Help with dining plan? Is it worth it?

[NicholeB630]

Could someone help me figure out if its worth it for us to purchase a dining plan? I tried getting the free dining or room discount but it was all gone for our room type by the second say it was released which is a bit upsetting its that unlimited. Especially when you're paying so much for a trip a little discount would have been really nice and helpful. Not to mention I couldn't even get through on the phones the day it was released. Anyways we are going in Sept. We are a family of 4. Myself, My husband, our son will be 4 and daughter will be 7. We have 4 character meals, 6 other table service meals planned and then that leaves around 9/10 quick service meals probably. We will most likely have a few breakfasts in our room with food we buy and then I know my kids will def want 1-2 snacks a day. I estimated all the table service meals to equal about $1200 but I really have no idea how far off I am. The deluxe plan would cost us $2597 which seems really high. But that is 3 meals a day either QS or TB and then 2 snacks and drink mug. The Disney Dining plan would cost us $1490 which is 1 QS and 1 TS and 1 snack per person. That seems more reasonable and closer to what we would pay out of pocket right? I mean if my math is right for just our TB that would only cost us 290 more for the rest which I know darn well we'd be paying more than that for the rest of our food and drinks. But again I don't know .. for a family of 4 eating that many TB and other meals is the $2597 way more than what we'd prob spend? Thanks!!!

 

[Allison]

Look at pricing online, which can be found on several sites, and create a spreadsheet to figure out the math.

 

[NicholeB630]

I tried doing that and thats how I came up with the $1200 for the Table service meals. But its hard when it says $35 to $59 per adult I mean I have no idea which I'd be paying especially when its a buffet why is there even price options like that?

 

[maxiesmom]

http://www.distripplanner.com/

Use this. It will give you a good idea on if the plan works for you or not.

 

[sharonabe]

Use this thread http://www.disboards.com/threads/buffet-character-shows-aycte-pricing-as-of-03-01-2016.3108466/ to determine your buffet prices. It's a sticky at the top of this forum if you need to find it again.

With two children, you're likely to do better with the plan than without it, but doing the math is always better.

How many nights are you staying? That determines how many credits you have.

And last, don't quit trying to get one of the discounts. Last year, many people were able to get free dining or a room discount after the initial rush. Check every day. With just four people, you should have more than just one room option. Again, do the math. It could be paying for a moderate resort or an upgraded room to get free dining would be cheaper than paying for a value and paying for dining.

 

[Shanti]

The dining plan is so expensive now, it's very hard to make it financially "worth it" when paying for the plan out of pocket. The plan does not cover tips, so don't forget during your calculations to add those on. Plus you'd have to keep track of your meal & snack credits while you're on vacation. I advise against it unless you get free dining.

 

[lelder]

I would not do the deluxe dining plan. Unless you do 3 table service meals a day (or several 2 credit meals) you end up losing money. Plus you're spending 3ish hours of every day sitting in restaurants instead of enjoying the parks.

 

[busymommy2pink]

How many days are you there? That's 10 table service (including character meals) and I have the hardest time finding how you came up with $1200 lol. We are also a family of four, always get the dining Plan. We don't order the most expensive meal all the time, but have always come out ahead of the game. We have never, I repeat never, had a dinner bill under $200, and we do not drink alcohol. That's just meals, sodas and dessert. Often the dessert my hubs and I will get to go (unless it'll melt) and we eat it later on back in the room

We are actually doing deluxe dining our next trip since our kids (and ourselves) didn't really care for the quick service, overall, we just prefer restaurant food.

I know people say you spend so much time eating when you could be in the parks, and that's true, but a good meal is just as important to us as park time.

I also double check every trip to make sure dining still makes sense. I go on the Disney world website and open the menus and write down the cost of each meal based on what we are mostly likely to get. Allears is a great site for the prices of buffets and set price character meals you can also call Disney for the exact prices on your dates (as it differs from high to low season)

 

[disneyfav4ever]

How many nights are you there? With a lot of character meals or buffets it may be worth it. I would not do the deluxe plan, it would just be a waste of money. And check again for free dining or maybe switch hotels? There was different availability today than there was earlier this week.

 

[NicholeB630]

Thanks all. We are staying 9 nights! As far as room discounts we are set on a 1 bedroom Villa at Kidani so there is no room for me to change that for a discount. That is just where we want to stay there was a standard view left but we want savannah and we would have chosen the room discount over free dining if it would have been available. I will keep checking though just in case. I will do that calculator on that one website. I just really am not sure how much we pay for food. I averaged about $130-$150 for character meals (we are not doing castle) and then about a $100 for all the other table service places.

 

[patlakpok]

That calculater is awesome! Thanks for sharing!

 

[MouseMama11]

Honestly, we do the DDP so we can go to all the character and buffets that are on our wish list... and if we really wanted 1 or 2 nice 2 credit dinners, we are able to do that. We only end up paying OOP for maybe 1 meal and a few snacks. It's well worth it for us after we calculated it! We got free dining 1 time and now even if it's not free we don't go without it lol! It's just nice not having to worry about bringing money to be able to eat at nice restaurants every night and since we are meeting a lot of the characters at the meals, we aren't using our Fast Passes for meet and greets and can use them for rides instead!

And to add on, last year, 2 days before we left for our WDW vacay, our bank account info was stolen and they drained our checking account. It was nice to know all our food was "paid for" in addition to everything else just in case the bank couldn't get the money back in our account in time. Phew!