Apps on Dining Plan?

[LilyWDW]

Understand that Disney is on 43 square miles. There is no cheap food, across the street or anywhere. It's my experience that if you pay beforehand, it doesn't hurt as bad. Unless you want to put food in a backpack, get the dining plan.

Also disagree entirely. Every trip I run the numbers and the dining plan would never save us money. We do not eat the way the plan dictates you need to eat. We do TS meals nearly every night and that includes signatures. We also usually have at least one CS a day (except during Food and Wine) and multiple snacks. However, sometimes we want to share apps, or order an app as our entree, or split a dessert, or not get dessert at all (like at Raglan Road because we prefer to get a treat at Goofy's before heading back to the resort... mmmm carmel apples).

And we never pack any food in our backpacks...

 

[6disneykids]

You have to really look at where you want to eat. If you the majority of your meals will be at TS locations that have menus (as opposed to a buffet or and AYCE, not including CRT) then the DDP does not make much sense.

On our trip 3 weeks ago we did the DDP because we had 4 of our 7 meals were character meals and the child DDP price was about what the cost of the child meal at those places. (Our family is DS15, DS13, DD9, DS7, DS4, and DD2) so their snacks and CS meals were almost free. However, had we done mostly TS locations that had menus, I don't think that there is the same value.

Another benefit for us to have DDP, since we have 2 teenage boys, is with the DDP we allowed them to have some time away from us and they were able to get snacks/CS meal that we were able to track.

We also had breakfast at CRT which we paid OOP for.

If you are eligible for a TIW card (AP holder, DVC member, FL resident) that is a great discount. We had that in addition to our DDP and used it for apps, and drinks not included in the DDP.

 

[TDC Nala]

Understand that Disney is on 43 square miles. There is no cheap food, across the street or anywhere. It's my experience that if you pay beforehand, it doesn't hurt as bad. Unless you want to put food in a backpack, get the dining plan.

This is how some look at the dining plan. I look at it as having Disney lock me into where I will eat (wanna kick back and have lunch at Tutto Gusto? Can't, it's not on the plan) and what courses I will order. I don't like it, unless they're going to give me a darn big discount to do it. And for a long time the possible discount hasn't been worth it.

But everyone's going to see the plan differently and you really have to run it for your group to see if it's going to do what you want it to do.

 

[JVig]

After looking over the menus and being realistic about what we would WANT to eat (i.e., we do not want to have dessert every lunch/dinner), I decided the dining plan didn't make sense. We are doing two character meals, but even including the cost of those, it doesn't make sense.
Also, when I was thinking we would have the dining plan, I was scouring the restaurants to determine which had the highest prices so we could get the most out of it. Which isn't really the best way to make dining decisions!!

Anyway, thank you all for the input!

 

[bdklein]

After looking over the menus and being realistic about what we would WANT to eat (i.e., we do not want to have dessert every lunch/dinner), I decided the dining plan didn't make sense. We are doing two character meals, but even including the cost of those, it doesn't make sense.
Also, when I was thinking we would have the dining plan, I was scouring the restaurants to determine which had the highest prices so we could get the most out of it. Which isn't really the best way to make dining decisions!!

Anyway, thank you all for the input!

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Lol. Have a great trip.

 

[JVig]

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Lol. Have a great trip.

Ha.
Next time, I'll just listen instead of spending hours scrutinizing menus and doing math. Thank you!