Quick - dining plan or not?

[marriedmarylander]

Going Monday for 6 nights.

Pros for us:
Not worry about budgetting tightly.
Nice to have sodas included instead of drinking tap water.
Have 3 TS meals planned now.

Cons for us:
A lot of food - desert every meal.
Going to IoA one day (could eat just snack/one meal there?)
What if we don't have time for 6 sit-down meals?

Apparently we have to decide today through our travel agent. They can't do it at the hotel desk since special tickets have to be made.

 

[VMM]

We passed on the meal plan for 2 reasons.

1. We thought we'd feel like we had to eat in order to be getting our money's worth even if we were not that hungry.

2. We will have a car and sometimes it's nice to "escape" from Disney and eat somewhere local. I know there is a nice steak house outside of Disney that we try to hit every year.

 

[GoN2WDW]

Although I know it is worth it if you usually order apps & desserts, we usually do not order them. We have a few PS booked, but the other meals we usually just grab something at the food court or a counter service place. I printed off the menus from allearsnet.com and added up to get an estimate of what we would spend. Even if we eat normally, we would still spend less without the meal plan. The only visit we purchased the meal plan previously was when it was just my husband and I and we knew we were planning to eat at nice restaurants every day. We ate it all, but it was much more than we needed!

 

[DisneyJen0504]

I agree with some of the others-it doesnt look like you will benefit much from the dining plan. Try to budget ahead of time.

 

[theresaruth]

We plan to take advantage of the Disney Dining Program this year because we received one of those email pin codes with free dining. We normally budget about $40 a day for food when it's an Adult only trip and this time it is. Now with the plan we can eat at a few of the places without worrying about going over the budget. Ok, point me to that PS number, I really have my work cut out for me. The hardest part now if the planning.

 

[DisneyCP2002]

The dining plan isn't worth it if your not a big eater or don't want to have to eat all that food. I did the dining plan once and won't do it again. It's easier just to budget.

 

[babar41]

DH and I have done the 3 meals a day plan, 2 meals a day, and no plan. We prefer the no plan. The 3 meals a day one had us eating way more than we wanted to just to get our money's worth. Plus we spent way too much time having the 3 and 4 course meals, time we could have been playing at Disney! The 2 meal fit us better, but when I did a cost comparison I found out we could have eaten for the same or even a little less. Last year we went without being on a plan. Made all the PS before we left home, ate where we wanted, what we wanted, and it came up costing us less. BUT, they have changed the cost on the meal plans, so perhaps now it is better. If I were you I would compare the cost. You can get menus from the places you want to eat and figure out what it will cost you, then compare it to the plan price. Best way I know of figuring out which way makes $ sense. (Remember, the plan cost includes tax and tip, so be sure and add that in to your cost.) Hope you have a great trip!