meal plan

[Jeanine3kids]

I was wondering if anyone thinks the meal plan is stil worth it, it will cost my family about 1600!! for 10 days

 

[iloveokw]

You will get many different opinions....for my family of three we say NO. Have done it in the past ....never again. It used to be a good deal. Besides the $1600 you will have to pay tax and tip, be worried about making it to your ADR's (which if you don't have then a definite NO) and being worried about "getting your money's worth". Take the extra $$$ go to the grocery store, eat in breakfast, snacks and meals when everyone is tired and tired of eating out. We also eat most of our meals offsite.

 

[missymouse]

Not sure if it is worth it or not, but for our family of 5 we do it since our son is a huge eater, and husband isn't too far behind. We love being able to order anything we want on the menu that sounds good instead how we usually order in a restaurant scanning for the cheapest item that sounds good. My husband likes it because he doesn't care how much the bill is and doesn't feel like he is constantly opening his wallet. We just pull out a KTTW card and our Disney visa reward card to cover the tip and we are good to go. We view it as a pre-paid plan. Usually we almost break even. Some trips we come out $20 to $40 ahead on the food, and other trips the same amount behind. It depends how you want to eat. For us we want a TS every day, and are good with CS for breakfast or lunch.

 

[TDC Nala]

Tax is included in the price, tips are not.

Best way to know if it's going to save you money is to take a look at where and when your group would eat, and what they might order. If you're talking about the basic dining plan (1 TS, 1 CS, 1 snack per night) then I would say you'd pretty much be saving money if:

You book a table service dinner every night (not breakfast or lunch)
Most of these dinners are at character, buffet or family style restaurants OR
If most dinners are at a la carte restaurants, the majority of your party prefers to order more expensive menu items and will each want their own dessert and non-water beverage.

Other eating patterns will have to do some research to determine the extent of savings to be realized.

Some users place a non-monetary value on the convenience of having most if not all meals prepaid.

 

[Dean]

I was wondering if anyone thinks the meal plan is stil worth it, it will cost my family about 1600!! for 10 days

It depends. Generally shorter stays, bigger eaters 3-9, big eaters in general and those who get the most expensive options at the more exp places will get the best value. Time of arrival and departure also have an effect. Depending on family makeup and likely choices, the TIW card might be a better fit for you. We were there for a week and spent about $825 for 3 (2A/1C) and what we got would have been just over $1200 had we paid OOP for the same thing. Generally we would have gotten the same as we did with the plan except for some of the desserts. A guess is we spent about the same as we would have otherwise and got more so no savings but added value. The hardest plan to get value is the Quick Service plan, the easiest is the Deluxe plan, we were on the middle plan.

 

[lukikam]

It's worth it if one of your highlights of your Disney day is to EAT!
We are the kind of family that plans our day based on the TS meal we're going to eat! We always come out way ahead because we order the most expensive thing on the menu, and now my 11 year old is in love with prime rib and other choice cuts of steak!
It takes some planning, but it can be worth it, and make the trip more fun.

 

[AirGoofy]

I don't think it is.

If you add them up item vs item - no meal plan vs meal plan - then yes, the DPs are cheaper. But, when you consider, do I want to eat this way, then no, it isn't. We are a family of four - 2 adults, 10 dd, 7 dd and prefer TS and/or signature meals. We like to split an appetizer, each order a meal, and maybe split a dessert, plus have alcohol. Depending on the plans, it's an appetizer for each and/or dessert for each. Or, how many really want those QS desserts for EVERY meal?

So, I actually added it a couple times (I know, nerd). And, both times, it was cheaper using our DVC discount and eating the way and where we wanted as opposed to the DP or DxDP. (Never did QSDP.) But, we didn't get to leave with 50 Mickey Rice Krispie treats the last time without the plan.

 

[cheezNE1]

It's used to be so worth it when it included tips and appetizers, now the price went up and less to offer. But then again, so are all the restaurant prices. I was debating whether to go with it or not, but after pricing the restaurants, especially for character buffets, then its worth it. I most likely will be dinning at character buffets. Looking at Chef mickey's where children cost around $20 ( correct me if i'm wrong), then the DDP pays for itself right there. I guess it all depends how you dine. Although it be cheaper ordering groceries and cook, but I wouldn't want to do that on my vacation. Time cooking is time wasted when you can be at the park.

 

[rentayenta]

For us, no way. 5 desserts at dinner?

 

[luckyman_apd]

It's a loaded question. What is worth it to you or me, might not be to others. Me personally, I do not like to use it anymore as we spend more time in restaurants fulfilling all the credits for the plan, then we would without it. IF you normally eat that way without the plan, then of course it's worth it money wise. But if not, then it might not be $ worth it. I don't like the planning all the ADR that come with it. I like planning a few, but not one for every day. 2 or 3 for my whole trip. That's about it. We are movers. We don't stay in one place long, our kids are picky eaters and get all out of whack on vacation. The villa kitchens are great for us. We will make them quick meals, and if we want to, we'll eat in the parks.

 

[akl-fan]

We find that we eat more and don't get any great value for money. i don't think we will take it out again.

 

[backyardponder]

For longer trips, or multiple trips in a year, getting the TIW card is best for us. It also gives us a discount on alcoholic beverages.

The dining plan doesn't work for us since we rarely get desert.

 

[shell8558]

Not anymore. Now that my kids are considered adults, it's just too expensive for us.

 

[KPOP]

I'm actually considering the quick serve plan for my family trip this year -
no need to worry about the ADRs
fits our park style better - just grab and go meals...

 

[crisi]

We do better with the tables In wonderland card, but we are lushes who drink a bottle of wine with dinner.

 

[permavac]

It's just me and my DH and, for us, it doesn't really work. We can't guarantee that we will want to eat at a table service restaurant every day so that rules out the table service plan because to get your money's worth you need to. On the other hand, we definitely eat at table service restaurants enough to rule out using the quick service plan since to get your value for that one you can't eat at table service restaurants at all. But honestly the major issue for us is that we don't usually want our dessert from the same place we had our meal and we definitely don't eat 2 desserts every day. With the dining plan we feel at lot of pressure to eat "what's coming to us" so end up eating extra desserts that we wouldn't have ordered in the first place. Even the drinks that are included - we normally just have water with our meals but are tempted to order other beverages just because we can Bottom line, we save money NOT getting the dining plan because we order what we want, where we want and we save a lot of empty calories too which may be even more important than the money!

All that said, we are veterans and if you haven't gone to Disney a ton of times the dining plan is a nice way to experience the table service restaurants without feeling that you have to choose the cheapest thing on the menu. It is also a good idea as "pre-paid" dining (like others have mentioned) since the sticker shock of the menu prices can send you reeling - especially for larger families.

Terri

 

[Dean]

I'm actually considering the quick serve plan for my family trip this year -
no need to worry about the ADRs
fits our park style better - just grab and go meals...

It's very difficult to make the numbers work on the QS plan. About the only way to make it come out number wise is to include higher options at WP express, Pepper Market and the combo plate at Cosmic Rays (now dinner only) plus getting higher end options at all places and getting around $4 per snack average. The other way is for shorter stays if the mugs are of value to you. Considering there is risk if one has to leave early or becomes ill, it's a big gamble for most people. YMMV.

 

[arthur06]

For us, there is NO WAY I would pay $1600 for the DP for my family for 10 days of feed.

We are those people that cheap when it comes to eating out and the opposite when eating at home. Our kids are still family small (2 under 5) so we take breaks during the day.

I could easily order $200-$400 from GG or WeGoShop and get 10 days worth of food and drinks and spend $150 on special treats (Mickey Bars, RKT, etc) and come out so farther ahead.

Look at the math and eating styles of your family and you will find out if it is worth it for your family.

 

[goofydad99]

The quick service plan worked well for us last Summer.

That is what I would suggest you try. I don't like being tied down to reservations. We love eating at WGPE.

 

[KPOP]

It's very difficult to make the numbers work on the QS plan. About the only way to make it come out number wise is to include higher options at WP express, Pepper Market and the combo plate at Cosmic Rays (now dinner only) plus getting higher end options at all places and getting around $4 per snack average. The other way is for shorter stays if the mugs are of value to you. Considering there is risk if one has to leave early or becomes ill, it's a big gamble for most people. YMMV.

The quick service plan worked well for us last Summer.

That is what I would suggest you try. I don't like being tied down to reservations. We love eating at WGPE.

Hi,

Can you tell me what the WP express, and the WGPE are? I'm not familiar with all the abbreviations. (Once you tell me, I'll probably think - duh, of course)

Ken