How does dining plan work with DVC?

[kenchilada]

We just bought direct at AKV and I’m hoping DDP is back when we go in February. We are doing a split stay at Kidani between a standard 1BR and a savanna 1BR.

Who do you call to add the dining plan? Is it usually the same options and pricing as the hotels?
Do you have to buy it for all days in your reservation?

Searched around but having trouble finding recent info.

 

[Sandisw]

You add it via DVC. Same pricing and rules as the hotel. It must be added for all guests and all days in a reservation.

Since you are moving rooms, you would be able to buy for one reservation and not the other.

 

[The Jackal]

Also you have to pay for it 100% when you buy it. Unlike if you stay at a hotel you can make payments.

 

[Matty B13]

Also, there is no special discounts for the Dining Plan with a DVC reservation. You won't get "Free" Dining offers for your stays like the Hotels do.

 

[kilik64]

Definitely do the maths on it to make sure its even a decent deal for your trip. It wont really "save" you any money unless you eat the most expensive thing and do a lot of character meals while always buying the most expensive snacks you can get it. Assuming you are doing the 1 qs 1 ts level.

Its hard to beat it though for ease of use and giving you that all inclusive feel if you have it.

 

[Sandisw]

Definitely do the maths on it to make sure its even a decent deal for your trip. It wont really "save" you any money unless you eat the most expensive thing and do a lot of character meals while always buying the most expensive snacks you can get it. Assuming you are doing the 1 qs 1 ts level.

Its hard to beat it though for ease of use and giving you that all inclusive feel if you have it.

Unless you do a split stay and find value in the mug. I always get it just for that as I buy it regardless. The meals and snack just add3d to the value once they added the alcohol option to it!

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

I found it very useful to add on the front end of a split stay. We got the mugs for length of stay and front loaded some pricey meals for the beginning of the trip. It worked beautifully. We even ended up cancelling some of the ADRs for later in the trip because we found we just didn't want to use the time once we had done some great meals in the beginning.

I'm certain DDP will return, just not sure it will by your trip! Good luck.

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

Multiple restaurants will give a 10-20% discount for DVC but if you buy the DDP you won’t get the discount, there is a list on the DVC site. If you buy gift cards that you can often purchase at a discount at Target, BJ‘s and other places you can spread out the cost over time. Use the gift cards to pay for meals or whatever you want to buy

 

[Blondie58]

Personal opinion: For us the DVC dining discounts are a better option than the DDP. If you wish to have your trip pre-paid for ease and peace of mind you may wish to think of buying giftcards as you go prior to travel. Gift cards at Target and Sam's Club can be bought at a discount. We have also purchased Disney gift cards at Giant Eagle and used points for gasoline perks. There are many little ways to save and still be prepaid. We also find we overeat most days with the dining plan. Also with one bedroom you will have full kitchen facilities. In July (for the first time) we ordered from Aldi's online. They delivered about an hour and a half later right to our room door at GF. For sure we will do this again. We planned well and had very few leftovers but should have ordered more gallons of water. (Water so much cheaper by the gallon and we refilled water bottles daily.) We also had a split stay. Be sure to bring a cooler as one of your "suitcases" if you wish to have cast members hold and transfer your luggage and food items between resorts. We used a small cooler for our lunch meat, yogurt, and veggies. The wraps, bottled water, unopened juice etc did not need to be refrigerated and kept cold during the transfer. Some may think all of this is too much planning. For us this worked great. We eat out once a day and save dollars for other experiences. PS. Congrats on your DVC purchase.

 

[kenchilada]

Thanks for all the great info!

We’re sort of foodies and really enjoy the dining plan. Last trip we did deluxe DDP and we racked up some enormous bills. Our check at Narcoosees was over $400. We got our moneys worth on that trip.

Probably won’t do that again till the parks are back to normal but it sure was fun.

 

[havoc315]

Definitely do the maths on it to make sure its even a decent deal for your trip. It wont really "save" you any money unless you eat the most expensive thing and do a lot of character meals while always buying the most expensive snacks you can get it. Assuming you are doing the 1 qs 1 ts level.

Its hard to beat it though for ease of use and giving you that all inclusive feel if you have it.

Remember, if you are DVC blue card, you get 10-15% off many restaurants.

We just returned from a trip -- we ate anything we wanted, lots of signature restaurants included. Had steak, lobster, had some cocktails.... and it was still cheaper than getting the dining plan. Purchased some expensive items at Food & Wine.

Why? Because we rarely had every person ordering a dessert at every meal. Because my children didn't drink alcohol (not sure how they have the alcohol-inclusive pricing for 10-21 year olds), and I didn't drink alcohol at every meal. And we did a few meals that wouldn't even be covered by the dining plan -- Oga's Cantina charcuterie was one meal, had a meal of small plates at Nomad lounge. Had pizza at Via Napoli which is a "bad value" under the dining plan. While we used a few "snack credits" at F&W and for other items, we didn't use 16 per person (we were there for 8 nights). Had dinner at Sebastians, which is also a "bad value" on the dining plan.

Meanwhile, the DVC discount probably saved our family about $150-$200.

Overall, we spent a ton on food. But the dining plan would have cost us even more.

 

[kenchilada]

Remember, if you are DVC blue card, you get 10-15% off many restaurants.

We just returned from a trip -- we ate anything we wanted, lots of signature restaurants included. Had steak, lobster, had some cocktails.... and it was still cheaper than getting the dining plan. Purchased some expensive items at Food & Wine.

Why? Because we rarely had every person ordering a dessert at every meal. Because my children didn't drink alcohol (not sure how they have the alcohol-inclusive pricing for 10-21 year olds), and I didn't drink alcohol at every meal. And we did a few meals that wouldn't even be covered by the dining plan -- Oga's Cantina charcuterie was one meal, had a meal of small plates at Nomad lounge. Had pizza at Via Napoli which is a "bad value" under the dining plan. While we used a few "snack credits" at F&W and for other items, we didn't use 16 per person (we were there for 8 nights). Had dinner at Sebastians, which is also a "bad value" on the dining plan.

Meanwhile, the DVC discount probably saved our family about $150-$200.

Overall, we spent a ton on food. But the dining plan would have cost us even more.

This makes me feel like a pig because we far, far outspent what we paid for the deluxe plan. Even with DVC discount we would have spent more out of pocket. Of course without the plan we would not have booked all the $$$ reservations that we did, nor would we have ordered all those $$$ alcoholic beverages.

 

[havoc315]

This makes me feel like a pig because we far, far outspent what we paid for the deluxe plan. Even with DVC discount we would have spent more out of pocket. Of course without the plan we would not have booked all the $$$ reservations that we did, nor would we have ordered all those $$$ alcoholic beverages.

If you are going to have a dining centered trip, the deluxe plan can save money.
The big difference is inclusion of appetizers.

As I said, we did a lot of signature meals. 4 signature dinners. Most of us ordered appetizers at most of the signature restaurants. But we rarely ordered desserts. So under the regular dining plan, our appetizers would have been an extra OOP cost.

If you eat a signature dinner every night, a TS lunch almost every day, you order appetizers, alcohol and deserts at almost every meal—then the deluxe plan actually does save a ton. Question is, would you really want to eat that way without the plan?
If yes, then it’s a great value.
But to me, if you’re changing what you want to eat based on the plan, then it’s not a great value.

 

[Bearval]

We just bought direct at AKV and I’m hoping DDP is back when we go in February. We are doing a split stay at Kidani between a standard 1BR and a savanna 1BR.

Who do you call to add the dining plan? Is it usually the same options and pricing as the hotels?
Do you have to buy it for all days in your reservation?

Searched around but having trouble finding recent info.

Personally I find it better to use the 10 to 15% blue card discount for sit down restaurants and pay with Disney gift cards that I get for an additional 5% off and I use a 2% cash back rewards credit card to buy the gift cards. So roughly I save ~ 17% . I also do the same for Disney merchandise except the discount is 20% blue card or AP 5% more for paying with a Dis gift card from BJs and 2% cash back for ~ 27% discount. I also pay dues with gift cards.

 

[sndral]

We used to add a dinning plan either regular or deluxe to our DVC stays, or if a split stay we’d mix and match w/ one portion of our stay deluxe plan, the other portion regular plan, but ultimately we abandoned the dinning plan. I haven’t penciled out if we ‘save’ money or not, I was surprised at how liberating it was to not obsess over whether I was getting value for my dinning plan or trying to make sure I’d used all of my credits. I get my DVC discount on food, we tend to like signature restaurants for dinner, QS for lunch and yogurt or fruit for breakfast. We also like a few dinning experiences not on the plan like V&A or Wanyama Safari, so it was a challenge to fit those in & not ‘waste’ dinning credits. I haven’t missed the dinning plan at all.

 

[Dizzydizney]

We also would do the DDP at the front end of a split stay (usually 2 nights in a studio followed by a one bedroom). Getting the mugs for the entire stay, snacks (used at the food kiosks during Food &Wine, Flower & Garden, Christmas Kitchens, Art Festival), and signature dining was well worth it for us. Nice to eat like that while in a studio, but not necessary after moving to a one bedroom. We use the kitchen a lot for simple meals and do takeout from local places off property. I could not do a meal plan for my whole stay...just too much food and too much time wasted....especially trying to get ADRs at the better places.

Sure do miss it....I’m thinking it will return January 1.

 

[kniquy]

Who do you call to add the dining plan? Is it usually the same options and pricing as the hotels?
Do you have to buy it for all days in your reservation?

Now that you are a blue card member you do get discounts at many TS restaurants. So often it makes the DP less attractive. Like others have stated you can get the DP for the first part of your trip but those credits would have to be used up by the 11:59pm of the day you check out of the first room, but the refillable mugs are usually active for 14 days, so could be used for the second leg of your trip.

We have found that just buying discount disney gift cards works out to be more cost effective and so much less stressful than the DP. Plus if we have money left over we put it towards our DVC dues of souvenirs.