Dining Plan or No Dining Plan?

[have2getaway]

We are staying at a 2BR in January at BLT. The plan was to eat in using the kitchen as much as possible, as a means to save money. We did so many reservations on our last trip, and really have little interest in doing that this time around. I actually started to get cold feet on the whole trip because I was worried I was spending so much on the 2 BR and wouldn't save enough on the food, and possibly should have just got 2 connecting rooms at a moderate with the dining plan. Just wondering if it is reasonable to pay less on food using the 2BR, and what experience others have had (with both the dining plan and not using the dining plan)? We are not big eaters and plan to do simple meals, especially breakfast and dinner. I am guessing we will need to eat some lunches out while at the parks, and maybe one nice dinner reservation.

 

[mom2rb]

I did the dining plan once, when my twins were younger and tips were included. It has not been worth it since. I get groceries delivered and make quick meals. Cereal, waffles and toast for breakfast, sandwiches and eggs and bacon for dinner. We eat lunch in the parks. In June, I had my 18 year-old twins and my 14 year-old nephew. I spent $250 on groceries, delivery fee and tip, and about $500 in food for an 8 day trip.

 

[danielocha30]

You should base your decision on the amenities the resort has for you, I personally don't ever get DDP is way to much money and I can manage better without it, splitting entrees, bringing our own food, snacks, etc... go with the room arrangement that saves you money without sacrificing amenities

 

[have2getaway]

I did the dining plan once, when my twins were younger and tips were included. It has not been worth it since. I get groceries delivered and make quick meals. Cereal, waffles and toast for breakfast, sandwiches and eggs and bacon for dinner. We eat lunch in the parks. In June, I had my 18 year-old twins and my 14 year-old nephew. I spent $250 on groceries, delivery fee and tip, and about $500 in food for an 8 day trip.

Thank you! This is what I needed to hear! We mistakenly did the Deluxe Dining Plan on our last trip and we literally felt like the whole trip was about going to restaurants and waiting for meals. We do want to do one or two nice meals, but that's it. I may be calculating it wrong (family of 5 -- 2 adults, 3 kids) and I believe we spent $2800 on food for the Deluxe. This is music to my ears hearing we could save that much money! This trip we will have my older son with us, and he is 15 and eats a ton.

 

[Matty B13]

Try this link to calculate out what your spending compared to the dinning plans.

https://www.distripplanner.com/

We figured it was pretty close, so we went with the standard dining plan with a QS meal and a TS meal.

 

[christianweecare]

DH & I are going to try it out of pocket for the first time in years. We will have AP & DVC discounts this time so we're going to give it a try.

 

[Paddy Pat]

We will never pay for it. With AP and Tables discounts, plus being able to split a sandwich or meal now and then is handy. Out last 6 day trip ended costing just under $800.00, which included table service, snacks and big boy drinks. Its just the three of us, DH,DW, & DD (14). We too get staple groceries for our stay, snacks and light breakfast items. We do save quite a bit on bottled water. We get at least two cases delivered.
I know larger families have stated they benefited from the plan but I am sure they may be staying at non-DVC resorts, not having the ability of a kitchen. I would imagine every family is different. Has different circumstances. However, my opinion the dining plan is not worth it financially.

 

[Hammill9508]

We don't do it. With AP and DVC discounts it really isn't worth it. Plus with it just being the two of us, we usually split a burger or something mid day. We take advantage of Amazon Prime Now, and have snacks and water delivered to the room. When we do actually to a dinner with ADR paying out of pocket is usually cheaper then what the DDP comes out to be. When we did the standard DDP (1 sit down, 1 quick, 1 snack/day) back many many moons ago before joining DVC (and back when it was an actual value) it was very difficult to use all of the entities up and you usually felt miserable by the the end of the trip from all the food that you "had" to eat.

 

[Dean]

We are staying at a 2BR in January at BLT. The plan was to eat in using the kitchen as much as possible, as a means to save money. We did so many reservations on our last trip, and really have little interest in doing that this time around. I actually started to get cold feet on the whole trip because I was worried I was spending so much on the 2 BR and wouldn't save enough on the food, and possibly should have just got 2 connecting rooms at a moderate with the dining plan. Just wondering if it is reasonable to pay less on food using the 2BR, and what experience others have had (with both the dining plan and not using the dining plan)? We are not big eaters and plan to do simple meals, especially breakfast and dinner. I am guessing we will need to eat some lunches out while at the parks, and maybe one nice dinner reservation.

The DP is rarely much of a savings but it can be for certain situations. Unless it's a short stay or you have kids in the 3-9 range, it's unlikely to be much of a savings. You'll usually save the most on the Deluxe plan (used appropriately) and the least on the QS plan. Often with the QS plan you'll actually pay more than you would have OOP for adults only. What you could have done would would have been to get 2 studios and get the DP for one of them then sharing across the group for the meals that worked as such. If you eat meals in, you'll certainly save money but often many end up eating out on the fly anyway in the parks. Also if no car, getting the groceries to secure the savings is challenging though the challenges can be controlled with planning.

 

[FireflyTrance]

I would say the DDP is only worth it if you get some psychological benefit from already having all your meals paid for. When we went a few years ago and got the "free dining" promo, I did enjoy not needing to think about how much food cost since it was already covered by the plan. However when I've done the math it doesn't seem worth it, so I have avoided it. I think it would be most worthwhile on a trip that was 1-2 nights because you would also get the reusable mug. If I did a 1-2 night resort only type of trip I might consider it so I could take advantage of the free drinks with the re-fillable mug.

 

[deide71]

On our last trip to the Poly for 6 nights we spent a grand total of $621 on food for myself and my two teen sons. Granted we only ate one TS meal at Via Napoli, but we didn't cook in the room (except for microwave pizza) but we never felt deprived. I just don't see how the dining plan makes financial sense unless you have children 9 or under and eat a lot of character meals.

 

[clayfolks]

Next week we have one night at the GF followed by 4 at the Poly. We purchased the deluxe plan for the GF reservation because we get 2 days use (credits are good until midnight of check out day) out of three TS meals AND the refillable cup. We are in a studio at both resorts but will cook a real breakfast every morning. The only time we get the dining plan, anymore, is if we are doing a split stay with one night somewhere.

 

[dclpluto]

No dining plan for me. It's hard to make the numbers work even harder when your a annual pass holder and a dvc member.

 

[disneynutz]

Making your own meals allows you to eat the food that you are used to and more importantly, when you want to. No rushing to an ADR as your plans change. No threat of paying a no show fee.

Bill

 

[alldiz]

When the dining plan came out it was the best thing since sliced bread.

Now at this point the price is crazy expensive and offerings do not make it worthwhile for me at all. I don't eat dessert most of the time so there goes that.

TIW is great if you have it. If they would switch appetizer and dessert I would have to re evaluate. But we wind up changing plans sometimes and the dining plan kind of locks you in to meals.

I am one that does like to prepay as much as possible but IMO kitchen or no kitchen DDP is not worth it.
Kerri

 

[davidl81]

Making your own meals allows you to eat the food that you are used to and more importantly, when you want to. No rushing to an ADR as your plans change. No threat of paying a no show fee.

Bill

I agree with this 1000%. I do like TS some times, but when half of your trip seems like it is planned around making your ADR it becomes a drag. We are big fans of the full kitchen, but really mostly only cook breakfast. We will do some sandwiches or other snacks midday. I think really I have become just kinda turned off by TS in general since the amount of planning involved in making everything work out has become a huge pain.

 

[Julylady]

We purchased the dining plan a couple of times, the last about 5 years ago. For our family, it was way too much food. Both in terms of too much at one setting and we realized we didn't like eating big meals at TS restaurants every day. We love the full kitchen and have certain meals that we make every vacation (tator tot casserole, spaghetti, ham and egg bake). We eat every breakfast in the villa plus one other meal a day. For the third meal we alternate between quick serve and table service. So on an 8 day trip (our typical trip), we make 4 ADRs. Since we have 4 in our family, each person gets to pick one meal. We have now done this for several trips and it works great for us.

We are also very liberal in letting the kids buy "dessert" each night at the park. History: On one trip we were considering the EPCOT dessert party but the cost for 4 people was more than I could do. Instead, we told the girls that they could each pick THREE desserts to eat during Illuminations. They spent all afternoon checking out desserts and deciding which ones they were going to buy. They each bought their first dessert as we claimed a spot for the fireworks. Of course, after that one they were full so we let them pick out one for treat for breakfast the next morning. Money-wise, I was still way ahead over purchasing the dessert party! That pattern became a tradition for us. We each pick a special food treat to eat while we are awaiting the night show. We also get to buy something to eat the next morning if we are so inclined (Mickey rice crispie treats are great for breakfast!!).

 

[michelleiada]

We always do the dining plan. Dining in the Disney restaurants are part of the vacation experience for us and we enjoy it. If you plan to eat at the parks/resorts, the dining plan is worth it.

 

[Dean]

Making your own meals allows you to eat the food that you are used to and more importantly, when you want to. No rushing to an ADR as your plans change. No threat of paying a no show fee.

Bill

The risk of the no show charge isn't due to the DP but it is based on the type and number of reservations so there could be an indirect relationship. IMO the DP is a specialty item that makes sense for some but not for a lot. It's best for shorter stays, when there are kids in the 3-9 range, with multiple rooms (but getting it for part) and where the restaurant reservations best fit it. IMO it'd be foolish to do the DP just for the "convenience" or prepaid goal since there's too much risk. I feel the no show fee is actually the smaller risk, not using all the credits or at last not using them for good value options is the largest risk. This could happen due to illness or family emergencies which I believe is a much larger risk than the no show issue. The deluxe plan works really well for us on many trips but we enjoy eating our way through the world so it really isn't a negative for us and we usually fit most or all of the situations where the DP makes sense.

 

[Dean]

We always do the dining plan. Dining in the Disney restaurants are part of the vacation experience for us and we enjoy it. If you plan to eat at the parks/resorts, the dining plan is worth it.

It is a large part of what we like too but I'd suggest it's one worth it in some situations, certainly not across the board. IMO one needs to see a real savings above other discounts to justify buying it. To me that's 20% off what I would have ordered or what I really want to order as a minimum. Some will reference the automatic tip but to me that's not an issue since I'd do around the 18-20% range anyway.