Dining plan-how much do you spend 4 food?

[beebles]

Still debating over the plan. $35.00 for adults and $10 for kids sound pretty reasonable. We have two children (4 and 7). The 4 year old barely eats and the 7 year old eats well. For those of you who used it, is it about how much you would spend anyway on food? We are not big eaters, but I cannot eat junk all day. What is the amount most spend per day for food/snacks/drinks?

 

[Philadisney]

haven't used it, but was considering it for our next trip. however, i did the math, and it would come out to almost the same as what we would pay OOP. i decided not to do the meal plan becos this way we'd have a little more freedom with what we could eat.

 

[Dorisk3]

There were days on the plan where we spent $150. on food. I think our average was $125. a day for 2 adults and one child on the plan. It's amazing how fast the costs can rack up. Keep in mind though, when on the plan we tended to order the more expensive of everything and go to the pricier buffets and restaurants. We got in on the free situation, but I would definetly pay for it in the future!

 

[beebles]

bump! Any more responses are what was paid for food? It will be me and my husband, 7 and 4 year old. Thanks!

 

[tfiga]

We used the plan in May with a family of 4, two boys 3 and 5 my husband and I. It saved us about $175.00 for the week, but we tend to do a lot of character meals. So it depends on what you would normally eat. If you are planning a number of character meals it is a good deal. By the way we are getting the package again for our next trip this upcoming May.

 

[u2bapeacock]

we are a family of 4 we got the plan my dd was only 2 at time so she wasn't on plan so 2 adults and 1 child we most definatly will get plan next time we go. The plan allowed us to not worry about a food budget most times we have only allowed a certain amount per day on food and we didn't really get to try any of the more expensive restaurants but with the plan we never worried about are we going to have enough money and you can eat what ever you want it really is a lot of food here is an example of price difference for 1 day on plan cost us $80 well our Table service meal at Le Cellier for supper cost $120 AND WE STILL HAD A COUNTER MEAL FOR THAT DAY AND A SNACK!!! Hope that might give you some help
We also did 3 character meals never could have done without the plan

 

[tortoni]

We are a family of 5 who took advantage of the meal plan when it was offered free at the end of August. We decided it would be well worth it even if we had paid. We did some kids meals OOP since our younger ones don't always eat much (9 and 12) and we wound up with two great signature meals. We loved the plan because we were able to eat at wonderful sit down restaurants without worrying about the prices. We often had to skip some of the courses ordered because it was a lot of food--but we were able to have all we wanted and not eat junk food. I would recommend it. You won't use up all the credits and you will save money. We figured out that if we had paid for the meal plan, it would have cost 800+ but our food bill was over 1300! Lucky it was all free!

 

[riaesq]

We are also still debating. It really depends. For example, with a room-only code, pre-bought tickets and the DDE card, it's going to be so close to what we would spend on food that I have been crunching numbers all week to try to decide...

 

[pixiepower1971]

The meal plan is too much for us. We are a family of 4- 2 adults, 2 kids 7 and 9, We spend about $50 a day. We eat a light breakfast in the room, split 2 CS lunches, have a snack and then split 2 more CS dinners. We only do a few TS meals every trip...they do throw that budget out of whack but we usually plan for 2 TS meals over the course of a week...that adds about $150 after DDE discount.

We go often so TS meals every day are not important to us. We are also not big eaters at the parks. Some days a snack is lunch...no one wants to sit down to eat!

This is not for lack of $$ or wanting to cut costs. This is just the way our family has found that we like to eat in the parks.

 

[AUTUMN SUN]

I have purchused the dining plan for our upcoming trip. For my family it was a no brainer. I cant see us spending under a $90.00 a day eating at WDW. Not even close to that. We are a family of four, kids 5 and 7 and they dont eat much but Im not that good at budgeting! Also it will be payed for ahead of time. I like the fact that the whole package, tickets, room and dining will be payed for ahead of time. But every family is different.

 

[Ilovestitch]

I always thought the dining plan would be a waste. My bf and I usually do counter service and just a few table service. And when we eat table service we usually just get entrees- no desserts, appetizers, etc.

We are going to wdw for 4 days in oct and my ta said to add the dining on it would be $200 more total.

Well we were already planning on eating a b-fast at Boma, dinner at Boma and lunch at Teppanyaki. That right there w/tax and tip is over $200. So the dining plan makes sense. Even if we only ate at those 3 sit down restaurants we'd be getting our money worth, so its like our counter service meals, snacks and one more table service are free!

To see if the dining plan is worth it for you, go to allearsnet.com and look at the menus. Add up what you plan on eating and see if it comes out more or less than the dining package. -Steph

 

[Disney_1derland]

Really, it depends on your dining style. We are a family of 4 and we like to do one table service a day. For us, the value is outstanding. The dining plan costs us $90 a day and we normally spend at least $150 a day on food, some days more, some days less. Our kids like to do the character meals and with the dining plan we can do one a day if we want, they love that!

 

[Frantasmic]

I remember my 1999 trip when a breakfast for 3 (2 adults one child age 5) cost $70.

If you want to enjoy character events, then the dining plan probably would work for you at around $92 per day for 8 meals and 4 snacks between you.

You can get buy on more healthy Counter Service meals these days and if that is what you want to do, then the dining plan probably won't save you much. About the only way to guarantee you don't eat junk all day is to have a buffet at some point for the salad, fruit, soup choices, or make sure all your snacks at the parks are fruit or packed items you bring in yourself. Even though CS service has improved regarding healthy alternatives, I would venture that the experience still isn't the most healthy choice. Look at the menus here or allearsnet.com and decide what works for you.

 

[BuzzAndWoodyBoy]

We are a family of 4, dh, ds5, ds4 and me. We just got back from a 7 night trip on the free dining. Like the other's said it really depends on how your family eats but there is also another factor. I am cheap, it really bugs me that a counter service meal costs $12 or more for one person. So the dining plan was a good deal for us. I would constantly be saying "that costs too much", "I can't believe it's $3 for an icecream", etc. My dh said it was a pleasure not to have to worry about me saying "doesn't the plain pasta dish sound good" when he knew I really wanted the steak!

I figured out that with all the snacks, CS and TS meals we saved around $500 for the week. Granted we would not normally have bought that much food but it was nice being able to. We also used our TS for mostly buffets (2 character breakfasts) and ended up with one left (at Spoodles the portions were just huge so we only got the boys one meal to share a pizza and hamburgers). So we didn't even "maximize" the plan as others do.

I really liked that "not having to worry" aspect of the plan and I do think we would do it again in the future.

 

[disgram]

We are going to be 6 this trip. 2 adults and 4 teenagers. 4 out of the 6 are pretty good eaters and I figured that for us, without the plan, it would cost us almost 2500 for the type of meals that we will want. For next year the price will be 37 dollars a day. Even at that, we have got to be saving a ton!! And now, with the plan, we will be looking at some of the places that we would never have thought about before. At least one TS a day will suit us just fine as the adults are going to need a breather to keep up with the teens!!!!!!!!

 

[marcyinPA]

We were on the free plan. Had we paid for it, though, it would have cost us $690 for the week (2 adults, one "adult" child (10) and 1 "real" child (6)). We ate a little over $1100 in food during our stay. Normally, we wouldn't eat so much table service. However, if we paid out of pocket, we still would have eaten $690 worth, when you figure in all of the snacks and waters, etc., even eating more counter service.

I think the plan is worth it, and you have the option to eat at nicer places than you would normally eat at. I can't eat burgers and fries all week, and to have the choice of a nice meal with veggies and stuff is great! We'd definitely purchase it in the future!

 

[mjkaferle5]

we are a family of 4 we got the plan my dd was only 2 at time so she wasn't on plan so 2 adults and 1 child we most definatly will get plan next time we go. The plan allowed us to not worry about a food budget most times we have only allowed a certain amount per day on food and we didn't really get to try any of the more expensive restaurants but with the plan we never worried about are we going to have enough money and you can eat what ever you want it really is a lot of food here is an example of price difference for 1 day on plan cost us $80 well our Table service meal at Le Cellier for supper cost $120 AND WE STILL HAD A COUNTER MEAL FOR THAT DAY AND A SNACK!!! Hope that might give you some help
We also did 3 character meals never could have done without the plan

I think you just set the record for the world's longest sentence. I ran out of breath just reading this in my head!!

 

[beebles]

Thanks everyone!!!