How much do you save with the Disney Dining Packages?

[SpaceAce]

With the Magic-Your-Way Dining Packages, what do you estimate you save (percentage off might be a good way to answer)?

Thanks!

 

[Capo]

The answer: it depends.

Can you eat for less than the dining plan? Sure. If you are mainly going to be eating "fast food items" or if you're staying in a place with a kitchen where you can cook a lot of your food, it's not worth it.

Where it IS worth it is if you want to have one more nice sit down dinners each day of your stay. Most of our dinners alone were more expensive than what we paid for both of our dining plans per day, so in that way, it's a good savings.

But still, it is a luxury item to have these nice meals, not an essential. If you are tight on cash, I suggest you forgo it and attempt to cook some of your own food or just eat cheaper food.

Good luck

 

[Justsyd2]

We saved around $300 without even trying (doesn't include ordering the most expensive items - we just ordered what we wanted to eat). Certainly worth it to us! Disney states that it saves about 30% -- I agree with that.

 

[daisyyy]

I agree with the "depends" answer.... It really does depend on if you plan on eating at sit down restaurants daily... or if your the type to grab a quick counter service on the run. You can definately do it "less" expensive by cooking some meals in your resort.. (if you have a kitchen)... sharing meals... (plenty of food)... going off site to a chain restaurant or local place, but that takes a lot of time.. and you need a car. or, just get the dining plan, and not worry about any of the above. (I for one, think it's a bargin with 4 kids it's a huge savings... and it's my vacation too, so I don't want to cook).. If Disney says it's 30% saving... I would go with that... they're pretty good at crunching the numbers to make it work for them too. I suppose the one way to tell for sure it to keep all the receipts, and add it up at the end of the week, and then see what the actual OOP costs were compared to what you pay on the plan. Even if it's 2% savings... I think it's worth it, to not have to carry cash, or worry about prices etc. It's just conveinent... but don't tell that to Disney.. becuase they'll raise the price... or take away the snacks or something... (do you remember when the tips and appys were included? )

 

[NeverlandClub23]

We've never done the dining plan as the 40% off always saves us more (and we've gotten 40% off of the last 4 vacations without doing bounceback). There's always a discount to be had out there so you can't compare the dining plan with a room and tickets to paying for meals, rack rate rooms, and full price tickets, KWIM?

We generally do 2 TS meals a day but never get dessert or appetizer which also makes our tips a lot lower (assuming you would be tipping 18-20% which can really add up if your bill is $200). I would say I budget about $130 (for two people, usually $35 for lunch, $75-80 for dinner, and $10 for a snack) a day for 2 TS meals including tip per day. The dining plan can cost $100 a day total for two adults (depending on the kind of tipper you are at the one TS meal ) so even though paying OOP is roughly $30 more, with 40% off of a deluxe room (or even moderate) it works out to better, for us anyways, to pay OOP for everything (also I get 10 day hopper non-expiry passes every other trip from undercovertourist.com so that saves money too over having to buy the tickets in the package). Some people like having their meals already "paid" for, some people like having dessert with every meal or not thinking about how much things cost, it works out differently for each person. It also sometimes works out differently if you're staying at a value. But I don't find it to be a greater savings for us.

 

[HardShell]

I agree with the "depends" answer...

Yep, it "depends" for us as well.

If not for the free DDP for our upcoming trip, we would have brought food for the room, taken water and snacks with us, and probably only had one sit-down meal, maybe two, our entire trip (a character meal or two for the kids).

With the free DDP, we probably won't be saving much money over the way we normally do things, but we will definitely be eating better food (good) and more food (Maybe good, maybe not ) in nicer places with more character meals than we otherwise would have at little to no extra cost -- 6 character meals in the week we will be there.

(Yes, that's a lot of time spent in character meals... but our kids love them, and we were down twice last year so we'll be hitting our favorite rides and the handful we haven't done rather than trying to do EVERYTHING in one trip, so we should be fine.)

 

[eyor44]

We have done it both ways. With the Dining Plan and without. I find that "I" eat much better and healthier with the Dining Plan. Without it, I order the cheapest or order nothing and just eat whatever DD doesn't want. Not good. We saved a few hundred last November, (4 adults and 1 child) but also had two TS meals a day. I plan to keep better track this year so I know better what I saved.

 

[crisi]

We save more with the TiW card because we eat several signature meals, are heavy on TS, light, small and shared on CS meals, we don't snack and we do drink alcohol.

Even paying out of pocket without the TiW card, we don't tend to save with the DP - we waste CS meals and snacks.

 

[Deffenm]

It also depends on the age of your children. We have a 10 year old who will not eat off of the adult menu. So for us it is cheaper to pay oop and let him order off of kids menu at sit down resteraunts. He is considered an adult so I would have to pay adult price for him on DDP. He can eat for less then the dinning plan costs.

When he was under 10 it was worth it for us.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

For the Free Dining promotions, you have to pay the rack rate for your room and purchase passes for everyone on your reservation. When you take that into consideration and compare it to booking room-only with a discount and buying your passes from a ticketbroker, the savings can be considerably less than you think.

Right now, you can book Free Dining for dates running from 10/4-12/17/2009 with some blackout dates. There is also a code for room-only discounts ranging from 28% off a value resort to 40% off of a concierge room. You could book room-only, get your passes from UCT, pay full price OOP for your meals and still spend less overall than if you booked a free dining package in a number of cases. In those cases, the "free" dining really doesn't save you anything.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

We decided to do it for this upcoming trip. We're just getting it for DH and I, as our son is 2. So, I think the price to feed 3 people will be OK. I'm not sure it's a huge value, but it does let us do some things we wouldn't normally do (character meal, Candlelight Processional)

Jen

 

[mpls_mm]

It depends for us too. I think it's mostly mental, we don't want to charge anything to a credit card for our trip. I like to use my debit card or cash. Even though it's the same amount of money, it seems different when it's paid off 6 weeks ahead of time instead of seeing that outrageous price at every meal. Hubby is really bad. I handle finances, he probably has no idea what meals out cost anymore. All he would need to see is a $100 breakfast buffet bill and he would probably pass out. If we don't do the DP, by the the third day we are really cutting corners and stressing. I also would not order dessert or apps on top of the meal. This way it feels like every meal is a sit down splurge and I just pay for a drink and tip. I would like to try the magic your way but I am just worried it would seem like too much money out of pocket

 

[stashbin]

I agree with the "depends" answer.... It really does depend on if you plan on eating at sit down restaurants daily... or if your the type to grab a quick counter service on the run. You can definately do it "less" expensive by cooking some meals in your resort.. (if you have a kitchen)... sharing meals... (plenty of food)... going off site to a chain restaurant or local place, but that takes a lot of time.. and you need a car. or, just get the dining plan, and not worry about any of the above. (I for one, think it's a bargin with 4 kids it's a huge savings... and it's my vacation too, so I don't want to cook).. If Disney says it's 30% saving... I would go with that... they're pretty good at crunching the numbers to make it work for them too. I suppose the one way to tell for sure it to keep all the receipts, and add it up at the end of the week, and then see what the actual OOP costs were compared to what you pay on the plan. Even if it's 2% savings... I think it's worth it, to not have to carry cash, or worry about prices etc. It's just conveinent... but don't tell that to Disney.. becuase they'll raise the price... or take away the snacks or something... (do you remember when the tips and appys were included? )

Yes!!!!I loved it when the tips were included...anyone know why they stopped including them?

 

[kydisneyfans]

We just cancelled our onsite stay and free dining as an offsite condo is saving us $900. We would not eat $900 in food onsite at Disney over the course of a week. I don't want to make food reservations months in advance and be tied to a schedule. It is actually a relief to make the change.

 

[imLissy]

I calculated how much we would pay with and how much we would pay without and it came out to about the same. We usually have two sitdown meals a day, we don't order appetizers, we like having dessert after dinner elsewhere. I think if we got the meal plan I would end up eating a lot more food since I would feel like I'd have to get my money's worth and that's not good for me because you would be amazed by how much food I could cram in my teeny little body. I wouldn't be teeny anymore after that.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

anyone know why they stopped including them?

There should be a dollar sign smilie

 

[mnrose]

I was on the dining plan (with my twin 9 year olds) in March. I'm sure we "saved" something in the range Disney advertises (30%), but honestly, if I were paying as I went, I wouldn't have eaten dessert twice a day (does anyone do that?!?!), and if you subtracted that, then I probably didn't save much at all. If left to my own devices, and comparing what I would have ordered had I not been on the DDP, I don't think I saved anything. In fact, it probably cost me more. I did like the convenience. However, I also found that our day was "planned" around our ADRs, which made touring sort of a hassle.

Since they changed the DDP to include dessert (instead of an appetizer), and to NOT include the tip, I just don't think it's that good of a value anymore.

This time, we are staying off site, and except for a single ADR at a favorite place (Tusker House), we are going to do quick service and/or eat at our rental house. I'm much happier with that option!

 

[KKB]

We are staying at POP, and it is generally the best value at a value resort.
For the 5 of us it is $2500 (plus air), and dining would run us almost $200/day (2 adults, 2 teens, 1 child), so it saves us over $1500! So....if it WOULD run us $4K, that is almost a 40% savings!
(one note...my folks are going, so that extra kid will stay in their room...otherwise we would have to spend more on another room, a family suite or a moderate resort...so that helps our savings even further!)
We paid for DDP for our trip 2 years ago--a tremendous value when tips & appetizer were included! We DO love the convenience; but we also really liked a TS everyday for dinner. I could NOT do CS for every meal! And since we are at the parks at opening & go hard all day, dinner is a great time to slow down, converse & eat good food! (we had GREAT meals on our last trip--thanks to all your reviews here & my research!) Le Cellier, Ohanas & Boma were must dos again, and we are trying Wave, Jiko, Prime Time & Whispering Canyon this time (the last 2 are for Dad!) And I LOVE not having to look at prices at a menu!
Would it save us money if we had to pay? Doubt it. But it definitely does free!

 

[KKB]

For the Free Dining promotions, you have to pay the rack rate for your room and purchase passes for everyone on your reservation. When you take that into consideration and compare it to booking room-only with a discount and buying your passes from a ticketbroker, the savings can be considerably less than you think.

Right now, you can book Free Dining for dates running from 10/4-12/17/2009 with some blackout dates. There is also a code for room-only discounts ranging from 28% off a value resort to 40% off of a concierge room. You could book room-only, get your passes from UCT, pay full price OOP for your meals and still spend less overall than if you booked a free dining package in a number of cases. In those cases, the "free" dining really doesn't save you anything.

You actually only have to buy a one day pass for each person...even if you are staying 2 weeks! Some w/ APs have found it worth it still.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

You actually only have to buy a one day pass for each person...even if you are staying 2 weeks! Some w/ APs have found it worth it still.

Quite true. But if you have a room-only code, you don't have to buy a 1-day pass at the gate price that you really didn't need in the first place. To me, it's less of a savings if I have to purchase something that I don't need. YMMV.