DINING PLAN or NO?

[kwyn]

So, we are going June 15th-22nd.

We did not get a dining plan. 4 adults and 2 kids (7 and 3 years old). The only reservations we made is for Cinderella's Royal Table Breakfast and Tusker House breakfast.

The rest of the time we plan on eating some sort of cereal/oatmeal in our room for breakfast, maybe sandwiches at the room for lunch, occasional lunch in the parks, and most likely dinners out at various places, but we don't really need fine dining or any other character meals for dinner.

Did we make the right choice not getting the dining plan? Does it actually save money or is it more of a convenience thing (and a way for Disney to make sure you spend your food $$ with them)?

Thanks!

Kwyn

 

[Karenj2]

It really depends - I personally don't like going back to the hotel until after lunch (if at all), so for me eating lunch in the room isn't worth the potential savings... Plus, we DO like the fancy table service restaurants (actually, any TS - fancy or not), so that's why we usually get the dining plan.

Eating breakfast at CRT & TH will cost you about $82 per adult & $50 per child. (The dining plan is about $54 per adult per day, and $34 per child per day.) So about one day's cost of the dining plan would be a wash. Does that make sense?

When we do the dining plan (regular, which comes with one snack, one counter service and one TS per day per person), we will sometimes bring oatmeal with us, and share that and a counter service breakfast, split a counter service for lunch, then have our TS for dinner... Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (cost-wise). Since I budget for the added expense, I don't mind if I end up giving up money to Disney to have a laid back, no worries about expenses type of vacation.

 

[bpesch]

To me the dining plan only makes sense if you don't already have park tickets, you will be doing only Disney and the cost of a rack rate room doesn't bother you. I did the free dining when I went back in January. I'm going again in November but I already have our park tickets and we plan on doing more than just Disney. It just wasn't worth the extra cost for us to get free dining this time when we would only be in the parks half of the time we were there.

The bottom line is that you have to sit down and figure it all out. Honestly, most of the time I don't see FD as being a money saver, it's more about the convenience. And when you're paying rack rate for the room and getting non-discounted park tickets, the convenience is what you are getting.

Plus you have to take into account the restrictions on the dining plan you may be getting. Sometimes it's hard to use everything up and I sure don't feel like I'm getting a good deal if I have left over meals/snacks when I leave.

 

[Dismom55]

The first time we got and paid for the DDP I kept every receipt from every counter service, snack and table service. After our trip I added the total and was amazed at how much the DDP saved us. WE like to have a quick breakfast in our room, having bagels and such in the room. Then a counter service meal relaxing in one of the parks for lunch and a nice server waiting on us after a day at the parks for dinner. So we do table service for dinner. We enjoy this and at present would not dream of going without getting the DDP, but you have to look at how you do the parks, do you like going back to the room, taking a nap, a swim whatever in the middle of doing the parks to eat, or do you think your group would rather grab a bite to eat and stay in the park? Will you want to do a few table service meals, maybe even have some pizza back at the room where you can use your table credits to pay for that pizza. It all depends on you and your way of doing things.

One other thing is we went 2x to WDW before the DDP existed, I worried the whole time did I bring enough money to feed the kids for the whole trip and on the way home. Of course I had, but still I worried, I even had lots of money left over. But the point is I love knowing my meals are paid in full before I even leave home, all I have to do is have my tip envelopes ready to go.

Your choice, how and what works best for your group.

Have a great time in Disney.

 

[LJSquishy]

In most cases now, any of the dining plans do not save the average person/family money. If you prefer to have your meals more open-ended to allow for more freedom, definitely do not do the dining plans. One day you may feel like going back to the room and having sandwiches, another day you may decide none of you are really that hungry at all (it happened to my husband and I a lot) and just share one meal or a few snacks in the park. We had the free dining plan (1TS, 1CS, 1S) and it was WAY too much. We used all of our snacks for breakfast items in the morning (yogurt parfait, muffin, etc), used our CS credits for lunch (but skipped desserts most of the time...who eats dessert for lunch and dinner?) and would get mostly bottled water because we didn't want soda while we were walking around the parks, then for dinner we would do a TS. We did enjoy our TS dinners, but we stayed out at the parks all day until dinnertime and we didn't have kids. We enjoyed the sit down meals before heading back to our resort for the night. Even TS meals were too much food, though, and we turned away a lot of desserts. I never would have paid for a dining plan...just too much food and you feel obligated to maximize your credits and have to really plan it all out so you use all of your credits.

I really think you will be best off sticking to your plan of having simple breakfasts in the morning, going back to the room for most lunches, and alternating your dinners with TS meals and CS meals. You will have more freedom to not have to plan every last detail of your meals in case there are meltdowns or you are just "done" with a park, etc. We actually found that since we were just 2 adults going, we could zoom through the parks pretty fast and sometimes were "done" after 1/2 day...with kids, you just never know, so I like the idea of your trip being more open ended.

 

[maggs1035]

It really depends - I personally don't like going back to the hotel until after lunch (if at all), so for me eating lunch in the room isn't worth the potential savings... Plus, we DO like the fancy table service restaurants (actually, any TS - fancy or not), so that's why we usually get the dining plan.

Eating breakfast at CRT & TH will cost you about $82 per adult & $50 per child. (The dining plan is about $54 per adult per day, and $34 per child per day.) So about one day's cost of the dining plan would be a wash. Does that make sense?

When we do the dining plan (regular, which comes with one snack, one counter service and one TS per day per person), we will sometimes bring oatmeal with us, and share that and a counter service breakfast, split a counter service for lunch, then have our TS for dinner... Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (cost-wise). Since I budget for the added expense, I don't mind if I end up giving up money to Disney to have a laid back, no worries about expenses type of vacation.

We did Cinderella Breakfast and our bill for a family of 5 was over $250 bucks, I remember looking at that and being so grateful that we had the regular dining plan!

I agree with you, I don't want to be hassled with having to go back to the room to eat lunch, just getting back and forth from park to hotel is a time consuming and exhausting job. I would much rather spend a little more and dine freely (prepaid) and not worry about it! We like to get the regular dining plan because we love the character meals, but one yr we did the quick service plan and it was ok, but missed the good food and characters!

Breakfast in the room is totally doable! We usually have the regular dining and eat breakfast in the room and go out for the day and eat lunch and dinner in the parks or hotels, except for when we do character breakfast.

 

[Colleen27]

It really depends on how you eat. If you're going to have a sitdown meal every day and give some thought to how you use your credits it can offer a savings; if you don't use every entitlement or choose less expensive meals because they sound good at the time you can lose money on the plan.

I've personally seen both sides of it - when I'm traveling with my whole family (DH & 3 kids, ages 14, 10, 3) it saves us money. When I'm traveling with just my girls, it is way too much food and the number of entitlements don't fit the way we eat. In both cases we have at least one sitdown meal a day, every day, but my girls and I tend to share 2 adult entrees or 3 adult appetizers for the 3 of us - the 10yo doesn't have an adult-sized appetite and the 3yo doesn't generally care for kids' meal food. We eat more cheaply off the plan. When I add in DH & DS each wanting their own, however, with them almost always ordering the most expensive items on the menu because they both love steak and seafood, the plan does save us some money (and allows DH to relax about prices; OOP he'd likely order something cheaper than what he really wants at least some of the time).

 

[maggs1035]

So, we are going June 15th-22nd.

We did not get a dining plan. 4 adults and 2 kids (7 and 3 years old). The only reservations we made is for Cinderella's Royal Table Breakfast and Tusker House breakfast.

The rest of the time we plan on eating some sort of cereal/oatmeal in our room for breakfast, maybe sandwiches at the room for lunch, occasional lunch in the parks, and most likely dinners out at various places, but we don't really need fine dining or any other character meals for dinner.

Did we make the right choice not getting the dining plan? Does it actually save money or is it more of a convenience thing (and a way for Disney to make sure you spend your food $$ with them)?

Thanks!

Kwyn

Also keep in mind that some of the places are 2 dining credits per person (cinderella breakfast) so as some have stated they feel like they don't use them up? you can make sure you book double credit meals which are usually special places and are fun. We did the luau one yr and it was great (2 credits)

 

[kwyn]

Thanks everyone. Awesome advice!!

 

[OhMari]

Your children can easily share a Counter Service meal, the portions are huge. Disney food has gotten very expensive the last couple of years. I have done the Dining plan once when it first came out. I think it was $28, now someone said it is above $50 a person. I guess it is reflecting the high cost of food. Do you have a car? Tons of resturants off site.

 

[Crystal824]

We didn't do this dining plan this past trip. It can save you money if you are going to eat all the food it provides. We don't typically get dessert at every meal and sometimes share meals. We often would get 1 app., one meal, and one dessert at ts places and share and that worked for us and saved cash. We also split some CS meals and that worked out well too.

It just depends on how you eat and where you want to eat.

 

[eliza61]

So for me it's a big no.

we are all adults according to disney. that's 51.40 X4= 205 a day. No way do we eat that much. maybe once or twice. so over 7 days that's a whopping 1400 bucks.

Is disney on weed?

we don't do character meals anymore.

We much prefer appertizers than a dessert, appertizers are not included so it would be additonal.

 

[eliza61]

I just pull our my excel spreadsheet from last August. Two of our biggest meals.

1) Via Napoli

Frutti Mare 29.00
spaghetti 21.00
chicken parmigian 26.00
frutti Mare 29.00
Calamari antipasta appertizer 14.00
2 sodas each (8*3) 24.00

Total $172.00 bucks.

lunch ran us another 25 bucks. so total for the day was 197.00 and this was pretty much our high end day.

The only other day we went over the 205/day ddp cost was when dh and I went to Yachtsman steak house for dinner. dinner for two ran us 118.00 bucks. I didn't include the cost of wine because I would have to pay for that on the ddp too. My sons didn't want fancy so they got pizza at the broadwalk pizza place.

 

[thelionqueen]

We have done the dining plan several times either discounted or free, and at that price (or free) it is definitely worth it. But you have to plan your entire trip around TS meals (transportation, times, parks, etc.) and there is just a TON of food! We were ALWAYS full and always had food left over.

I personally think sticking with your current plan is a better deal. You have the freedom to eat when/where you want and can save $ by eating bfast at the resort. We have a hearty meal for breakfast then take fruit, chips, snacks and bottle water in a backpack and aren't hungry until dinner (which we also have in our room). Whatever works for you!

 

[Eeyore98]

If you generally eat the way the plan is structured, it can save you money. And on paper, it will generally look like a big savings, because most people "spend" more on the plan (choose the more expensive meals, go ahead and get that "free" dessert, etc.).

Usually, eating the way we do, we spend about the same amount of money that it would cost us to get the plan, and that's including tips, alcohol, apps, etc...so really we save money eating how we want vs. going with the plan.

 

[abcboys]

For us it was definitely a no. We could have had free dining when we went back in October but I had already taken the 30% off code and didn't change to free dining. I had figured free dining would have saved us so much more money than the code (vs. having paid for the dining plan) but even after the fact I'm glad I stuck with what I did for several reasons.

1. I wouldn't have liked having a reservation every day. It was a lot easier just to eat when we were hungry and not being tied down to where we had to be. We paid out of pocket for 3 sit down meals; Tusker House breakfast, sci-fi dine in, and TRex Cafe. We ate breakfast in the room every day except Tusker House and our departure day. We brought snacks for the room for the evening and took advantage of the free ice water at most places.

2. All of the kids and DH contracted the stomach bug on different days when we were there. It was short lived 12 hour bug, but by the next day they weren't all that hungry. We did lots of shared meals. For instance at cosmic rays I shared a chicken meal with potatoes and green beans with one of the boys. Was plenty for me and nobody was really interested in a big heavy meal. One evening we ordered an outside place for pizza and they delivered to us. A few nights we took microwave popcorn down to the main area and microwaved.

I'm not sure what I ended up spending out of pocket for meals but I'm sure we were way under what it would have been if we had to of paid for the meal plan. Even getting it for free we would have wasted 1/2 of it.

 

[ilovepete]

We have done the dining plan several times and at first I felt it was really good for us (it was much cheaper then, too). Then the last few times we have gone, we have done Tables in Wonderland, along with a room discount, and I like that MUCH better for the way we eat. I think it is a better value, too.

 

[Sally]

I agree that it really comes down to how you and your family eat. When my girls were younger and we needed a park break, eating in the room would be perfect.
At their ages now though, and with the DDP I know that they can grab a snack or eat a QS meal each day in the park and then sit down with the family for a relaxed dinner for our table service. Considering that generally the dinner is the pricier meal each day DDP pays for itself.
I never worry about unused meals or snacks, our last morning before checkout we get the remaining snacks for the trip home. Good planning prevents leftover QS or TS leftovers, but that is how I plan our trip. I am a overplanner and proud of it

 

[Dismom55]

Now that I have a bit more time I can go into more detail why the DDP is for us.

1st, I am diabetic so to keep things going well, I have to keep my meals structured somewhat, so a nice sit down meal is what is easy for me

2nd I have other health issues and really need the break by the end of the day and usually head back to the resort after dinner while the rest of the group takes in the evening park hours

3rd, I like to plan dinners in different restaurants

When my kids were little and I was young we did complete counter service, ate when we got hungry, maybe only grabbed a snack not a meal and that was great for us when young, so the dining plan is not maybe the best for young families that have flexibiity, but this old lady tires easily and lost her flexibilty long ago

Hope you and your family have a great time, really your plan sounds fine for a young family. With that 3 yrs old sounds to me like you may be needing to return to your room for nap time or at least some noon time rest anyway, so eating some noontime meals back at the room is not a bad idea.

 

[m&m's mom]

We are now according to Disney, 4 adults. No way my 12 and 15 YO DD's and DH and I could eat 4 adult entrees AND dessert 2 out of 3 meals.
We are not huge eaters and if I could trade dessert for another snack credit, I might think about it but it's just too much of a hassle vs just paying for whatever we want- whenever we want it and at any place we choose.