is dining plan worth it?

[goingsoonw/2]

my family and I are leaving on 2/8-2/15. We did not purchase the dining plan. In your opinion, is it worth it? Did you have to "work" to get your moneys worth? (ie strategizing where to eat and when)
I am trying to decide if it is worth it. My children are 3 and 18mos.
I am debating on adding it on before we go.

also...can it be added once you arrive at the resort if you so choose?

 

[daisyduck123]

I do not know if it can be added once you arrive but for us...me, my 60 yo mom, DD11 & DS7, it was definetely worth it. For you, you would not even have to pay for your youngest, & only a child price for the 3 yo.

We loved all of the places we ate. We were on the Plan for 7 days.
We ate 4 character dinner meals because that is what the kids really enjoy.

The only, only, I mean only negative (and it did not bother us that much) to the Plan for us was that at this time of year (we just got back on Monday nite), the parks close early & we had dinner ADRs for about 6 p.m. each nite. This meant that after dinner (usually aroung 7:30 or so) we did not have time to get to a park before closing, unless our dinner was in one (such as Crystal Palace).

This was due to poor planning on my part though. I could've made later ADRs, but I didn't want the kids to be waiting for dinner at 8 p.m.

We did love it though!!

 

[ReneeA]

It was worth it to us. We went when they had the "free dining" promo, so we didn't pay for it. Had we paid for it, it would have cost us $616 for the week. We added u our receipts, and the total came to $897. We still had 5 snack credits left when we went home, so we definitely weren't "working it". I'm not a big eater, and neither are my kids, so we didn't order the biggest and most expensive anywhere we went, yet we spent WAY more than it would have cost us.

The best part was that it was free . We'll pay for it next time.

 

[hopesmommy]

IMO I would not go to Disney without it. We got it free in September, but were planning on paying for it. Think of it this way...

Character Meals - about $20 per adult and $11 per child (3-9) (more for the Cindy Breakfast) and this does not include tax or tip.

So if you do more than one character meal, it is worth it. Also, the other table service meals are about the same price.

Now if you do all or mostly counter service meals, then no don't do it.

The way I figured it out for my family was I went to www.allearsnet.com and looked at the menus. I knew we would sit down for at least one meal to relax and rest. Based on my calculations, we would spend about $100 more without the DDP. So we signed up for it and got to do 5 character meals over 7 days and saved $150 over what we would have spent without the DDP.

I hope this helps! We will be signing up for it in December.

 

[Hanover]

We've done the dining plan twice and love it. Can't wait to do it again in May.

 

[byoung]

I'm sure it will be worth it for us.

 

[HopperFan]

With the age your kids are at, I would say YES.

 

[waltdisneyworlddreamer]

I loved the dining plan. I actually felt more freedom with it, than without it. I did plan my meals, but would do that without the DP. I enjoyed the fact that I got to try many new restaurants and try new entrees that normally my budget would not allow. The DP has so much food that it is definitely worth the cost. I can't wait to do it again!!

 

[shondad]

A definite YES!!! We went during the "free" dining. Four of us, but the dining for three (Me, DH, and DD, DS was 2 at the time). Our approx total added up to about $700 or so. Had we purchased the plan it would have cost us $350. Of course now we have to pay for our son. While that was our first trip, I believe there's no other way to go. I plan to purchase the plan, if offered for our next trip planned for June 2007.

 

[Mermaid4me]

IMHO the DDP is the best thing going. We saved soooooooooo much money. Some of the CS were sooo much food that we often split the meals. THis gave us extra CS to use for a breakfast here and there. For our family of 5 it works great. Last year youngest DS was only 2 so we didn't pay for him. THis year of course we did, but only $11 dollar a day which I feel is an awesome bargain. Oldest DS will turn 10 right before we get there so I had to move him up to adult. Still a bargain in Disney IMHO! A guest service member suggested that DS10 and DS8 share some TS meals and save some for later. DS10 is very small and a small eater. She told me that if 3DS want to share 2 kids meals that was okay and to save DS10 adult TS meal for another time. This CM at guest services was such a help!!!

Mermaid4me

ASMO Apr 2006
CR 2005
ASMO 1999
Offsite 1986
CR 1979

 

[The Sweetness]

Unless you got a spec deal on resort or tix, I would get the DP

 

[DisneyMom5]

I believe it has to be added in advance, and I am not sure you still have time. If you think you might want it I would call ASAP. Since you would have enough food to feed your babies, it might be a good deal. Just have to decide if you want to do that many sit down meals. Have a great trip!

 

[DznyLvr2005]

Iv'e been to DW tons of times and never did the dining plan BECAUSE I originally thought you had to be at a certain place at a certain time eating food I may have not wanted to. BUT I was sooo wrong! We are going in October (for the 14th time! ) and are doing the dining plan! I should have been doing this all along!

 

[dismom9761]

Last night I was working on finding one last ADR and couldn't decide on one.I thought maybe thje DP isn't for us.Well I went to the menus and added what I had already planned on up and we are already over what I will be paying for the DP.and I still have to figure out one more Table service.Definitely worth it.And I think that with the appetizers and desserts there will be no problems with sharing with my 2 yr old.

BTW it will be me,DS10(a week before 11),DS9,DD7,DD2

 

[beth_cam]

Will it save you mone? Maybe maybe not. Is it worth it? YES. I'd say the dining plan probably costs us a bit more than we would have spent. If I had went to the 3 table service I had wanted to that would have been over $300. Then fast food is so expensive in the parks and we probably would have averaged one of those a day...and if we were supplementing that with PBJ, they would have been decent sized meals...would have been probably around 40 a meal so for 8 days 320 (and agonizing each time about satisfying everyone as cheap as possible). And you know we would have more than one occasion where we would have wanted a 'Disney' snack/extra beverages. Add together and it was best case 620 already so for 800 I could relax and EAT . Without it We would be eating some peanutbutter sandwhiches and the like that could easily be stored. With or without it we would be eating breakfast in our room of granolla bars dry cereal etc. We paid 800 for the dining plan last time and I think our receipts for table service alone were close to 1000 including tax and tip. SO I paid atleast 500 less than I spent. But....I wouldnt say I saved that 500 Cause I just wouldnt have eaten those restraunts, ordered lobster, gotten the shrimp add on, eaten Sit downs each day.


Now you CAN NOT add dining once you arrive. Discussion here has been you probably need to do it 5 days prior, which you are already past so if you want it you better call right away.

 

[k5thbeatle]

my family and I are leaving on 2/8-2/15. We did not purchase the dining plan. In your opinion, is it worth it? Did you have to "work" to get your moneys worth? (ie strategizing where to eat and when)
I am trying to decide if it is worth it. My children are 3 and 18mos.
I am debating on adding it on before we go.

also...can it be added once you arrive at the resort if you so choose?

"Is it worth it?"

I think it really depends. For us, it's not worth it. We like most of Disney's upscale restaurants (I forget the term they use for upscale) and they use 2 meals per person at these places. Also my wife and I usually like to enjoy a glass of wine at most places which is not included. We are also inconsistent with when and how much we eat. Some days we'll eat breakfast and other days maybe not. Same with lunch and maybe we'll eat a big lunch and skip dinner.

The other thing, for us, is that we look at it as being on vacation so we don't want to track what we have left or worry about what to eat. Do we save money doing this or spend more? Who knows...but we're not concerned about it. I'd bet the difference is negligble either way! We eat where and when we want (I'm not saying you can't on the plan) and pay and don't worry about it knowing that we're on vacation and yes prices will be more than back home. Also, although we have NEVER experienced this, I have heard stories about poorer service with the plan.

That all being said, I agree with others that the plan can be a great deal. It just depends on your eating habits and attitude about costs, and yes with two smaller children it probably would make more sense.

 

[ryty44]

Wondering--I read a while back when you purchase the DP, all the credits are deposited into one pot and are not labeled kids and/or adult. Therefore it used to be, you can use your kids credits as an adult, pay out of pocket for the kids and have unused credits to spare. This way if you plan on a 2 credit meal you would have some left. Does anyone one know if this is still the case. I am leaving in 6 days and really want to fine tune my plans and budget. Thank You.

CR Feb 11-Feb 19th
Me, Dh, Ds7, Ds4, and our Princess 9 months

 

[pedro2112]

Wondering--I read a while back when you purchase the DP, all the credits are deposited into one pot and are not labeled kids and/or adult. Therefore it used to be, you can use your kids credits as an adult, pay out of pocket for the kids and have unused credits to spare. This way if you plan on a 2 credit meal you would have some left. Does anyone one know if this is still the case. I am leaving in 6 days and really want to fine tune my plans and budget. Thank You.

CR Feb 11-Feb 19th
Me, Dh, Ds7, Ds4, and our Princess 9 months

Yes, Disney still pools the credits and does not differentiate individual credits. Enjoy!