Another-- Do You think the Dining plan is worth it-- For Me

[wenpop]

We are going in September, I am hoping for free dining, Thinking about staying at the ALL stars, there is 6 of us, and we plan on having a sit down meal each day and and also a quick meal with snacks each day.
I know we have to pay extra for that plan even with free dining... plus have park hoppers.... Not sure if it is worth paying extra for Free dining if it becomes available or just pay out of pocket with cheaper tickets and discount on room.....

I am going crazy trying to decide, anyone could help me... This will be our 5th or 6th time, You would think I would know what to do by now..thanks..

 

[Hopefully]

We are going in September, I am hoping for free dining, Thinking about staying at the ALL stars, there is 6 of us, and we plan on having a sit down meal each day and and also a quick meal with snacks each day.
I know we have to pay extra for that plan even with free dining... plus have park hoppers.... Not sure if it is worth paying extra for Free dining if it becomes available or just pay out of pocket with cheaper tickets and discount on room.....

I am going crazy trying to decide, anyone could help me... This will be our 5th or 6th time, You would think I would know what to do by now..thanks..

And another standard answer to your standard question. You have to take the time to review the menus and realistically price your food choices. Compare that to the cost of the upgrade to the full DDP for your group. It is the only way to know if it will work for your party. We can't tell you this answer.

 

[Disney_traveler]

We booked all star music with the free quick service dining plan. There were some tablemserfice we wanted but weren't sure we would get, so we were planning to pay them out of pocket. We ended up with what we wanted (1900 Park Faire Holiday Brunch, Cinderella's Royal Table dinner, and Crystal Palace breakfast). I then read about upgrading and made s thread on here asking about upgrade cost. Not only would it be cheaper to upgrade than pay out of pocket, we also needed to add 2 table service meals (added garden grill dinner and akershus lunch). With all the times we have gone, 3 times we have done dining plan and we feel it IS worth it to us. We try stuff here and there with QS and Snacks. We carry ziplocks and glad containers with us for leftovers (not at aycte places though) and when we stay out late or get up early, we have those leftovers to snack on,

 

[DISNEY1975]

With 6 people, the free dining will definitely be more of a value. Average room discount on value resort is 15% (sometimes only 10). Average room rate is $130 per room (standard) or $240 for quite for 6. Thats a $20 discount per room or $36 for the suite. No brainer.


2 Regular room discount - $40 per night
Quick Service Dining per night -$44 x 6 = $264
Reg Dining per night - 63 x 6 = $378
Upgrade from Quick to Reg $19 x 6 = $114 per night.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The FD bounceback offered recently excluded most of September. So if you're planning dates based on hopes of Free Dining, be aware that the dates for this year's bounceback were:

• 5/30-6/6/17
• 6/30-7/5/17
• 8/11-9/9/17
• 12/8-12/20/17

Current promo has Values getting 1 free QS/day from May 30-August, so the public offer isn't even full Free Dining.

 

[sharonabe]

The FD bounceback offered recently excluded most of September. So if you're planning dates based on hopes of Free Dining, be aware that the dates for this year's bounceback were:

• 5/30-6/6/17
• 6/30-7/5/17
• 8/11-9/9/17
• 12/8-12/20/17

Current promo has Values getting 1 free QS/day from May 30-August, so the public offer isn't even full Free Dining.

They had the same free 1 QS last summer too, so that's not really an indicator of what they might do with the fall free dining. However, I don't think the summer discount came out quite this early last year.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

@sharonabe - I'm not positive but I *think* the summer QS meal discount came out around February. I remember being ticked that it was only for values, because I was interested but didn't want to downgrade.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

They had the same free 1 QS last summer too, so that's not really an indicator of what they might do with the fall free dining. However, I don't think the summer discount came out quite this early last year.

But they didn't have any BB FD for last summer's dates, if I recall correctly. (It's early, and I may not.)

That said, 1 QS is ~$10-15/day per person, so it can vary on if that's a good discount.

 

[Nancyg56]

You will need to do the math, and if you want the regular DDP, I would also add a column for a moderate resort.

No matter where you stay, you need to add up the realistic cost of your meals, snacks and beverages. It is different for every family, so no one can know if the plan will work for yours.

If you plan to go during a free dining offer, and you plan to upgrade your plan from a QS plan to a regular DDP you may be better off booking a moderate resort, depending on whatever the room costs and add on's may be this year. I always build a spreadsheet for us for dining, but if I was considering an upgrade I would want the cost comparison between moderate and value To compare the cost per day between the room upgrade close and the daily dining plan upgrade.

 

[Disneylover99]

But they didn't have any BB FD for last summer's dates, if I recall correctly. (It's early, and I may not.)

Yes, they did. We book it every year.

 

[DisBuckMan]

But they didn't have any BB FD for last summer's dates, if I recall correctly. (It's early, and I may not.)

That said, 1 QS is ~$10-15/day per person, so it can vary on if that's a good discount.

If I'm remembering correctly, the only "summer"* bounceback dates included last year were during gay week...end of May to beginning part of June.

*I don't consider mid-late August as "Disney summer".

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If I'm remembering correctly, the only "summer"* bounceback dates included last year were during gay week...end of May to beginning part of June.

*I don't consider mid-late August as "Disney summer".

Do you consider it "Disney's Inferno Season?"

 

[DisBuckMan]

Do you consider it "Disney's Inferno Season?"

Heh. It's hot, but where I live, our weather is just as hot as it is at Disney.

I'm simply referring to the fact that most schools (in the south, at least), are now starting back in mid-August...which really cuts down on the drive-in crowd at Disney. "Summer" season for Disney, to me, is when all the schools are out.

 

[Nancyg56]

Do you consider it "Disney's Inferno Season?"

That's how I classify it! Lol!!!

 

[wenpop]

Yes, we are going to spend at least $2200 for the week on dining. Not counting breakfast or snacks. So was really looking forward to free dining even if we had to pay for the upgrade and for hoppers passes. But it is a gamble it seems if we even get free dining in Sept. If I pay separate for everything before room discount I can get it for under $6000. If free dining comes out it looks like we would only pay $5372, enough to buy MNSSHP passes. Should I go ahead and book package and hope for discount and if not change to pay for everything separate?

 

[Nancyg56]

Yes, we are going to spend at least $2200 for the week on dining. Not counting breakfast or snacks. So was really looking forward to free dining even if we had to pay for the upgrade and for hoppers passes. But it is a gamble it seems if we even get free dining in Sept. If I pay separate for everything before room discount I can get it for under $6000. If free dining comes out it looks like we would only pay $5372, enough to buy MNSSHP passes. Should I go ahead and book package and hope for discount and if not change to pay for everything separate?

I always think that if you are going no matter what, it does not hurt to book. If you will only go if you can apply a specific discount I would say wait. If you are flexible and a better discount was released, you can rebook. It is no harm no foul IMO. You woudl be no worse off if you called when a discount was released and there was no inventory for you.

 

[B-Ride]

IMHO the DP is worth it in two situations:
1. You are big eaters
2. It is free and there is no great room discount (usually the free DP is better if you have adults in your party or your kids count as adults).

 

[Lori1985]

What I do is see if I can get reservations for the big character meals first. If I am able to get everyone I want and at good times that don't interfere with our park time, then I will get the plan. If not, then we just go OOP or with the quick service. Our very first trip with the kids we made sure they had a character meal every day. Now that they got that out of their system, we are just going with the QS plan from here on out. Not because it saves money (it probably doesn't) but because it will be easier to go with that than anything else. We made the mistake last time putting our entire vacation around restaurant ADRs. Big mistake.

 

[Nancyg56]

What I do is see if I can get reservations for the big character meals first. If I am able to get everyone I want and at good times that don't interfere with our park time, then I will get the plan. If not, then we just go OOP or with the quick service. Our very first trip with the kids we made sure they had a character meal every day. Now that they got that out of their system, we are just going with the QS plan from here on out. Not because it saves money (it probably doesn't) but because it will be easier to go with that than anything else. We made the mistake last time putting our entire vacation around restaurant ADRs. Big mistake.

I always plan our meals to see what works for us. I rememebr the first free dining trip I planned. Before I booked the trip I booked our meals. It was an extra vacation, and would not have been cost effective if I could not get the meals we wanted. FD is no deal if you dont eat! LOL!