Going without any dining plan

[PaulaSB12]

I cancelled this years trip because of uncertainty (including company has said anyone travelling out of the country has to self isolate without pay for two weeks, love Disney but not that much). Next year I am thinking of doing this no dining plan getting a prepaid card and putting the amount of the deluxe dining plan on it and using that to pay for food. These who have done that sort of thing how has it worked out for you? This is the first year I am considering not doing the dining plan.

 

[Meglen]

We used to buy gift cards at target at 5% off and do the math and get the amount we need. For our current trip we have alot of credit card points so we will be using that and our Disney card to get the percent off if it applys to mobile order. If not back to gift cards. It worked great for our last few trips. Same feeling of "it payed for" as the dining plan.

 

[nekonekoneko]

I've never used the dining plan. Honestly, it's way too much food, and it's not the way we eat.

My family like to split a couple of appetizers, and everyone gets their own entree. Dessert could be at the restaurant if something looks good, but we can also wait a couple of hours and get something elsewhere. Apps aren't included on the regular or plus dining plans, which is a bummer. We're also not necessarily married to getting the steak-lobster-shrimp to maximize the plan credit. Sometimes we want chicken or *gasp!* a salad for dinner! None of us are drinkers, so we would also lose the benefit of the alcohol credit.

Since my children are older, we don't need to go to every AYCTE character meal, which are a great use of dining plan credits, but really expensive out of pocket for what's fairly mediocre food.

I do the same thing you're thinking, load a gift card or two with the value of the dining plan, and use that to pay "out of pocket". It works for us. At the end of the trip, there's like $200-$250 leftover on the card, and instead of being stuck with a bunch of snacks in a "use it or lose it" mode, that's a shopping spree at Mousegears or The Emporium before going home.

 

[Pumbaa_]

It is always a math exercise

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We only did the dining plan the first year... now we never do it.
We buy discounted giftcards for starbucks, disney and Landry's ( trex& rainforest cafe) sometimes as much as 40% off. Giftcardwiki.com
The rest of our savings go in our disney savings account its a disney chase bank account. They will give you $200 to sign up with direct deposit. The direct deposit i used is my door dash account. I try and do one delivery a day to pay for Disney thats about one pretzel a day ($7)

 

[Dulcee]

Depends on the year for us whether we use the dining plan or not. We only use the dining plan when the "free" package is the best overall discount for us.

This year we obviously won't be using it lol I estimate a total for each day. When we don't have the dining plan we pack plenty of water bottles for use at counter service meals. I don't go the gift card route only because if we come under budget (which happens often) I don't want to be stuck with gift card funds when I could be "stuck" with my cash instead.

 

[MICKIMINI]

I suspect you will have money left on that gift card toward the next trip! We've done it both ways and we save quite a bit paying out of pocket.

 

[_19disnA]

Lots of older dining plan threads and the answer is basically it depends on how you like to eat. We had the regular dining plan last year (I think there are now new/different dining plans) and it worked out great for us. Buying gift cards to pay isn't really any benefit unless you get some % savings/perk from the store where you buy them. I doubt any of that will make much difference in deciding to purchase a dining plan. Post-covid, you also need to consider which places are open and what exactly Disney will again offer relating to dining plans. That situation will probably remain fluid for quite some period of time.

 

[PaulaSB12]

I looked and all the dates so far have the Disney dining plan but I am looking to go either august or Christmas. I had a great Christmas in Disney in 2012, it was the first Christmas after my mother died in the February that year and as she lived with me I didn't want to be home for Christmas (oddly I have not had Christmas at home since my nieces and nephew want me at their mums if I am not on holiday they are great kids) so Christmas their again is on the books, but I will go without the dining plan for the first time. Even the mug was more of a chore to make sure I used it so that will be fun.

 

[gharter]

We've done the dining plan only a few times when it was a free perk.
I know many love it. For us, it wouldn't be worth the money. We found for some meals it was much more food than we wanted.
We also found that some of the restaurants where we wanted to eat, were not on the list.
If I'd paid for it, I think I'd feel like I needed to be ordering the most expensive things to be sure I got my moneys worth, even if that wan't what I really wanted.
However, I understand those who prefer to have prepaid their dining and not have to worry about the cost.

 

[RanDIZ]

I found the DDP not to be worth it. It’s just a psychological thing to make people feel all-inclusive. I’ve saved on avg $200-300 without it. That’s eating very plentiful and not skimping at all. Dollar for dollar if you were to use every credit vs paying out of pocket, the DDP is worth it cost wise. But forcing myself to eat more and drink more isn’t worth it. I’ll eat at my own pace and not worry about using all credits and pocket the couple hundred going without DDP.

 

[Lilsia]

I don't do any of that. The dining plan is way too much food for how we eat, and I don't even bother putting money on a gift card. I charge everything back to my room and that goes on my Disney Visa so that I am earning points for my next visit. It is all the same money whether or not if you put it on a gift card, charge it on your card, or take it out of your bank. Plus it is just as easy to charge it back to the room with my magic band. When they first came out with the dining plan, we would get the free dining offer. We found that we were too focused on making sure we got all of our dining credits used and it felt like we were constantly eating. I love food, I even go during the food and wine fest FOR the food and seminars, but the dining plan was just TOO much food for us to consume. I also struggle to see how paying with a gift card is any more of a convenience then just charging it, either on your magic band or a credit card. You are still taking out a card to pay with.

 

[Gehrig1B]

We eat when, where, what, and how we like paying out of pocket and never come close to spending what the middle DDP plan costs. And yes, we do occasional character dining as well as signature dining.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I haven't done it quite like that, but after doing the regular plan and the deluxe plan a few times, I sat down with the numbers and some pictures and notes on what we ate vs. what went to waste. I formed a dining budget from that and usually try and earmark something around that in savings, with some wiggle room in case we add in any splurges. We have always come in a few hundred under the cost of the plan by going this route.

 

[DisneyGal24]

That’s exactly what we do now. Since our kids turned 10 and are counted as adults on the DDP, we pay out of pocket. We make a generous budget for food and it’s less than what we would pay for the DDP. We still have a few TS reservations too. It just works best for us and how we eat. My kids (now 14 and 11) just don’t eat enough to justify the cost.

 

[becauseimnew]

The rest of our savings go in our disney savings account its a disney chase bank account. They will give you $200 to sign up with direct deposit. The direct deposit i used is my door dash account. I try and do one delivery a day to pay for Disney thats about one pretzel a day ($7)

I don’t think they offer that anymore

 

[mcmry5]

We rarely do the dining plan- we just found it wasn't quite worth it. However, I do like the idea of spreading our cost over time, rather than getting that big 'ol bill at the end of a trip. We usually buy discounted gift cards at Sam's with our Disney Visa card. (They have something like $150 for $142, so not a ton of savings, but some!). Then, we get Reward Dollars from that as well. We also ask grandparents to gift our kids Disney Gift Cards as well for holidays. That ends up being their spending money for souvenirs. We charge everything to our MagicBands and then pay off the balance each night at the hotel with the gift cards.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I don’t think they offer that anymore

Its still on the chase site, i cant post the link cause it copies with a referral from me. Look up disney checking account on your browser. There is also one with a higher amount for the CC but i have horrible credit do i do not qualify

 

[npatellye]

We did the QS dining plan once and the middle DDP once. Both times, we ended with far too much food for us. I also felt like we were forever trying to plan our days around our dining plan (or reservations) or we were forever trying to make sure my husband and I at least ordered things expensive enough to break even and I hated it. We’ll probably never do it again. It’s just not how we eat in our family.

 

[Jennasis]

We eat when, where, what, and how we like paying out of pocket and never come close to spending what the middle DDP plan costs. And yes, we do occasional character dining as well as signature dining.

This.