Just Back! - Our Savings

[dizluvr71]

This was our first time on the dining plan and we loved it. It was so nice not worrying about our budget for food, plus the kids loved being able to pretty much order whatever they wanted. We were 4 Adults, Me, DH, SDD18 and DS10. We paid $1,715 for the plan and our total came to $2,150 so our savings was about $435. Granted we would probably not have eaten at a few of the restaurants that we did and we would not have ordered appetizers for each of us at our TS meals but that was definitely a bonus for us being on the plan. We also had 4 CS and 1 TS leftover.

Here is a list of some of the places we ate at:
Boma
Narcoosee
Flying Fish
Sci-Fi Dine In
Hollywood & Vine (Fantasmic Pkg)
Crystal Palace
Boatwright's
Ohana

We will definitely be doing the dining plan again!

 

[Tina G]

Just wanted to offer the flip side. While the DDP is a big money saver for many, there are some situations where you may not save money. We just returned from a week at DW and had we purchased the DDP we would have paid $635 for 2 adults and our 8 year old daughter. After calculating our total spent for the same meals as would have been covered by the plan, our total was $615. So we would have lost $20, plus we would have had to give up several of our TS meals for CS. We are not big eaters. We don't order appetizers or dessert. We don't usually order the expensive items on the menu. And we greatly prefer more TS meals than CS. We did the Spirit of Aloha show and had we been on the DDP, we could not have had Category 1 seating. We also ate a several restaurants that are not on the DDP.

So while the DDP definitely seems to be a real money saver for many, if not most, don't assume it will be a money saver for you. Look at your family size, eating habits, and preferences and then decide. We saw quite a few people have problems using the dining plan, especially at the cashier of our resort's food court. One family I know went a week before us and they were told the first day by the cashier at their food court that everyone in their party had to use a credit at the same time, meaning if mom and dad used a CS credit for a meal then the kids had to use a CS credit at that time too. This was false information but they didn't find that out until the end of their trip when it was too late.

 

[dizluvr71]

I definitely agree that the dining plan is not for everyone and that people should read the material that is available so they are aware of how the plan works.

We never experienced any problems using the plan and all of the CM's were very helpful. We ate several of our CS meals at Sassagoula and the CM was even nice enough to point out that if we didn't want a dessert we could also choose a bag of chips, bowl of fruit or caramel and sliced apples instead.

 

[GC&S]

Glad to hear you had a good experience!

 

[shortypots]

With the way hubby and I eat, we will definitely make out on the plan!

 

[Family5LovesDisney]

I'm glad it worked for you! It worked for us too! The character meals alone made it worth is since we were charged by our children's ages and not what they ate!