Dining Plan

[lovemy2girls4eva]

Hi -

Are you getting the dining plan for your family or paying OOP for your meals?

I'm going back & forth on this.

Thanks!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Hi -

Are you getting the dining plan for your family or paying OOP for your meals?

I'm going back & forth on this.

Thanks!

The dining plan really is not worth it. It is very restrictive on what you order and how many of each meal you get and unless you go to the most expensive meals regularly it likely will cost more money than OOP. The one reason some people may do it though is to just take the guess work out of dining cost - for some people, having to constantly spend money on vacation can be stressful and affect their enjoyment. If this is you then maybe DP is worth it, I'd say for most it's better to steer clear unless you get it for free or on a steep discount.

 

[lovemy2girls4eva]

Thanks. It's just that I have CM, CRT and Ohana booked. And I know those are pretty pricey.

 

[Lurkerin]

You are right about the guess work. But I think the complete opposite. I can always order the most expensive thing on the menu without having to worry about cost. Could I order something cheaper or only do quick service and save money? Sure. But it is also part of our vacation experience. Apples to apples if I paid out of pocket for the dining option that we select, I save 100-200 on most occasions. Because we target the pricier ADRs.

 

[vtownpatty]

I agree with Lurkerin - I have used the spreadsheets and we could probably save a little bit paying OOP, but I hate the idea of worrying about what I order when I am on vacation. OOP, I would always be looking for the least expensive option even if it wasn't really what I wanted. I would worry about grabbing extra snacks and trying the booths at Flower and Garden. We have always gotten free dining, so this is our first trip paying for the dining plan. I will save all of our receipts and try to do a comparison for next time!

Also, someone else said the dining plan is very restrictive. I have never found that to be the case. I have almost never been told there was something on the menu that was not included. The regular plan covers how we would normally eat anyways - fast food for lunch and a nicer sit down dinner. Everyone has different styles, but it has always worked for us.

 

[KrazeeK120]

It depends on your family. The dining plan is more expensive than how I would normally eat, and it also doesn't fit the way we like to dine. We like to do about 2 TS meals in a week long trip and the rest QS.

I don't worry about what I order because I know I'm still saving money. If I had the dining plan, I'd likely be trying to order the most expensive thing on the menu even if it's not what I really want so that I can "maximize value." I'd rather just order what I want and pay for it.

Edited to add: we can't get a dining plan for our 18 month old, so we have to pay OOP for his meals anyway (other than st buffet/AYCTE places).

 

[gr8leg8]

I found it very stressful to make sure I was using all the credits.
For our family it was more food than we would normally eat.
We don't get a large soda for each person at every meal
and eat one dessert per person at every meal.
We are split entree people and snack on the go people.

 

[lanejudy]

If you like the "pre-paid" concept of the DDP but not sure it's right value for your family -- try putting the cost of the DDP onto a gift card and then use the gift card to pay OOP. We always end up with a leftover balance (souvenirs!), but don't have to worry about how much each meal costs.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Hikergirl]

It depends. For us it doesn't make sense and we spend less paying OOP.
If you plan on doing alot of character meals with your kids it may be worth it.
Check the menus at allears.net. You can get an idea of what you would spend OOP

 

[LaBelleVie]

We're getting the dining plan. We've gone once with it and twice without it, and I prefer the peace of mind. Plus, since we have kids now, we're doing a lot of character meals (and dining packages), and they tend to be pricier, so we get our money's worth.

 

[Macprincess]

We usually do not do the dining plan, but we just returned from our spring break trip this past Sunday and did use it this trip. I have three teenagers who are now able to spend some time in the parks without my husband and I present. We found it to be most helpful to have the DDP. The kids wanted to stay in the parks from open until close and my husband and I usually returned to the room for a mid day break. Knowing that they were able to have access to snacks and counter service meals by using their magic bands and pin # made life so much easier on us. We did enjoy a table service meal together daily. Yes, we ended up having several unused snack credits and three counter service meals left at the end of the week. We used the counter service meals to grab sushi to go at the poly and filled up our cooler with snack credits for the ride home. We probably paid more this way then if we had just paid out of pocket but for this particular trip the connivance of the DDP worked best for us and our touring style...We typically also stay in off site condos but again paying more to stay on site with my teens (18, 17 & 13) able to use the Disney transportation system made the extra cost worth it to us this trip.

 

[srwarden1928]

DDP does NOT work with the way I like to eat TS meals. I love to get an appetizer (not included). I sometimes get a drink with a nice meal (not included). I rarely get a dessert. I found a calculator somewhere (sorry I don't remember where) online that calculated that as a single person I would spend about $170 more if I used the dining plan and ate like I eat OOP. If DW was still here that would be $340 more to use the dining plan than OOP. (She ate very similar to me.) I'm not sure even free dining would be worth it for me, because the room discount would likely to be a better deal.

 

[dolewhipsareforlovers]

We are using the dining plan when we go this summer. I like having the peace of mind of everything being paid for because I would feel bad about ordering expensive meals. My fiance is a big eater so I think we will get our moneys worth out of the dining plan. We are going for the Food and Wine festival so I am excited we can use snack credits at the booths. I think the dining plan works for some people and doesn't for others.

 

[DisneyChris2016]

A couple of other factors to consider...

Kids 10 and over pay adult prices and order from the adult menu. Kids 3-9 must order off the kids menu if available.

Gratuities are not included at most restaurants. Assume a base gratuity of 18% (which is what Disney charges automatically for groups of 6 or more)... if you are regularly choosing the more expensive restaurants or menu items, the gratuity will be increased accordingly, so you need to factor that in.

Meals at CRT require 2 credits on the dining plan, so you will have to pay OOP for a meal sometime to make up for that.

Do you want to have table service meals every day of your trip?

Many people who purchase the dining plan say they do it for "peace of mind". But logically, I know that if my family eats the way we like to when on vacation we would never spend as much as we would pay for the dining plan (even the quick service plan). If you think you will enjoy your vacation more because you don't have to "worry" about what you're spending, go ahead and do it. But it's doubtful you're actually coming out ahead, financially.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

We keep going back and forth also. We have a 2 year old so it will be free for her and we would like to do a lot of character meals. But at the same time looking at the prices I'm like yikes.

We are going in the fall and are hoping for free dining. If we don't I think we will get the quick service plan so it's prepaid and done. Then just pay out of pocket for 2-3 meals. (Tusker house breakfast, Askerhus breakfast, Coral Reef Café)

 

[brnrss34]

I get the ddp because we are big eaters. If you are light eaters and share meals then I would pay oop. Unless you are going for allot of character meals.

 

[Matty B13]

If you are doing a lot of the buffets the cost is almost the price of the regular dining plan.

 

[cubed]

We just got back from an 8 night trip and did not do the dining plan. Between all of our character meals (CP, H&V, GG, Tusker House, and Ohana), BOG lunch, and two TS dinners (one at EP and one offsite), we spent less than we would have using the dining plan since we had to pay OOP for one meal a day on the DDP level anyway. I checked the amount as soon as we got home because I was curious to see where we ended up. Next time we go back, we are not doing that many character meals so we are definitely better off without the plan. Here is the link to a calculator that helped me decide not to do the plan:

https://www.distripplanner.com/

 

[Willabea]

As everyone else has said - so much depends on your particular group and how people eat. We tried the DDP once and won't do it again because:
1) We're not big eaters so we ended up wasting a lot of food. We felt compelled to each get a dessert since they were included.
2) We felt it confined our choices a bit. We found we skipped some of our favorite treats (dole whip!) because we were already stuffed.
The calculator linked above is a great tool.

 

[Crystal824]

It really depends on what and where you plan to eat. For my family, we have found it is usually cheaper to pay OOP. However, we don't really want a sit down meal everyday. We don't usually do a ton of character/family style meals. I think if you have mostly character/family style meals, the DP may be a better deal. For us, our kids are still really little and sitdown meals are often more effort than they are worth. I would use one of the Dining Plan calculators.