Anyone do the Disney Dining Plan?

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

We did this past december and thought it was way too much food.

Lots of waste, lots of eating more than we felt comfortable with because we felt bad about so much being thrown out. Plus we felt ruled by the food-everything had to be planned in advance.

Plus side was that I got to eat at Spoodles and the Aloha show, two meals we normally wouldn't do because of the expense. I still had to leave half a strip steak at spoodles, and that bothered me.


We decided to get the disney dining experience card instead, and this last trip we were very happy with it, and we're looking forward to using it again. 20% off your meals.

 

[Lexxiefern]

I have used it 4 times now. I really like it. Before the DDP, we would mostly eat sit downs and hardly ever got fast food. So this does require some changing on our part. My DH usually orders an app and an entree and even with having the DDE card, it works out cheaper for us to use the DDP and then get a "free" dessert.

Another thing I really like about it that I know in advance exactly how much food is going to cost me. At check in I pay XX amount for it and that's it (with the exception of DH's beer of course )

 

[Lexxiefern]

Not doing the plan in Oct thought, to full to do the F&W more than once.

Yes, this is so true. We used the DDP last October and felt we did not get to fully appreciate the F&W because we were too tied to our PSs for the DDP. This coming Oct I have it booked for the first 5 nights of our trip and then we switch down to a studio for the weekend and I am not adding it then. This way we can spend the weekend at F&W.

 

[jodifla]

We use the DDE. The DDP makes you a hostage to dining reservations, which I'm not interested in.

We also spend a fraction of the cost of the DDP by just having buying groceries. We eat a few dinners out, maybe one breakfast, and a few lunches.

The quality of Disney dining has declined so much after the DDP, we're debating not even bothering with the DDE anymore.

 

[dwelty]

Chuck is absolutely right. Many people compare the menu prices of what they could order to what they pay for DDP, but that's really an apples/oranges comparison. You have to look at what you would actually eat if you were paying cash to get a real-world evaluation.And, except for the dinner shows, this describes us to a tee. We always have either a nice dinner or a character meal every day of our stay -- that's an important part of our WDW experience. Therefore, DDP saves us money. In addition, we also enjoy the convenience of the plan. We used to have a DDE card, but once we tried DDP, we didn't renew the DDE.

The only question I have about DDP for our family would be if we were doing a longer stay. We live 4 hours away, so we usually only stay 4-5 days twice a year. If I were staying a week or longer, I'd take a real long look at the prospect of eating onsite every day -- especially with the menu standardization they've recently done.

DDP and DDE are both great discount plans -- you just have to figure out which fits your family best.

I agree with JimMIA I would only add that if you like to order adult beverages, than the DDE is a god companion to the DDP, since your drinks can be covered by this discount.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Since the DDP allowed us to book the Candlelight Processional package - twice, we thought it was very worthwhile to have in December. Otherwise, it would be too much time spent sitting down and eating, so we use DDE for our other trips. We don't "need" a sit down dinner every day.

Bobbi

 

[JodyTG]

Many people compare the menu prices of what they could order to what they pay for DDP, but that's really an apples/oranges comparison. You have to look at what you would actually eat if you were paying cash to get a real-world evaluation.

This is how we decided that DDP wasn't for us. We usually don't get appetizers and almost NEVER get desserts, so the cost of the DDP is more than what we would actually spend out of pocket. PLUS, my DH is addicted to the character breakfast buffets.

DDE worked better for us but since we only go down once a year, it's not cost effective to get an AP.

 

[Captain_Hook]

We did the Dining Plan in October and it is a TON of food.

We will be going twice this year -- May and December. May will be our first time staying at SSR (my parents are DVC members). We figured that it would cost roughly $500 for the dining plan for DH and I for our May trip. SInce this trip will be a little more low key, we are going to put that $500 into a prepaid AMEX card and use it only for meals. Sort of an experiment. We will see how much, if any, is left over at the end of our trip.

December will be a different story -- probably will use the DDP since we will be in the parks for most of the trip to enjoy the holiday atmosphere.

 

[TLinden16]

I like the dining plan because it basically allows me to know how much I'm spending on food. I usually do a sit down meal each day, and I've found that a sit down meal (even without appetizer and dessert) can add up. I do try to keep to soup or salads for the appetizer when possible, as there is a lot of food when you do the dining plan. For dessert, I usually only eat a couple of bites. So, there is a lot of waste. But overall, I like the dining plan.

 

[JimMIA]

For those basing their calculations strictly on the cost, keep in mind that DDP includes all taxes and an 18% gratuity on the TS meals.

That's a good bit of money, so you have to add the taxes and whatever you would normally tip to your OOP estimates to get a true comparison.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

We did not do it last time, b/c I planned on cooking most of our meals. I kept our food related receipts and determined that DDP would have cost us about the same. Next time, I plan to get the DDP - turns out I actually like eating out while on vacation! The kids like the character meals too, so I will schedule some more of those next year.

 

[deedeetoo]

We are going to try it this summer for the first time. After our last trip I added up everything we spend on food and then figured out how much it would cost to get the DDP. We normally eat about 4-5 TS dinners on a week long trip. When I ran the numbers it looks like the DDP is going to cost us about $50 more than we had spent, but we will be eating better so we decided to give it a try. Knowing how we usually eat, I expect that we will have a lot of left over CS at the end of the trip. But again, the $ seem to indicate its worth it.

This is really our only chance to try it. By the next time we return, my dd will be 10. She is very tiny and no way will it be worth it to get the dining plan once we have to pay adult prices for her.

 

[Entropy]

I liked it.
In addition to all of the math mentioned many times above I like it because I like not having to look at menu prices, if my sons want dessert: hey, go ahead! I'm Mr. Nice Guy.
Also I like to feel like I'm living it up somewhat while I'm on vacation. That's why I bought into the DVC and those nice 1 and 2 bedroom units rather than than crappy caribbean beach room that I was in last year. I can tell the family to order whatever they want on the menu, I'll cover it. Mr. Money Bags here.
Also, my kids are somewhat food fussy so I can tell them to try something new. If they don't like it, they don't eat it and I don't feel like I've wasted money. The waste food turns into pig chow so it's not wasted either.
Scheduling dinners isn't a big problem. I like all of the themed restaurants and reservations are just a part of the day.