Is the dining plan worth it?

[Eden]

is the dining plan worth it? Thanks, Eden

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Depends on many things. Your family, their eating habits and how much time you want to spend eating. What may be "worth it" to one person, isn't "worth it" to another.

We used to always purchase the dining plan prior to DS turning 10. It was worth it to pay $10.00 a day each for him and DD to eat. But now thats he's 11 and still likes chicken fingers and fries, with an occasional burger thrown in, it isn't worth spending the adult price of $42.00 a day for him to eat.

So now we no longer purchase the dining plan. We eat mostly counter service with 2-3 sit-downs in a week. We come out a head of spending the money for the dining plan.

 

[SUSIEQ]

We eat mostly counter service with 2-3 sit-downs in a week. We come out a head of spending the money for the dining plan.

This is exactly what we do, and we don't feel so miserably full!

 

[worm761]

We had the basic DDP on our last trip. We absolutely loved it. We liked it so much we were planning on getting the deluxe dining plan for our next trip. We are going with the quick service plan since we will have a baby with us. I don't think she will sit quietly through all those table service dinners. Maybe when she gets older we can try the DxDDP.
My suggestion is to look at the menus on allearsnet.com and figure out where you want to eat and what you would most likely order. Then compare that cost to the cost of the dining plan. I always look at the menus and figure the cost of ordering the most expensive option that each person likes, this way it is in the budget and I won't have to worry about it while we are looking at menus. Even without always ordering a dessert or appetizer, were still going to come out ahead with the DxDDP when I was figuring the math. For us, we love the prepaid aspect of the plans. Have you looked at the dining plan board? It is a sub-board on the restaurants board. You should check it out. Though be prepared, the dining plan is a love it or hate it type of thing.

 

[Eden]

What is the price breakdown

 

[LisaRN97]

I believe it is now $41.99 adult/day and $11.99 child/day. This is for the basic dining plan which includes 1 sit down, 1 counter service, and 1 snack each day. Keep in mind you still have to pay tax and gratuity.

 

[Justsyd2]

We really like the QSDP. I believe it's 31.99. You get two QS meals and 2 snacks per day, plus a refillable mug!

 

[worm761]

I believe it is now $41.99 adult/day and $11.99 child/day. This is for the basic dining plan which includes 1 sit down, 1 counter service, and 1 snack each day. Keep in mind you still have to pay tax and gratuity.

You only have to pay the tip. The tax is included with the plan.

 

[Ceila]

For us, it absolutely is. However, that is because of the way we like to dine in WDW. For us, having one sit-down meal a day (we try to do it for lunch) is ideal, and we are fine with CS for the other meals. Every family is different, though, so what works for us won't necessarily work for you.

To help me decide the first time, I made a list of all of the meals we would be there for, and then made a rough estimate of the costs using menus from www.allears.net. When I compared that to the cost of the DP, it was clear that it would be a good bargain for us. Good luck deciding what to do!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I believe it is now $41.99 adult/day and $11.99 child/day.

The price goes up to $47.99/adult (10+) and $12.99/child (3-9) during peak times (2/12 - 4/10, 6/4 - 8/14, 12/17 - 12/31).

Also, starting this year, children are allowed to get appetizers at table service restaurants. But it is a selected list.

 

[EclecticWAHM]

Like many of the others have said, whether it is "worth it" depends entirely on your family and their dining preferences. There's a huge difference in pricing for kids vs. adults - so it depends too on your kids' ages and how much/what they like to eat. I can tell you about how we made our decision and it may or may not help you.

Both our kids are over 10 and have adult type eating habits. We did not base our decision on our "regular" restaurant buying habits either. We're very thrifty and rarely eat out and when we do we really watch our budget. This vacation for us is a splurge - big time. We've never had a family vacation and it's our intention to do what we want, eat what we want and not be concerned with the price.

We're big breakfast eaters, and enjoy nice restaurants, so the deluxe plan made the most sense for us. A lot of people aren't crazy about the deluxe plan because it does mean a lot of time in restaurants and not playing in the parks. This wasn't a concern for us - for us, the restaurants are part of the "playing!" The deluxe plan is $71.99 per person per night, so for us it's $1439.80. When I looked at making ADR's I checked the menus at each restaurant both to see what they offered and to see what the prices were. I selected items that we're highly likely order and added it all up, and included snacks we're likely to buy. The total came to almost $1800 if we do exactly what we want - so the plan looks like a good deal. We love that it's all already paid for (except tips.)

I guess we'll see in July how close the plan is to how "reality" happens All I know right now is that we're beyond excited that we're taking our first vacation ever, we're staying someplace really nice and can eat at the type of restaurants we really, really enjoy.

So...would the dining plan be worth it to you? Who knows? Look at the restaurants you want to eat at, run the numbers and take into consideration whether you have to "cut corners" on your vacation and think about which aspects of the vacation are most important to you.

So...there's the opinion/experience of a total vacation/Disney newbie. Hope that helps and hope you have an awesome vacation!

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

I look at it like this...If you plan to do a table service every day, the basic dining plan works great b/c you basically pay for the table service meal and you get the quick service meal and snack for free.

 

[monkey30]

Well for us it was so worth it, BUT we did the QDP as sit down dinners with a over tired 4yr old and 2mth old was not ideal for a `magical`vacation!

It was great the kids got to pick thier meal, we had enough for the entire time, and then with the meals so large, we were able to have just the 2 with the meal plan and a few snacks,

 

[MarilIncredible]

I really think a lot depends on your eating habits. I didn't think it was worth it for my husband and I the last few times we went. For one thing, tip was not included. Also, it is much more likely that we will split an appetizer and neither one of us gets a dessert than both get no appy and a dessert each. Also, we like our adult beverages, and on more than one occasion, we'll just get a couple of appys and drinks for a meal.

Now, my parents LOVED it. But they tend to emphasize the "eating" part of vacation far more than I do. And, they went for 12 days, so they had TONS and TONS of time to waste at TS places for long meals, whereas I ususally go for only 6 days and want to pack more fun park time in.

 

[CrzyforPiglet]

We did the regular dining plan in Dec 2008 and for us it didn't end up being worth it. Because we were traveling with a 3 year old we did all but one of our TS at lunch and the lunch prices just don't offer the same savings if we had done dinners. Plus some of the people in our party ordered salads at some meals and drinks that weren't covered so we still ended up paying out of pocket. It was also kind of stressful trying to get our "money's worth" out of the plan.

 

[budbeerlady]

For us it is, visit all ears and run the #'s for a meal that your family would usually eat.

The basic dining plan is a huge saver for my Dh but not so much for me. As a vegetarian most of my meals are the cheapest thing on the menu. Dh is a meat eating steak machine. His meal at Le Cellier is New York strip at $34.99, plus dessert at $7.99 plus a coke at $2.19. His 1 ts meal was $45.17. Plus a Cs at Seasons he eats the grilled salmon at $9.99 plus a coke at $2.19 and dessert short cake at $3.99. That cs was $16.17 plus tax. Then his snack at a cart, pretzel at $3.79.

Dh's 1 day of food on the plan was $65.13 plus tax. Much more than the adult dining plan 1 day cost.

We also like that its prepaid (wish it didnt have tips seperate, I always need to keep bills on me for tipping.) and when I am not laying out the cash I dont worry about the $$$$.
__________________

 

[BrightScouter]

It really is never worth it for us. We usually try a sit down meal for lunch every other day or so. But, we often will share a meal both at counter service places and even once in a while at table service. I think that right there blows the value. Also, we usually spend the money to get a Tables in Wonderland card and can use that for a discount on table service. I guess the other reason we don't is that we hate to be so tied down to ADRs. And with the dining plan, we would feel like we HAVE to use it and therefore have to have ADRs or not be able to get in.

 

[katied]

I agree - it really depends on your habits. We paid several years ago when it was DH and I, with DNiece (age 10) and DNephew (age 8). We had 1 TS meal per day - we hit the parks commando style, so the TS meal was our "break" during the day. Even though we had to pay for DNiece as an adult, it was still worth it because we would have been paying for adult food prices for her at all the TS meals.

Now, with DS (almost 3) and mostly DVC style vacation with breaks in the room, we only have about 2 - 3 TS meals per week long trip - so it doesn't make sense. We eat about 2 meals/day in our room, and only 1 meal out. As kids get older, we may change and go back to the commando style, and DDP again.

 

[3boymthr]

If you PM me I can send you my spreadsheet that I used to calculate the cost of an average meal at the restaurants I wanted to eat at vs. the cost of the DDP.

I found that for us it was worth it. We saved over $290 but... I don't think I'd get it again as DH was not happy being tied to all the ADRs for dinner and wanted more sit down breakfasts - he wanted to go to the Captain's Grille every morning (straight buffet - No character meals) which totally is not worth it on the DDP.

Also wanted to point out that the children's appetizer is not new this year. We got the appetizer for the kids last year at all our TS meals except the buffets.

 

[PatsMom]

We used to do the DDP sometimes back when it included an appetizer. It was generally worth it to us back then. Now that it doesn't include the appetizer, it really is not a good deal for our eating habits. We are more appetizer peopel than dessert. Also, since we have AP's we qualify for the Tables in Wonderland card so we get a discount at most table service.

We also figured out that we don't like to have a commitment to a table service restaurant every day.