Dining Plan-is it worth it for us?

[DisneyJen0504]

Hi! I have gone back and forth so many times over whether or not we should get the dining plan for our May 2006 trip. Maybe someone can help!
Here are the facts:
~We are a couple (no children) traveling with another couple(newbies)-all of us in our late 20s. Going for 6 days/5 nights.
~We are only planning on 1 character breakfast, and maybe 2 additional table service meals for dinners for the entire trip. Otherwise, we expect to be eating more counter service meals this trip.

So, is it worth it for us to get the dining plan or not b/c we dont plan on eating TS every day? Any thoughts?
DH says if I ask him one more time if we should or shouldn't get the dining plan he is going to scream! haha!!

 

[ceecee]

If the other couple you are going with is getting it, I would say yes. That is if you plan on being with them for all of your meals. If you are staying for 5 nights that would be 5 TS and 5 CS for 6 days........so even if you are planning to do 3 sit down meals you will have almost paid for the plan, asuming you will do at least the 5 CS as well. Especially if you normally eat dessert and appetizers.

 

[polarboi]

Let me offer a different perspective on this. I love the dining plan, not because of the potential money you could save, but because of the concept of not having to worry about money on my vacation.

I'm a really frugal guy, and I've always hated fairs and amusement parks where you pay for each individual ride you want to go on, either through tickets or in cash. I hate the idea of saying, "Do I want to spend two dollars on this ride?" and I find it's harder to enjoy myself that way. I've always preferred Disney's way of doing things (now standard in most places) where you pay in advance to get in, and then all the attractions are free while you're there. It's much easier for me to enjoy myself without "nickle & diming" everything!

The one thing I've always hated at WDW was stressing over food prices. To me, it's always been a bit of a magic-spoiler to walk up to a fun, themed counter-service restaurant and then go, "Wow... the hamburgers are how much??!"

I just don't want to be reminded of how much I'm spending while I'm there. I'd rather pay for it all up front, even if I end up paying more that way, just for the privilege of being able to completely forget about money while I'm in the parks. Being able to order what I want, knowing it's all paid for, is so much more magical for me.

So to me, yes, it's worth it.

-p.b.

 

[MomofKatie]

I totally agree with polarboi! There are so many times I have gone to a nice restaurant and ended up ordering what was cheapest, vs what I really wanted because it was more $$.

With the Dining plan, everything is prepaid- I will be able to ignore the prices and just order what looks the tastiest to me. If I was "paying as I go", I'd fall into the "eat cheap" trap that I am in at home.

I'd suggest taking a look at www.allearsnet.com and adding up how much you would spend on all the food for your vacation. Then, compare it to the cost of the Dining plan plus any extra food you'd buy (not on the plan). If you will do better on the plan, get it! If you are even, get the plan, and splurge on a few more TS meals. If it is more, and you know for sure you won't want to eat any other TS meals, forget about the plan.

 

[My2Cinderellas]

don't forget that on TS meals, the dining plan includes the gratuity. that extra 15-20% adds up quickly.

 

[dzneelvr]

Which Dining Plan are you talking about? I am leaning toward the $50 plan for AP holders in which you get 20% off most of the eateries we go to during our 10 day trip. When you talk about not having to pay "anything", I'm thinking you mean another one...We're a vet WDW family but this is the first trip I am going to do some Dining Plan and it is a bit confusing to me.....

 

[WDWBetsy]

Which Dining Plan are you talking about? I am leaning toward the $50 plan for AP holders in which you get 20% off most of the eateries we go to during our 10 day trip. When you talk about not having to pay "anything", I'm thinking you mean another one...We're a vet WDW family but this is the first trip I am going to do some Dining Plan and it is a bit confusing to me.....

This is the Magic Your Way package + dining (room, at least 1 day MYW base ticket + dining). It basically pays in advance for 1 counter service meal, 1 table service meal and 1 snack for each person in your party per night. Approx. $35 per adult per night and $10 per child per night.

 

[Lewisc]

You'll get 5 TS credits, you already have plans to use 3 of them. All you need is one 2 credit meal, either a dinner show or a signature restaurant. If you absolutely prefer CS meals than the plan isn't for you.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

Okay thank you for all the great responses. Let me add to my op.
Our newbie friends we are going with are not planning on getting the dining plan unless we do-we will be doinng most of our meals, if not all, together.
My next concern is that when DH and I have gone in the past, we usually get a few snacks and drinks throughout the day outside of our meals. This could easily add up to 6 snacks from early morning til late night. My concern is, if we are on the dining plan, we only get one snack per day each so we will be paying out of pocket for addl snacks and drinks. Which is no problem if I am saving on the meals. I am just concerned that since we dont plan on more than 3 TS meals that this wont be a savings to us??
Btw, we only want to do the dining plan if it saves us money, not for convenience of prepaid meals. Its an inconvenience if it costs more in the end.
I am going to check out the menus and pricing and try to see what costs I come up with to compare.
Any additional help? Thanks again everyone!!

 

[MomofKatie]

Jennifer, I plan to use some of our CS "dessert" items as extra snacks. We won't eat the desserts with our lunches, but will carry them along to have later in the day. We plan on getting things like cookies or brownies, that will be easy to carry around. That might be something to think about to help with the problem of using too many snacks.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

Good point MomofKatie. Not a bad idea to save here and there!

 

[purplepixie]

Do you know which TS you want to do? That would make a big difference. If your looking at the more expensive places it may be worth it for even the three TS you are planning. If your looking at any signature restaurants or dinner shows they use up two credits each. If you had a character breakfast, a dinner show, and a signature restuarant as your sit down places it would use all your TS credits. Since the plan covers tax that can add a couple bucks per CS to figure in. I'm not sure but I thought there was a way to use TS credits for CS. I don't see it on the brochure but I thought I had read it somewhere. You could check that out.

It also depends on what you eat at counter services. If you eat a full meal with a drink and dessert per person it works. If you're not big eaters and split meals even these wouldn't get used fully.

Your really need to add up what you think you would use when there and then look at the package price and what you would end up paying extra.

 

[LiteBrite]

I agree that you should rough out an estimate of how many dollars you would spend total without the plan vs with the plan, if cost is your only concern. This is fairly easy to do with the help of the menus on allearsnet.

One more thought, though - your newbie friends might get a better impression of WDW on the dining plan. I realize the convenience/freedom to order whatever issue is not a big deal to you, but it might save your friends from some of the "overwhelmingness" of a first Disney trip.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

Haha-I am still clueless.
I tried to make a rough price sheet of what we spent last trip over the same amount of days. I dont even know if it is accurate but the dining plan came out around 50 bucks cheaper. Now that is likely b/c I am comparing prices based on only using 3 TS meals....
To answer another question-we were looking at a character breakfast, and maybe 2 other sit downs plus Dh loves Fultons Crab House and we go every trip so this one wont be any different (I know it isnt included in the dining plan)
Still confused...I will figure it out eventually!
Thats for your help!

 

[Lewisc]

Haha-I am still clueless.
I tried to make a rough price sheet of what we spent last trip over the same amount of days. I dont even know if it is accurate but the dining plan came out around 50 bucks cheaper. Now that is likely b/c I am comparing prices based on only using 3 TS meals....
To answer another question-we were looking at a character breakfast, and maybe 2 other sit downs plus Dh loves Fultons Crab House and we go every trip so this one wont be any different (I know it isnt included in the dining plan)
Still confused...I will figure it out eventually!
Thats for your help!

You might consider a signature restaurant like Narcoossee's instead of Fultons. You're now using all 5 TS credit and I'm sure you'll come out ahead.

An alternative would be to have one couple buy the plan, I'm assuming you're not sharing one room. Use the credits for your 2 TS meals and then for half of your breakfast.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

You might consider a signature restaurant like Narcoossee's instead of Fultons. You're now using all 5 TS credit and I'm sure you'll come out ahead.

An alternative would be to have one couple buy the plan, I'm assuming you're not sharing one room. Use the credits for your 2 TS meals and then for half of your breakfast.

Thank Lewisc!
Well, I dont know if I can get DH to skip Fultons-we go every trip but it is worth a try.
The idea of having one couple buy the plan and we can split that is not a bad idea-that would definitely save us.
Thanks!

 

[sammax]

One reason that we liked the dining plan was because it gave us the option of going to restaurants that we wouldn't normally want to pay for. One evening we had a relatively ordinary meal at the Concourse steakhouse that for 2 people would have cost us $110, because we had appetizers and dessert. We loved the food, the fact that there was no bill to pay, and the gratuity was included made it a wonderful evening, one of the best we had. We didn't do the dining plan to save money, but to enjoy a slightly better quality of food without feeling like we were overspending. It added a different dimension to our vacation.

 

[Crankyshank]

DH and I are doing the Dining Plan in Oct. I agonized over whether or not it was worth it or if we were going to eat more than we normally would just to save $$.
How I decided was that DH & I sat down and picked which restaurants we wanted to eat at and which counter service we wanted to hit. We then looked at the menus, picked out thingswe would likely eat. I added up the cost and if it came to more than $35 a day each then the dining plan was worth it.
Kona and Le Cellier alone made up for the price.