Dining plan or OOP?

[rskbh00]

My family is thinking of going to WDW week before Christmas. We have never been to WDW before. Trying to decide if we should do the dining plan or just pay out of pocket. It is mom(31), dad(30), DD(9) and DD(6). Our 2 girls are not huge eaters and youngest could share with me if the meals are as big as I hear they are. Also we aren't huge breakfast eaters more of a light breakfast family; cereal or muffins. So according to site it will be $2014.00 with dining or $1533.00 without dining. Any help?

 

[squirrel]

So it's a little less than $500 for how many nights?

It really depends if you want a TS each day. You need to figure out if you will use all the credits or will you have a lot left over. Do you like having dessert at lunch and dinner?

I share the 1/2 chicken meal with my niece. Her CS were saved for breakfast.

 

[Cafeen]

I can't get into too much detail without more information, but in general:

Do you plan to eat at least closely to how the plan suggests?

• 1 TS per night, 1 QS per night
• For TS meals, will you be ordering your own or doing buffets? Or do you plan to share a lot here?
• Are you dessert people (or do you prefer appetizers)?
• Are you OK with making plans 6 months in advance in regards to where you would like to eat? (Granted, this can be considered for OOP as well, but it's a bit more important when things are already paid for)

In general, to break even on the DDP you have to dine as the plan is designed. This means that you each should spend 1 QS and 1 TS credit per night of your stay (and with "normal" DDP, it's generally suggested that you save credits for 1TS locations). It also means that you'd be ok ordering (and eating ) desserts with most of your meals (TS and QS).

Now, to get at least some value from the DDP, you have to plan. Since it is a prepaid plan, you're going to want to have reservations already made long before you get there. When on OOP, if you can't get in all the TS you want, it stinks but doesn't cost you extra. On DDP, each TS credit left over is a loss of money, and shorter stays have much less leeway.

My mantra as of late has been "Get a dining plan if it fits your plans, don't fit your plans to get a dining plan" (or something of the sort, it changes every time I say it ). If you intend to dine the way the DDP is designed, then chances are it's going to cost you less overall.

So, if you're ok with that, and you already have and idea of where you want to eat, we surely can do some deeper math to see if you'd be actually saving money or not (and roughly how much either way).

 

[rskbh00]

Yes we will be there 4 nights, 5 days. We will more than likely eat a 1 QS and 1 TS meal per night. We will also probably order desserts since it is a vacation. And I have no problem making advance reservations. SOme meals will be buffet and some won't. Also some days we will probably want a breakfast and a sit down dinner. So jut trying to figure out which to go with.
If we go with the dining plan it will cost us $481 for DD(9), DD(6), me and DH and that is for 4 nights, 5 days. So is that reasonable or would I come out better with paying out of pocket? Like I said this will be our 1st trip.

 

[squirrel]

It does depend on where you plan to eat. If you will mostly use the TS for dinners and use your CS on the mid to highest entrees then you will save money.

I think the DDP is good if you will use the credits. Sounds like you will. I also like that it's paid for and you can get whatever you want, you don't have to pick a lower priced item because you are paying out of pocket.

Not sure if your trip is during the new seasonal charge. If you want more than 4TS meals you can pay out of pocket for the least expensive ones.

 

[Cafeen]

In your situation, you'll most likely come out ahead with the DDP. You like the setup (1QS/1TS) and you like dessert. Light breakfasts can be picked up with snack credits or just paid out of pocket (cheap enough). The couple TS breakfasts you may have will also work OOP as they're the cheaper of the meals. Depending on location and meals, you can easily rack up over the $481 mark for 4 people for 4 nights in Disney, especially doing a TS each night (not necessarily for dinner, I use "each night" to signify that the credits are based on nights stayed and not days).

A couple tips for that general plan:
#1 - Watch the cost of kids meals, particularly buffet breakfasts vs TS kid's meals. It may make sense to use to kids' credits differently than the adults.
#2 - Try and use snack credits for items that are around $3 or more. Not a hard-fast rule, but you'll get better value that way. Of course, ending up with a pile of unused credits is also a waste of value, so try and balance it as much as possible.
#3 - Relax and enjoy it If you're eating as the plan is designed, there's a good chance you'll save quite a bit without trying. It's when you start trying to work around the plan (rather than with the plan) that the savings can start to drop.

 

[saintstickets]

My family is thinking of going to WDW week before Christmas. We have never been to WDW before. Trying to decide if we should do the dining plan or just pay out of pocket. It is mom(31), dad(30), DD(9) and DD(6). Our 2 girls are not huge eaters and youngest could share with me if the meals are as big as I hear they are. Also we aren't huge breakfast eaters more of a light breakfast family; cereal or muffins. So according to site it will be $2014.00 with dining or $1533.00 without dining. Any help?

Yes we will be there 4 nights, 5 days. We will more than likely eat a 1 QS and 1 TS meal per night. We will also probably order desserts since it is a vacation. And I have no problem making advance reservations. SOme meals will be buffet and some won't. Also some days we will probably want a breakfast and a sit down dinner. So jut trying to figure out which to go with.
If we go with the dining plan it will cost us $481 for DD(9), DD(6), me and DH and that is for 4 nights, 5 days. So is that reasonable or would I come out better with paying out of pocket? Like I said this will be our 1st trip.

A lot depends on your eating habits. If you like a dessert with each meal, then you probably would like the DP. We just returned from WDW at the end of May and did the DP for 5 adults. Before we left, I looked at the menus for each place we wanted to eat and compared the cash cost vs the DP. For us it worked out because of what we like to eat. If you are more into salads, sandwiches, buffets, appetizers and few desserts, it might be cheaper to pay OOP. Look at the menus from the restaurants you like and add up what you would spend OOP. Don't forget the 6.5% sales tax and tips at the TS restaurants. Compare that to the DP cost and you should see which is better for you. When we got back from WDW, I sat down and compared our DP meals & snacks to OOP and TIW. The results for us are at the Trip Report link below.

 

[leebee]

We are doing the dining plan in August because it is "free"; of course I am paying an outrageously higher hotel cost to get the "free" food. Basically "upgraded free dining" means DD and I can eat at WDW for $50 a day for 2 people. Going during free dining means we will get to try many restaurants we've only thought about, like Teppan Edo, Brown Derby, and Chefs de France, but that I know won't fit in the "$25 per person per day" scheme (if we were paying oop) . We have been to Disney many times and DD and I have three "must-do" table service restaurants: Boma, Crystal Palace, and Kona. I did the math and discovered that the cost of a cheap value resort room ($58 a night) plus dinner at these 3 places, plus 6 more days of meals, would be more than the cost of "free dining" for the two of us.

However, while it makes sense financially, I am not sure it's really the best plan for us, food-wise. We are not dessert people , especially at lunch, and we rarely order soda while at WDW (or anywhere else, for that matter). I am already wondering if we can get fruit substituted as dessert, and will bring a couple of tupperware dishes to transport desserts back to our hotel room (although the thought of cheesecake for breakfast... well...) We are looking at "free dining" as a chance to explore new restaurants and are basing this trip around our meal plans. Usually we are better off paying oop for our meals, but this trip we will be adventurous! We are actually pretty psyched about this opportunity

BTW, just because it says "counter service", don't be misled into thinking you would eat burgers, fries, and nuggets all week! There are some amazingly good meals to be had at Disney's counter service restaurants!

 

[saintstickets]

BTW, just because it says "counter service", don't be misled into thinking you would eat burgers, fries, and nuggets all week! There are some amazingly good meals to be had at Disney's counter service restaurants!

That is so true. The rotisserie chicken at many CS restaurants, the ribs at Flame Tree BBQ in AK, the ham/salami grinder & chicken salad at the Sunshine Season Food Fair in EP (The Land Pavillion) and the meatball sub at Pinocchios in MK are some of the CS meals we had during our last trip in May, 2010 and they were all very good. But hey, don't put the burgers and chicken nuggets down either because they are much better than the chain fast food places!