Dining Plan? So confused!

[amandamims1]

So I'm so very confused as to whether the dining plan is worth the money! I'm thinking I could be very thrifty and just watch what I eat, but I hate having to take in extra money because I lose everything!

Now here's the scenario...
5 of us going, including my mom, stepdad, boyfriend, sister, and myself.
The boys in my family eat A LOT, and when I say A LOT, they can easily consume a 16oz porterhouse, all the sides, and still have room for dessert. The girls? Full after a few bites most often. My mom thinks it would be smart to get the plan where you get 3 meals and 2 snacks. Is it worth it? I know I can look up all the menus and see how much each thing costs but we arent much for planning what exact meal we will eat each night.

So, for all of you that have bought the dining plan, was it worth it? Do you think you got a deal or royally messed up?

Help me out!!

 

[dancin Disney style]

I would say that for the men it would be very worth while. Not so much for the ladies. However, that depends on where you want to eat. If you plan on doing TS meals everyday it will be better to go with the DDP. If you are happy to eat CS mainly and maybe just go to one or two TS just as something special then the DDP would not be worth it for you.


The regular DDP is a lot of food for most people. The portions are usually on the large side. The DxDDP is just a crazy amount of food and it takes away a lot of your time in a day. Each time you are at a TS you will be there for between 1.5 and 2 hours.

 

[Sandisw]

The other piece of the dining plan is you really do need to plan in advance, especially if you are going at a busy time.

We did the regular one (1 TS, 1CS, and 1 snack) and found that it was more than enough food for us. My 17 year old son had his fill and was not hungry that week.

We were on the plan during a free dining stay so it was definitely a good deal (and it included the tip that year--no longer does) but even when we added it up, we would have saved money compared to the costs of what we ate.

Now I will say, when we don't do the DDP, we do not eat as well as we watch what we spend. On the DDP, since it is paid for ahead of time, it was nice not having to worry about it. So, although I could go and probably save some money by cutting out desserts at some meals, etc, I liked feeling as though I was enjoying my meals.

This next trip, we are trying the QSDP, because I did not like taking time every day to do a sit down dinner. We are doing that one night and will just pay OOP.

If you think that having to set up your reservations ahead of time will not work for your style of vacationing, then I might consider skipping the DXDDP. As PP said, you will be giving up a lot of park time to eat and the DxDDP really only saves you money if you maximize it by eating TS.

Good luck!

 

[amandamims1]

I would say that for the men it would be very worth while. Not so much for the ladies. However, that depends on where you want to eat. If you plan on doing TS meals everyday it will be better to go with the DDP. If you are happy to eat CS mainly and maybe just go to one or two TS just as something special then the DDP would not be worth it for you.


The regular DDP is a lot of food for most people. The portions are usually on the large side. The DxDDP is just a crazy amount of food and it takes away a lot of your time in a day. Each time you are at a TS you will be there for between 1.5 and 2 hours.

Man, I didnt know eating could take so long! (kidding, of course)


I may just have to inform my mom of this, as this is her show

 

[3boymthr]

We found that even with OOP costs we definitely save money with the DDP so it is worth the money. The beautiful thing is the girls could share their meals, at least on the CS (ie split a double cheesburger), and save the credits for the guys. Also deserts for most CS (prepackaged cookies, etc) and most TS can be taken to go to be used for the guys later. But...

If you are not planners you may want to use the QSDDP or skip it entirely. You definitely need to plan ahead if you are going to use the DDP because TS restaurants fill up quickly and you don't want to waste those credits.

If you would like I have a spreadsheet that you can use to weigh the costs of where you would like to eat vs the cost of the DDP. If you PM me your e-mail address, I will send it to you.

 

[redrosesix]

Man, I didnt know eating could take so long! (kidding, of course)

I definitely agree with the PP -- 1.5 to 2 hours per TS meal, even buffets, and that includes a lot of time waiting for your table. Even Sci-Fi was a good one hour wait in Feb.

 

[amandamims1]

I think we will stick with the basic dining plan for right now.

I keep telling my mom that she needs to book this trip ASAP but.. a las, no go. I'm going to be very sad if we miss out

 

[squirrel]

When are you planning on going? If it's during Free Dining, get your mom to book-you can always cancel-but the Free Dining is a good deal for most people.

 

[disneygirlinnj]

if you're going to watch what you eat just to save money, I'd go with the dining plan where you can get whatever you want off the menu. When I'm on vacation I don't want to have to think about how to save a few bucks. The deluxe plan is great but it is a ton of food!

 

[Golf4food]

I think we will stick with the basic dining plan for right now.

I keep telling my mom that she needs to book this trip ASAP but.. a las, no go. I'm going to be very sad if we miss out

If you plan to go in August you are already behind when it comes to planning any meals or getting "reservations" - people can make ADRs for late September by now so August is long passed and will still be in the time frame with kids being out of school and busy, especially in early August. By this point I don't know that you'd be able to get any of the more popular restaurants anyway, sorry to say. Worth trying, but I would not hold my breath by this point, and every day you wait to book it only makes the problem worse. You should qualify for the free dining plan in August, however, so at least there is that.

 

[eyor44]

We did the Deluxe in November and loved it. I did a lot of planning and we had a lot of TS meals. The only one that took over an hour was Brown Derby. and only then cause we had a waiter who was slow as Christmas. We don't take long to pick what we want and we eat when we get the food and leave when we are done. We don't linger as some people do. It was a good fit for us, but it is a lot of food.

 

[aubriee]

We did the Deluxe in November and loved it. I did a lot of planning and we had a lot of TS meals. It was a good fit for us, but it is a lot of food.

It depends on how you use it. I've used the DxDDP twice. The first time I was solo and wanted to try most of the signature restaurants. I did a TS early lunch/late breakfast every day then did a Signature meal every night. I think I might have used 3 or 4 snack credits that week. On the last day I made a run to Goofy's at DTD to use up the rest of my snack credits. It was great!

Last Sept I went with my mom who is a diabetic and must eat three meals a day and with my husband who just loves to eat. We planned three TS meals for almost every day. BIG MISTAKE!!! By around the third day we were sick of food and round up canceling several of our ADRs. We didn't use a single snack credit all week and had to go to Goofy's our last day to up 48 of them.

I'm doing the DxDDP again for my Sept/Oct trip and plan on doing a combination of the two. Most nights I will be dining at a Signature restaurant, plus I'll be using snack credits for lunch a day or two, when I'm wandering around the Food & Wine Festival. I plan on using every one of my credits and will use the Signature restaurants to make sure that I do. Personally we love having the appetizers that the basic DDP no longer includes. We may not eat everything the plan incudes, but I like knowing that it's available and already paid for if I do want it. For us the DDPs are more about convenience than value. I like knowing everything is paid for and I never have to look at the prices. I may not order the most expensive thing on the menu (made that mistake the first year the DDP came out), but I like knowing that I can and it's already paid for.

 

[Momgoingnuts]

I would not worry so much about the TS meals taking too long. If you are going in August..you will enjoy taking advantage of a break in air conditioned comfort.....I know that a long meal break is art of my planning process. This is especially true if you are spending a whole day at the park.
As for quantity of food...there is plenty, especially if you are able to reserve the buffets. They work well for big eaters as well as those who eat like birds. Perfect for your family dynamic.

I have a 12 year old son who would much rather grab a quick meal and go. owever, I find, even he has an appreciation for the TS meals! We use the opportunity to re-hydrate! Something that in August is so necessary.

I am going in August this year and some of the prime restaturants have been reserved long ago. There are still options, but because of free dining the restaurants are filling up very early.

I have not done the CS dinning...honestly it does not interest me as I really appreciate the sit down meal in the middle of a hot August day! For me it is all part of the experience. Long gone are the days when I rush from park to park and attraction to attraction. I have learned that I enjoy my vacation more when we are all relaxed and feeling no pressure.