DDP is a cheaper way to eat expensively. It gets you dinner shows, character meals, steaks and even pricey starbucks drinks for a bit less each day than you would otherwise pay.

But you can eat relatively well in WDW for less then the cost of the DP.

 

[rpk1951]

I think there are two other convenience factors:
One you get to prepay, which I really like
Two My wife will order what she wants rather than the cheapest thing on the menu

 

[Alicatt]

The DDP is a cheaper way to eat expensively. It gets you dinner shows, character meals, steaks and even pricey starbucks drinks for a bit less each day than you would otherwise pay.

But you can eat relatively well in WDW for less then the cost of the DP.

This really sums it up.
If you are happy with smaller portions or if this is your annual trip and you don't fell like you need to do a TS everyday you can eat well enough and save some money. But if this is your first big trip in years or if vacation= eating very well then DDP may be for you.

 

[sharonabe]

This really sums it up.
If you are happy with smaller portions or if this is your annual trip and you don't fell like you need to do a TS everyday you can eat well enough and save some money. But if this is your first big trip in years or if vacation= eating very well then DDP may be for you.

Your first line is correct...the PP did sum it up well, but then you messed up.

Paying OOP does NOT mean smaller portions or not eating TS every day.
I can do three meals a day, including a TS and at least one dessert for less than the DDP costs, and I'm not sharing with anyone. OR I can do two TS meals a day with my own entrée and at least one dessert.

Now, I cannot have steak at every meal. I cannot do character buffets every night for dinner. But I can have a steak during my trip. I can do character breakfasts or do ONE character dinner along with all my other yummy TS and QS meals.

 

[CinderElsa]

I ran the numbers and it seems we'd be $50 ahead with the DxDP for December... this is for two adults without kids, but it would include multiple Signatures, the Candlelight Processional & Fantasmic! packages, and a couple of character meals. We're actually only going to have two days where we'd be eating three meals.

$50 isn't all that much (considering what a Disney vacation costs), but add the convenience of being able to have meals paid for, and I can't see a reason not to do it!

 

[smiths02]

I ran the numbers and it seems we'd be $50 ahead with the DxDP for December... this is for two adults without kids, but it would include multiple Signatures, the Candlelight Processional & Fantasmic! packages, and a couple of character meals. We're actually only going to have two days where we'd be eating three meals.

$50 isn't all that much (considering what a Disney vacation costs), but add the convenience of being able to have meals paid for, and I can't see a reason not to do it!

See, I think the opposite way...I am not going to risk $1000 at the possibility of saving $50. I also don't want to save $50 but have to eat like they want me to in order to save. If you end up not being as hungry as you project now...start skipping an app or dessert or snack or get sick and cancel a meal or two...your savings is gone. For me, I worry about it either way. If I don't have DDP, I worry about my budget..If I do have DDP, I worry about getting my money's worth. The latter situation is not more convenient than the other for me.

 

[CraigInPA]

In 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 my wife and I bought DxDP and saved, on average, between 15% and 30%.

In February 2014, we did out of pocket. We saved 25% by NOT buying the DxDP. In fact, our out of pocket expenses were very much in line with what one would pay if they bought the DDP and bought appetizers for the sit down meals. But, we did NO counter service at all. Every meal we ate was a sit down table service meal. During this trip, we ate at Narcoossee's (twice), Hollywood Brown Derby, Artist Point, Citricos, California Grill, 'Ohana, Cape May Cafe, Kona (twice), Liberty Tree Tavern, Grand Floridian Cafe, Bongos, San Angel Inn, Via Napoli, Yak and Yeti, and Hollywood and Vine. We didn't skimp on anything. We had the whole Maine Lobster at Narcoossee's, Filets everywhere, Buffalo, surf and turf, ice cream and funnel cake as snacks, and had appetizers and dessert with virtually every meal. So, how did we eat like Kings for just a little more than the price of DDP? It's actually very easy. Disney's plan savings assumes you're going to eat all those snacks. We typically were taking those snacks home, eating only a few in the park. Disney's plan savings on DxDP also assumes every person is going to order the most expensive appetizer, entree, and dessert on the menu. While we didn't scrimp at all, there were some meals where we didn't want the dessert (HBD's three tiny samplers, for example), or didn't think we were hungry enough to have an appetizer, entree, and dessert. We didn't take any snacks home, because they weren't "included" in out out of pocket dining plan.

My wife and I were a little apprehensive about spending more than the DxDP would have cost, until we got out receipts from some of the earlier years and added up the costs. In earlier years, we saved less than 5% when snacks were not factored in. When we subtracted apps and desserts we wouldn't have ordered but for the fact that they were included, the "savings" completely disappeared. So, we went into our trip and didn't think about what stuff costs. We chose what we wanted to eat, and where we wanted to eat, and only figured out the total cost after we got home.

 

[CinderElsa]

See, I think the opposite way...I am not going to risk $1000 at the possibility of saving $50. I also don't want to save $50 but have to eat like they want me to in order to save. If you end up not being as hungry as you project now...start skipping an app or dessert or snack or get sick and cancel a meal or two...your savings is gone. For me, I worry about it either way. If I don't have DDP, I worry about my budget..If I do have DDP, I worry about getting my money's worth. The latter situation is not more convenient than the other for me.

If somebody said that we had to eat three meals per day, I think I'd agree with you, because that's just way too much food. I'm not sure if it would even be worth it at all if we weren't going in December/didn't plan to make much use of meals that require two credits.

I really think the decision has to be made not only family by family, but trip by trip. What's worth it for one trip may not be worth it for the same group of people on a subsequent trip.

 

[ancestry]

We saved several years ago when the price was lower and my kids were charged the child price on the dining plan. Now my younger kids are adults (11 years old) and we would actually lose money if we did the dining plan. Plus we don't like to eat the way the dining plan makes us eat. We do better with TIW.

 

[smiths02]

If somebody said that we had to eat three meals per day, I think I'd agree with you, because that's just way too much food. I'm not sure if it would even be worth it at all if we weren't going in December/didn't plan to make much use of meals that require two credits.

I really think the decision has to be made not only family by family, but trip by trip. What's worth it for one trip may not be worth it for the same group of people on a subsequent trip.

Totally agree. I think the convenience also varies by trip.

We went with my ILs in 2009. If we were to travel with a group again and be sharing reservation (not likely as we are a pretty large family now), I would probably do DDP even if I thought it wasn't a money saver b/c it was easier to just split the cost of the trip beforehand. Also, easier to just tell my ILs that they had to pay $2000 with everything included then have to face the bill everytime we got it (which would have ended in FIL trying to pay every bill b/c he will do that OR FIL starting to not want to eat out b/c he could see the prices). I don't even know if it saved us money that year. Probably considering that we used it well (CS lunch or breakfast platters, used our snacks, TS dinners), but we just needed it for the convenience factor.

For just my immediate household, however, I don't think DDP will ever win again unless it is heavily discounted/free.

 

[asmit4]

Anyone remember when it was 39.99 and they took away the tip and appetizer and we all FREAKED. I mean totally FLIPPED out.

Raise your hand if you would LOVE to go back to that?

Now it seems with the way we eat- we won't break even. I'm back to probably doing my own 'DDP'....gift cards stocked up That way we can eat the way we want to eat and have it 'prepaid'

 

[mommycrawford]

Anyone remember when it was 39.99 and they took away the tip and appetizer and we all FREAKED. I mean totally FLIPPED out.

Raise your hand if you would LOVE to go back to that?

Now it seems with the way we eat- we won't break even. I'm back to probably doing my own 'DDP'....gift cards stocked up That way we can eat the way we want to eat and have it 'prepaid'

 

[NashBridges]

We paid for the dining plan once and agreed then and there to never pay for it again. It wasn't even about the cost to us, it was honestly just WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. By the end of day 3, we were just sick of eating. But you couldn't miss a meal or your savings was gone. So we kept ordering and ordering until we just felt like big slobs with no energy, that's being honest. On holidays, we still tend to eat like we do at home. We don't eat dessert everyday. We have protein smoothies for breakfasts, lunches are typically a sandwich and fruit, suppers always involve a salad and some kind of meat on the BBQ. If we go out for supper, we usually share a meal and appy between the 2 of us, again, not because we are cheap, it's because we just can't possibly eat a full meal and appy.


It's far cheaper for us to go and pay OOP. We still have table service meals, not everyday. We eat when we are hungry and not when we feel we have too. It sucked the fun right out of the trip for us. I don't even think I'd take the DP if it was offered free. Just too much for us and I'd feel wasteful.

 

[Mikie]

To really make an analysis, you have to do some number crunching for your exact habits. At current prices (ahhh the days when DDP was $40 and an easy savings!) I tell people to look at a few things to see if they should even go through the hassle of calculating:
- if you have 2+ children age 3-9, plan to eat many (at least 1 every other trip day) character meals or buffets, if you plan to eat any "signature" dining, if you drink non-alcoholic non-water drinks with your meals, you like to have a sit down at least once a day, you should definitely do the calculation to see if DP is for you
- if you have mostly adults, don't eat 2 full meals a day, won't do much character/buffet and don't like math you can save yourself the trouble and assume OOP is more sensible

We've gone with and without DP. IF we eat at the same restaurants regardless of plan, DDP is a savings because we have 2 kids, don't order apps anyway usually, choose several character meals and buffets ($$$ especially for kids relative to OOP kids meal at other TS), order non-alcoholic drinks - DP is a savings ; and I don't count the dessert price in the OOP comparison because we usually wouldn't order one. IF we say we'd actually skip some pricey buffets or characters when not on DP, the savings can evaporate.

I'm the official planner for my extended family trip this year and I did all the math for others with a "free <3" child and a couple with no kids. Compared to eating at our same ADRs with no app & no dessert (how they'd usually eat) and a QS lunch & snack breakfast daily, these adults will break even on the DP. They're choosing to get it anyway for the "out of sight out of mind" factor.

 

[dixiegirl]

Ran all of the numbers based on our eating habits and locations that we prefer - we save alot more money just going OOP. And for the two of us it's just waaayyyy too much food. We did the dining plan for a couple of years - always ended up having some type of credits left over but I can certainly see where it would benefit others.

 

[Spacepest]

I really think the savings is a YMMV kind of thing.

My husband is a big eater and works out almost every day to support this. He also likes to crunch numbers too...always saving receipts afterwards, tallying up costs later. He's frugal, but not cheap. Sure, he likes deals on vacation but not if it means carrying and cooking on all his food on his trip. The point is this...our last WDW vacation, we decided to do the dining plan: I wanted normal, he wanted deluxe, mainly because he thought many of the counter service portions might be too small for him.

So we splurged, two adults on deluxe dining for a week long trip. We did character meals, Hoop De Doo, etc. Basically we did counter service for breakfast at our hotel, and for lunch and dinner we ate at table service or buffets, and grabbed snacks whenever we felt like it. My husband did his usual thing of keeping all receipts, writing down prices for things we the food we ate, calculating the costs (although we didn't let entree price dictate what we were ordering, we just got whatever we wanted on the menu). By the fourth day of our trip, we had eaten enough and wracked up high enough restaurant bills to actually break even on deluxe dining. Everything after that for us was a savings.

However, I can totally see this not working for families with small children and picky eaters though, or people on an extremely limited budget who wouldn't be doing buffets or table service in the first place. Also, I doubt any dining plan is going to break even if your children insist on only eating most offerings on the kid's menu (mass produced low quality food) or going to a buffet and only eating a few bites.