Dining Plans - Worth It?

[huckabear]

Trying to figure all this out. Because we'll be going Easter week, we are pretty sure there won't be free dining so we'll most likely be factoring it into our budget.

Anyhow, after the sticker shock of the DDP, we were looking into the Quick Service plan or possibly no dining plan. (We'll be staying at a value resort.)

Does anyone NOT do a dining plan? We're pretty sure that the kids won't mind not having a sit down meal every day (we won't) but thought we might pay out of pocket to do a character breakfast/lunch. It seems without a dining plan you're clearly free to do what you want and since we'd be paying out of pocket, we'd be watching what we bought. But is it possible to eat cheaply in the parks/resort 2 meals a day? (We'd be doing breakfast in our room.)

 

[caroline1851]

We've used the ddp twice and it's been worth it both times.

For example, we would eat
CS breakfast at CSR most days = $36 plus tax
TS Dinner (Teppan Edo, etc.) = $110 or so
4 snacks at even $3 each (but often $4 each) = $12

Total $158 PLUS tax. Dining plan cost us $106 (last year).

Without even trying to maximize the plan, we made out well.

 

[WicketsMom]

It depends on how much you want to eat. We did the dining plan one time, and found that we were having to force ourselves to eat and ended up with a refrigerator full of uneaten desserts at the end of the trip.

If you like to do a sit-down dinner each day, plus snacks, then it would probably be worth it. I normally split an entree with my husband, and get something a la carte for my four year old (who won't finish a full child's meal either) and we are good. Plus we don't want to take the time out of the park to have to do a full sit-down meal. I pack snacks and aside from a character breakfast or two, we eat breakfast in the room.

You'll get a wide variety of opinions here! The thing is to see the cost of what you would normally eat in a day vs. the cost of the dining plan, remembering that you have to buy it for everyone in your room. (We would have done a single plan to share, but it doesn't work that way.)

 

[queendisney]

Trying to figure all this out. Because we'll be going Easter week, we are pretty sure there won't be free dining so we'll most likely be factoring it into our budget.

Anyhow, after the sticker shock of the DDP, we were looking into the Quick Service plan or possibly no dining plan. (We'll be staying at a value resort.)

Does anyone NOT do a dining plan? We're pretty sure that the kids won't mind not having a sit down meal every day (we won't) but thought we might pay out of pocket to do a character breakfast/lunch. It seems without a dining plan you're clearly free to do what you want and since we'd be paying out of pocket, we'd be watching what we bought. But is it possible to eat cheaply in the parks/resort 2 meals a day? (We'd be doing breakfast in our room.)

We have not always done the DDP and actually eat a lot less if we don't. You get so much food on the DDP. The last time we went we had the QSDP and had a lot of credits left at the end and believe me we are not small eaters. When we don't do the DDP we do make sure we buy the resort mug as that does work out well for us. If you do the QSDP there are a lot of nice CS places to eat at and they do some nices things other then just the burger and fries kinda meal if you want it. It just depends on how much you as a family eat whether or not it would be worth it for you.

 

[Cafeen]

The dining plans certainly don't work for everyone, and they aren't meant to either (it would be very difficult making a single plan that adjusts to everyone's particular dining style).

They do work for a few situations, which tend to be quite common. Basically, so long as you already intend to dine as they suggest (depending on the level of plan), utilize the entitlements as given, have enough desire to spend all the credits as designed (DxDDP has a bit of leeway here), and are willing and able to plan ahead enough to focus your dining to take advantage of the plan (scheduling ADRs at places and meals that make the most financial sense, rather than just doing Kona Breakfast every day), then you should work out just fine.

A couple keys are the intentions of your trip. You WILL ALWAYS pay more on a plan than you can OOP. Since you could theoretically just bring PB&J to the parks every day, a dining plan is never the absolute cheapest food option. The object is to see what's offered with the plan, figure out what you actually want to get out of the trip, and then see how they work together.

For example, my upcoming trip I am on the DxDDP. One of my desires is to eat at several restaurants. I also don't particularly like the CS offerings. It's a solo trip and in a very low season (so the extra time is of minimal concern). These all have subjective values that will differ based on your individual preferences. Objectively, I did the math out and found out the cheapest that I would be willing to go OOP for was around $650. This was skipping many apps and desserts and doing some less pricy and fewer TS locations than I wanted. My "dream" plan came out to roughly $1,000 OOP (cost of plan plus cost of additional expenses). For this $1,000, I'd be getting ~$1,200 worth of dining. I decided that I was willing to pay the extra $350 for the $550 worth of dining in order to have my "dream" itinerary.

So, it works for me and is "worth it" for my situation and desired experiences. This doesn't hold true for everyone, and it takes a bit of analysis and math to determine if it will for you.

 

[TDC Nala]

Personally I don't like the dining plan anymore, if it's not a really good deal I won't use it at all. Which, for me, it isn't. I'm the opposite of Cafeen. I like signature restaurants but I won't even use DXDDP because I am definitely not going to get my money back out of it, I really don't want appetizer, entree and dessert with every single freaking meal.

If you're OK with having just one TS meal then you will be fine without one or with the QSDP. QSDP probably won't save you any money, unless you take care to always eat at the most expensive places ordering the most expensive meals, so get it if you like the prepayment aspect. It's easier if you aren't constantly monitoring what you order to make sure you're maximizing the value; you'd still be watching what you bought, only in a different way. On the other hand if you prepay you already know how much you paid, and you will have no budget cap to hit. Do it if you like this aspect, and not if you're always going to try and make sure you aren't "spending" less than you laid out for the plan.

 

[havoc315]

The QSDP very rarely saves any money.. Certainly not any significant money. Best case scenario, it amounts to pre-payment of your meals, with a mug thrown in for "free." So if you are going to drink lots and lots of refillable soda at your resort, it can be worthwhile.

With the DDP, it depends more on the ages of your kids and the types of meals you are going to eat. If you are mostly going to eat at non-buffet TS restaurants, then for the typical family -- I view the DDP typically amounting to pre-paying for your regular food, and getting tons of desserts thrown in at a discount.
If you don't feel that every member of the family needs their own dessert at lunch and at dinner, AND a snack during the day--- Then the DDP won't really save you much money.

Certainly, if you want tons and tons of desserts, and you want to eat the most expensive meal entrees -- The DDP will save you a fair sum of money.

But let me put it this way -- The DDP is over $50 per person. If you skip desserts, and maybe drink water with your meal instead of soda --- Then instead of getting 1 TS meal and 1 CS meal for $50... You *could* easily get 2-3 TS meals. ($12 sit-down breakfast, $15 sit-down lunch, and $23 entree for dinner -- If you skipped the desserts and beverages -- OR -- $7 CS breakfast, $15 TS lunch, $23 dinner entree, Plus 1 dessert per person at $5).

Basically.. for me... I could feed myself much better on $50 without the dining plan, than the inclusion of the dining plan.

 

[Dean]

It totally depends on how and when you use it, the length of your trip, the ages of your party, among other issues. I think the best way is to map out your park schedule then a meal schedule around the park plans. Look at the menu's of the places you are looking at as most likely. Don't forget Taxes. That exercise will give you an idea about the cost and savings involved. One good thing about the QS plan is that you're not tied to restaurant ADR's and availability. I'd also suggest you look through the menu's of all applicable QS options as you may find choices that are better than your first thoughts were.

 

[Amy162]

DH and I kept tossing the idea of the dining plan around a lot for our upcoming trip. We are staying at a value and arriving the week before free dining starts (we used the kids stay and play free offer).

After looking at menus and pricing for the QS places, we decided to just go ahead and add the QSDP. We don't see it really saving us much money, but it is just so much more convenient! With the plan I don't have to watch the $$$ and worry about how much we're paying out of pocket throughout the week. We've had free dining for every one of our other trips, and liked the convenience of it! Our last trip was our first with just the Quick service plan, and it was nice not having to make ADR's. We are paying OOP for breakfast at 'Ohana and we may go to Sci Fi OOP, but there are so many good QS options out there that we will still eat well for the week and don't have to worry about the money!

I just know myself well enough to know that I would be watching the $$$ all week to see if I made out better OOP or on the plan, and that would take some of the enjoyment of the week away from me! I think the QS plan is the way to go!

 

[Mikey'swife]

It really depends on your eating preferences and the make up of your family. To me ddp are better deals the more under 10 year olds you have.

Also you really need to love desserts, soft drinks.

If you are happy with fast food, or mall food court type food, skipping dessert and have small appetites then oop maybe the best options.

If your kids need a lot of snacks and you like bigger or better meals the qsdp makes more expensive cs meals cheaper like WPE, and Cosmic Rays (Chicken ribs) or Tangeriene cafe.

If you are wanting to try some of the TS or character meals then the ddp make them more affordable unless you only want to go to the cheapest places and eat apps or cheap items.

We are small eaters and we can do 1 adult cs meal and 2-3 kids meals. At a cs place this runs about $20- $30 for places like Pizza Fari or Noodleland Terrace. Breakfast would be about the same.

 

[Nafinegar]

Six years ago we took a budget trip to WDW. My Dad insisted on taking my family of five on his dime and I knew he didn't have a lot of money. We packed our meals every day and purchased 1 snack per person per day (about $30 in today's money.) We had two planned ADR's - Cinderella's Royal Table and Crystal Palace for our three kids aged 6, 6 and 2. We had one unplanned counter service in AK when my 2 yo threw his sandwich down the storm drain and said he was sick of PBJ. I was a little worried what my Dad would think until he said "Thank God, let's go get some real food."

I think we may have been a bit too cheap on that trip because everyone got tired of their packed food - but to this day no one complains and they all laugh about the sandwich going down the drain.

Flash forward five years - my turn to treat Dad to WDW. We got the regular DP and added on a candlelight processional package. We all enjoyed a sit down meal and the snacks. I think we saved a few $$ over what we would've paid OOP. But, it was more about giving everyone their choice from the menu without sweating it.

Next July my DH and I are heading down for 4 nights for a second honeymoon. We chose the Deluxe plan because we want to eat at mostly signature places. This trip will be more about savoring some time together over adult menus.

If I wanted the counter service plan and I was on a budget, I think I would just pay OOP. We discovered that we really could split some of those meals quite easily, or just add some sides to it. I don't think we would really save money with the QSDP, it would be more for the convenience. Maybe that will be our dining choice after 2012!!!

 

[huckabear]

Thank you all so much for your information and opinions. I greatly appreciate it and will definitely need to look at our budget and figure this out soon.

Thanks!!!

 

[ReneeA]

I wouldn't go with the QS plan unless it was free. Not because it's not a good plan - it would work great for our family. I just don't think it would be a great money saver...especially since the 2012 plan cuts a snack. It would be easier to cut all desserts from the CS meals when paying OOP to save some money - because lets face it...most aren't really that great.

My advice? Go through the menus. Add up what your family is likely to order at each meal and figure in snack $$. I'm betting you come out ahead by paying OOP. I know in our case, my DD8 and I share many CS meals because neither of us are big eaters. Combo meals are notoriously large at most CS locations.

 

[Zatson23]

I've gone with both out of pocket and with the dining plan. We always will decide which restaurants we are going to eat at before we go, then we look at the menus and prices on all ears, and do the calculations. Sometimes the dining plan is cheaper, most time out of pocket is. The best way to figure it out is to just take some time and do the math. Plus keep in mind that many of the character meals and some of the signature restaurants cost two table service meals on the plan, and some restaurants aren't even covered on the plan (rainforest and t-Rex as examples).

 

[Dean]

I've gone with both out of pocket and with the dining plan. We always will decide which restaurants we are going to eat at before we go, then we look at the menus and prices on all ears, and do the calculations. Sometimes the dining plan is cheaper, most time out of pocket is. The best way to figure it out is to just take some time and do the math. Plus keep in mind that many of the character meals and some of the signature restaurants cost two table service meals on the plan, and some restaurants aren't even covered on the plan (rainforest and t-Rex as examples).

Actually T Rex & Rainforest are now.

 

[TheDisney411]

Plus keep in mind that many of the character meals and some of the signature restaurants cost two table service meals on the plan, and some restaurants aren't even covered on the plan (rainforest and t-Rex as examples).

The only character meal that is 2 TS credits is Cinderella's Royal Table, ALL other character meals in WDW are 1 TS credit.

Rainforest Cafe and T-Tex have been included in the Disney Dining Plan since January of 2012. Really, there are hundreds of TS and CS restaurants included on the DDP. The only exclusion in all of the Themeparks and resorts is Victoria and Alberts and one or two places in DTD.