Are dining plans really worth it? What other positives come from getting a dining plan?

[DisBuckMan]

Bottom line:

1. You have to do the math for your own family. One family's "math" doesn't work for other families.
2. You have to be prepared to eat exactly how the ddp requires you to. It is very restrictive in its nature. Some see freedom to order what you want, I see the exact opposite.

 

[SammyStamper]

We went in January (4 nights - 2 adults/1 child) and had the middle dining plan. We did have alcohol with every lunch/dinner. I tracked all our spending and we “saved” $200. That said...we wouldn’t normally eat ice cream everyday and buy specialty cupcakes. I felt forced to eat when we really weren’t hungry. I did use snack credits for bagel and cream cheese at Boardwalk Bakery on the mornings we didn’t leave earlier than they opened. I’m too impatient to wait in those giant Starbucks lines.

I also ended up not caring if we used snack credits for a bottle of water or banana. We only had one snack credit left and bought a bag of candy. We also had one QS left so DH ended up eating a second lunch. Lol!

I don’t think I would do it again. it was just one more thing to deal with. And DH complained he felt restricted on having to eat QS when we ran thru all our TS credits.

 

[Miffy]

This topic has been discussed a lot on the DIS. It truly just depends on you. For me, none of the dining plans has ever been worth it. I've kept track of food expenses on a few trips, just to see what my actual spending is, and I've never even come close to what a DP would cost. When I'm at WDW, I eat what I want. I don't look at the menu and order the cheapest thing because I'm not on a DP, and I also don't have to add up dining credit or see what is or what isn't covered. I also don't drink alcohol or have any use for a refillable mug and I do maybe one character meal per trip, if that.

One thing to consider is that you may not want to eat up to every credit on your plan. If that's the case, then you've kind of wasted it. I've had Disney trips where I got sick and ate very little for a day or two. If I'd had a DP, I would've been paying for food I never ate. I've also had trips where I had a day or two when I ate just snacks and maybe a QS meal, spending very little.

But that's just me. It might not be you. Everyone has a different take on this.

 

[Jess.stw]

Random benefit of the dining plan.... I have 3 separate Cinderella’s table reservations for our September trip... I plan to cancel all but one. I didn’t have to pay ahead, they are secured by my dining plan. Gave me a lot more flexibility than If I had had to pay head for each!

 

[havoc315]

I am trying to do that and still not coming up with any of the plans being a savings, so far.

The plan only generates savings when utilizing it at or near the maximum benefit.

That means: step 1, use every credit: 2 snacks per day, per person. 1 CS per day, per person, 1 TS per person, per day. (all averaged over the course of the trip). If it's a 7 night trip and you're only planning on 5 TS credits, it won't save money. If you leave over 1/3rd of your snack credits, it won't save money.

Step 2: Even if you use all your credits: Character dinners and lunches will provide good savings. Breakfasts do not provide much if any savings. And regular ala carte restaurants.. it will depend..

Step 3: At ala carte restaurants, it will generally produce savings if you order: Steak (and some seafood options) + alcohol + dessert. Skip 1 part of that -- for example, order pasta instead of the steak, or skip the alcohol, it turns more into break even. The break even point is approximately $45 for a TS restaurant -- So a $34 steak + $9 alcohol + $8 dessert= $51. A modest $6 savings. But if you cut out 1 element, it turns break even. Cut out 2 elements, it's a big loss. For example, $20 pasta + $4 soda + skip dessert -- Only $24. A $21 loss on the dining plan.

**** This means it's usually not a good plan for "adults" between 10-20 years old. Since they can't get alcohol, they generally won't do better than break-even at most ala carte restaurants.

Step 4: Maximizing counter service and snacks. There are snack credit items that are $6... there are items that are $2. If you're getting a lot of $6 items.... $12 per day, that adds to good savings. If you really just want $2-$3 items, like pieces of fruit, bottles of water.... cuts into potential savings.
Same with counter service -- A counter service meal can run anywhere from about $10 total to $35 total.

Put simply, a "maximizer" -- lots of character dinners, lots of steak, lots of alcohol and dessert.... can easily "spend" $100+ per day, thereby saving about $20 per day.
On the other hand, you can easily use all your credits -- 2 snacks, TS meal + CS meal, and do it for just $50-$70 in a day, making the plan a $10-$30 loser per day.

 

[SL6827]

Last year we did a split stay and we were at POR for one night before a stay at SSR. We got the CS dining plan for just that one night. The big benefit was the fact that all four of us got the refillable mug to use for that day/night and we were able to use it throughout the rest of our trip. Major savings that way. No way I would have paid the DP for all five nights.

 

[nkereina]

The dining plans don't exist to save you money - they *can* save money depending on what you order and how you eat, but if Disney didn't come out ahead on most dining plan purchases, then they wouldn't offer them at all. Disney presents it as a potential savings, but really they are making out on the deal since you are pre-paying for a lot of food that not everyone will always eat, and it keeps you on-site for most/all of your meals. That means more time in the parks potentially spending more money.

The benefits of a dining plan for the consumer is that you are pre-paying for your food. It's one less thing to worry about on the trip, especially something that's a big variable. First timers often have no idea how much money to budget for food - they just know its expensive. You can budget the food cost into how you will pay for the trip and it gives you more time to save, since its worked into your total trip cost and you can pay over time. People get sticker shock when spending $4 on bottled water but feel better about it when redeeming a snack credit for it. Or people may not indulge with dessert, a beer, or that steak dinner when paying OOP, but don't have the same money concerns when its already paid for. People feel more free to order what they want without worrying about the cost. And lastly, people like that all-inclusive style vacation. This is why cruises and all inclusive resorts remain popular, and the dining plan is Disney's answer to that all-inclusive style that many people prefer.

 

[olwyngdh]

I use an on line dining plan calculator. For our 30th anniversary trip next Feb with all the signature dining we want to do, the Deluxe plan will save us about $500. Totally worth it. We decided to go to Pop Century and spend the money on food instead of a resort since we only use a room to sleep, shower, and keep our stuff. We debated POFQ and regular dining plan or Pop and Deluxe. Signature dining every night and a character breakfast every day won.

 

[ncc1701]

Bottom line:

1. You have to do the math for your own family. One family's "math" doesn't work for other families.
2. You have to be prepared to eat exactly how the ddp requires you to. It is very restrictive in its nature. Some see freedom to order what you want, I see the exact opposite.

Number 2 is the main reasons it doesn't work for DH & I. If we get dessert at all we almost always share.We prefer to eat chicken or fish . Only time we get steak is our YSH dinner. Also we have done appetizers for some meals instead of entrees. I run the numbers for us and they don't add up for us.

 

[DisneyPappy]

We always do the dining plan. Sometimes its just the quickserve plan mostly the standard. The refillable mugs are quite a savings.

 

[nkereina]

2. You have to be prepared to eat exactly how the ddp requires you to. It is very restrictive in its nature. Some see freedom to order what you want, I see the exact opposite.

This is a good point. Up-thread, I mentioned one of the benefits is that people paying OOP who wouldn't necessarily order that steak dinner because of the cost tend to feel better about ordering it on DDP when they are redeeming a TS credit. I think that's true, but it doesn't come without some residual concerns - that steak dinner is still part of the total bill, which you are tipping 20% on, so it leads to a larger tip. Also, if you are not going to eat a dessert or app or drink with every meal, its wasteful because you *are* paying for those things in the cost of DDP.

 

[Pumbaa_]

One of the biggest negatives is if you or a member of your party gets sick. Then it’s a huge waste of money

 

[pjredhead]

If a person gets the quick service dining plan. Do you use magic band to keep track of snacks and meal?

 

[Erica Ladd]

Yes. Or MDE app

 

[Pumbaa_]

If a person gets the quick service dining plan. Do you use magic band to keep track of snacks and meal?

in addition every receipt will show how many credits left for that credit category

 

[sharonabe]

If a person gets the quick service dining plan. Do you use magic band to keep track of snacks and meal?

Your magic band doesn't "store" anything. It accesses your MDE. You will still either have to log on to your MDE account to see what you have left or keep up with it through the receipts you get at every transaction.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

We see huge benefits in a non-monetary way. We usually travel in a larger family group covering 4 generations. Our current trip in planning will have an age range of 3-88. My grandma and parents will be paying. Then my family of 5, my brother and nephew, and my sister won’t come but my niece and nephew who are in their early 20’s will. Obviously the Dining plans allow for my parents to know the costs up front and we all have our dining credits so if we aren’t together, it’s all covered. It also relieves sticker shock at each meal. They like to see the high total instead! And the rest of us can order what we want instead of worrying that we should pick the cheapest item on the menu or share even if we are really hungry, order just water to drink or whatever other thing that might save them some money. My grandma especially can get bent out of shape on the prices. Honestly, I’m not sure it it actually saves them money though we love the character meals and the buffets, but they get a ton of value out of it for other reasons.

 

[shoegal9]

My boyfriend and I did the math on our last trip- and we did save money. Mostly because as two adults in our 30s without children, we like to enjoy an adult beverage with our meals, which are included in the dining plan. Alcohol is very expensive at WDW- so adding a $25 glass of wine to my meal on the dining plan has proven to be worth it for us. If we do a split stay, we normally do the standard plan for the longer portion of our trip, and then deluxe for the shorter period, so that we can indulge at California Grill, Flying Fish etc. I actually love it, and would probably continue to do it even if I didn't save money. It's nice to just order whatever I want without consideration to price. At California Grill once, our tab was over $250 for the two of us. And at dining plan deluxe 4 credits, that's barely $160 that i paid for those credits. The tips however, man do they add up when you are just ordering lobster and champagne all the time!

 

[nkereina]

We see huge benefits in a non-monetary way. We usually travel in a larger family group covering 4 generations. Our current trip in planning will have an age range of 3-88. My grandma and parents will be paying. Then my family of 5, my brother and nephew, and my sister won’t come but my niece and nephew who are in their early 20’s will. Obviously the Dining plans allow for my parents to know the costs up front and we all have our dining credits so if we aren’t together, it’s all covered. It also relieves sticker shock at each meal. They like to see the high total instead! And the rest of us can order what we want instead of worrying that we should pick the cheapest item on the menu or share even if we are really hungry, order just water to drink or whatever other thing that might save them some money. My grandma especially can get bent out of shape on the prices. Honestly, I’m not sure it it actually saves them money though we love the character meals and the buffets, but they get a ton of value out of it for other reasons.

I don't mean to pick on this post - the dining plan is very subjective and if it works for your family, by all means! But for anyone on the fence about DDP, the other thing to consider with a similar dynamic is will the 3 year and the 88 year old eat the way the dining plan allows? I would be very surprised if they ate that much at each meal. When paying for DDP, you're paying for all of the meal entitlements and all of the elements of each meal entitlement, whether or not you're going to consume it. This is why, for many, its cheaper to NOT do the plan. Still ordering what you want, but skipping things you might not otherwise be interested in like alcohol or dessert.

Its kind of like when I got married - our venue allowed us to select open bar for X hours for a set price per person. This would have allowed us to factor in the alcohol cost when saving and planning. Or we could have open bar for the duration and run a tab of the alcohol consumed during our reception and pay for it at the end of the night. We decided to roll the dice and run the tab, and it worked out cheaper (by thousands!) than if we had paid the set price per person.

So just another consideration from a financial perspective. I do understand the convenience factor and the budget factor, and many are willing to pay more for both of those things and that's totally fine!

The tips however, man do they add up when you are just ordering lobster and champagne all the time!

That's a great point and I think something that's often overlooked. To continue with my prior comment, if someone is going to order a dessert they don't necessarily want just because its included, not only are you paying for the dessert in the cost of the DDP, but you're now also paying 18-20% gratuity on that dessert. So for someone weighing the cost, factor in the gratuity as well.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

I don't mean to pick on this post - the dining plan is very subjective and if it works for your family, by all means! But for anyone on the fence about DDP, the other thing to consider with a similar dynamic is will the 3 year and the 88 year old eat the way the dining plan allows? I would be very surprised if they ate that much at each meal. When paying for DDP, you're paying for all of the meal entitlements and all of the elements of each meal entitlement, whether or not you're going to consume it. This is why, for many, its cheaper to NOT do the plan. Still ordering what you want, but skipping things you might not otherwise be interested in like alcohol or dessert.

Its kind of like when I got married - our venue allowed us to select open bar for X hours for a set price per person. This would have allowed us to factor in the alcohol cost when saving and planning. Or we could have open bar for the duration and run a tab of the alcohol consumed during our reception and pay for it at the end of the night. We decided to roll the dice and run the tab, and it worked out cheaper (by thousands!) than if we had paid the set price per person.

So just another consideration from a financial perspective. I do understand the convenience factor and the budget factor, and many are willing to pay more for both of those things and that's totally fine!


That's a great point and I think something that's often overlooked. To continue with my prior comment, if someone is going to order a dessert they don't necessarily want just because its included, not only are you paying for the dessert in the cost of the DDP, but you're now also paying 18-20% gratuity on that dessert. So for someone weighing the cost, factor in the gratuity as well.

This post was asking about benefits aside from the money and that was the perspective I was giving. I even said that I wasn’t sure that it was actually going to save money, but I can say from that point of view we are likely doing Cape May, Ohana, Tuskegee House, and Garden Grille so whether GG or my 3 yo will eat much, you still have to pay the same. We actually do share some QS meals so that we sharesome for breakfast and some for lunch and we will have boys (21, 14, and 11) who will be more than happy to help use any unused snacks. But back to the original point, my parents are paying and an additional benefit is that if the families split up, if the 23 & 21 yo head somewhere different, they can still get snacks and lunch without my parents having to be there or reimburse them. It’s worth any extra right there so that they can go back and nap or sit down somewhere without having to worry about it. If someone has older kids it would be the same deal. Everyone can head in different directions and still be taken care of.