Are the Dining Plans worth it?

[2binak]

I made a spreadsheet and went through the menus of every restaurant we're eating in on our next trip and what we would be likely to order.
I then calculated different scenarios, if we got drinks, if we got desserts, if we used all of our counter service credits...
In the mostly likely cases, we'd come out even or lose money, so we chose not to go with it.

I do the same thing

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Thanks for all the imput Folks!

we are going to go the cop route and see how it works out.

As for the *coupons*, 1 couple was leaving the MK, heading to Epcot and decided they would not use the CS meals left (they were leaving the next day) so they stood by the line at Pecos Bills and qiukly found a mom and dad and son, who were reading the menu and had that *I am not sure we have the money look*, marched up when they reached the cashier and used there room key to pay for the family..I thought its was a rather nice idea!

AKK

 

[daraddg]

for us this will be our 1st time on the plan.Our trip last year was only a couple days but we found we ate in theamed resturants twice a day having a late breakfast/early lunch around 1130 and a late dinner around 8p with a snack in the middle,they were big sit downs and were $80-$100 meals this time we would like to do some shows and signatures so the deluxe plan works for us,we get to still eat 2 big meals a day but have the xtra credits to use for the character/signature stuff and probably xtra snack credits to use at goofys candy for the drive back to NJ

 

[disneychic2]

DH and I love the dining plan! We share a CS for breakfast and again for lunch and have our TS for dinner. We have plenty of food and very little oop expense. As for being locked into going where ever the ADR is, we do plan ahead and decide where we want to go when and make the ADRs accordingly. We always get the park hopper, so it's no problem if we want to go to one park and eat at another. The extra travel time doesn't bother us since we plan for it. We've been getting free dining for four years now, so for us, it's a "no brainer". Next year, though, we're staying at our first deluxe and going with the 40% (hopefully) instead of the free dining. We'll see which we like better.

 

[lblume91]

We love the DDP! With the cost of eating at the TS places OOP being so high, we would not do it without the plan. I know we are still spending the money but the fact that it's prepaid makes it less painful. We have never had a problem using all of our meal credits. If we're winding down our time there & see we have extra snack credits, we'll use them at Goofy's Candy Co or buy oj & chocolate milks to have for breakfast in our room.

 

[Garrett1988]

We did the meal plan as it was back in 1987. Enjoyed it very much. we did not do the meal plan 1993, or 1999/2000 (went over New's Years) but are going to use it on next trip in Dec 2012. We are going to get the platinum plan actually. We did not use it the second two trips becasue it was a different type of vacation. Our next one will be and the wife minus kid (all grown up) and we want to splurge. We also like the finer dining experience so TS makes sense for us. Expensive yes, lots of food yes, but hey we're going to do it right for us.

 

[littlesighthounds]

We always use the dining plan. We tend to order more expensive items off the menu than we normally would. We are on vacation and feel we should splurge on our meals. While it may not save us money it is not as painful to use the plan as it is to break out the cash.

 

[tinacaplan]

We did the deluxe plan in February and we loved it enough to do it again this year when we return with our three year-old son. I totally agree with what a lot of other people have said; it definitely depends on what you want to get out of your vacation. Dining is an important part of it for us and we really enjoy table service places. My husband also loves the idea of having everything pre-paid.

That said, I don't look it as anything more than a plan that will allow me to break even, so if I don't save a ton of money, it doesn't upset me at all.

 

[ScarletFire]

When the dining plan included the tip; HUGE value. Expensive menu item = greater tip. I'm not complaining about tipping; it's the price of service. But, a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 teens) can expect a $20+ tip per meal.

I'm considering the counter service dining plan plus a couple of oop table service meals.