Anyone else out there not use the Dining Plan?

CaraBoo

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Joined
Jul 13, 2011
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104
I know there are some of you that can't understand how anyone could be anti dining plan...but I can't understand how it's really that great of a deal. I am hoping that there are some WDW veterans out there that actually have some good reasons why they use it.

I'm not trying to instigate debate...I'm actually looking for another viewpoint.

I would never eat enough each day to justify purchasing one of the plans as a money saver. Aren't the selections on the menus limited? I've actually had waiters thank me for not being on the plan and thus not having to explain what I can and can not have. This happened 3 years ago on my honeymoon so I'm not sure if things have changed. Our concierge on the CL at the BWI last year said,"good girl" when I told him we were not participating in the DDP...so what gives?

I suspect that there are some of you out there that have really figured out how to work this plan to your advantage and I want to know how...is it because it's really worth it or is it to make it an easier system to deal with?

I am interested in trying one of the plans eventually...I would just like another viewpoint so I can get behind it a little more confidently!

Thanks!
 
I wouldn't say I'm anti-dining plan but it doesn't work for me. I am not a dessert eater so that's not a draw. And they've cut back drastically since the DDP first came out.

Back then, you'd get an app, entree, dessert, non-alcoholic beverage and the tip was included.

As it stands now, it's just not a very good value. And us OOPers have to pay increasingly higher prices for lesser quality food since the DDP started.
 
I wouldn't call myself anti-DDP, but it definitely doesn't work for us on every trip.

The last time we did it was about four trips ago. The trips in between, we probably spent as much out-of-pocket (or maybe a little more) on our restaurant bills BUT, we ate how we wanted, including things that would've been an extra cost on DDP. For example, most times we skip desserts at CS, we sometimes like to split one app and one dessert at ts and each get an entree, ordering a glass of wine instead of the included soda, etc.

I will say on this last trip I think we would've done better on the DDP. We did several character meals and one of our TS was Tutto. One character meal would've more than paid for DD's plan for the day and Tutto is a good value on the DDP. We didn't do it because we already had tickets leftover from a trip last year and I didn't want to buy more just to qualify for the dining plan.

So bottom line for me, I have to look at each trip individually, where we are staying, who's coming, where we're eating and determine from there if the plan makes sense.
 
I personally think that being ANTI something like a dining plan is silly. Sure, it may not be a good idea for everybody (a lot of people in fact) but there's no reason to be anti the plan. If it doesn't work for you then just don't choose it. It's quite simple actually. I've never understood the animosity.

I used to love the dining plans. But, it used to be much easier to save money with the plans. The price of the plans have gone up faster than the price of restaurants plus my kids are now all Disney Adults and it's a much better financial deal when you have kids. Our style of eating and touring just doesn't match the way the dining plans dictate we need to eat in order to save money. So, we don't buy the plan any longer. It's much cheaper for us to pay OOP, especially since my youngest prefers kids meals half the time and we prefer TS brunches and lunches over dinners and breakfasts we prefer to be quick in our room so we just order stuff from Garden Grocer.

We like to stay at deluxe resorts so even the free dining promotion doesn't interest us any longer. If we were to stay at a value or moderate resort during a free dining promotion then sure we'd consider it. I'd at least do the math to see if it's the best financial option for us overall. It's always important to do the math.

You can financially do well with the basic dining plan (1TS, 1CS, 1snack) if you typically eat your TS meals at dinner or even several fixed price lunches, mostly non-signature TS meals, don't use your CS meals for breakfast, you always want a dessert and non-alcoholic beverage with your TS and CS meals and you would use all of your snack credits. If you have kids 9 or under then you'll save money on them for sure so there's a better chance of saving money for a family but you do still have to do the math because adults may lose money on the plan so you need to see the overall net for your famly. If you like a lot of TS meals then you can do well with the DxDDP, especially if you like appetizers and desserts. Again, you have to do the math for YOUR situation.
 

Anti-dining plan is not the right words, although I wouldn't break a sweat if they got rid of the plans entirely. I don't see it happening. Disney loves the dining plans, theyv'e done exactly what they are intended to do.

But I no longer use them. I don't order meals they way they require me to order, I don't have children, and I rarely do buffets.

Back between 2005 and 2008 when they had one dining plan and it included EVERYTHING (appetizer and tip too) for $35 a night, it was sort of silly not to use it for pretty much everyone - but it's different now. It's a great deal for families with several kids under 10 who plan to do a number of character meals - the child's dining plan is about $12 a night and it's pretty much getting their counter service free.

There's also a strong psychological factor to the dining plan - some like having it paid ahead of time, they don't care if they skip courses or only eat a bite of the dessert, they got to order it and that's what counts. You also see dining plan users note that they can order anything off the menus without bargaining with family members about the cost, which for some makes for more harmonious dining.

Selections on the menus are not and never have been limited in most cases. It's just that now there are three dining plans with different entitlements and the servers are now required to explain to guests how to use them (for a long time after 2008 a lot of guests didn't realize they couldn't get an appetizer on the regular plan anymore, for example).

I get that there may be some knee-jerk reactions to the phrase "anti-dining plan" from those who love the plans, please note that the OP is not anti-dining plan, in fact she is thinking about using one and wants the opinion of those who don't use them, but I don't think the OP is looking for a debate so the thread is staying unless it gets argumentative.
 
No the selections arent limited...you can order anything on the menu? Maybe the waiter just meant if you were on the deluxe explaining you can have an appetizer, meal and dessert but you do get to pick what you want off the menu.

We did the regular dining plan last year because it didnt cost more with the free dining as i had priced out our whole trip. Now for next year it cost too much and no way do we order and eat that much food for deluxe but i dont want the regular dining either. Neither options fits with us. So unless free dining came out again and it did fit what we are paying oop anyway would i do it again.
 
Even though on the past 5 trips (or so? I can't remember) I've used the DP, I am a newbie to being against it. I've been going at free dining times (but staying at Pop so paying to upgrade), and I just didn't realize how much it was: $46 a day?!?! That's insanity!!! My fiance and I can totally eat for less than $100 a day without a problem. We never end up eating the dessert with the quick service, and most of the time we don't want dessert after dinner either.

I am also somewhat irked with the DxDP. I really wanted to try it for our honeymoon, but I just think after 8 days of eating an appetizer and dessert with EVERY meal we would simply explode! So we're getting TiW for our next two trips, and I hope it works out for us.
 
For me, it's definitely pointless to do the dining plan. I've always been the type to do a sit down meal maybe 3 or 4 times during an 8 night trip. I definitely wouldn't want to do a sit down every day during my trip. And, I'd basically be forced to get a dessert every time. I like dessert, but not all the time. I wouldn't want to have to order dessert every meal just to make it worth it. Add to the fact that I don't eat meat and vegetarian meals are always worth less than any of the meat entrees. So most of the time, what I would pay OOP would end up being less than what I was paying for the dinning plan!

But basically, I don't like being so restricted. I don't want to have every single day planned out based on where I eat. I like going with the flow and having maybe 1 or 2 reservations to places I know I want to eat.

And I just hate what the dining plan has done to the restaurants. Now, there's almost no such thing as walkups anymore. Because of DDP, everyone makes ADR's in advance so the only way you can get into a restaurant, is by having an ADR.
 
The dining plans do not work for us, but to try to give you another view point....

I recently started a thread about the QSDP. I showed how I could eat THREE meals a day and a snack for $1-2 more than the QSDP would cost me. BUT, then I also showed how you could easily eat the way the dining plan is set up and if paying OOP, it would cost you $10 MORE than the plan. Personally, I'd rather have three meals than max out a two-meal/day plan.

As for the DDP, again, I can eat three meals a day, including a TS for around the same as the DDP cost or even less. BUT, again, if you eat an entree, dessert, and drink at EVERY meal, you can easily go well over the plan.

All of this is for adults on the plan. When you throw childen into the mix, the dining plans do make more sense since their buffet meals are more than the cost of the plan.
 
I understand how the DP may not be a good deal for some but it has always worked out to be a good deal for my family (2A/2C). We have always saved somewhere between 15%-20% based on what we ordered including the tip.

We've never gone to eat and purposely ordered the most expensive items on the menu. We order what we want that meal without regard for price. We've also never been told something we wanted wasn't available because we were on the DP.

I appreciate folks posting their experiences here and providing information so others can make an informed decision. What I do not appreciate is folks using terms like ANTI-DINING PLAN. If it doesn't for your family say so. But please don't attempt to turn others off based on your experiences. Everyone needs to look at the plan, run the numbers and decide if it works for them.

For us DDP is a good deal offering great value. Is if perfect? No. Is it horribly flawed so that it provides no value to anyone? No.
 
For me, it's definitely pointless to do the dining plan. I've always been the type to do a sit down meal maybe 3 or 4 times during an 8 night trip. I definitely wouldn't want to do a sit down every day during my trip. And, I'd basically be forced to get a dessert every time. I like dessert, but not all the time. I wouldn't want to have to order dessert every meal just to make it worth it. Add to the fact that I don't eat meat and vegetarian meals are always worth less than any of the meat entrees. So most of the time, what I would pay OOP would end up being less than what I was paying for the dinning plan!

But basically, I don't like being so restricted. I don't want to have every single day planned out based on where I eat. I like going with the flow and having maybe 1 or 2 reservations to places I know I want to eat.

I agree with most of this and it's why we usually don't do the dining plan either. We like to eat a big sit down meal about half the time we're there but have the flexibility to do some fun counter service meals (EPCOT, for example!) the rest of the time. We also don't eat dessert at every single meal...or even eat a snack every single afternoon.

We have used it and we enjoyed it but I did feel like there was a little bit of added stress to make sure we had all our ADRs scheduled and then in the right place at the right time... we had to cancel one ADR in our last trip (just couldn't get back from the water parks in time!) and fortunately had booked an "extra" ADR or we might have been out the money if we couldn't have booked another last minute TS reservation.
 
I've changed the thread title as there have already been several negative reactions to the phrase "anti-dining plan" and that was not really the point of the OP's post. She's looking for opinions to help her decide and I don't really want to have to close this.
 
For my husband and I it is just not financially smart to do the DDP. I budgeted what we would normally eat and the difference in price was around $500 saved. I also did a budget for what would I eat if I was on the plan and it still came out to $250 saved by going OOP. I also know that we would never actually eat that amount so it would have been a lot of food wasted.

We enjoy our TS but we like places that aren't on the DDP (T-Rex, Paradiso 37, Picabu etc.) and enjoy not being restricted to DDP places.

We also tend to like a sweet item an hour or so after dinner so would never use our desserts.

Finally, I tend to order apps as my meals because of portion size and if hubby has a choice between getting an app or dessert with his meal he will 100% always choose the app.

OOP works best for us which is why we go with a room discount and will likely never go during the free dining times.

A colleague of mine is going down a few days after we get back as free dining kicks in. For her family of 4 including 2 kids it's the better saving to pay for the room at rack rate and do a bunch of character meals and her Narcossee's (I say her because she is constantly singing about it lol)
 
We've used a plan for all of our trips but they don't work for everyone. If my only choice was the basic DDP we'd pay cash for our meals every time - we like appetizers but often skip desserts, and have "outgrown" (for lack of a better word) having counter service meals each day. We haven't used the basic plan since 2007, back when it still included appetizers and tips.

The DxDDP worked out well for us for the last few trips but isn't such a great fit for the fall because two of my kids went up a category - my lightest eater is now an 'adult' and my toddler who doesn't like kid food is now a 'child' on the plan - so I'm not sure we'll be on any dining plan at all in Nov.
 
I've changed the thread title as there have already been several negative reactions to the phrase "anti-dining plan" and that was not really the point of the OP's post. She's looking for opinions to help her decide and I don't really want to have to close this.

Sorry to start a fight...I honestly had no intention of getting anyone upset with the use of "anti"...

I don't know anyone that is actually "pro" dining plan and I wanted to hear from some people that could explain why the plan works for them. The majority of my time at WDW has been spent without children and now that I have a 2 year old I suspected that the DDP might start to look attractive to my family.

I didn't realize a word could be so inflammatory. It's just a dining plan. I was just trying to ask a question. Sorry again. :scared:

All of your viewpoints are appreciated.
 
The only reason it has worked for us is because our 1 kid was under 3 and the 2 oldest weren't 10 yet. This will be our last year on the plan. We only did the DDP the past 3 years and we've enjoyed the TS but I have to say I'm not sure it's worth the money and we always seem to be rushing to finish up our credits at the end of the trip.

Paying 50/day for a 10 year old. Nope - I'll be back to paying cash next year and eating in the villa:)
 
We sometimes use the DxDDP and sometimes not. If we have a PAP and get a TIW card then we go for that.

How your family eats on vacation will determine which is best for you.

Some questions to ask:

  • Do you do a lot of buffets?
  • Do you have a light eater that still orders from the children's menu?
  • Do you normally watch what you eat and will eat that dessert if it is put in front of you?
  • Do you prefer a lot of TS over QS or vice versa?
  • Do you regularly order appetizers but never dessert or vice versa?
  • What do you like for breakfast, bagel, granola bar, muffin in your room or the lumberjack special from Denny's? ( My super light eater LOVES breakfast - biggest meal of the day for her)
  • Do you enjoy the 2TS signature restaurants like Yachtsman, BD, Narcoosee's etc
  • Will keeping track of the credits drive you crazy?
 
We tried it 2x, when it first came out it was ok then because we got appertizers and the tip was included. this new variation doesn't work for us.

CONS:

  • You must get it for the entire length of your stay. We generally stay 10 days and rarely would we eat a big ts meal every day.
  • Not much of a savings for us. The second time we used it I think we saved a total of 40 bucks. Not worth the hassle for us.
  • We do like having adult drinks when we can. Those are not included so we end up paying so much oop anyway.
  • In reality there aren't 10 disneyworld restaurants that are really worth making adr's for and the ones we really look forward to are signatures so I would have to use 2 ts credits.
 
The only reason it has worked for us is because our 1 kid was under 3 and the 2 oldest weren't 10 yet. This will be our last year on the plan. We only did the DDP the past 3 years and we've enjoyed the TS but I have to say I'm not sure it's worth the money and we always seem to be rushing to finish up our credits at the end of the trip.

Paying 50/day for a 10 year old. Nope - I'll be back to paying cash next year and eating in the villa:)

That is the one of the things I definately don't like about the plan. I thought I had everything planned out since we do a lot of 2TS meals but didn't realize Momma Melroses was only 1 TS for Fantasmic so we came home with extra credits.
 
The dining plan has worked for us sometimes. I sit down and figure out where we want to eat, estimate what each person will eat, include drinks (non-alcoholic), throw in dessert here and there, tax, and tip. Sometimes it comes out cheaper to have the dining plan (usually when we are going with extended family); at other times, it doesn't. We aren't big eaters and do not have dessert but once in awhile. This trip, we are cooking in our villa and the rest will be OOP. You just have to do some figuring and see if it works for your party for that particular trip. Even when it's free dining, you really have to see if that works for you. Good luck!
 








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