Help me with dining plan decisions.

[cdgrill]

I don't pull out my DEBIT card all week. I pull out my KTTW card the same as you do. You pay more than I do to have it paid BEFORE your vacation. I pay less, and pay after.

The important thing is a fantastic time!! Disney World can always deliver!

 

[texascop2]

Key to the World card. It is your room key, has your tickets on it if you purchased them with your room stay and DP credits if you purchase the DP. You can also use it for charging.

Ok....I knew that you could do that, I just am not up on all the acronyms. Thanks.

 

[texascop2]

The important thing is a fantastic time!! Disney World can always deliver!

I agree completely!!!

 

[cdgrill]

I hope you have fun on your vacation. I think everyone who is planing on going to Disney, including myself, plans on having a "blast".
Sorry, I wont take spending an extra few hundred dollars over an extra 5 minutes to settle my bill at the end of my stay.

Thank you!

 

[sharonabe]

I booked my trip yesterday through Disney reservation's. They are the ones that told me $57 per person, per day for March of 2012.

Perhaps they were mistaken.

Not necessarily mistaken, just not informed always. If you go online and price out a vacation with room and tickets and then do the exact same with room, tickets, and dining plan, it comes out to around $50/day/adult.

You will not find the actual cost of the DDP anywhere on the Disney official site. This was a topic of considerable debate over on the restaurant boards about a month ago.

 

[bwilcox]

If that is the case just use your room key to charge. If the DP works for you that is great. I know it saves many families money. But to use it just for some "magic" feeling is silly.

I am a stay-at-home mom, so we are a single income family on a tight budget. When we go out to eat, we order the cheaper items on the menu, always water, and never a dessert. The DDP actually ends up costing us more in the long run when you compare it to how we normally eat out. But when we can prepay for it as part of our total vacation cost, we can go out to eat every day at WDW, order the most expensive item on the menu, a soda, AND a dessert. That, to me, is magical, and totally worth the extra price.
Just a different perspective.

 

[thegib95]

I am a stay-at-home mom, so we are a single income family on a tight budget. When we go out to eat, we order the cheaper items on the menu, always water, and never a dessert. The DDP actually ends up costing us more in the long run when you compare it to how we normally eat out. But when we can prepay for it as part of our total vacation cost, we can go out to eat every day at WDW, order the most expensive item on the menu, a soda, AND a dessert. That, to me, is magical, and totally worth the extra price.
Just a different perspective.

That's so well said, I am an advocate for the dining plan (I guess a minority) but I agree we budget so so so hard for most of the year, and then when it comes time fid Disney It is nice to have the freedom to get an actual drink, a dessert and what have you and enjoy the heck outta vacation. Plus
Not worry about sticking to a budget looking at menu prices, whatever it's all covered.

Take fo instance our family of 4 adults last year (DW, Dmom, Dsis and myself) did we need to all get our own apps at planet Hollywood? Or desserts? No but we all got something different and shared and it was AMAZiNG....

 

[sissy_ib]

I am a stay-at-home mom, so we are a single income family on a tight budget. When we go out to eat, we order the cheaper items on the menu, always water, and never a dessert. The DDP actually ends up costing us more in the long run when you compare it to how we normally eat out. But when we can prepay for it as part of our total vacation cost, we can go out to eat every day at WDW, order the most expensive item on the menu, a soda, AND a dessert. That, to me, is magical, and totally worth the extra price.
Just a different perspective.

Let me elaborate on my position-I think the Disney Dining Plans are wonderful for the people they work for. My first trip to WDW I used the dining plan. I am in NO WAY bashing the plans or the people who use them. HOWEVER-they are not "one size fits all". They do not work for us because of the way we like to eat.

On my first trip I brought my aunt and her two boys and I paid for everything. I purchased the QS plan. But we had so many desserts that we tossed, 19 snack credits and 5 meals left over. Our last day we went to DTD and used all the snack credits in the candy store. The extra meals were nice because we got sandwiches from Earl of Sandwich for the drive home. But most of the snacks were wasted. Now if we had TS meals left they would have been wasted as you can not just grab something to go. Bottom line we had too much food and that is money wasted.

Now going just my fiance and I, I ran the numbers and the DPs will cost me more than paying OOP. We don't want a dessert with every meal. We just wont eat it. There are several places I want to get an app or soup. That is not on the DP. We enjoy wine or beer with dinner rather than soda. So for us if we purchase the DP we will still have an OOP expense for appetizers and we are not using all or our entitlements (dessert and sodas). In the long run costing me more money. Plus, if we change our mind on an ADR and eat CS instead we loose that TS credit on the DP. If I am paying OOP I can change my mind without worry. I have all my ADRs made for my next trip but I can show up at WDW and cancel them all if I want without consequence.

Bottom line is the OP was asking if the DP saves money. The answer is not necessarily. While the DDP cost you more money to how you normally eat out at home, the DDP would cost me more than how I eat out at WDW.

 

[mking624]

Let me elaborate on my position-I think the Disney Dining Plans are wonderful for the people they work for. My first trip to WDW I used the dining plan. I am in NO WAY bashing the plans or the people who use them. HOWEVER-they are not "one size fits all". They do not work for us because of the way we like to eat.

On my first trip I brought my aunt and her two boys and I paid for everything. I purchased the QS plan. But we had so many desserts that we tossed, 19 snack credits and 5 meals left over. Our last day we went to DTD and used all the snack credits in the candy store. The extra meals were nice because we got sandwiches from Earl of Sandwich for the drive home. But most of the snacks were wasted. Now if we had TS meals left they would have been wasted as you can not just grab something to go. Bottom line we had too much food and that is money wasted.

Now going just my fiance and I, I ran the numbers and the DPs will cost me more than paying OOP. We don't want a dessert with every meal. We just wont eat it. There are several places I want to get an app or soup. That is not on the DP. We enjoy wine or beer with dinner rather than soda. So for us if we purchase the DP we will still have an OOP expense for appetizers and we are not using all or our entitlements (dessert and sodas). In the long run costing me more money. Plus, if we change our mind on an ADR and eat CS instead we loose that TS credit on the DP. If I am paying OOP I can change my mind without worry. I have all my ADRs made for my next trip but I can show up at WDW and cancel them all if I want without consequence.

Bottom line is the OP was asking if the DP saves money. The answer is not necessarily. While the DDP cost you more money to how you normally eat out at home, the DDP would cost me more than how I eat out at WDW.

If it was only about the money, I think your post is spot on. Everyone has to look at the numbers to see if it truly is a money saver if that's their primary concern. However, it seems like the PPs are taking issue with your post that said it was silly to use it for a "magic" feeling. That's their prerogative on it...and it's not one you have to agree with, but it's also not one that is wrong, or "silly," for being that way. Hence, to each their own. That seems to be what the responses were dealing with in specific.

 

[sissy_ib]

If it was only about the money, I think your post is spot on. Everyone has to look at the numbers to see if it truly is a money saver if that's their primary concern. However, it seems like the PPs are taking issue with your post that said it was silly to use it for a "magic" feeling. That's their prerogative on it...and it's not one you have to agree with, but it's also not one that is wrong, or "silly," for being that way. Hence, to each their own. That seems to be what the responses were dealing with in specific.

If that was insulting to anyone I do apologize. The OP asked about the DPs saving money so I stated my point that they do not always save money. If was a few dollars one way or the other that would be one thing. However for me it would be wasting at least a few hundred and they is nothing magical about that. People are saying they save for the dining plan. Well, I have to save to eat at WDW as well. If I have to save money and give up somethings while at home to go to WDW and be able to spend as much as I want I need to know that my money is going as far as it can. For me I save now so while I am at WDW I can hand over my KTTW and not worry about the total. Just because I am on a budget and paying OOP does not mean I look at the prices and worry when choosing what to eat. If I want the $10 sandwich I order it. If I want the $50 steak I order it. But I am not going to pay for the DP that includes food I am not going to eat. This has been debated over and over and over. It seams like the people who use the DP think is the only way to go for everyone. I had a friend at work this week question me why I don't use the DP. I had to explain to him what I explained here. While I acknowledge it works for some, it does not for me.

 

[duffy]

My sister and I used the dining plan a few years ago. She was very new to Disney, and I planned everything. Her budget was a big concern for her. We would talk about the trip, and I'd go over and over the figures for her.

She didn't have the internet to look at online menus, or the patience to go over printed-out copies of them to figure out how much to save for food. I'd try to give her an estimate of how much she could expect to spend on food for herself, her 11-year old and her 5-year old, but that is tough!

And she doesn't make much money, and has to tell her kids "no" a lot. At Disney World, she loved being able to tell her kids, yes, you can get dessert!! Yes, let's stop and get an ice cream!

So much easier for us to just get the plan. Yes, we may have overpaid. But, for her especially, to know months ahead of time, that the only money she needed to worry about was for souvenirs, was soooo much nicer than worrying about prices being higher than she anticipated for food. And then I deliberately chose restaurants so that we'd get as much value for our money as we could.

We pay for our airline tickets ahead of time and don't then have to worry about it being over our budget. We know how much the hotel and the park tickets will be and can plan and choose accordingly. Very handy to do the same for food.

 

[RMulieri]

Depends on your family and your eating habits.We like to eat a TS meal everyday and a CS meal everyday..Those costs ADD UP quick.Heck some of the TS places( especially the buffets and family style) are $36 an adult.So for us in the past we went with the dining plan.

 

[amandals2007]

dining plan is ALWAYS worth it if you pick the right restaurants!! book early and get into goo table service and that meal alone will be around 50 bucks a person. eat the good snacks and its really a no brainer.... i just dont think you see it

 

[pepe of ohio]

Dining plans work well for the people who eat what is included. For DFH and I it is not a good deal because we would rather share an app most places and skip dessert. I really don't understand the convenience argument. How is it more of a hassle to use your KTTW card to charge for meals? We will end up spending much less paying OOP and that wins everytime.

First and foremost, we hate scheduling ADR's....a clock will not run our vacation....then, most meals at Disney are too huge, we share a meal most of the time and our lunches consist of sandwiches we prepare with items we picked up at the grocery stop...we enjoy pool picnics every day with some drinks....as for dinners, Disney to us has never been about the food, well they did long long ago when their meals we decent....hasn't been the case for the past 5 years, TS meals are mediocre to awful and not worth our time and energy....we find better counter service all across the property for our taking...we eat like we do at home, nothing elaborate so why do it at WDW when the meals are not that good...

As for convenience, whether on the plan or OOP, it's still your money....just as easy to put on our room key for the whole trip.....we know what we want to pay for a meal and we don't come close to what the meal plan would cost us......everyone has their reasons either way but to us, it's time consuming, schedule making, and not a money saver plus we rather take the room only discount over the package that's required for the meal plan...good luck!

 

[newdeal]

Average snack is about $3.50, average counter service is about $11, average table service is about $38 per person plus tax. So yeah at $57 its pretty close, i thought it used to be like $42. We usually go during free dining but we went for 4 days in june and paid for food and i was shocked how it added up. We spent almost $300 in four days with two people and we were sharing meals most of the time whikr in the park, drinking free water, no desserts, breakfast at the hotel, and dinner outside the park.

 

[Jkveglis]

Bottom line. Do I eat dessert? No. Do I like appetizer? yes. You are still paying the waitress a tip on top of that for dessert that I do not want. I do not want to feel pressured to eat at a certain restaurant because it is the best value on DP plan. No DP plan for me. I made a few ADR for places I really want to eat at. The rest I will just eat when and where my family wants to eat, no scheduling. I get enough of that in my regular life.

 

[kathie859]

Bottom line. Do I eat dessert? No. Do I like appetizer? yes. You are still paying the waitress a tip on top of that for dessert that I do not want. I do not want to feel pressured to eat at a certain restaurant because it is the best value on DP plan. No DP plan for me. I made a few ADR for places I really want to eat at. The rest I will just eat when and where my family wants to eat, no scheduling. I get enough of that in my regular life.

This is where the beauty of the TIW card kicks in! I've saved 100's(at least) of dollars over the years with the TIW plan and ate WHERE and WHAT I wanted--and with rare exception (Teppan Edo comes to mind) saved 20% on food and drink! Give me a room only discount anytime over Free Dining.

 

[TDC Nala]

Your net savings on the dining plan depends completely on where your party eats and what you order (compared to what you would order if you didn't have the dining plan). If you don't get desserts with every meal you would probably come out cheaper without the plan, but some like the fact that they feel free to get desserts with every meal if they have the plan.

You can also come out ahead if you are taking several children under 10 to multiple character meals. Buffets and all you can eat family style meals are huge deals for children on the DDP, not so much for adults.

I don't use the plans, they have no genuine worth for me. I don't find them "magical" or even convenient.

If you like the "prepayment" aspect of the plans but don't want to be restricted to the way they require you to order, put some money on a Disney gift card and use that to pay for meals (doing that will still exclude you from the Swan/Dolphin restaurants and maybe some at DTD, I like the Swan/Dolphin restaurants so I don't bother with the gift card either. I use my credit card and TIW.)

Prices for DDP in "peak" periods are higher, maybe that is where the $57 per night came from. In peak season it's worked out to $53.54 per adult per night but when they are quoting packages it sometimes goes higher.

 

[myhoney]

OP - I am much like you. Our first trip, and I'm running the numbers because I don't see the "deal". We have ADRs for each night, just because with two kids, 4 and 6, we wanted to stick to routine as much as possible!

I don't believe my family needs 8 desserts and 4 snacks each and every day! I told DH I'd rather skip dessert and have a nice, cold, adult beverage instead!
At one restaurant, there is a soup that looks delicious, but I couldn't get it on the plan. We are coming out almost to the penny by paying oop and doing the plan. So, it's a wash. BUT! By paying oop, we can order what we want, when we want it. Instead of getting a dessert after lunch (something we never do!), I can use that same $5 to buy a mickey bar as a 2pm snack.

Everyone I know who has gone to Disney since the DDP became available raves about it. I don't see it. DH keeps laughing as I plan our trip and randomly yell out " Disney, DON'T BOX ME IN!!"

 

[sharonabe]

Okay DDP Diehards...here's a challenge.

The OP asked (almost begged) for someone to show them how the DDP is a value.

So, show us! Give us a couple sample days of realistically eating in the parks and how much money you "save."