Dining Plan or not?

[sweetcheeks]

I am trying to figure out whether to use the dining plan or not. Usually when we are on vacation, we don't usually spend over $100 per day on food (2 adults, 1 toddler). For those of you that have not used the dining plan, would you mind sharing what you usually pay per day in food in the parks? I understand that you can save money by getting the dining plan IF you are eating all that food. But if not, is it still a good deal? Especially if maybe one of the days we would go to SeaWorld instead of one of the Disney parks?

 

[IckyMickey]

I know this wasn't quite the answer you were looking for, but it should be helpful. I was on the DDP but kept all of my receipts to see the "bargain" I had received. We paid $900 for 9 nights with 2 adults and 2 kids 3-9 yrs (DS4 & DS9) and received $1450 in food.

Some days we shared a CS because of our TS reservations. I loved the DDP because it allowed us to visit TS restaurants we would not have if we paid out of pocket. When we had extra CS we started getting CS breakfasts, other days we used a snack credit for an 8 pack of Entemann's donuts ($3.79). We did a lot of buffets so we got the food fast, which made everyone happy. We also did 5:00 ressie's so we weren't waiting a long time for our seats.

We had 14 snack credits left at the end of the trip and used them to purchased mickey mouse rice krispie bars, cookies and bags of MM pretzels to bring back as souveniers to our nieces, nephews, etc.

Here is what we would have paid had it been out of pocket:

Thursday 10/19
Pop Century food court:
CS Kids Chicken nuggets, french fries, grapes, milk, MMrice krispie $7.20
CS Flatbread, soda, tie-dye cheesecake $12.60
Snack - Entemann's 8 pack donuts $3.79
Chef Mickey's (5:15 ADR) - $102, 2 adults, 2 kids
TOTAL $125.59

Friday 10/20
MGM all Day
CS - Toy Story Pizza Planet - no kids meals, order off regular menu:
2 cheese pizza combos, comes with salad, soda, rice krispie $26.25
CS - Flatbread - 2 shredded pork sandwiches with chips, 2 sodas, 1 choc
cake, 1 marble cheese cake $25.93
TS - Hollywood & Vine (5:15 ADR) Fantasmic buffet - $89.59 2 adults, 2 kids
Total $141.77

Saturday 10/21
Epcot all day
CS - Tangeriene Cafe - yummy!
1 Kids pizza, soda and baklava (no choice for dessert - but yummy!)
1 Schwarma combo platter, soda, baklava
Total $28.00
Snacks
1 pretzel from Germany $3.50
2 bags gummy candy - Germany $6.30
2 kaki gori's - Japan - $5.00
TS - Le Cellier - absolutely wonderful!
2 adult meals (steak), appetizers, smoothie, soda, and desserts
2 kids meals - 1 steak, 1 spaghetti, appetizers, sodas and dessert
$165.52
Total $208.32

Here's one more...
Wed, 10/25 Magic Kingdom
Snacks
Ice cream float $3.93
Ice Cream sandwich $3.00
Dole Whip Float $4.25
CS - Cosmic Ray's
Caesar Salad, iced cappuccino, carrot cake $14.24
2 DBL cheese burgers, fries, sodas, choc cake, carrot cake $28.48
TS - Concourse Steakhouse - quick monorail trip to Contemporary
2 steak dinners, 1 smoothie, 1 soda, 2 appetizers, 2 desserts
2 kids dinners "new menu", 1 soda, 1 milk (roughtly $10 each)
Total $115.66
Total for Day $169.56

Having TS really can bring you close to breaking even. It really is wonderful to be able to sit down in the park or leave for a short while. Also, I was brought up a member of the "clean plate club" and with the DDP I didn't feel guilty if I didn't eat it all. It was paid for, I got my money's worth and we were all relaxed and happy. That really was an important piece of our vacation that made it so wonderful!

FYI - here are all our TS meals - all were dinner - and costs for a family of 4
Chef Mickey's 102.00
Hollywood & Vine 89.59
Le Cellier 165.52
Boma 94.57
Crystal Palace 102.04
Hoop Dee Doo 151.00 - cheaper than LeCellier but 2 TS each!
Concourse Steak. 115.66
Mama Melrose's 112.00

I say go for it, you'll have fun deciding what places to eat, you won't worry about cost, and no arguing about where to eat.

 

[kaybird]

I am trying to figure out whether to use the dining plan or not. Usually when we are on vacation, we don't usually spend over $100 per day on food (2 adults, 1 toddler). For those of you that have not used the dining plan, would you mind sharing what you usually pay per day in food in the parks? I understand that you can save money by getting the dining plan IF you are eating all that food. But if not, is it still a good deal? Especially if maybe one of the days we would go to SeaWorld instead of one of the Disney parks?

If you are spending $100 a day anyway, your DDP will cost less and you will get more than that in value. If you are spending well under the $100 a day, you may want to pay OOP. We always find the DDP to be a great value, and enjoy having the flexibility of not worrying about the cost on vacation.

 

[LillersMom]

You would spend less than $100 per day on food and it might give you incentive/freedom to try other restaurants and options that you might not when you are trying to stay on a budget. Our family of 5 saved approx $1000 on a 8 day trip.

 

[cybrkitn]

I know this wasn't quite the answer you were looking for, but it should be helpful. I was on the DDP but kept all of my receipts to see the "bargain" I had received. We paid $900 for 9 nights with 2 adults and 2 kids 3-9 yrs (DS4 & DS9) and received $1450 in food.

I say go for it, you'll have fun deciding what places to eat, you won't worry about cost, and no arguing about where to eat.

We were also on the DDP and saved all our receipts but we haven't had a chance yet to do what you have done. We just got back on the 1st after staying at Pop from 10/25 and yes, we also bought package of donuts at our DS4's request.

On 10/25 we ate at Planet Hollywood and our tab was $101 and change.
10/26 we had lunch at Coral Reef and dinner in Mexico. Lunch was $111 and unfortuntately we didn't get a breakdown receipt in Mexico to see the total of what was ordered. So in a day and a half we already had over $200 in dining.

To OP, our family also consists of me, DH and DS4. At home when we go out, we normally don't spend more than $50 ($30 for DH and I and about $20 max for DS4). However, in Dis, we were spending $70+ each day (B, L & D plus snacks). The cost of the DDP according to Allearsnet is $37.99 per adult and $10.99 for children 3-9 and is based on the number of nights you stay. We stayed for 7 nights so that was a total of $608.79. I can tell you right off the bat we spent more than that in dining so for us it was definately worth it! But we also did a lot of table services too and had a lot of QS available so we used those for breakfast and in the parks where we didn't have a TS scheduled. DH thinks we over scheduled our TS's, but I was trying to make up for the last three times I had visited when I was younger. My parents couldn't afford to do sit down dinners that much and the DDP was not around back then.

You also mentioned going to Sea World. We also did that. The DDP, as I mentioned above, is based on the number of nights you stay. So if you are planning on going to Sea World one day, you don't lose your days worth of credits on the DDP. You actually have a full day's worth to use, so you can double up if need be. For example, you can have an ADR for lunch and dinner and use two TS credits and you will have used your one extra TS credit.

One thing I forgot to mention with the DDP. You don't have to get the appetizers or deserts if you don't want to. The first night at Planet Hollywood we didn't know this, but the server did tell us.

But overall, it was definately worth it and I agree with IckyMickey in that you don't have to worry about money since it's already paid for in advance (including the gratuity). It also leaves a lot open for you to choose from. The only thing you have to pay out-of-pocket for is anything that is not covered on the DDP. It was definately a time saver for us and we didn't even have to stress over the cost wondering if we had enough money right up front.

 

[TMEF23]

My past two visits to DisneyWolrd have been on DDP (we went when the DDP was free). I am now planning a trip for 6 adults in February with very different food preferences. To help me decide on the DDP I went through the menus and picked off some items that we would have on a "typical" day. I even factored in that my boyfriend would not normally order an appetizer or dessert. This is what I found: If you are planning on eating at a sit-down restaurant for dinner EVERY night then the DDP is worth it. If you aren't planning on using a TS everyday, that it might be cheaper to pay OOP. The nice part with the DDP (and this is why I decided to go with it), is that you get to eat at a variety of places, order things off the menu that you might not get normally (for example, I normally would not splurge and order lobster tails for myself and I NEVER order dessert out).I know this isn't exactly what you are looking for, but I hope it helps.

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

We were very lucky and managed to have 10 days of free dining, two parents, DS12 and DD10, so technically 4 adults which would have cost us approximately $160 per day. Did we enjoy it? Absolutely! Would we do it again if we had to pay $160 a day? Most likely not. It really depends on your preferences - if you want TS every day and enjoy spending a fair time in restaurants, and planning your days around your ADR's then it could be for you. We would rather be out enjoying the parks and the sunshine. I'm so glad we did it as we were able to enjoy some great restaurants and lots of different appetizers, entrees and desserts that I would have been way to cheap to pay OOP for. I can't say that one restaurant lived up the cost of the bill at the end for our family(taking into account the full bill with all three courses). Maybe it could also be that because we visit only every 3 - 4 years with living so far away that we are trying to cram everything in and don't want to spend too much time away from the parks. Good Luck deciding!

 

[IckyMickey]

We like the Calgary DisHeads - like to utilize all of our time in the parks - we were at every park at opening time and left at closing all 7 days (we also go every 3-4 years). But, I really appreciated having 1 hour of down time to sit down and relax, cool off when it's 92, and enjoy some good food. We spent no more than 1 hour at MGM in both Hollywood & Vine (buffet) and Mama Melrose's, MK - Crystal Palace (buffet), and Epcot - LeCellier. We spent a little more than 1 hour at Concourse Steakhouse when we were at MK when it was open from 9-9. Add in a few minutes travel time, but it was worth the peace and quiet.

I recommend early ADR times so you are in and out as quickly as possible. We don't usually eat at home until 6'ish but quickly got use to the 5:00 ADR times. Plus you might enjoy a little down / quiet time with your toddler before the big dinner rush.

 

[claven123]

We felt like we were locked into our ADR's and that dictated what and where we went each day. We had no flexibility in our touring plans. If it was free I would say yes in a heart beat, but we won't do it again if it wasn't free. We paid for it last time, but we would never had eaten that much food nor would we have eaten at some of those places.

I think its great to have it prepaid and not to worry about it, but... we felt like we had to eat at the most expensive places to break even or get our money's worth on the deal. So we didn't eat at some of the places that weren't as expensive.

Dennis