Dinning Plan? Worth it?

[Bri1121]

We have never used it before but wondering if it is worth it? All these mentions of codes floating around makes me wonder if I happen to get a code will it be worth it?

We are 2 adults and 2 kids - 3 and 6 yrs old. How much is it even?

We were planning on staying at the Dolphin because of the great rate we got. But if free dinning comes into play then we might switch over?

So confused!!!

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Dining Plan board.

 

[Faldred]

Ignoring the idea of discounts for the moment, the general "is it worth it" question is quite subjective. Does the dining plan (more specifically, does on of the dining plans) match well with the way you would prefer to dine on your vacation? If so, it will likely be a good deal. If not, then any "paper" savings might not be worth it anyway.

Plus, there are additional subjective measures -- some people like the freedom to order items or go to meals that they otherwise would not do. Others find the need to plan and get "value" out of the plan too restrictive for their vacation style.

The "free dining" discount, because of its nature, is quite variable as to its value to a particular party. It's generally best for those staying in value and maybe moderate resorts with as close to full room occupancy as possible. A couple staying in a deluxe resort will likely find better discounts elsewhere, whereas a family of 4 staying at a value resort would find "free dining" to be the best discount available, assuming they have any desire for a dining plan.

As for rack rate cost of the dining plans, check out the sticky in this forum.

 

[Diegosmom]

I would take total cost of trip now compared to total cost of trip with free dining.

For us 2 adults and 4 year old we are planning on staying at Pop with a discount it would be 699 for the week. I was wondering the same thing as you so I checked rake rate for the room (what you have to pay to get free dining) and that price was 899 for the week so a difference of $200. I thought that was a pretty goo deal for us to each get 2QS and 2 snacks a day. I figure even if we ate how we normally eat (DS and I usually drink a lot of water and would be happy with no drink, which DH loves his soda but DS and I both love dessert and would normally get it at least once a day, where DH is not big on dessert) we would still easily drop 200 for the week. Thats only $28.57 to feed all three of us 2QS meals a day and 2 snacks. We could even go to McDonalds for that much food.

However if free dining isnt offered and we go with the discount to add dining it would be $573.79. Or 81.97 a day and at that price, they way we eat I could possibly get it cheaper. DS will often eat off of our plates or he is also totally happy with a PB&J so I could totally get away with bringing in a few things to the park (he loves fruit) and buy hubby and me a meal (share some with DS) and buy a snack or 2 and probably end up spending about $50 a day. So that would save me $223.79 with minimal effort on my part (bringing in some snacks).

So if I am not getting FREE dining I might not add on the dining. Although there seems to be a bit more "Value" with the regular dining. Partially seeing that kids are 11.99 and most of the TS buffets are more then $30.

Just looked up prices for Tusker, H&V, Akershus, CP, Boma, Chef Mickey, 1900 Park Fare, and Ohana. For kids price lowest was 14.92 and highest was 25.55 so with all of these options you are making about $3-$13.50 plus getting a snack and QS meal for Free. For the adults the prices were between 32.99-46.85. so on the low end it is leaving you with $13 to cover your QS and snack (still a good deal) and on the high end you are making .84 and getting a FREE QS and snack. I think it depends where you are going to eat and whether you want QS or TS.

 

[sharonabe]

I think the best way to determine if a particular plan is worth it TO YOU, is to make use of the menus either here or at allearsnet.com

Choose a park or at least two places you would like to eat at on the same day. If thinking regular DDP, choose one TS and one CS. If it's the QSDP, then choose two CS. Find the menus for those restaurants and "order" your meal WITHOUT paying any attention to the cost. Order what you want to eat including any appetizers, desserts, and drinks (or don't include them if you don't want them). Now look at the costs and total your meal. If the total exceeds the cost of one day on the desired plan, then the plan will be a good fit. If it is close or less than that cost, then you probably need to do a few more days of "ordering" to see if it will come out different in the end.

Keep in mind that you will also get one or two snacks per day depending on your plan, and if that is important to you, then it may put you in the exceed spot.

Happy "ordering"!

 

[Bri1121]

Thank you for all the information!! I was looking into menus and such and am still confused. My kids dont eat much!! And we will be stopping at a grocery store to get breakfast foods and snacks. So I am not sold that the dinning plan is worth it. I read that an average family of 4 spends $100 a day on food. I could not find how much the dinning plan is a day?

If for some miracle we get a free dinning pin, we would then stay at the AKL. But others said it is not worth it if you are staying at a deluxe resort!?! Why is that?

How exactly does the dinning plan work? You can only eat at certain restaurants and certain foods?

My family has done it in the past and they usually have extra snack credits left over but this year they said they are not doing because the price went up? Is the dinning plan that restrictive?

 

[julie4423]

I can't be sure because I didn't read the post, but I would assume the free dining isn't worth it compared to a room discount. A deluxe is roughly $200 a night MORE than a value resort based on rack rate which is what you would have to pay in order to get free dining. The free dining pins that went out recently offered free QSDP with a value or moderate, or free DDP for a deluxe.

As for price, QSDP is $34.99 for adults, $11.99 for kids. DDP is $44.99/$47.99 or $11.99/$12.99 depending on season

The plan is good at almost every restaurant on property. The only "restrictions" would be the nature of the meals. You get an entree, dessert, and drink. Many people say they wouldn't order the dessert without the plan so it isn't a deal. Just do as mentioned before and put together what you think you would order. Total it for the day and compare it to the dining plan cost. It works for some, not for others. It works for me because I got one of the free dining pins.

 

[Bri1121]

Ok so I talked to someone at Disney and they said for the 4 of us the dinning plan is $136 a day. It just dont know how much lunch we will be eating. I know we will be eating dinner everyday at the parks. Probably one breakfast and then eat breakfast in our room. But lets say we stop at the super market and spend $20 on breakfast foods plus at least one snack a day at the park possibly lunch and definitely dinner, it might be worth it!!

Sigh.......

 

[Bri1121]

Thanks Julie!- I am going to do a pretend day in the park and add it up. If we get a free pin than my decision would be made for me. We wouldn't normally order dessert either.

 

[Faldred]

But others said it is not worth it if you are staying at a deluxe resort!?! Why is that?

As compared to other discounts, such as 35-40% off rack rate for the room. For a Deluxe resort, that room rate reduction is far larger than it would be for a Value resort, as their rack rates are much different. A 'free dining" discount is based pretty much on the size of your party, regardless of what grade of resort you stay at. Therefore, you see the greatest "free dining" savings with larger parties at lower grade resorts. Smaller parties and higher-grade resorts get less benefit from "free dining" to the point that other discounts are likely to be superior.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

Here is the test that I usually use:

1. If you have 2 kids or more and plan on doing a few character meals the plan may be worth it. The cost of 1 character meal is usually more than the cost of the child's plan for the entire day.

2. If you like having steaks at dinner, the plan may be worth it. Steaks are usually the high ticket items and a steak dinner with drink and dessert for an adult can also add to your value for using the plan.

3. If you research the menus and what is available for snack credits, you can really max out on the value and save a lot of money. This does take some time to figure out where the high ticket items are though. List of menus and prices: http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

There is a sticky posted with a list of what you can get with snack credits (there are hundreds of things).

With the dining plan, you will at least break even I would think. But, you might be ordering things like desserts that you might not necessarily. However, most people like the dining plan as a budget tool to know how much they are spending in advance.

I have tried the plans and I find that they are a lot of food and don't really suit my eating style. However, I did get value out of them and it gave me an excuse to try more high ticket things ...and a lot of desserts.

Oh, and if you have leftover credits, you can't get anything refunded. Use any extra credits to get snacks or take out meals at the food courts or earl of sandwich or wolfgang puck express for your trip home.

 

[brookmey]

I think the DDP is worth it if you're going to do character meals. If not and all or most of your meals are QS, then it may not be. In 2009 we got the QS plan and it wasn't a good value for me because I don't usually eat dessert or drink anything other than milk or water at meals. And we hardly used our snacks, so on the last day we had to round up 12 snacks to take home with us (2 adults and 2 kids). Without the DDP, we would only get 1 snack per person on park days. We went again in 2010 and this time we went to a character meal everyday and I think the DDP was well worth it.

Sometimes if you have to choose between a room discount and free dining, I think it's important again to think about where you'll be eating. We're going in Sept. and I got free dining with our POFQ reservation. It's just DH and I, the kids are staying at SSR with their grandparents. After I made the reservation, room discounts were released and after comparing the trip cost with free dining and where we'll be eating, it was cheaper for us to take the free dining discount instead of the room discount. If we wanted just QS, then the room discount would've been cheaper. But since my mom has several CMs lined up, the free dining was cheaper.

 

[thewrightswv]

I agree with the other posters that you have to determine if the plans are worth it for your family. For my family (DH and DD(7)) it is. We like 2 TS (normally breakfast and dinner) and a CS (lunch) each day, and use all of our snack credits. We also will do 3 2 credit meals during our trips, so the DxDP is worth it for us.

Since I like to know if I'm getting a good value, I read these boards all the time and recently saw a post about Cafeen's Disney Dining Plan (do a search here or on Google) which lets you calculate your savings on the plans versus OOP. I went through the exercise of calculating the cost of our TS meals by looking at the menus for our ADRs, made an assumption on the average cost of a QS meal, and the snacks, and we'll save over $500 on our upcoming trip.

Good luck on your decision!

 

[dlhvac]

went at Christmas all 11 of us had the standard dining plan saved a bundle will
never go without it even with the 18% tips they tack on for large parties we
saved a lot of money oh 9 days 12/24/2010 to 1/1/2011

 

[MrsHockey]

thank you for all the information....everyone's responses have answered a lot of my questions on this subject.

 

[sharonabe]

If you'd like to get an idea of what you can eat for less money than the DDP, there is a thread over on the restaurant forum called $40 a day. You'll find several examples of eating 3 meals a day, 1 of which is a TS, and including tax and tip all for under $40.

Now, as some PPs have said, none of these are character meals as those are all buffets. But you could easily eat 3 CS one day, and do a character buffet as your TS another day, and I bet your overall average would still be less than $40/day.

 

[toddlermickey]

Just DH and I go and stay at POP. We like to eat at the nicer places and always get the DXDP. Dinner is usually about $200.00 for the both of us. We like charater meals too. So breakfast is usually around $60.00 lunch $60.00 to $100.00. That is around $320.00 a day. the plan costs us $160.00 a day. We eat more than that with just dinner alone. We try and go when free dining is offered and the udgrade to DXDP. Such a great deal.


Sylvia in MN