How much Saving with Dining Plan

[mousefanmichelle]

For us in August Me, DW, and DS(13) Receipts totals just over 1800.00 for 10 days. The dining plan would have been about 1200.00 for the 10 days for the 3 of us(but of course we had free dining so we really saved!! ) If we had bought the plan we would have saved 600.00 dollars.

Not flaming... don't think you will be flamed for the post. Where does the $1800 come from. Assuming 2 adults and 3 kids for 7 nights it would be around $800 for the dining plan. Even with 2 adults, 2 teens, and 1 child it should be under $1000. So lets say $900. Still a lot more than the $400 that you can feed your familiy for a week for but not $1400 more.

I think the dining plan is only a factor if you plan to eat on property alot. They will add up fast.

The thing to factor in (and the reason each person should do their dining budget to figure it out-all the menus are on the web) it that just one trip to Chef Mickeys with a family of 5 will blow over 25% of your food budget. So even if you just plan on doing few meals on property you may get closer to that $900 than you thought.




Nicknamy - I guess this is what I meant by the $1800 bucks spent on food for a family of 3. Yikes! I could never imagine spending that - ever - dining plan or no dining plan. I am thinking that you would get the dining plan so that you can eat at the better restaurants on site and that is great and when my kids are old enough to appreciate really good, expensive food - you know when they can pay for it themselves - I would maybe consider this for DH and I. Like I said I am a cheapskate out-to-dinner kinda person.

 

[nicknamy1996]

Nicknamy - I guess this is what I meant by the $1800 bucks spent on food for a family of 3.

Holy Carp! Now I see what you are talking about! We had 4 people and "spent" $1090 using all of our credits. 32,32 and 32. I thought we did pretty good.

For that post (it says 10 days, I'll assume 10 nights) for 30 credits they got $1800 worth of food? That's $60 per person per day worth of food. At $3 for the snack and $17 (on the high end?) for CS that still leaves $40 per person per day on average for TS.

Not hard to hit $120 for a sit down. Do-able. But to average that, if you ate at 10 different restaurants that would almost mean you'd have to each order (the most expensive?) appetizer, dinner and dessert at each meal. To do that for 10 days in a row (especially after eating a 17 dollar CS meal each day)... WOW. I would think that was the extreme and I would not suggest that most people use that number to judge weather its worth it or not.

 

[My2Cinderellas]

I ran the numbers with the help of the allears menu page. We had 2 adults, and 2 children, ages 5 and 7. I guessed on what we would normally order at a TS, added 6.5% tax and 18% gratuity (included on the dining plan TS credit) and about the only way to beat the dining plan and still get TS meals is to eat TS for breakfast/lunch with no appetizers or desserts ever. A "normal" meal out for us is an appetizer to share, 2 adult and 2 child entrees, and 1 dessert to share all around. Milk for the girls to drink, water or pop for the adults, or beer/wine. Figured it with what we like to eat, not the most expensive options, and still couldn't beat the dining plan.

We have only been to WDW the once, and do not have AP's etc. We purchased the package through AAA to get the room discount.

Part of a vacation for me is the chance to try new restaurants. I enjoy eating out and like the break a sit down meal offers. so the dining plan made sense for us. We were there for 7 nights, had 7 TS reservations, 1 lunch (princesses in Norway) 5 regular TS, and 1 double credit TS (girls went to a kids club, we used their credits on our meal). We always shared CS credits, 2 or 3 covered lunch. We had breakfast in the room most mornings with stuff I brought from home, had CS breakfast twice as well. On the last day, I used 4 CS credits on lunch, two of which were wrap sandwiches we took to the airport with us and still had 1 CS credit left. We rationed our snack credits and bought a few drinks OOP.

I brought along peanut butter, cereal, pop tarts and granola bars from home. We bought quarts of milk in the gift shop, and a loaf of bread too. On get up and go mornings to make the park opening, we had breakfast in the room while getting ready and saved so much time. $$$ too, but the time was more important. When getting CS at the resort, I'd get cut up fruit for desserts and save them for breakfast the next morning. We usually got bottled water for the drink with CS meals and didn't have to spend snack credits that way.

I loved having it all prepaid, the souvenir and alcohol bill was large enough without having all our meals on it as well. NOt stressing over the prices on the menu added to the relaxation of our vacation. Was there a lot of food? Absolutely. We rarely finished anything, but ate what we wanted and didn't try to haul around leftovers.

IF you think you want to eat TS everyday, and don't have AP for room rates and the DDE, then I think the dining plan is wonderful!

 

[neatokimmo]

We were there in Sept with free dining staying at POP.

We had an originally had an offsite room for $49 a night, the Pop was $79. Subtract the cost of parking from the Pop's price and we paid about $20 a night for the dining plan.

So $120 in cost.

It is very easy to skip breakfast and eat two counter service meals. With a couple of drinks you are looking at about $25 each. We don't really snack.

So $300 in savings (for 2 people)

Soooo...the dining plan saved us $180 on the trip and we ate better food

 

[mickeyluv'r]

As others have sort of pointed out - the answer to the OP's question varies widely with where you choose to dine. Let's say you use you TS for a character breakfast - It's worth $19 at CP. If you use that same TS credit at Maya Grill or Olivia's or a place like that - that same TS credit may be worth over $30. Figure you QS credit is worth about $12, and you snack is worth about $3.

If you do a character breakfast - you get a value of $19 + 15 = $34 (plus tax and tip)

Whereas if you do a non-buffet TS for dinner, and use your QS for lunch, you get more like $33 + 15 = $48 (plus tax and tip)

It also matters quite a bit if you skip appetizers and/or desserts.

 

[carmie3377]

We have never done the dining plan before but plan to for this trip. Last year, I considered but thought "I know we can spend less than 87.00 (2A,1C) per day on food." Yes, we can, but do we want to? We spent almost 87.00 at one TS meal and didn't even get any app. and I drank water. We don't eat out a lot when not vacationing and when we do, I usually drink water. With the dining plan, we can eat what we want and I won't try to order the cheapest thing off the menu. We won't have to share like I have felt obligated to do before. Yes, the dining plan will cost us more money, but only because we will eat at places we normally wouldn't. If we paid OOP for all the places we plan on going, it would add up way over the cost of the dining plan. Plus, knowing it's all paid for is nice not worrying about the budget the whole time.

 

[windycitymom]

Our family of 4 went in Sept. on the Free DDP (all considered adults). We got $1800 worth of food (7 nights/8 days) and paid $1500 for our trip. We stayed at Pop Century and did the parks only (no hopper tickets or any extra add-ons). That's a deal!!

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

I have not yet gone to WDW but I did add the dining plan to my package. This is how I looked at it. First I can totally understand how you could spend much less than that paying OOP. But this is our first trip and who knows when we will go again. These resturants, at least to me, are way different than any other kinds that we could go to if we just happened to vacation somewhere. These places are only at WDW. I wanted to go have a meal at a place and not have my husband say... on day 1... OMG we won't be eating at a place like this again this trip. If we went to one OOP that cost almost 200.00 we wouldn't go back. I want to go and enjoy this food and not have to worry that we will have enough $$ for the rest of the trip. I haven't crunched the numbers but to me the convenience of the DP and being able to enjoy my trip without worring about food $$ is well worth the cost.

 

[Took]

The dining plan seems to work best for those who like its "convenience" and who might not go very often to WDW ("we're only doing this once so we'll do it right"). However, it's just not a savings for us.

It's not convenient as we don't want to stop touring and eat at a ts restaurant virtually every day. It doesn't offer a 'novel' experience as we've been to WDW many times and eaten at most of the restaurants. It won't save us money as we don't eat a lot of food (we always split meals) and we rarely buy snacks in the parks. Last, the DDP encourages big eating. Having struggled to lose 40 lbs some years back, I don't want to tempt myself to overeat for our 10 day trip. Sure, I'll have a couple of treats, but appetizers, entrees, and dessert every day--no way.

Paying OOP probably makes sense for us, too, since DD is 10 (a WDW adult) and not a big eater, at all. Thus, she would never get her money's worth at ts restaurants. She usually just eats a bowl of soup!

That all said, we do come out on top by just paying OOP. In addition, as an AP holder, I receive a bigger discount on my room which, given our eating habits, more than makes up for paying OOP for meals.

 

[crisi]

Actually, I think the dining plan is a huge disservice to first timers, a boon to regulars who now get an affordable upgraded dining experience, and a disservice to those who used to eat sit down all the time anyway.

First timers: Often they don't realize how much there is to do and how much they will pack into a trip or how far apart everything is. In the end, you are trading about two hours of park time for the ability to sit down and eat - perhaps more if you didn't pay attention and have lots of travel time involved. Where if you'd just grab something in off times, you could eat in half an hour. That hour and a half difference could be used touring - and since no one ever manages to see it all, may be a better investment. Over seven days that's almost 11 hours of park time - or a full park day. The Disney restaurants are nice, and some of them are extraordiarily well themed, but there are really only a few that stand out from what is available in most medium to large sized towns. To give up a full day worth of time from a "once in a lifetime trip" so you can eat Le Cellier's perfectly average steak in its perfectly average room (its good, its not any better than you can find at a decent steak place back home - and if you are from Kansas or Omaha (or Chicago or Minneapolis or New York or San Francisco), you may wonder what the fuss is about).

Regulars: Regulars know exactly what they are giving up in that half hour and are making a concious choice. Maybe they won't get to ride Splash Mountain three times this trip because they have reservations at Tony's, but they know exactly the trade they are making. It allows them to slow down, something regulars can make time to do. We are regular sit down eaters, and its been a huge benefit to our touring style, but we know exactly the trades we are making - and we know we will be back to ride Splash next time (actually, we haven't rode Splash in ten years, my kids are frightened of it).

Those who used to eat sitdown anyway: Since we first started eating sitdown pre dining plan, the quality of the food and the portion sizes have gone down, the restaurants are far more crowded. So we can now eat for cheaper, but we don't feel like we get the value out of our sit down meals we used to (good food and some relaxing time), so we tend to favor signature dining - which is much more expensive, but keeps what we saw as the value - good food, relaxing time.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

Actually, I think the dining plan is a huge disservice to first timers, a boon to regulars who now get an affordable upgraded dining experience, and a disservice to those who used to eat sit down all the time anyway.

First timers: Often they don't realize how much there is to do and how much they will pack into a trip or how far apart everything is. In the end, you are trading about two hours of park time for the ability to sit down and eat - perhaps more if you didn't pay attention and have lots of travel time involved. Where if you'd just grab something in off times, you could eat in half an hour. That hour and a half difference could be used touring - and since no one ever manages to see it all, may be a better investment. Over seven days that's almost 11 hours of park time - or a full park day. The Disney restaurants are nice, and some of them are extraordiarily well themed, but there are really only a few that stand out from what is available in most medium to large sized towns. To give up a full day worth of time from a "once in a lifetime trip" so you can eat Le Cellier's perfectly average steak in its perfectly average room (its good, its not any better than you can find at a decent steak place back home - and if you are from Kansas or Omaha (or Chicago or Minneapolis or New York or San Francisco), you may wonder what the fuss is about).

Regulars: Regulars know exactly what they are giving up in that half hour and are making a concious choice. Maybe they won't get to ride Splash Mountain three times this trip because they have reservations at Tony's, but they know exactly the trade they are making. It allows them to slow down, something regulars can make time to do. We are regular sit down eaters, and its been a huge benefit to our touring style, but we know exactly the trades we are making - and we know we will be back to ride Splash next time (actually, we haven't rode Splash in ten years, my kids are frightened of it).

Those who used to eat sitdown anyway: Since we first started eating sitdown pre dining plan, the quality of the food and the portion sizes have gone down, the restaurants are far more crowded. So we can now eat for cheaper, but we don't feel like we get the value out of our sit down meals we used to (good food and some relaxing time), so we tend to favor signature dining - which is much more expensive, but keeps what we saw as the value - good food, relaxing time.

Your post was very discouraging. I have always thought of my meals as part of my vacation. Although I have over 6 months to make my ADR's I have been trying to plan my meals now. I planned mostly Dinner and a few breakfast TS meals. I figured that way we won't have to stop in the middle for a TS lunch. I even thought of doing a 2 credit meal. I am so

 

[crisi]

Your post was very discouraging. I have always thought of my meals as part of my vacation. Although I have over 6 months to make my ADR's I have been trying to plan my meals now. I planned mostly Dinner and a few breakfast TS meals. I figured that way we won't have to stop in the middle for a TS lunch. I even thought of doing a 2 credit meal. I am so

You need to ask yourself if the time you'll spend dining is worth it. Its opportunity cost of time - not just money - and at Disney time is money - you spend a lot to get yourself on vacation. Dining takes time - and for many people time at Disney is precious and limited - they don't go back every year, they don't spend 30 days a year in the parks. What would you rather do - dine or get an second chance to ride Space Mountain? Dine or get to see Storytime with Belle? For me, I can eat out at home (for a lot of people that isn't an option, vacation is the only time they'll budget for dining out, so dining out is special), so if it were something we were only doing occationally, I'd skip dining. We go every other year for about seven days, and it only takes us about five to see what we want to see now - which means we have eleven hours to spare - and another eleven to spend in the pool. Lots of Disboarders go fairly often and/or take longer trips. So the touring plan of someone like that is going to be very different - they know that - despite the Unofficial Guide not liking it - the Tiki Bird show MUST be done every trip, but if they don't get on Splash this trip it isn't a big deal since that's not their thing. A first timer has no idea if they, personally, will like the Tiki Birds or Splash. However, if dining is important to you, you should make time to do it, even if you realize that you may be giving up an afternoon on Tom Sawyer's Island.

 

[Took]

Good points, Crisi. Time is valuable, especially for first timers (although no one, no matter how long their trip, can do everything at WDW . Again, the DDP seems more hype than value to us, but your point that the DDP can work for some is true. LIke you, we tend to go to signature restaurants more now to get the laid-back but delicious experience that we used to get at many WDW ts restaurants. We'd prefer to splurge on one or two of these during our trip and to eat CS the other days than to eat a mediocre TS meal every day (at least, we think most ts is mediocre at WDW).

Anyway, folks do need to consider if they want to spend the time, as well as the money, to use the DDP.

took

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

You need to ask yourself if the time you'll spend dining is worth it. Its opportunity cost of time - not just money - and at Disney time is money - you spend a lot to get yourself on vacation. Dining takes time - and for many people time at Disney is precious and limited - they don't go back every year, they don't spend 30 days a year in the parks. What would you rather do - dine or get an second chance to ride Space Mountain? Dine or get to see Storytime with Belle? For me, I can eat out at home (for a lot of people that isn't an option, vacation is the only time they'll budget for dining out, so dining out is special), so if it were something we were only doing occationally, I'd skip dining. We go every other year for about seven days, and it only takes us about five to see what we want to see now - which means we have eleven hours to spare - and another eleven to spend in the pool. Lots of Disboarders go fairly often and/or take longer trips. So the touring plan of someone like that is going to be very different - they know that - despite the Unofficial Guide not liking it - the Tiki Bird show MUST be done every trip, but if they don't get on Splash this trip it isn't a big deal since that's not their thing. A first timer has no idea if they, personally, will like the Tiki Birds or Splash. However, if dining is important to you, you should make time to do it, even if you realize that you may be giving up an afternoon on Tom Sawyer's Island.

Slightly OT.. you keep mentioning attractions that are at the Magic Kingdom. I am under the impression that you favor MK of all the parks. I may be wrong. Although this is my first time to WDW I have been to DL over 50 times. I never liked the fact that at DL (not CA or DTD) only has 1 TS resturant. SO except for AK and Epcot I do know what I like and don't like as far as rides in the MK

 

[theblackbird]

we are going to try the dining plan this trip. we have been several times so I know what I want to do and when I want to eat. dd likes to eat off the adult menu anyway (which I guess is a good thing since she is an "adult" as far as disney is concerned). Have no idea if it's "worth" it or not, but it sure is nice not to have to worry about how much a meal is going to cost because it's already paid for. dd likes the snacks and we never get them so she'll be happy. I think it just depends on what you want to do on your vacation. it's a vacation remember, so just do what you want too.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

we are going to try the dining plan this trip. we have been several times so I know what I want to do and when I want to eat. dd likes to eat off the adult menu anyway (which I guess is a good thing since she is an "adult" as far as disney is concerned). Have no idea if it's "worth" it or not, but it sure is nice not to have to worry about how much a meal is going to cost because it's already paid for. dd likes the snacks and we never get them so she'll be happy. I think it just depends on what you want to do on your vacation. it's a vacation remember, so just do what you want too.

I was thinking the same thing. I want everyone to have a good time. For me that includes sitting down in a resturant that I have never been to. Even the Rainforest Cafe will be new for us (I know not on DP) we have never been and the closest one is about 1000 miles away.

 

[crisi]

Slightly OT.. you keep mentioning attractions that are at the Magic Kingdom. I am under the impression that you favor MK of all the parks. I may be wrong. Although this is my first time to WDW I have been to DL over 50 times. I never liked the fact that at DL (not CA or DTD) only has 1 TS resturant. SO except for AK and Epcot I do know what I like and don't like as far as rides in the MK

No, my favorite park is Epcot, followed by Animal Kingdom. MK next and MGM last. We have little kids (7 and 8 now), so the past few years have been a little more MK focused. But most first timers really focus on the MK - obviously if you've been to Disneyland, that may be a half day park for you, freeing you up to spend a lot more time on the slower paced activities.

I've never been to Disneyland, but I do understand there are some differences worth experiencing. But you guys will be able to "back burner" quite a few of the MK attractions, plus Star Tours, Soarin', Fantasmic and some other things that are readily available at Disneland/CA.

The biggest difference though is the scale. Don't think you'll be able to get from somewhere in Animal Kingdom over to Epcot easily for dinner - its probably 30 minutes worth of bus time and a 20 minute walk to the back of Epcot - longer if you need to wait for a bus - and a little bit shorter with a car, but you have the parking lot hassles. That sort of plays into the problem with first timers, a MK focus, and the dining plan - a lot of the popular restaurants are in Epcot or MGM - a long way from the MK where a lot of people believe they will be spending time.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

No, my favorite park is Epcot, followed by Animal Kingdom. MK next and MGM last. We have little kids (7 and 8 now), so the past few years have been a little more MK focused. But most first timers really focus on the MK - obviously if you've been to Disneyland, that may be a half day park for you, freeing you up to spend a lot more time on the slower paced activities.

I've never been to Disneyland, but I do understand there are some differences worth experiencing. But you guys will be able to "back burner" quite a few of the MK attractions, plus Star Tours, Soarin', Fantasmic and some other things that are readily available at Disneland/CA.

The biggest difference though is the scale. Don't think you'll be able to get from somewhere in Animal Kingdom over to Epcot easily for dinner - its probably 30 minutes worth of bus time and a 20 minute walk to the back of Epcot - longer if you need to wait for a bus - and a little bit shorter with a car, but you have the parking lot hassles. That sort of plays into the problem with first timers, a MK focus, and the dining plan - a lot of the popular restaurants are in Epcot or MGM - a long way from the MK where a lot of people believe they will be spending time.

Since our kids are little we will be spending most of our time at MK as well. We are staying at The Poly so hopefully that will be slightly more convenient for MK & EPCOT travel. I already figured that if we were to spend the day at AK, for example and then want to go to Epcot for dinner we would need at least 2 hours for travel. BTW Star Tours has been at DL for years (at least 15) and Soarin is at CA. Now I have a question for you...is the Indiana Jones ride at WDW? i just love it...last time we were at DL my dd was too short to ride.

 

[crisi]

No Indy Ride - I understand the "Dinosaur" ride at AK is pretty much the same thing with a different theme. There is an Indy stunt show at MGM that I think is worthwhile.

I think you are going in with realistic expectations. We always try and structure our touring plan so we are spending time in the park where we will have dinner. This often means mornings in the MK (or AK), afternoons back at the hotel for pool time, then heading to Epcot for dinner and Epcot attractions - we spend evenings in the World Showcase - giving Future World a morning. Being a Disneyland vet and having some idea of the scope gives you an advantage over a lot of firsttimers who are shocked to learn that the themeparks aren't all right next to each other. The kids are tired and even at six and seven (our last trip) we'd rent a double stroller and push them around Epcot for the evening doing masks and seeing the country entertainment. (They are so disappointed that their stroller years have ended, but I'm NOT pushing an eight and nine year old!)

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

No Indy Ride - I understand the "Dinosaur" ride at AK is pretty much the same thing with a different theme. There is an Indy stunt show at MGM that I think is worthwhile.

I think you are going in with realistic expectations. We always try and structure our touring plan so we are spending time in the park where we will have dinner. This often means mornings in the MK (or AK), afternoons back at the hotel for pool time, then heading to Epcot for dinner and Epcot attractions - we spend evenings in the World Showcase - giving Future World a morning. Being a Disneyland vet and having some idea of the scope gives you an advantage over a lot of firsttimers who are shocked to learn that the themeparks aren't all right next to each other. The kids are tired and even at six and seven (our last trip) we'd rent a double stroller and push them around Epcot for the evening doing masks and seeing the country entertainment. (They are so disappointed that their stroller years have ended, but I'm NOT pushing an eight and nine year old!)

I just guessed that when I have heard references to WDW as being as big as Manhattan or S.F. that it will be big. I already know that we can't see everything and we aren't going to try. I figured that we will see what we can and then the next time we go we can go to our favorites and try something new. Thanks for all your helpful posts.