Is Dining Plan still a good deal?

[Dakota731]

We haven't been to WDW for seven years so I know some things have changed like Le Cellier is now two credits, so I was wondering if it's still a better choice or if we'd be better off buying our meals?

 

[3Gsandme]

There are calculators and I'd highly advise you to find them and do the math. For my family and the way we eat they are not a savings.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

In general, the QSDP is never a good deal if you pay for it. The standard Dining Plan may work if you have one Disney child per Disney adult and use credits for dining packages and character meals. DxDP can work for adults who like Signature dining.

But it's rare for DDP to be a pure financial value for a group of visitors over age 10, independent of currency float.

 

[Hopefully]

There are strong feelings on both sides of this issue here on the DIS. The only way to know is to review restaurant menus where you will eat, look at the cost of entrees you would likely order and do the math for your family.
We find we either break even or save a bit, but we like the convenience.

 

[Farro]

For us it's purely a convenience factor. We buy the table service plan, pay for it and then don't even worry about it again! We always have extra money for any out of pocket places, appetizers if we want, wine/cocktails, etc.

It's just a nice way to travel, we love to be able to pay ahead for food when we can. Obviously not everywhere we travel, but we buy the alcohol package on cruises, do inclusive stays on islands if they appeal to us, etc.

 

[rwdavis2]

As was mentioned, paying for the Dining Plan was never designed to save you money. Why would Disney do that?

 

[loves to dive]

There are strong feelings on both sides of this issue here on the DIS. The only way to know is to review restaurant menus where you will eat, look at the cost of entrees you would likely order and do the math for your family.
We find we either break even or save a bit, but we like the convenience.

This is the best advice, don't use an on line calculator, they estimate the prices and aren't really close. Be honest when you look at the menus. Would you really want a dessert for everyone at the meal? Would you all order the most expensive thing on the menu or does that chicken dish actually sound better for you. Don't count appetizers and adult beverages, you are going to have to pay out of pocket any way for those unless you are on the deluxe plan then the appetizer is included. Would you want a TS meal at least once a day every day of your trip? Don't forget your tip is going to be on the entire price so if everyone orders the most expensive thing on the menu, that has to be taken in account. There are a lot of things to factor in if you are just looking at price. For us it doesn't work just because that's not the way we eat. I never look at price on a menu, at home or on vacation. I'm a small eater though and my typical days at WDW are usually a kid's QS meal for breakfast or a muffin (coffee in the room), if we are eating QS a kid's meal for lunch, if eating a TS an appetizer and a salad. The same thing if we are eating TS for supper, an appetizer and a salad and soup and maybe a dessert or my son and I will share a dessert. He rarely eats breakfast since he doesn't get up early. He will eat an adult meal at QS and usually an appetizer and an entre if we are eating supper at a TS. We have been known to share an appetizer and an entre if eating at a TS for lunch. We both enjoy adult beverages (he is 36). Some days we will just grab something as we are walking around and not really eat a meal, I've been known to eat the chicken fried rice from Yak and Yeti QS and a glass of water (free) for lunch. We have been known to go to La Cava at Epcot and have a margerita or two and chips and guac and salsa and that be our lupper, later on we stop at one of the WS places and grab a snack. I don't drink soft drinks at home or on vacation, it just water, coffee or a refreshing adult beverage so the drink included is a waste for me. My son is the same way although he will drink a coke instead of coffee sometimes. We just never know what we are in the mood for so the dining plan doesn't make sense for us. It just depends on your habits.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

It has always been a convenience factor for our family and not a money saver. Seems a challenge to calculate costs with DP and without (for me anyways).

When we had the dining plan we always ordered the most expensive entrees to maximize the benefit......also received the desserts for free. But when paying out of pocket, we calculate costs based on what we would like to eat instead of the most expensive items and we almost never buy a desert....we always felt the DP was too much food for our family.....hoping for a RO discount this May instead.

 

[DisBuckMan]

One other factor to think of: If you or someone else in your dining party get sick during your trip and isn't able to make it to an ADR or two....or God forbid you have to cut your trip short...there's no reimbursement for the dining plan.

 

[Dakota731]

Can you still use the snack credits for any breakfast item under $5? By doing a quick calculation, it's cheaper for us to pay out of pocket since we normally wouldn't get dessert. So I guess we have to decide if we want to do it for convenience. Is the tip figured for you or do you calculate your own? Also can you get water free st every restaurant since we don't drink soda?

 

[Acrosthec]

One other factor to think of: If you or someone else in your dining party get sick during your trip and isn't able to make it to an ADR or two....or God forbid you have to cut your trip short...there's no reimbursement for the dining plan.

This actually happened to us last December. My mom and aunt got sick and both went home early. We were able to finagle last minute ADRs and use some of their table service credits, but not all of them. And we had so many snack credits left over I think the people at Goofy's Candy Company thought I was crazy when I tried to use them all.

 

[DisBuckMan]

This actually happened to us last December. My mom and aunt got sick and both went home early. We were able to finagle last minute ADRs and use some of their table service credits, but not all of them. And we had so many snack credits left over I think the people at Goofy's Candy Company thought I was crazy when I tried to use them all.

It can and certainly does happen.

 

[loves to dive]

Can you still use the snack credits for any breakfast item under $5? By doing a quick calculation, it's cheaper for us to pay out of pocket since we normally wouldn't get dessert. So I guess we have to decide if we want to do it for convenience. Is the tip figured for you or do you calculate your own? Also can you get water free st every restaurant since we don't drink soda?

Any item you can use a snack credit on will have the little symbol next to it, I would hazard a guess that most under $5 would count but since we don't use the plan can't say for sure. Can't answer the tip question but it seems I kind of remember a recommended tip amount on the check. Yes you can get water at all the restaurants and you can get free water at any of the QS locations even if you aren't eating there. Some have a line for them and some you have to wait in the order line. Some will give you a big cup with ice and water, some a small kids size cup with just water. I do it all the time in the summer when walking around the parks.

 

[mikeyg1479]

It works in your favor when you order pricier entrees and take advantage of the net sum of all the perks.

You figure in a day you can redeem the following: (Table Service- preferably a pricier entree, plus drink (especially if that drink is a slush or shake if offered, much better dollar value than just getting a diet coke), plus desert (often $8+ alone), one lunch entrée combo plus drink plus desert, and one snack, plus redemption of the unlimited drink cup for the resort.

The first day of my trip, eating at jungle canteen for my table service and Columbia harbor house for quick service, and a LeFou's brew for my snack, I made out good- I had $33 steak, plus $6 slush drink, $8 desert at Jungle Canteen. Also had $14 lunch quick service entrée combo, $4 desert, $6 snack item- so $71, plus the sales tax I would have paid out of pocket , and the disney dining plan cost covered all this fully and costme a flat $61.84 that day, so it worked out well. You make out even better at character dinners- at Akershus where my adult meal was $57, plus drink, the pricing was even more. And I'm not factoring in the free resort cups and drink refills I enjoyed all week under the plan.

So the plan worked great for me with my plans. Now it might not be that way for everyone.

If you don't need to order desert at lunch AND dinner, don't need or want a table service every day, don't need a snack, or a drink refill cup, or if you would truly rather order the $17 sandwich instead of the $33 steak, then you will see the dining plan cost likely eclipse your own if you went out of pocket. Believe me, I LOVE to eat, and my stomach was stupid full the whole week, with all these big meals, deserts, and snacks. Too much so. I got all that stuff because it was all included in the plan, but I know I wouldn't have order near as much, or as expensive food if I wasn't on the plan. Heck, we almost felt forced to buy snacks because we were never hungry for them. But get them I did!

I jumped in on the dining plan, because I figured I was on vacation, and I just wanted to eat expensive entrees I'm normally too frugal to order, and those awesome sounding deserts, because why not? But, if you are a lighter eater, then there is also a cheaper (and less fattening) way to go about it, and just be out of pocket.

You just have to figure how you want to approach food during your stay and really, that is the choice you have to make when going with DDP or not.

 

[Masonmj84]

As a general rule, I believe that the cheaper the dining plan, the more difficult it is to drive any cost savings relative to paying OOP for the same food that the dining plan would entitle you to (for example, with the QSDP, I believe it's nearly impossible).

The other big factor, as others have aluded to, is the makeup of your party and their dining preferences. For example, it's easier to drive cost savings out of the DDP & DxDP if you have children age 9 and under and plan to eat at a lot of character buffets.

That being said, in the majority of instances, I believe that the biggest benefit of the dining plans is the psycological benefit of providing at least somewhat of an "all-inclusive" feel (as opposed to any real cost savings). But, of course, YMMV as to how much you value that.

 

[yaddakal]

Our plan was free so yes! But next visit I will
Be more focused on staying at a deluxe sommay do less food. It's a lot of food. We did well on the plan tho.

 

[smcabee]

For some people yes for others no.

 

[Dakota731]

I was thinking it would be more convenient but the more I thought about it, I'd still have to use my charge card for tip and alcohol so don't see how it would save time. So confusing!!

 

[Dis703]

One other factor to think of: If you or someone else in your dining party get sick during your trip and isn't able to make it to an ADR or two....or God forbid you have to cut your trip short...there's no reimbursement for the dining plan.

I always like to point this out as well. You are paying for your dining in full and if you don't or can't use it all you don't get a refund. We've only had the dining plan once when it was free and I got extremely ill that trip. Ultimately, we had to cancel some reservations and I wasn't able to eat much of anything for several days. We spent the last couple of days frantically trying to get our moneys worth and used TS credits for QS meals and QS meals for snacks. Even with it being "free" we probably wasted money as we could have done better with a room only discount and paid out of pocket for meals. We've had one or more of our party sick on multiple Disney vacations so it's something I consider anytime we look at whether or not we should try the dining plan again. As it stands, it costs us more to pay for the plan so that extra risk isn't worth it to me. I might consider free dining again if we could get it at a mod though.

 

[Dis703]

I was thinking it would be more convenient but the more I thought about it, I'd still have to use my charge card for tip and alcohol so don't see how it would save time. So confusing!!

The idea of it being convenient always throws me a little. Maybe because it doesn't feel all that inconvenient to me to just charge it to my room and pay with gift cards or put it on my charge card? If anything, when I was on the plan I had to make sure I was booking in restaurants that took the plan, make sure I lined up the meals and credits to work out appropriately (since some meals take 2 and some take 1), make sure what I wanted was included on the plan (particularly with snacks) and I still had to take the time to make the payment and tip. When I pay OOP I budget ahead of time, bring gift cards so it's basically prepaid, and just order what I want, wherever I want.