Do most people get the Disney Dining Plan?

[robinbutterfly]

If you don't, how much money do you end up spending a day?

 

[Bete]

and I'm hooked. We always make out on the plan financially.

I do see the other side though of not eating as much and skipping dessert.

 

[Snork]

We have also paid and have gotten free dining. We are
old pros at getting getting our value for it.

When we have paid for it we liked having to not worry
about that expense when we are down there. YMMV.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We've never gotten the dining plan. It doesn't fit in with the way we eat.

We don't do more than 2 or 3 TS per trip. DS14 doesn't like most adult foods so it would be a waste to pay adult price for him. DD10, DH and I eat however we want and don't feel like we are wasting food.
Sometimes we eat meals, sometimes we snack. It all works out for us without the dining plan.

Last year we had AP's and I got us the TiW card and we did save money on it - more than it cost us but it's not something we don't do all the time and I'm pretty sure I booked a couple of more TS than we normally would have during the year.

I don't keep track of how much we spend overall most trips. In April 2009 I kept track and have marked in my disney journal we saved money not getting a dining plan but I don't have exact costs down.

 

[Hoosier Mom]

We had free dining last time, but it was well worth it even if we would have had to pay for it. Liked not having to worry about what the entree cost was adding up to.

We have added the plan to our upcoming trip. For the regular plan, we will come out on the good side. I figured up a cost comparison for the deluxe plan also, but for us, the deluxe plan would not save us any dollars even if we did character breakfasts every morning.

What I did was select what restaurants I want, and then I went to Allears.net and looked up the menus and did a sample bill from each. Compare that to the daily cost of the meal plan.

For us, we usually use the meals for lunch and supper and pay out of pocket for our breakfasts. The last day we use any unused snack credits to buy breakfast (oatmeal, banana, etc.)

 

[HunnyJar]

My family always gets the dining plan when we go. (We have done the free dining once, every other time it has been OOP.) It's just nice not having to worry about the money since it's already paid for. We just get to go, relax and have a great time without tallying up all the receipts.

 

[MissionMouse]

I think that more and more people are getting Disney dining plans, especially with the current economy as Disney marketing campaigns are using dining like Free Dining to get people to visit Disney World. Free Dining is being offered like never before, which will be interesting to see what they do and what guest demand when the economy improves.

I believe the plans originated from their Cruise Line operations and it makes running land park food operations a lot easier for them too. DDP have changed to varying degrees in recent years too. Menu price increases and seasonal surcharges make the grounds for some individuals to argue their occurring to make their plans more appealing. It is always great for a business to collect revenue on services in advance, especially with the cavet..subject to change without notice.

 

[SuzieN]

I'm surprised at how many people said they don't get the DDP! We love it and would never consider not getting it. It's nice to not worry about menu prices when you know it's already paid for. It really makes our Disney vacations seem all-inclusive!

 

[Silver Queen]

We tried the dining plan once, but it is a lot of food for us, especially desserts at lunch. We usually prefer appetizers to desserts. We're now hooked on the TiW card and have gotten our initial investment back many times over ( next week will be our fifth trip with this year's TiW). We've enjoyed going to the signature restaurants with the TiW and especially like the fact that alcoholic beverages are discounted as well as all parts of the meal. This way we can enjoy appetizers and then split a dessert if we choose to. We decided that in the future at least one of us will get an annual pass so we can get the TiW. As DVC members this will work well for us.

 

[daisyduck123]

We always get the DDP.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I voted no because my family and I always stay Club Level, which means we are already getting a lot of food in our resort lounge. Plus we are not the type of people who like to make ADR's 180 days out and sometimes we like to change our plans on the last minute. So had we ever tried the Disney Dining Plan we would always be sticking to a specific schedule and that's not the way we like to vacation.

 

[djp0630]

We went in Sept and got free dining and we LOVED it! Loved all the character meals with young kids. We are going in May and are paying for it this time!

 

[Rip]

We used to do it back when appetizers and tips were included, but not anymore. We do tend to eat at least one sit-down meal per day, but we also tend to share pretty much the whole meal and since we're big drinkers (well, we're actually kinda small, we just drink 3-4 drinks each with our meal), the TiW card works out better for us. My kids don't tend to eat the typical stuff they have on the kids' menus, so without the DDP I can order off of the adult menu for them as well, and they also share. We typically share CS meals as wel, and would never get dessert for those, nor do we each get one snack per day.

Personally, I think the DDP has resulted in a tremendous drop in the quality and variety of the food served at Disney. When I lived there 10 years ago, Disney had some of (if not, on average, the best) restaurants in the area. Now most of them are variations of the same meat/fish/chicken. The hard part for Disney was getting people to buy into their meal plan, once they were able to get most on-site guests to do so, trimming the menus, buying in bulk, increasing prices (it doesn't matter to those that are on the DDP - except that they pay much more in gratuity than they otherwise would), simplifying their offerings, and overall increasing their profit from food sales is easy for a company of that size once they have you committed to eating all of your meals there.

Something else most people probably don't think about is that the DDP allows Disney to increase their room rates over what they otherwise would be able to do. I know that there are tons of people out there that will swear on how great of a deal it is, but I just don't agree. I didn't even take advantage of the "free" dining this time because it added $1000 to our stay, and we will more than be able to feed ourselves on what the DDP would have provided for less than that.

 

[Rip]

We went in Sept and got free dining and we LOVED it! Loved all the character meals with young kids. We are going in May and are paying for it this time!

That is probably the only case where, IMO, it's currently worth doing. The buffet prices for kids are ridiculous, and if you're doing mostly character buffets you will almost certainly come out ahead with the DDP, all other things equal.

 

[christinec68]

We had the DP once and it was way too much food. It was back when the appetizers & tips were included so the value was there but after a couple of days we had a pile of left over desserts in the room and snack credits we had no use for. The CMs were forcing desserts on us, I suppose to elevate the check and therefore increase their tips.

Aside from that, it just doesn't suit our dining preferences. We like a couple of TS places that don't take the DP. We usually share an appetizer and maybe a dessert - that doesn't work with the plan.

Plus, I am generally against prepaying for meals and feeling locked into all of our ADRs. To me that's worse then having to plan my dinners 4-6 months in advance.

 

[Sawhiskey]

I wont go w/o the DDP, I love eating around the world and the DDP makes it soo much easier...

 

[longing2Batdisney]

This past May when we went it was not feasible for our family. We ate QS and alloted $25 a person per day (not including our little one). DH, DS2, and I rarely spent our entire allotment nor did DD21 and DDbf23 rarely spent their entire amount (they shared meals and spent their extra on two TS meals), and well DS16 spent over his alloted amount but not by much ; the dining plan was too expensive for the way we ate our last visit.

Now, our next plan trip in Nov '10 we plan to use the DDP; I have priced what I believe would be the cost OOP and DDP and it comes out just about the same; but, we plan to do a TS meal once a day this go round!

So, I believe it depends on the trip and the circumstances of the vacation on weather you decide to go OOP or DDP. I understand the convience of having not to worry about carrying OOP monies but, I don't mind.

 

[Uncleromulus]

No. WE rarely do lunch, never any buffets, never any snacks, never any CS. And we always order drinks and an appetizer with dinner and have one meal at V&A each trip.
TIW is a much better value for us.

 

[yakkin' yeti]

We find we're much better off paying OOP. I'm not a big eater and neither is DS, so we share a lot, or I'll just get an appetizer as my meal. Plus, we usually split one dessert between the three of us, and there's no way we could each eat a whole one at every meal. Most of the CS desserts look rather blah (Sunshine Seasons would be an exception), and the kid's meals frankly depress me. I'd rather keep my options open.

I can see that it could be a good deal if you had several kids, but for us, we save significantly more by going something like the 4-3 deal than free dining.

 

[Mickey_Man]

I have seen the breakdown by Len Testa on the "value of the dining plan" and there are certainly times where one can make out price wise on this offer. We often do signature restaurants and I don't want to use 2 TS on this as i believe this is definitely forfeiting the value that can exist in the plan. I do not want to feel like I "have to eat" at certain times or have to pick certain menu items in order to feel like I am getting my money's worth. Plus, would Disney really offer something where they aren't making money?? I know Disney makes money because of the mark up on food, and then we as the consumer feel like we make out on the deal because we compare it to the menu prices, but even if i was saving a few dollars a day on the dining plan, it is only predicated on the fact that I would be eating the way the dining plan says I should eat. Given how many people say they end up bringing snacks home tells me that ultimately it is more than most people would eat, and thus we don't do it. I think it does work out great for those that would be eating on the dining plan's schedule, so i can see where the dining plan fits.

and really - "free dining"? Nothing is free!