Dining plan or not?

[mhingher]

DH and I will be staying at OKW with my parents next month (I can't believe I can finally say that we're going NEXT month!!!) Anyway, we're debating whether or not to do the dining plan. Since it only includes 2 "meals"/day, we would still end up paying for one or having breakfast in the apartment. We are planning to spend one day at Universal/IOA also. What are your thoughts/advice??

TIA!

Melissa

 

[DisGirl819]

We thought about the dining plan too. We decided not to go with it because you are limited to certain restaurants and like you said, it only covered 2 meals per day. It would be a good deal if you like the restaurant choices that participate and if the 2 meals plus snack are enough.

 

[sz9144]

we went last year during free dining and LOVED the dining plan! It kept us from having to budget meals, or end up with large meal charges. and we definitely ate a lot on the plan- we ended up with extra credits to burn after 6 days. we never felt limited in our choices, and the portions were large. for the counter service, we often would get 2 meals and split it between four of us (2 adults and 2 toddlers). we went to pizza planet at mgm and got a combo meal: an individual pizza (very large) a side salad, and large cookie or rice krispie bar for dessert and a drink (we usually choose the water bottle- it was like 32 oz, large enough for 2 of us to share), and then we still had 2 counter service remaining. for breakfast we would get an entree and a large cinnamon roll (entree and dessert item) and split it among 2 of us. every dinner we ate was like $150 in cost, definitely covered the cost of dining plan had we been paying.

and we also shared snacks. we'd get a large ice cream bar etc and split it among 2 of us.

we are going on points in august and buying the meal plan.

 

[Willow25]

People underestimate the amount of food you actually get with the dining plan. My best friend and I went last year during the free dining plan deal and we both felt like all we did was eat. We could never finish all the meals.

Remember you get an entree, main and dessert with every table service meal and with the counter service meals you get a combo and dessert. We simply bought a few items like fruit and muffins for our room and that was what we ate in the mornings.

I loved the dining plan. Everything is prepaid and you can enjoy some of the Disney restaurants that you would only try with the plan.

 

[abner1776]

When we went this past Jan, the dining plan was a real plus for us. We never had a problem with the limited number of restaurants since there were so many to chose from anyway. We never found a restaurant that we had to visit that was not on the plan. They also give you a bill at the end of each meal with the entire price of the meal spelled out, which helps you see how much you would have spent. Even with just the two of us, dinner averaged $80 per night and lunch was somewhere around $35 for a total of over $110 per day. THe dining plan cost us $76 per day for the two of us so we saved almost $35 each day...then add in the snack which was another $10 per day for a total savings of $45 per day. It's expensive to dine anywhere in WDW..there are no cheap eats on property.
They tell you that you will not go hungry on the dining plan... and they are RIGHT. Appetizer, entree and dessert...for both lunch and dinner...ahhhh..I'm bursting....

For breakfast we just grabbed a sandwich or cereal each morning to keep us going until we "gorged" on lunch and dinner.

 

[byoung]

Try the dinning plan you may like it.

 

[Tam1067]

We're going in July and I ran the numbers several ways. I initially thought the DP was way too expensive and couldn't be worth it. However, I found that no matter what, we were saving a lot of money on the plan with five of us (2 adults, 3 kids) which is why I decided we'd get it.

If you would eat at least one TS meal a day (which of course some people don't but we would), you will probably save money with the plan. We're not huge eaters as we normally would not get the dessert or appetizer with our meals, yet even then, we ended out coming out ahead by getting the plan.

You should go to the www.allears.net website which has the menus with prices for WDW restaurants and do the math yourself. And remember, tax and tip are included on the meals covered under the DP, so that increases your savings. Food is really expensive at WDW, with a basic CS lunch approaching $10 a person.

 

[Amy&Dan]

If you are planning on eating table service, I think the dining plan is very worth it. For us, we haven't been able to do it since we had AP's and are DVC (they do offer it now for DVC thankfully). This next trip we won't have AP's and it was tempting but in the end decided it was not worth it for us. My kids are not big eaters and with my son being 11, he has to pay adult price. There is absolutely no way he could eat all of that food. Also, we decided that since we ate so much table service the last two trips, it would be nice to have a trip where we only had one ADR and did the rest counter service. We also find the portions at WDW to be huge and can generally share. But if I take another trip where I decide I want to eat a lot of table service, I will do it because it would save me quite a bit of money. Also, once my son is actually able to eat the adult portions we are paying for.