Is Dining worth it?

[Mamakoala]

We're wavering on adding the dining package to our room and base tickets package. We have 2 young boys, who don't eat much and then there's me and DH and we don't eat tons either, although we do like a nice dinner. We're just wondering if this will really save us money in the long run? We're going for 7 days in January.

 

[micmacmissy]

I think you just answered your own question...you're not big eaters...probably wouldn't save you anything at all unless you got some incredible package discount. (And even then it might not!)

 

[chatty]

It used to be for us but now for 2008 No appetieser, and now having to pay for tips, we just would rather use our AP discount to get a break on our rooms. If you buy the food they make you pay rack rate (full room price) on the room and depending on which resort it can cost a bundle. If you were lucky enough to had gotten the FREE food, of course this would be the way to gurselves we never eat desert because we are usually stuffed after eating so for us the food plan is a No Go.. I have figured out one-hundred different ways and what we save on our resort with our AP discount we have pleanty and than some for our food and shopping. but for someone with a big family the food could work Great for them and it depends on the price of the resort. Better price of course with the Value and Moderate resorts. Hope this helps.
Chatty

 

[Amy5000]

How old are your children? (Would they be children's meal plan or adult?) What are your other options for food? Will you have a car? A refrigerator in your room?

We will be in a studio at SSR, w/o a car. I think the 2008 adult meal plan will be wash for us (maybe we would have spent more or less), but I have 2 little ones and the kids plan is a bargain:

Child DDP = $9.99 per day
Child lunch at Crystal Palace = $11.99 plus tax
Child lunch at Akershus = $13.99 plus tax

As I said, for the kids it's a real bargain, especially if you hit the buffets. We'll definitely be eating 2 meals a day on property anyway, so we might as well have done it. If you are looser about meals, it might still not make sense for you.

 

[Mamakoala]

one kid is 5 and the other is 2. we will have a car, don't know about fridge...

can i still get the january code if i skip the dining? thanks.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Guess it depends on how much you like to eat. DH and I spent a week there earlier this month and we usually split lunches and snacks, have a nice breakfast a few days and a nice dinner a few days but we cannot eat that much food. We seldom order appies and if we do we share them..we can never fit in a dessert.....

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Your family sounds similar to ours. In 2007 it was worth the money but in 2008 it was not worth the money. Not having tips included made it not a bargain for us.

 

[raven69david]

Definetly not. I'd stay away from it unless you all eat alot. According to your post, you all don't so i'd steer clear of Dining. We NEVER do dining as we think it's an overpriced option. We feel we can eat cheaper by doing our own planning and it always works out for us. Of course, we've been there enough to know where to go and when to go. The only way we'd do dining is if it was free, otherwise no way.

 

[pepe of ohio]

Definetly not. I'd stay away from it unless you all eat alot. According to your post, you all don't so i'd steer clear of Dining. We NEVER do dining as we think it's an overpriced option. We feel we can eat cheaper by doing our own planning and it always works out for us. Of course, we've been there enough to know where to go and when to go. The only way we'd do dining is if it was free, otherwise no way.

Idon't think its worth the money, we can eat cheaper without all the food. Disney meals are huge, we can never finish them and doggie bags are no option. Wife and I split most meals and we're stuffed, anyway splitting leaves room for Disney snacks. We hit a grocery store on the way in and our fridge is well stocked. We like taking some sandwiches to the pool in the afternoon for picnics. We also don't like ADR's, we don't eat according to a time schedule or having to be in a certain place at a certain time. We may spy something somewhere and want to try it but ADR's puts a stop to this. Last trip to WDW was September, were there for nine nights and wife and I eat approx. 350.00 worth of food, figure 10 days thats 35.00 of food, no waste, no doggie bags and no extra calories. We'll never do the dining plan.

 

[safetymom]

Moved to the restaurant board under disney dining plan.

 

[kimsuenew]

We will gladly bounce back for free dining (if offered yearly) but will not buy the DDP. We only ate at some of our TS only because we had the plan. Other TS (Crystal Palace, 50's PT Diner, and Boma) we lOVE and will go back every trip, other than those three places we could eat CS only and be content. It would just depend on how much you enjoy TS restaurants. I do have to say it is very convenient... you know it is paid for and you can simply order! With the gratuity being taken away in 2008, it will not be quite as convenient (you will have to carry money for tip unless they change and allow you to place it on your KTTWC).

 

[LizinSTL]

We're wavering on adding the dining package to our room and base tickets package. We have 2 young boys, who don't eat much and then there's me and DH and we don't eat tons either, although we do like a nice dinner. We're just wondering if this will really save us money in the long run? We're going for 7 days in January.

I'll offer another perspective.

You like a "nice dinner" each night. Your kids are 5 and 2. The DDP will cost you $86/night of your trip or $516 (tax included.) If you dine at only character buffets for 6 nights, your out of pocket cost would be (tax included) about $441. For an additional $75, you'd get 6 counter service meals each and a total of 18 snacks also.

With a child under 3 AND a child under 9 on the plan, even with the loss of appetizer and tip, you wont' really lose money if you still plan to do at least one table service meal per night of your trip.

Take advantage of the opportunity to plan character meals and avoid lines. As long as your "entree" at the TS meal exceeds $25, you are not losing money on the plan and if you dine at character meals or buffets, you'll come out way ahead because their cost for your 5 year old exceeds his/her cost per day on the plan.

JMO. There IS a code for free upgrade to water parks n more/park hopper for Disney visa holders right now that'll open up to the public on 11/1. That'll give you a bit of value, expecially if you'd already added parkhoppers on your MYW package.

If you have reservations for each night already, consider doing the math and then adding the plan. If you don't have reservations already, make them, do the math and see if it makes sense to add the plan.

 

[Mamakoala]

thanks! i am going to be making ressies tonight for dinner, and we'll decide then. we're waiting for the general code to come out on the 1st before we even make our room reservations.

 

[Mickiethepooh]

Go to Allears.net and check out the dining menus with prices, go through and pick out what you would order from the menus at the places you think you would like to go, and total it all up. I find that just a counter service lunch for two of us can easily be $30. and the cheapest dinner I priced out for the two of us was $93. So the plan pays well in this case. Of course we could use counter service exclusively and only order one meal between us of whatever is cheap and split it, and feel deprived and scimpy on a vacation, but that is not how I choose to vacation. I would rather stay home then penny pinch my way through. Anyway if you do the comparison you can tell if it is a good deal for you or not.

 

[Colleen27]

If you buy the food they make you pay rack rate (full room price) on the room and depending on which resort it can cost a bundle.

The only time adding dining requires paying rack rate is when it is for the free dining promo. Throughout the rest of the year, there are specific codes that allow you to apply discounts to a package with dining.

 

[wezee]

DH and I love the DDP, and are lucky to have bounce back for Sept. '08 w/free dining. Anyways......we like to have a sitdown meal each day, to relax and look forward to. We have tried great food and restaurants that we would not have booked otherwise. We have "done the math" after each trip and saved loads of $$ (on the old plan, prior to the upcoming changes). My hubby usually tips over and above the 18% and we still make out very well. I for one would not be able to plan a trip to WDW thinking I would live off CS meals for an entire week.
PS...since several of the ADRs on past trips were at other WDW resorts, we were also able to take a few mins. and tour some of the beautiful deluxe resorts. And I must agree with the OP that the character meals are a great savings on the dining plan, and can be planned for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

 

[kevin120363]

maybe

 

[Tricia1972]

You sound like us, and for us it is not worth doing the DDP.

I agree with the PP though who said you should look at the menus and prices and see what you think you'd order. Keep in mind that portions are big, and you may be content sharing your entree.

I think everyone has to look at the plan carefully to see what works for them and their family, with the changes in 2008, it is no longer clear that the DDP is the best value for the majority.

For us, we did it in 2007 and even with the value of the DDP, we felt controlled by our dining reservations, etc and not what we were in the mood to do. Lots of nights we'd have been content to skip the big TS meal and grab a hot dog at Casey's. Because we'd paid for the plan, we ate the TS and even controlling our portions we still felt overstuffed. That is just us though. YMMV

 

[Luvamouse]

For my family me, DH, DD's 7 and 13, it was not worth it. I had TS ADRs for everyday and when I really looked at it all over time, I realized

1) We don't eat enough to justify the DDP.
2) We rarely get dessert and only sometimes a salad or appetizer with a meal since we get too full to eat the entree.
3) I decided too many TS meant too full tummies for rides ,less time for rides, touring parks, etc. I did come to see the place-- I can eat quite fancy at home if I wish...
4) DD- 13 will sometimes do 2 appetizers instead of an entree. Can't do that on DDP-- also she would be paying adult price and only eat some adult meals.
5) Figuring the costs using the menus, including the few extra TS (OOP) we would be doing due to Character Breakfast and TS dinner both in one day due to our grand gathering, I came out so close (overestimating what I feel we will eat) that I will take the risk of NOT doing the DDP.

Most important reason why not was that I would feel obligated to have all the TS because we paid for them and then eat too much food in order to get a good value (not rip Disney off, but gee, a salad for an entree when I'm on the DDP? Even If I wanted only a salad, it just would feel like a bad financial decision.)

Take a look at the menus and the places you plan to eat/what foods you might order on a normal day and go from there. It really takes a little personal insight into your family more than anything. Now no tip, no appetizer in '08 makes it infinitely easier to decide IMHO.

In the end, I have finalized our park days using various sources of logic, as well as a coin or two, and have removed a few TS from our plans. (Cutting out dinner at a buffet for $28.99/13.99 plus tax and tip for a grand total of...$126.25 --cough cough-- when my 2 DD's will eat mac and cheese to instead do a good CS at 1/2 the price if not less makes me feel better alll over I know I could have the DDP pay for that meal, and we would be able to say we got our money's worth, but in a way, I'd still be wasting it since in reality I would never pay cash for that meal.) I think we will do much better this way. We'll see the truth when we are home!

 

[themudd4]

Well I am one of those ppl who do not think it has anything to do with how much your going to eat...rather I think it depends on where you like to eat and what you plan on ordering.
Example...If you are going to hit only buffet's as your TS meal then no it may not really benefit you as well as others. But say you are planning a dinner at Coral Reef and going to order the New York Strip...it alone is $31.99 (according to allearsnet.com). That is before tax, before your drink, and before dessert. This one meal alone will pay for your DDP for that day, plus you will still have the CS, and Snack credits to use.

Just for the record, we adored the DDP before all the changes, and I feel as if the changes were a lil harse all at once. (I will miss the tip being included and would have liked to have seen an option given to each person on having either an app or dessert...but then again no one asked for my 2 cents did they). I wasn't going to add the DDP onto our next trip in June but after we just came back from our "minnie" trip and started thinking about where we want to go next time, I went ahead and called today and added it onto my plan. I don't think it pays for itself with my DD14, but my DS will be turning 8 right before we go and he will get his money worth and I believe so will me & my DH.

For those who have stated they felt as if they had to eat the meal becasue they had already paid for it...well Yeah, i guess that is kinda true. But we usually ate the CS for breakfast and then just a snack for lunch so by dinner time we were all usually pretty hungry. And Yes, it does seem to take some time out of your touring, especially if you are dinning at one of the resorts, but for us we try to pick places that are going to be part of our vacation....not just a meal.
One thing I do like about the plan is the fact everything is already paid for (aside from the tip) and all you need to do is make your ADR's (I strongly recommend even during slower times) and show up! But what ever you decide, I am sure you will have a GREAT time!