Average savings from disney dining plan

[schrammalot]

If the DDP was not available, would you still have picked the same absolute most expensive restaurants?

Honestly? Yes. We're foodies. Did we need to go there? No, but we don't have anything like those places near us.

 

[summermac]

Another reason we go no-DDP is because my family really likes the late-lunch approach. We'll eat our big meal at 2:00ish rather than for dinner and then snack/CS all evening. Opting for a lunch (at some restaurants) means a cheaper meal, even if by a few bucks so it again reduces your DPP savings.

Another reason we avoid DDP is b/c we are subject to the AG and as such, DDP ends up costing us more in tips if we maximize the plan by getting an entree per person (when we often share, even in general at restaurants) getting a dessert per person (at $6/7 each) where we would have instead gotten on to share. And why not, it's "FREE" right? Oh wait, maybe not.

I will say that on our first trip in 2009 DDP was really great! And a lot cheaper than it is now I might add. It was nice to not have to look at the prices or even the bill. It really was. We really enjoyed it. Also at that time we only had to pay for one child as my daughter was 2. So yeah basically for the price of 3 ppl we had it for 4 ppl b/c we did a good many buffets. Total bargain!

Now, we have two kids to pay for and my daughter is a very small eater and many times on our 2nd trip she and her brother shared to then get a snack later so again, DDP fails us. The bottom line is that YOU have to decide for your family and how you choose to eat. In 2012 we did not get DDP and after comparing the two trips both in terms of cost & convenience, we concluded that DDP does not serve our family well. We actually spent less than the DDP would have cost for everything at the park - tip, souvenirs, food that would have been off the plan, etc. However I feel it necessary to point out that we only had 4 TS meals b/c that's just how things worked out and IMO was the perfect number for our family. But again, that's MY family.

Your conclusion may be different and that's fine!

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

In 2009 trip, we did the DDP as it was a great deal. We also stayed at BWI Club Level, which was also good deal. CL gave us the Concigere lounge for breakfast, drinks, snacks...etc. throughout the day. See the DDP link in my signature. We ate very well and ordered deserts, which we would normally not do.

Well, 5 years later, we are now a group of 7 and DDP rates have increased some. See ages of my kids in my Signature.

For our upcoming 7 night stay in March:
QS Plan ~$1330
Disney Dining Plan ~$1900
Delux Plan ~$3351

Quick Service
Issue I have is it is (2) QS and (1) snack. Don't most eat 3x a day (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner)?

Disney Dining Plan
Ok, so now (1) TS, (1) QS and (1) snack. Again, for $1900, I'm still having to buy another meal OOP

Delux
(3) meals and (2) snacks - covers all but $$$$

I have yet to crunch the numbers for my family but see the $1900 for DDP + still having to buy one more meal per day OOP and not feeling so well about it. If we decide to do TS/Char and eat well, then i'm sure we will come out ahead. We are there for 6 days but have 7 nights, so we have an extra days worth of TS and QS, which really helps. Another issue is DD, Ellie, is only 23mo at the trip and will eat a kids ration but is not included in the plan. $1900 for 6 days works out to be $45 to $53/person per day (depends on if you use 6 or 7). I could see adding $300-$400 on top of that $1900.

I'm analytical and will do as many of you did, start crunching the Frugal #'s and the All-out #s and decide from there.

I'm going to post all of the above in my pre-trip report as well. If you are in a similar situation as me / my family (2 adults, 14yo, 11yo, 9yo, 3yo and almost 2yo), leave some comments there.

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[salemnews]

We're heading to Disney in Nov all ready made my ADR, for all the restaurants that we woul have not usually eaten at. Chef Mickeys, Ohana, CApe May and BoG just to name a few! We are banking on free dining being offered that week we are there, and all ready hearing there will be! We will upgrade for 19 bucks a day per person to the second level of free dining witch includes I quick service and 1 table service plus a snack! For people like us it makes sense to take the free dining plan and do the upgrade of $19 per day per person! So it basically boils down to $240 for the entire week for me and my fiancé to eat at all the top notch restaurant! Ok guys sorry about the delay just remember I didn't come back on and update my saving for the week trip we took! My fiancé and I ate like kings for the 6 nights! We saved about 400-500 bucks during the week! A huge advantage for doing free dining was Food and Wine was going on when we were down there! We used all our snacks credits, it was a great way to try all kinds of different food from different countries.

 

[momofmaz]

We're heading to Disney in Nov all ready made my ADR, for all the restaurants that we woul have not usually eaten at. Chef Mickeys, Ohana, CApe May and BoG just to name a few! We are banking on free dining being offered that week we are there, and all ready hearing there will be! We will upgrade for 19 bucks a day per person to the second level of free dining witch includes I quick service and 1 table service plus a snack! For people like us it makes sense to take the free dining plan and do the upgrade of $19 per day per person! So it basically boils down to $240 for the entire week for me and my fiancé to eat at all the top notch restaurant! Ok guys sorry about the delay just remember I didn't come back on and update my saving for the week trip we took! My fiancé and I ate like kings for the 6 nights! We saved about 400-500 bucks during the week! A huge advantage for doing free dining was Food and Wine was going on when we were down there! We used all our snacks credits, it was a great way to try all kinds of different food from different countries.

How did you make your ADRs already for November?!?!?

 

[KaLyn]

How did you make your ADRs already for November?!?!?

I wondered this too! I assume they meant they picked them out, not actually reserved them.

 

[salemnews]

How did you make your ADRs already for November?!?!?

it was for 2013, it was just an update

 

[danceintherain]

When we did the dining plan in 2009, we "saved" the marketed 20%.
We ordered sodas with every meal, even though we wouldn't have necessarily otherwise, and had a lot of desserts that we barely touched.

Since then, I've priced it out for every trip. I pick all the restaurants we're interested in eating at based on our plan, and make a guess as to what we'll order. Sometimes it's the most expensive thing on the menu, sometimes it's not. I plan on us ordering dessert or a soda about half of the time.

Last year we actually saved 20% by not doing the dining plan, but eating exactly what and where we wanted. We tended to split desserts or wait until later in the day to get them somewhere else, if we got them at all, and drank mostly water.

Ultimately, we tend to like two smaller (but full) counter service meals a day, in addition to one table service.
DH really likes the convenience of the plan, but he's the one who can't deal with a snack for breakfast...so we pretty much always end up buying extra food that isn't included on the plan.

I still plan on pricing it out for every trip, so things may turn around a bit in the future.