Does the Dining Plan save you money in the long run?

[bear_mom]

When our dds were under 9 it made sense, like you, our dds didn't eat a lot so for CS meals we would get 3 meals for the 4 of us and it was more than enough food.

Then we would bank the extra CS meals and use them for breakfast once or twice on our trip (breakfast was typically eaten in our room).

TS meals, we did a few character meals which made the cost worth while.

Then dds got older and it was no longer cost effective. We just shared CS and TS meals.

But I don't think you need to purchase the plan for your 2 year old, they just eat off your plate (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) so that limits the amount of extra food you would have.

 

[Dizlvr]

For us, only if its free.

 

[jcarwash]

But I don't think you need to purchase the plan for your 2 year old, they just eat off your plate

Correct -- you don't purchase a dining plan for children under 3, just like you don't purchase park admission for them. So with a table service dining plan, taking a 2 year old to a buffet is good because you are allowed to have them eat what they want, vs. sharing of of a la carte servings.

 

[Bete]

A free dining promo at a value resort is absolutely a great deal especially if you have 3 to 4 people to a room, but I would upgrade to the regular plan which includes one table service meal per day. We are two to a room and we still do it for free dining with an upgrade to the regular dining plan and we make out. We kept close tabs on the dollars to make sure we came out ahead; because, you pay full price for the room.

We are usually 2 to a room and we still feel value at the dining plan if you maximize the regular dining plan. The way to maximize the regular dining plan is to go to the most expensive table service places including counter service and get the most expensive items on the menu. This works even for paying out of pocket for the plan. Seldom would we use a table service credit for breakfast or lunch. The value is with table service dinners.

You need to look at the menus ahead of time and get a good idea of what you will order and figure out the value. With kids it's harder to maximize the plan; because, they seem to have a limited appetite on what they will eat.

If you are a light eater then the dining plan may not be of value. If you rather eat a table service meal for breakfast or lunch you may again not get value with the plan. If you are okay with the cheaper table service restaurants or cheaper items on the menus then the plan may not be worth it. If you can share meals then again the plan may not be for you. If you are willing to dine offsite for dinner then the dining plan may not be of a value, either.

This is a decision you have to think about before you can figure out whether or not it will be of value to you.

 

[Eastern]

I don't think it's convenient. You have to make adrs for every TS meal (or risk not getting your choice), if you decide you're not hungry you risk wasting paid-for credits, you have to keep track that they are debiting your meals properly, etc.

I'd rather pay as I go and eat where I like.

 

[Marionnette]

Nope. Not for me and how we dine. I can get an AP discount, DVC discount, Disney Visa discount or purchase TiW and get a discount that way. I find the dining plans to be too restrictive. I spend less money and have a more satisfying dining experience if I pay OOP for what I want, and when I want, to eat.

YMMV

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

We are going to WDW in November and I am wondering if we should be considering the dining plan. I hadn't at first, but now I'm thinking it might be a good idea. Thoughts?

We have only done the qs plan and have only done it one time. I loved the convenience of it but it really didn't save us any money.

 

[amylevan]

We run the numbers every trip, and even with 2 kids between 3-9, at most we'd break even - but we don't eat dessert at every meal, I prefer to drink water, we only do 1 character buffet a trip...

So, to only break even, we don't bother. If I just want to snack my way through breakfast and lunch (which has happened) I don't want to feel like I HAVE to have a CS meal because we have the credits and paid for it. And we can eat what we want, when we want and how we want without worrying about whether or not we are making good use of those credits.

 

[dizzyr]

www.distripplanner.com

Generally speaking the dining plan only saves you money if you have children ages 3 to 9.

Does anyone have any experience with this calculator and know how accurate it is? Based on this and our ADR's it says the dining plan would cost us $30 more than going with no dining plan. I love the convenience of the plan but I was thinking it may not be worth the cost. If the calculator is accurate though I'm getting it.

 

[supersnoop]

Does anyone have any experience with this calculator and know how accurate it is? Based on this and our ADR's it says the dining plan would cost us $30 more than going with no dining plan. I love the convenience of the plan but I was thinking it may not be worth the cost. If the calculator is accurate though I'm getting it.

It's pretty close, but they seem to use more of an average cost for places were you order from a menu. If you'll always order the expensive items, and you would normally order every entitlement on the plan (drink and dessert but no appetizer), and you think the plan is convenient, then $30 is probably within the margin of error. If you'd sometimes split meals or eat an appetizer as your meal, don't do it.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We have the magical deal this year so the DDP was not an option.

I used www.distripplanner.com with the ADR's we have planned and what QS places we plan on going to.

DDP would be around 2K for 10 nights if we got it. If we did all of our plans WITH the DDP we would have to pay $400 on top of the DDP.

Us eating exactly where we want is estimated at about 2K OOP. I'm thinking more along the lines of $1800 since a few meals we won't be all together (having date night, etc) and I'm sure we will share at a few places since DD9 likes adult meals and I eat smaller portions. In the heat we also skip big QS meals and just snack. So that brings the total a bit down.

I think the DDP saved me a lot of money when we got it free and on the 4/3 deal especially since both of my kids were under 10 at the time and we did tons of character meals.

Now free dining can be really great a moderate with a family of 4. I thought about changing my magical deal to CSR with FD. I would've saved about $1500 but I stuck with my magical deal because I don't know when I will ever get the opportunity again.

 

[eliza61]

I don't think it's convenient. You have to make adrs for every TS meal (or risk not getting your choice), if you decide you're not hungry you risk wasting paid-for credits, you have to keep track that they are debiting your meals properly, etc.

I'd rather pay as I go and eat where I like.

Nope. Not for me and how we dine. I can get an AP discount, DVC discount, Disney Visa discount or purchase TiW and get a discount that way. I find the dining plans to be too restrictive. I spend less money and have a more satisfying dining experience if I pay OOP for what I want, and when I want, to eat.

YMMV

+1

One of the "side" effects that happened to us when we did the ddp a few times is that we started focusing on our meals our entire vacation instead of enjoying ourselves. meal times became an exercise in maximizing the credits rather than enjoying our meals.
departure day was spent not relaxing and soaking in the last bit of disney but in a frantic, "gotta use all the snack credit" commando visit to a gift shop.

Now that everyone in our party is an adult it most definitely is not a money saver. no way would we spend over 200 bucks a day on meals for 3 people.


So using the dining plan calculator for our upcoming 8 night/9 day trip our cost to eat where I have adr's would be 949.68 and that is the price including 2 appetizers at meals and 1 snack per person. we rarely get desserts. if I paid for the dining plan regular service the cost would be $1620.00 that's 670 bucks more on the ddp. Actually it's much more than that because I'm a dvc member and an annual pass member so I get discounts with that.

 

[andiraye]

Ok. Thank you! My girls will be 2 and 4 when we go, but neither of them eat a whole lot. I'm having a hard time justifying it, but I'm also afraid of getting there and regretting not having it. Decisions, decisions ...

I think it's a decision that is pretty easy to figure out in advance. Meaning you have to make ADR's in advance so you will know before you go which table service restaurants you plan to eat in, including character meals. If you want restaurants to be a big part of your trip (whether on DDP or not) you can't wing it. So I would start by figuring out your overall desires on meals and work it from there.

You can also take a look at the quantity of food offered on the plan and take an educated guess as to whether you and your kids will eat it all. We did DDP once and won't do it again, even on free dining. It was just too much for us , and too much junk food (they've now modified it so that you can swap a desert for an app, I think).

 

[Rmurphy005]

I have used the DDP and i have payed OOP. I find that with the way the DDP is set up now it makes it pretty difficult to save money. I think it really depends on how you eat. Personally i can eat alot and i like to eat expensive meals, so i am more likely to get my money's worth ordering the expensive steak on the menu rather than the salad. The other thing i like about the plan is that i order things that i normally would not order in my every day life, i ussually dont order the most expensive items on the menu but with the plan i can do that. Yes i probably dont save much money by getting the plan but to me it is worth it because i dont have to carry around a ton of money and if i go with a group we dont have to worry about splitting the bill and i can try new things while i am on vacation. One of the most important things i want from a vacation is to be stress/worry free, and i feel with the dining plan it helps take the stress out of going out to eat.

 

[Accident]

We are going to WDW in November and I am wondering if we should be considering the dining plan. I hadn't at first, but now I'm thinking it might be a good idea. Thoughts?

For us, it's rarely saved any money. The main reason it doesn't is gratuity is not included in what you already paid. That sounds minor but if you have Table service meal, your going to get an appetizer, entree and desert for everyone your with and for us, we don't normally do that. We also want to the best value for what we paid so we tend to get the higher priced things if it sounds good. Now gratuity is based on what it would have cost if you didn't have the meal plan and when added to the original cost it's really expensive in the end. When we pay out of pocket, we order less, it costs less and the gratuity is less.

Do you have anything that offers a discount? maybe the discount cards for some of the chains that operate some of the resturants, disney visa card, tablesinwonderland, the discount card they mail everyone in the booklet near your trip, etc etc. Any of these usually makes it a no brainer to not use the meal plan.

Now if the meal plan is free, we snag it. But if we want to upgrade it to a better plan is when we break out the below to figure it out.

What I recommend to figure out if it will help you:
1) Plan your trip without the food plan
2) look over where you plan to eat, got reservations for and use the menus on the website to decide what you would buy if you didn't have the meal plan. don't forget to add in gratuity and remember disney forces 18% for 6 or more people eating together so factor that cost in if your 6 or more eating together. (table service).
3) compare what you think meals will run and what would any of the food plans make it cost less? Dont' forget to factor in gratuity will be higher with the meal plan as you will be ordering more food than without and add in that cost. Dont' forget not every restaurant accepts the meal plan or every version of the meal plan.
4) Is there anywhere you can save money? Maybe gardengrocers and get some continental style breakfast options or easy to make lunch/snacks you can easily store in your room. getting a cab to get to the resort? maybe a hired car many of which will stop for 30 minutes at a store for you to get groceries is similar cost.
5) alter your reservation for what makes sense for your exact trip.

Generally, it's really close on cost but usually disney makes more money from you if you get the meal plan.

If your planning something in 2016, make sure you read up on how the meal plans changed. IIRC the price went up but the amount of food you get went down.

 

[Colleen27]

It's pretty close, but they seem to use more of an average cost for places were you order from a menu. If you'll always order the expensive items, and you would normally order every entitlement on the plan (drink and dessert but no appetizer), and you think the plan is convenient, then $30 is probably within the margin of error. If you'd sometimes split meals or eat an appetizer as your meal, don't do it.

Unless I'm missing something, that calculator doesn't assign value to snacks. With a $30 difference it is very possible that Mickey bars and caramel apples could make that up in a hurry.

The plan doesn't generally work for us if we're paying full price because we do sometimes order apps instead of entrees or share meals, especially between DD14 and DD7. But for free we'll take it. Even at a deluxe it is the best offer out there with 3 or 4 'adults' in the room.

 

[Disneychick75]

It was not worth it for us, except for the convenience factor. We used all of the table service credits and most of the counter service but on our last day, we'd hit the resort store and get a ton of the Mickey treats because we had all of our snack credits left.
When the DDP first came out, it was a tremendous value because the table service meals included an appetizer and tip. Since then, the price has gone up and to us, it just isn't a good deal anymore.

 

[cjnix29]

We have gotten it once or twice when it's free. We are only three, and DS is 12 now, so it's adult price for him. We don't like to eat the way the dining plan forces you to eat. But the last time, I did an experiment. I actually took the cost of the dining plan and put it on Disney gift cards. Then during our trip, we ate how we wanted to. Did some sit down restaurants, did quick service, snacks, etc. At the end of the week, I started spending the dining money on some souvenirs and still came home with over $400 in unused gift cards!!! Works for some people, but definitely not for us. As people have said, if you have young kids and will do a lot of character meals, then it can work out. Otherwise, probably not so much. Look at the menus and prices beforehand, kind of figure what you may order, and compare that to the cost of the plan. All that said, some people like the convenience of not having to worry about surprises on their bill at the end of the week, it's convenient. But not a value, especially since you have to include gratuity on the cost of the meal you ate, which usually is more expensive than you would have ordered otherwise, so increase in that budget line item too!

 

[supersnoop]

Unless I'm missing something, that calculator doesn't assign value to snacks. With a $30 difference it is very possible that Mickey bars and caramel apples could make that up in a hurry.

There's a drop-down to select how many snacks per day per person, next to the resort mug and appetizer options.

 

[disneypanda11]

I agree with what has been said so far-- it really depends on so many factors: what types of restaurants you prefer (TS/CS/Character Dining/Signatures). The past few trips we have purchased the DxDDP and have saved our receipts to "tally up" at the end of the trip and check if we came out on top. We always have.
We typically do an early TS lunch and a late signature dinner to use up our 3 credits per day. We don't always use each appetizer/dessert since it's just the two of us and if we did we'd probably explode! But all told, between the value of the meals, snacks, and refillable mugs, we definitely come out ahead versus paying out of pocket. It's also a HUGE convenience factor for us. We always say it essentially makes our trip "all inclusive" (save alcohol and tips), and allows us to order whatever we choose to enjoy without even giving a thought to the menu prices.