I must be missing something--what's so great about the dining plan?

[deelam]

Thank you, I misunderstood.
Ekicthewise, your right. The dining plan would not work for you since you are doing mostly TS. Enjoy your trip.

 

[erikthewise]

Thank you, I misunderstood.
Ekicthewise, your right. The dining plan would not work for you since you are doing mostly TS. Enjoy your trip.

Thanks! We did! (last Dec) You have very cute boys!

 

[freakylick]

It really does depend on many factors...I don't think it's possible to make a blanket statement as to whether or not it is good for someone.

I had to do a long complicated spreadsheet where I figured out what we were likely to eat while there and how much that would cost...then I looked at all the possible scenario's as to how to accomplish that (AAA rates, DDE, dining plan, etc... I even included the purchase of AAA membership and DDE cards into those calculations) and I found that a few scenario's came close as far as cost. We went with a AAA package w/dining plan...the factor that put us over the edge for the dining plan was being able to not worry about $$$ while eating. We did not have a huge budget for this trip, so I wanted as little $$ worries on vacation as possible. Had we not done the dining plan, I would have never got the filet mignon at Le Cellier...I would have never tried any of the amazing deserts that we had...I would have never tried the cheddar cheese soup...I think you get the picture.

Is the dining plan for everyone?! Absolutely not. But for us, it was AWESOME.

 

[richard_andmel]

I think for me it's hard to see it as a good deal at all becuase we've been going to WDW now on a regular basis for 15 years and the conventional thinking was always that you could save money by not booking packages and doing it yourself.

For us it wouldn't work anyway because we have AP's. But also we only eat CS about 30% of our days. We usually eat TS for breakfast and dinner and skip lunch because we aren't hungry for it.

Mel

 

[TravelGrl]

I thought having the ding plan was the best thing we did on our vacation.

We ended up saving money on the package with a discount code I got. We got our money's worth with the TS alone, anything else was just a bonus.

You get to pool your meals and snacks.
Since we were there for 8 days and were 2 adults, we started off with 16 TS, 16 CS and 16 snacks.

Most of the snacks we got were bottled water which costs $2 a bottle and it is something we would have bought anyway. Or popcorn towards the end of the days in the park. We put the popcorn in a zip lock bags and had it in the room at night as we were unwinding from the day.

As for the meals, there was one days that we used 3 TS each (2 for 2 credit meal, and one for lunch) and one where we only used CS.
On the last day we used 2 CS for breakfast and were left with one we didn't use, but since we ended saving so much on this plan anyway we didn't care.

It also made things so much easier since we didn't have to budget meals once we got there.

 

[janets]

I also agree that it is an individual situation based on how you eat and where during your trip.

We recently did a short 3 night trip for my ds's 8th birthday. We had CS 3 days and had 3 TS dinners during our stay. At only 1 of those dinners did I actually order something for ds#2 since he's an awful eater and frankly didn't want anything. We had 1 appie for the table, 3 entrees (2 adult and 1 child) and 1 dessert. Only at WCC did we order a second child's meal. We only ordered softdrinks at our meals.

At lunch, we ordered 2 meals and split them between the 4 of us. I ordered drinks for each of us at each CS meal. I also purchased a few boxes of popcorn, an ice pop and I think a drink.

I also purchased breakfast 1 day (2 adult meals and 1 child) and small breakfast items from the CS place at WL. I used a pre loaded debit card so I could keep track of our food spending.

I ended up spending about $385 (that is with the DDE 20% discount) for the 3 night stay. That averages out to be just over $125/day in food. Now please remember this is without ordering a dinner for my younger son 2 of the nights, no breakfast for him any day and only 2 lunches for 4 people any day.

I figure that the with the dining plan costing me $98/day and using a AAA discount I'll do better than booking an AP rate and paying cash for meals. Yes, I have to purchase 1 day passes in order to get the dining plan. But we will be coming back again in November and if my mom comes with us, she will use the 1 day passes so they will definitely get used at some point so I'm not concerned about wasted money.

What I'm trying to say is that each family has different needs and desires out of a trip and for some, the dining plan is a great value, giving them the opportunity to plan for food costs in advance, enjoy some different, more expensive restaurants and order a bit more than they normally would. For others, they would not benefit if they stick mostly to counter service, or alternatively use TS exclusively and never use CS at all.

Hope everyone has a wonderful vacation.

 

[5disneyfreaks]

We used the dining package last year, and will be using it this year too. Last year, in addition to our three, we took our son's best friend! So we had 2 teenage boys, DS-15 and plays football( lineman- not a small boy or eater), best friend-14, very picky eater. (would eat bacon cheeseburgers for the rest of his life and be ok with it) DD-11, eat anything and everything. not afraid to try something new. DD-8, not too picky of an eater, but was going thru a chicken and fries thing at that time. We ate at different TS everyday. We did character meals for some of those meals and had agreat time.( even the boys. DS wants to do a princess meal again this year. I wonder why a 16 year old boy would want to do that? ) It was nice that we didn't have to worry about the cost of a meal, that it was paid for. And I didn't hear once that someone was hungery. We had plenty to eat. Not having to worry about the cost made the trip more enjoyable for DH
and I. We never had to say no to the kids if they wanted something. All our money was for souveniers. The good thing, we even came home with money that we took, and everyone got what they wanted. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

 

[Aryanna&BiancasMommy]

Well for us it is pretty much a no brainer... This is our first family trip to Disney- my first time since 1996, dh's first trip since the 1980's.... along with our 5 year old dd and our 2 year old dd. I contemplated over this for awhile and decided to go for it- basically paying for 2 adults/1 child.... Could I eat cheaper??? Yes, but my thoughts were that we wouldn't be stuck with only CS meals... We would get a little variety, a much needed break that I am sure we will need, plus the opportunity for the girls to meet some characters through a couple of character meals. Yes, I had to make ADR's seeing as I am going over Spring Break... but I'm a planner anyways... so it doesn't bother me in the least. However, I know that no matter what happens, when we are down there we will get at least 2 meals to eat and a snack each day and we won't have to worry about the cost or having enough money to get home on.

 

[Sammie]

It definitely is not for everyone but it is very good for some and each person has to plan how they will use it and whether it works.

It seems to me like alot of food, especially the desserts and possibly by the end of the week you might be tired of feeling like you have to order appetizer, entree and dessert to get your money's worth.

Also as stated it expires on midnight of the day you check out so you have to plan your week and make ADRs. Some people might like to be more flexible than that.

I mean for example if you go during the summer and you book an ADR for 6pm at the Contemporary and your staying at POFQ and just as you get ready to leave to catch the bus one of those horrible afternoon thunderstorms rolls in. If you did not have this meal you feel you have already paid for you would probably just cancel and get something later.

But due to the popularity of the plan, walkups to Full service are hard to come by so those meals have to be planned and stick to the plan.

 

[lustergirl]

I say to each his one and good luck with your decision. This past September my family of 4 enjoyed the free dining plan and now I wouldn't go without it. I seen the totals of our food bills from various restaurants and they came to over 3 hundred dollars alone for each meal. Let me tell you- my 2 sons (ages 12 and 16) can eat that much alone in food. I loved the convenience of knowing that my meals were paid for and didn't have to stress. We stayed for 5 nights this last trip and we spent only 350 dollars on extras. That is a blessing in itself.

 

[Anewman]

Take our last trip(AUG 05, 7nights)
Our least expensive TS meal was $185(party of 4 adults) The meal plan cost $140 per day. Even without counting Snacks and CS meals we saved big. And then you could factor in that 3 of our TS meals cost around $250...

Even if we would have had 10 TS meals and wasted some CS credits we Could have paid for the extra 2 TS meals with some of the savings from the first 7.

 

[themudd4]

We like many other use our AAA TA to book our package, and we still get a discount on the room. Not to mention, last year we did a character meal at least once everyday...most of these meals are buffet, or family style. After 7 full days of these bills we done the math and we would have saved a little by going with the dining plan. This year, I just went ahead and booked it.
Also, as crazy as this may sound...it frees up my money. I know longer need to make sure that we have X amount of money for this day at dinner, or etc. There are a couple of these buffets that we would be paying $27 per adult(3) & $12 per child(1)...before tax and tip it is $93. Tax and tip is already included in the price of your Dining plan. We still have one counter service per day each and one snack per day each that we have not even counted yet.
For us it just seems to be a win win!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

There must be something appealing about it--otherwise so many people wouldn't purchase that option.

Paying RACK RATES for your room instantly totally negates the value for me. It surely appears to me that paying RACK RATES at ANY hotel EATS UP all of the Dining savings and then some.

So, the moral of the story is: if you have access to any discounts at WDW hotels, go that route and forget the rack rate/dining combo. Correct?

Uh you don't have to pay rack rate to get the plan. The plan is available to those staying on DVC points, and available to those who book through AAA with their AAA discount. There may be other discounts you can get it with.

One only had to pay rack rate to get the free food and that deal ended. But for those staying in mods or values, it dwarfed any other deal we could get. For those in the deluxes, not so.

The advantage is that you get to pay for your meals in advance and restrict your choices while doing so. What more could you ask for?

The plan doesn't fit everyone's eating habits. And for those it doesn't fit, it's not all that good a deal. But it fits a great many of us. And for those of us that it fits, it's a good deal and the restrictions aren't bothersome at all.

 

[pedro2112]

For us, eating 13 TS meals in 8 days would have meant we would have had to pay cash for five of them regardless. And we would have wasted a huge number of CS and snack credits.

That was similar to our situation last March, and we still saved money. I don't think blanket statements are appropriate. For us, we do an average of more than one TS a day and not that many CS. However, the cost of the DP equalled the cost of our five most expensive TS meals (we were there for five nights), so basically the few CS meals we had and the few snacks we used were "free." The TS meals we paid out of pocket are irrelevant. What is relevant is that if we weren't on the plan we would have eaten at practically the same places and ate the same things, but we would have spent a couple of hundred extra bucks.

That's the biggest misconception about the plan.. that if you like to do more TS's than one a day, that it wouldn't be worth it because you have to pay for some meals out of pocket. However, if the cost of the plan saves you money on what you would have eaten anyway, then it is worth it.

As an aside, this assumes that one cannot get a bigger discount by buying an AP and getting passholder rates at the resort. Obviously, if that is the case, then skipping the DP is prudent.

 

[mrsboz]

What is DDE please? I know that I don't want the dining plan because it wouldn't work very well with us having two children that are considered adults. Is DDE something else?

 

[an_evans]

Does he get to eat on this? I am thinking he doesn't and we'll just have to pay for his food in cash but just wondering.

We also have a 4 year and 3 year old but I think he eats more then the 3 year old.

 

[investgirlmd]

I honestly don't think for us it will be a savings. We have a family of 4 me, DH and a 5 and 11 yr old. What made us decide on the dining plan was just being able to eat and not have to pay at every meal. If we had to shell out $50 bucks at every meal we wouldn't be happy campers. For us its more of the convience of having your meals paid for in advance.

Thats just my opinion though.

 

[Sammie]

What is DDE please? I know that I don't want the dining plan because it wouldn't work very well with us having two children that are considered adults. Is DDE something else?

Disney Disney Experience. If you do a search you can get more info on the benefits.

 

[mickeymousemom]

I'll admit I haven't looked over the whole thread, so maybe I've missed something, but I thought the only time you had to pay rack rates for the room and get the dining plan was last year when they offered the DP for free. That happened to be Disney's "discount" for that time of year, so rooms were NOT at a discounted rate. Maybe I'm wrong.
Also, the DP works well for us because we don't usually spend that much money on big meals at Disney. This way, it allows us to pay for our meals ahead of time(Believe me, if we tried to save all that up before our trip it would get spent on some house or car emergency) and not worry about our meals. I can't imagine eating more than one TS meal a day(though I think we did it once when we had a character breakfast, then dinner somewhere else). We were stuffed all the time. The day that we did do that we saved our CS meals and had trouble using those up before the week was thru. And this coming from a family who LOVES FOOD! All in all, I like that we can have a nice TS meal at least once a day while there(eating places we normally couldn't have afforded), I like that I have all those snack credits to use at the Food & Wine Fest, and I love that I'm not worrying about what I'm spending on the meal once we sit down to eat. Since we stay at a moderate resort, we have a fridge, so we can easily take desserts back and save them for breakfast or another snack later in the day(which is what we did and why we also had to "struggle" to also use all our snack credits.) It was free for us last year, but we fully plan on paying for it this year. I can't wait!

 

[mom2alix]

Does he get to eat on this? I am thinking he doesn't and we'll just have to pay for his food in cash but just wondering.

We also have a 4 year and 3 year old but I think he eats more then the 3 year old.

Your one year old eats free at buffets and can share off your plate for free at sit down meals. With appetizers, entrees and desserts for everyone, you should still have plenty to share with him. Depending on how big of eaters you are, you probably can share the CS meals too, but if you need to order him his own CS, you would have to pay for that. Hope that helps!