Disney Dining Plan - Is it worth it?

[outstandinfarmer]

How much are the refillable mugs?

 

[jcmaro]

This is something I'm struggling with. Partly because it is very overwhelming planning where I'm going to be 3 months from now. It will be my husband, me and our son who is 3 1/2. He is a very picky eater and doesn't eat a lot at a time, but eats multiple times a day. He's also not good at sitting still and waiting for food. I think we've decided not to do it because we are losing part of our day when we go back to the room for naps/rest and can't see losing more of our day at a long sit down meal everyday.

We are doing one character breakfast right now, and I'm thinking about doing on more sit down meal in the park. And we will also go to DTD to T-rex one day. I don't know, it's really overwhelming to me.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

How much are the refillable mugs?

Don't quote me on it but I believe they are between $12.00-$13.00.
Someone here will know for sure.

 

[maggieb9975]

This is something I'm struggling with. Partly because it is very overwhelming planning where I'm going to be 3 months from now. It will be my husband, me and our son who is 3 1/2. He is a very picky eater and doesn't eat a lot at a time, but eats multiple times a day. He's also not good at sitting still and waiting for food. I think we've decided not to do it because we are losing part of our day when we go back to the room for naps/rest and can't see losing more of our day at a long sit down meal everyday.

We are doing one character breakfast right now, and I'm thinking about doing on more sit down meal in the park. And we will also go to DTD to T-rex one day. I don't know, it's really overwhelming to me.

Perhaps the Quick Service dining plan would be a good option for you?

 

[diskids2]

We struggled with this.....a fun struggle though!

We decided not to the plan for the following reasons and its really the combination of them all instead of each one in particular if you know what I mean:

We are four adults because my children are 14 and 18. My 18 year old DD does not eat like an adult.

We are BIG appetizer eaters. In fact sometimes DD and I only eat the appetizer and skip the main meal.

We SHARE counter service. Many times we order three counter service meals and share them with each other. On the rare occasion that we are still hungry we simply order one more or another order of chicken fingers or fries...you get the idea.

We do love TS. Out of our 11 night stay we have 8 choices that we will get ADR's for. HOWEVER....two of them are NOT on the dining plan...Rainforest Cafe and TREX.

We don't like to get dessert at the TS location. Usually we are so full that we get dessert some other time in the evening.....like we LOVE stopping at Ghiradelli's for an icecream treat when we are in DTD.

I actually went through each menu and added things up and found myself ordering things just because I was ENTITLED to them instead of what I really would have done. In addition we found ourselves looking for the extra three TS choices to fit into the plan. And without spending too much time on this....eating more then I need to eat or would eat is not a good idea for me

Refillable mugs are not on the regular dining plan. Upgraded plan with three meals is just way too much at $70 per day per person...For our 11 night trip that's THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS...I know I can spend less then this.

We are SNACKERS. Usually we end up "grazing" through the day. One thing we LOVE to do is "eat around the worldshowcase" We always have one day when we sample something (sharing is involved) at each of the countries....also yogurt or bananas/fruit/bagels for breakfast too.....watching a parade....get some popcorn....wait look at those dole whips.....yipeee there are the mickey pops.....you get my point!

11 nights was just way too many TS for us to even think about.

It is TRUE if I altered the way we usually do things and stuck to the basic plan ... $40/day per person is really not much money. In fact, I could never take care of all of us for $160 per day. BUT typically, and we went last Easter...we spend about $200 per day as an AVERAGE. And I know this for a fact because I divide the food money into envelopes $200 for each day....if we have left over we add it to the next day, etc. and we didn't run out. When I add a 20% tip on a $100 (low side) TS dinner...I get $20 so that cuts the savings down to $20 and if I add the extra snacks and appetizers I will need to buy anyway.....I come out spending more money.

We always do ADR's but we also like FLEXIBILITY. Usually this goes back to the snacking issue.

So for us....it didn't seem to be a good fit.....but like so many others have said....its about your dining style and what your family likes. I have read many many posts when I was doing my research and it seems that if you have children the plan really pays because their cost is so small compared to the adult price.

I hope I helped.

 

[outstandinfarmer]

11 nights was just way too many TS for us to even think about.

Wow! How did you talk your husband into 11 days? Good job! My husband made a big deal about 7 days being too much. (He's never been there though, so doesn't get it)

 

[3boymthr]

Despite an incredibly fussy eater we're doing the DDP, here's why:

I won't spend the entire week fretting about the cost of every little bit of food. No telling the kids you can't have that it's too expensive.

I like the idea of having my food paid for up front. No worrying that I'll run out of money or have to charge it.

I was able to find 4 out of 6 TS places that offer something the fussy one likes to eat. At the other two they offer a side he likes to eat that his brother doesn't so he will share meals with his brother.

We're actually going to save money. After the cost of my TS was added up and netted from the total cost of the DDP the cost of my CS meals and snacks is $2/ea. If I have to add some OOP costs to buy the fussy eater some sides instead of a meal I'll still come out ahead.

Total projected cost of our meals: $1,182 incl. taxes. Projected cost OOP is $927.26. (Not including tips which is another $120 ) I used average food prices for cost of meals. Some of the menu items cost much, much more than what I used in my calculations.

This is the first time the kids have ever been to WDW and probably the only time (DH won't vacation in the same place twice) so I wanted to let them have as many Character Meals as they wanted - they picked 3 (Plus they picked 3 gourmet places ).