Dining Plan, Yes or No and your thoughts

[mmafan]

if your not doing atleast 1 tableservice meal a day its not worth it

 

[larryz]

As I understand it, on the 2011 DDP, CS breakfasts no longer include a "dessert" credit, which we often used to obtain an extra drink. This, to me, kills the utility of the DDP. I budget $40 per person per day for food; the loss of the extra drink at breakfast takes the value down for me to just below break even.

I'll be paying OOP for WDW food in the future.

 

[saysay]

I have not stayed on sight, so its never been available. We are not huge eaters and I think if we had it we would overeat, which is not exactly what I want on vacation. Sure I treat myself, but I try to keep it managable.

We eat breakfast where we are staying and take snacks into the parks with us - cereal bars, apples, peanut butter in individual containers, cliff bars, jerky, peanut butter sandwhich for DD age 4, cheese sticks. Basically for the 4 of us - me, DH, MIL and DD we fill up DD's lunchbox. We will eat a late lunch in the park which is our big meal of the day. Sometimes DH and I split something to be frugal and its generally enough. We give ourselves a treat of course - dole whip, ice cream, pretzel, whatever, but again we try to limit to save $$, though we don't do it in a way we are feeling deprived.

For dinner we just do something light - if back at our room we might do pizza or something delivery.

If you feel like you arne't going to get the full value, then skip it. To me it sounds expensive and like more food than we would normally eat in a day, so unless it was free I would avoid. Esp if your youngest ones are not big eaters!

I sure whichever way you go, you will be happy with your decision.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

It's actually going to cost us like $250 a day not $350. However, the dilemma is we are definately going to eat at a TS restaurant each night and that bill with tip will likely be around $125-$150 but lunches and snacks won't cost us more than $50 day so we are walking a tight line so it's a tough call.

I'd say if it's close to being even then go for it, especially since you want to eat a TS each day.

Paying for everything OOP means you'll be constantly looking at the amount of cash you have left and maybe making some decisions not to eat at a particular restaurant or not order the expensive entree.

 

[Planogirl]

I would sit down and work out what a typical meal for all of you will cost at various counter service places. I would also price the snacks that you're likely to get. Since you plan to eat at one full serve per day, you can budget that and then add the average for the other food to see where you end up. Also budget in those tips.

I think that the convenience might be worth it to you. If it were me I'd get the desserts you don't usually eat and take them with you as snacks if possible. I know that you get snacks on the DP but it might be fun to enjoy some cake while you watch Illuminations for example.

 

[chartle]

As I understand it, on the 2011 DDP, CS breakfasts no longer include a "dessert" credit, which we often used to obtain an extra drink. This, to me, kills the utility of the DDP. I budget $40 per person per day for food; the loss of the extra drink at breakfast takes the value down for me to just below break even.

I'll be paying OOP for WDW food in the future.

Thats what it looks like according to this.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/me...alog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2011Dining.pdf

Under CS breakfast there used to be an extra line that said you could get another drink like an OJ because, according to them, there are no breakfast desserts.

Did they never hear of donuts as breakfast dessert?

 

[kmk1180]

I am only posting this question as I have learned a great deal from all of you folks over the years. We are going in early August and have not yet added the dining plan (staying at WLV and AKV). This year we are struggling with the decision, in short here's the deal: Family of 5 (my wife and I, 16 DS, 10 DD and 9 DS). To get the dining plan (1 snack, 1 counter and 1 table) would cost us roughly $207 day (without tip for table service and alcohol) which would probably cost us $250 day. My 16 year old and I eat a bit but my wife and two younger children don't eat all that much. We love the convenience of the dining plan but sometimes can't eat everything (desserts) etc.

We're a little tighter on money this year so if you were me would you get the dining plan or not? I would likely budget $200 a day for food and snacks (which would be the only reason that we would consider it cuz we will be there 7 nights and will be eating at a Table service restaurant each night).

You say later that you'll definately have a sit down meal every day.
The deciding question for me would be, what places?
Just having a sit down meal every day doesn't really make it a better deal.
(think about it, that's why Disney offers it. If Disney didn't come out ahead most of the time they wouldn't have the plan.)

If it's buffet's and or lunchs/breakfast...then no your probably better off OOP.
If it's dinners that are the more expensive places and you tend to order the expensive meals on the menu, then yes.
(even if your sit downs are dinners, if your a burger person anyhow, then probably not.)

Dinning place really pays off on if you order the expensive items, and order desserts with your meals.
If you tend to eat more simple food that are less expensive, then you really don't get your value out of the plan.

We did the plan one year and I tracked everything we ordered and cost of everything. The compared it to the cost of plan. We came about even.
And that's getting the desserts with the plan, where OOP I wouldn't have ordered it. So I probably would have saved money if we just paid OOP anyhow.

Take a look at your ADR's and look at the menus and see what your likely to order. Then decided if it's worth it for you.

 

[a1tinkfans]

IF you enjoy a sit down each night, I do think it is an especially good idea. I think that one can get the food cheaper by eating more fast food type, snakier foods, but honestly, its a vacation, and to me, Id rather have a nice meal each night, a lunch and a snack available. Realizing that the meals do not need to be shoved in by those that eat less, they can choose less hearty meal choices.....but it so worth it for our family...........
have a great trip whatever you decide...

 

[kschafer]

Are you in Disney's computer system? I called in March and asked if I had any PIN's connected to my name and was told I had an offer for free dining. I had never received a postcard or e-mail, it was just in their computer.

The offer that lots of people are getting is free QS with a value or mod stay and regular for a deluxe. We are staying at POP and paying to upgrade to the regular dining plan. Even with paying rack rate for our room, this is the best deal we could get and I won't worry about getting the most out of the plan!

The dates were for most of the summer and I think had to be booked by April 30. Worth a phone call at least!!

 

[d1gitman]

...One other option. Do you have to do TS everyday? Many people post how the QsDP gives them freedom from ADRs and that they never dreamt how liberating it would be not always looking at their watch all day. .....

i don't think that one TS per day constitutes clock watching. for us, we absolutely want one TS per day to sit down, unwind and relax. QS does not provide that not to mention we don't care for very much of hte QS food, it mostly comes off as fast food and not so good.

Premium DDP, yes, that would invoke clock watching for sure. 3 ADR's per day does not leave much time for spontaneous touring. Although i would like to eat 3 TS meals per day.

 

[tina.tina]

We just got back from our first family trip. We had the regular dining plan. I felt that we got a good deal overall. When I paid out of pocket for a meal because we stayed longer than planned, it was almost $50 for lunch at a QS restaurant. I feel like the convenience of the plan was well worth it. We budgeted extra money for breakfast and had money left over. I reallly liked that I never had to tell my kids something was too much money or worry about whether or not they would want to buy dessert & how much that would be. We ate at Wolfgang Puck's Express with QS credits. It was about $76. It was good food but I was so glad that I didn't have to pay out of pocket for it. We ate there on a day when we didn't have a TS meal planned. One tip I have is that kids meals have plenty of food for me. A couple of times my daughter wanted an adult meal and I traded with her. My husband and I could easily have shared some of the meals but didn't because we wanted different things.

We're thinking of the QS plan next time because it was so convenient and we had 6 TS meals this time. We would probably do the QS plan and pay OOP for a couple of TS meals.

 

[chartle]

i don't think that one TS per day constitutes clock watching. for us, we absolutely want one TS per day to sit down, unwind and relax. QS does not provide that not to mention we don't care for very much of hte QS food, it mostly comes off as fast food and not so good.

Premium DDP, yes, that would involke clock watching for sure. 3 ADR's per day does not leave much time for spontaneous touring. Although i would like to eat 3 TS meals per day.

Every family is different and is looking for different things on a vacation.

I was just referring to a thread where people were for lack of a better term relieved that they didn't have to be a slave to their ADRs. It was like touring the parks a totally different way.

I'm sure once my DW and I start going without the kids that we will stay on site and do the DDP at least once. We have only been to, wow when I think back, 2 TS places, CP and Boma.

This trip we have an ADR for WCC for our last breakfast before we hit the road.

 

[luvsJack]

I ask myself this question every time I plan a trip. So, the first thing I do is get dh and dd to tell me where they want to eat. We talk about the places we want to return to and the new places we want to try. So then I make a general plan like: MK day 1--breakfast CP, dinner Pecos Bills I go to AllEarsnet.com and look at the menu and add up what the buffets cost or what I think we will order and add it all up. I usually only add in meals and it shows me that the ddp is better for us and snacks are just extra.

BUT, our tastes are different so chances are we are not going to share meals. We like character meals and with or without the ddp we would eat a TS every day.

And for me and dh its a bit of peace of mind. We don't have to worry about underbudgeting for meals.

We never have felt that we didn't want to be in a certain park for a certain ADR. Its just never been a problem for us. We do a lot of breakfasts and get early ADRs and/or late lunches or early dinners so they are welcomed breaks. We have to eat anyway, so I really don't get the reasoning of being "tied" to ADRs. Unless you plan to eat CS for every meal, you have to make them anyway.

 

[girls]

We don't even do it during free dining. I prefer the room only discount - 40% off a deluxe villa is a nice savings.

For us, it's not worth it. The only meals it would be are the 2 character breakfasts we typically do. Other than that, we eat at deluxe (not worth 2 meal credits,) don't drink soda - it's just water or wine / beer so the drink credit would be wasted, love to get apps but don't always want dessert. Most days we eat breakfast in our room, have snacks throughout the day, then splurge on a yummy signature dinner. I don't want my kids to be stuck only eating from the kids menu (they are little, 4 & 2) but are really good eaters and chicken fingers and fries isn't what they are used to, so I like the flexibility that they can get an app or split an entree (although the signature kids' menus have been pretty good.) I'd also feel compelled to "get my money's worth" on the plan. I just want to eat good food, not feel compelled to eat more than I want because I already paid for it.

 

[pooh2001]

Count us in as a cheap family.

We always do breakast in our room - granola bars, donuts, cereal, fruit.

We do CP or 1900 Park Fare breafast as an early lunch - ADR's around 10:30 AM. We always do them on an early entry AM at MK.

We have done TS mostly for lunch and at least 2 tuna, chips and fruit dinners in our resort room.

How we do it - we send down a box of food items 5 days before we arrive to our resort: garbage bags, plastic utensils, plates, bowls tuna, plastic container of mayo, cereal, granola bars, gum, and anything else which is dry boxed we may eat.

We do a food stop car service from the airport and buy a case of water and fruit.

The rooms - moderates, deluxes and now the S/D have mini reffrigerators to use.

The gift shpps sell milk for breakfast.

We buy the refillable mugs and use them everyday - especially on our tuna dinner nights.

Don't get us wrong. We rather spend our money on a 10 day park hopper pass and doing things at WDW, like renting a boat, going to the HDD or playing mini-golf, than spending $60 on each CS breakfast or $160 for each dinner we do tuna in our room.

But to each family, do your own thing

 

[rlahansler]

We did it in 2009 and again last month in March. Both times the regular plan: one snack, one QS and one Table service per day. Last month I kept track of most of our meals of how much they would cost out of pocket and was amazed (not sure why) of how much a simple QS lunch for a family of 4 would cost= $60. We like buffets and we also like eating at the nice restuarants. I do not mind planning our ADR"s months in advance, I am a very organized person so this is a plus. I will say that I have thought about getting the deluxe plan next time ,as last month we seemed to get an appetizer with all of our meals (extra) . Not sure, might just need to budget better. Good Luck!!!

 

[thebwit]

If you do the dining plan, you need to plan accordingly. The dining plan was probably the best idea Disney had as far as getting MORE money out of people. Not only does it keep you in the parks, but you then typically don't spend what you are paying per day.

With that said, my wife and I have used it before and it was great. We had the deluxe so we could eat at all the more expensive restaurants (2 points instead of 1) and used our desserts/snacks as our breakfasts the next day.

The last trip we went on it was Me, DW, my mother, DD (3) and DS (6months) so we had to pay for 3 adults and 1 child on it. I don't remember the exact numbers we had to spend per day to make it worth it, but dinners alone covered the cost. We came out with a savings of like 40% or something obscene like that.

You really need to figure out your eating habits and what you want to do while on vacation. Some people don't like the time that a TS meal takes up nor the amount of food you CAN get on the plan. Others go on vacation to eat (me).

So plan it out and run the numbers. You can find average price of items at each restaurant which will help as well.

 

[Dawn68PA]

We have been to WDW 4 times and always did the DDP. The time savings and with a family, it was always worth it.

However, this year if we go, it will just be me and DH. We priced our trip like 5 different ways. With the rising cost of the economy, the DDP will not pay for itself this year at $45.50 per day per person. We need to penny pinch. We will stay onsite economy, pack a cooler with what we'll need for breakfast and lunch and eat offsite for dinner. We'll buy things in the parks, but probably not a full meal.

Like most have said, it's all about what you can afford and how much time watching you need to do. We feel we'll have a significant savings and maybe be able to do something special because of it, so we'll opt out this year.

 

[POOHsie]

OP says it's a little tighter budget this trip to WDW. I am no prude, but our family vacations did not include consumption of alcohol at family meals. Limiting TS meal drinks to iced tea, coffee, sodas, or water will save considerable bucks (free on DDP), plus save the 18% tip and tax charged for alcohol.

Just sayin' it's a way to lower the dining budget and still keep DDP.

 

[Sorahana]

If it seems like it is too close to call ($50 seems pretty low for 2 meals...breakfast and QS, and snacks...plus did you figure in drinks) , then I would go with the dining plan...just for convience (not having to carry money or cc into the park and having it all paid for before the trip even starts). I like the dining plan, because it makes us not look at the menu price while on vacation and enjoy meals at places that we would consider above our budget!

That's why we do DP when we can. We get to try new restaurants we typically couldn't afford to eat at. Also it makes it easier for us to get food .

The first time we used it, we calculated that we would have spent over $1000 on food if we did it out of pocket versus the dining plan.