Is the dining package worth it?

[natesmom]

Hi! So I have read all about where, how, and when to use it, but is it worth it...please tell me about your experience...I will be in the parks 3 days with 4 day tickets if that matters...thanks!

 

[honeydiane1953]

Need to know how many will be going their age and if they r big eaters.

 

[Carmell226]

We never really order desserts OR drink pop when we go out to eat and the dining plan does include both of those things. So one would think it doesn't seem like a good value for us. However, I went through the menus on allears and figured what we would "normally" order and how much it cost and figured it against the dining plan and we still saved a few bucks.
The best part about the dining plan for us is the convenience. We don't really have to "think" about what we are going to order or how much it will cost, we just order. It is MORE than enough food for us aswell. Now that we have done the dining plan (2 times) we will never go back!

 

[Yngpreacherman]

Hi! So I have read all about where, how, and when to use it, but is it worth it...please tell me about your experience...I will be in the parks 3 days with 4 day tickets if that matters...thanks!

A lot of factors go into this. Disney is one of the few parks that allows you to bring your own food which is awesome. To save money, we usually bring some snacks and food bars throughout the day (and water is free at Disney...skip out on the expensive bottled water and just ask for a complimentary cup of water...this is free at all parks). If you're not a water fan, bring your own drink packet mix to put in the water. We were spending some 20-30 bucks a day on bottled water before we knew this. We might eat once a day at a restaurant in the parks at the max. For us, the dinning package is not worth it. But, I would say that if you are going to be eating at least twice in the park every day, it is definitely worth it! You will get your moneys worth out of that with no problem (especially if you're big eaters)! But keep in mind, since you are going to only be there for four days, eating a few times a day in the parks at restaurants will be time consuming.

 

[DanG07]

It depends on your family and their eating habits. If you do alot of character dining and/or TS-dining, then it is worth it, as most TS restuarants alone would cover most of the cost of the dining plan. If you are not a big TS person and don't ordinarily order desert, then it may not be worth it. My family personally likes the plan because it makes it convenient to order knowing that we have pre-paid for the meals. It makes budgeting easier. However, there are some downsides to the plan like having our kids stuck to the kid's menu (sometimes the pickings are slim) and not having the option to swap an appetizer for the deserts. Oh, and you tend to overeat on the dining plan, because you already "paid" for it.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

It depends. We've generally found it to be a good value for us.

It's probably not a great deal if you have kids that are over 9, but not big eaters. They cost the same as adults, and can order off the adult menu, but may not get their money's worth if they only eat kid food (pizza, chicken nuggets) or are small eaters.

It does (more or less) lock you into eating a TS every day.

A big plus is that you can generally order anything off the menu, so long as you pay the tip. It most certainly adds something to the vacation.

It may not be worthwhile if you are staying club level and will be taking advantage of the club level food most days.

If you just like small snacks all day, or you're a big eater, it may not be your ideal. For us, it's more than enough food. Indeed, it was almost too much to have dessert at every meal. Also, that dessert course takes time, but the break from touring can also be nice.

It's generally a good idea to get a quick look at what you think you'd eat on a typical day, and figure what you'd spend at WDW. many menus are now online via Diseny's website. Look up individual places to find the menus. Several others have WDW menus online, too. WDW prices on food are pretty high, so it's generally not too difficult to break even using DDP.

It also takes a little thinking to make good use of it. Like a snack credit is worth up to $4. Buying a $2 drink is not a great use of snack credit, BUT - using snack credits to buy a $2 drink is better than having leftover credits that expire. (Snack credits are rather useful however, as there are a good number of treats you can get with them like Mickey candies to bring home as a WDW souvenier.) You also have to be able to understand how dining credits work. If you skip every dessert and drink only table water, then the savings largely evaporates.

Oh - and since I've looked, DDP is not a great value if you are vegetarian, unless you'll be eating at a good number of buffets where the price is fixed for everyone. Eating at buffets IS a good idea if you have kids in the under 9 age group, esp kids under the age of three who like to eat.

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

Hi! So I have read all about where, how, and when to use it, but is it worth it...please tell me about your experience...I will be in the parks 3 days with 4 day tickets if that matters...thanks!

If you use Deb's all ears website and look at the dinning you would like to eat at and add up the prices and figure $12 per person for most CS/QS and $3 for snacks, then you will know if it is worth it. If you stick to dinner for the meals the it will be more then worth it.

 

[nettekay]

It is worth it right now!!! You can get the dining plan for free! Just check out disney's web site!!

 

[AJRitz]

It is worth it right now!!! You can get the dining plan for free! Just check out disney's web site!!

Even free dining is not necessarily "worth it". You cannot combine room package discounts with dining discounts. It all depends on your circumstances.

If you're staying at a Value, free dining is most likely worth it, because of the relatively low cost of rack rate rooms at a Value. If you're staying at a Moderate resort, you really have to run the numbers and see whether, for your particular combination of number of guests/ages the current room discount offer is a better deal than the free dining plan. If you're staying at a Deluxe, the room discount offer is almost always a better deal than free dining.

 

[laliwalden]

When we have previously gone to Disney, we never did the Dining Plan. On our last trip, we got it for free.

It was amazing and we will never go without it now!! Even if we have to pay for it. I figured it up and it is a bit cheaper for us, plus the convience is soooo nice!!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I think the CS and the deluxe plan are both worth it, not so much the regular plan though.

 

[lisam427]

this will be our 3rd year in a row that we r going 2 disney . we have always gone during free dining. even if i had to pay for it, i still would get the regular dining plan. most of our meals at sit down places were about $40-50 a person for entree, drink, and desert (no appetizer). this doesnt even include our counter service meal or snack. also i like going and being able to order what i want and not worry about prices. whether free or not we will never go without it.

 

[loveswdw]

We enjoy the dining plan and usually do at least 1 TS per day anyway. So, it makes it more affordable for us. DS6 dining plan is only $11.99 per day. Most character meals for his ages cost more than that for ONE meal, much less a CS per day & a TS per day plus a snack.

Then, a TS meal per adult varies depending on what you order but DH & I generally spend more that $42 per day for food anyway. Per day, our dining plan is $96 for the 3 of us. We can EASILY drop that at one TS meal. And that's not including if we order appetizers & dessert.

We would prefer to have appetizers instead of dessert but unfortunately, they don't offer appetizers on the plan any longer. We used to LOVE the dinig plan when it was appetizer, dessert & tip included! Now that was a GREAT deal. The new plan is an "okay" deal. It still saves us money so we still get it.

 

[daf]

The dining plan is really not for everyone.
Unless you're used to eating a lot, it might make you eat much more than you actually can (or should).
We tried it a few years back and it wasn't for us. It made us eat so much food. Another thing that bothered us was that you can't order anything you watn from the menu, so when we wanted something that was on the menu but wasn't on the dining plan, we wouldn't order it. We didn't want to pay OOP after paying for the DP and so we settled for something else on the menu.

This year we decided to check how much we would want to pay for food (according to how much we usually eat) - even if we want to splurge. We found that eating everything we want and paying OOP would cost $300 less (for 10 days) than if we took the dining plan.

I say check the allears menus and see how much you would want to eat.
If the DP still included gratuities, I would still consider it. But now, not really.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Another thing that bothered us was that you can't order anything you watn from the menu, so when we wanted something that was on the menu but wasn't on the dining plan, we wouldn't order it. We didn't want to pay OOP after paying for the DP and so we settled for something else on the menu.

I just want to clarify: At most places, just about every entree is included. At the buffets and family style dining places, you have no limitations - you get everything the buffet has to offer.

In a few select places, there are a very few entrees that are not allowed, but it is very few. Like at Cali Grill there are one or two sushi items not included.

The only things often not included are the appetizer, the extra side veggies, and alcohol.

The only other restriction I've encountered is making sense of quick serve breakfast. You basically get a second beverage instead of a 'dessert,' so you can't grab a rice crispie treat for later (or to bring home) You can do a 'continental' breakfast: a pastry, beverage and a fruit, but it doesn't end up being a great deal.

At a la carte places,I wish they allowed you to order an extra side veggie instead of dessert. sometimes the 'vegetable' included with your dinner is little more than a garnish.

However,the flip of that is a good number of a la carte menu places (as opposed to buffets) DO now offer a 'set price' menu where you CAN pick from a small selection of choices, and you'll get your appetizer, entree, beverage, and dessert for one DDP credit.

But I do agree, it's not for everyone. When we do use DDP, it does some what alter the way we eat, and the quantity. It really is a LOT of food.

 

[notaclue]

We've done the regular (DDP) and the deluxe (DXDDP) plans and this year we decided to skip the plan altogether. When the plans used to include an appetizer (salad) and tip they were a good deal for us. Now that they only include entree and dessert they don't work as well for us because we would rather have the appetizer than dessert. Also some times we would rather just have an appetizer instead of the entree and we are planning to try some restaurants that don't take the dining plans. We also like to have a TS but still light lunch with air conditioning and we found that alot of TS restaurants aren't that much more expensive for a sandwich than the CS places. Just my opinion but I think the dining plan is too restrictive for our family and I don't like to have to figure out what is a snack and what isn't.

 

[jojomoore]

We've done the regular (DDP) and the deluxe (DXDDP) plans and this year we decided to skip the plan altogether. When the plans used to include an appetizer (salad) and tip they were a good deal for us. Now that they only include entree and dessert they don't work as well for us because we would rather have the appetizer than dessert. Also some times we would rather just have an appetizer instead of the entree and we are planning to try some restaurants that don't take the dining plans. We also like to have a TS but still light lunch with air conditioning and we found that alot of TS restaurants aren't that much more expensive for a sandwich than the CS places. Just my opinion but I think the dining plan is too restrictive for our family and I don't like to have to figure out what is a snack and what isn't.

We have done the DDP once and I absolutely agree.

We will not do the dining plan again. It is extremely restrictive. Sometimes I really enjoy eating the appetizer as my meal. I found that I wanted to eat at least one meal that was not on the DDP. We have never been desert eaters. My children also became continuously dissapointed when they were forced to eat from the kids menu only. They were both 9 at the time. I don't much care for the counter service meals at WDW. We had CS credits left over that we did not use. It really is a chore to keep up with your credits.

It is only a good deal if you are really going to eat all of the food, you don't mind restrictions and you don't have children that are at the borderline age of 9 (or absolutely love chicken nuggets and very little else). I found that buffet character meals have the most food variety but are not really much more expensive than other TS restaurants.

 

[daf]

The only things often not included are the appetizer, the extra side veggies, and alcohol.

Exactly, I was referring to the appetizers. We usually prefer appetizers instead of desserts, so not being able to get an appetizer would be frustrating for us.

 

[Tiger926]

We've done the regular and deluxe dining plans many times, as well as DDE/TIW, and we are back to TIW as the DP just isn't the best choice for us:

- we don't eat desserts
- restrictions especially kids' meals (yuck at most places)
- can't stand CS food
- not enough food as we always had to buy more food to share (we don't eat junk food, drink pop or fill up on snack foods all day long) which is more money out of pocket

We love TIW as we are charge of how we eat, and the best reason is that the kids can share adult meals! Love that!

It really depends upon how you eat, for us we would never get the CS plan as we hate CS food, and we find the regular plan is too restrictive, and still not enough food (3 of us have low blood sugar, and must eat healthy meals/snacks on a regular basis). We did like deluxe, but it was too many ADRs (we eat 2 TS meals per day), and quite expensive.

For our upcoming trip in July, I have made my own dining plan - 2 TS meals per day (with an occassional CS meal for breakfast) - and it's just a tad bit more than the regular plan, and a lot less cheaper than the deluxe plan, and that includes all tips and taxes. We've eaten pretty much everywhere, so we know menu prices very well. We do bring in our own bottled water/juice boxes, and don't order dessert, so we are getting all food at our meals, and love ordering what we want to eat.

There is no inconvenience for us - I laugh when people say they get the DP because it's convenient. How is it convenient? Our TIW bill comes with mandatory tip already included and so we just sign and go! You can't get more convenient than ordering what you want, and then paying the bill and going out the door to the parks. I find the DP has really slowed down restaurants as first timers and even some repeat guests don't know how to work the DP, so they are trying to figure out ordering, maximizing credits, etc. It slows down the restaurants big time - on our trip in March, most waiters were relieved that we weren't on the DP, and a few even thanked us for that, as they knew we knew our menus and were efficient with ordering.

We've done it all in terms of dining, so you really need to know your family's needs and the menus to make an accurate decision. Another big factor is your budget, and past eating experiences - we ate pretty much everywhere before DP, by paying cash, so we have lots of TS experience. I know this is a factor for many, as the DP is the only way they can afford to eat at many TS restaurants - especially with upcharges/surcharges in place now during peak times as well. Although, the regular DP now has a peak season price of $46.99/adult during these times as well.

I wish all of you contemplating the DP good luck with your decision. Happy eating, Tiger

 

[persimmondeb]

We LOVE the DDP, but we are two active adults and a teenager, and we eat a lot. We like desserts, we like snacks, we like the CS food (and there are plenty of interesting and healthy choices in both-it really doesn't have to be hamburgers and ice cream all day long). We have no problem ordering the way the DDP makes you order, and cost is the only reason why we might not normally do that. We also never begrudge the time eating, since we don't usually take any other breaks from the park.

We were considering the DxDP this time, since we figured we could eat all that, especially on a shorter trip, but since Disney offered the GC promotion we are going with QSDP, and using the gift card for most of our table service meals. This'll give us 3 meals a day, but not of such gargantuan proportions as the DxDP would allow.

The regular DDP is not enough for us, BTW, and we would have to supplement it OOP.