Dining plan - worth it?

[Aimros]

Hey everyone,

So I was discussing possibly planning another trip with boyfriend today, and we were talking about the dining plan and were wondering if its really such a great deal. After all, its not like you are getting 3 meals a day, so we would be paying for the meal plan plus spending more on food. From your experience, would you recommend the offer? Do you feel like you saved money/got your moneys worth?

 

[DisneyDiva13]

Hey everyone,

So I was discussing possibly planning another trip with boyfriend today, and we were talking about the dining plan and were wondering if its really such a great deal. After all, its not like you are getting 3 meals a day, so we would be paying for the meal plan plus spending more on food. From your experience, would you recommend the offer? Do you feel like you saved money/got your moneys worth?

For my family of four, we are going to try it out next month. It seems like a really good value. But I also think it depends on your eating habits. We are not big breakfast people...so a bowl of cereal in our hotel room will suit us just fine. Then a counter service lunch and table service dinner on the dining plan...with a snack somewhere in between. You need to figure out how much per day you'd spend on food out of pocket and compare it to what the DDP costs per day.

 

[SnwflkCts]

Good value ... SO MUCH FOOD!!! I really think you will not be complaining!

 

[Slapster]

It really boils down to how you eat while you're there. If you normally eat a sit down every day at a table service place, then I think it's worth it. You can order apps and desert and not feel guilty about the cost! My family of four used it last time and ate like royalty! And for about $38 bucks a day. Tip included, too. With the snack, CS and TS included, we were always full and didn't buy any extra food.

If you don't usually eat TS meals everyday, then the consensus seems to be that you can do better paying out of pocket. As usual, you're mileage may vary.

 

[MariaEllerºoº]

My husband and I found the Dining Plan to be a great deal! You really don't need to spend any additional money on food. Drinks yes, but not food. What my husband I did was used one CS credit for breakfast and split the meal and used a CS credit for lunch and split the meal. It was more than enough food for us and my hubby's a big eater at 6'4" and 270 pounds. Then we used both of our TS credit for a nice sit down meal for dinner. It really worked out well for us. At other times we would use our snack credit as breakfast...muffins, donuts, etc....

 

[byoung]

It's a great deal. We are DVC and don't have to buy tickets, to get the plan.

 

[Jilly16]

Thumbs up for the dining plan! Worked out great for us! So much food tho!

 

[adabob]

On different trips we saved 40 -60 dollars on food
And it comes with so much food

 

[nbodyhome]

I wouldn't ever buy it - it'd not be worth it for me. But for some people, it is a good value (it's wayyyy too much food for me!)

 

[dis queen]

My family of 4 and my extended family, have gone to Disney several times. We kept our receipts from one trip to see if the meal plan was worth it for us, and our dining habits. We tended to have one ADR a day, did a breakfast in the room (quick breakfast bar, fruit, etc...) and a light meal for dinner or lunch, whichever we did not have an ADR for. We were so shocked at the savings for the dining plan. We will never go again without using it. After using it, we realize that you get way toooo much food, and never stress about having cash for food with you. A win, win!

You can calculate the expense for you by deciding which restaurants you would like to eat at, calculate that expense plus the quick meals you would also have each day, and compare that to the $39 daily price for the meal. Good luck!

 

[rentayenta]

My husband and I found the Dining Plan to be a great deal! You really don't need to spend any additional money on food. Drinks yes, but not food. What my husband I did was used one CS credit for breakfast and split the meal and used a CS credit for lunch and split the meal. It was more than enough food for us and my hubby's a big eater at 6'4" and 270 pounds. Then we used both of our TS credit for a nice sit down meal for dinner. It really worked out well for us. At other times we would use our snack credit as breakfast...muffins, donuts, etc....

The fact that those on the plan can share makes it an attractive deal for us. With little kids, they can rarely finish a meal and this way it seems we won't be wasting as much. Plus we'll have plenty to use for the 2 credit dining experiences.

 

[disneyjunkie]

We used the dining plan during our last trip and loved it. It includes a lot of food, but you don't have to order/eat everything that you're entitled to. I believe we had 9 TS service meals. Of those 9 meals, I only ordered dessert twice.

There were also times we skipped the appetizers. Even without maxing out the plan, we came out way ahead.

It's possible to use the plan to cover all of your meals, but that didn't work out for us.

While on vacation, we love a nice, hot breakfast. We also love all the yummy snacks that we can only get while we're there.

We use the plan to cover most of our meals. I pay out of pocket for counter service breakfast, extra snacks, and bottled water.

 

[BFL]

It's a fantastic value - last time we doubled our table service meals to try signature restaurants (California Grill, Artist Point , Narcoossee's)

 

[ReneeA]

We loved it - went during the free dining promo the past 2 years.

The first year we were there, we had a 2 year old that we shared with since she didn't get her own credits. It was so much food that we left with credits still on our card. We did pay OOP for water and alcohol.

The next year, we had meal credits for everyone. I brought breakfast bars from home and ordered water, beer and wine from gardengrocer.com to be delivered the day we arrived.

We had tons of food and did not pay one penny out of pocket for anything. If we had paid for the dining plan, it would have cost us $800.00. Our receipts for the week added up to $1675.00 for the week.

 

[Aimros]

Alright, so if free dining is not offered this year, would you still go for the dining plan? I guess that is my main question...so far it sounds pretty good.

 

[Aimros]

Another question!!

Say you are staying at WDW for 7 days, 6 nights, but you only purchase a 4 day MYW. Do you get the dining plan for the # of nights you are staying, or the # of days for your MYW ticket? Thanks!

 

[disneyjunkie]

Alright, so if free dining is not offered this year, would you still go for the dining plan? I guess that is my main question...so far it sounds pretty good.

I would

Another question!!

Say you are staying at WDW for 7 days, 6 nights, but you only purchase a 4 day MYW. Do you get the dining plan for the # of nights you are staying, or the # of days for your MYW ticket? Thanks!

The dining plan will match the number of nights you're there.

 

[tndisneyfan]

I am just agreeing with what others have said already. It really depends on your eating habits. If you plan on eating one sit down meal every day it will probably be a worth it. If you don't plan on eating a sit down or you like to do just sit down meals then it may not work for you.

My best advice is decide where you want to eat, what you would normaly eat without the DDP and crunch the numbers. Good Luck!

 

[Forevryoung]

I'm like you- just DBF and I on the trip. We are going with the DDP (his first trip and my first time using it).

We are going for 6 nights and I think the way I figured it out we will spend $480 on the DDP and about $100 out of pocket on food (shipping a case of water). That is not including alcohol- I don't drink and who knows how much DBF will

If we would normally spend at least $50 for each sit down meal including tax and tip (we get six of them on the DDP) thats $300 right there. That leaves $180 for 12 counter service meals and 12 snacks. I calculate that to be $15 for a counter service meal AND a snack. Seems like we will at least break even.

 

[emerymt]

We decided against it for several reasons:
1). We're staying at OKW so there's a good chance some meals will be eaten in the condo.
2). My 12-year old daughter will never consume $38.99 of food a day.
3). We normally don't do too many sit-downs, my husband hates to "waste time" with them.
4). I added up the food for a two-week trip to Hawaii and it was $1300, (including a $375 blow-out at the Four Seasons beach buffet). That's only $150 more than the DDP would cost for one week.
5). I don't need the stress of having to keep the dinner ressies or else lose the credits.
6). We don't eat that much. Actually, we kind of graze, even at home, much of the time.

Your mileage may vary