question about dining plan

[hb02]

Okay I am officially stuck on this question ... to do the dining plan or to not to the dining plan... that is the question! My boyfriend & I will be the only two going on this trip and I can't decide if it is worth spending the extra 500-700 (depending on which package we get) for the meal plan! I think i could use that money in many other ways and maybe even get a nicer sit down meal instead of the "quick" meals if we go the cheaper basic meal plan - any advice you could give me I would really appreciate it as this is my first time to disney in YEARS and my first time planning myself and i am beyond stressed !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is it hard trying to find restaurants who accept the meal plans and trying to remember if you already used your " snack " for that day? That is the stuff I am trying to avoid so thats why i am leaning away from the meal plan & also to save money.

 

[flutterby3744]

If you go to the WDW site or allears they have menus with pricing. What I did was look through the menus and price out what I thought we would order and compare the prices. For us it works out about equal, but the Dining plan is worth the convenience factor. My DH easily gets "sticker shock" and when he's paying for every meal in "real time" it sucks a little of the magic out.

There is a calculator floating around here too that asks you questions and calculates out the prices and comparisons for you. I'm not sure where it is, but hopefully someone else can link it. It's really helpful.

 

[flutterby3744]

Found it!

http://www.distripplanner.com

 

[CWdreamer]

Some like the dining plan and some don't. I used it twice and I loved the fact that everything was paid for in advance and that I really didn't need to look at the menu prices and just ordered what I wanted. Credits for meals and snacks are lumped for the entire trip so if you want to use two meals on one day and three on another, you can do that. It was easy to keep track of how many credits were left because they were listed on each receipt that I received. The only downfall that I saw was that we had a few credits left over each time and that was because the food portions were so large, we ate a few less meals.

With that said, this time, I have purchased Disney gift cards and will charge all meals to my room then pay them off with the gift cards. This way I can still have my meals paid for before I leave. However, I do think that I will need to watch menu prices to ensure that I don't go over budget. I will be interested to see which method I like better.

There isn't a right or wrong answer, just what you are comfortable with.

 

[Darkside]

In my immediate family there are about 10 of us(kids, grandkids, etc.) I go ahead and buy the standard dining plan, which has always been more than enough food for everyone. I save an average of $500 per trip on food this way. Things to note: you do not have to use the snack everyday, so if you forget you can buy what's left of your snacks on the way out of WDW or even use a couple of sit down meals and have dinner at one of the signature restaurants. The dining plan has a lot of flexibility, however, I have found many of the sit down restaurants start getting booked up 6 months out.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Okay I am officially stuck on this question ... to do the dining plan or to not to the dining plan... that is the question! My boyfriend & I will be the only two going on this trip and I can't decide if it is worth spending the extra 500-700 (depending on which package we get) for the meal plan! I think i could use that money in many other ways and maybe even get a nicer sit down meal instead of the "quick" meals if we go the cheaper basic meal plan - any advice you could give me I would really appreciate it as this is my first time to disney in YEARS and my first time planning myself and i am beyond stressed !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is it hard trying to find restaurants who accept the meal plans and trying to remember if you already used your " snack " for that day? That is the stuff I am trying to avoid so thats why i am leaning away from the meal plan & also to save money.

I always got the dining plan... usually during "Free Dining"... but last July I went by myself for 6 days. I was debating between the Quick Service plan or no plan and I ultimately decided to forego the dining plan. I found that I will probably never pay for any dining plan - I came out ahead by paying OOP.

During my solo trip, I ate what I wanted when I wanted. Mostly QS meals but I did throw 2 table service meals in that week. Over the course of my trip, I would have needed/used:

8 snack credits - the dining plans would have covered 6 so I would have paid OOP for 2 of them anyway or I would have gone without them

8 QS credits - the QS plan I was considering would have covered 12 so I would have paid for 4 credits that I never used

2 TS credits - again, the QS plan wouldn't have covered either of these so I would have paid OOP anyway or I would have gone without them


In total, I spent $230.04 in food and tips for the 2 TS meals over 6 days. At that time I believe the dining plan was $37-$38 per person. Pretty much break-even in price but vastly different in experience (I got what I wanted instead of what Disney dictated I get). YMMV


If you like the thought of the prepaid plan/meals, get a bunch of gift cards before your trip at Target and pay for your food that way.


ETA: I drank water (I took a few different flavors of Mio along with me to flavor it) with most of my meals and rarely bought soda. Plus I rarely got dessert. Both of these things cut a ton of money off my prices.

 

[deserrai]

I have waffled back and forth on this for a long time. I'm going to try the dining plan for the first time on our next trip. I've never gotten it before because I didn't want to be tied to any specific plans and I was afraid I wouldn't use all the credits. Also, I think the cost will be about the same. I'm kind of looking forward to having it all prepaid and just ordering whatever I want though. And I figured if we don't use it all, if it was going to cost the same either way, I'm not really out any money. It has caused me to book more TS ADR's than I ever have before so we will see how I like that.

 

[Redmic]

To me it comes down to whether or not you are dessert eaters. The dining plans include 2 desserts a day. If you don't normally eat sweets much, you will do better paying out of pocket.

 

[maddiebee]

My bf and I got the meal plan last year and loves the convenience of it. This year I did all the math with one of the calculators and even looked through every menu to see what I would want to order and then added a few bucks. It seems like I'll end up saving at least 150$ while still not having to be concerned with the price of my meal, if we pay oop. The meals at Disney are always decent portions as well and I rarely had any room for dessert. Most of them came back to the room with us and didn't get eaten. I'd probably prefer to get an app over a dessert anyway, which is something you'd have to pay oop for. You can't get apps with the meal plan.

Were gunna go the gift card route this year and I'm actually really excited about it because it feels like well have a lot more flexibility. I would definitely check out one of the dining plan calculators and see what would make sense for you guys.

 

[mickeynut1]

There isn't a right or wrong answer, just what you are comfortable with.

I agree. The DDP works for some, but not for others. We have done both the regular DDP and the DlxDDP and we love both. It's all a matter of personal preference, IMO, as some will get the DDP as it will save them money, while others will do it just for the convenience whether they save money, break even, or spend more. But in the end, it's all what you feel comfortable with doing. Everyone vacations differently and while paying OOP works and saves money for some people, the DDP does the same thing for others. Good luck.

 

[Day-Day]

When traveling with kids we always visted the grocery. We ate most breakfasts and several lunches at our resort room. I always calculated our food costs much lower paying out of pocket.

I will take another look now with our next trip being just my wife and me. We have several sit-down meals scheduled but not every day. We will have a car and usually have time to eat outside of the parks where we can get a good meal for much lower cost. I'll try to post back after I do some more figuring.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We are a family of four and we did the DDP for many trips but finally gave it up two trips ago and will likely never go back. The DDP was kind of a waste for us. We always had QS and snack credits leftover. Plus, we hardly ever order desserts, which you get with every meal.

Sometimes we like to just order appetizers for a meal, and on the DDP you can't do that. It was just too much food for us.

In April, we ended up spending $1080 on food/alcohol for 11 days (we did use the TiW card though). The DDP would have cost us about $1500. Clearly we came out ahead, even though we still enjoyed 7 TS meals including character and signature meals.

The DDP just doesn't make sense for us and the way we eat, but you have to do the math for your situation. Good luck!

 

[Lynne M]

Moving to the Dining Plan board.

 

[Kevenswife2]

Okay I am officially stuck on this question ... to do the dining plan or to not to the dining plan... that is the question! My boyfriend & I will be the only two going on this trip and I can't decide if it is worth spending the extra 500-700 (depending on which package we get) for the meal plan! I think i could use that money in many other ways and maybe even get a nicer sit down meal instead of the "quick" meals if we go the cheaper basic meal plan - any advice you could give me I would really appreciate it as this is my first time to disney in YEARS and my first time planning myself and i am beyond stressed !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is it hard trying to find restaurants who accept the meal plans and trying to remember if you already used your " snack " for that day? That is the stuff I am trying to avoid so thats why i am leaning away from the meal plan & also to save money.

I feel others have done a good job answering your questions. I just wanted to answer two little ones which I think were missed.

No, it is not hard to find a restaurant which accepts the dining plan. It seems as most all do. Also, you can use as many or as few meal credits/snack credits in a day as you want to. If you feel like 3 meals and 6 snacks in one day, you can do it! It's very flexible.

Each receipt you receive has a total of your remaining meal and snack credits listed on the bottom.

I chose the quick service plan more as a convience than a money saver.

 

[Day-Day]

I did some new figuring as promised using the DDP Calculator and it appears that paying out-of-pocket is still the way to go for me.

 

[chinarider]

I still have been teetering back and forth on this but, probably will remain without the dining plan this trip. There are just two of us ( myself and DD19). I think this will give us the opportunity to have some appetizers, maybe share a meal here and there and give us more flexibility. I dont know if we will come out ahead but I dont want to tell my daughter that she cant have the $15 dollar sandwich at a TS restaurant becasuse we're paying approximately $37.50 for the meal. Also, this way, if we feel towards the end of our trip that we want to do more CS places, we can cancel our ADR's and not be so tied down

 

[hb02]

Thank you all friends !!!!!

 

[mockmom3]

We will be paying OOP for our meals because I have a 10 and 14yr old who don't like or can't eat adult portions so it will come out cheaper buying kids meals.

 

[mousefan73]

I would say for 2 adults to really look at menus online and prices. We are a family of 4 with 2 kids, therefore we do a lot of buffetts and character meals. Those are pricey and when we work it all out, we come out ahead with the FD dining % compared to room % and no DP. Especially as kids will want those specialty park snacks.. We adults usually let our kids have our snack credits too.

The thing that annoy me the most with the lastest change a few yrs ago was that for TS, appetizers are no longer included. I like desert, but would rather give that up and have an appetizers. If paying OOP, I would most likely not pay 5 plus dollars for desert. that's 10 dollars plus tip on that you would save if you skip it.

The DP is also good for us as to be honest we are cheapos and under normal circumstances would never think of budgeting 1000 plus for FOOD.. I am not stupid I know in the end we are paying for FD ( Dining plans) but it does take the shock value out.

 

[Kelly1971]

i am going to Disney in april. I will be there with my 3 girls. I was going to book the deluxe dining plan. my husband is coming the last night we are there and will spend on day at the park with us.
can he eat off our extra credits? I don't want to add him to entire package bc he is only there one night. I am figuring we will have left overs. can this be done?