cost of meals

[krn82259]

We are trying to decide whether or not to go with DDP or CS, or OOP. Does anyone have an averge cost for a family of 4 (all adults, 2parents, 2 teenage girls), for meals? In the past, we've ususally done breakfast, snacks for lunch and an early dinner (dinner being the most $). Any help on this? Looking into these plans is making my head spin!!

 

[ToddyLu]

DH and I do not have children and we have done Disney both with and without the dinning plan. We generally have gottenthe DDP for convienence. It really depends on how much you eat and do you want to take the extra time to plan your meals to use the TS credits.

Historically DDP usually works out well for us and to be honest DH and I are Pooh sized and really enjoy eating in Disney and consider it a WDW perk. We usually go for 10 days and have spent $1000 on food in one week. So the $700 we spent last year on the DDP was money well spent. We were with MIL and BIL, then my parents when we have doen the DDP recently. If DH and I were alone on trips we would probably pay OOP some times becasue he is more of a grazer and I have to make sure he is using his CS credits wisely on the trip. I like a big breafast, him , not so much. So our 2 adult trips can be about $1000 give or take, for $700 we got the DDP-- we ate for 10 days

TO me it all depend on volume. Are your teen girls tiny and picky eaters?

 

[catne]

click on my reviews from last May 2009...we were a party of 4... 2 adults & 2 young adults (19 & 20 years old.) That should give you an idea of meal costs at Disney. Reviews starts on page 3 of the thread, post #45. And I have the cash cost listed in the reviews--- so for example the cost for the four of us at Sunshine Seasons was $68 for lunch.

In general, we've had an easy time getting way more than our money's worth on the dining plans.

 

[MurphyJoe]

We are trying to decide whether or not to go with DDP or CS, or OOP. Does anyone have an averge cost for a family of 4 (all adults, 2parents, 2 teenage girls), for meals? In the past, we've ususally done breakfast, snacks for lunch and an early dinner (dinner being the most $). Any help on this? Looking into these plans is making my head spin!!

http://personalpages.tds.net/~rb/DIS/MYW Dining/2009/DisneyDiningRanking2009.htm

Old (Last update was May'09) but still useful. Analysis (averages and medians) of every participating DDP location per adult meal.

 

[B-Ride]

Not sure about your girls but our guys like to eat and we love the Dining Plan. If you eat at a TS restaurant once per day and like getting desserts with both your CS lunch and TS dinner then the Dining Plan definitely pays for itself. It also helps with the budgeting since everything except tips and maybe a few appetizers is paid for in advance.

Of course, when you get it for free five years in a row as we have done it really makes sense.

 

[Atchley]

Agree with B Ride. Having your meals paid for in advance and not having to worry about it is worth the cost alone.

 

[Evan&Kimberly]

k

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I am on the other side of the equation.
We have gone both with and without the DDP.
For our upcoming trip we are going w/o it...mostly b/c DD is now an adult price-wise. I priced out what we would eat at each restaurant and CS, added a little $$ on for snack budget, and it came out about the same as with DDP. However, if we got the DDP we would still pay OOP for some TS meals, b/c we always have more of those than alotted credits. So, in the end OOP ends up being a better deal for us than DDP. I don't want to be limited on the # of TS meals I have. We always end up with wasted CS credits that never get used.
You can get the menus and prices from allearsnet.com and figure it out from there. HTH!

 

[crostorfer]

Do you have a smart phone? I downloaded an app to my iPhone called WDW Dining. It has the menu for every restaraunt at Disney, including the hotels, along with the prices for each thing. Its been very helpful in trying to decide if the dining plan is worth it!

 

[rcraw45425]

We are also a family with two teenaged girls. Have done DDP once (thinking strongly about doing it for this trip in May) and done it without numerous times. The advantage of OOP is that if your family is not large eaters, TS meals can be split and the teens can still order from the kids menu. My girls always get the kids burger at Sci Fi Dine in, even at (now) 13 & 15. They split steaks at Kona and Yachtsman. They used to split entrees at Nine Dragons but we have noticed that they have cut their portion size without cutting their price. They cannot share at fixed price meals like 'Ohaa and buffets. Our tab without tip at 'Ohana runs ~$140, some of the character buffets would be higher. Therefore we probably will do DDP since we have all fixed price TSs booked. You will wind up with a lot of food with DDP, but actually may save some $$.