Opinions on the Dining Plan for Our Case Appreciated

[amalone1013]

Hello All!

Here's the scoop: My fiance and I are planning on going to Disneyworld for about 2 weeks in either September or October 2017 for our honeymoon. Neither of us have ever been. Originally, I was thinking of renting DVC points for a studio. I had figured that the Regular Dining Plan would not be worth it for us if we were paying for it.

I've been reading more about it with the free dining dates coming out. What I am wondering is, do you think it would be worth it to stay in a moderate resort instead for $40-$70 more per night if we qualify for free dining? I didn't want to be tied to it, which is why I wouldn't pay, but if it's free it might help us save a little money? I'd like to do a few more nice restaurants/TS for our honeymoon. I don't think we'd want to upgrade to the deluxe, just use our credits in more expensive places and pay OOP for anything else.

All of these prices are based on this Fall 2016. I'd like to do the studio or a mod resort since it's our honeymoon. Usually we are budget travelers.

Opinions are welcome! We are newbies here lol

 

[wilkeliza]

Hello All!

Here's the scoop: My fiance and I are planning on going to Disneyworld for about 2 weeks in either September or October 2017 for our honeymoon. Neither of us have ever been. Originally, I was thinking of renting DVC points for a studio. I had figured that the Regular Dining Plan would not be worth it for us if we were paying for it.

I've been reading more about it with the free dining dates coming out. What I am wondering is, do you think it would be worth it to stay in a moderate resort instead for $40-$70 more per night if we qualify for free dining? I didn't want to be tied to it, which is why I wouldn't pay, but if it's free it might help us save a little money? I'd like to do a few more nice restaurants/TS for our honeymoon. I don't think we'd want to upgrade to the deluxe, just use our credits in more expensive places and pay OOP for anything else.

All of these prices are based on this Fall 2016. I'd like to do the studio or a mod resort since it's our honeymoon. Usually we are budget travelers.

Opinions are welcome! We are newbies here lol

In my opinion if you wouldn't pay for it and would feel tied down then go with the Room Only discount to save money. If you are typically "budget" as you mention and wouldn't order the most expensive things off the menu or might often skip apps or dessert then for 2 adults you'll either break even or come out paying for if you get DDP and a mod instead of just taking a room only discount and paying out of pocket for food.

Also since it is your honeymoon and first Disney trip I would shy away from park hoppers so the extra cost of needing either park hopper or water park & more tickets would end up costing you more to get the free dinning.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

You would need to add up how much you would pay buying food for yourselves, to determine if free dining would or would not save you any money, especially if you would feel that you can skip use of your dining credits because they were "free." You're offsetting them by purchasing a full price room and tickets with park hopper or Water Parks add on. Would you have gotten those ordinarily?

Free dining is a resort discount, like any other resort discount. Take into consideration the availability of other room discounts that you could use.

 

[Pumbaa_]

A deluxe resort is wonderful. Just having the ability to have natural light in the room without lookyloos is worth it

 

[Lisa F]

2 weeks is a LONG time to keep up that pace of eating. You could slow it a bit by doing lots of signature restaurants but.. I'm not sure I could do it. I am doing a split stay for my one week and doing DxDDP for 4 nights then slowing down the pace last 3.

Also I would personally not give up a DVC room for free dining at a moderate, unless you are talking about OKW or SSR which have similar locations to moderates... but being on the monorail or walking to epcot is just too awesome to pass up for me.

 

[amalone1013]

Thanks everyone! Good thing I have lots of time to do some calculations. I need to menu browse too, because I'd like to eat at a few nice restaurants, but I know there's a few that we probably won't be interested in (don't eat seafood, cuisines we don't like).

I do currently have down 10day hopper tickets with the waterpark pass, mainly because I wanted to start big on ticket price with the option of scaling back. (technically, in my spreadsheet I have priced out 6-10 day tickets, with and without hoppers and waterpark pass, and Disney prices vs Undercover Tourist)

I've debated the hoppers too. We are typically go-go-go people on trips so we're going to have to find a balance between that and honeymoon pace (though we are not people who could handle lying on the beach for a week, honeymoon or not!). I'd also like to overlap our trip with the food and wine festival, because why not? in my mind.

 

[Lisa F]

Thanks everyone! Good thing I have lots of time to do some calculations. I need to menu browse too, because I'd like to eat at a few nice restaurants, but I know there's a few that we probably won't be interested in (don't eat seafood, cuisines we don't like).

I do currently have down 10day hopper tickets with the waterpark pass, mainly because I wanted to start big on ticket price with the option of scaling back. (technically, in my spreadsheet I have priced out 6-10 day tickets, with and without hoppers and waterpark pass, and Disney prices vs Undercover Tourist)

I've debated the hoppers too. We are typically go-go-go people on trips so we're going to have to find a balance between that and honeymoon pace (though we are not people who could handle lying on the beach for a week, honeymoon or not!). I'd also like to overlap our trip with the food and wine festival, because why not? in my mind.

Honestly with two whole weeks, you'll find your pace. You will not feel under the gun to go-go-go because you have a lot of time to do pretty much everything you want, more than once even... so you'll just go at your pace and not worry about it... if you go at it hard the first week and back off the second week, it's all good

I just personally think that 14 nights is a lot of time to be tied down to the structure of the DDP. If you are go-go-going a lot I bet you will do a lot of snacking too.

 

[kreckl]

I think otherwise. If you are paying for DVC points anyway, I would choose FD. The meals really add up at Disney, and you are on a special trip. You will be able to juggle your points any way you like. Eat at nicer, signature dinners and not have to worry about it at all, see a dinner show, etc. You would also be able to grab QS anyplace. You don't need to keep up anything, really. You get one QS a day, but actually you would be getting 14 QS and 14TS credits to use however you like. Say 2 QS one day and skip the next. If you are used to budget accommodations I would think you would love a moderate and free dining

 

[GillianP1301]

I think to know for sure you definitely need to do some menu searching and start adding up the dollar value of what you expect you would eat over the 2 weeks to know for sure which option is best financially.

I would think the free dining should work out in your favour, especially given it's your Honeymoon where I'm sure you will want to take advantage of some nice dining options. 14TS & 14QS over 14 days is not an abundance of credits and I would expect to still be paying some OOP meals in that scenario. Based on what you've described, I don't think there would be enough OOP to justify the deluxe plan though.

I would recommend charting out your 2 weeks, think about how often and where you want to eat. If you can't come up with 14TS credits worth of sit down dining, then the dining plan won't be for you.

 

[vratiana]

I vote Yes to park hoppers during Food & Wine! Epcot already has so many great places to eat, plus Fiod & Wine, so I like the option to pop in whenever we feel like it.

 

[SunnieRN]

A 2 week Disneymoon sounds wonderful! Congratulations! I've stayed in many DVC resorts and some moderate and deluxe resorts. To me, a moderate with a king bed would be a comfortable and middle priced option. Definitely a little nicer than a value, but without a microwave that would be in a DVC studio.

As far as the dining plan, there are some signatures that have menus that are not a specific type of cuisine. CA grill, during the fireworks, Yachtsman steakhouse if you like steaks. If you're there during food and wine you could do signature dining two or three nights, eat 'around the world two or three nights and have 7 - 8 single credit breakfasts, lunches or dinners. You could buy a 10 day ticket with Water parks and more, without hoppers and do two days in each park, plus two extra days wherever you loved being the most!!

On the days you want to relax you could go to a water park! After looking at menus, you will be able to decide what fits your plans the best! A lot of QS meals are large enough to split, so that can help in your overall budget when deciding to do signature dining also!

Again, congratulations!!

 

[senadler]

I would think that you would want your plans locked down for your honeymoon without wondering if free dining will apply to your dates. The 2016 dates were just recently released, and availability was not good. I would not schedule your trip with speculation that the dining might be available. Also, for a 14 day trip, even if you are go-go-go typically, I think you will find yourself wanting some resort time, and the DVC properties offer more amenities at the resorts.