Dining Plan...not staying on Disney property

[OurFamilyof5]

Is there any way to purchase some type of dining plan when we are not staying on a Disney property? We have a military ID as well as Disney Visa and AAA. Don't know if any of those would help, but just thought I would mention it. Thanks in advance

 

[jcarwash]

Unless I'm missing some unusual detail...the answer is no for a Disney dining plan. You need to be staying on Disney property at a Disney resort to purchase a Disney dining plan. (Not all hotels on property are Disney resorts, such as Dolphin/Swan, and so no Disney dining plan.)

You generally also need to have a vacation package (room + tickets) as well in order to add the dining plan...there are some exceptions to this, but I think all involve a Disney resort stay.

 

[OurFamilyof5]

Yeah, I thought that was the case....was just hoping there was some sort of loop hole or option otherwise. Bummer!

 

[OurFamilyof5]

What if we stayed on property for 1 night...would we be able to by one? We will be there for 7 days.

 

[MomofKatie]

Are you interested in the Dining Plan so you can prepay for your meals? If so, why not try using Disney gift cards? You can purchase them starting now and either get more cards as you have $$ or just add to the one you buy initially. Then, use the prepaid card(s)for your WDW food purchases.

The Dining Plan really doesn't save any appreciable amount of $$ vs paying out of pocket, so just pre-paying with Disney gift cards will achieve the same goal. Plus, you don't have to adhere to the Dining Plan rules (no appetizers, just desserts; only so many CS and TS credits, etc).

Go to the menu pages here or on other WDW planning sites and do a little rough math to figure out around how much $$ you will need, then get gift cards to cover it. We do this when we stay offsite, and it makes it easy for us. Plus, we don't feel like we need to order the cheapest thing on the menu to save $$, since it is already "paid" on the card. We always end up with a little extra $$ left over on the cards, so we get to spend it on souvenirs at the end of the trip.

 

[MomofKatie]

What if we stayed on property for 1 night...would we be able to by one? We will be there for 7 days.

You can only get the Dining plan for the same number of nights you are staying onsite. So you would only be able to get the Dining plan for 1 day if you stayed one night (and come to think of it, the Dining plan packages might start at 3 nights minimum).

That plan won't work for you, I'm afraid.

 

[OurFamilyof5]

Thank you That is a fantastic idea...I did think though that it saved a good bit of money with the dining plan, but maybe I'm wrong (that wouldn't be a first, lol I will definitely start getting gift cards to make it feel like we aren't spending as much money!!

 

[GusGus77]

It is actually requires A LOT of planning to save a lot of money on the dining plan. It also is very rare. You *may* save some, but many people have reported on the boards that it was more expensive and restrictive for the dining plan than paying OOP. There are several threads on the subject.

 

[julie4423]

Thank you That is a fantastic idea...I did think though that it saved a good bit of money with the dining plan, but maybe I'm wrong (that wouldn't be a first, lol I will definitely start getting gift cards to make it feel like we aren't spending as much money!!

IMO, the only way you save much with the DP is when you're getting it free. Somehow we always get 2 pins a year plus the public FD, so it's not hard to do. I have a family of 5 (6 if you count the baby), and FD is without a doubt the best discount for us. It's cheaper than staying off site and paying for food by quite a bit. Just something to think about for future trips.

 

[bdklein]

You can only get the Dining plan for the same number of nights you are staying onsite. So you would only be able to get the Dining plan for 1 day if you stayed one night (and come to think of it, the Dining plan packages might start at 3 nights minimum).

That plan won't work for you, I'm afraid.

Aand don't you need to buy the tickets too, as part of a package?

 

[OurFamilyof5]

Yeah, this is a last minute trip that my mom wants to do for us. We are staying at a resort close by, just don't have the funds to stay on property right now...using hotel points for our accommodations We are saving our money for our trip in December to stay on property. Hopefully they will have a FD plan then

 

[honeybunches]

You might already know this but it was new info for me, so...... Someone posted earlier that you can purchase Disney gift cards at Target or get 5% off with your redcard. That is at least a bit of savings!

 

[OurFamilyof5]

oh man! if you have to buy tickets too, I doubt we will ever be able to get the DP...we have the military discount and have always been able to use that. Hopefully they will do the offer again this year....$156 for 4 day with park hopper (and tax free if you buy it on a military bass), you just can't beat that! Unless you are planning more days of course

 

[julie4423]

oh man! if you have to buy tickets too, I doubt we will ever be able to get the DP...we have the military discount and have always been able to use that. Hopefully they will do the offer again this year....$156 for 4 day with park hopper (and tax free if you buy it on a military bass), you just can't beat that! Unless you are planning more days of course

My sis and bro in law are both military. We looked into all going together as they could get us passes as well. First, there is no way I could only spend 4 days there. I know that it wouldn't be worth the travel costs from IN, and I wouldn't be ready to go. Second, it was STILL cheaper to go with FD for us. Have to stay at POR with 5 people, but worth the cost for us.

 

[purple figment]

oh man! if you have to buy tickets too, I doubt we will ever be able to get the DP...we have the military discount and have always been able to use that. Hopefully they will do the offer again this year....$156 for 4 day with park hopper (and tax free if you buy it on a military bass), you just can't beat that! Unless you are planning more days of course

You can get a PAID dining plan with a ticketless package when using military tickets. However, free dining requires everyone, including military, to purchase a minimum of 2 day tickets for everyone 3 and older in the room.

 

[OurFamilyof5]

Please tell me more about this paid dining we are staying off site and purchased the 4day with park hopper. Would we qualify?

Edited to say... Sorry, didn't read it correctly. I realize now there is no way for dinning on this trip. I would however like to know how we can get a paid dining plan in the future when staying on property (does SOG count too)... But not purchasing tickets through Disney.

 

[sharonabe]

Please tell me more about this paid dining we are staying off site and purchased the 4day with park hopper. Would we qualify?

Edited to say... Sorry, didn't read it correctly. I realize now there is no way for dinning on this trip. I would however like to know how we can get a paid dining plan in the future when staying on property (does SOG count too)... But not purchasing tickets through Disney.

You can get paid dining and still use Military Salute tickets if you stay in a Disney resort. Disney does have a hotel discount out for the military as well. You can pair that with the Salute tickets and paid dining. I don't think you can get the dining plan if you stay at SOG.

Check out this website:

http://www.militarydisneytips.com/index.html

 

[purple figment]

Please tell me more about this paid dining we are staying off site and purchased the 4day with park hopper. Would we qualify?

Edited to say... Sorry, didn't read it correctly. I realize now there is no way for dinning on this trip. I would however like to know how we can get a paid dining plan in the future when staying on property (does SOG count too)... But not purchasing tickets through Disney.

You have to stay at a Disney owned resort so SOG and Swan/Dolphin aren't eligible. You could stay at a Disney owned resort with a military rate and since you're buying military tickets separately you would book a ticketless package with paid dining.

 

[bdklein]

Please tell me more about this paid dining we are staying off site and purchased the 4day with park hopper. Would we qualify?

Edited to say... Sorry, didn't read it correctly. I realize now there is no way for dinning on this trip. I would however like to know how we can get a paid dining plan in the future when staying on property (does SOG count too)... But not purchasing tickets through Disney.

I know this doesn't answer your question but you can get the AAA discount and get a Dining Plan package if you book through AAA. But you will need to buy tickets as part of the,package.

 

[OurFamilyof5]

Thanks so much everyone for all your input!! I really do appreciate it! We are so excited to be going...dining or no dining plan...we feel so blessed to be able to take the trip!