Disney Dining Plan?

[xstreaksinskyx]

hey everyone, I was wondering what you thought about the dining plans at Disney. is it worth it? do you actually save money? i wanted to get the opinion of you guys and not what disney is trying to sell me over the phone. Also if I were to get it which would be best for me based on the restaurants i have made reservations for

Monday: Epcot
Lunch: Biergarten
Dinner: San Angel Inn Dinner

Tuesday: Magic Kingdom
Lunch: no plans
Dinner: Be Our Guest

Wednesday: Animal Kingdom
Lunch: no plans
Dinner: Yachtsman Steakhouse Dinner

Thursday: Hollywood Studios
Lunch: 50's Prime Time Cafe
Dinner: Sci FI Dine-in Theater

Friday
Breakfast: Beach Club Breakfast Buffet at Cape May Cafe

Saturday: NO Plans but thinking of Spirit of Aloha for dinner

I would love to hear your thoughts!

 

[aubriee]

I go to WDW 4-6 times a year and used to use either the basic DDP or the DxDDP every single trip, but last year decided Disney had finally priced me out. The DDPs just didn't seem worth it anymore, as I could easily come out cheaper paying OOP and could order exactly what I wanted (whether it be an entree and dessert at one meal, two appetizers at another, or an appetizer, entree, and dessert at another).

Are you staying five nights or six nights? If you are spending the night Saturday night, it looks like it would be six nights, so with the regular DDP you would each have six CS, 6 TS, and 6 snacks. With the DxDDP you would each have 18 meal credits that could be used for either CS or TS meals, plus 12 snacks. With your current ADRs (counting Spirit of Aloha) you would need ten TS credits (since both Yachtsman and SoA would take two credits each). With the basic DDP you would be four TS credits short, so would have to pay for those extra meals OOP. With the DxDP, you'd have enough credits to cover the meals you have scheduled, plus eight left over to cover lunch on Tues, Wed, and Sat, and lunch and dinner on Fri. Even if you did another Signature restaurant for dinner on Fri, it looks like you'd still have two credits left over. I guess you could add two breakfasts though if you wanted (or maybe one 2 credit breakfast like CRT), in order to use up all your credits.

Don't forget though that with the DxDDP you get an appetizer, entree, dessert and beverage at each lunch and dinner though. Do you really want that much food at one meal? On the other hand, if you happen to like the appetizers and want them, the basic DDP does not include appetizers anymore, so you would have to pay for any appetizers you wanted OOP. Plus tips and any alcohol would be OOP on either plan.

For us the basic DDP isn't enough, but the DxDDP is too much. For us, we come out better just putting money on a gift card and paying with that. We used to love the DDPs just for the convenience of having everything prepaid, but after they removed the appetizers and tips, found it not as great a value. With the gift cards we can still have everything prepaid and can order exactly what we want and everything, incuding appetizers, tips, and alcohol are included. I always look at the menus on http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm to figure about what we would eat, add in taxes and tips, then add a little more to that total and get a gift card for that amount. Once I'm down there I refuse to look at prices and order exactly what I am in the mood for at the time, knowing that no matter what I order it's still prepaid with the gift card. I always have some left over on the gift card to use for the my next trip, which is a nice feeling. I love coming home with extra money and a zero balance on my credit card. If I didn't want to come home with extra money, I could always just spend the balance on the gift card at a gift shop on my last day. After using the gift card, the balance left on that gift card shows up at the bottom of the receipt everytime, so you always know exactly how much is left on it. Anyway, just another option for you to consider.

 

[Disfanx4]

I go to WDW 4-6 times a year and used to use either the basic DDP or the DxDDP every single trip, but last year decided Disney had finally priced me out. The DDPs just didn't seem worth it anymore, as I could easily come out cheaper paying OOP and could order exactly what I wanted (whether it be an entree and dessert at one meal, two appetizers at another, or an appetizer, entree, and dessert at another).

Are you staying five nights or six nights? If you are spending the night Saturday night, it looks like it would be six nights, so with the regular DDP you would each have six CS, 6 TS, and 6 snacks. With the DxDDP you would each have 18 meal credits that could be used for either CS or TS meals, plus 12 snacks. With your current ADRs (counting Spirit of Aloha) you would need ten TS credits (since both Yachtsman and SoA would take two credits each). With the basic DDP you would be four TS credits short, so would have to pay for those extra meals OOP. With the DxDP, you'd have enough credits to cover the meals you have scheduled, plus eight left over to cover lunch on Tues, Wed, and Sat, and lunch and dinner on Fri. Even if you did another Signature restaurant for dinner on Fri, it looks like you'd still have two credits left over. I guess you could add two breakfasts though if you wanted (or maybe one 2 credit breakfast like CRT), in order to use up all your credits.

Don't forget though that with the DxDDP you get an appetizer, entree, dessert and beverage at each lunch and dinner though. Do you really want that much food at one meal? On the other hand, if you happen to like the appetizers and want them, the basic DDP does not include appetizers anymore, so you would have to pay for any appetizers you wanted OOP. Plus tips and any alcohol would be OOP on either plan.

For us the basic DDP isn't enough, but the DxDDP is too much. For us, we come out better just putting money on a gift card and paying with that. We used to love the DDPs just for the convenience of having everything prepaid, but after they removed the appetizers and tips, found it not as great a value. With the gift cards we can still have everything prepaid and can order exactly what we want and everything, incuding appetizers, tips, and alcohol are included. I always look at the menus on http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm to figure about what we would eat, add in taxes and tips, then add a little more to that total and get a gift card for that amount. Once I'm down there I refuse to look at prices and order exactly what I am in the mood for at the time, knowing that no matter what I order it's still prepaid with the gift card. I always have some left over on the gift card to use for the my next trip, which is a nice feeling. I love coming home with extra money and a zero balance on my credit card. If I didn't want to come home with extra money, I could always just spend the balance on the gift card at a gift shop on my last day. After using the gift card, the balance left on that gift card shows up at the bottom of the receipt everytime, so you always know exactly how much is left on it. Anyway, just another option for you to consider.

I was just wondering what kind of gift card you use.? We want to do that this year as the DDP doesn't work for us anymore.

 

[Disfanx4]

Also in Canada so I don't know if that makes any difference TIA

 

[aubriee]

I was just wondering what kind of gift card you use.? We want to do that this year as the DDP doesn't work for us anymore.

Also in Canada so I don't know if that makes any difference TIA

I'm not sure if being in Canada matters or not, but I usually just order a Disney gift card online or else pick a couple up at my local Walgreens (I like the variety of designs better online, is the only reason I may order them online). You can also just pick up a Visa gift card anywhere and use that if you want. The only places I haven't been able to use the Disney gift cards are at some of the restaraunts that are not Disney owned like at the Swan/Dolphin, but even they take the plain Visa gift cards. All the nonowned Disney restaurants at Epcot accept the Disney gift cards though.

 

[6disneykids]

If you have children in your party (ages 3-9, 10+ are adults) the DDP can make sense, the price for the child's plan is around $18/per night. Roughly the cost of a child's price of a character meal. Our family usually uses the DDP, 3 of our 6 are still Disney kids and we can't feed them individually (sometimes trying make them share is more stress than it is worth on vacation) for less than the cost of the plan.

If you are a group of adults, then OOP, or gift cards is often a cheaper way to go to pay for dining.

 

[xstreaksinskyx]

its just my fiance and I and i used that spreadsheet to estimate how much id be paying with a dining plan vs how much id be paying out of pocket, and even if we go the high route with pricing of food, we would still be paying less out of pocket then with a dining plan, so with that and knowing our eating habits, i rarely eat breakfast, im just gonna go out of pocket. my fiance, can last the afternoon on snacks, and ive heard the quick service meals are pretty big that we wouldnt mind splitting one, i think its better to not have a plan.