Disney dining plan question

[Junebuggy5]

My DH and 3 kids, 6, 12, 15 and myself are going to WDW for the first time in May. From reading other posts, it looks like most of you get the dining plan. My husband and I don't eat three full meals a day and my 12 year old likes the kid's menu at most restaurants. Are there others out there who find the dining plan just too much food and money and just pay for their food each meal?

 

[bradk]

i do. i don't eat much, i won't get the plan. i won't even schedule around free dining. not worth it to me. then again, i have an AP so it's too much work for me to bother.

i actually just ordered the DDE today since i'll be going with a group of 4 in May and have quite a few TS locations set

 

[Junebuggy5]

Thanks for the reply. I just found the Dining Plan page so I should probably post over there!

 

[Donald is #1]

I haven't tried the DDP myself. But one of the questions to ask yourself is do you plan on eating 1 table service meal a day? Or are you planning on eating mostly counter service? If you are planning on eating mostly counter service, then you may be better off without the dining plan. You can check out the menu's at allearsnet menus and then add up the costs to see if it is worthwhile. Also, keep in mind that your 12 year old will be charged the adult price.

 

[disneycake]

We don't do the DDP because once I'm with Florida heat I don't eat a lot so you may also want to take into consideration how much of an appetite you have when you are in the heat. Personally I could never do all of the food they give you and for me the cost was more than I do now.

 

[rcraw45425]

We never get the dining plan because we don't eat enough to justify it. Ofter we each will share a meal with our DDs, which helps keep us all from gaining a ton!

 

[IlovemythreeC's]

My DH and 3 kids, 6, 12, 15 and myself are going to WDW for the first time in May. From reading other posts, it looks like most of you get the dining plan. My husband and I don't eat three full meals a day and my 12 year old likes the kid's menu at most restaurants. Are there others out there who find the dining plan just too much food and money and just pay for their food each meal?

We have gotten the dining plan for our last two trips. Before they offered the Dining Plan we found the Disney restaurants to be way too expensive. Their table service rest. easily run $130 for a family of four. (This makes DH's skin crawl So at that time we brought all kinds of snacks, had breakfast in the room, and packed sandwiches and snacks for lunch. We noticed that friends who had not visted WDW would laugh at us about this- but we actually enjoyed it very much. We are a family who likes to go out for dinner so we usually got a counter service for dinner. (About $50 for a family of 4 at the time)

Then we learned about the dining plan and it opened up a lot of new Disney experiences for us. We booked character dinners (like Chef Mickey's, 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace etc) every night and found them to be truly amazing! The character meals are truly unforgettable. It is so nice to prepay for those meals and not have to keep bringing your wallet out at the end of every meal When one keeps in mind that most of these rest. are about $26 per person for dinner before gratuity it is easy to see that this is a good value. This also helps us to relax on vacation.

We have decided to purchase the dining plan again on our next trip. Although I must tell you if our budget becomes tight we would not hesitate to cancel it and go back to brown bagging it

So, to answer your question, it is a large amount of food. If you plan to visit table service restaurants each day, it is definetly worth the price and very easy to use. If you are happy to eat snacks and eat counter service then you may be better off without it.

I hope this helps; please let me know if I can help you in anyway.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We never used the dining plan. We've figured our meals and its not worth it for the two of us. We have been to WDW over 38 visits and we have our favorite eating places and they are not mostly sit down places. The basic meals in WDW are too large, alot of food. WE've gotten to the time in our lives, so as not to be miserable eating huge meals or wasting food is to split what we pick. We rarely eat three meals a day, again meals are huge, we like to take a picnic lunch to the resort pool and relax, we prepared from items we picked up at the grocerery store and have some drinks.

Also, we do not like planning our vacations around dining reservations and times. We usually have AP's and popping into a park for a meal, snack or walk through is a snap, do not want to be watching the clock to be here or there for an ADR. There are just way too many places to eat and different kinds of meals for us to be dining on a plan thought out way before we leave, we rather go and see and dine on a whim.

 

[Teacher03]

We were on the dining plan last year and loved it. Originally there were 4 of us going, and my husband decided to join us a month before we left. We had to get another room, but did not put him on the dining plan. We never paid out of pocket once for him, we just used the dining plan and didn't eat at table service everynight. We ate at restaurants we wouldn't normally eat, and I loved the fact that I did not have to worry about the money once I was there. I think I spent $15 that week, on small souveniers. We are going back this year, have not signed up for the dining plan, but are considering it now. On the down side, it is difficult some times to plan around eating.

 

[Lovin Life]

We are also considering the dining plan for our upcoming November trip. Question - if 4 or 6 of us use the dining plan (we are traveling w/family, and are not sure yet if they will do the dining plan), can we NOT purchase it for our 9 year old, who will eat off of the kids menu, and doesn't eat very much? We would just pay cash for what she orders/eats, including any buffets that we do, because we know that she is not able to eat off of our dining plan or buffets. The rest of our travel companions will be on a separate ticket no matter which route they go, dining plan or not. So, can a majority of our party and ticket be on the dining plan, and one child not be?

 

[Teacher03]

We are also considering the dining plan for our upcoming November trip. Question - if 4 or 6 of us use the dining plan (we are traveling w/family, and are not sure yet if they will do the dining plan), can we NOT purchase it for our 9 year old, who will eat off of the kids menu, and doesn't eat very much? We would just pay cash for what she orders/eats, including any buffets that we do, because we know that she is not able to eat off of our dining plan or buffets. The rest of our travel companions will be on a separate ticket no matter which route they go, dining plan or not. So, can a majority of our party and ticket be on the dining plan, and one child not be?

I believe you have to get it for everyone on the room reservation. That is what I was told by a CM.

 

[molly213]

In the past, we would do a TS every day but many times at lunch - to cool off and to save a few $. After trying the dining plan on our last trip, my family fell in love with it. In fact when I asked my 17 year old DS if he wanted to go with us again, his first question was if we were going to use the dining plan.

There is no way we could eat all the food (we had 8 CS and 4 snacks left) but they want to be able to order off the menu without having to worry about the price. We went to the same restraunts we went to in the past but this time they were ordering apps and dessert.

Since I am also a small eater, I would often order just a salad or soup and share a little of the rest of my family's goodies. We ended up going to TS lunch and dinner because of this on several days just to use up the TS credits. We didn't even try to use up all the CS. I thought we would use a few for breakfast during the trip but no one, including my DH who LOVES breakfast, didn't feel the need to eat before lunch.

Was it worth it? YES for the experience! Our total OOP expenses would have been about $2100 for the trip. We normally would have spent about $1200 for food. Paying for the dining plan cost us more than we normally spend but my family liked it enough to use it again on our next 14 day trip.

 

[naz022292]

Why wouldn't you want her to be on dining plan? Her cost is only $11./night. Children's meals at Table Service Rest. are at least $9. and her $11 includes tax and tip. Then she also gets a counter service meal and a snack Free each day. The dining plan for children seems to be an even better deal than for adults.

 

[pixiesrule]

We are also considering the dining plan for our upcoming November trip. Question - if 4 or 6 of us use the dining plan (we are traveling w/family, and are not sure yet if they will do the dining plan), can we NOT purchase it for our 9 year old, who will eat off of the kids menu, and doesn't eat very much? We would just pay cash for what she orders/eats, including any buffets that we do, because we know that she is not able to eat off of our dining plan or buffets. The rest of our travel companions will be on a separate ticket no matter which route they go, dining plan or not. So, can a majority of our party and ticket be on the dining plan, and one child not be?

My understanding is that everyone in the party must purchase the DDP if you choose to participate. You all have to be on the same plan. I think it states that somewhere on the Dining Plan guide.

 

[disneyjunkie]

In the past, we would do a TS every day but many times at lunch - to cool off and to save a few $. After trying the dining plan on our last trip, my family fell in love with it. In fact when I asked my 17 year old DS if he wanted to go with us again, his first question was if we were going to use the dining plan.

There is no way we could eat all the food (we had 8 CS and 4 snacks left) but they want to be able to order off the menu without having to worry about the price. We went to the same restraunts we went to in the past but this time they were ordering apps and dessert.

Since I am also a small eater, I would often order just a salad or soup and share a little of the rest of my family's goodies. We ended up going to TS lunch and dinner because of this on several days just to use up the TS credits. We didn't even try to use up all the CS. I thought we would use a few for breakfast during the trip but no one, including my DH who LOVES breakfast, didn't feel the need to eat before lunch.

Was it worth it? YES for the experience! Our total OOP expenses would have been about $2100 for the trip. We normally would have spent about $1200 for food. Paying for the dining plan cost us more than we normally spend but my family liked it enough to use it again on our next 14 day trip.

My son also wanted to know if we would be booking the dining plan again.

The plan includes a lot of food, but don't have to order/eat everything that you’re entitled to. I believe we had the dining plan for 9 nights when we used it in 2005. Out of those 9 TS meals, I only ordered dessert twice.
We also skipped a few appetizers. Even without ordering complete meals, I still came out ahead by using the plan.

 

[Katiebell]

bicker had a chart that showed you could come out ahead with the dining plan, even if you never ordered appetizers or dessert. I didn't do that much work (it's a great chart, though, he specified restaurants and prices for certain items ), but I did figure out if you eat one TS meal a day:

$25 meal (that can be a moderately expensive entree alone, or an entree with appetizer and/or dessert, or figure $27 for a buffet since it includes beverage)
$2 beverage
$2 tax
$5 tip

That's $34. For one meal, for one person. Not a cheap meal, but could be a less expensive entree and an appetizer like soup or salad -- nothing extravagant. And that's not an unusually high price for a nice steak, or seafood dinner -- especially at Disney.

The dining plan is $39/day for an adult. So that meal is included, plus dessert if you want, plus a CS meal (because most people don't eat only one meal a day), and a snack worth up to $4 (everybody wants Dole Whip, or school bread, or a Mickey Bar, or something...)

So, if you do one sit down meal a day, then the dining plan is probably worth it. If you don't like to do TS, or don't want to most days, reservations are too much of a hassle, then it isn't worth it. If you did 2 CS meals at an average of $12 each, and a $4 snack, that's only $28, and the DDP isn't worth the money. Also if you are eligible for the DDE card, then that may be a better option for you.