$$ on Disney Dining plan?

[marygraycesmom]

Hi! Need to know the price of the Dining Plan that Disney offers. And does every person in our group have to buy it? Do you find that it's worth the price? I would like to not have to carry so much cash with me at the parks, and think this would be great.
Thanks for your advice and input!
leigh narron

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

Here's a good FAQ, also go over to the Dining Plan board.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1023429

 

[jbdreamer]

No, I don't think I would ever spend the money for the DDP. It's something like $39 a day per person. My DH and I can spend less then $39 a day together. Usually My DH are satisfied splitting a CS meal for lunch and our own CS meals for dinner. We'll maybe go to 1 or 2 sit down restaurant the entire trip. But I'd never need to order appetizers and desserts.

However since it's free this fall, I will be trying out the DDP for the first time.

 

[pezpam]

The DDP works for us (1A, 1C) because DD loves the character meals. OK, OK, I do too. For about what we'd normally spend on CS meals, we get more options. However, it doesn't work for everyone, so you have to crunch some numbers and decide if you mind planning ahead for reservations.

As a rule of thumb, if you like to have one TS or character meal each day, the DDP stands a good chance of being a good deal for you. If you prefer to eat very little, have kids of certain ages/appetites, would normally eat 3 TS meals a day, or just love eating CS meals (either a preference or for time flexibility), then it may not be a good choice for you.

 

[DisneyArk]

I would like to not have to carry so much cash with me at the parks, and think this would be great.

I wanted to comment on carrying cash in the parks. If you are staying on site you can charge food to your room (using your key/ MYW ticket). At the end of your stay they will charge it to your credit card. We usually don't carry more than $20 in cash to the parks each day. We lock our cash, plane tickets, license, credit cards etc in the safe in the room.

We've taken our sons to WDW twice and never paid per day in food what we're paying for the dining plan in May. So you can spend much less if you eat mainly CS meals.

I agree that its helpful to look at the menus and determine what you might order and how much you think you would spend.

We're trying the DDP in May because my husband loves to try lots of different things and I won't have to say "Please order something cheaper" or "Do you have to order both an appetizer and dessert?" Our sons are already so excited about ordering dessert with each meal.

 

[baileybelle]

Leigh

In my opinion, if you plan on eating a TS meal (including character meals) and a CS meal every day, I would definitely do the DDP. We plan on doing LTT, CP, Primetime, Sci-fi, WG Puck Cafe, Tony's, R&C and Chefs de France.

I used the menus on allearsnet to figure out how much we would spend and we will easily save about $600 dollars or more over 8 nights. We will be 5 adults. Go to this link http://allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm and figure out what you think you will spend on meals and then figure out how much the dining plan will cost you. Good luck

 

[kcashner]

As you've gathered from the varied responses, it really depends on how your family eats. If you do one "sit down" meal each day, the DDP is a good deal. When my DD was little, we usually did a character meal each day. Now that she is a teen, we are using the DDP to try more "grown up" restaurants.

If you eat mainly CS or eat in your room, it's not a good deal. If you have a car and go off property, you can definitely eat for less.

My logic is that a character meal costs $28 plus tax and tip--total about $35 for an adult. The DDP is $38, so you are paying $3 for a CS meal and a snack item. That's a great deal. Most other restaurants are more expensive than character dinners, so it becomes a better deal.

Bottom line....it depends on how your family eats.