Disney dining plan vs pay as you go

[abmitch01]

DD and I are on our last day of a ten day trip. We stayed at POR and did not do the dining plan. DD is 15. The plan wouldVe cost us $80 a day so I budgeted that amount. So far we've spent $600 including a $50 Amazon pantry delivery. We ate cereal in the room. Most days we had just a snack and then a CS dinner. With the heat we just weren't that hungry. We drank water from CS counters or our own. I didn't feel like we scrimped on anything except I would've liked to have diet coke more often. Si it's a wash. We certainly would've eaten like kings on the dining plan for not that much more money but I would've been forcing it so as not to waste it. For a bigger family I would definitely do it.

 

[Bete]

I think based on your costs I would highly recommend the dining plan.

 

[abmitch01]

Yeah we saved two hundred but we didn't eat much.

 

[supersnoop]

Yeah we saved two hundred but we didn't eat much.

Did you do any table service meals? How many counter service meals did you pay for?

 

[Grmnshplvr]

DD and I are on our last day of a ten day trip. We stayed at POR and did not do the dining plan. DD is 15. The plan wouldVe cost us $80 a day so I budgeted that amount. So far we've spent $600 including a $50 Amazon pantry delivery. We ate cereal in the room. Most days we had just a snack and then a CS dinner. With the heat we just weren't that hungry. We drank water from CS counters or our own. I didn't feel like we scrimped on anything except I would've liked to have diet coke more often. Si it's a wash. We certainly would've eaten like kings on the dining plan for not that much more money but I would've been forcing it so as not to waste it. For a bigger family I would definitely do it.

Are you referring to the regular dining plan or QS would have been $80 a day?

 

[abmitch01]

The Counter service plan.

We did not do any TS. We did do BOG lunch.

 

[wendow]

We save way, way more by not doing the DDP but it really comes down to how you eat. It's an individual thing and everyone has to crunch the numbers for themselves.

 

[eliza61]

Yeah we saved two hundred but we didn't eat much.

Do you normally eat much?

For me whenever I wrestle with this question I go back to "how would I eat normally"?

See for me, vacation is the time when I can do the things I normally don't do.

I'm not a big budgeter on vacation simply because during real life, every day I watch my pennies so when I go to the world it's usually a time we look forward to splurging.

So for me, forcing myself to drink water instead of the diet coke I really wanted would not be worth the 2.50 it saves. (not saying any thing at all is wrong with it).

Whenever I get asked the question, the first thing I answer is, take a look at the menus and see how you would really eat. don't concentrate on how to save a buck but focus on "what would my family pick".

Now for us the ddp stopped saving us money once they took away the tips and appertizers. We rarely eat desserts and some days we will skip a ts meal all together.

Does everyone drink water with there meals? stuff like that. we drink alot of water as we tour around the parks but when we sit down to eat I totally admit I love a cold coke.

but even with all that rarely now would I spend 60 dollars a day on food per person.

 

[lvillotta1]

We will be there in Jan for 6 days. This is the first time we will not be using DDP. We have done TS and deluxe and both times it was way too much food for an adult and 2 kids ages 6&10. For this next trip I am going to bug Disney gift cards for our food and spending money. I am planning $50-60/day for the 3 of us. We always bring a large duffel bag of our own breakfast,snacks,yogurt,water etc. We could then split an adult meal with 1 child and the other will have a kids meal. And for some reason we always had a credit left for dinner or lunch b/c we were not hungry. And yes I will be budgeting for many Diet Cokes while there.

 

[HM]

My DD and I had a four day trip earlier this month. We paid out of pocket and didn't have any food in our room. We did visit McDonald's a couple times but otherwise had CS meals in the park/resort/DTD. We also chose to drink water with our meals, but did 'splurge' on a soda occasionally as a snack or along with a snack. I know we spent well under $80 a day and never felt deprived. I'm sorry you did.

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

It really depends on your family's eating habits, the weather, and kids' ages when you go. Many 10 year olds are not going to eat enough food to justify the DDP. We have done the "regular" plan 3 times and feel we did OK with it compared to out of pocket when both kids were under 10, when we had 1 disney adult and 1 disney child, we began to break about even if we paid out of pocket.

One thing I think of, is all those CS deserts I would never get when looking at costs. I can have several CS and sit down meals where I would order as I typically would at a restaurant and skip the desserts most of the time and still have PLENTY to eat. If you are one who has to have a drink and/or desert with every meal, then the DDP is for you. With my kids both being "Disney Adults" now at ages 12 and 10, I know for a fact I will not be doing the DDP as they would not eat enough to justify the costs and IMO, the cost of the DDP has gotten too high too fast compared to what it was just a few years ago.

I would like to see Disney have a "middle tier" to the DDP for ages 10-14 for those kids who are considered adults by Disney but no where else.

My 2 pennies

 

[PA DVC]

Where did you eat that one counter service meal and a snack cost 60.00? I looked at some menus to refresh my memory and the most expensive items (I looked at sunshine seasons, flame tree BBQ and studio catering company) were not over 12.00. Dessert items are 5-6.00? Even adding a soda would add only another 5.00 for two people. What am I missing?
And after reading your posts about this trip I would've been tossing back Grey Goose slushies let alone diet cokes! Honey, you deserved whatever you wanted! ��

 

[missbrooke06]

My whole preference for the DDP was that I like not paying as I go. The ability to pay $200 more ahead of time to not deal with my menu price anxiety is so worth it.

I do understand why people without my anxiety find OOP better.

 

[supersnoop]

My whole preference for the DDP was that I like not paying as I go. The ability to pay $200 more ahead of time to not deal with my menu price anxiety is so worth it.

I do understand why people without my anxiety find OOP better.

I have more anxiety knowing I paid $200 more than I should have. I'd rather pull out my wallet each time I eat than pay $200 more for 10 days worth of meals.

 

[mommymeg]

My whole preference for the DDP was that I like not paying as I go. The ability to pay $200 more ahead of time to not deal with my menu price anxiety is so worth it. I do understand why people without my anxiety find OOP better.

I feel your pain 100%.

Spending anxiety is the worst.

 

[Marionnette]

My whole preference for the DDP was that I like not paying as I go. The ability to pay $200 more ahead of time to not deal with my menu price anxiety is so worth it.

I do understand why people without my anxiety find OOP better.

"Convenience" comes at a price. If this is what works for you and it makes your vacation more stress-free, then by all means go for it! Aside from the fact that the dining plans would actually cost us more than OOP, it would also stress me out just trying to get the best value for the money I'd sunk into the dining plan and to minimize my loss.

 

[d3gauss]

I have crunched the numbers before, and there is a savings, not much but a savings. The issue I have is that there are a lot of things I want to be able to do, and if I didn't buy the DDP, I would probably try to skip them and barely eating anything.

I think being able to spend that money beforehand and just not thinking about the money at all on the trip is the best thing for me and my family.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Where did you eat that one counter service meal and a snack cost 60.00? I looked at some menus to refresh my memory and the most expensive items (I looked at sunshine seasons, flame tree BBQ and studio catering company) were not over 12.00. Dessert items are 5-6.00? Even adding a soda would add only another 5.00 for two people. What am I missing?
And after reading your posts about this trip I would've been tossing back Grey Goose slushies let alone diet cokes! Honey, you deserved whatever you wanted! ��

I agree with this - $600 - $50 delivery = $550 / 10 = $55 / day

One meal and snack per day X 2 would be very hard to hit that number unless you were including things the DDP wouldn't include anyways (like extra snacks, alcohol, an extra side with a meal, etc)...so your savings could be quite a bit more than you realize...

 

[Marionnette]

I have crunched the numbers before, and there is a savings, not much but a savings. The issue I have is that there are a lot of things I want to be able to do, and if I didn't buy the DDP, I would probably try to skip them and barely eating anything.

I think being able to spend that money beforehand and just not thinking about the money at all on the trip is the best thing for me and my family.

When you crunched those numbers, did you consider how your family would normally dine vs. how they will dine when on the plan? The reason that the dining plans are such poor choices for us are because we rarely eat dessert, let alone eat it twice per day and I have no need for the refillable mugs. When I eliminate those items, the dining plans are big money-losers for us.

 

[TravelMommy]

I have more anxiety knowing I paid $200 more than I should have. I'd rather pull out my wallet each time I eat than pay $200 more for 10 days worth of meals.

My thinking exactly. I give Disney enough $$$$ I always have done that DDP calculator before we leave and always it anticipated DDP would of cost us $$$. We try to save every penny we can when traveling so we can travel more often.