Meal plan vs. park hopper option

[Pigeon]

I paid for park hoppers once and would never do it again. It's just not a problem for us to plan the day's activities in a single park. I haven't had the dining plan, but given the choice of the two, the dining plan wins hands down.

 

[tzolkin]

With the DP, we would live it up and do character meals, eat at the most expensive restaurants allowable with one ts and have a good time doing it. However, without the DP, we would probably eat only one meal out each day and the rest with sandwiches, snacks and other lunch type items that we packed. Regardless, I already have ADR for Askershus and we will probably do a couple of fun places. Off the dining plan we would definitely save money but as a treat I am wondering which would be better park hopper or dining.

If you're doing it as a treat to splurge and do the most expensive/character meals, than it seems to me like the dining plan would be best.

We did this for a two week trip when my parents came along with us for their 30th anniversary. It was nice to try all the different restaurants and the kids enjoyed it. Trying it at least once was definitely worth it.

However, we have opted to not do the DP every other trip because we prefer the flexibility of not having all those ADRs, we waste so much food, and it's cheaper and more in line with our eating habits to snack around and share a few meals and treats throughout the day.


That said, we are a park hopping family. We hop at least once every day and really wouldn't consider a trip without it. Of course to many others it's unnecessary and/or undesirable. It really just depends on your family's personality.

We really enjoy the hopping because we go for longer trips and like to get away from the parks and relax just as much as we like spending time in the parks. Even just a boat or monorail ride to another park is a nice break (although we usually also go back to the resort for several hours) To us, being in a park from rope drop to close sounds like a nightmare. To others, leaving is a "waste of time".

 

[LJSquishy]

I would opt for Park Hoppers. The dining plan is not confusing by any means, but it does require a fair amount of planning to maximize your credits. You are tied to using certain types of credits whereas if you were to pay out of pocket for all of your meals/snacks, you would be able to choose whether to have a lot more snacks (and as I'm sure you're aware, not all snacks are unhealthy and you can make meals out of them) or skip meals here and there.

We had park hoppers and used them every single day. We loved having the freedom to come and go. It was a low peak season while we were there so we finished the parks much faster than we initially anticipated and would have been bummed if we couldn't switch to another park on the same day. We ended up spending the first half of a day at say, AK, then the second half of the day at Epcot or MK to explore and then eat dinner and watch fireworks. We didn't think it took long at all to park hop -- we also stayed at CSR and loved the resort overall and the bus system was awesome. One of the park days we were just really tired so we went back to the resort around 4pm or so and just relaxed, then ate dinner at Pepper Market (we didn't particularly enjoy dinner at Pepper Market but it was convenient).

Another morning, we decided to eat a big breakfast, skip lunch, and have an early dinner. We did the Pepper Market breakfast buffet (very yummy!) and then headed out to the parks. We actually had the "free" DDP and it was way too much food. We would have much rather paid out of pocket for our meals. We turned down most of the desserts (because you get one with both CS and TS meals) and had to try really hard to use all of our snack credits -- which we used for breakfast foods (muffins, cinnamon rolls, yogurt parfaits). I think we only got 2 actual "snacks" throughout our entire 7 night trip -- a dole whip, and a Starring Rolls cupcake. Snack portions are so gigantic we shared.

I really think you will enjoy the park hoppers and will save money by paying out of pocket for your meals...and remember, you can share some meals also if one person isn't particularly hungry. Also, I remember since we were on the dining plan we searched for the more expensive dishes like the steaks, lobster, etc just so we would get the "value" of the DDP, when in reality a few times we would have much rather had a sandwich and fries or a bowl of pasta.

 

[Marionnette]

OK, after reading that post again, I can see better where she's coming from, but that would be far more hassle to go through than we would be willing for. All that changing around for ONE night. I'd rather pay.

On one level, I agree with you. But on another level, I see the inconvenience as a way for the OP to have her cake and eat it, too. Not everyone is willing to jump through all of those hoops in order to make something like that work. But there are others who would do it in a heartbeat if it meant that they could park hop their entire trip AND "eat like kings".

A couple years ago, before Disney made changes to their packages, people were booking a single night with the Platinum Plan just to be able to "dine like kings", do multiple tours and get special fireworks/parade viewing spots for 2 days. It meant checking out and then back in for the remainder of their stay but they got so much out of the Platinum Plan, that it was worth the hassle to them.

People also do split stays all of the time in order to not have to pay for the DDP on late arrival nights or early departure days. It's not that unusual.

Now, I'm not a big fan of the DDP, so don't get me wrong. I wouldn't go through the mechanics of making the changes for one night's stay. But if the only thing holding the OP back from getting the hoppers AND the DDP is the $61 per person difference in price, then this is a viable way to make it work in her budget. After all, aren't we here to help each other make those trips work within our budgets?

 

[writersblock42]

In case anyone was wondering, we decided not to do the park hopper or the ddp. We figured that we could do 6 table service meals, eat a snack or a drink every day and do two cs meals (essentially one meal a day plus a meal for the day that we arrive). We could add in the souvenir mugs but we need to see if that would be worth it. Probably not or maybe to buy two instead of four. For each of the meals that would be an entree and drink. Since several of the meals will be buffets that will include the dessert.

 

[Marionnette]

In case anyone was wondering, we decided not to do the park hopper or the ddp. We figured that we could do 6 table service meals, eat a snack or a drink every day and do two cs meals (essentially one meal a day plus a meal for the day that we arrive). We could add in the souvenir mugs but we need to see if that would be worth it. Probably not or maybe to buy two instead of four. For each of the meals that would be an entree and drink. Since several of the meals will be buffets that will include the dessert.

You're only going to eat once each day? Is your family accustomed to eating that way?

 

[crisi]

I'd do both or neither.

For me, hopping is a necessary part of being able to get to the restaurant I want to eat at. Or used to be before we did all of our dining in hotels at signature restaurants where we don't need tickets.

Having to schedule restaurants around parks - and therefore being forced to find somewhere acceptable to eat in DHS or MK, isn't fun. When we ate in parks, it was almost always in Epcot.

Skip both if your budget doesn't permit both.