Dining plan or paying out of pocket?

[tp1830]

While it is a treat to have soda and a dessert with my meal, i'll feel a lot better touring with water and a lighter belly..hydrated and no sugar crash.

Once while we were doing World Showcase, it was enjoyable to pick up a snack from almost every country and share it. While it was never a full meal at any one place, it really was enjoyable to have small bites from everywhere. I know you can do that with the DP with snack credits, but the cash part was so much easier in that.

 

[Walker24]

Another few ways to stretch your food a little further. When ordering a quick service order the adult meal instead of kids and you get more food. Also, I believe you can trade in a drink for a side item or dessert. It's a ton of food but for and extra 100 I would do it

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

If you're doing lots of character meals with that many disney kids you will come out ahead. If you're not going to do lots of character meals, probably not. Another benefit of the kiddos on the ddp is you can order adult qs for them. It is a huge value when you consider a single character TS is the entire cost of the plan for kids, plus then you can order an adult QS and a snack for them. Regular kid meals at a menu restaurant are quite a bit cheaper.

You need to define "kids" as most people may fail to think as a child of 10 years of age as an adult. At that point, your kids are costing just as much as the parents for meals and that is where the DDP starts to drastically lose value. I have also found that if you are doing a lot of buffets, or all you can eat meals, you will come closer to using the full value of the DDP. If you are not, then it becomes a great challenge to do so.

 

[Lisa F]

You need to define "kids" as most people may fail to think as a child of 10 years of age as an adult. At that point, your kids are costing just as much as the parents for meals and that is where the DDP starts to drastically lose value. I have also found that if you are doing a lot of buffets, or all you can eat meals, you will come closer to using the full value of the DDP. If you are not, then it becomes a great challenge to do so.

yes, the "no longer a kid at disney but still a kid" age is the WORST for the DDP because most of those kids still want to order off the kid menu but you're paying adult prices for them. Unless you are doing lots of character meals where there is no choice what you pay it is nearly impossible for it to be worth it for a kid that age.

 

[HatboxHaint]

WDWprepschool's rule of thumb:

Roughly speaking:

• Quick Service credits are worth about $18
• Table Service credits are worth about $37
• Snack credits are worth about $5

http://wdwprepschool.com/maximizing-disney-dining-plan-credits/

Their value charts on this page are great for planning.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

I went through the meals I know we want to eat at and added it up

so far I am using 6 out of 8 table service meals

and 5 out of 8 quick service meals. but still have more to plan. I also added in snacks

we are between 250-350 over by buying with dinning plan. I think it works for us knowing we have no breakfasts, and 1-2 table services to still chose, and 3 qs meals to choose. 60 x3 for the qs meals= 180


so on high side 350-180 leaves 170 left to spend on table service meals

40 x 3= 120 thats with 1 ts meal

15 x 3 drink- 45- thats 165

so for me it would be 5 buck loss I would have all the meals I know we want + more


even if its not free I am thinking just for our peace of mind it will be worth it.