dining plan worth it?

[perrytheplatypus]

Is the regular dining plan worth it?

It comes with an entrée and dessert for lunch and then an entrée and dessert for dinner.

Usually when we go out to eat we only get an entrée with no dessert or app.

Would it be cheaper to get the meal plan, or to buy o.o.p. just entrées?

Will it really save us that much money?

 

[imthatgirl]

The regular dining plan does not come with an app. It does come with a salad or soup as an app for kids 3-9.

We always get the dining plan when we go, we like knowing that everything is paid upfront. I hate budgeting on a vacation.

 

[perrytheplatypus]

Oh, sorry, didn't see that the app was only for kids.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[LaurenT]

Is the regular dining plan worth it?

It comes with an entrée and dessert for lunch and then an app, entrée, and dessert for dinner.

Usually when we go out to eat we only get an entrée with no dessert or app.

Would it be cheaper to get the meal plan, or to buy o.o.p. just entrées?

Will it really save us that much money?

The regular dining plan (at least the last time I checked...I only did the deluxe and that only once) comes with one table service meal...that meal only gives you the entree and the dessert (and a non alcoholic drink)..you cannot exchange the dessert for an appetizer. Then you get a counter service meal and a snack or two.
If it is more food than you will eat then you will save money by just paying OOP. I don't like the DDP because I prefer appetizer to dessert and like to eat at some places that do not accept DDP. I LOVE that I was able to get the Tables In Wonderland this year (first time with an annual pass because DD and I will have so many days total in WDW over this 12 month period). I paid $75 for it (not sure if that $25 discount was for being DVC or for having AP) and I get 20% off EVERYTHING, including apps an alcohol for me and up to 9 others in my party...this will save me so much more than the DDP would and there are many more participating restaurants!

 

[DJSMOM]

I love the dining plan. It's so nice to know that the only thing I am paying OOP is souvenirs when we are there. I love some of the sit down places. If we didn't have the dining plan, we would eat on the fly more and not eat as well to say the least. With kids, I find having a sit down meal allows some "calm" time (unless it's a charcater meal which we do only once per trip.) We saved receipts on my last trip and without knowing the exact number, I know the dining plan saved my family of 3 at least $250. This extra cash let us do a Pirate and Princess party one night and still have extra cash to spend on souvenirs. Plus, we had some great meals. I say go for it...it takes the budgeting out and allows you to at least sample some of the different offerings.

 

[disneychic2]

You are thinking of the deluxe dining plan I think. Regular dining plan is 1 quick service, 1 table service (entree & dessert, no appetizer) and 1 snack per person per day. You'll get all sorts of responses on whether it is worth it or not. DH and I love the regular dining plan b/c we can split the quick service meal at breakfast and again at lunch and then enjoy our table service for supper. That's just the way we eat. Your family's needs may be different. Do you like to plan ahead? Do you eat a lot of food? Do you enjoy sitting down and relaxing over a meal? Would ADRs interrupt the flow of your days? We eat at restaurants we normally wouldn't eat at so, for us, the savings are worth it. It's also nice to have everything but the tip payed for in advance. Hope this helps.

 

[ktlm]

It really depends a lot on how much you eat and the size of your family. We are a family of 3. It is not worth it to us. We did the math with a room only discount and the addition of what we typically spend on meals as opposed to "free dining". There was no comparison. We saved a ton more money with the room discount. I have also done the cost of the dining plan as opposed to what we spend and it was not saving us any money. We generally don't eat desserts with our meals except at the buffets. Other than that we usually save room for a Mickey Head Ice Cream bar in the parks instead.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

There is only one way to know:

Figure out where you are going to eat and what you are going to eat.
Add the prices together.

Find out how much you will pay for the dining plan.

See which one is larger.

Er, also, I think you don't get a room-only discount if you buy a package (anybody know if that's true...?), so you'd have to figure out whether what you save on the dining plan is more than what you would save with a room discount. This would assume that you would go during a time of year when there was a room-only discount.

For my family, the regular dining plan is worth it. We got the Quick Service Dining Plan for free once and decided we really didn't like it. But we like the regular dining plan. In 2009, for a 7 day trip with 7 adults (one a child over 10), 3 children, and one under 3 (and therefore not on the plan), we saved over $1000 by using the dining plan. Your mileage may vary.

This is from our 2009 trip report:

FINAL DINING PLAN TOTALS:

This brings us, (drumroll please) to our final totals for food for the week. We used all 70 of our TS, CS, and Snack Credits.

We spent $122.37 out of pocket, mostly on alcoholic drinks and appetizers.

We spent $456.10 on tips.

We spent $2190 on the dining plan. If we hadn't been on the dining plan, we would have spent $3261.89. Now, it could be argued that we wouldn't have gotten desserts everywhere if they weren't included. It could definitely be argued that we wouldn't have gone on that last $100 snack shopping spree. But saving $1071.89 still feels like a big deal to me!

At this point, we were content to sit on the curb on Main Street and soak up atmosphere. But Barry really wanted a picture of the family by the Partners statue.

 

[eliza61]

Is the regular dining plan worth it?

It comes with an entrée and dessert for lunch and then an entrée and dessert for dinner.

Usually when we go out to eat we only get an entrée with no dessert or app.

Would it be cheaper to get the meal plan, or to buy o.o.p. just entrées?

Will it really save us that much money?

We don't do the Dining plan anymore. We tried it once.

1) Only saved us, a family of 4. 2 teen boys. a whooping total of $69 bucks. not enough to make it worth the hassle. It probably was a much better value when gratuities were included.

2) Does not reflect the way we really eat. we rarely each have individual desserts and when we order we generally don't pick the most expensive thing simply because we can.

3) We don't like planning our vacation around meals. We do love having a TS but there were some days we really were not in the mood for a big sit down dinner. we ended up wasting the credits.

 

[snykymom]

The dining plan's not worth it to us. I don't want to have dessert with every meal, and if I don't eat it, I feel like I'm leaving money on the table. I don't like having paid for something that I'm not going to use. I may be the unusual one, but I better without the DP than I would with it because I eat exactly where I want, order only what I want at the moment, and don't have to worry about whether I have enough credits or whether I'm wasting credits.

If you don't eat dessert because you don't want to eat dessert (rather than those who say I don't eat it because I don't want to spend the money but if it's paid for or free I will), then the DP will likely not save you money.

Remember that the DP, when all is said and done, makes money for Disney, in large part because of people who buy the credits but don't use them. If you don't eat the way it's designed, it's less likely to save money for you.

 

[Shunasee]

Its a personal choice.

DH and I happen to love the DDP. We dont have to worry about the food, its all taken care of. We find, that at the TS we do eat the dessert as thats our big meal of the day. At the QS, since you also get a dessert, we would get the packaged cookies, which we ended up snacking on and taking home. I dont feel we wasted any money. Any app/alcohol that we have, we pay for out of pocket. Which I buy Disney gift cards for. That way we really dont have to carry around to much cash when we are there.

About the only way to figure out if its a good fit for you is to try it and find out.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

If it's about saving money, then it sounds like you'd be better paying OOP. I know we'd spend less OOP but the DDP isn't about saving money for me, it's about enjoying my vacation more because I'm not worried about the prices. It's easier for me to part with the money up front. You can always take dessert with you, they'll box it up and have it later for a snack or for breakfast!

 

[lovealatte]

It is not worth it at all for us. Overall, way too much food. There is no way we can eat separate desserts twice a day, then still have a counter service and a snack credit, so it's just a waste. We tried it once, so not worth it.

 

[t_catt11]

Your mileage will vary, but we wouldn't dream of going to WDW without the dining plan.

Beware: it's more food than you will eat. If you trip is more than a couple of days, you may find yourself giving chocolate cakes to other people's kids by the time the trip is up!

The standard dining plan gives you one table service meal, one counter service meal, and one snack per day, at $46-$48 per day (depending on time of year).

If you add up the cost of a typical snack, typical counter service meal, and a typical table service meal, you'll find that it's cheaper (not terribly so, but cheaper), to use the dining plan. Of course, appetizers are not covered on the dining plan (which you might want), and desserts are always indcluded (which you might not want). It is certainly possible to dine for less than the dinign plan costs.

For us, the real value comes in the flexibility - if we want to order the most expensive thing on the menu, we don't have to worry about the cost. If we want to trade in two credits for a character meal or a show (such as the Luau at the Polynesian), we can do that.

We like to combine the dining plan with the reusable mugs - we eat a lot of counter service dinners at our resort, use the mugs for the beverage, then carry our bottled 20 ounce drinks (from the dining plan) with us to the park the next day.

Again, your mileage may vary. If you do a lot of table service meals, you might want to look into the "Tables in Wonderland" discount card - a $60 fee gives you 20% off of tables service meals, including wine (not covered on the dining plan). However, TiW gives you nothing off of counter service or snacks.

 

[Baloo and Bagheera]

We are considering adding DDP to our trip in June (four nights) and have been crunching the numbers. Whether or not it makes sense really depends on what table service meals you plan to eat. The DDP is $45.99 per day. If you use it for Crystal Palace Breakfast ($23), counter service meal, and a bottle of water, you will lose money on the plan. If you eat dinner at Chefs de France and get the Filet ($35), Creme Brulee ($7), and a Coke ($3), plus a counter service meal and snack, you'll be ahead on the plan for that day.

If you know where you will want to eat, check their menus and prices, and you can figure out if the plan works for you.

 

[disny4fun]

We have been both ways. With the DDP and without. Without we found ourselves splitting meals to save money and we only at at the counter service locations. We did enjoy a table service twice because that was all we could afford.

With the DDP we enjoyed many different experiances that we otherwise would not have been able to afford, like Teppan Edo in Japan. That meal alone was over $100.00 for just the two of us.

This year when we go I am getting the DDP and we have selected all sorts of new restauranta which we have not been to before and two that we really wanted to enjoy again!

It really depends on what you want out of your disney trip. For me, I'm on vacation, I want to feel like it.

 

[exwdwcm]

free dining plan- sure!

But now that we are DVC, we have to pay for it and we have found it is simply not worth it for us. We bought the TIW card instead (20% most sit down restaurants, few exceptions, plus alcohol!).

We typically don't order appetizers or desserts at meals out to eat at home. It is the rare occasion we order a dessert. And to be honest, with all the great treats at WDW, we usually have some rice krispies, fudge, cookies or cupcakes for snacks or in the room, again, negating a need for dessert. Now if somewhere is known for dessert, we might share one.

The dining plan was too much food for me (even once they dropped the app option years ago). There are many times we will share meals or DS will just eat some from our plates. I also found myself trying to order the most expensive thing to make the dining plan 'worth it', even if it wasn't my top pick.

i actually went through and calculated the dining plan vs TIW for us this last trip- estimating where we would eat and what we would order and the TIW was a better value for us. To be honest, it wasn't an apples to apples comparison, since i didn't account for ordering dessert on TIW and you do get dessert on DP, but we won't eat dessert.

so for us, the TIW is a better deal (since we have two trips within a year to use it on).

I do like the convenience of the dining plan in the fact that it is prepaid- so you aren't worrying about budget for your meals (other than tip). But you can do the same thing by just saving up money or using a disney gift card too.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

The Basic Disney Dining Plan - 1TS, 1CS & 1 Snack - is the BEST thing Disney has come up with in years. We love it! I can't imagine going back to WDW without it. If you plan on eating at least one sit down/table service meal per day, then it will save you money. I don't ever get why people complain about it being too much food? It's two meals and a snack a day- we have never found that to be too much food, it's actually just right.

 

[disny4fun]

Oh and I wanted to mention one more thing. Desserts are optional. You do not have to get one or you can get one to go and have it for breakfast (if it's not too rich). Many times we asked if they had fruit and took that back with us instead of a dessert.

Whatever you decide, go, experiance, and have fun!

 

[Jessica14]

I really depends on how much you plan to eat. We had free dining which saved us $250 over a room discount. Had we paid for the plan, it would have been just over $640. We ate about $900 worth of food that week. This was 2 adults and 2 children, so it definately would have saved us a lot of money

However, if we had paid OOP, we would not have spent that kind of money. We ate at six TS restaurants which we liked, but I think we would have done more groceries at the resort as opposed to QS places. We took a lot of desserts home and brought cookies and treats for friends using the snack credits.We would not have paid for those things.

I may pay for it in the future since we like to try new places. You just have to run the numbers!
Jessica