IS THE DINING PLAN WORTH THE MONEY? ($1200 for us)

[La2kw]

That's not necessarily true, IMO. If you are doing lots of buffets (dinner in particular or any if your kids are under 10), or if you order at least an entree and soft drink at your TS meal, you are going to break even on the DDP. The dessert on CS can be a bowl of grapes or a rice krispie bar for later. The snack can be a bottle of water.

You can eat for less at Disney but you'll be eating breakfast bars in your room, skipping TS meals (or many people will be inclined to choose the cheaper entree on the menu as they watch their disney dining totals climb during the week).

People who aren't fond of the plan make it sound like this obscene amount of food. Can it be? Sure. Does it have to be? no...not at all.

We have 30+ trips to WDW and even more trips to Disneyland. I know exactly what our food bill has been on every one of those trips. We have never eaten a breakfast bar at Disney, or anywhere else for that matter. We do eat very healthy- lots of produce and whole grains (which sometimes seem a bit scarce at WDW). We are DVC members and do enjoy breakfast in our room almost every morning- quite often a hot breakfast. We have always eaten where we want and have never worried about anything costing too much. We are on vacation, after all. We have also never, ever spent $2,183.44 on food during our two week trips there, the exact price the DDP would cost us. For us it's not worth it, and I do think that most people are maximizing the plan and ordering everything that's offered. I've seen it at every restaurant we've dined at since the dreaded DDP started.

People who are fond of the plan make it sound like there's no other way to enjoy dining at WDW.

 

[La2kw]

This isn't true for us at all. I figured out where we would eat without the dining plan and what we would eat (which meant 1 shared desert total, and shared appetizers everywhere else) and we still came out even cost wise with the dining plan vs no dining plan. This included us sharing CS meals as well as one less TS in my calculations for where we would eat without the plan.

The best way to figure it out what your family will basically be eating without the plan and then compare it to the cost of the plan. It is normally a good deal if you like to do TS meals at least 4 or 5 days out of a 7 day vacation, and that is even without maxing out the plan.

When we go to the restaurants we also don't max out the plan a lot, we just get what we want to eat and comparing costs at the end it is still a good deal (though to be fair we haven't actually paid for the dining plan since this is our second year going during free dining) for us, even with us splitting appetizers about half the time and hubby not getting desert.

After 30+ trips to WDW, and even more than that to Disneyland, I have a pretty good idea what we typically spend. That said, I would definitely do the DDP during free dining. That's just crazy not to! Though I wouldn't want to deal with the experiences that I've heard about from many who have been there during free DDP.

 

[rapisano]

YES YES YES!!!! It is so worth it!!!!! It was the best deal for your money.
We did much reasearch on the restaurants before we went so we had all our reservations made before we went. We ate at bomas, Hoop de doo review,rose and crown, brown derby, cosmic rays (counter service), earl of sandwich(counter service), Le cellier the best steaks in walt disney, whispering cannons, these are all the best that we ate at and we were treated better than I can even mention!!! The snacks you can use for breakfast or what ever... Anything under $4 remember that...

Have fun and enjoy!! Manja Manja

 

[LizinSTL]

We have 30+ trips to WDW and even more trips to Disneyland. I know exactly what our food bill has been on every one of those trips. We have never eaten a breakfast bar at Disney, or anywhere else for that matter. We do eat very healthy- lots of produce and whole grains (which sometimes seem a bit scarce at WDW). We are DVC members and do enjoy breakfast in our room almost every morning- quite often a hot breakfast. We have always eaten where we want and have never worried about anything costing too much. We are on vacation, after all. We have also never, ever spent $2,183.44 on food during our two week trips there, the exact price the DDP would cost us. For us it's not worth it, and I do think that most people are maximizing the plan and ordering everything that's offered. I've seen it at every restaurant we've dined at since the dreaded DDP started.

People who are fond of the plan make it sound like there's no other way to enjoy dining at WDW.

Ah, but I wasn't saying that it would be best for your family. I was just disagreeing that you'd need to visit a TS meal each night AND order an app, entree, dessert, beverage AND do the dessert at CS AND do a snack each day to make it worth it.


I was saying, and I'll repeat, that it's difficult to enjoy daily TS meals at disney, even buffets, even just an entree and a beverage for less money than the DDP if your TS meal is typically an evening meal. Not sure why people who are NOT fond of the plan make it sound like there's no way to enjoy dining at Disney while using the plan without over-eating.

 

[kathyjacks]

Even if you eat 2 meals a day and spend say $10 on each meal that s 20 bucks then add a snack of average $4 and a bottled soda is at least $2, your up to $26 already and thats eating hand to mouth fast food all day. Even counter service often provides steaks , salads, chicken, ribs, ects.To me it just doesn't add up not to pay the $38.00 bucks a day and be able to eat at places like Le Cellier and OHanas just to name a couple versus a hot dog or burger. Maybe I am deficient in my my math skills................ oh well I am but I think I have this one right .

 

[rapisano]

Well I guess what you deem as enertainment and weater you want to cook on vacation is up to the family, for the people that dont and wnat to enjoy them self and are on stike for the week then the dining plan rocks and you will eat till your hearts content, not everyone is eating the health choice on vaca and further more not always is money a concern when you eep a crazy schedle and cook at home 24 7. We personally dont care about the cost we are thinking about pure vacation, so what ever anyone chooses thee is always something out there for all so just ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rapisano]

You are so right it is so worth it just to be able to eat at different places other than counter A++++++++ to you

 

[NC State]

We enjoy eating at a nice TS each day so the plan works for us. Just returned yesterday and I kept records on everthing we ate. I purchased the plan for 2A for $546. We ate over $800 worth of food so I'm happy with the meal plan.

 

[johnandjo]

We were trying to decide whether to go with the dining plan, but we ran into a problem, I booked a room at POR with my AAA discount. When I called to check on the DDP I was told that I could not keep my AAA discount and have the dining package. So instead of it costing me a total of $1200 for the dining plan it would have been more like $1500 (after losing my room discount). So we decided to not go with the dining plan this time. I was kind of disappointed since I was looking forward to giving it a try.

 

[stagemomx3]

Here's how I figured it, when we went to Disneyland last fall it was a minimum $100 per meal for the 8 of us, and that was at counter service, sit down & character meals was more, so minimum food spending for the day was $300 for 8 people- 4 adults, 4 kids. Could we have done it for cheaper, certainly. Are we going to when at Disney, uh NO! So figuring at $300 a day, the DDP is cheaper since it works out to about $250 a day for the 8 of us- 6 at adult prices, 2 at children's price. Will we do it if the 18% gratuity is removed, I'm not sure?

 

[tndisneyfan]

If you're thinking you don't want to take the time to do sit-down meals, then I would definately say DON'T DO IT. Sit down meals do take up quite a bit of touring time.

On the other hand if you think you might like to do a sit-down most of the days you're at WDW, you could do a couple of signature places, it would probably be worth it. As others have said, at the very least you will break even.

It really comes down to your family's eating habits and how much time you want to spend. My best advice is, if you don't think it will work for your family don't get it. Most of the people that have been dissatisfied with the DDP are the ones who tried to make it work for them just because they thought it was a good deal. Just crunch the numbers. Goog Luck!!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

It depends on a couple of things. For us when DS was still 9 we saved about $250 over a 9 night trip. After he turned 10 it would have been a huge waste of money, because he doesn't eat $40 per day in food. So we bought the DDE card and that is less expensive for us than DDP because he still orders from the kids menu.

If you have kids who are "adults" by Disney guidelines but who can't eat a whole kids meal then you might be better off without the plan. We also don't order a dessert for each person when we do counter service, so while it is a "savings" on the DDP if it isn't something you would have ordered to begin with then the savings is questionable. Figure your costs on what you would realistically order.