Is The Disney Dining Plan Worth It To You?

[robinb]

With the free dining craze, I was curious on how many people like the DDP. Do you think it's worth it? If you pay for it? Only if it comes free? Or does it just not work out for you in terms of price, other discounts or too much food?

 

[Luv4Disney]

Dining is a big part of our trip. We tried it for the first time in November and now we won't go back! It worked great for us!

 

[REL1203]

I said Yes it is... Its a pretty good deal if you like to not worry about paying for food and what you order. $40/day is pricey, but still pretty nice... It is certainly at its best when its free

 

[Snork]

Yes, the dining plan is worth it. We've had it free twice and paid for it once. For my wife and I we save money if you compare the price of the dining plan versus the price of the food we eat. To us, part of vacation is eating different foods. And we at the sit down resteraunts alot...

It is so worth it, my wife and I just extended our next vacation to 11 days so we can get the didning plan and be at EPCOT for it's 25th b-day..... It's her idea.

 

[rgf207]

We have done the dining plan 2 times. Once was free and the other we paid for. It is well worth the money to us (ME 27 & DW 25). We went with my family when it was free and saved so much money and even when we paid for it we still saved about 500 bucks. So it is definately worth it to us.

 

[momandseandodisney]

i like it because then it is already paid for , it is much easier to budget!

 

[LegoMom3]

I said "yes" even if we have to pay. We tried it for the first time ever last fall on the Free plan. I loved the convenience of having it all "paid" for ahead of time and not having to worry about a food budget. It doesn't bother me to have to plan where I want to eat before we go. That's only for one meal a day for TS anyway. In putting together a budget for our next trip (which won't be during the typical free dining time of year), I weighed the cost of the dining plan vs. out-of-pocket-on-our-own. I ended up only saving about $60 by doing it ourselves (we're a family of 5), and that would NOT include any TS meals, so to me it's just well worth it even to pay for the dining plan, and get some nice restaurants to boot!

 

[m_kasch]

It doesn't really work for us. We get a cast member discount because we travel with my sister who is a cast member, and we all have annual passes and the DDE...so we would have to buy a ticket that we don't need to get it, and a lot of times we wouldn't be able to add it to the CM discounted room. But it would be nice to have!! Maybe we will try it someday...

 

[Keokagal]

Did free last Aug. Was a lot of fun, but.............for DH and I not something we would do again. We are in our 50's now and our appetites have really decreased. In Aug. it is wicked hot which blows our appetites even more.
Free means rack rate for the room. This Aug we have the Dolp for $125, so did not choose to change for free dining.
If we were bringing people w us, like last yr, free dining makes sense even w a rack rate room at a Deluxe.
We do eat at TS every day.

 

[Barbers2005]

I loved the DDP, even though I paid for it. I can never seem to get good rates on rooms anyways, so I don't lose anything by booking it. Plus, it fits really well with how our family eats on vacation (skip breakfast, fast lunch, nice leisurely dinner). Some days of our trip we save a lot of money (Le Cellier) and other days just a few bucks (buffets) but we would probably do DDP even if we just broke even. It's nice to have it paid for in advance and not worry about how much you're spending in the restaurants.

 

[chilis]

We just got back Wednesday and had DDP. For us, I don't know that it was really worth it. I DID like having everything paid for ahead of time, but we ended up not utilizing a lot of our credits. I'll let you know after I add up all of our reciepts.....we probably still came out ahead but I don't know if I would have tried to eat at as many places if I didn't have the plan. We finished our trip with something like 4 Ad TS, 2 KTS and at least 4 CS left. We did make plans for more TS, but we just felt like we were wasting so much time waiting to be seated, waiting to be served, waiting for the characters, waiting for the bill, etc---you get the picture---that we cancelled. Yes it was convenient and yes it saved us money (if we had actually decided to eat at those restaurants and paid OOP instead, but don't know that we would have without DDP) but I would have to do some serious figuring before I would decide to do it again. Of course DH, who thought it was a stupid idea to begin with says "oh yeah, we would definitely do that again!" I guess mainly because he wasn't having to pull out the VISA at the end of every meal!!!! For some I know it is a fantastic plan, I am just not sure it was worth it for us.

 

[bigbabyblues]

It works out really well for us. It saves us money from what I would budget if we were paying cash, and there is plenty of food.

 

[kjbstore]

We've used it twice and absolutely loved it. A special part of our vacation is being able to enjoy more expensive, sit-down restaurants and try new things. I love knowing how much I'm going to pay for food. We are DVC members so we will have a fridge and microwave and can take dessert, leftovers, etc. back to the room with us. Love knowing that my DD and her friend can get lunch without me having to give them money. We kept our receipts last time and saved so much money. I understand since we used it last that some items have been removed from menus but even with that, we are looking forward to having it again when we go in November.

 

[jarestel]

Nope. Disney dining no longer offers us anything we can't usually find at home for half the price. Plus the headache of having to determine where we want to eat months in advance makes the whole deal very un-appetizing.

Of course, when it's free that's a different question.

 

[Momof2princess]

I would say it is worth it if DH and I are the only ones traveling. Are two girls will not eat a lot that was on the new childrens menu. So to avoid that whole situation it is just easier for us to pay for dining when we are with them. In fact, this past January we only purchased one kids meal the entire time we were there. Sometimes sanity is more worth it than the all mighty dollar (IMO) To each there own.....

 

[PatsGirl]

Absolutely, even if we pay for it. Our trip in May 2006 was the first ever anywhere with a dining package. We've never been able to do the nicer restaurants, CRT, etc. and always left the parks to hit Fridays or Chevys or the like for more reasonable sit-down prices. In comparison, the dining plan saved us a few hundred dollars over the week and we were able to eat in the WDW themed restaurants. So, it's a win-win. We're going for free dining this September and I think it'll be worth its weight in gold as the teenager is coming along this time and he can eat me out of house and home on a bad day Just being able to tell him to pick anything he wants off the menu will lessen the headaches -- I'm always trying to get him to have burgers and chowder vs the lobster surf n turf with shrimp cocktail when we eat out here at home, and it doesn't go over well most of the time...

Don't tell anyone , but DD10 and I now often "sneak" out of the house before he gets home from whatever the sport of the day is or wait until he has other plans so we can go out to eat without breaking the bank Sometimes he finds out and it costs me a pizza but it's still cheaper and easier than taking him (and I don't think he really minds)

 

[goofy4tink]

We own DVC, have an AP, so are able to get the DDE card. But, I have still used the DDP twice now. I sit down and plan out our meals...we usually eat a TS meal for dinner and a counter service meal for an early lunch, and eat a light breakfast in our villa each day. So....the DDP has been just about the same at using the DDE card for us. And I use the DDE for any 'adult' beverages we may have, as well as any meals not covered by our DDP....we are usually short one TS since we eat one on our first day as well as a character breakfast on our last day, with TS each day inbetween.
I do like that I don't have to worry about paying for each meal as we go. It's nice to have it all paid for up front.

 

[kldmom2000]

It is a good deal right now when our girls are both under age 9... if they were 10 or older, it would not be a good deal for us-for the 4 of us on the DDP, it's $99.xx per day... we tend to go to a few character meal/buffets which cost us about $115 (including gratuity) if we were not on the plan-because it's a set price, it doesn't make a difference that my girls eat almost nothing-we still would have to pay the child price for the buffet. Right there, the DDP pays for itself because we still get a CS and snack that same day Once they're older, I'm certain we would not do the DDP and would also most likely not be doing as many character meals....

 

[kimberh]

Yes... Yes... and Yes! I am so glad that Disney has started the Dining Plan. I am the one that worries about the bill at the end of the meal. It allows us to eat at restaurants that we have always wanted to eat at... I would not spend the money to eat there. We come to Disney a lot. Each trip is not our once in a life time trip, so I am budgeting. We have several family members that feel the same way.

 

[rlrx]

We got the DDP last year and it was nice because we got to eat at a lot of places we never would have. This year we have decided not to use it because it was just too much food for us and our DS8 and DS4. We are going to split a lot of meals this year and try not to be on such a schedule. We felt like our whole trip was focused on what time we ate dinner (used our TS credits at dinner) and took away from time in the parks. We made a few ADRs this year but will have days where we just grab a Dole whip for lunch and eat an early CS dinner. We weren't that hungry when we were so hot-just thirsty! Also, the portions are much larger than we are used to.