Meal Package Worth it?

[Kelspea2005]

It is just going to be my husband and I on a 7 night trip to Walt Disney W. The meal package costs five hundred dollars and I was wondering if this is worth it or would be cheaper to just go out and get meals on our own? Any advice or information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Fall1]

It all depends on if you are planning on enjoying many sit-down dinners or if you'll just be eating on the run at counter service places. If you plan on doing even 3 sit down (Table Service) meals, I say get the plan. My DH and I had the meal plan in October and we loved it. It allowed us to try some more expensive restaurants than we would have on our own and also to completely ignore the prices on the menu

It is a lot of food and if you would be happy to eat on the go, it won't be for you. Decide what will be the focus of your vacation and go from there; relaxation (get the plan) or fun at the parks (don't get it). Hope this helps.

 

[Hopefully]

I agree with Fall1. It depends on what your priorities are, and what it is that you want to do.
We (DH, DAdultS and I) were on the plan in October too and we loved it. We have been to WDW many times and we no longer need to do the parks "Commando Style". We enjoy one sit down relaxing meal a day while on vacation. So the plan meets our style. We did find that most TS(Table Service) meals took about an hour and a half to complete.
I researched the restaurant menus on allearsnet.com to identify which restauarants we would be interested in eating at. Then we looked at what we would order, and its cost. Once I did my research I believed that the plan would save us money. And it did. We saved over $450 over what we would have paid OOP. We were able to eat where we wanted to eat, and what we wanted to order without worrying about cost.
For us, it was well worth it.
Good Luck in your decision.

 

[mainewmn]

We never did Dinning plan before and budgeted $50 per day for food per person. We always had left over money and never felt deprived, but after reviewing the package and looking over our budget, I decided to go with the meal plan for our January trip. I know we will be a bit more relaxed with our eating next time as we will not have to try to stick to the $50 a day budget.

 

[agotta]

We never did Dinning plan before and budgeted $50 per day for food per person. We always had left over money and never felt deprived, but after reviewing the package and looking over our budget, I decided to go with the meal plan for our January trip. I know we will be a bit more relaxed with our eating next time as we will not have to try to stick to the $50 a day budget.

Us too. Dh is so excited to be able to just go and eat. I know it will be a lot of food, but I think if we have an early lunch and a late dinner it will be perfect. Plus we can try some places we normally wouldn't. We usually pick one ts to try each trip. This time we get 4!

 

[kellymouse]

I just started hearing about this dining meal package. I don't know anything about it, including the correct name. Could someone please point me in a direction where I might get more information about it. I am not an AP holder if that matters.
Thanks!

 

[kellymouse]

Nevermind! I found it on the sticky at the top!
Thanks anyway!

 

[Dawgdad]

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. Last year, we had 11 of us (ages 3 to 57) for a week at the Poly. When we booked for this March, I was asked if we wanted the plan. I decided to do some calculating based on last year's trip (by the way, last year we went all out - we ate at 6 character meals, and brought no food from home - kids ate whatever they wanted and we had ice creams, cokes, etc every day). Bottom line is that we spent $700 less on food than what the dining plan would cost us this year. If we had been on a budget, I would understand that, but we really did whatever we wanted and still didn't spend as much as the plan cost. I hope it works for anyone who purchases it, I'm just skeptical about it saving "big money". JMHO

I wanted to add that the dining plan would cost our group $2700 for the week. I encourage anyone to explain to me how we could spend $337 per day on food (I actuall don't need anyone to explain it to me, all you have to do is eat lunch at Cosmic Rays, and dinner at Primetime Cafe every day - we just prefer to not spend 2-3 hours eating every day).

Russ

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I'm trying it w/o the dining plan this time around. The ADRs I have are almost all signature restaurants (i.e., 2 TS credits), and 2 of the 5 in our party are light eaters (a salad and piece of bread usually suffices, or a cup of soup.) If it were just my husband on the plan, Disney would LOSE money on him! But with the rest of us, I think there's very few meals that we would eat enough to consume 2 TS credits worth. Besides, breakfast and most lunches will probably be eaten in room (2BR w/ kitchen SSR).

This time around, I'm going to keep my receipts, add up what we actually ate, figure meals tax vs. resort tax (isn't that what they charge you on the DP?), and see if we could have saved money on the plan. That will affect how we play it next time.

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

You can do your food cheaper, if you drink water you bring with you and do mostly counter service. On our trip last week, we paid $730 for the plan and our food total came to about $1650, more than TWICE what we paid. So, value wise it is awesome!

 

[nbodyhome]

I am a TA and wanted to try the dining plan - and did so in October, for free, I wanted to be able to explain it to guests.

It was great - for free. We did 3 nights, 3 adults, and had 8 counter service and 2 table service left at the end. I invited my husband for the evening for dinner, and went to Coronado Springs and boxed up 8 counter service at Coronado Springs.

If I was going to do a weekend, and could get a great deal on the meal plan, I might. But normally, I just don't spend that much money at Disney on food. It would be very easy for me to spend a week at Disney, bring my own oatmeal for breakfast - and eat for about $12.00 a day. $38.00 is a lot more than that! Of course, I'd throw in at least a couple of nice meals (nice meaning even Trails End for breakfast) - but in the end, for myself, it wouldn't be a value.

For some guests, it is a value. They eat sit-down meals often, and if you do that - especially for dinner, then it can be well worth getting.

Denise

 

[nbodyhome]

Oh...I've lost a total of 63 pounds so far over the past nearly 3 years now, and I didn't like feeling like I should eat everything on the plan. Appetizers, desserts (two a day!), etc. Oh, my! It's ala carte for me!

Denise

 

[teacher31]

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. Last year, we had 11 of us (ages 3 to 57) for a week at the Poly. When we booked for this March, I was asked if we wanted the plan. I decided to do some calculating based on last year's trip (by the way, last year we went all out - we ate at 6 character meals, and brought no food from home - kids ate whatever they wanted and we had ice creams, cokes, etc every day). Bottom line is that we spent $700 less on food than what the dining plan would cost us this year. If we had been on a budget, I would understand that, but we really did whatever we wanted and still didn't spend as much as the plan cost. I hope it works for anyone who purchases it, I'm just skeptical about it saving "big money". JMHO

I wanted to add that the dining plan would cost our group $2700 for the week. I encourage anyone to explain to me how we could spend $337 per day on food (I actuall don't need anyone to explain it to me, all you have to do is eat lunch at Cosmic Rays, and dinner at Primetime Cafe every day - we just prefer to not spend 2-3 hours eating every day).

Russ

Thank you! I've been saying the same thing and I'm stunned when they say that they can eat 'without paying out of pocket.' Well, guess what? You prepaid out of pocket. Every family eats differently, but no way could our family of 5 eat $200 a day consistently. A special treat, yes. Not every day for 8 days. Plus, you have to pay for the days equal to what you are staying. No thanks.

 

[3princesses4us]

Of course you can make it worth it. Almost every review I've read, people are getting hundreds of dollars worth more food than they're paying with the plan. DH and I did it and will never go again without it. Do we at home eat appetizers, entrees and desserts every day? Of course not. YOU'RE ON VACATION! People seem to think that just because we advocate all the food you can get on the plan, that we eat like this all our lives. It's one week out of the year for us and with all the walking you do at WDW, I actually lost 2 pounds after all was said and done. I vote for trying it once before counting it out- you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[nbodyhome]

Thank you! I've been saying the same thing and I'm stunned when they say that they can eat 'without paying out of pocket.' Well, guess what? You prepaid out of pocket. Every family eats differently, but no way could our family of 5 eat $200 a day consistently. A special treat, yes. Not every day for 8 days. Plus, you have to pay for the days equal to what you are staying. No thanks.

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

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

You only pay for this 6 weeks in advance, not a huge amount of time. Not sure how much you earn on a CD in that time frame on $730 (the amount we spent on the DP)

 

[nbodyhome]

Of course you can make it worth it. Almost every review I've read, people are getting hundreds of dollars worth more food than they're paying with the plan. .

A lot of people do, a lot of people don't. I got the plan free, and hate seeing anything go to waste - but thankfully live close by so I didn't have to gorge on so much food (and for myself, it would be gorging). I eat 5 or 6 small meals a day, so one large table service meal can make me feel like I'm getting ready for hibernation.

Many people wouldn't normally spend $38 a day on food - so in a sense, it isn't a savings. But it was fun - when I got it for free, seeing how much I could spend (though I didn't always order the most expensive items). Generally, it worked out to about $50 for the table service, and then we boxed the counter service for home - so that was nearly another $20.00 per. Then I used one snack option at the Food and Wine, we were told we could only use one. There were still 8 snack options left after 8 days, so I brought Coke home for my husband. While Disney's value is $2.50, I could normally buy those bottles for like .30 or .40 at the store.

All in all, all I really saved was the $12.00 or so I would have normally spent at Disney for food (like I often will get a slice of pizza at the Boardwalk, and/ or a kids meal somewhere, and/or a sandwich or smoothie from Earl, etc.). But it was fun having a couple of steak meals, but it was just a * lot * of food. Whether I gain weight or not - and I do extra walking to make sure I don't - even when I try to eat healthy, it isn't always as easy that way (I did an okay job, though).

The dining plan isn't for everyone. If you don't normally spend $38 per person, then it may not be for you. If you don't like to eat table service every day, it may not be for you. You do have to buy it for each day of your package - and it can be a good value, or no value. You have to look at it for yourself. I am glad I tried it. I've talked some guests out of it, I'm sure I've talked a few into it. I try to stick with around 1800 calories a day, so it's too much for me!!!

Denise

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

When we were planning this trip, we had booked under the AP Best Rate Program, room only. Then we made all our ADRs, 90 days out......on sit down for dinner each night. I went through the menus, adding up what we would spend on food, using the DDE card discount. This was with us sharing one appetizer and maybe a dessert here and there, plus CS lunch and a small snack budget. Our food bill for the week, for 2 adults and 2 children was about $900. Our hotel bill with AP BRP was $550 I think. We have APs, so didn't need tickets. So, we were looking at $1450 for the 8 nights. We paid $1342 for a full package, WITH Dining and one day passes (value of $250, that we will apply to tickets in the future) when they came out with the special for this time period. For us it was a no brainer. We saved big time. We love the sit downs and had planned on one each night during the stay. We aren't get as much done as you can, don't stop to eat people, we like to relax...we are on vacation. So, it can work for you. If our kids were older and we were paying the adult price for them, it might not be.

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

Oh, what I was going to say is.....sit down with the menus on allearsnet.com and make up a food budget of what you would spend and then see if the Dining Plan is a better deal. Really the only way to do it.

 

[wright1baby]

We went on our First WDW trip in June and were overwhelmed! One of the things that had us most concerned is, "how to budget for meals when we get there!"??
The dining plan allowed us to eat as much as we wanted and not have to worry about the cost. We went to WDW to have fun, not worry about who was ordering what and how much it was going to cost. I hate to have to tell my kids (who love steak and seafood) "no, I am sorry. that's to expensive honey"
When we got home I added all the expenses of our meals (CRT, PSB, CM, ohana, Concourse, and LeCellier) and we "saved" $1300. I know its a relative term, because we would have never been able to afford to go to all of those dining experiences if we paid out of pocket. We went to Electric Umbrella for the first lunch--$87! for lunch! Nothing extravagant. Burgers and Chicken strips!
For us it was worth every penny!!