Dining plans, how much would your food have cost you?

[DisneyRunner2009]

I returned Sunday, 8/22. I added up my dining receipts and my food total was $1293.41, give or take. My family was on the DDP.

 

[vicki_c]

Was that a savings for your family? You didn't say how many days or how many / ages of the people in your party.

 

[kdluscher]

Went to the World over Easter for 8 days and 7 nights. It was just me and my boyfriend and we were on the dining plan. For 7 days of the dining plan I payed approximately $650. I kept all of my receipts to keep track of how much it would actually cost me and my total came to close to $900. So I saved about $250, which to me is a lot of money. We ate at a lot of restaurants we would never have been able to eat at if we were not on the dining plan. Without the dining plan we would have eaten at all counter service places because of the cost of table service restaurants.

 

[catne]

I always keep the receipts...we tend to save at least 25%, often approaching 30%. We love to order the higher end entrees (preference, not just trying to maximize the plan. We're just not cheap dates, lol.)

 

[Faldred]

The "savings" amount is always a tricky proposition. When we went last year on Deluxe (2 adults, 1 child, 2 infants), we probably saved 20-25% over what the same food would have cost us without the plan.

But we almost certainly wouldn't have ordered the same things, or done the same restaurants, if we were paying for each individually OOP.

On the whole, actually, we probably paid significantly more to eat for that week than we would have if we had been doing the whole vacation OOP. But the extra cost came with a change in the vacation experience -- we were able to try a lot of places, get the kids the character meals, order things we might not have otherwise tried, and do a lot more table service over counter service. We also liked the convenience of having it prepaid so it was a simple matter of using up what we already paid for.

Now, that's not for everyone, and someone who places a higher value of getting the most vacation for the least money would be better served not getting a dining plan at all (or even staying on-site, truth be told). It's a matter of budget and priorities.

 

[maznorm]

This is really useful stuff. We are torn between DDP, Free DDP but upgrade to DXDP, TIW or OOP.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

My dining party was for three adults for seven nights. The TS restaurants were: Akershus breakfast, 'Ohana, 1900 Park Fare dinner, Crystal Palace lunch, Les Chefs de France, LeCellier and Whispering Canyon dinner. Some of the CS locations included: Wolfgang Puck Express, Pepper Market and Captain Cook's.

 

[aprincess02]

Well for the cost of DDP for 7 nights and three adults would be $882....so looks like a good deal to me

 

[padawans]

We did the deluxe plan for nine days and saved about $400. We never would have spent that amount of money on food if we would have been paying out of pocket. I tell you though it made the vacation so much better. I detest fast food and the cost of the table service restauraunts is very high. We had some incredible dining experiences at the signature restauraunts. My kids 5 and 7 loved it. The mickey puzzles were a big hit. It made are vacation so much more special. If you can afford I definetely think its worth the extra money.

 

[KathyK]

On our recent trip (12 nights - 5 nights 1 AD/2 CH, 7 nights 2 AD/2CH), we spent $1866 on the DxDDP, and our receipts (less tips and alcohol) totalled $3138.90, for a savings of $1272.90 or 41%.

 

[ReneeA]

Our last trip was 8/2008 for 6 nights/7 days. Our receipts totalled just under $1200 for 2 adults & 2 kids on the DDP.

I will say that if paying OOP, we wouldn't have ordered all of the desserts or eaten as many snacks as we did. I also would have went cheap on my entree (even if it weren't my first choice). We did save money, but I don't think that the total "spent" on the DDP is an accurate picture of what we actually saved.

Tomorrow we leave for a 10 day vacation with the DDP, and I am so looking forward to it. It makes for a much more relaxing time when I'm not worried about what we are spending on food, and I can order exactly what I want instead of what's cheapest.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I keep track of receipts too. I have always saved money when on the dining plan, last time I used the deluxe plan, it cost me $500, and I got $800 with of food for it.

 

[bdoyledimou]

Aug 1 to Aug 15, 3 Adults, 2 Tweens and a 9 year old (all on adult plan).
We scored Free dining from a pin code.

Total food bill after 15 days for the 6 of us was $3500.
Snacks came up to 650.

Since the trip itself was $6000 i think we got some good value here. (especially with it being free!)

 

[dawnmommy]

we are saving money using the regular DDP, but I think it is because we have 2 younger kiddos (6 & 3), and we're doing a lot of character meals or fixed price meals like Ohana. The kids plan only costs $11.99/day and many of the meals have a fixed price close to $20 for them. So we "Profit" on the kids.

if it was just DH and I, I think it would be more of a toss-up, given the way that we eat (he loves dessert but I don't. works out ok with the kids as they'll eat my dessert)

 

[saintstickets]

On our May, 2010 trip, there were 5 adults so the DDP price was $1,049.75. IF we would have ordered the same meals and paid OOP, it would have cost $1,341.39 or a difference of $291.64. That's a savings of $291.64 or about 28%! For more detail and other thoughts about the DDP, visit our trip report here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2481750

 

[Sienna]

We went to DW in January, and we were on the QSDP for 8 nights. I don't have the receipts any more, and I don't remember the dollar amounts off the top of my head, but I know that we came out ahead when comparing the cost of the plan vs. paying OOP for the same items. That said, if we were paying OOP for every meal, we might not have ordered all of the desserts and snacks and stuff. And we probably would have re-used water bottles more, rather than getting a drink with each meal. But if we paid face value for everything we got on the plan, yes, it was a savings.

 

[babs.ohio]

Here is breakdown of our package we just did during the first week of free dining of this year.

My package total for 7 nights including free dining, upgrade to DDP, and park hopping was $2300.

I added up all my receipts from our quick service, table service, and all snacks and it came up to approximately $1800.

So even though I paid full package price to get the free dining, it all still paid off when you look at the cost of all the food we ate and got. I know that I would never have eaten at all these places or all that food if we hadn't done the dining plan. I have been dreaming of doing the free dining for years and years. This is the first year it has worked out for us to do. I loved all the food and every meal we had. I would do it again in a instance if given the chance.

 

[Kansasdreamers]

We did the deluxe plan for nine days and saved about $400. We never would have spent that amount of money on food if we would have been paying out of pocket. I tell you though it made the vacation so much better. I detest fast food and the cost of the table service restauraunts is very high. We had some incredible dining experiences at the signature restauraunts. My kids 5 and 7 loved it. The mickey puzzles were a big hit. It made are vacation so much more special. If you can afford I definetely think its worth the extra money.

I would love to here which restaurants you went to, My kids are the same age.

 

[MissBritt]

December 2009- DH and I on DXDDP for 4 d/3 n- would have paid $105 more for same items if not on plan.

January 2010- 2 Teen Sibs and I on QSDP for 2 d/1 n- would have paid $65 more for same items if not on plan.

December 2010- DH and I on DDP for 2 d/1 n- looking like the break-even point will be our TS dinner, so CS and snack will be what we "save".

 

[tony67]

I did not keep track after the first day or two when I used the QSDP last year.
There was no question it was paying for itself so I did not waste the effort.