Dining plan worth it for our trip?

[aimz98]

We are making a trip in September. 2 adults, 1 child. We will be staying at a value resort for 8 nights, but only going to parks for 4 days (we are military). We will have a couple of rest days and go to sea world as well. When I called, we were quoted 1380 for 8 nights and dining plus and around 550 without dining. Which one would you do?

We love character meals but don't have to do a lot. My daughter and I do not eat very much at one time (we are snackers) and do not usually have much room for dessert, although my husband does. We are on a budget, so trying to figure it all out.

 

[Cherinva]

IMHO...it depends on your situation...if those numbers are correct...the quote was for $550.00 without dining, and $1,380.00 with dining.....the difference is $830.00 for 8 days....so $100.00 per day for all 3 of you. Do you think you would spend the $100.00 a day on food for your family...if you do, then I say go for it....and if you go to any character meals, it wouldn't be that difficult to spend close to $100.00 for one meal.

For what it's worth, we have used both the TS dining and QS dining...and we love them both...it depends on what type of trip we are on, as to which DP we use.

Good Luck and enjoy your vacation.

 

[havoc315]

We are making a trip in September. 2 adults, 1 child. We will be staying at a value resort for 8 nights, but only going to parks for 4 days (we are military). We will have a couple of rest days and go to sea world as well. When I called, we were quoted 1380 for 8 nights and dining plus and around 550 without dining. Which one would you do?

We love character meals but don't have to do a lot. My daughter and I do not eat very much at one time (we are snackers) and do not usually have much room for dessert, although my husband does. We are on a budget, so trying to figure it all out.

To get fair value from the DDP, you would need to be pretty committed to eating 8 TS dinners/lunches and 8 CS lunches/dinners, with desserts at almost all meals for all people.

If you are going to do lots of character meals, then the plan may be worthwhile.

But if you plan on eating off-site for a couple of days, and you plan on skipping several desserts, if you wouldn't make use of all of your credits, it may be cheaper to skip the plan entirely.

Part of it depends on the age of your child. For example, if your child is 10, then you are paying an "adult" price, but if your child still prefers ordering from children's menus, then you will not get fair value.

 

[DisneyFive]

So what exactly did you ask for in your reservation?
Value resort for 8 nights?
Park tickets for 4 days?
Quick service or regular dining?

So $550 for 8 nights, and 4 days of park passes? Doesn't seem right, even with the Military discounts. Seems far to low.

Dan

 

[cam&phoebsmom]

During September it is often a "free dining" perid so many restaurants would have limited seating already. Have you looked at allears.net and seen the menus? They list the menus and prices for the table and counter service meals so you can get an idea of what you might order when you go and can determine what you might actually spend.


I would also pick specific meals that you are likely to do no matter what (like certain character ones) and see the availability by either calling or checking on-line. If a lot of the places you want to go area already booked then it would probably not be worth it for you to get the dining plan. (Since September is traditionally a free dining period many of the restaurants that are in high demand will already be booked).

For us it is worth it, but we like to sit down about once a day and enjoy a sit-down meal. This is likely our last trip using it b/c our son will go from a child to an adult so the value will go down and it will be cheaper to pay OOP.

 

[pooch]

I don't know your plans but Free Dining is being offered for the month of Sept. It requires staying on-site which you are and 2 day base tickets for everyone in your party. Staying at Pop would give you the Quick Service plan for free. The $1380 quote may very well have been the Free Dining as the room would be about $100 per night plus the cost of tickets.

Since you are Military, you may not need tickets (?) and are probably getting a room discount of some type based on the $550 quote. If you are "grazers" I think I would suggest going without the DDP even if its "free". You could eat very well paying out of pocket for the $830 difference in price, especially if you are not planning a lot of Table Service meals. And, if you have a car, there are many good, less-expensive places to eat off property and not far away.

 

[JimmyV]

As havoc correctly points out, the break even point of the dining plan is so razor thin nowadays that you really have to eat 90% of what you "paid for" to make the math work. Skip a meal or two off property, or skip a few of the many desserts included on the plan and you don't save anything. But if you factor in the price of character buffets, that might make a difference. People who load up on those tend to see bigger savings.

 

[dandave]

Hi aimz98! My husband is also military, so I think I understand what you have reserved. You have 8 nights at a Value Resort for 30% off, you bought the Miltary Salute 4 day tickets for $138 each separately, and you added on the regular Disney Dining Plan (DDP) at regular rack rate for 2 adults and a child under age 10, right?
You may get your money's worth with the dining plan, but it depends on where you're planning to eat. Look at the menus on allears.net, and check the prices of the buffets and table service restaurants where you want to eat. Figure the DDP will cost you $46 each for the adults and $12 for your child each night. If you're planning on eating offsite at all, you'll probably be better off not getting the plan.
And remember that you have to budget in tips for all the TS meals, as they are not included on the plan. Enjoy your vacation!

 

[aimz98]

Thanks for your reply all! We actually changed it and would only do the dining plan for 5 days. So, if we were to do the dining plan, we would do the princess dining at Epcot, O'Hana breakfast, Sci-Fi dinner, 1900 Park dinner, and Crystal palace dinner. Plus, all of the quick serves. Would this be worth it then?

 

[Aliceacc]

I'm pretty sure that the number of days on the dining plan has to match the number of nights you're booked at a WDW resort.
But I like your choices, particularly Aukerhaus in Epcot.

If your daughter wants to wear her princess Halloween costume to any of the princess dinners, she'll be greated with "your majesty" and "your highness" by the other princesses

 

[angelmav]

There is some missing information from your post to really help you out but here goes. Is your child under the age of 10? If so, that is where you will save on the dining plan. Are you flying or driving? Renting a car? If you are going to have transportation, then I would consider staying at Shades of Green instead of the value, Even if the price is break even the accomodations are nicer or if you dont mind staying offsite look into the Armed Forces Vacation Club, you could get a really good deal that you couldnt come close to on site, but again, it really depends on how you are planning on getting there.

 

[aimz98]

Sorry I was not including enough information. We are thinking about only doing 5 days instead of 8 now. My daughter is 4. We usually do Armed Forces vacation club but were wanting to stay on resort this trip.

 

[Cafeen]

Without doing any hardcore number crunching... If going for 5 nights, then your plan looks solid. Please note that dining plans are offered on a per night basis and not a per day (this is a very common misconception!).

If you are looking for 5 days (4 nights), then you'd either have to drop one of your selections, or pay OOP. If paying OOP, I'd choose Sci-fi as it's likely to be the least expensive of the group.

Of course, this all hinges on whether or not you can do what you're aiming for, but the general DDP plan looks like you'd end up coming out ahead.

One thing to note though, if you haven't made ADRs yet, you may want to make sure you can get into the places before you add the DDP (you can add the DDP up until 3 days (72 hours) before arrival, after 45 days before arrival you'd just have to pay the price for adding it in full at that time). It's never good to pay for the plan, only to find out you can't use it to your advantage.

 

[angelmav]

If your 4 year old is not that big of an eater then the dining plan probably isnt geared to save you much. I would still consider switching to Shades instead of staying Value and taking advantage of a few meals their if this is a budget trip unless you are flying and really need the Magic Express shuttle. Its still onsite, right across from the Poly, you can walk or they have a shuttle to the parks and to the Ticket and Transportation Center. If your sold on staying in the Value, I am still not so sure I wouldnt rather do more CS and maybe a special character meal to keep the budget from busting. Since your planning on Sea World I am assuming you have a car though, so again, you have better alternatives to keep the cost down than the dining plan no matter where you stay, just keep in mind to buy it, you have to get it for each night of your stay.

 

[havoc315]

Thanks for your reply all! We actually changed it and would only do the dining plan for 5 days. So, if we were to do the dining plan, we would do the princess dining at Epcot, O'Hana breakfast, Sci-Fi dinner, 1900 Park dinner, and Crystal palace dinner. Plus, all of the quick serves. Would this be worth it then?

4 nights or 5 nights?
Yes, it does appear that DDP would be worthwhile for you.
If staying 4 nights, you would have to pay OOP for 1 meal, or drop a meal.
The O'Hana breakfast is probably the cheapest meal you have listed. Sci-Fi can be pretty cheap, depending what you order.
The other 3 meals would certainly be a savings on the DDP.

 

[LisaTC]

We are making a trip in September. 2 adults, 1 child. We will be staying at a value resort for 8 nights, but only going to parks for 4 days (we are military). We will have a couple of rest days and go to sea world as well. When I called, we were quoted 1380 for 8 nights and dining plus and around 550 without dining. Which one would you do? We love character meals but don't have to do a lot. My daughter and I do not eat very much at one time (we are snackers) and do not usually have much room for dessert, although my husband does. We are on a budget, so trying to figure it all out.

We are going in October -- 2A, 1Child and at first I thought, "nope" no dining plan...then I thought hmmm....maybe, then I thought, well we don't eat that way, dessert every meal. I've learned you may be able to get water, fruit, etc., instead of dessert --ok, more appealing.

We have no DP with our pkg, currently. There's no free dining (at this time) when we are going. I made our ADR's based on what I thought we'd like to eat from the menus online. CS would appeal to my DH & DD more than myself. My plan would be (only if free dining was offered) to upgrade to Deluxe and here's why.

1. From what I've planned ADR-wise the cost difference is only $100 more than OOP. I ran "theoretical" tabs from each menu based on what I know we like to and would eat. (I know my DH and DD like the back of my hand!) We currently have a TS ADR for each day...some days there are 2 depending (1 was Via Napoli for Pizza for lunch & 1 was Akershus breakfast)

2. I also have Gift cards for Rainforest Cafe (breakfast before AK day) and Ruth's Chris - dinner after DHS day. Those amounts weren't included. If I chose not to use them and opted for on property dining, I'd definitely be on the + side for the DxDP!

3. DxDP options are more appealing, I'd rather have an app than dessert. I like the option for TS if I want to. I look at more like a modified all inclusive - like on a cruise ship, where you pay your grats and beverages.

Even without using all the credits as TS (or the magical 2/3 as indicated here on the board) I was already ahead $$ wise. Surprised the heck even out of me. I was on the NO dining plan band wagon...no way was I doing the DP! I'm not eating that way, my DD7 won't eat chicken fingers every day, but I was really surprised when I took a bit to crunch and roll the numbers, view the children's choices at some of the more signature places, but it was worth the time.

Now, would I do the regular DP now that I've crunched the $ for the DxDP?? It's worth a look...to be sure. FWIW, you should crunch the numbers and consider what you'll spend OOP (including groceries, etc) vs DP, it's worth a look.