Meal plan worth it?

[Aurora0427]

I asked this same question because we have a three year old who doesn't eat anything. We are doing a lot of character dining and buffets on this next trip, and one poster noted that we have to pay for the 3 year old anyway- so it's either pay $19.99 cash at the buffet for her to eat one nugget, or do the ddp. I still have to do all of the math, but I think if we don't do ddp, I'll probably my switch some reservations.

 

[lipejeff]

Thanks for all the input, it is going to boil down to what food options are at the restaurants. PP is correct, we do not eat much fast food and eat lots of fruits and veggies. My youngest eats more than the rest of us combined and we were trying to avoid having a backpack full of food to lug around. From what I have read so far, even if we did opt for a dining plan, we'd still need extra snacks for him. So, if you're at Disney August 9th - 15th, we will be the family pulling the cooler behind us.

 

[maxiesmom]

Thanks for all the input, it is going to boil down to what food options are at the restaurants. PP is correct, we do not eat much fast food and eat lots of fruits and veggies. My youngest eats more than the rest of us combined and we were trying to avoid having a backpack full of food to lug around. From what I have read so far, even if we did opt for a dining plan, we'd still need extra snacks for him. So, if you're at Disney August 9th - 15th, we will be the family pulling the cooler behind us.

Make that pushing your cooler in a stroller. You are not allowed to pull anything behind you. I wanted to add that in case you are really thinking of bringing a cooler with you. You can, but you can't pull it.

 

[aretha30]

We have always gotten the QS DP in the past but when we were there in 2012 my husband I realized how much money we were wasting. The only person in our family who drinks soda is my DH and we really never ate (or wanted) the dessert after each meal. It was too much food. Like others have said I wanted to eat and then later have a cupcake or ice cream for a treat not with my meal. We decided for our upcoming trip (in 26 days) to go without the DDP and just bring gift cards.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Have two young boys and we will be heading to Disney the first of August. Is the dining plan worth the extra expense?

4 years ago, we thought it was a great deal. Now, for our family, it is not cost effective. We spend less paying out of pocket. In order to still "pre pay" we buy Disney gift cards and then use those towards our meals when we are there.

 

[jerseygal]

I think it is definitely worth it, BUT imo, it requires a lot of ADVANCE planning to get the highly rated restaurants. With that being said, you mentioned that your trip is in August. My guess is that many good reservation times for dinner are now gone and have been gone since many are planners and do reservations 180 days in advance...Sometimes, imo, the downside is that you are held very stringently to a reservation and can't deviate from that time.

All of our trips, we have rented a car and one year decided not to eat any dinners on site and ate off Disney property. It worked out quite well, but our boys were much older and we had freedom with bedtime, etc...Sometimes, with young children who have been in the parks most of the day are much too tired to be venturing out in a car off site....

I would say YES to the dining plan and would recommend before purchasing it taking a look at table service restaurants for times and dates that you would like to make a reservation at and determinining if there is anything left!

GOOD LUCK PLANNING!

 

[nat8199]

The dining plan works for us, and we get the DxDDP. My kids wake up early, so we start each day with a character buffet. We then have a TS lunch and a TS dinner. We just don't enjoy counter service. It is way too much hassle with the three kids. We also don't find TS to be too slow, since we usually order our food with our drinks and get the check with dessert.

 

[JZCubed]

My boys are 9 and 7.

There are typically two schools of thought about Disney Dining Plan (DDP):

1.) People who like to prepay for their vacation and/or prefer not being hassled about food money when their children explore on their own.

This is truly a personal matter. I'm venturing a guess that your boys are too young to take a walkabout by themselves, so it's a question of do you want the convenience of coming home to fewer bills?

2.) People who are hoping for discounted food costs.

This gets tricky (as I'm sure you've seen from the 40+ posts).

You have to do the math for your family. Some people find added value, others (like myself) have never been able to make the DDP work to my advantage since we prefer table service to qwik service. Deluxe Dining option has not worked for us either, because it pretty much only works out if you plan on three meals a day and/or lots of character meals.

But words of caution even if the math works for your family - are you sure that your plan is workable? One rainy day and/or one day of a tired child and your best laid plans for a meal may have to be changed. That one change can make the math work against you. Leaving DDP credits on the table limits your ability to realize any reduction in cash value. But as mentioned, your value may be in the convenience.

 

[lustergirl]

For my upcoming trip I have the free dining promo, the quick service plan. I was just looking at the price. $41.99 a day per adult person. That includes two counter service. I priced out menus on all ears net and don't even think my food will run that much if that is all I eat per day. You can get a quick service meal for like $12.99 a meal so you are coming under the plan amount per day. But it is free so I guess I will take it.

 

[jerseygal]

Did you mention that some have reported losing reservations after DDP was added?
I keep confirmation numbers as well as a hard copy of dining reservations from MDE..I would imagine if this happened, that Disney would be mandated to reinstate the reservations if you have documentation!

 

[1stvisit0909]

Did you mention that some have reported losing reservations after DDP was added? I keep confirmation numbers as well as a hard copy of dining reservations from MDE..I would imagine if this happened, that Disney would be mandated to reinstate the reservations if you have documentation!

It's fast pass reservations being lost if dining is added after the FP are booked.

Apparently it's not a "modification" but a rebooking which causes the system to drop the FP.

Reports are even with proof you don't get them back easily.

 

[Aurora0427]

4 years ago, we thought it was a great deal. Now, for our family, it is not cost effective. We spend less paying out of pocket. In order to still "pre pay" we buy Disney gift cards and then use those towards our meals when we are there.

I love the gift card idea!

 

[Aurora0427]

QS DDP: Adults $42, kids(3-9) $16.03 (= 2QS, one snack, mug) regular DDP: Adults $60.64, Kids(3-9): $19.23 (one TS, one QS, one snack, mug) kids under 3: free at buffets, oop any items bought for them expensive single credit buffet: $38.33, kids: $19.16 low end TS menu dinner $18.50+$3.49+$2.99 +tax = $26.5high $ TS upper end menu dinner = $44 I think all $ TS menu dinners for kids: $11.45 most adult QS meals: breakfast up to $13.80, L/D: up to $19.75 Kids QS meals: $6 snack: up to $4.5, as low as $1.30 (apple) So adults probably max out about $68 value per day - if you get all components, get the most expensive items, and pay an additional gratuity ( 18% of $68 is about $12.30) Kids max out about $29.66 (buffet, QS lunch, max snack) But....if you go for QS breakfast, use snack for less expensive item- even if you use all entitlements you could come out spending $60.64 for a value of only $42! In practice, the last time we used it, we did a mix of buffets, didn't get all our desserts or drinks, but mostly picked more expensive snacks...and didn't break even with DDP. (and that was a few years ago, when prices were more favorable) And I'm not pricing it out fully, but last I did, signature dinners don't really work out as a good value. Narcoosee's is about as good as it gets if you get the lobster surf n turf dinner ($72) plus dessert ($10)plus signature coffee ($6.30) or about $93.50 (divided by two is about $46.75)...any other entrée works out to about $64.60, (divided by two is $32.30) - or lower. So using a TS voucher at a signature dinner and it is worth about $32, or less in most cases, which is less than the cost of a buffet. Narcoosee's is great...but I don't think it's twice as good as Kona Café. Oh, the DDP is almost always a losing proposition if you are a vegetarian unless you eat most your TS at buffets.

Mickey lover- what do you mean a value of only $42 per day? If the ddp costs $60.64 per person per day, wouldn't you just have to eat that dollar amount per day to break even? What am I missing? That's a serious question, I'm not being glib! Thanks!

 

[Aurora0427]

The dining plan works for us, and we get the DxDDP. My kids wake up early, so we start each day with a character buffet. We then have a TS lunch and a TS dinner. We just don't enjoy counter service. It is way too much hassle with the three kids. We also don't find TS to be too slow, since we usually order our food with our drinks and get the check with dessert.

This is what we do when my husband and I go without kids. We save $$$ because we eat and the more expensive restaurants, and can work our day around food.

 

[Acedink]

Like some pp's, I love it. I like having as much paid "up front" as possible. But that aside, you can eat almost anywhere, and for the buffet/family style, you can eat as much as you want.

And as previously stated, I like not having to worry if I want to get the steak, or whatever is on the menu. Normally, it is covered. I feel like you get a lot of food, even at the QS restaurants.

 

[sharonabe]

Mickey lover- what do you mean a value of only $42 per day? If the ddp costs $60.64 per person per day, wouldn't you just have to eat that dollar amount per day to break even? What am I missing? That's a serious question, I'm not being glib! Thanks!

I think what Mickeylover means is if you use your QS at breakfast, have a cheaper snack and choose unwisely at an a la carte TS for dinner, you will only "spend" about $42 for that day's DDP which actually cost you $60.

 

[Princess_Nikki]

I would say no. Now matter how I have tried the numbers, it was never worth it.

 

[jco_direwolf]

For my upcoming trip I have the free dining promo, the quick service plan. I was just looking at the price. $41.99 a day per adult person. That includes two counter service. I priced out menus on all ears net and don't even think my food will run that much if that is all I eat per day. You can get a quick service meal for like $12.99 a meal so you are coming under the plan amount per day. But it is free so I guess I will take it.

The real cost is if there is a room only discount that you are missing because of it. 20% or so off room may be better.

 

[Jenn55]

Quick question - I'm looking at doing the dinning plan on our next trip.. December 2015 soo far away!!! Anyways lol, I was using a DDP calculator and I was wondering. If we check in on the 1st and check out on the 9th, that's 8 nights, 9 days. Do we get 8 table service and 8 quick service meals or 9? We're spending the entire day on the 9th at Epcot and then taxing over to orlando at the end of the night so I'm just wondering if I want to use a table service credit the day we land or the day we switch resorts.

Also in relation to other ppls posts, we used gift cards, which was a pain to get cause in canada we don't have them in our targets or other stores and u can't ship them from the website. Had to go down to the states for a weekend and buy them at the walmart! But I digress, we used them for meals and such, my son and I and I found them very useful but also had a hard time keeping track of how much was on each card at different points of the trip once we started using them

 

[MakiraMarlena]

There's only one answer for this, it depends.

It depends on several things. What do you want it for? Do you think you will save money on it, or do you just want to feel like you don't need to look at prices on menus or whip out your wallet to pay for meals? For some, even if it's unlikely they will save money, they want it for the freedom they believe it gives them.

As for saving money there are a couple of questions to ask yourself about your

Do you have children under 10 years old?
Do you intend to have at least one table service meal every day of your trip, and make that meal lunch or dinner (not breakfast)?
Do you concentrate on buffets, character meals, family style or fixed price dining?
Do you vastlyl prefer the signature (2 credit) restaurants? If you do, you might look into the deluxe plan.

If you can answer the first 3 questions "yes" then you might as well get the plan because you will at least break even.

Here's another set of questions:

Are you happier just stopping off at counter service restaurants when you get hungry rather than trying to stick to a mealtime schedule?
Does your party tend to share meals, skip desserts or order free (not bottled) water as your beverage?
Do you have picky or very light eaters?

If you say yes to the these questions, it's unlikely the plan will save you money, so get it only if you want that all-inclusive feeling.

If we check in on the 1st and check out on the 9th, that's 8 nights, 9 days. Do we get 8 table service and 8 quick service meals or 9?

It's always based on nights - depending on which plan you purchase you will receive credits based on 8 nights. On the regular plan each person is allotted 8 QS, 8 TS and 8 snacks.