Disney Dining Plan-$1000 for a week?

[Trishthedish2]

For only three people?
I can do better than this right?
One adult, one tween and one child.
I realize Disney food is expensive (have been before but never used the dining plan) but this seems a little crazy!

We will be staying at Pop-doing a couple character meals but other then than we are simple people lol. Healthy options are all I care about.

Suggestions please

 

[Dacky619]

For only three people?
I can do better than this right?
One adult, one tween and one child.
I realize Disney food is expensive (have been before but never used the dining plan) but this seems a little crazy!

We will be staying at Pop-doing a couple character meals but other then than we are simple people lol. Healthy options are all I care about.

Suggestions please

I think you can do better than that. For the last 5 years I thought the DDP was more about convenience than saving money. There are calculators and spreadsheets that people use to determine what is the best use of their money. Hopefully someone can post one here or you can search the forums. They are very helpful to help you figure out what would be the best use of your money.

 

[wallawallakids]

For only three people?
I can do better than this right?
One adult, one tween and one child.
I realize Disney food is expensive (have been before but never used the dining plan) but this seems a little crazy!

We will be staying at Pop-doing a couple character meals but other then than we are simple people lol. Healthy options are all I care about.

Suggestions please

I have never found the dining plan to save us money. Remember on top of that cost you still have to factor in tips. My suggestion is to look at where you want to dine, and then look at the menus. They are all here on the Dis. Check out the prices and look at what people in your party might order and add it up. With the dining plan you get an appetizer, main meal, and desert. We don't eat that much at our sit downs, so part of the savings in cost is on that. If that is something you usually eat, than it may be a better value for you, but you still are tipping on that cost. In the end, every time I have done the math, I come out further buying our stuff off the menu and paying OOP without the dining plan. Good luck.

 

[mcorbo]

I have never found the dining plan to save us money. Remember on top of that cost you still have to factor in tips. My suggestion is to look at where you want to dine, and then look at the menus. They are all here on the Dis. Check out the prices and look at what people in your party might order and add it up. With the dining plan you get an appetizer, main meal, and desert. We don't eat that much at our sit downs, so part of the savings in cost is on that. If that is something you usually eat, than it may be a better value for you, but you still are tipping on that cost. In the end, every time I have done the math, I come out further buying our stuff off the menu and paying OOP without the dining plan. Good luck.

No appetizer on the regular dining plan, just meal, dessert and drink.

 

[DvF Diva]

I have never found the dining plan to save us money. Remember on top of that cost you still have to factor in tips. My suggestion is to look at where you want to dine, and then look at the menus. They are all here on the Dis. Check out the prices and look at what people in your party might order and add it up. With the dining plan you get an appetizer, main meal, and desert. We don't eat that much at our sit downs, so part of the savings in cost is on that. If that is something you usually eat, than it may be a better value for you, but you still are tipping on that cost. In the end, every time I have done the math, I come out further buying our stuff off the menu and paying OOP without the dining plan. Good luck.

I agree.
I calculated what we might eat and even factored in a LOT more snacks than we'd get. It was cheaper to buy a Tables in Wonderland card for our character meals and pay out of pocket, especially if I used Disney gift cards that I got at either Target (using RedCard discount) or BJ's (they sell them discounted).
It takes a little work, but you will probably find yourself saving over buying DDP.
I've heard the suggestion that if it is convenience you're looking for, you can buy a $xxxx (say $1000) gift card or prepaid card and put all your meals on it. You'll be happily surprised when there's leftover money on your card at the end of your trip. If you're charging onto your MagicBand, you can use that card to pay your balance when you check out.

 

[wendow]

I think you can do WAY better than $1000! We have gone to WDW the last two years and paid OOP for meals. There are 6 of us. Granted two are children and don't eat as much. We spent $700'ish for meals each time. One trip was 9 nights and one was 8 nights.

All of this greatly depends on your style of eating. You said you are 'simple'. I would say we are as well. We do not mind CS at all and I find plenty of healthy options there. We eat only 1-2 TS meals (including 1 character). It's rare but occasionally, I'll share an adult meal with one of my "adult" children. And it's also rare but once or twice, I have ordered a kid's meal. I actually did this last time at Pecos Bill's. Since they have a huge toppings bar, I ordered a kid's burger an loaded it down with veggies Plenty of food, imo!

We also take foods for breakfast and pick up a few things in the resort store so we have breakfast in the room all except for our last going home day, we eat at a buffet.

I take an entire suitcase full of snacks. We eat most of that and then there is an empty suitcase to carry souvenirs back in We do still buy snacks around the park but we tend to share them rather than everyone getting their own.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Don't get it. Not only is it too expensive but you have paid to eat a ton of food. After a few days in crowds and heat you may not feel like eating much at all so no need to have prepaid a ton of food.

 

[sandgrace]

I found this very informative it helped me decide whether to get the DDP for my family. Plus, if you decide to get the DDP it has an incredible chart that shows how to maximize the plan. Good luck and have fun!
http://wdwprepschool.com/maximizing-disney-dining-plan-credits-for-2014/

 

[tzeitel]

I usually budget $100 a day for 3 of us (2 adults and 1 child). DH and I are not breakfast people but we do like a TS a day. So the $100 covers a snack, 2CS and a TS for DD a day and a snack, a CS and a TS for DH & I.

Some days we eat less (especially if the TS is a buffet), other days a little more, but in the end it all evens out

 

[dalayney]

Personally, our last trip we (2 adults, 14yr old, 7yr old) stayed 10 days/with the discounted room for the ALL STAR SPORTS. (so, value resort) We still paid WAY less, paying out of pocket for food, then going the "free" dining plan/no resort discount.

Plus, we ate at T-rex, Tusker House character lunch, LeCellier, Ohana, 50's prime time, Sci Fi, Liberty Tree Tavern for our ADR's. 4 breakfasts were eaten in our room (garden grocer) and 5 were eaten at the ASSports dining hall. The rest of the meals were counter service in the parks. And LOTS of Disney snacks. LOL.

Because there are some days you eat a big breakfast, and just dont' want a huge lunch AND dinner. With the dining plan, you really have to plan your whole trip around meals, to make it "worth it". (IMO only)

I do think it's smart to get garden grocer (or any other delivery service) and get a case of water bottles, some breakfast items (we did a few individual cereals, muffins, fruit and yogurt, milk, o.j. and puddings, fruit snacks and granola bars) ... as some mornings its so easy to just grab a quick bite as your getting ready in the room. Those days though, we did end up eating an earlier lunch. (around 11 which was nice as it was not crowded) .

Have a terrific trip!

 

[Trishthedish2]

Thanks for the replies. I too, thought just paying oop for each meal would be cheaper, but didn't want a nasty surprise at the end. Really, it does seem like a lot of eating and I would be concerned about getting my "moneys worth" kwim?
I do like the idea of putting $1000 on a card and just paying for it that way at the end.

 

[supersnoop]

The regular adult dining plan (for ages 10 and up) is almost $60 per person per day, and the child plan is somewhere around $20 per child per day. For you, that's almost $140/day for food. It's not difficult to spend less than that.

 

[queenofthehive]

Yes, IMHO the dining plan is a complete rip off. Go to allears.net and check out the menus. From those menus, you can run the numbers and see if it works for you. Most of the time it does not. Remember that if you miss just one meal, you have lost money. If you really want to try the dining plan for the convenience factor, put the amount you would spend to purchase the dining plan on a prepaid visa and what ever amount is left after your trip is yours and not Disney's.

 

[Sagginit]

5 were eaten at the ASSports dining hall.

Did you find Pooh there? sorry couldn't resist.

anyway OP, I think the dining plan only works for some. i am a fan of it but i have a sweet tooth. i also travel with my mum who dislikes a lot of the QS food options. when we do sit down she eats only fish (salmon, mahi mahi, scallops, etc) or steak. these are typically the most expensive options so for us the dining plan works.

however if i was with someone else i could easily pack breakfast, snacks, and find cheaper meal options.

 

[tzeitel]

Thanks for the replies. I too, thought just paying oop for each meal would be cheaper, but didn't want a nasty surprise at the end. Really, it does seem like a lot of eating and I would be concerned about getting my "moneys worth" kwim?
I do like the idea of putting $1000 on a card and just paying for it that way at the end.

That is what we did - got $1000 in gift cards at Target (to get the 5% discount) and we charged the meals to the room.

 

[wendow]

We do the same. Just estimate about how much meals will be, buy gift cards at Target or HEB if they are running a smokin sale, apply them all to the room and then just use that credit to pay for meals. It works beautifully. And we seriously order whatever we want, whenever we want and still come out way ahead of the dining plan cost.

 

[pinoke]

Personally, our last trip we (2 adults, 14yr old, 7yr old) stayed 10 days/with the discounted room for the ALL STAR SPORTS. (so, value resort) We still paid WAY less, paying out of pocket for food, then going the "free" dining plan/no resort discount.

Plus, we ate at T-rex, Tusker House character lunch, LeCellier, Ohana, 50's prime time, Sci Fi, Liberty Tree Tavern for our ADR's. 4 breakfasts were eaten in our room (garden grocer) and 5 were eaten at the ASSports dining hall. The rest of the meals were counter service in the parks. And LOTS of Disney snacks. LOL.

What's your secret? We like TS too, but eating at these would mean $100 for our family of three for just Ohana, Cellier….
We spent way more than I thought possible last year and we've got to make it cheaper next trip. We too pack snacks and oatmeal and such...

 

[bruhl1j]

We used the dining plan on the last trip. It saved us about 25 bucks. For me, the dining plan is a break even deal. The upside is you know how much it will cost before you leave, no surprises. We ate at Narccoossee's, Wolfgang Exp, Olivia's, Kona's, and Shutters , etc. The plan allows freedom to choose some luxury. The downside is it is way too much food. We hardly used our snack credits and ate breakfast in the room.

There are some discounts like a credit card (10% in some restaurants). With the Disney Visa you get a free photo, 10% on merchandise (>50), and other perks. Annual passes and TIW cards are great if you qualify. Also, the card allows for 6 month no interest on trips.

Also, you can pack a picnic for lunch or supper in the park then eat a buffet or big meal just once a day. Many resorts sell milk, bread, juice, and other items, although not at a great price. If you plan, you could cut the food cost to about $700 or so for the week.

Have fun.

 

[monorailsilver]

I told myself before we went in August that my goal was $40/meal for the 5 of us.

Well I pretty much stuck to that. We had our own water so we didn't buy drinks in the park. I bought mugs for pool days and my kids got their soda kick for the day. We did breakfast in our room while getting ready.

We usually had 1 snack per day". Occasionally dh and I would split a meal.

 

[mrodgers]

In 2010 I paid I think $670 for the dining plan, 2 adults and 2 "kids". Had to scour the menus and places for more buffet type meals because my kids don't eat kid's meals. We didn't eat trying to "get the most for the money" and just ate whatever we would want to eat. I added just the dinner meals up and it was well over $1000.

Last week we were talking about vacations at work and I looked up basically the same week for the same number of days. The dining plan added $1700 to the cost!

I looked up menus and what we ate in 2010. Seems all meals went up about $5 (I had pdf files of the menus from 2010 with the prices back then.) No way $5 per person per day for 6 days add up to $1000 difference!