Mapping out Meals

[TriniandBre]

I just wanted some advice on mapping out meals. We are planning on going to Disney in December. We are normally a Deluxe Dining Plan family but my 3 year old (just turned 3) doesn't eat much. It will be me, my DD6 and DD3. I was wondering if anyone else took the time to write down the exact things they want to order off of each menu with the prices for everything they would order for each person and also for every single day while there. I also wanted to know if someone has done that was it very beneficial to them, meaning, did you save more money paying OOP vs Dining Plan. If anyone can help me or has any ideas or advice it'd be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Marionnette]

I just wanted some advice on mapping out meals. We are planning on going to Disney in December. We are normally a Deluxe Dining Plan family but my 3 year old (just turned 3) doesn't eat much. It will be me, my DD6 and DD3. I was wondering if anyone else took the time to write down the exact things they want to order off of each menu with the prices for everything they would order for each person and also for every single day while there. I also wanted to know if someone has done that was it very beneficial to them, meaning, did you save more money paying OOP vs Dining Plan. If anyone can help me or has any ideas or advice it'd be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I haven't done what you described but I did save our receipts from one trip (no dining plan) and I compared it to what we would have paid had we purchased the dining plan. Here's how it turned out:

• We spent about the same amount that we would have spent if we had purchased the DDP.
• We got appetizers when we wanted to and skipped desserts when we were full.
• We ate at TS restaurants only 3 out of the 5 nights because we just weren't hungry enough to eat at them every night.
• If we wanted wine or a cocktail, we ordered it instead of a soft drink. Yes, it cost more but again, we got what we wanted.
• I didn't stress out over getting the most for my money or using up the last of my snack credits.

The last thing that I would want to do is plan my vacation down to the smallest detail. I would hate to be telling the kids, "No, you can't order the PB&J because we decided last July that you were getting the shrimp platter at this restaurant! The PB&J is a waste of a dining credit!"

 

[NYEmomma]

I did it when we went and found that the cost paying OOP for what we would typically order would be almost the same as paying for the dining plan. We opted to pay OOP because my daughter was just 2 months shy of 3 and I was unsure whether she would have the patience to do a sit down meal every day (if we ended up doing just QS the cost would have been cheaper than the DDP).

Turns out she did great with every sit down meal we did (we ended up doing one a day).

 

[delmar411]

we map it out almost every time afterwards. We save a lot of money by not getting the dining plan. Plus thousands and thousands of calories from not getting desserts with every meal or trying to max out snacks.

Plus the kids can order what they want everywhere and aren't restricted to kids meals.

 

[tzolkin]

I find that the only way the Dining Plan saves money is if you would order the whole meal (soda, expensive entree, dessert) at every meal or if you're planning to do a bunch of character meals (these are expensive especially for the kids).

We have done free dining and yes our receipts were way more than we ever would have paid OOP, but we were also trying to maximize our credits the whole time (DD 11 had steak at every meal) and we got the desserts even though we were really full because we figured we may as well just have a taste.


A few years ago before we tried the DP I did do what you mentioned. I looked at the online menus for all the places we were thinking about and came up with prices for the most and least expensive Adult meals as well as the kids meals for each place. I did this so I would have an idea (not an exact amount) of what we would be paying OOP for what was included in the DP. However, if we're paying OOP we would really never purchase everything that's included in the DP.

We all prefer to drink water, so the drink cost wouldn't be included in our OOP expense. And we would much rather have a small meal (even sharing) and then have snacks/dessert later. With the DP we always felt stuffed (DH actually got sick most of the trip from all the food) and we found that we didn't get to eat what we really wanted. We had planned to use our snack credits for ice creams and things around the parks (we spent a lot of time at Epcot during Food & Wine), but we were never hungry/in the mood because we had eaten so much with our DP meals.

 

[TriniandBre]

Thank you guys for your help/advice. I think I might wait until I get to the half way mark to see if I will be paying OOP or doing the DDP. My almost 6 year old loves being able to have everything appetizer, entree, and dessert. That's her favorite part of vacation. My 3 year old is very picky right now and the childrens options don't seem to fit the things she eats. I hope maybe by waiting that she'll start eating more things. I also hope that by waiting that I don't loose out on any TS meals that we really want. We always do the Hoopty Doo, Crystal Palace, Cinderella's Royal Table, Garden Grill, Le Cellier, and Chef Mickey's. Whatever we do as far as dinner time has to be early like around 6 because my 3 year old will get cranky lol. We usually stay at least 11 nights and that leaves room to spread out the TS meals. Maybe I should check out the prices of all the buffet places? Maybe we want too much? We do so many sit down meals because the kids don't like waiting in such long lines to see the characters, they get antsy.

 

[delmar411]

Thank you guys for your help/advice. I think I might wait until I get to the half way mark to see if I will be paying OOP or doing the DDP. My almost 6 year old loves being able to have everything appetizer, entree, and dessert. That's her favorite part of vacation. My 3 year old is very picky right now and the childrens options don't seem to fit the things she eats. I hope maybe by waiting that she'll start eating more things. I also hope that by waiting that I don't loose out on any TS meals that we really want. We always do the Hoopty Doo, Crystal Palace, Cinderella's Royal Table, Garden Grill, Le Cellier, and Chef Mickey's. Whatever we do as far as dinner time has to be early like around 6 because my 3 year old will get cranky lol. We usually stay at least 11 nights and that leaves room to spread out the TS meals. Maybe I should check out the prices of all the buffet places? Maybe we want too much? We do so many sit down meals because the kids don't like waiting in such long lines to see the characters, they get antsy.

You are touring wrong if you are waiting in long lines to see characters. Even at peak season you should be hitting up character lines when they are short. Plus you can FP Mickey and the princesses at MK so that's not a timing issue either.
That would solve having to eat at so many character meals if you planned out which characters the kids want to see and made that a morning priority a few days of the trip.

 

[TriniandBre]

You just reminded me why I want to try just paying OOP. We have been so caught up with having to rush to TS meals that we are always rushing through things. We end up getting to the parks late due to having to meet up with the rest of our group. Thankfully we will all be at the same resort this time. Maybe I should just stop and think about the free feeling of paying OOP vs being stuck with scheduled meals. There are good and bad things for both. I guess I'll have to just make out a list of our wants or must do restaurants and go from there.

 

[bumbershoot]

You just reminded me why I want to try just paying OOP. We have been so caught up with having to rush to TS meals that we are always rushing through things. We end up getting to the parks late due to having to meet up with the rest of our group. Thankfully we will all be at the same resort this time. Maybe I should just stop and think about the free feeling of paying OOP vs being stuck with scheduled meals. There are good and bad things for both. I guess I'll have to just make out a list of our wants or must do restaurants and go from there.

FWIW I have not had a dining plan, but I still plan meals. We have to eat so why not? We usually have one table service meal per day and it is pre arranged. The difference is that it is a meal we want, not just made because we had an entitlement for it.

 

[Srbright]

There is a spreadsheet by Cafeen that we use. Yes, i did list out what I thought we would eat (or ate last time). We do the DxDDp. Like a previous poster we get an appetizer if we want and skip dessert if we are full.

It does save us money as we do a lot of the character meals or signature dining. We will be doing CRT, Akershus, and Tusker House for breakfast plus CG amd Fultons for dinner.

Stacy