dining plan worth it?

[hoops1978]

Not sure if I am in the right place for this, but was just wondering if you guys think the dining plan is worth it. We will be DVC members in a few weeks and have 2 young children at 5 and 3. Do you think its worth it if we stay 7-10 days per vacation?

 

[MoreTravels]

This "Purchase" means purchase of timeshare itself. So your post may be more appropriate for "DVC-Mousecellaneous".

That being said, I think you should try DDP at least once. It gives you a worry-free, all inclusive, type of vacation which you might be familiar with many Caribbean holidays.

If your 3 year-old is only 2 years and 360 days old, you don't need a dining plan for him / her. I am not suggesting anything but they do not check your children's ID during vacation booking

If you go for character buffet, like Chef Mickey... then your kids eat for free! It's highly worth it in that case.

 

[Cubicleprisoner]

The dining plan used to be a good deal, but it isn't anymore unless they give it to you for free. The price of the DDP keeps increasing, but the entitlements are decreasing. The basic DDP used to include an appetizer and the QSDP used to include 2 snacks per day, but those are things of the past. I decided to forgo buying the DDP in July and kept all of my receipts. When I got home I did the math, and I ended up saving money by not purchasing the DDP. F.Y.I., if you like to eat dessert with both lunch and dinner, then you may break even.

 

[disneynutz]

The only way to tell is to plan your meals with the menu prices and compare the cost to the DDP.

Bill

 

[glamdring269]

I don't think it's worth it unless you're a big eater and will always order the most expensive thing on the menu. We tried it a few years ago and it was just way too much food (for us). We also didn't always order the most expensive item(s) on the menu.

 

[MoreTravels]

Actually, it might be worth it if you go to mostly Character Dining. So if you book all of them, there are like over 10 different places, you will end up saving money than paying individually. Also, if you do that, you should also get Photopass Plus prepaid package. You get to keep all restaurant printed photos for no extra cost. Those photos are worth $30 each... so 10 of them would be over $300 saving!

You will have 1900 Park Fare castle view, Chef Mickey statue, Donald Duck from Animal Kingdom, Ohana breakfast, etc.

 

[Dean]

Not sure if I am in the right place for this, but was just wondering if you guys think the dining plan is worth it. We will be DVC members in a few weeks and have 2 young children at 5 and 3. Do you think its worth it if we stay 7-10 days per vacation?

There are risks and costs with the DP and if I'm going to take risk, I want a savings or extra value in return. For longer trips those risk go up and you add to that the idea that getting the DP for a longer period adds more risk and that many get tired of it and start to lose value. So while the answer is "it depends", the general answer is that for most the DP is not worth it. More specifically the Quick Service Plan is very difficult to see a real value out of, the Basic (in between) Plan is a little easier but it still take effort and planning and the Dlx plan is the easiest to get a real value but it's high priced and is a lot of food. You must get the plan for the entire time of a given reservation but if you stay at different resorts or change villas, you should be able to get a plan for a shorter period or even different plans for each component. Of course the cheaper price for the kids compared to the charge at buffet's could add to your value for a handful of years.

IMO, the best way to tell about whether it's a value is to take your planned eats, your usual dining habits/preferences and look at the menus of each location you're thinking of using. Go through it as if you were planning every meal. Just do a spreadsheet listing the meals for a week and your likely restaurants. Then see how much it'd likely cost with tax for those. I know it sounds complicated but since you aren't necessarily planning a stay or committing to those options, it doesn't make much difference if you get it wrong for this purpose. Once you're got the meals you can see what it'd cost you OOP for YOUR group and then compare between the applicable DPs adding OOP costs for any options that don't fit in. Don't forget the snacks as they are usually make or break with the value. Also don't forget the Dlx has appetizers but the TS for the basic does not. Either ignore tips or add a little for what you order that you would nto have ordered OOP.

 

[crisi]

Everyone needs to do the math because the "is it worth it" tends to depend on what you'd eat without the plan.

And then after the math, you still need to ask yourself if its worth it, because some subjective value might be gotten - or lost - with the plan (i.e. the convenience of all inclusive, or the feeling that you MUST eat to get value from the plan).

As members, you'll be eligible to get a Tables in Wonderland card - when WE do the math, that usually works out to be a better deal for us.

 

[Annielkd22222]

1. If you are doing 5 or more character meals....yes.
2. With children 8 or 9 who eat well....yes.
3. With children your age...no.

 

[Minniesgal]

It massively depends what and how you eat.

I think the value of the DDP is eroded for people who use the value in their DVC. You have a full kitchen in the 1 and 2 bedroom units. It is so easy to do a grocery order and have at least snacks, drinks and breakfast in the room without cooking that to me DDP doesn't make sense. We find we have a breakfast and a light meal in the room then only go out to a TS for dinner. So in that way DDP makes no sense.

To me DDP makes more sense for people who stay in a hotel room with no facilities.

 

[Tigger & Eeyore]

Not sure if I am in the right place for this, but was just wondering if you guys think the dining plan is worth it. We will be DVC members in a few weeks and have 2 young children at 5 and 3. Do you think its worth it if we stay 7-10 days per vacation?

Yes it is worth it. It is especially worth it with the younger children. I always buy the meal plan where we get one quick serve and one sit down dining meal a day. If you select buffets the kids basically eat the same meal as you for a fraction of the cost. The food is excellent and cost to value is great. I always purchase it. You also get one snack a day with the level I purchase.

We always eat breakfast in our room but some resorts are so far away from the parks that it takes time transfer back via bus and it just isn't worth the time to us. I am also a DVC member.

 

[BrerNashville]

Not sure if I am in the right place for this, but was just wondering if you guys think the dining plan is worth it. We will be DVC members in a few weeks and have 2 young children at 5 and 3. Do you think its worth it if we stay 7-10 days per vacation?

I'd look into the Tables in Wonderland card. It costs $100 up front for DVC Members, but you save 20% on all food and beverages (including wine and other alcohol) at participating restaurants. Most of the table service restaurants participate, as do the counter services in AK (last time I checked). Many cocktail lounges in the resorts participate as well. For a longer stay like yours, Deans point about the risk of not wanting to eat all that food for a day really piles up over the 7-10 days. If you miss any meals, and are not able to make them up somehow, any value you created with the DDP will be lost, and then some.

To me, the DDP is more stress than it is savings. It's best for shorter trips with kids where you will eat a few character meals and/or buffets (with or without characters).

 

[DVC Sue]

I agree with the others. It's just too much food! We were there last week and brought home a ton of food. I think we'll do TIW next time.

 

[corpcomp]

Not sure if I am in the right place for this, but was just wondering if you guys think the dining plan is worth it. We will be DVC members in a few weeks and have 2 young children at 5 and 3. Do you think its worth it if we stay 7-10 days per vacation?

Not for my family. Two adults and a child 17 ( still a child to me)

We never eat on average more than $100 per day for the three of us and, with Disney visa, we rack up about 700 points per year which pays for all our food for a week.
Going New Years for 5days and already have 750 points to use.

 

[disfanforlife]

Part of the "value" for me is the convenience. We do eat breakfast in our room. I don't want to cook on my vacation and I don't want to travel back to our room to save money on lunch. We enjoy desserts and don't drink. So far us, even if we don't save money - we still like it and we get the regular plan.

 

[Dean]

One of the problems with the DP is there really isn't a good plan for longer stays having the kitchen plus the other demographics that long time owners bring to the equation. Certainly not with the current plans. The ideal plan for us would be a plan akin to the dlx but with 2 credits per day instead of 3, assuming a reasonable price of course which is a real assumption given Disney's history or to allow to drop first and/or last day like you could do with the Food n Fun program. We're not into QS options that much so the basic plan gives us more than we need there with less TS and also without the appetizers which we like using.

 

[dansamy]

It's best for shorter trips with kids where you will eat a few character meals and/or buffets (with or without characters).

This. Plan a short trip while your children are still on Disney's child price. Plan several of the character meals.

 

[Dean]

This. Plan a short trip while your children are still on Disney's child price. Plan several of the character meals.

We often have multiple rooms and organize the parties to maximize the benefits of the DP. We then make reservations and see if it looks like we'll save at least 20% or get at least 20% added value for around the same price. If so, we get the best plan for our trip, if not we don't. We've had several trips with the DP where one or more people became ill and missed meals.

 

[penlanspice]

Our last trip we worked out the cost of what we thought we might eat at each of our ADR's and for us the cost isnt really worth it any more so we paid OOP, in the past it used to be a good deal but not really any more.

You should choose the restaurants you want to eat at and and work out the cost from there.

 

[jfish]

Everyone needs to do the math because the "is it worth it" tends to depend on what you'd eat without the plan.

And then after the math, you still need to ask yourself if its worth it, because some subjective value might be gotten - or lost - with the plan (i.e. the convenience of all inclusive, or the feeling that you MUST eat to get value from the plan).

As members, you'll be eligible to get a Tables in Wonderland card - when WE do the math, that usually works out to be a better deal for us.

I could be mistaken, but aren't they starting to black out more and more dates that the TIW card can be used? We are going in June 14 and I think most of that time will be blacked out.