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

[rsimon]

We did the deluxe meal plan once (several years ago) to try it out. That is when it came with 3 TS meals per day and snacks (not sure what is the equivalent now). We only ate dinner at signature dining places for the 2 credits and then used the other credit for either lunch or breakfast. I kept track of all the receipts and totaled things up at the end. First of all (as others have posted) we ordered totally different because we each had an appetizer and desert along with the entrée. We usually share deserts if we get one and don't always get appetizers or salads. We ate at our favorite places and ended up always ordering what turns out to be the most expensive item on the menu which was a beef Filet or Surf and Turf (I was determined to get my money's worth).

By the end of the trip, I didn't want to see another steak and I was WAY too full all the time (even only eating twice a day) and I gained weight (even with all the walking we did) with all the food and deserts. We did accomplish getting our money's worth with over 50% more in value using the dining plan. We have never done it again! WOW, that was stupid and in follow up visits we would eat what we wanted, cook some of our own meals, and even ate off property many times (maintaining or losing weight). Much more enjoyable and saved money over the dining plan.

BTW, nothing is ever "free" with the dining plan. I know people jump on the free dining, but they are also paying full rate for the rooms to get the free dining. Disney will get you somewhere (which was why I was determined to get them ). With DVC, I can't imagine getting the dining plan ever, but I know some do get it and really wanted it added as a perk to be able to have it a few years ago. When you get a package that has it included, more than likely you could just get a room and tickets cheaper so the cost is baked in for the "free" dining.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Or better yet, buy Disney gift cards at a discount (I typically get them at 9-10% off)? Then if you're buying $2000 in gift cards, you just saved yourself close to $200 AND you got to eat whatever you wanted AND it was pre-paid. I really and truly don't understand why people don't just do this if they are going to drop that much on food. We go to the trouble even for $100 worth of food. $10 saved is $10 I'll have for my next trip.

Hey - where do you find 9-10% off? I know Target has a deal when you use their cc, but that's just 5% off. I totally hear ya - I've been trying to sell my family on not using the DDP. For them, they just like the ease and frankly, for my family (we're big eaters), we feel like we come out ahead. We like having the desserts with the meals. We're usually pretty healthy eaters - especially me - but I know when it comes down to it, it'll be very tough to turn down that dessert at Boardwalk Bakery. But I do totally understand and agree with the meal plan not working for most people and I love the gift card idea.

 

[goofy4prez]

I myself no longer use the DDP when we go to Disney... I have been set free from it. However, here is a thought why many may actually go with it. When you book a Disney Vacation you can make payments on your trip, this includes the hotel and the dining plan. Some people may not be able to drop 2K on prepaid gift cards and etc. For them, making the payments makes the whole trip much easier and affordable on their budget. If this is a reason for many, I get it and don't blame them at all. It's just a thought.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We just returned from our trip. Nothing like leaving 85-degree Disney and returning to 30-degree New York... and work... and the real world.

We're already looking into next year and want to "upgrade" to a deluxe. As the planner in our group, I had my dad save all the receipts. I went ahead and calculated everything that the meal plan covered, separating anything we paid OOP.

12/24: Lunch @ POR (QS)/Dinner at Trattoria al Forno (TS)
12/25: Breakfast @ Be Our Guest (QS) /Dinner @ Artist Point (2 TS)
12/26: Lunch @ French Bakery (QS)
12/27: Breakfast @ Cape May (TS) /Dinner @ Contempo Cafe (QS)
12/28: Breakfast @ POFQ (QS)/Dinner @ 'Ohana (TS)
12/29: Dinner at Biergarten (TS)
12/30: Lunch at Captain Cooks (QS)/Dinner at Be Our Guest (TS)
12/31: Lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express (QS)/Dinner at Teppan Edo (TS)
1/1: Lunch at Boardwalk Bakery (QS)/Dinner at Raglan Road (TS)
We had CS and snacks leftover. We used them for muffins at Boardwalk Bakery, then redeemed 3 CS for snacks - rice krispy treats, trail mixes, Chip & dale pretzels, etc.

We used at least 8 snacks on $5.25 Starbucks drinks. We didn't use any snacks on drinks and saved our snacks for things above $3.50-$4.

The meal plan costs $1,998.80. If we bought all of this OOP, we would have spent a little over $2,100.

Here's what we learned:

- While 'Ohana may not provide the best value money-wise, it does food-wise. For families who can eat a lot (like my family), 'Ohana is a great value (and an even better one OOP)

- Cape May isn't a great value on the meal plan, but again, if you eat a lot, it's a great monetary value. I ate a lot and didn't eat again until dinner.

- Wolfgang Puck Express and the Boardwalk Bakery present the greatest value for the DDP, as well as bang for your buck. I will say - the Lobster Roll is smaller, but the sandwiches are huge and come with chips or a salad, and you get a dessert and drink on the meal plan. A meal at both Wolfgang and Boardwalk cost around $90 if we paid OOP.

- Breakfast, as many of you know, is a terrible use of the DDP. You're much better off using your mug for a drink and using a snack for a muffin or pastry. OR - paying OOP. We paid OOP for Kona breakfast one morning.
----- On a side note, being on the DDP, we receive a mug. I save the mug for water and soda. I can't stand drinking coffee from the mug because the taste lingers. Your maid will provide you with foam to-go cups in your room, meant for your coffee maker. In the morning, I'll bring one down with me and fill it with coffee. Disney never has a problem with this. They provide lids. I had a CM look at me once. I explained to her that I was on the meal plan and had a mug, but was heading to the park and didn't feel like carrying it all day. She looked back and replied "oh, I don't care, all the power to ya!" Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that you can save some money by filling your mug with water or iced tea in the morning and having your coffee, then buying or using a snack for a pastry.

I'll post the spreadsheet with all our costs later (I'm at work now.) Is it possible we came out ahead? I'm not trying to "sell" anyone on the meal plan, btw. I ate more food and dessert during our vacation than I'd probably eat all year. BUT - I was on vacation. As we look to cut costs for next year's trip, my mom brought up a good point. While we could do without the dessert and snacks, it'd be awfully hard to sit down for Christmas dinner at Artist Point and not buy a dessert, or pass the popcorn cart and not stop for some popcorn!

The DDP definitely worked out to our benefit in May. We ordered what we wanted (made no effort to order the most expensive entrees or maximize use of the snack credits), and we still came out ahead several hundred dollars (over a 9 night trip). (I didn't even add up all of our meals since I was missing a few reciepts, but know we saved over $300.) I knew we'd at least break even though, since I'd looked at menus at our desired restaurants and could pretty accurately guess what everyone would order. Note that we did several character meals, a couple buffets/AYCTE, rarely ever eat breakfast, my husband and brother drink a LOT of soda (so the mugs are useful), and we had both a child and an under 3 with us.

Even if the DDP hadn't saved us any money, I liked that I didn't feel pressure to order the cheapest meals or skip something I'd like to have.

It was a lot of food, though, and I doubt we'd try the deluxe dining plan because of it. (I was about 27 weeks pregnant this last trip - dining was one of the few things I could actually do, so I didn't mind spending vacation time in restaurants instead of on rides.)

 

[Bellanota]

It was a lot of food, though, and I doubt we'd try the deluxe dining plan because of it. (I was about 27 weeks pregnant this last trip - dining was one of the few things I could actually do, so I didn't mind spending vacation time in restaurants instead of on rides.)

The 27 weeks pregnant made me smile. I will be entering my 14 week so the morning sickness just went away and was at Busch Gardens a few weeks back. All I wanted to do was eat. My husband is so glad we are on the deluxe plan because every thing that smelled yummy at Busch Gardens I wanted to eat. Luckily the Ddp means we can do just that at Disney with no stress of oop expenses. He is already planning on splitting CS meals with me so I can eat my cravings.

 

[AngiTN]

I myself no longer use the DDP when we go to Disney... I have been set free from it. However, here is a thought why many may actually go with it. When you book a Disney Vacation you can make payments on your trip, this includes the hotel and the dining plan. Some people may not be able to drop 2K on prepaid gift cards and etc. For them, making the payments makes the whole trip much easier and affordable on their budget. If this is a reason for many, I get it and don't blame them at all. It's just a thought.

But you can buy $50/$100 cards at a time at Target (using the 5% off) over the course of a year, or even more
and most Grocery Stores have the ones you load from $25-$500 and if you have fuel perks it can save even more than 5%

 

[goofy4prez]

But you can buy $50/$100 cards at a time at Target (using the 5% off) over the course of a year, or even more
and most Grocery Stores have the ones you load from $25-$500 and if you have fuel perks it can save even more than 5%

I don't disagree at all with you, this is the way I would go as well. In fact, I do buy our gift cards during the year for this reason of saving and use them along with our TiW. However, some people may not be disciplined enough to buy those each and every month (procrastinate) whereas they are when paying that amount to Disney each month.

 

[DaddyRobbinDisney]

This is fantastic! Thank you for the information!

 

[Stefecatzz]

I have gotten the DDP twice on short 3 night stays & more than got my $s worth. But that was b/c I was very fortunate enough to have an awesome CM friend who got me a discount. I also never eat dessert, rarely eat snacks & always order ice water w/meals b/c I do not drink soft drinks. I would not get the DDP for regular price or w/'free' dining. It just wouldn't be worth it w/my eating habits. But it was a good feeling to have gotten value out of the DDP while I could.

 

[jahber]

Hey - where do you find 9-10% off? I know Target has a deal when you use their cc, but that's just 5% off. I totally hear ya - I've been trying to sell my family on not using the DDP. For them, they just like the ease and frankly, for my family (we're big eaters), we feel like we come out ahead. We like having the desserts with the meals. We're usually pretty healthy eaters - especially me - but I know when it comes down to it, it'll be very tough to turn down that dessert at Boardwalk Bakery. But I do totally understand and agree with the meal plan not working for most people and I love the gift card idea.

I buy target gift cards from raise.com at 6% off (I watch for them and only buy 6%+). Then I buy Disney cards online at target. As long as you have a red card registered to your account, you'll get the 5% discount (even if you use gift cards to pay) and free shipping. I've saved a lot of money this way, as have many others . Happy saving!

 

[Pmlocke]

I have always kept track of my costs to check what would have been OOP expenses versus the Dining Plan and have found that I always come out ahead. What I like the best about the dining plan is that I do not have to think about the costs of the meals or snacks or the multiple refills on my mug. I always dine at the best (at least most expensive dinners) resturants, get dessert, etc. because I don't even have to think - if I don't get a dessert I can save some money. It just takes one more worry off my plate (sorry about that pun) so I can enjoy my vacation even more so. 49 days to go.

 

[aaarcher86]

We eat the same whether we have had the DDP or not. At a discount, the DXDP was less expensive for us.

We don't qualify anymore, but there's no absolutes with the DDP. Getting GCs wouldn't have had me spending any less on food.

 

[nolanboys]

We are in a slightly different situation as we are DVC members and stay in 2 bdrm villas with kitchens. The DDP never saved us $ because we do some simple meals in our villa. Six people on the DDP is expensive (as is eating at TS restaurants every day). As we are doing a split stay, with two at the Poly first, we ran the numbers and are going to do the DDP for those nights. It works out to about $150 savings, mainly because it includes the mugs which will be nice to have for the entire stay and we get to eat at two of our favorite TS places that we would have eaten at while there anyways.

 

[portsofcall]

We used Disney Visa for 6 months and had $500 rewards by the time our trip came around. I've done DDP 2 out 4 times and we're doing DDP again. We figured getting the least expensive dining plan 2 QS $900 for 3 people and then using the rewards card for table service meals is much less compared to some of the other plans. So, we'll end up with 2 QS and 1 TS per day for a total of $1500 for 7 night stay. Using the Disney Visa at a few TS gives 10% discount, but we also have $350 Disney gift cards left over from Sams Club (5% discount). That gives us a little breathing room to also try some of the beers and margaritas at epcot We rented points for the Animal Kingdom Lodge saving us $2500 in lodging.

 

[pmaurer74]

This website is fabulous for calculating costs OOP v on a dining plan:
http://www.distripplanner.com/

You CAN come out ahead, by eating at the buffets (particularly if you have kids) or by choosing the priciest entrees and always getting desserts.
This is my first trip NOT on the dining plan, and it's a change of mindset. But I think we'll come out way ahead not being on the plan. We tend to share desserts and like appetizers. It's also nice not worrying about the DDP "value" of a place. For example I've booked the Hollywood Brown Derby for lunch. That would be a terrible use of two credits, but OOP it's not a crazily expensive lunch. Plus I have the Disney Visa for 10% off.

Thanks for the calculator website. I just did our trip for June and are at a $2.69 savings but that does not include the snacks and mug so we are at about $200 in savings.

I also calculated out our trip in December when DD will be ten and it is only about $50 in savings. We will likely quit the DDP around this time.

 

[BlondeAppetit]

One of the smartest things that I did to "work the dining plan system" would be a seasonal opportunity only. We travelled in September and ended up with Free Dining. I was already planning on paying out of pocket with the standard plan for our meal at Cinderella's Royal Table and I really wanted to go to HDDR too. Those meals combined for our 3 person group were over $300 out of pocket. I was able to upgrade to the Deluxe Plan for a little over $300 and also get the standard plan for free. This allowed us to have more credits, add another TS lunch at LTT, add Jiko for dinner, and got to go to both CRT and HDDR with our credits. It was two years ago, but for our specific plan, I saved a TON of money!!!!!!! For those that are interested in higher ticket events like CRT and HDDR, which aren't great values on dining plans, I would highly suggest looking at an upgrade to deluxe during a free dining period.

 

[tripletmomsrock]

We are doing the DDP for one and only time on our trip in July. It makes sense for us for these reasons: 1. We have 9 yo triplets who so enjoy snacks and I will for the 1st time be able to say yes pretty much all the time. 2. We would never normally pay for character meals, but this will probably the last time they think those are cool so we wanted to do them just once. 3. Based on the menus of the places we are planning on eating, we would order the more expensive options. 4. Again, the triplets love to eat dessert, which I again normally say no to. So being able to say yes for 1 week is an added perk. B

But under no other circumstances would we be on it either.

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

Now that both kids are Disney adults (13 and 15) the plan costs more for us than OOP. This past trip we paid OOP and spent a lot less than what the plan would have cost. My husband likes the plan since he feels like he can order what he wants without thinking about price (even though I've explained many times that we can still order whatever we want OOP, even the more expensive items, and since the kids eat generally less expensive meals, it still works out cheaper to do OOP) - so our next trip we have the plan for the first 4 nights. It's not saving money, since the meals I had originally planned for those days were less expensive than what we're spending now. The plan was $989 for those 4 nights, so I changed our meals so we were eating more than $989 - so it's 4 buffets, 4 more expensive QS places...the cost of our meals now is over $1000, so we'll come out ahead in terms of what we actually spent, but considering my OOP plans were under $800, we're actually spending more. The last 8 nights of the trip are OOP.

 

[jimmytammy]

For us, the DP doesn't make a lot of sense, as most meals at WDW are rich(very filling)so we tend to do one big meal a day, snack as needed. By doing this, we will spend around $1000 for 3 adults for 10 days. Thats using the Tables In Wonderland card. So roughly $33 per day per adult. Im not sure what the costs for DP per adult is(to be honest, never did a lot of research into it). Our 1st trip in 99, we ate 3 square meals a day, and were miserable. DP hadn't been invented yet, so we were out of pocket. But from that moment we realized portion sizes, and the richness of food was different than most places we were used to eating back home. So that factors in for us.