Dining plan advice, please

[Dale7]

We are in the process of booking a trip to Disney for Dec 14. We aren't sure about the dining plan though. We would arrange for the dining plan if we knew that we could get reservations at table service restaurants. Is there a way to find out before purchasing? What approach to Disney food has been the most affordable for folks?

 

[MegaSilver]

You can log into the Disney World website at any time and make reservations for 180 days out. No charge to cancel the reservation more than 24 hours out.

I'd make some reservations, and then look at what you have to decide. Price out how much those meals would cost you, then compare that to the cost of the plan. A lot of the times it doesn't work out, but some cases do. For example, I plan on going to a lot of character dining, and the plan saves us money

 

[minnie mum]

With only 5 weeks until you arrive, you may have difficulty finding availability for all of the more popular restaurants unless you can be very flexible with your dining times. You can check the Disney Dining reservations site to see if tables are available for the restaurants you are interested in. It really depends on whether you can maximize the use of every dining credit, if the dining plan will work for you or not. If you can't use all of your TS credits, CS credits and snack credits, then the plan isn't worth it.

You can also look at the menus at allears.net. Price out your meals at the restaurants you have reservations for. We have found that the DDP just doesnt work well for us. Other guests are either able to save a bit of money, or are willing to pay more money for the plan for some perceived convenience factor. But we have found that we can dine with a mixture of CS, TS, and signature restaurants, eating and drinking exactly what we want, for less than the cost of the dining plan

 

[dsneygirl]

The dining plan is really best value if you are doing character buffets for most of your meals. On some sit down restaurants you will need to order the most expensive item to break even. At this late date many character meals will be fully booked.

I would go online and do some checking, if there is very little availability it's probably not worth it.

 

[Sue M]

Whether the dining plan makes sense for you, you'd have to sit down with pen & paper & get an approx of how much you'll eat. There are complete menus & prices on Allears.net
Will you all have a snack every day? Do you want dessert with lunch & dinner? Do you even want a table service meal every day?

For us, we can eat well & cheaper paying oop. With the rising cost of the DDP, and less things offered, it's not the deal it once was. I have loaded a Disney gift card with the amount the DDPS would have cost, and used that for all our dining and came away with sig. Cash balance left over.

We don't want a dessert 2x a day, so skip the lunch dessert We don't have a snack every day, usually too full. We will occas get a treat we like. At meals we are happy with ice water, we aren't pop drinkers. After dinner my daughter & I mostly share a dessert. So that alone costs less then the DDP because we aren't paying for things we don't want.
Our last time on the DDP we had 10 snack credits left & ended up our last day buying stuff we could pack, bagged candy, rice crispy mickeys etc.

Sometimes I don't feel like being tied down to a TS every day and find it's somewhat freeing not to have an ADR each day. There are some pretty good counter service places in the resorts or parks, much improved menus.

 

[tgropp]

The meal plan debate has been going on for many years. It is not the same value it once was but it still works out for many. We still prefer to use it. It may not save us lots of money but convenience wise, it serves us well. Since we usually go at or near Christmas time, it saved us on the "holiday surcharges" that Disney imposed during that time of year. Since we knew when we were going, we always booked at the 180 day mark and got the choice of the best restaurants where we also figured out where we got the most bang for our buck. We would always use at least two counter service credits for dinner at Wolfgang pucks counter service where you saved a lot of money for a great meal only using a CS credit. Hence we would use that extra save table credit for a signature restaurant, usually Narcossee's where we would treat ourselves to lobster tail and steak. Plus many in our party would have at least 3 or more cups of coffee in a day and the free refillable mug saved us at least 6-7 dollars a day. We also would use the snack credit for use at breakfast as they offer many choices for that in your resort restaurant. But the main deciding factor was the family sit down meal at night. Since it is daughter/SIL, son/DIL and grandchildren and my wife and myself we would all have a wonderful meal and tell what we all did that day. As stated, it does not work for everyone, but it works for us. Enjoy your trip!

 

[amie416]

I looked into the DDP for our upcoming trip, since we'll be traveling during a free dining period. It was tempting at first, but in the end I opted for taking a room-only discount instead because:

• We don't drink pop, so the refillable mug is a waste for us.
• We're much more likely to order an appetizer at TS than a dessert, so we'd have to pay OOP for that anyway.
• We rarely eat desert at lunch.
• We sometimes split entrees or dessert at WDW, because the portions are fairly large.
• We're driving there after visiting my parents in SWFL, so we'll pick up some healthy snack items to bring with us at Trader Joe's.

 

[dancin Disney style]

The only way you can figure out if it's worth it or not is to book your ADR's now and then go back and price out what you think everyone is likely to eat.

I'm going in March and I'm fairly certain that my DD and I will spend $500-$550 on food. If we got the QSDP it would cost approx $640. My estimate of $550 includes a TS meal. I think we might even be able to cut the food cost a little....often a kids meal is enough for us.

 

[Dale7]

Thanks, folks, for your advice. Everything seems much more complicated (and expensive) than it was the last time we went to Disney 6 years ago.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Thanks, folks, for your advice. Everything seems much more complicated (and expensive) than it was the last time we went to Disney 6 years ago.

I hear ya.....I haven't even experienced FP+ yet and I feel like I'm going to miss the old FP. Mid January I have to make my FP+ selections and I don't feel like I've got a solid handle on the whole thing. We used to be able to make our WDW vacation a lot less expensive than any other destination but not any more. I don't even pay for park tickets and it still costs a ton.

 

[canadiankim]

For us, we can eat well & cheaper paying oop. With the rising cost of the DDP, and less things offered, it's not the deal it once was. I have loaded a Disney gift card with the amount the DDPS would have cost, and used that for all our dining and came away with sig. Cash balance left over.

I think this is a great idea. Load up a gift card and then book your meals, you are bound to have money left over on the gift card to be able to buy some nice things to take home. I love this idea