Dining Plan help....

[TheDisneyOutsider]

Hello all,

We are leaving for our trip in 2 weeks and I was wondering how much the dining plan is and what is it all about??? There is five of us going on this trip and we are not sure if it is worth getting or not. Last trip we did not get it and we found ourselves renting a car and eating off property most nights since the restaurants were expensive. Does the dining plan save much and what is included???

 

[rachel09985]

You will have to run the numbers and see how much it saves. Do sample menus at the restaurants and figure out the totals and see if it will save you.
Also, if you would never normally get desserts at the restaurants, don't include that because it isn't really savings if you would never normally include that. Also with drinks and stuff if you would normally get water don't include that.

It will not be peak season when you go so the dining plan will only be $45.99.

Also remember that if you are only 2 weeks out and you havent booked any ADRs you will have a difficult time booking the ones that are a good value on the dining plan.

When you do the math you will have to include tax as well (6.5%) because the dining plan includes the tax, you are not taxed on the dining plan as well.

For example one of my days I have planned Captains Grille and Pop Century. The total with drinks and dessert plus a $4 dollar snack for that day is $60.81, which is a great deal but that is also using the most expensive meal option. Without desserts and drinks that day would be $44.87 out of pocket, which is about even.

So you just have to figure out sample meal itineraries and see what would work for you.

 

[rachel09985]

Answer to your other question. The dining plan is a good quantity of food! If you normally eat a full breakfast you might have to pay out of pocket for a breakfast or a quick snack but I don't eat much breakfast so I normally will use a snack credit for breakfast.

I am always full after I use the regular dining. The dining plan includes a drink and any entree and dessert. Buffets are just the buffet plus one drink. These are non alcoholic drinks.

If you don't already have ADS lined up at least one every night, I probabaly wouldn't do it at this late of a time.

 

[TheDisneyOutsider]

Thanks for the help guys. I think we will just eat at the resort once or twice and go off property the rest. It just seems simpler that way. Maybe next time when we have more time to plan we will give it a try. We only decided to go on this trip last week, so there is not too much time to plan out. Thanks a lot for your help!!!

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I was able to knab some good reservations while on my last trip, and it was during a very busy week. Before ruling out eating on property, search online and see what reservations are available. I hate thinking of all the time spent leaving for every meal. Even if my choice were leaving or eating quick service, I would go quick service, and, frankly, we don't really like quick service.

 

[TheDisneyOutsider]

I was able to knab some good reservations while on my last trip, and it was during a very busy week. Before ruling out eating on property, search online and see what reservations are available. I hate thinking of all the time spent leaving for every meal. Even if my choice were leaving or eating quick service, I would go quick service, and, frankly, we don't really like quick service.

Ya I know what you mean. Although we eat breakfast and lunch on property and just leave for supper. But, we're looking into reservations anyway. It's just that we don't think the plan would be good for us because I don't believe my dad would want to eat on property every night, regardless of the price, so we would end up missing meals anyway. We're still going to make some reservations though. Thanks for your input .