Dining Plan?

[ashleighbass06]

I'm going to Disney (for like the 12th time) Mar 7-12 with my mom. We already booked everything but I've been hearing a llot about the dining plan. Is it a good deal for two adults? Is it possible to add it after booking?

 

[TDC Nala]

You can add it after booking, but if you have a room-only reservation you must convert it to a room plus tickets plus dining package unless you're an annual passholder (AP holders must convert to a room plus dining package).

You can add a dining plan to a package reservation up to 72 hours before arrival. You can't add one after you arrive.

If you have a DVC reservation you can call Member Services and add a dining plan up to 48 hours before arrival.

Whether it's a good deal or not is going to be entirely dependent on where and how much your party eats (do you go to a table service restaurant every day? Do you prefer signature restaurants - those will cost you 2 credits per meal instead of one), what they prefer to order (such as - do you want dessert for every meal? Do you like appetizers - they're not included with the basic dining plan and the deluxe plan, which includes them, is a lot more expensive.)

If you're unfamiliar with the three different Disney dining plans, check the "Everything you always wanted to know" sticky thread for an outline of what they cost and what they include. Keep in mind that March is peak season and if you choose the basic dining plan in that period it will cost you more than it would ifyou were traveling off-peak.

 

[Nadjalu]

It is just the 2 of us and we love it. We choose the DDP, which is the middle plan. 1 counter service meal, 1 table service meal and 1 snack per day per person.
This is a good deal for us. It is a lot of food, although we usually have to have another snack or a light breakfast (if we do this we split one) to get us thru the long, active days.

We have found that on a 5 day vacation we save about $120-150 per vacation by using the DDP. This is eating what we would normally eat.

For some it is a savings and others it isn't.

Another plus we find is the convienence. All the credits are on the kttw card and whamo the waiter takes the card and all is done. (we pay tip with cash). Easy peasy.

Take a look at the menus of the places you are wanting to eat at, tally up and then price compare what you would spend to the DDP.

 

[DisGirl23]

We, 2 adults, tried it for the first time last year and loved it. We did the basic dining. Unless the price of the plan skyrockets, it will continue to be the way we go!
Most days we had a CS breakfast at the hotel, used our snack credit in the afternoon and enjoyed a nice TS meal for dinner. Perfect!
At breakfast you don't get a dessert but you get another beverage. So we would get a juice and a bottle of water. We also had our refillable mugs. So we had our coffee and juice, and the bottle of water came with us to the parks! Now that I think of it, DBF can't drink OJ but LOVES his Monster energy drinks which he was able to get instead of a juice... this alone sold him on it!
For some it works, for some it doesn't. It works for us.
Have a great trip!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Love the dining plan! Don't want to ever go without it!

 

[dansyr2514]

Love the dining plan! Don't want to ever go without it!

I agree...we usually do the deluxe plan with 2 adults. We really enjoy eating at the signature restaurants and feel we definitely get out money's worth!

 

[dizneeat]

It definitely is a good deal, if it fits your style of dining!

Last summer the price for DDP would have been 960$ for the two of us (we had Free Dining!) but our total came to 1371$ - so definintely a good deal, either paid DDP or Free Dining!