Buy the plan or not

[happymama58]

We -- myself, 24 yr old son, and 22 yr old daughter -- are staying at Saratoga Springs beginning next Thursday. We are not breakfast eaters and will probably eat a light breakfast in our room. We have a 2 bedroom unit with kitchen.

We are not picky eaters. We are on a limited budget and I want to go the most economical route possible.

My question is would you participate in the dining plan? If so, which one?

OR would you plan to eat 1 meal a day in the room and just eat out without any plan for the other?

Or do you have any other advice?

 

[mousegear]

I think if you are going as economical as possible, I would not buy the plan. Since your 2 bedroom unit is has full kitchen, I would do breakfast and dinner at the resort as much as possible. Since your are going WDW during pick season for regular DP it's 47.99 per person and almost $150/day could buy you lots of food you can cook during your stay. I would do CS lunch during the visit at the park so you don't have to waste time trekking back to your room.

You could do QSDP which is $34.99 per person per day. They include 2 quick service meals, 2 snacks and refillable mug at your resort but I always felt that the plan does not save whole lot comparing OOP.

Our family like regular DDP since we only book a room (no kitchen) and like to eat at least one seat down/nicer restaurant per day (b/c we are on vacation). But in your situation, maybe I feel that you might be better off without Dining Plan.

 

[MHSweb79]

I would not buy the plan in your case. You would be committed to 1 table-service meal every day and although the meal would be covered, the tip is not. This can really add up. Plus it could be very tough to get ADR's at this late date, and walk-up's can be hard to come by, unless you like to eat at 9pm.

If you have any must-do TS restaurants, I would just do these and pay OOP. The rest I would do CS or eat in the room. There is such a wide variety of quality CS food out there you really wouldn't be suffering.

Much of the value of the dining plan is "perceived value" rather than monetary. (This wasn't the case back in the early days when the plan also covered tips- that was a great deal.) There is a great convenience in having meal credits instead of having to budget cash every day. But overall, I think it's quite easy to do better paying OOP than purchasing the plan.

 

[havoc315]

The plan is never the *most* economical answer. You can always eat cheaper than the plan. In fact, one can argue, that you can eat "better" for less than the cost of the plan. For example, you could afford entrees at 2 TS restaurants, for less than the price of the plan, if you skip desserts and beverages.

The plan is good for people who don't mind paying extra, to get a bit more extra. It's like when there is a sale, "buy 1, get the 2nd at 50% off." The cheapest thing to do, is still to just buy one. But if you want to.... then it's good to take advantage of the sale.

So if you want the higher end entrees, if you want desserts and beverages at every meal, then the DDP is a way to do it, with a bit of savings.

 

[hart6066]

Only other advice I'd add is to have some idea of where and what you'll want to eat when you go. If you'll only go to one TS (not a character meal) then the plan would not be worth it. If you're thinking of doing one or 2 TS (not character meals) but you'll be going to less expensive ones (Plaza, Mama Melrose, Rose and Crown, etc) and/or would be sharing an entree, plan wouldn't be worth it.

IF you do want to do some buffets or some character meals, or if you're planning on doing a TS every day, it might be worth it. Once you start going to a TS every day or doing some of the character meals, the benefit of NOT doing the plan gets very slim, and may not be worth it in the end.

For us, DS will be a Disney adult on meals this year, and we had not planned on doing DDP. But once we started planning, we realized that the kids really wanted to do Chef Mickeys and DD wanted to do Akershus--those 2 meals alone pretty much made it better to do DDP, and I wouldn't have thought that possible unless I did the math.

It can be a pain to try and plan out, but the DDP does definitely make you feel more like you're on a vacation, so if your actual dining costs will almost get you to that price, I'd really think about it. If you're happy eating just CS 2x a day I def wouldn't do the plan.

Good luck!