Feedback Please...Is DINING OPTION add-on Worth It??

[bellenbuzz]

Need to figure the numbers....anyone have any feedback on the adding the Dining Option ?? Is it Worth It ?? What is the cost break down per person and kids??
What is it best to use for ?? ANY and ALL Comments/Suggestions/Feedback really would be great !!!
Thanks in Advance

Happy Disney Dreams

 

[Darcy]

There has been a lot of discussion on it, so if you do not get your answers you might look into old threads through a search or scroll through them on the restrant board.

The most common suggestion I've seen is to go to mousesavers.com, look at the restraunt's menus and add up what you'd normally get...don't forget tax and tips (those are covered by the dining plan). Include snacks and drinks too.

For me the dining plan lets me experience more types of food without worrying about the cost, as it is already paid for. I don't think I've ever ordered an appitizer, meal and dessert. I'm looking forward to the treat. So I will be ordering differently than I would without the dining plan.

Not trying to sell you on the plan, just telling you what I did to figure it out...before I had to decide though Disney was kind enough to offer the free dining.

 

[NewEnglandDisney]

Go to AllEarsNet.com and check out the menus. Figure out what you'd like to eat. If the price is more than you will pay on the dining plan, then it's worth it for you. No one can really decide that except for you.

For many of us, it works out tremendously. You can easily spend the $35/day the dining plan costs just on one sit-down meal, making the counter service and snack effectively "free". And $35 for a sit-down on the plan is being conservative.

Now, if you don't want all that food or normally spend less than $35/day for an adult's food, it may not be for you.

Check the stickied threads as well - there have been 100's of pages of discussion on this topic you may find of interest.

Good luck!

N.E.D.

 

[bellenbuzz]

Okay, I will read along and get lots of great info.
Thanks

 

[agotta]

I posted on this about a 100 times Dh and I talked it over and finally sat down at did the numbers. As a rough estimate, we are going to spend $350 on the plan and eat around $575 worth of food. Now we are also going to be spending about $100 out of pocket for food. It came down to the fact that the didning plan not only saved us money, but allowed us to eat a lot of places we usually don't, at least not in one trip!! We are also checking in a night early and not on the dining plan, so there is part of the #100 OOP.

 

[pandora174]

I had the same dilemma when considering if to book the dining plan for our upcoming trip. I also went to www.allearsnet.com & looked up all the different restaurants & what they charge. For us without the dining plan it would be mostly CS restaurants & 1 or 2 TS but with the plan we hope to try restaurants & different dishes than we normally wouldn't consider. For us it'll still be a savings but more of a treat really !

 

[Zane_Anthony]

For the amount and variety of choices you get it is definately worth the money. I was thinking about it and yes I am sure you could eat for less than the $35.00 a day ( cost of adult add on ) but you would be very limited. We are not real fancy eaters so we used almost all of our TS meals for character dining (ds turned 4 while there ) and we really enjoyed it. It kept us from waiting in a lot of the long character lines in the park. It was also nice to have all the meals and tips pre-paid and not have to worry about it.I would definately book it again. Just make sure you plan ahead and have ADR's for your TS meals.

 

[clombardi]

Need to figure the numbers....anyone have any feedback on the adding the Dining Option ?? Is it Worth It ?? What is the cost break down per person and kids??
What is it best to use for ?? ANY and ALL Comments/Suggestions/Feedback really would be great !!!
Thanks in Advance

Happy Disney Dreams

Check out my dining report. I think it will help.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=862964

 

[dsnyfrek]

Okay, my mom and I just got back last week, and we were on the dining plan. We used most of our sit down meals for dinners, which then included the appetizer, entree, dessert, and na beverage. Here is just one example of how AWESOME the plan was!

We ate at Le Celliar in EPCOT and our bill would have been $140 for the two of us with tip and tax. We paid $70 for the whole day. We ate a counter lunch that day and paid for our breakfast which came to $15 out of our pocket.

Another example: We ate at Liberty Tree Tavern our first night there. The bill would have been $88 with tax and tip, we again paid only $70 for the day.

Mama Melroses: $77 for the two of us for dinner.

I personally think the plan is great. With figuring out our meals ahead of time, we only paid for 4 counter breakfasts out of pocket, as far as meals go. We did use our snacks for water, which was a steal also, since the bottle you get is 24 ounces and normally cost $2.00 each.

I think the dining plan is WELL worth it.

 

[eeyore45]

I also did the math with the menus and prices from allearsnet.com, then I read the info from the Unofficial site - http://www.touringplans.com/MYWDining.html , I found it very useful, in the end, it just depends on you!!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

The key to the whole thing is the sit down meals you have planned.

Let's say you're on a 7 night stay. If you have 5 or 6 planned, and are alot of them dinners? If so, then it likely is going to be a good deal to find a 7th and get the meal plan.
On the other hand, if you have 1 or 2 planned and they are both breakfasts, you're likely better off financially off the plan.
Notwithstanding that you may choose to eat higher on the hog so to speak and be on the plan.

There are other things to consider like how big of eaters do you have, for example, are you REALLY going to eat appetizers for each member of the party, and entree, and desert... etc. Obviously, if you're light eaters, you may want to be off the plan.

There are too many variables for me to tell you yes you should or no you shouldn't.

Hope that helps.

 

[Nicolepa]

You also need to consider how much you will pay for the room. I have never paid rack rate for my room. For us we were able to get our room for $99 vs the $199 rack rate. If I had to pay for the meal plan and pay rack rate I'd have to eat $190 in food a day to break even.

 

[Anewman]

You also need to consider how much you will pay for the room. I have never paid rack rate for my room. For us we were able to get our room for $99 vs the $199 rack rate. If I had to pay for the meal plan and pay rack rate I'd have to eat $190 in food a day to break even.

You can get AAA discounts and still BUY the dining plan, we did.

No it is not as big a savings as the AP or SwanPhin teachers and Nurses discounts but you do not need to pay rack. For the FREE offer Rack rate was required.

A MYW PACKAGE is required in order to have the option of adding on the dining plan, if one is not booking a package. The choice would be obvious.


Something else no one has mentioned in this thread, KIDS.

How else can you feed a kid for $10 per day and disney world, the included snack is almost half of that already.

 

[lyncruiser]

As Nicolepa says, you must factor in the cost of rack rate for the room vs. any discount you could have gotten, when figuring how much the dining plan costs each day. Not only rack rate, but room taxes on that rack rate if you want to be precise. If you have $100 per day extra, which is about what GF costs without the AP rate during Sept., the free dining isn't free. It's $100 per day. Still may be a bargain -- but perhaps not if you can get the Swan for $149 per night, say. Granted the AAA discount helps, but those are very limited in number and it doesn't help much.

 

[sherrycurl]

i just returned for the world and found the dining plan to be a must have for me.

with a little bit of planning i came out so far ahead with the plan than without. we ate plenty of food and went to several ts restaurants. my dd and myself split lunches and breakfast each day so we actually had 3 meals a day. we went to ts restaurants in the parks that we were in on each day so we did not feel like we had to go out of our way to get a sit down meal. the only fault i could find was at ak. the selection is very limited but since it closes early we ate at a resort. overall i felt like i ate like a queen but paid like a pauper.

 

[bellenbuzz]

I love reading all your posts. It really gets me thrilled with planning this vacation.
I am leaning towards getting the Dining Add On Option. It sounds like a pretty good plan.
Can We use it for the Hoop Dee Doo or Spirit of Aloha ?????
Also, how far before our arrival to we have to make all our Priority Seatings????
Thanks Again !!

 

[agotta]

They are both included, but will cost 2 TS credits. I always say make ADR's asap (if you are staying onsite then you get the 90+10!!)

 

[thelionqueen]

Having gone on the Dining Plan and paid for it (luckily don't have to pay for it in Oct) I can tell you that for our family of four it is definitely worth it. We did a very low average spening chart and came out with $125.00 per day. If we were to splurge and go to a character dinner or sit down dinner per day that total would jump to $150.00+, which does not count the snacks. Counting the snacks we figure a high savings to be nearly $90.00 per day, which is significant. Hope this helps!

 

[bellenbuzz]

When and how do I find out if they will offer the FREE Dining Add On Again?? What a super duper Perk !! I wish we coulkd get that !!

 

[agotta]

The free dining offer expired on July 3rd and had limited dates. The 90+10 is brand spanking new. If you are staying on-site at a Disney owned resort, you can start making Priority seating 90 days from your check-in for your whole vacation. It used to be that you had to call 90 days from whatever day you wanted your PS. Sorry if that is confusing, maybe someone can put it better.