is the dining plan worth it?

[knlasv]

My soon-to-be-husband and I are planning our honeymoon in July 2012. I've been researching the dining plan and am wondering if it is really worth it? We rarely get drinks (other than free water) at restaurants and I am always too full to finish my meal, let alone eat dessert which would be included in the table service meal. I'm sure we will be packing snacks, too. I've done some of the math and, to me, it just does not seem worth it in our case. I'm trying to save money here, obviously, so any tips/opinions are welcome! Thanks!

 

[Cafeen]

If you're not likely to use all the entitlements at each meal, then chances are you won't be saving yourself any money by using a dining plan. They're best suited for people who will be likely eating the way they are structured to begin with, and they don't work so well if you go "outside of the box".

 

[KAA1972]

My soon-to-be-husband and I are planning our honeymoon in July 2012. I've been researching the dining plan and am wondering if it is really worth it? We rarely get drinks (other than free water) at restaurants and I am always too full to finish my meal, let alone eat dessert which would be included in the table service meal. I'm sure we will be packing snacks, too. I've done some of the math and, to me, it just does not seem worth it in our case. I'm trying to save money here, obviously, so any tips/opinions are welcome! Thanks!

Not in your case, it is probably not worth it. Dining plan is only worth it if you eat all the food, or your want to go to a ton of character meals, or if you get it for free -- again this will depend upon where you stay -- it still might not be worth it if you sacrifice a substantial room discount at a deluxe resort for free dining.

We have gone many times -- both with and without free dining. We do enjoy a sit-down restaurant but we prefer not to have reservations dictate our plans for every single day of our entire vacation. We make one or two sit-down ressies (where we pay cash) and then the rest of the time we just eat when and where we please. We have found this to be more enjoyable for us... And, we think we spend less money too. Sometimes, we split a fast-food meal and then just snack. We would never both eat a fast food meal with a dessert and then a sit-down meal with a dessert, plus a snack in one day unless we were on dining plan -- and when we did -- it was just TOO much food for us.

Everyone is different and everyone does Disney a little differently. This is just my two cents -- for what it's worth.

 

[heatherwillmom]

You can save a lot of money with the dining plan but only if you use all of the credits well. We usually get the dining plan. We have done the regular & the deluxe. I like to plan so making reservations are no problem. We do quick service sometimes. Its nice to not have to worry about paying for meals & just putting them on the KTTW card. You can do a signature dining experiences for 2 credits. I probably would not do signature dining if I was paying cash. DH loves to eat & he doesn't care that much for the rides. We have sometimes used the extra snack credits for Mickey rice krispie squares to take home. If you aren't going to use the credits, it probably wouldn't work for you.

 

[sharonabe]

I would advise to keep doing the math. Look at all the TS restaurants and decide where you think you want to eat. Then "order" what you WANT without regard to the price of the meal. Make sure you enlist DF's help too. You may find he will eat the value of the DDP and then some.

For us, it isn't worth it. We, too, drink water and only myself and one son like desserts. I've done the math a lot of different ways with many different restaurants. The 4 of us (who are all considered adults by WDW) can do a 6-day plan with 5 TS for $70 LESS than the QSDP would cost us. The 5 TS on my most recent plan were Ohana dinner, Crystal Palace lunch, Plaza, Via Napoli, and a Mama Melrose Fantasmic pkg. For $70 less than it would cost to only eat QS, I'll do OOP everytime!!

 

[HotMama]

For us...totally worth it, but we have 2 young kids that must sit & eat 3x a day. We love to do signature meals & character meals so I wouldn't go to WDW without the dining plan. HOWEVER, for you, probably won't be worth it. Plan where you want to eat & estimate the math. If you don't sit down to table service every night, or if you can get away with a snack instead of sitting down for lunch the plan will not be worth the money for you. Have a fun trip!

 

[Mick West]

We LOVE Disney but have no use for the DDP. It is to much food for us, to much to "plan", as reservations, due to the DDP, go so fast and dictate the overall flow of our trips. In other words, schedule the eating and then schedule everything else. No, if we are in a park, etc - and want to go - we don't want to stick around for a "ressie". Or if we're in a park enjoying life - and a beer - we don't want to have to leave for a ressie. Go without it. Save money and have more freedom!

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

We save money using dining plan, but we have young children and eat at pretty much every character meal on Disney property. Since it is just you and dh on your honeymoon, I'm guessing it probably wouldn't be a savings for you. So why not skip it and maybe book one or two special meals- Victoria and Alberts maybe?

 

[GivenToFly]

We went in Nov. of 2009 and it was completely worth it. There was 7 of us, and we did our nice meals at the world showcase in Epcot. We did Italy and Mexico. Then just having the snacks and drinks was convenient. The Italian restaurant was really expensive and almost paid for the dinner plan on it's own.LOL

 

[SnipsNSnails]

If you are in it only to save money, then it may not be worth it. The only way to know is to look at the menus, "order" and add it all up. For us, a lot of the value has to do with the prepayment and being able to have things we normally don't, like dessert without the "sticker shock" of the prices on the menu. We have children and like buffets and character meals so in the end I do think it saves us money too.

 

[neodymm]

We've been doing the DxDDP for many years. The first time we did it, about 6 years ago, I kept all the receipts to see if we saved money and I was shocked at how much we saved by using the plan. It's changed a bit over the years, but we still end up saving money b/c we eat at almost all the character meals and include signatures / shows. It's definitely worth it to us. It's true that if I were paying OOP, I would talk myself out of the extras and might not always choose what I want since I would feel compelled to check the prices. But, food is a big deal to us...we enjoy trying all the different TS. It is a lot of planning and that is not for everyone. But, we have found most restaurants to be reasonably flexible. While we are rarely late to an ADR, we have gone as much as one hour before our ADR and were happily accommodated.

Although, I will note that we are passholders, so we add on the dining plan after getting a good rate on our resort. I am not sure that rack rate on the room (especially a deluxe) is worth the "free" dining plan. You'd need to crunch the numbers on that and do some comparisons.

 

[Cafeen]

I am not sure that rack rate on the room (especially a deluxe) is worth the "free" dining plan. You'd need to crunch the numbers on that and do some comparisons.

Typically, for a "standard" family of 4, using a room discount and paying full price for the dining plan will come out better at deluxes. The math behind it is relatively simply, as you simply compare the value of the discount to the cost of the dining plan (including park tickets if you don't need them). Note that this all assumes that you are already planning on getting a dining plan. If unsure, that analysis is completely separate.

For example, the standard discounts are about 25%, 30%, and 40% (value, mod, deluxe). (Warning, numbers and stuff below this line).

A value room during this season will run about $85 per night ($100 on weekend nights), so a typical 1 week stay would run you about $625 on the room. 25% of this is $156.25. QSDP for those 6 nights for one person would run $210. So even a party of 1 is better off with Free Dining at the values. (Though it may take 2 people to make it a better deal if you need to buy the tickets).

Over at a moderate, it comes closer to being equal, at $159/$169. The same trip here (CBR is the example) would end up costing $1133 at rack rate or saving $339.90 with a 30% discount. The DDP for these 6 nights would cost $276. So for a single person here, it's better to go with the 30% off than Free Dining. Once you add a second person though, it changes as the room discount remains the same, but you put another $276 into the savings bucket for the free dining (at least another adult).

Now, onto a deluxe, this may change depending on the actual resort you go to... so let's look at WL and BC

WL, same trip would cost you $250/$260 per night, or $1770. Savings (40%) would be $708. The DDP cost would be the same per person here and doing the math, FD comes out when you go above 2A 2C on the dining plan (FD savings here is 696, for 3A it would be about 858).

Now, onto BC at the $335/$345 price points, trip would be $2365 rack. Discount savings would be $946. Making the room discount better in all situations less than 4 "adults" ($1104).

(edit, used wrong dining plan costs on deluxes... changed the figures a bit.)