Is the dining plan worth the money?

[loganberry]

Does anybody have recommendations with regard to the dining plan. Is it worth the money? We did the math and it basically comes out to $112/day for our family of five (however, the baby doesn't count). It seems like a lot for food, but I imagine that the standard food prices are "elevated" somewhat at the parks. We are pretty close to ready to book our trip; however, we just don't know if we should get the Magic Your Way package with the dining plan. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[stellablue]

I urge you to head over to the "Disney Dining Plan" area of these forums-the people on there will surely have great advice and guidance.

To go there, click on "Disney Restaurants" section of the Disboards forum and there is a link to "Disney Dining Plan" in bold print-it's the first or second subforum listed.

 

[safetymom]

moving to Disney dining plan board.

 

[blue_eyes5212]

I agree that you will get tons of info on this on the board listed above.
You will get lots of people saying it's not worth it, and a lot of people saying that it is worth it.

I love the dining plan and will continue to get it! I love having the meals "pre-paid". I have actually not sat down and "crunched" the numbers on paper, but DH and I have thought it out and by the time we eat twice a day, it seems to pay for itself. Also, we like not having to budget for meals and being able to order what we want on the menu instead of thinking "I better get this cheaper item so the bill is not so much". I do that at home a lot, and I just don't want to do it on vacation!

To me, Disney is about the food as well as parks and resorts, so I like the plan because it allows me to plan more TS meals and I am more likely to try new things, instead of trying to cut out certain places to "save money"

JMHO

 

[tnkr mom]

IMO - Sooooooooooo worth it! You will spend more than the $112 on one character meal! My family of 5 do the dining plan and LOVE it! Lets us try new places and things I normally wouldn't have and we have found several of our favorites that way! Park food is high, you dont have to worry with the dining plan - very easy to just hand over your card and not have to deal with the sticker shock of the bill at every meal! We have also gone without the dining plan too and I prefer to have it. Read the boards for all the tips and tricks of the plan and the new 2008 rules! Have a great time!!!!

 

[caroline1851]

I couldn't figure out if it was a good deal for me or not so i checked out menus and figured what i would order and added it up. It turned out to be almost the same price as the dining plan. So...not much of a deal other than getting a snack per day. So even if the only deal is getting one snack per day, it's a deal since there are 3 of us, that's $10/day. Plus, i figured being on the dining plan, i could order whatever i wanted and not feel guilty about spending the money or feeling like i should choose something less expensive.

 

[lemondog]

I think it really depends on your family and your eating/vacation style as to whether it is a good deal or not.

We have decided to go with the Deluxe Dining Plan. To make sure it was worth it, I sat down one night, made a list of the places we were eating, went thru the menus at www.allears.net and calculated OOP cost + tax + tip vs. DxDDP cost + tip. Also factored in snacks. We are saving a little over $300on the dining plan, so for us it is really a great deal!

 

[klynn]

For this trip it will be myself, ds14, and dd10. My 10yo doesn't always like the adult menu. We took a look at the menus at 7 ts restaurants. AT 2 of the restaurants she would order off the kids menu, and my ds14 and myself would order a regular adult entree. At the other 5 ts restaurants my 10yo and myself would SPLIT an adult entree and I would also get an appetizer since I'm splitting an entree, and a desert. Of course my ds would get his own adult entree. I would also get the DDE because I'm an AP holder. I also figured in the average cost for cs meals and snacks for all. The cost for OOP using the DDE is still a little higher than the DDP. So we can get the DDP for a little less; we can EACH order an adult entree. It works for us!

 

[patsal]

The plan used to really save considerably, now you have to work it to make it work. Still it is worth the time to check into . My advice figure out your family dynamics and your eating style. Pick your restaurants and figure what the actual cost would be for that add tax and tip. Then go back and work your total to figure out what it would cost with the DDP--did you add apps, other things not included by the plan,and of course tip.
Here's the way I figured the DDP would not be for us this time, no children (as all are considered adults now), no character meals or buffett/family style dining.

I just will show you one example:

Family of four DDP
37.99 X 4= 151.96
Yak and Yetti
OOP tip about $20
Total for day $171.96
includes TS, CS and snack

Family of four OOP
Yak and Yetti-ordering what we want including appetizer, excluding dessert
$118.70 including tax and tip
4 frozen lemonaides for snack $9.56 (DDE)
CS at FLame Tree $32.83 (DDE)
Total for day $160.71 (remove the DDE savings and I spend $169.19)
not a lot different, but still a small savings

If I were going with extended family with smaller children and doing character dining then it would be better to use the DDP, but eating what, where, and when I want no DDP is better for us.

 

[soccerchick]

I couldn't figure out if it was a good deal for me or not so i checked out menus and figured what i would order and added it up. It turned out to be almost the same price as the dining plan. So...not much of a deal other than getting a snack per day. So even if the only deal is getting one snack per day, it's a deal since there are 3 of us, that's $10/day. Plus, i figured being on the dining plan, i could order whatever i wanted and not feel guilty about spending the money or feeling like i should choose something less expensive.

This is what we decided. We can do cheap, but luckily we are at the place in our lives where we don't have to do this in order to take the trip. We will save about $165 according to my budget plan (meals per day/cs/ts etc) with the DDP and get to do more "entertainment" since I consider the character meals to be that. I also like the buffets since I think my kids eat better/healthier that way.

Look at the restaurants and meal prices. See what you want to eat and price it all out. It will take some time. I did it per day/park. Ex. Day 1 - CS @ hotel, CS @ lunch, TS @ park A. Did all days on vacation. Get your total. Then price the plans. We found the adults plan was pretty much a wash. The good value is still the kids TS. Several character meals will cost more than the kids daily price on the DDP.

If we were driving, I'd be more tempted to NOT do the plan, as we could go off-site and eat at good restaurants for less. But it is all a trade-off of time vs. money.

 

[mickey2000]

Does anybody have recommendations with regard to the dining plan. Is it worth the money? We did the math and it basically comes out to $112/day for our family of five (however, the baby doesn't count). It seems like a lot for food, but I imagine that the standard food prices are "elevated" somewhat at the parks. We are pretty close to ready to book our trip; however, we just don't know if we should get the Magic Your Way package with the dining plan. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Depends on how you want to eat. My kids love the character meals/ family style meals and when I did the math for our upcoming trip it was worth it. Many of the meals (buffet and family style) charge as much for the kids as what you would pay for them for the whole day on DDP. It's like getting their CS meal and snack for free which helps make the dining plan a good value if you have kids under 10.
Your best bet is to make a list of the places you would want to eat and see how much $ that will be.
I will say, I've taken lots of trips without the dining plan and just started using it last year. It was so nice not to have to worry about the food budget. If the kids wanted ice cream, they got ice cream. DD wanted to dine with Cinderella, we did. The boys wanted 'Ohana, they got it. You get the picture.

 

[Tricia1972]

I think it really depends on your family and your eating/vacation style as to whether it is a good deal or not.

We have decided to go with the Deluxe Dining Plan. To make sure it was worth it, I sat down one night, made a list of the places we were eating, went thru the menus at www.allears.net and calculated OOP cost + tax + tip vs. DxDDP cost + tip. Also factored in snacks. We are saving a little over $300on the dining plan, so for us it is really a great deal!

This is so true.

We sat down and looked at the menus on allearsnet.com to calculate our OOP vs DDP costs.

For us we came out $400+ ahead by not doing any plan and paying OOP.

We are a group of 5 adults and 1 child, eating at LeCellier, Tony's, Beaches and Cream, Jiko and Crystal Palace for our TS meals. We generally order an appetizer for the group and will generally not order any dessert and opt to get an ice cream cone or some other dessert/snack a few hours after dinner. We are big chicken or fish eaters, and will almost always split CS meals because they are SO big. (DH and I will split a cheese steak sandwich and Figaro fries, and order two Drinks at Pinocchio's Village Haus for example). My mom dad and sister all eat very similarly to us.

Because of all of this, the DDP does not work for us. It works very well for others and even the DxDDP works well for some.

The same group going in March also went in October and we did the DDP for two weeks. We got our 'monies worth', but when re-looking at things and figuring what we wanted to eat (vs what we ate on the DDP) these are the numbers that we came out with. Your Mileage May (and probably will) Vary.

 

[Laura]

It wasn't for us. We came out ahead by not getting the DDP. But I'm a vegetarian, so my meals are cheaper if I'm not doing a buffet (heck, there are vegetarian entrees at signature restaurants that are cheaper than meat-eaters' meals at 1TS places). Also we tend to share desserts, since DH is a diabetic. There's no way we would have used all the snacks. If we got our money's worth on the DDP, we would have simply wasted a lot of food. And now that appetizers and tips aren't included, there's definitely no point. If I had two teenage sons with a hollow leg each, it would probably be worth it. But we don't have any kids yet.

 

[mamhebert]

We are going in two weeks--first time on the DDP. I tend to overplan, but when I checked out all of the menus for the restaurants that we will be eating at, and I chose the items that I would eat, I will save at least 5-10 dollars per person per day. For my family of 5, its over 250 dollars in savings!! I'll take that anyday!!

 

[maple girl]

I like the fact that my meals are paid for and I won't have to worry about that. I can have whatever I want on the menu and not opt for the less expensive item just because of the price. I had the DDP before and was able to try new/different things that I might not have done if I didn't have the plan. I am curious about how much my meals will actually cost. I have my ADR's and CS meals in mind and what I might order. I'll check out the menus to see what the actual out of pocket costs would be if I didn't have the plan. I am curious to see the cost but have to admit, I'll go with the plan anyway if only for convenience.

 

[mindyd]

Hi

For us it was definitely worth the money even with them taking the tips and appetizers out. We are doing alot of Character meals and CRT. For that one day the CRT lunch will pay for the dining plan for the adults that day so I figure we are basically getting the counter services and snacks for free. I figure even if I didn't do the dining plan I would have to pay for the tip so it was not that big of a deal to me. I made a list of where we were going and figure out how much the OOP would be compared to the dining plan and we will be saving alot of money.

 

[Tricia1972]

Hi

For us it was definitely worth the money even with them taking the tips and appetizers out. We are doing alot of Character meals and CRT. For that one day the CRT lunch will pay for the dining plan for the adults that day so I figure we are basically getting the counter services and snacks for free. I figure even if I didn't do the dining plan I would have to pay for the tip so it was not that big of a deal to me. I made a list of where we were going and figure out how much the OOP would be compared to the dining plan and we will be saving alot of money.

I am NOT in any way trying to imply that the DDP is not a good idea for you, but I do have a question..

How is CRT lunch paying for the adults for the day? CRT is a two credit meal, and so your TS value would break down like this

CRT Cost $33.99 = 2 TS Credits per adult

$37.99 x 2 Days for one adult = $75.98

From the $75.98 that you're spending for two days, take away $33.99 which is the cost for CRT Lunch for one adult and you are left with $41.99.

That $41.99 left will now cover 2 CS lunches for you and 2 snacks.

The average value of a CS meal is about $13.00 ordering an entree, dessert and beverage. So that comes out to $26.00 for two days of CS.

Take $26.00 from $41.99 and you are left with $15.99.

The max value for a snack is $4.00 per snack so that's a maximum of $8.00 for two days.

You're still about $8.00 shy of paying for the plan for those two days.

There is one factor to this and that is tax. I know CRT includes gratuity, whether OOP or on the DDP. However, you'll pay about $2.21 in tax if tax isn't inclusive OOP.

Again, I am NOT saying that the plan doesn't work for you overall, but I am wondering about this one meal and how it covers the cost of the plan for the day for you.

 

[mindyd]

I am NOT in any way trying to imply that the DDP is not a good idea for you, but I do have a question..

How is CRT lunch paying for the adults for the day? CRT is a two credit meal, and so your TS value would break down like this

CRT Cost $33.99 = 2 TS Credits per adult

$37.99 x 2 Days for one adult = $75.98

From the $75.98 that you're spending for two days, take away $33.99 which is the cost for CRT Lunch for one adult and you are left with $41.99.

That $41.99 left will now cover 2 CS lunches for you and 2 snacks.

The average value of a CS meal is about $13.00 ordering an entree, dessert and beverage. So that comes out to $26.00 for two days of CS.

Take $26.00 from $41.99 and you are left with $15.99.

The max value for a snack is $4.00 per snack so that's a maximum of $8.00 for two days.

You're still about $8.00 shy of paying for the plan for those two days.

There is one factor to this and that is tax. I know CRT includes gratuity, whether OOP or on the DDP. However, you'll pay about $2.21 in tax if tax isn't inclusive OOP.

Again, I am NOT saying that the plan doesn't work for you overall, but I am wondering about this one meal and how it covers the cost of the plan for the day for you.

Hello

Sorry you are right I typed the wrong thing I forgot that it was 2 ts credits. I was thining of Coral Reef what we will order there will pay for the dining plan for that day.

 

[Tricia1972]

Hello

Sorry you are right I typed the wrong thing I forgot that it was 2 ts credits. I was thining of Coral Reef what we will order there will pay for the dining plan for that day.

A-ha, that makes a LOT more sense. Thanks for clarifying, I am glad that it works out for you guys!