Meal Package Worth it?

[Dawgdad]

First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone on this thread for keeping it nice. I love to have a discussion without personal flaming and stuff. Now, that said, I really believe that some individuals could bankrupt Disney on this plan. I know that I, only 160#, could easily make it work, because I like to eat alot (thankfully, I am blessed with a high metabolism...) Now, here is what I think the difference in this plan being great, and the plan being a marginal deal (if at all): #1. You have to buy it for every night on your package. Therefore, if you arrive like we do on a Saturday late afternoon and just kick back until the next morning when we hit the parks like freedom fighters, we have just wasted $337 (remember, we have 11 of us). So we are "chasing value" from the start. #2. My 3,8, and 10 year old usually split 2 meals between them. Not because I'm cheap, but because I hate waste, and unlike at home, doggy bags are not really an option at WDW since there is another great meal awaiting the next day and who wants left-overs on vacation. So, the way I see it, if you have mom and dad and a teenager - go for it - bankrupt the mouse. But with our big group (half who eat like pigs, and half who eat like rabbits), we would be chasing value from day one and never catch up. Thanks again for a civil thread. Maybe I can start something if I include a refillable mug discussion... did I mention that we buy 1 for our entire group of 11 and just pour into styrofoam cups? I promise I am just kidding, but that would be funny.

Russ

 

[HayGan]

I really don't want to get flamed, but I have to insert my opinion. Unless you spend countless hours sitting down to meals, there is no way to make the dining plan "a great deal". Yes, it may save a few$ in some instances, but it seems to me that the thing it does is keeps you eating at WDW restaurants (really not a bad thing), and eating often.

I have to respectfully disagree. On our recent trip, we had the dining plan for 4 days. We ate sit down meals at LeCellier (dinner), CRT (dinner), CP (breakfast), 'Ohana (breakfast and dinner) and Whispericng Canyon (dinner). We spent ~$400 on the plan and our total for all meals and snacks was over $850! Food is very expensive at WDW and I found that we were able to enjoy many experiences at WDW that we wouldn't have otherwise done without the dining plan. (I felt that our TS meals were experiences and not just meals!) I found that our TS meals only took on average 20 - 30 minutes longer than our CS meals. The lines or waits for food for many CS meals were worse than ride lines! Since our days were longer than most typical days we found the amount of food to be adequate (yes, too much in some cases.)

 

[LSUwest]

We (My wife and I) just got back and used the dining plan. In our case, it was definately worth it. We enjoy table service meals more than counter service so our meals tended to be pricier than what you could spend if you wanted to budget yourselves.

If you like TS meals, I would recommend it. The one thing I noticed is that food there IS expensive. With two appetizers and two desserts (which we didn't always finish, but at least we tasted a lot of good food), our TS meals ranged anywhere from $60 to $140. We used all of our snack credits (mostly on bottled water in the parks) and all but 4 CS credits (out of 16 total). Even CS meals for two people tended to be about $25 (including the dessert). We brought our own breakfast and supplemented it with fruit.

I havn't totaled the receipts yet, but I'm positive we saved hundreds. If we had wanted to, we could have saved money and eaten less at less expensive places, but hey... This was our big vacation. The plan allowed us to eat at some really nice places that we wouldn't have eaten at without it.

By the way... We ate at Citricos and at California Grill. Both signature restaurants that were supposed to cost 2 credits each. We were only charged one credit each both times so we really got our moneys worth. We mentioned it to our server and she said that it happens sometimes.

 

[Marimar]

I don't understand people wanting to pay so much ahead of time - just wanting to make sure that they have money paid to Disney ahead, including for food. I'd rather put the money in a CD until I owe Disney, as opposed to paying for everything up front.

Maybe a CD is a great idea, but how do you know those people do not already have it in their budget??? And it would be nice to hold on to the dining plan money until the very last minute, but then you don't want the plan; which could (lots of variables, I agree!) save you money in the long run.

Some people work to live and others live to work.

 

[Marimar]

You have to buy it for every night on your package. Therefore, if you arrive like we do on a Saturday late afternoon and just kick back until the next morning when we hit the parks like freedom fighters, we have just wasted $337 (remember, we have 11 of us). So we are "chasing value" from the start.

See, this is a good example of different strokes for different folks I am trying to find a couple of extra TS credits so DH and I can enjoy a few more signature dinnners. We love good dining...even at home.

Maybe I can start something if I include a refillable mug discussion... did I mention that we buy 1 for our entire group of 11 and just pour into styrofoam cups? I promise I am just kidding, but that would be funny.

Maybe I'm naive, but I had not thought of doing that! Thanks for the idea!

 

[DreaminDisney]

We haven't used dining pkg yet but will upcoming trip and in my mind (for my family) I'm thinking it'll be worth it.

For one, I like knowing meals are paid in advance (biggest perk for me)
Second- DH and I will be trying a couple Signature restaurants we have not yet tried.

Personally I think it's worth it and I think we'll be saving $$ in the end by using it. I'll let you know in 6 months if it was worth it or not (for us)

Debbie

 

[lustergirl]

My family of 4 experienced the free dining plan this past September. From now on it DP all the way, they have me hooked- maybe that was the original idea of drawing people in, with this special promotion. My 2 sons are ages 12 and 16 and I will be the first to tell you that they can eat. I know we eat more than 35 dollars per person per day. Vacation time to me means a relaxing stress free time and why have to worry about paying for food. We ate the ESPN Club, Liberty Tree Tavern, 50's Prime Time Cafe, Ohana's, and enjoyed the food court at the AS Sports while we were there. Enjoying great food is a part of vacation.
I guess to each his own in this matter.

 

[patsal]

I guess for us it works better, but not for everyone. We were able to get "our $'s worth" and at least breakeven every day. I don't know what people eat or drink so to each their own, but for us it worked--I could not have fed my family of four a sit down meal, a snack and a counter service for less than $35. per person per day. I currently budget $50 per person per day and even with the price increase to about $38. per person I will be in good shape. I really liked the flexibility and for us it was worth it--we also shared meals and I did not force apps./desserts on anyone in the party. We just ordered what we would have without the plan--each sit down averaged about $155. and CS using 3 credits averaged about $55. I paid $140 per day. Seemed like a fair deal to me. Of course if you split a sandwich and order water at CS, eat very little TS and do not snack than it won't be a fair deal for your family. BTW we did not spend 3 hours per day eating, and if you don't use the credits on the first day you don't lose them, they are good until midnight of the day of checkout. We also never planned the meals around the most expensive restaurants, just what we wanted from our prior experinces.

 

[Straitlover]

I just came back from a 4-night stay last week w/ the dining plan (was me and my sister). It was a lot of food! If I ever do the dining plan again, the most I would ever do would be the 4 nights, probably even less. If I was staying longer than that, I would book 2 separate reservations, a package, and a room only for the extra nights. I would also go to at least one 2-credit dinner. On our arrival day, we only used one TS (split dinner at Whispering Canyon), so that gave us 2 CS's for the day we left. One morning, we went to Trails End for breakfast and used the other TS from the first night and paid OOP for the other buffet. That's actually not your best use of a TS, as the breakfast is only $10 or so, but that was OK w/ us. We really should ahve split some other meals, too, as I gained 2 lbs while we were gone!

Now that I've tried some of the sit-down places, I will be more likely to go back, so I guess Disney got what they were after w/ me by offering the Dining Plan! I now know that my sis and I can go to the Plaza Restaurant, split the Club Sandwich (it's huge!!! each half is the size of a regular sandwich you would make at home!), and we could either split a big sundae or banana split or each get milkshakes, and the total would be about the same as 2 counter service meals. Same goes for 50's Prime Time. You can easily split the Fried Chicken dinner and the hot fudge sundae or the S'mores.

So, yes I think the dining plan is worth it, but no way could I do it for 7 nights! Now if you were to go to say 3 2-credit places, maybe, if you order the more expensive items.

 

[ratfam]

I have been spending way too much time adding things up and debating whether to buy the plan, and I've posted a question before about this since my main concern is paying adult rate for a 10 year old but knowing she might order off kids menus. I am adding it up based on what we would order on our own (less than the plan would provide) and, since we have some buffets and family style meals planned where we pay as an adult for the 10 year old regardless, it looks like we would probably at least break even under the plan, but I'm still not sure what I'll do. We definitely won't be maximizing value since we're trying to hit the kids' favorites.

 

[nbodyhome]

My point with the CD is - I don't want to pay everything up front, I don't want Disney having my money any earlier than they have to. I don't feel better about having everything paid for in advance, I'd rather have my money in hand - in a CD, or in the bank - and generally pay out of pocket for what I can.

Disney makes a lot of money having the package money up front - which is fine, but not for me (unless it's a GREAT package, and the free dining package was an excellent offer).

There are some people who do love to dine - and this allows for an upgraded experience for the money. But you have to look at menus, and figure out how you normally would eat. I can get Florida Resident discounts and AAA discounts on room-only, and I have the Disney Dining Experience. So for me, that is almost always a better option. If the dining plan was offered free again, though - I'd do it (and bring home whatever food I didn't eat!)

Denise

 

[budbeerlady]

We loved the plan because without it we would not have eaten table service, or maybe just 1 during our trip. I wouldnt shell out $28 pp for LTT, its not that good or worth it to meet the characters. But it gave us the option to eat what we want and where we wanted. We (dd and I) shared a breakfast and a lunch eat day as she eats little at her age. Dh ate a big cs breakfast and then was good untill dinner. The snacks werent really needed, I had 9 extra before we left. It wasnt hot so we didnt eat much ice cream or pop, I could see in the summer though where that might be handy. You just need to crunch the numbers for your family and make the decision. I wouldnt go to WDW with out it, we ate $300 more than we spent on the plan. I also liked having my meals paid for, we brought $300 with us for the 7 days, we didnt even spend that much on suvies or drinks. I called it my all-inclusive vacation as everything was already paid for. Have a good trip!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

We just back and I briefly considered getting the meal plan for the ability to try different places etc.

I opted not to and it worked well for us. We spent an average of $50 a day for food. There were many days that we were just not that hungry and it would have been a huge waste. We were free to eat on the fly although we did make a few PS's.

The deciding factor for me was the fact that I have lost and kept off over 80 pounds (more to go) and did not want an 'excuse' for packing more on while I was gone. I came home over 2 pounds lighter than when I left and ate what I wanted, on or off diet items, so it worked - for us.

I plan on getting the DDE card next time though as we will be going twice next year.

Slightly Goofy

 

[LoveWDW]

The dining plan cost us $350, we saved over $200. I didn't have to bring extra food for breakfast or snacks. It was fun to eat in different places. We ordered what we wanted and not necessarily the most expensive choices. At Le Cellier anyway, you could have a salad OR an appetizer, so the meal isn't necessarily an appetizer, entre, and dessert. We would ordinarily get salad and entre, anyway, and most desserts we took back with us for snack or breakfast. It was especially nice that tax and tip were included. We did bring the tip up to 20%. We split the CS meals and made them last for breakfast as well as lunch. We never felt as if we had eaten more quantity than if not on the plan. I am very glad that we had the plan. Otherwise we would probably have eaten in the same places, since I discovered them here at DIS anyway, but it would have been stressful to worry about cost. I am not sure that I could have justified the cost for all the places we ate. With the plan we had more fun.

 

[Diz-Mommy]

We saved a ton of $$ with the dining plan. We don't like to go into debt over a vacation, so it was a very nice way to pre-pay for things. We had left over snacks at the end because DH didn't thoroughly explain the snack credits to me and I thought we were using them on deserts till the last two days. Had I known we had so many additional snacks available I would have treated our son to some ! I regret not getting a picture of him enjoying one, darn it!

A word to the wise however, you can seriously over eat with the DP! I still paced myself, because being five months PG I had limited tummy space to gorge and still be comfortable, but DH went over the top! He had a physical right after we got home, because he has diabetic issues and in the past cholesterol issues too. Well, thanks to the dining plan and my DH's poor judgment, he now has cholesterol issues once again. Triglycerides are suppose to be somewhere in the number range of 120s...well his were 450!!!

Had we not gotten the dining plan, we surely wouldn't have ordered appetizers and deserts as often, and DH wouldn't be getting scolded by our family doc... So if you have dietary limitations, I'm not sure buying the DP is the best way to go. Having all that extra food at ones disposal isn't always a good thing! We surely got our money's worth out of the dinning plan, but the point is we could have eaten less and spent less to without it.

 

[nbodyhome]

The deciding factor for me was the fact that I have lost and kept off over 80 pounds (more to go) and did not want an 'excuse' for packing more on while I was gone. I came home over 2 pounds lighter than when I left and ate what I wanted, on or off diet items, so it worked - for us.
Slightly Goofy

Congratulations! I have lost 63 pounds so far over the past nearly 3 years, have 25 or so to go. I couldn't do it for a week, it definitely (for me) is easier to go ala' carte.

Denise

 

[pbharris4]

For us I think it'll be worth it. We plan on stretching out the credits to cover 99% of the food costs by using a calculator I found on a thread on the DIS. It's 3 adults (36,34,10) and 1 child (3) . Starting Jan.3rd it will be available to DVC members. I think we pay more for it, but it will still save us a lot of $$. Typically, we spend around $1200 in 6 days on food/snacks/drinks. And that was when my DD was 9 and my other DD was 2 and free. It will cost around $1260 for the DP for us..so I know we will save..plus sharing a few meals will allow us to use the DP for the entire trip. Plus we are going to Kennedy Space Ctr for one day. When we are at WDW we like to eat in t6he A/C restaurants and try new foods. It's a culinary experience for us and exposes my kids to new foods and they like it. We don't always eat all of the food, but we like being pampered on vacation. I cook every day and with a active 2.5 yr old..it's usually whatever I can get on the table the quickest..although healthy..it sure isn't gourmet! :0) Happy Holidays everyone!!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

Congratulations! I have lost 63 pounds so far over the past nearly 3 years, have 25 or so to go. I couldn't do it for a week, it definitely (for me) is easier to go ala' carte.

Denise

Congratulations Denise! I know how very hard it is. Keeping it off is harder than losing it. I only lost about ten pounds this year and I am trying hard to be grateful that I did not gain. Any tips to help me get further along?

Do you find that many things you used to eat no longer have an attraction because they are not 'worth' the calories? I looked forward to a Mickey Bar all year long and was shocked to find that I did not care for them at all this time. Might have been the cold weather though.

Slightly Goofy

 

[nbodyhome]

Hi Slightly Goofy!

I held fairly steady at 50 pounds for over a year (I did blip up slightly for our wedding and honeymoon, but lost the weight). Since August 1st, I've kept a food diary - I write down everything, and it has REALLY helped. I kept getting stuck around 172 pounds - I couldn't conquer it at all, and putting down on paper what I ate finally did it. I started writing everything at about 2000 calories per day, but going down to 1800 most days is whats helping. There are times it's a bit more - like a nice dinner out, etc. But I am really careful when I go out, I don't usually get soda, I skipped rice when at Mitsokoshi (sticking with the filet, mentioning I didn't want so much butter on everything). My calorie swings day to day are very mild now. I also eat 5 or 6 times a day, and I do allow myself a limited amount of chocolate or other sweet snack.

One of the most important things for me is getting in my fruits and veggies. I want to be healthy, and not just thinner. Just about every day I have a fruit smoothie for one meal - I throw in 3/4 cup yogurt, 2 - 3 cups of other frozen berries, 1/2 cup light OJ and a banana. So right there, I have something really healthy. I also often will do a stir-fry for dinner, with onions, mushrooms, yellow and green squash. Yumm! I need to learn to make better steamed veggies, though.

Also, I just am very active. I often will stand when typing, I dragged my sick body out when I had a cold and then sinus infection for the past two weeks. Even if it was a short walk to the grocery store, I wanted to make sure I got my butt moving a bit.

Strength training is also great. I haven't been feeling well, but will get back into that in the next week.

When it all comes down to it, I think the best focus is on your heath. I have great blood pressure now, I have great cholesterol, I am at lower risk for different diseases (though I have to have a lump biopsy in 10 days, for likely nothing), etc. When you think about what you put in your body, make sure it's good most of the time. I started writing things down because I read that most long-term successful weight loss comes from people who do keep track of their food intake.

Sorry so long. I do find that stuff like Mickey Bars don't really interest me. If I can't handle something in the house (like Oreos), I don't have them here. I just made all kinds of cookies, fudge, candy, etc. to give out for Christmas (I guess I should find something healthier to give!), and I allowed myself a very small amount. It used to be that I'd just be going through the batter, and eating the cookies, etc. without thinking.

I am going to dinner tonight, with my little book of calories. I'll stay away from the bread tonight, stick with the turkey - really healthy and low cal, and have some veggies and a little dessert. MMMM!

Oh - and I did a TA conference (along with some meets) a couple of weeks ago on Disney property. I used that opportunity to stay away from all the buffet food they were giving us (I ate healthy) but upped my activity, and it really gave my metabolism a good shove.

That is it - I hope I didn't bore anyone! Just write things down, stay active, and if you aren't losing anything, lower the calories and up the activity a bit. No fad diets!!!

Denise

 

[pedro2112]

I don't understand people wanting to pay so much ahead of time - just wanting to make sure that they have money paid to Disney ahead, including for food. I'd rather put the money in a CD until I owe Disney, as opposed to paying for everything up front.

Denise

Because for some families, it saves them a lot of money. When we went, the dining plan paid for itself with just our TS meals (the cost of the TS meals out of pocket would have been the same as the entire dining plan for our family). Consequently, everyone of our CS meals and snacks were "free." Consquently, to answer your question with another question, "I dont' understand people not wanting ot pay ahead if it will save their family hundreds of dollars during their vacation."