Is the Dining plan worth it?

[ipodluvr287]

We're trying to plan our next trip and I was wondering if the Disney Dining plan is worth it. Can anyone help with that?

 

[Alesia]

Honestly, it depends on how your family eats.

Would you normally eat one table service meal every day? More than that? Less than that?
How much park time are you willing to give up for meals?
Do you not mind being tied down to an ADR every day or is flexibility more important to you?
Would you normally very expensive items?
Do you normally eat large portions or small portions?

We were there for 9 days and only ate 3 TS meals. For the rest, we generally split 2 CS meals between the 3 of us. It worked out perfectly for us and saved us about $700 over what the DDP would have cost us.

 

[kbheap]

I agree with alesia. It totally depends on your family. We have gotten the dining plan and made it worth it by eating our moneys worth. When we don't get it though, we tend to eat more like we normally do. We split meals, eat breakfast in the room. We tend to only eat one CS meal a day like this and then snack the rest of the day. Figure up what you are willing to spend on food. Go to allears and look at the menu's and see how it would work better for your family.

 

[ipodluvr287]

Well, I would want our family to go to Cinderella's Royal Table, Akershus, and probably one other character meal and the rest would be snacks/ counter service.

 

[lizzyb]

I agree with the previous posters. For us it doesn't save much.

 

[Hootch]

good advice above. I would add the question of whether you prefer an appetizer, dessert or neither. The plan includes desserts but not appetizers.

At one point the plan was good for us. Our kids are of an age now where they are anxious to be in the parks all of the time so we have cut down on the number of TS meals. Like you we do a couple of character meals and some CS meals.

The dining plan set up has changed significantly over the years so I don't know if it will ever be right for us again. I do a rough calculation every trip to see if it is worthwhile. Recently it hasn't been.

 

[LandChildWorldAdult]

I will say it was a bit more desert than we would eat at lunch, even on vacation, but our family LOVED the dining plan. We ate every credit!

I also want to debunk the myth that it takes a ton of time to eat table service meals. I found it was a nice break and took about 1/2 hour longer than a counter service meal would have taken. It is FAR more civilized. I don't want to cook on my vacation and I'd rather keep busing tables and waiting in line to a minimum too.

That said, we are big eaters, as a group, and did frequently share food among ourselves though we also ordered a not insignificant number of appetizers.

I concur with the posters above, look at menus on all ears and see what you think it would cost for your family to EAT WHAT *YOU* WANT. Then compare that to the dining plan. If it is less for the plan, then you should get it. It is also a good buy, imo, if it is close, for the ability not to worry, carry cash or have ginormous bills when you get home.

I for one could not do all that walking and swimming and walking and standing and walking on a continental breakfast, one counter service meal and a bunch of snacks. I lost weight on the plan!

 

[jessica29]

Their is a long post on the reastearaunt board as we speak I think the title is paying out of pocket.

 

[JohnsonsRUs]

IMO it is totally worth it and makes the trip feel like a true vacation. It is so nice to be able to eat out without having to worry about the cost of the meal fitting into a budget, etc. Also, now that our DD is old enough to be an "adult" in Disney's eyes, she loves ordering whatever she wants from the full menu. We kind of think of it as going to an all-inclusive resort.

As far as the cost goes, like the prior posters say, you need to look at the menus to decide whether it will be cost effective for your family, but even if it's a break even, we love the convenience of the DDP!

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

On the Dining Plan:

stressing about what restaurants to make our ADR's and trying hard to get the times we want - more planning required

we are eating our TS meals at the most expensive restaurants to get full value for the $$

eating much more than we normally do

planning our day around our TS reservations to make sure we are not late


Off the Dining Plan:

we are eating breakfast in our room to save $$

eating almost exclusively at CS restaurants to save $$ and because it will be harder to get a table at a TS restaurant without an advance reservation

never ordering any soda to save $$ on the bill

freedom to enjoy the park more as we don't have to worry about ADR's and we eat when we are hungry


There are pros and cons to both - personally, I like the experience of eating at nicer restaurants and not having to worry about the bill. Nothing like killing the mood on vacation and telling the kids they can't order steak cause it costs too much. This is not an issue on the Dining Plan that includes TS restaurants. However, we try to make our ADR's for later in the day so we are not wasting valuable park time during peak hours sitting down and eating

 

[Petraman]

Well, I would want our family to go to Cinderella's Royal Table, Akershus, and probably one other character meal and the rest would be snacks/ counter service.

Not much that can be added to what has already been said... it is alot of food, and a majority of people that use DDP report not using all their snacks, cs, etc. We found that when young dd was on child's plan it made sense. We worked as hard planning our dining as we did our days in the park and so we definitely got money's worth. Now that dd10 is an adult but still eats like a bird, this plan is no longer valid for us. We are considering trying the QSDDP this March, but I think I am going to go OOP and track it to see.

One key note: We did CRT and Akershus this last trip and enjoyed them both. We have dd10 and dd14 and they both still love the princesses!

 

[disney*mom*82]

As everyone has said, it really depends on your family. We are a family of 5, 3 of us are considered adults, 1 a child and one is a toddler still. We have purchased the dining plan the last 3 visits and have it purchased for our upcomming trip in March. As a pp said, it does, to us, make it seem like a true vacation. Yes, you pay for it, but all at once and we no longer sit there and worry about what is cheapest to eat, telling the kids no to snacks, etc.

The only thing we didnt like at first was that you really need to plan your day around your TS meal. But, we have a system figured out and it works out great for us. We eat 1 ts a day, usually a late lunch or dinner. And 1 qs a day, sometimes we split these and have 2 ts a day by only using 2 credits each time. The snacks, we all try to get one per day, but somehow we always have plenty left over in the end and we just get some fun snacks for the way home.

So, it really depends on how you want to look at it. Yes, it is a pretty big chunk of money, and sure you can eat cheaper probably, but do you want to worry about it all trip or would you like to pay it all at once and not worry about it?

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

We're trying to plan our next trip and I was wondering if the Disney Dining plan is worth it. Can anyone help with that?

You haven't mentioned how many in your party and the age of the kids (if any). If there are kids aged 3-9, they would have to order from the childrens menu when using a TS credit. Kids over the age of 9 are considered adults and would have to pay the adult price for the plan. My kids are 13-15, but still quite picky eaters. So even with a TS restaurant, knowing it's all paid for, they are still very selective as to what they want to eat - and may not find anything familiar to choose from especially if you go to a "fancier" TS restaurant using lots of sauces and spices on the food.

CS restaurants have your staple of burgers, chicken, etc - so my kids always found something they liked at those restaurants - and there are still some healthy choices.

Look into the Quick Service Dining option - it may be best for your family depending on their food preferences. Even so, you can check all the restaurant menus on-line and make a decision once you see the menu options and prices

Happy New Year !

 

[ipodluvr287]

At the time of the trip there would be 2 adults, a 15 year old, a 13 year old, and a 9 yaer old.

 

[msminnieears]

We have really enjoyed the DDP but my family enjoys their meals. I love the ts meals because it gives you a rest and it is an experience in itself. All the restaurants are themed in some way so it really does not take you away from the park, it just adds to you experience. You can eat for cheaper but you would really have to be careful about what and how you eat and you're really only talking about a small amount of money in the grand scheme of things. I will mention that Cinderella's Royal Table is 2 ts credits. We have eaten there in the past and have ADR's for our upcoming trip in march. I would probably only eat here on the DDP because it is so expensive. A lot of people have recommended allears.net to go and look at the restaurant and the prices on the menus. That is exactly what I've done and found that the dining plan will actually save us a few dollars. We have a group of 3 adults and 2 children. Try it.

 

[Hawk]

I agree that it depends on your lifestyle and how you want you vacation to unfold. We are two families with ten people; two under 2 years old. Our normal stay is 16-20 days twice per year, every other year three times (PAP holders).

DDP would certainly not be for us. We never eat at set times and many times skip meals. We don’t want to be tied to food and we are not big people (not small either). We rent cars (not fans of the bus system) and if we want to eat a TS meal we go offsite where there are more choices, cheaper prices and many times better tasting and better prepared than onsite.

If we did not rent cars it might be different, but I doubt it. To us, DDP is sort of a trade-off for other discounts. Now free dining is something else, but it never happens during our dates, which are normally at or near peak times.

Happy eating!

Tim/Hawk

 

[tinkerbellbaby34]

I honestly wouldn't get the meal plan... I have been to Disney almost every spring for quite a while, and we have never gotten the meal plan. My family and I feel like we would be spending the same amount of money either way, give or take a few dollars. But, if you have people in your family that eat more, then the meal plan might very well be the best option for you

 

[verygfy]

I have ran the numbers quite a few times, and yes we could definitely spend slightly less if we paid oop, and by the end of the trip we are soo tired of food that we don't want to eat for 2 days after. With that being said we enjoy our character breakfasts, and dinner at ts such as LeCelliar and O'Hana's. Those bills always add up to well over $100 each with the 5 of us 4 adults (DS11 is considered an adult) and 1 child and I like the freedom to know that we can enjoy these meals and not worry about what the final bill will be.

It does take a little time to plan out beforehand which ts we are going to eat at, but I plan everything on the trip anyways so it is not that inconvenient for me. This last trip we also found ourselves a few times hungry before our ADR or ready for a break before and each of the restaurants were able to accommodate us and sat us early with little to no wait.

 

[dancer4life22]

we just did the dining plan over the summer. i liked it because i could get dessert every night which we never get! my parents didnt like it and dont want to do it again because they add all this stuff that we otherwise wouldnt have had so we ended up paying more. if you always get big meals and desserts and a lot of snacks then ya its worth it but if your like us and get maybe breakfast lunch dinner 1 snack 1 drink and no desserts then no/

 

[Raivyn]

We did DDP because we had already planned on doing several special meals: Cinderella's Table, Hoop Dee Do Revue, California Grill, and Chef Mickey's. When you add up the price of these meals, we only paid a few $$$ more to have the rest of our meals for our trip.

Some folks will say using DDP for these meals isn't maximizing the value, and that is probably true. Bugt we were going to spend this money anyway, so for us, DDP allowed us to get the rest of our meals for cheap, and those meals included Restaurant Marrakesh and Coral Reef.

BTW, we would get CS at Pepper Market to make up for using two TS credits.

We used our snack credits for the ham and cheese croissants at Epcot, and at those for breakfast.

If we weren't doing these expensive meals, we wouldn't have done the meal plan.