Is The standard Disney Dining plan worth it? It’s stupid

[TrexTrav]

I have only been dealing with it a couple years and still can't figure out how to keep my numbers relatively flat and have found that things I love spike me terribly. Sushi!! Who would have thought Sushi would be bad! I can eat potatoes at every meal, but if I look at a grain of rice my numbers climb like crazy.

Well Rice is carbs. Any kind of carbs will spike it. When I’m on Vacation I forget im
Diabetic

 

[siren0119]

I have only been dealing with it a couple years and still can't figure out how to keep my numbers relatively flat and have found that things I love spike me terribly. Sushi!! Who would have thought Sushi would be bad! I can eat potatoes at every meal, but if I look at a grain of rice my numbers climb like crazy.

My husband is a type 1 diabetic, dealing with it for over 30 years now. His numbers are pretty level most of the time, but even he has certain carbs that cause a bigger spike than others! Pizza tends to be his nemesis, mostly because it's really hard to be exact in the amount of carbs in a slice (between fluctuations in flour density, dough thickness, size of slices, etc). It's a balancing act for sure! At the parks though - even the quick service restaurants all have a binder behind the counter that has carb counts for their menu items - don't be shy about asking for it, and do that before you place your order. So don't feel like you have to eat only sit down meals to still have control over your numbers

 

[olwyngdh]

My husband is a type 1 diabetic, dealing with it for over 30 years now. His numbers are pretty level most of the time, but even he has certain carbs that cause a bigger spike than others! Pizza tends to be his nemesis, mostly because it's really hard to be exact in the amount of carbs in a slice (between fluctuations in flour density, dough thickness, size of slices, etc). It's a balancing act for sure! At the parks though - even the quick service restaurants all have a binder behind the counter that has carb counts for their menu items - don't be shy about asking for it, and do that before you place your order. So don't feel like you have to eat only sit down meals to still have control over your numbers

Thank you! I knew they had allergy info, but I didn't know they had carb counts. That is going to help me a lot.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We have done all MP's and honestly, even the QS is too much food for us. If we were staying a couple nights I would probably do it for convenience, otherwise we know where we like to eat and often split though sometimes DH wants his own meal, so I'll just have something small. Sometimes we just snack our way around. We don't drink and after eating breakfast at our villa and snacks there as well, we can usually only spend around $75 for two per day and always have at least one nice meal included. Unless you are big eaters, care to have a drink with a meal, I think you'll save quite a bit or at the very least break even.

 

[Beachmom0317]

I can share why it works for us:

-DH and I drink a lot of coffee...having the refillable mug saves us buying 3 coffees a day for each of us
-Our kids are under 10, so the child’s price works for us financially when considering nightly cost and what you get. If we were to pay for them OOP the $30/day would buy like one buffet meal. With DDP it gives us snacks, QS and refillable mug which we take home as souvenir
-our kids are early risers. We eat breakfast on the go, early qs lunch and DH likes to sit down for dinner every night. He usually likes to order steak and we both order 1 alcoholic beverage (DH sometimes 2)
-we do character meals
-we are DVC so adding dining plan is simple for us. We don’t need to crunch numbers with packages, FD and ticket requirements, etc.
-we pay cash for our vacations, so I like how it’s prepaid before we go and no charging CC. We bring gift card loaded for all tips

 

[FutureMrs.Incredible]

Hi OP! First of all, congrats on your first Disney vacation! You're going to love it!!

Whether to do the DDP or not is totally personal. I am going to echo what others have said that you need to go the math about whether it will work for you. Make a list of likely restaurants, total how much you would spend at each, and see whether you can save more with the DDP.

We personally love the DDP, but this is why:
- An "all-inclusive" feel. I don't have to charge everything to my room and keep a mental tally/check in with the front desk every night. My dole whip is covered already.
- Being able to have a sit-down meal every day, which forces us to relax and stop going commando.
- Being able to order the most expensive thing on the menu if we want. DH has order the most expensive steak that he wants and not feel any guilt over it.
- Ordering a cocktail. An alcoholic drink is included with every QS and TS meal, and drinks make vacation better right?!
- Eating out is a big part of vacation for us. We eat pretty healthy at home, but we like to indulge on vacation. Disney has so many great restaurants that we like trying them all.

 

[Dole_whip_doll]

Here’s my personal opinion on what I get it every trip and feel it is worth it—

-it’s already “paid for”. the only thing not paid for is tips or if we order extra drinks or desserts.

-we like relaxing and people watching—especially since we usually go during the summer

-we enjoy character meals — no kids here, we just like interacting, taking pictures and getting autographs on whatever trip-memory souvenir we are making

-we REALLY like Disney food. There have been a couple of restaurants that we just didn’t care for the food, but nothing with bad food or bad service. Our favorite MEALS (not counting atmosphere or characters) are Akershus, Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, Liberty Tree, Mama Melrose, Rose & Crown

For our next trip, we are looking at getting the new 2 TS plan because we are more about relaxing and people watching

 

[conandrob240]

We haven’t found the standard dining plan to come out to save you any money for the last few years. I haven’t thought it was worth it for many years.
if we do a dining plan now, we do deluxe and then we use some credits to treat other members of our extended family to dinner who don’t get a dining package.

 

[hes122]

I've used www.distripplanner.com to help give me a good idea as to whether or not it's beneficial. I've had 2 trips where we've come out ahead and 1 trip where we lost money (not much, so it still made it worth it for the convenience factor).

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

proxy food

What does this mean? It isn’t an expression that I have heard before.

 

[AngieInOH]

You really have to run the numbers. I have LOVED the dining plan on every visit. BUT on our last trip we skipped it. My girls are now considered adults which made it very pricey.

I kept track of the charges and we saved around $220 not going with the Dining Plan, that's over 5 days!! We never felt slighted and ate 4 table service meals, purchased 2 refillable mugs, and ate snacks whenever we wanted. It gave us a chance to try Via Napoli (because I wouldn't never eat there on the Dining Plan because it doesn't maximize your credits). We loved it!

Goodluck!

 

[tzeitel]

Just Me and My Mom is going.

I think the regular DDP is good if you are planning on a package/family style/character meals (and who knows when/if/how those will come back) a day. Also if you are going to the more expensive cs - BoG beakfast, Restaurantausaurus Burger and Sundaes, or Pizzafari family meal would be great deals.
The reserved seating packages on the DDP are good if you are already planning on watching the shows - we like the F! package at Mama Melrose.

One big drawback (for us anyway) is that it does not include apps. I like desserts but DH does not, wish we could choose one or the other. The alcohol - DD drinks, I am a Diet Coke addict although I would just give him my drink I have also gone to Disney with a list of places I want to try and then end up going somewhere else (for convinience/hunger/lines etc), and it is so freaking hot in Sept you might not be too hungry - so keep that in mind too.

I had (for our cancelled trip last week ) been toying with the idea of a split stay and adding the DDP to the first half (4 days). The plan would have been Ohana dinner ($55), MM F! (43), Garden Grill (55), Tusker House RoL package (63). For cs - BoG for breakfast (29), FT BBQ, Morocco, and RB&S (29). The rest of the trip (4 days) I had booked the less expensive TS - Via Napoli, Sci-Fi, Plaza.

What others have mentioned is so true - everyone is different, check the menus of places you might like to try and see what the total would be. The DDP is (with tax but not tip) $78 a day, snacks are around $5-6 and you get 2, so around $68 for a cs and a ts.

 

[DisLiss]

Doing the personal math is key. For us, a family that doesn't do many, if any, character meals; are vegetarian; drink no coffee, very little alcoholic beverages, no soda, and who don't want dessert with each meal; the amount we save by NOT using the dining plan is substantial. The only way the dining plan saves us anything is if it's free.

 

[Miffy]

I check on the different dining plans every so often to see if anything's changed and never has it been worth it for me. I usually travel with my sister and in many years of going to Disney never have we spent even close to the amount that any of the dining plans would've cost. Often my sister and I together don't spend as much in one day as the dining plan would've cost one of us.

In general, I've noticed that the dining plans work best for people who do a lot of character meals and buffets. It also may work out financially for people who have an alcoholic beverage with their meals. I think that Disney may make it sound like the plans are a huge bargain and, for some people they are.

There are also people who like to have everything paid for in advance even if it costs them more in the long run. To me, this doesn't make sense. Let's say your bank came to you and said that instead of the inconvenience of paying your mortgage every month, you could just pay it once a year instead but that the yearly payment would be more than the sum of the 12 monthly payments. Would you take that offer? I doubt it. Yet I regularly see people here on the DIS saying how they like having their meals paid for in advance. To each his own.

And, btw, there's a lot of figuring-out to do if you have a dining plan. How many credits of type X or type Y have you used and how many are left? Is this or that item (or even restaurant) on the plan? Can X be substituted for Y? BTW, you can't substitute an appetizer for a dessert, which is a plan-killer for many people. So, to me, that's not very convenient. I prefer to pay out of pocket and order exactly what I want, not what fits in with the plan.

Just note that gratuities are not included in the cost of the dining plan. So you would have to pay something out of pocket for your table service meals.

There are only about 2 million threads on this exact topic, so, OP, if you want to soak up more opinions on this, you've got hours of reading ahead of you!

 

[karen4546]

With your travel party, I would not get the Dining Plan.

If I am planning a trip with my grandchildren, then I will get the dining plan because we will be doing a lot of character dining.

If it is just my husband and I then we load a Disney gift card with the cost of the dining plan. Since we usually go during Food & Wine and/or Flower and Garden, most of our eating is done in the world showcase just snacking around the world. We also like to share at some restaurants (split a couple of appetizers and an entree-usually no dessert). This works really well for us. Even if we don't have the dining plan, we still visit Boma. But, we have the Tables in Wonderland card for discounts.

If you plan on a lot of Signature dining and Character meals and you like an alcoholic beverage at meals, then the cost of the dining plan is worth it. IMO

 

[lore]

I'm planning my first trip and been looking into the DDP from all theses posts helped me figure out that it doesn't seem to be worth it.

 

[tuckymom]

Its like the chicken and egg for us.

We tend to order more expensive things and splurge on the DDP because we've already pre-paid. Without DDP we would probably order some less expensive things and not get dessert. Plus with young kids, character meals are so much fun!

Its really a personal choice but if you spend all your time trying to figure out if you are "ahead" or not, I would skip it. Too much stress and work.