Dining or no dining?

[MrsDuck]

Don't bother. Too much food!

 

[happypaws]

I tried out the calculator, and no matter what combination of restaurants I put in (including dessert with meals and snacks) OOP was always cheaper than DDP.

 

[dreamerbaby98]

Thank you everyone. I guess I just need to hear it from someone else. I am going to take the money and put it on a gift card and then whatever is left over I will use at the end of the trip for souveniers like the new coffee cup I need to get. LOL We do like to share meals so OOP will work better for that also.

 

[hamilkm]

One note about the mugs. We really enjoyed them our last trip because we had a few pool day/afternoons and it was nice being able to get our mugs refilled at the pool! I only recommend the mugs if you are doing resort/pool days. On our trip with the free dining plan we hardly used our mugs because we went rope drop to close and didn't feel like walking all the way to the food court or carrying mugs in the parks all day.

 

[baldy6060]

We would never do free dining again unless it was the only package deal offered. And after reading your post, it sounds like it's not your best deal either. I think you would save quite a bit by not getting it.

 

[pilferk]

You're almost certainly not going to save money on the DDP (any of it's incarnations), given your stated eating habits and party configuration.

DDP, at this point, has become a "convenience offering", allowing folks to turn their vacation into a more "all inclusive" stay where they don't have to worry (much) about the food portion of their stay. It's NOT the money saver that it was when it was first launched.

The exception is if you have more than one child in your traveling party. The kids portion of the DDP DOES seem to be a money saver, still, so the more children you have in your party, the more money you could potentially save. BUT, that being said, if you're travelling with a junior (10 - 14, say) member...someone Disney counts as an adult but might not eat like one....you sacrifice some of that savings.

Anyway, long story short: DDP is probably not going to work well for you, unless you just want the convenience of having pre-paid meals and are willing to pay premium to get it.

 

[TexasKel]

I am planning for our January 14 day trip and am trying to decide whether to get the dining or not. It is just me and hubby and we are not big eaters so would just be getting the CS plan if we did. If we don't do you get charged tax when you order meals? We live in Oregon so we are not used to paying a tax on things. I like the convenience of not having to worry about how much each meal is costing and making it last till we leave but at the same time I don't want to pay $85 a day for us to eat and be way more than we would have paid out of pocket. I just don't know what to do!! I checked into the menus and and we really would not be ordering a dessert all the time probably just a entrée and a drink. How much to the mugs cost?

We do the CS dining plan just because I like that it's already paid for when I get there and the convenience. It's just my husband, daughter and I. We don't normally eat that much food either. On our last trip, we used some of the meals for breakfast. Then, the 3 of us would split 2 meals at lunch time. It worked out great. And you just scan your Magicband. I loved that. And as for the snacks, the minute my husband discovered the caramel apple oatmeal cookies in Epcot, every single snack credit got used!

 

[rwdavis2]

I never understood the pre-paid issue. You still have to tip and pay for alcohol if you have the regular plan or higher.

 

[PsychoCelloChica]

From a DINK hh perspective, I won't do the DDP anymore unless we get it for at least 25% off, it just doesn't save any money for us at full price. We did it last trip because the couple we were traveling with (first timers) really wanted to do it, and with the Stay/Play/Dine special, we could make the numbers work for us.

If you could choose an appetizer instead of a dessert, I'd be much more likely to do it. We'd rather split 1 app and 1 dessert than 2 desserts. I also feel like the more we go, the less we eat at table service restaurants and prefer to snack our way through the day. Since we bought DVC our last trip, I honestly don't see us ever doing the dining plan again unless they made some serious overhauls to it or lowered the price for DVC members.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

2 adults on the QS plan will most likely not save any money. Especially if you are not big eaters. If you want it for the perceived convenience, that's something else, but I don't know that it would be much more convenient either.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I am planning for our January 14 day trip and am trying to decide whether to get the dining or not. It is just me and hubby and we are not big eaters so would just be getting the CS plan if we did. If we don't do you get charged tax when you order meals? We live in Oregon so we are not used to paying a tax on things. I like the convenience of not having to worry about how much each meal is costing and making it last till we leave but at the same time I don't want to pay $85 a day for us to eat and be way more than we would have paid out of pocket. I just don't know what to do!! I checked into the menus and and we really would not be ordering a dessert all the time probably just a entrée and a drink. How much to the mugs cost?

If you're not big eaters, you'll probably not come out ahead on the dining plan. There are several counter meals that smaller type eaters could share one and be nice and full. There are at least a couple that all but the biggest eaters could share. I'd just pay as I go if I had two adults and small eaters. Yes you will be charged tax.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I was so lucky to be able to do the free dining plan when even at pop it was the one table, one counter, one snack back when table included app, drink, ent, des, tax, and tip, and counter included meal, desert, drink tax. Shoot. Back then Spoodles let you add on the optional shrimp skewers and scallop skewers too!! HAHAHA!!! Those were the days of feast. There was actually a contest among some friends and I to see who could run up the biggest free tab. I won with Spoodles. Back then the dining plan was a pretty darn good deal for most even if you had to pay for it. But ever since, Disney has sort of chipped away at it and it's no longer the deal that it was.

 

[caroline1851]

I did the dining plan when it was "free". it worked out because my kids were younger and i liked having an adr for lunch because it was a nice, relaxing air-conditioned break. This last trip, it was just DS13 and me. We didn't do any dining plan. I ordered food from Garden Grocers to have in our room which was great for 3 reasons: 1. healthier, 2. cheaper 3. less time consuming when trying to get to parks for RD. I made 2 adr's, the rest we ate whatever and wherever. When you get the ddp, you have to make sure to get something that's more pricey to make it worth it. too much work. one night we just ate waffles with strawberries and another night we snacked around the WS countries. More freedom without a plan.

 

[skipfierce]

We always do the dinning plans because I love the sit down restaurants in EPCOT world showcase. We do one per day and it is worth every penny in my opinion.

 

[LENNON500]

When the dining plan first rolled out, I was working in DRC and it was a fantastic value because it was all inclusive...tax and tip included. Now that it's been slimmed down, it's not the value it was...we had the deluxe DP for 12 days on our Honeymoon this past May and paying tips on all those meals was a fortune!!!! Like most things, it always comes down to personal preference as to whether or not to get the dining plan...generally, the larger your party, they greater the value.

 

[fairy oma]

We only get DDP when we travel with DGDs because we usually come out way ahead due to using the TS for character meal dining...this trip there will be 9 of us. If DH and I go alone we pay OOP because we just can't eat that much food and don't like being tied to so many ADRs...it makes for a much more spontaneous trip when we just have 1 or 2 ADRs.

 

[Xennia]

Party of two here.


so not needed. I find they restrict you as well and who needs that.

 

[lustergirl]

With just two people I think you will be fine w/o the plan. Now a whole family, that is a different story. When we used to take the boys they would eat us out of house and disney (lol). Some of our food bills would reach 300 or 400 dollars, Thank god we had the free dining plan.

 

[starsweeper]

We've never done the dining plan, it would be a waste of money for us. We often split meals or order sides instead of entrees if not very hungry, etc.

 

[ttintagel]

It's one thing where each family has to run the numbers for themselves, but our two-adults group who does mostly counter service is seriously considering not getting it next time, too. Especially if we go during a time when either a room discount or free dining is offered.