Is it possible we "beat" the meal plan? - Also, what we learned.

[Accident]

If the plan is free we definitely go for it.

Have you found the total cost of vacation to be better than taking a room/package deal that doesn't include food? I'm always on the fence about which one would actually make the total trip cost lower.

 

[supersnoop]

Have you found the total cost of vacation to be better than taking a room/package deal that doesn't include food? I'm always on the fence about which one would actually make the total trip cost lower.

Two people staying at a deluxe resort would typically come out ahead with the room discount, but anything other than that (value/moderate room or more than two adults), and you're better off with "free" dining. They charge $60/day/adult for it, but even if you value it at $45-50, you'll do much better than a room discount.

 

[preemiemama]

We typically find value in the plan. When we go out to eat at home, we typically order water and don’t get dessert- it saves us money. However, when at Disney we are on vacation and having the dining plan allows us to do these things without worrying about the cost- it is prepaid so we know what we are spending. We don’t scour the menu for the most expesive items- we look for what we want to eat. We do typically use TS for dinner and QS for lunch- and use the mug along with a snack credit for breakfast. We are not big alcoholic beverage people (though do have a couple occasionally), so OOP is not as much of a concern for us. The tip we would have either way. On the DDP, we typically come out ahead.

My caveat in recommending the dining plan to others is this- if you will eat the food you get with the plan, then it is worth it, IMHO. My DH, DS, and I are all big eaters. This fits how we would probably eat while at Disney on our own. (Maybe a couple of appetizers instead of desserts, but generally similar…) For us, there is value in pre-paying for our meals and saving a little money and a lot of headache. Not eveyone will eat that way- many people find it to be too much food. You have to do what is right for you and your family.

Compare what you would spend OOP on what you would spend on the DDP and decide from there if it will save your family money or not. The OP had the right idea- using the spreadsheet and comparing it. That is the way to see if it works for you.

 

[brinkley07]

We have been able to make the deluxe plan work well for us the past few trips because of my son. Since he is under 3 he can share and he has an amazing appetite. If it weren't for him sharing we wouldn't order or eat the way we do on the dining plan. My friend who I just did a trip with is headed back shortly and she will be using TIW this time. She is going to compare our trip to her upcoming trip and see the difference, and I can't wait to see which would have worked out better. I am going with family that doesn't want the dining plan, so I will also be able to see the difference.

 

[AL_Girl]

Have you found the total cost of vacation to be better than taking a room/package deal that doesn't include food? I'm always on the fence about which one would actually make the total trip cost lower.

I haven't looked at it because if they offer free dining that's our excuse to splurge on food. Otherwise we do not order dessert, mostly split meals and are very choosey with our snacks!

 

[hopeful4fl]

There are some intangibles here that need to be taken into consideration (this is the same argument that can be used for social engineering)
DDP "forces" you to be bound to the rules of the game, which is you are tied down to the "fixed" ordering (entree + dessert). No option to change
DDP ensures that you, as a consumer, are going to eat at TS restaurants at your entire stay at least once a day (or eat a meal with 2 TS and skip a day). This is certainly something you can do even OOP, but using DDP, you have no choice.
For some people, breaking even may force them to order the highest priced entree (to showcase the value), even if they do not like the entree. I have seen our friends order seafood at CG, even though they HATE seafood.
People leave (well.....some do) snack credits un-used. What a waste.

I "personally" think DDP is not a good deal. However, for the incessant planners, or those who want a fixed, prepaid amount for their meals, it may make sense. Please do note, being on the DDP takes away a lot of flexibility.

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

Have you found the total cost of vacation to be better than taking a room/package deal that doesn't include food? I'm always on the fence about which one would actually make the total trip cost lower.

When we booked through Disney, it always worked out better financially to do the dining plan (we either had packages with free dining or stay/play/dine depending on the trip). Our last trip with the magical deal but no dining included, we spent less having no dining plan. When I compared by pricing out our trip on the WDW site as though it was free dining (just did the room/ticket package) it still came out higher than what we spent for room/tickets/and food paying OOP.

 

[Aurora0427]

Yeah after many years of DDP & one year of QSDP and calculating what it would have cost based on what we would normally order and eat, we have stopped getting it.

- We would never get a resort mug.
- We would drink water not soda/tea at restaurants.
- We would never get QS desserts and at TS maybe order a couple to split among 4-5 of us.
- We would like to get appetizers but that is not allowed.
- We would not fixate on ordering an expensive dish to get our monies worth.
- We would not do most buffets and def no character meals.

The desserts at the QS restaurants is what gets me too.... We'd never order dessert at a QS! We did the dining plan last December bc we did a ton of character/buffet dining, but that's an anomaly for us! We came out ahead.

 

[Aurora0427]

Have you found the total cost of vacation to be better than taking a room/package deal that doesn't include food? I'm always on the fence about which one would actually make the total trip cost lower.

Room discount at a deluxe resort is always a better savings than free dining. Not sure about mods or values.

 

[HopperFan]

Room discount at a deluxe resort is always a better savings than free dining. Not sure about mods or values.

It can depend on your party. We were doing it with two adults and two teens. No charge for the teens in the room but they had the adult DDP. So 4 of us getting "free" dining in a moderate was a great deal!! When we dropped to 2 of us no way it was a deal.

 

[epcotcenter1982]

I did the DDP on a trip in 2009 but all the changes since then have made it less and less desirable.
My fiance loves appetisers, I'm a dessert girl. We love real food and table service so crappy inedible snacks we would never eat are of no $$ value to me. I drink water or alcohol with dinner, no soda crap. We are DVC so can store food in the room to fill any gaps in breakfasts. I love character meals and love breakfast which are cheaper anyway.

We are looking at getting TiW this next trip

 

[Nancyg56]

Part of our decision to do the dining plan was that using the TP calculator we came out ahead... and that's based on averages. My guys have expensive tastes. The things they like best just happen to be the things at the high end of the price scale pretty consistently. I want them to order without worrying about cost. The teen will easily eat his entire allotment of meals with all the bells and whistles and still be asking, "are you going to finish that?"

We expect to at least break even and the non-monetary benefits make us willing to gamble. Even if we don't *quite* break even it will be close and we will consider the other benefits worth it.

WE always at least break even, but I know ahead of time how my family will order. I also know that we tend to eat differently while on vacation than we would at home, and I want to make sure my family doesn't have to discuss how they will order dessert to share. They each get their own. I also have two huge eaters in the family, and nothing gets left behind. LOL!

Two people staying at a deluxe resort would typically come out ahead with the room discount, but anything other than that (value/moderate room or more than two adults), and you're better off with "free" dining. They charge $60/day/adult for it, but even if you value it at $45-50, you'll do much better than a room discount.

I have to factor the numbers to decide which is best for us. In August we had a BB at the Grand, put 5 adults in that room, with FD. I also had a second room with 35% off so in that room we put two adults and two kids. Bumped up their dining plan to DxDDp and we were golden. The calculator is my friend! LOL!

There are some intangibles here that need to be taken into consideration (this is the same argument that can be used for social engineering)
DDP "forces" you to be bound to the rules of the game, which is you are tied down to the "fixed" ordering (entree + dessert). No option to change
DDP ensures that you, as a consumer, are going to eat at TS restaurants at your entire stay at least once a day (or eat a meal with 2 TS and skip a day). This is certainly something you can do even OOP, but using DDP, you have no choice.
For some people, breaking even may force them to order the highest priced entree (to showcase the value), even if they do not like the entree. I have seen our friends order seafood at CG, even though they HATE seafood.
People leave (well.....some do) snack credits un-used. What a waste.

I "personally" think DDP is not a good deal. However, for the incessant planners, or those who want a fixed, prepaid amount for their meals, it may make sense. Please do note, being on the DDP takes away a lot of flexibility.

I think that before any family makes a decision, they need to really understand their own dynamics. WE found out the hard way after buying CL twice that my DH does not consider the food in the lounge breakfast. He also wants three real meals a day, and he likes appetizers, but got himself all fluffled at what he could have. Bud...you can have anything you want....get the appetizers.... LOL! Now I know...DxDDp is the one that will work for us. Usually. Depending on who is with us, and the total cost of the meals I intend to book. I do know that there will always be a TS dinner and several TS breakfasts, and lunch daily. For us, that is flexible. For others it is wicked restrictive.

Room discount at a deluxe resort is always a better savings than free dining. Not sure about mods or values.

Not always. One trip to the BC we had 5 Disney adults in a room. FD was a much better. Last year we allocated 5 adults in a room at the Grand. Again...free dining was better for that room, and % off was better for the other.

 

[over50visits]

Our family would order very differently if on the dining plan vs. off. So, for us at least, a comparison of what the same items would have cost is not really the right metric. For example (we have 5 of us), we often share 2 appetizers and 1-2 desserts. We would never order 5 desserts at a TS. We would never order any desserts at lunch. So, for us, the DP means getting a bunch of food we don't want, and not being allowed to get some things that we do want. In addition, it is more food than we would order off plan. So, the $ comparison is much more complicated.

EXACTLY! The DDP is a brilliant marketing move by Disney...they fill their restaurants, make lots of money ($2000 to eat for one week??), and get a lot of people to believe they are "saving" money and that it is "so convenient."

Getting things to eat just because you can is not saving money. Looking for expensive entrees just because you can is not saving money. Many restaurants have large portions, families save by sharing some items, and sometimes you don't want the most expensive entree.

Put the $2000 plus tips in your pocket, spend a week eating whatever you want, have all the snacks you want, and I guarantee you'll have a lot of money left over at the end of the week. Disney loves that you think it is convenient, hassle free, and saves money. Well, it doesn't save money, and to me it isn't hundreds of dollars worth of "convenience."

 

[AngiTN]

I've always said that it's about a wash for most people.
To me, in my definition of a wash, $1998 and $2100 is a wash.

And if you are 100% honest in it all, if you truly order only what you would order if you were paying OOP, I bet it's not even that close. I bet the dining plan, in the long run, costs you money, vs saving. Again maybe not a lot.

Plus, don't discount that ordering all that extra stuff, drinks/desserts/highest priced meal on the menu/etc, only ends up increasing the total of your bill, which will only serve to increase your tip. So don't leave that out when you compute dining plan vs. OOP.

 

[Aurora0427]

WE always at least break even, but I know ahead of time how my family will order. I also know that we tend to eat differently while on vacation than we would at home, and I want to make sure my family doesn't have to discuss how they will order dessert to share. They each get their own. I also have two huge eaters in the family, and nothing gets left behind. LOL!




I have to factor the numbers to decide which is best for us. In August we had a BB at the Grand, put 5 adults in that room, with FD. I also had a second room with 35% off so in that room we put two adults and two kids. Bumped up their dining plan to DxDDp and we were golden. The calculator is my friend! LOL!



I think that before any family makes a decision, they need to really understand their own dynamics. WE found out the hard way after buying CL twice that my DH does not consider the food in the lounge breakfast. He also wants three real meals a day, and he likes appetizers, but got himself all fluffled at what he could have. Bud...you can have anything you want....get the appetizers.... LOL! Now I know...DxDDp is the one that will work for us. Usually. Depending on who is with us, and the total cost of the meals I intend to book. I do know that there will always be a TS dinner and several TS breakfasts, and lunch daily. For us, that is flexible. For others it is wicked restrictive.



Not always. One trip to the BC we had 5 Disney adults in a room. FD was a much better. Last year we allocated 5 adults in a room at the Grand. Again...free dining was better for that room, and % off was better for the other.

But would one person have paid for all 5 adults to eat? We saved over $2500 doing a room discount at GF. We spent less than $1000 on food for 3. So I guess if one person was picking up the tab for all 5 adults to eat, free dining could be a better deal. I get that!

 

[nco91590]

There is no absolute answer here. Everyone is different, not every single person eats the same way, would choose the same entree, etc. You're always going to have anti DDP and pro DDP people out there. It's controversial because some people love it, and some people insist it's a giant waste of money and part of some Disney overlord scheme to cheat us all out of money.

My DH loves the meal plan because he likes to have it paid for in advance and not bring a ton of cash around all day (yes, yes, I know the magic bands alleviate that too...but there's no convincing him). It's nice that it's all sorted before we go. We literally do not think at all about money for lunch/dinner and it allows us to try restaurants we wouldn't otherwise go. Afterall, if we were paying OOP, I would be eating at Les Halles for every meal lol.

 

[AngiTN]

There is no absolute answer here. Everyone is different, not every single person eats the same way, would choose the same entree, etc. You're always going to have anti DDP and pro DDP people out there. It's controversial because some people love it, and some people insist it's a giant waste of money and part of some Disney overlord scheme to cheat us all out of money.

My DH loves the meal plan because he likes to have it paid for in advance and not bring a ton of cash around all day (yes, yes, I know the magic bands alleviate that too...but there's no convincing him). It's nice that it's all sorted before we go. We literally do not think at all about money for lunch/dinner and it allows us to try restaurants we wouldn't otherwise go. Afterall, if we were paying OOP, I would be eating at Les Halles for every meal lol.

You are spot on. The key to it all is to not let the Dining Plan, or lack of it, change the way you eat. If you can't do that, then it may always be a better situation for you, even if you costs you more money.

And I'll never believe Disney offers it and looses money on it. They simply would NOT do that. Disney is no different than a casino in this case. They offer things to entice folks in to their casino, even have a few winners here and there just to make things look good but on avg. you can bet the house (or in this case The Mouse) is making money, not loosing it.

 

[crabbygal902]

We love the DDP! We save receipts and come out ahead every time. It fits us well...we like character buffets and desserts and snacks but we don't really care for breakfast. I do my homework and try to eek out every bit of value that I can from that DDP. It's like a game!

 

[mickeygirl78]

We always get the dining plan but we go when it is free. We stay either value or moderate and the way I look at it is "can I eat for the cost of the room discount?". Most times the answer is no, so the dining plan is worth it for my family. I still eat how I want though. I've ordered soup if I want it and pay OOP. I don't care about the meal price, I order what I want, whether that is the cheapest or most expensive item. If I don't want dessert at the TS, I don't get it. I've had wait staff try to get me to take it cause it's included - but if I don't want, why would I get it and tip on it? For QS, many times I get a bottle of water as my dessert for later in the day. Or we get an extra drink as the dessert and share the QS meal then use the extra QS as breakfast (sharing means we don't have to pay OOP for breakfast). We do what works for us and love the free dining plan. As far as paying for it, I think as others have said each family needs to weigh what they feel is best. It's not worth it to me if you won't order what you want.

 

[DSLRuser]

The issue is, we would never spend $2100 on meals for a week.

We always bring snacks and breakfast items. Have no problem drinking tap water. And do 1 sit down or counter service meal a day.

This keeps our food bill well under $1000 for a 7 day trip. Every time I run the numbers, we just dont eat that much food.