Dining Plan when kids are "adults"

[Mama Moose]

We are 3 Disney adults that like to do character meals. The dining plan is pretty pricey for the 3 of us since we will be there 9 or 10 nights. My kids would like to eat at Chef Mickey's, Tusker House, Ohana, 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, Sci-Fi and a few other TS that don't involve characters.
Where can I find what the prices will be in June? It looks like most of these meals will be $50 pp. Does that sound about right for character meals?
My 11yo would be happy with kid's meals for some of the QS, but I know we have to pay adult prices for TS. Both kids would love to have smoothies, shakes or Starbucks and I would love to not have to pay oop every time.
Does the dining plan make any sense when kids are "adults" or is it a waste?

 

[KayaWildfire]

$50 a person for the character meals sound about right. We like the dining plan and use it even though most of our kids are Disney adults these days. It is really easy to break even on character meals and a specialty drink. Even kids that can't have alcohol we're actively encouraged to get specialty drinks everywhere, including things like shakes, virgin Pina coladas etc. It's definitely not a waste if you plan it right.

 

[sharonabe]

We are 3 Disney adults that like to do character meals. The dining plan is pretty pricey for the 3 of us since we will be there 9 or 10 nights. My kids would like to eat at Chef Mickey's, Tusker House, Ohana, 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, Sci-Fi and a few other TS that don't involve characters.
Where can I find what the prices will be in June? It looks like most of these meals will be $50 pp. Does that sound about right for character meals?
My 11yo would be happy with kid's meals for some of the QS, but I know we have to pay adult prices for TS. Both kids would love to have smoothies, shakes or Starbucks and I would love to not have to pay oop every time.
Does the dining plan make any sense when kids are "adults" or is it a waste?

Josh at easywdw did an update on buffet prices last fall. It's the most up-to-date we have: https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/d...meals-shows-and-all-you-care-to-eat-platters/

If you are truly going to do the 7 buffets you have listed on a 9-10 night stay, then you only need 2-3 more TS to probably make it worth it. That 11 yr old will need to eat adult QS meals to be sure it's worth it, but they can probably find plenty of adult QS they like.

 

[wed100105]

We like sharing some of our quick service meals, and we find that we have enough to cover most of our meals including breakfasts.

I have also read that sharing has become more common on the ddp. Perhaps one of you would just like an appetizer (pay oop) and if you do that twice, you’d have enough ts credits for a third meal that way.

 

[Mama Moose]

Josh at easywdw did an update on buffet prices last fall. It's the most up-to-date we have: https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/d...meals-shows-and-all-you-care-to-eat-platters/
old will need to eat adult QS meals to be sure it's worth it, but they can probably find plenty of adult QS they like.

Thank you so much for the link!! It's crazy how much the meals cost!! Maybe I need to rethink our dining...not sure I want to pay those prices for so many meals.

 

[kiramay]

I have two “Disney adults” and it gets expensive quickly! For our 2015 trip we had free dining, so we booked a ton of character meals. The other trips we’ve just done a couple and paid oop. We’ve never had a problem ordering from the kids menu at other TS and CS restaurants when paying oop. (Like at Sci Fi the kids burger is $11 while the adult is $19, and we had no problems ordering the kids version.)

My next trip we’re splurging on the DP and booking a ton of character meals. For the adults who get alcoholic beverages and the little kids, we’ll “save money” using the DP, and the 14 year olds will enjoy the convenience when they’re off on their own.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Normally we do the DDxDP when we travel with the kiddos. One has been a Disney adult since she started going and the other will be one this year. We don't do character meals but do enjoy signature meals most nights. Our last trip with both children we bought APs, stayed CL, and that changed things around a bit. Now breakfast was already included in the room price and we received a discount on food via the AP.
So to cut back on expenses we did a split stay with the most expensive meals at our first hotel under the dining plan and then switched to our second hotel paying OOP for meals using our AP discount; worked out well for us financially.

 

[Nancyg56]

We are 3 Disney adults that like to do character meals. The dining plan is pretty pricey for the 3 of us since we will be there 9 or 10 nights. My kids would like to eat at Chef Mickey's, Tusker House, Ohana, 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, Sci-Fi and a few other TS that don't involve characters.
Where can I find what the prices will be in June? It looks like most of these meals will be $50 pp. Does that sound about right for character meals?
My 11yo would be happy with kid's meals for some of the QS, but I know we have to pay adult prices for TS. Both kids would love to have smoothies, shakes or Starbucks and I would love to not have to pay oop every time.
Does the dining plan make any sense when kids are "adults" or is it a waste?

The cost per meal sounds about right. If you are really going to book those character meals, I think the plan is going to be worthwhil for your family. By the time you book a few more TS, if you were plannignthat, add in a few snacks, and then plan to eat some lunch at CS to round the trip off, you will be even. The tween years are tough if you are plannign meals because if the kids wnat to order off of children's menus you are paying for more than they eat, however at character meals they are charged at the adult price, so you know in advance what the price per meal will be. If you continue to cost out food, add in tax for non dining plan costs and do not add it in for DDP cost. The tax add up, so those $5 snacks and $200 meals are really higher.

 

[Hi Pluto]

You would have to price it out and add it up. Also consider whether you are tailoring your eating habits to the DDP just to make it work, or if the DDP works for how you really want to eat. We priced it out and realized that with our DS10 now being a disney adult it just wouldn't work out, despite buffets and alcoholic drinks, etc. We were trying to make the plan work financially but losing our real eating habits in the process. Even then we were still not quite breaking even.

We do have a one night reservation at a different resort before the rest of our trip so we added the DDP to that. (Split stay like the pp suggested). This one night of DDP will give us 3 mugs (that will last the entire trip), 3 buffet meals at Cape May, 3 QS that we could divide up over two days, and 6 snacks that also can be used over two days. It works out to about $225 for that one night of dining plan for the 3 of us, which covers the mugs and buffet. The QS meals and snacks are then essentially "free". For the rest of the trip we will pay OOP using gift cards. We'll not only come out ahead financially, but if we have leftover money on the gift cards we can save it for another trip (no mad panic to use up credits before we leave).

I'd say if you can do a split stay where you have the DDP for just a couple nights then it might be worth it. Otherwise, maybe OOP is the way to go for a trip that long. It may be hard to maintain the eating style the DDP demands for that many days.

 

[Nancyg56]

You would have to price it out and add it up. Also consider whether you are tailoring your eating habits to the DDP just to make it work, or if the DDP works for how you really want to eat. We priced it out and realized that with our DS10 now being a disney adult it just wouldn't work out, despite buffets and alcoholic drinks, etc. We were trying to make the plan work financially but losing our real eating habits in the process. Even then we were still not quite breaking even.

We do have a one night reservation at a different resort before the rest of our trip so we added the DDP to that. (Split stay like the pp suggested). This one night of DDP will give us 3 mugs (that will last the entire trip), 3 buffet meals at Cape May, 3 QS that we could divide up over two days, and 6 snacks that also can be used over two days. It works out to about $225 for that one night of dining plan for the 3 of us, which covers the mugs and buffet. The QS meals and snacks are then essentially "free". For the rest of the trip we will pay OOP using gift cards. We'll not only come out ahead financially, but if we have leftover money on the gift cards we can save it for another trip (no mad panic to use up credits before we leave).

I'd say if you can do a split stay where you have the DDP for just a couple nights then it might be worth it. Otherwise, maybe OOP is the way to go for a trip that long. It may be hard to maintain the eating style the DDP demands for that many days.

The number of character meals the OP has already chosen adds up, and is why I figure that he is choosing a plan to match the choices.
It is always best to choose meals, and then look at plans to see if they work, and if so which one closest matches dining preferences.

One of the things we need to think about before recommending a split stay is the rolling 60 days FP. I am not sure if I understand the new "rules" however if I understood the conversations here a split stay no longer gives a guest the chance to book total length of stay FP, but now means that the second reservation begins a new booking 60 days out. If one is trying to book difficult FP like FOP or SDD, it is not going to be as easy with a split stay.

 

[Hi Pluto]

The number of character meals the OP has already chosen adds up, and is why I figure that he is choosing a plan to match the choices.
It is always best to choose meals, and then look at plans to see if they work, and if so which one closest matches dining preferences.

One of the things we need to think about before recommending a split stay is the rolling 60 days FP. I am not sure if I understand the new "rules" however if I understood the conversations here a split stay no longer gives a guest the chance to book total length of stay FP, but now means that the second reservation begins a new booking 60 days out. If one is trying to book difficult FP like FOP or SDD, it is not going to be as easy with a split stay.

Very true, and considering OP's trip is in June it's probably too late to mess around with it anyway. But that is also why I chose my words carefully with "may" and "might". Every family will have different plans and eating habits and individually need to do the math to see what the better option is. Split stays are not always the answer, but they do offer another choice.

Just brainstorming, that's all.

 

[Nancyg56]

Very true, and considering OP's trip is in June it's probably too late to mess around with it anyway. But that is also why I chose my words carefully with "may" and "might". Every family will have different plans and eating habits and individually need to do the math to see what the better option is. Split stays are not always the answer, but they do offer another choice.

Just brainstorming, that's all.

I am in total agreement that math matters. WIth the new rules in play for split stays and FP I think the decisions will become even more difficult.

 

[3gr8boys]

I think it was already mentioned by a PP...but in doing your analysis, keep in mind that kids that are Disney adults can order from TS kids menus if you are paying OOP. You can order any way you want. The DP doesn't save us money even though we eat a TS meal every day (including several AYCTE meals) because of the way we order at the non-AYCTE meals. One of my Disney adult kids always orders from the kid menu, we like appetizers and rarely would opt for the pricier options given the choices.