First time ever to DW - Need dining plan help!

[RadhaK]

We are going on our first ever trip to Disney and need help determining if Dining plan is right for us. We're a party of 2 adults & 2 kids staying on site 3 days and off site 3 days. For the 3 days on site, the regular dining plan price quoted was $488. I am hoping to do atleast one character meal. For this price, is it worth it for 3 days?

Greatly appreciate the help!

 

[eeyoresmom]

If you only plan on doing one character meal, probably not. Are your kids 9 and younger? If so you may be pretty close even just doing that one( if it is one of the more epensive ones.) Look at the menus on Allearsnet.com. That will give you at least a starting point. 1 character meal will average your family about $120. Will you spend considerably less than $368 for your other meals? You may find that you are able to do 3 character meals or other table service meals for around the same as you would be paying for the one character meal and the rest quick service.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

I am a firm believer that you can do DW cheaper without the DDP - even with character meals if all the kids are over 9 years old. You have to do it as a daily thing - not for the whole 3 days - because if you don't spend the whole amount one day - you cannot bring it to the other days. The Adult cost of the Disney Dining plan is a little over $60 (where a character meal for lunch or dinner is about $42) and the kids cost is a little over $19 (where a character meal for lunch or dinner is about $20). You also have to remember that even on the DDP you have to pay for tips. If you do your sit down meal for breakfast - you will lose money. Once our kids were over 9 years old it didn't pay for us and we eat character meals almost every day. Try to figure where you will eat and do the math. I hope this helps.

 

[awdwnut]

I highly recommend the dinning plan calculator in the link below. This makes it very easy to find out if the DP or Our of Pocket is the the best deal for you. Also the couple that does this makes fantastic WDW videos (see link on their website).

http://seeyareelsoon.wix.com/seeyareelsoon#!dining-plan-calculator/cxc0

 

[lovewdwdvc]

Skip the dining plan. It takes lots of time to eat at the good restaurants. Enjoy the non-food parts of Disney and save the food for another time.