Dining Plan?

[cyoung25]

Hi! I'm new here and trying to plan our first Disney vacation in December. I had booked through the Disney website but I was checking around and I can book on Travelocity for A LOT less. My question is, how can I (or even CAN I) get the dining plan? Is that only available if you book through Disney? I'd love to save some money and we aren't going during free dining and there's no rooms available for the room discount. I'd really appreciate your help! If you can't do the dining plan without booking through Disney, how much should we budget for eating...we plan to do 2 character meals, 2 other table service meals, and then whatever else.

 

[mm1971]

Hi! I'm new here and trying to plan our first Disney vacation in December. I had booked through the Disney website but I was checking around and I can book on Travelocity for A LOT less. My question is, how can I (or even CAN I) get the dining plan? Is that only available if you book through Disney? I'd love to save some money and we aren't going during free dining and there's no rooms available for the room discount. I'd really appreciate your help! If you can't do the dining plan without booking through Disney, how much should we budget for eating...we plan to do 2 character meals, 2 other table service meals, and then whatever else.

I am pretty certain you have to book a package through Disney to get the dining plan. That means hotel and either one or two days park tickets along with the dining plan.

You can go online and see the menu's for each restaurant and add up what it will cost. I can't even estimate the cost of food without knowing how many days you will be there and how many in your party.

Character meals are generally around $65 per person and table service maybe $35-50 depending on where you eat. Some TS are a lot more expensive, but I assume you want to eat reasonably. I'm not sure if I can post a website, but allears.net has a listing of all the restaurant menus with pricing so you can figure out your budget.

 

[mjkacmom]

First of all, I don't know when you are going in December, but check to make sure the ADR's you want are still available before getting the dining plan. Personally, I think it's usually cheaper to go without, unless you have an ADR each day. Remember, you still have to tip, and the more expensive the meal, the more the tip is.

 

[cyoung25]

Thanks for the quick response, guys! I have already made ADR for everything that requires it. I just can't decide what to do!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

You do have to book through Disney to get the Dining Plan. When I'm doing price comparisons, I use the menus at AllEars.net to get the prices. Depending on when you're going in December, though, realize that there is a holiday up-charge for both the dining plan and also for meals you pay for out-of-pocket. They're gonna get you coming or going, LOL.

Character dinners run about $45 per adult, $20 per child. Plus tax and tip. Regular sit-down meals average around $25 per adult, $10 per child. Plus tax and tip. Counter-service meals average $10-12 per adult and $8 per child.

There's a great spreadsheet you can download off a blog called See Ya Reel Soon (yes, "Reel," not "Real"). It is very helpful in determining whether the dining plan is right for you. You plug in the meals you want to eat and how you eat (expensive dishes, average, less expensive), number of guests and nights, and it does all the work for you. There's even a YouTube video tutorial.

 

[Robbi]

Before going with the dining plan, look at the prices on allears.net
We've found it's cheaper to pay out of pocket because we don't always get desserts and we'd leave Disney World with credits we never used. When the dining plan was first introduced, we thought it was a great deal at $36 or $38/adult. It included an appetizer, meal, dessert, and the gratuity. Each year the price has gone up and some of the perks, like the appetizer and thr gratuity are gone. The only value for us is that the meals are prepaid but we end up losing because we found that with so much food, we were only using it for a snack credit for breakfast, a table service meal, and sometimes counter service meal. I think the last time we had something like 15 counter services unused.

 

[eliza61]

Thanks for the quick response, guys! I have already made ADR for everything that requires it. I just can't decide what to do!

As some one else suggested, head over to allears.net. pull up the menu for the places you have adrs.

Now here is my suggestion, pretend order how you naturally eat.

As another poster pointed out, we rarely eat desserts night, after night but we often get appertizers. Since appertizers are not included we end up paying oop for it and desserts are wasted.

also what's your family make up. I have all Disney adults now. No way would we spend over 200 dollars a day every day on meals. I think the ddp is now 53 bucks per person.

Now for me, I've never understood the convenience argument. basically I have a vacation budget, the money is in the bank so what difference is prepaying it? and every time I'm on the ddp I stress way more about food than I do when I pay out of pocket. Since when I'm oop if I'm not hungry, I eat light whereas on the ddp even if I wasn't hungry I force myself to eat and not only eat, I usually end up picking entrees not by taste but because they were not most expensive thing on the menu. definitely wasn't going to "waste" my ts credits on a burger. LOL

a little playing around with meals can tell you if the ddp is right for you or not.

 

[Robbi]

As some one else suggested, head over to allears.net. pull up the menu for the places you have adrs.

Now here is my suggestion, pretend order how you naturally eat.

As another poster pointed out, we rarely eat desserts night, after night but we often get appertizers. Since appertizers are not included we end up paying oop for it and desserts are wasted.

also what's your family make up. I have all Disney adults now. No way would we spend over 200 dollars a day every day on meals. I think the ddp is now 53 bucks per person.

Now for me, I've never understood the convenience argument. basically I have a vacation budget, the money is in the bank so what difference is prepaying it? and every time I'm on the ddp I stress way more about food than I do when I pay out of pocket. Since when I'm oop if I'm not hungry, I eat light whereas on the ddp even if I wasn't hungry I force myself to eat and not only eat, I usually end up picking entrees not by taste but because they were not most expensive thing on the menu. definitely wasn't going to "waste" my ts credits on a burger. LOL

a little playing around with meals can tell you if the ddp is right for you or not.

For us, the convenience was when my daughter was younger and she brought friends as guests. They only needed their room card to get food instead of me having to keep giving them money. DD doesn't carry a wallet or purse and I only had to worry about her losing a card that could be replaced instead of money that couldn't. Happily, she never lost the card but she is a bit dinghy, so it was a possibility.

 

[cyoung25]

Well I went to allears and fully decided to cancel the dining plan, cancel everything with Disney and book with Travelocity. Until my hubby mentioned the ADRs. dde12 I most likely wouldn't be able to get reservations now, could I (if I cancelled and rebooked)?

 

[Robbi]

Well I went to allears and fully decided to cancel the dining plan, cancel everything with Disney and book with Travelocity. Until my hubby mentioned the ADRs. dde12 I most likely wouldn't be able to get reservations now, could I (if I cancelled and rebooked)?

Call Disney and ask them to connect you to Disney Dining. Ask them to please hold your dining reservations because you might rebook.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Well I went to allears and fully decided to cancel the dining plan, cancel everything with Disney and book with Travelocity. Until my hubby mentioned the ADRs. dde12 I most likely wouldn't be able to get reservations now, could I (if I cancelled and rebooked)?

Canceling the Dining Plan and your room does not affect your ADR's.

 

[Wendy5055]

Just back from our trip 7/25 - 7/30. We usually got the DlxDP but as my dd11 is now a Disney adult, I thought weight come out ahead and that it might be too much food.

We scaled back on our ADRs to keep our projected price at $1150.00...only did one character breakfast but kept all table service except for one day we did lunch counter service in Epcot. We also figured an extra $200 for tips.

Well, even with all of our cuts and eating less food, skipping desserts and appetizers...we went OVER the projected amounts. The prices on all ears were slightly off and we encountered some menu changes which affected pricing. Generally it was anywhere from $10-30 differences. Even my mother was surprised as we went through the menus together. I had thought the flexibility would work in our favor price wise...it did not matter.

All in all we both wished we KEPT the DlxDP instead of dealing with the stress of going over our budget. It was not a relaxing aspect of our vacation at all!!!

 

[Alesia]

Call Disney and ask them to connect you to Disney Dining. Ask them to please hold your dining reservations because you might rebook.

Not necessary. They do not cancel your ADRs if you cancel your resort reservation or package.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you book through travelocity and you need to make any changes later, you cannot deal with Disney directly. You will have to make any changes through travelocity, and I have found them to be a PITA to deal with.