Really struggling with the dining plan

[diskids2]

We are going to WDW in July for 8 nights...We have been several times...in fact many....but have never used the dining plan (mostly because we stay at the Dolphin)....

This year we decided to do CBR because my DS who is now 14 doesn't even remember the resort...the last time we were at the CBR...he was 4! My DD now 18 remembers it though.

Anyway...I digress.....so since we are staying on site I wanted to think about the dining plan....I don't know why I am having such a hard time making a decision.

I have read everything....I went to the menu sections of this site and another and did all the math.....

The problem is that I don't know if we would actually do a TS every night...We usually (for an 8 night trip) would do about 5-6 TS and they are mostly buffets (Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's)....We also do Rainforest Cafe which is not on the dining plan.

Usually I budget $200 per day for food. The dining plan would cost me $160....$40 savings....but then I have to tip and that would be between $15 - $20 for every table service ....so my savings is down to about $25-$20 and that does not include the additional drinks that the kids may want throughout the day and remember we are going in July so I'm sure they will be drinking.

So I figure....it's not right for me.

Then I go back the other way and think....well what if my budget is off and we might spend more with prices up and all (we were there last year at Easter and we spent about $200 per day for food) and all the increased drinking because of the hotter weather.

It's like I keep second guessing myself. It was easier to pick the resort, LOL!

I'd love to hear some thoughts and perspectives.

 

[RMulieri]

When are you going in July? If your trip is Before July 11th remember to include the holiday surcharge at some of the buffets.That can jack up your costs .My sil struggled to make the decision too and ended up spending alot more than she figured out ( she declined the dp).Some of the costs on those menus have gone up too.

 

[annie1995]

I know for us, If we had to pay for the DP, we would never get it. Its just too much food and very restrictive by having to plan 90 days out.

 

[milmore104]

This is what I did to see if we should go for the basic dining plan or the deluxe dining plan. I searched the menus of the rest. we were going to. As honest as you can price the items you and your family would pick. I added in apps when we would order them and didn't if we wouldn't. Also I added in the desserts if we would order them. My DD and I will order desserts more than apps. After I went through all the menus I added up the cost of our meals and the cost of the dining plans. I found it worked out better for us if we went w/ the deluxe plan because we like to eat at more TS places. However if you eat at more TS places that are buffets it might make sense to just pay out of pocket. I hope this helps you decide. But don't forget to add in your snacks for the day. I figured $2.50 pp per day added into our total.
Good Luck! Happy Eating!

 

[jcemom]

The only way to know for sure is to do the math as it pertains to you and your family.

Add up the cost of the TS meals you would normally want to eat at, not including tips but including taxes. Then add on the cost of the CS meals you would normally want to have, again, including taxes, and being sure to figure out the cost of only what you would really want. For example, my family rarely orders CS desserts, so I wouldn't include the cost of the dessert in my calculations. You can figure in snacks too, if you would normally not get ice cream but would get water, then count in the cost of one bottle of water each, or whatever.

See what you come up with.

 

[diskids2]

When are you going in July? If your trip is Before July 11th remember to include the holiday surcharge at some of the buffets.That can jack up your costs .My sil struggled to make the decision too and ended up spending alot more than she figured out ( she declined the dp).Some of the costs on those menus have gone up too.

We are going July 16 - July 26...we are spending the first two days at Royal Pacific Resort and doing Universal.

 

[diskids2]

The only way to know for sure is to do the math as it pertains to you and your family.

Add up the cost of the TS meals you would normally want to eat at, not including tips but including taxes. Then add on the cost of the CS meals you would normally want to have, again, including taxes, and being sure to figure out the cost of only what you would really want. For example, my family rarely orders CS desserts, so I wouldn't include the cost of the dessert in my calculations. You can figure in snacks too, if you would normally not get ice cream but would get water, then count in the cost of one bottle of water each, or whatever.

See what you come up with.

Hi....I already did that....I think I mentioned it in the OP....sorry if I didn't!

 

[beroh2253]

Did you ever go to the Hoop-Dee-Doo if you don't want to do a TS every night you could use 2 TS at the Hoop and get a meal and a show.

 

[jcemom]

Hi....I already did that....I think I mentioned it in the OP....sorry if I didn't!

Ah okay. You did mention your savings. I just misunderstood.

 

[longstangetrip]

You don't have to do a TS every night. Do a breakfast or lunch or a breakfast and dinner TS one day, whatever. It's really a good deal if you like to eat TS and especially if you have kids. They can't really eat for $10 a day without it. I guess you "pay" for the convenience and the fact that it is paid for. My kids love getting desserts because they rarely do, and ordering soda which they never do. It's fun for a week to order whatever you want! I don't understand people saying it's too much food. It's two meals a day and one snack? Some of the snacks are a real bargain...like egg rolls at AK and warm, ice cream sandwiches at MK! We don't buy anything else. $200 a day to eat 5 or 6 TS during the week doesn't sound like enough to me? I've never really done the math.When we go to Disney, Disney is all we do, so it works for us!

 

[beroh2253]

For us the DDP works out perfect we do a few TS breakfasts and a few CS breakfasts the other mornings we fill in breakfast with a snack credit we get a hot sticky bun or blueberry muffin. The 2 days we get the TS breakfast we are usually not real hungry at lunch time so we split a CS meal. Every thing woks out real good we use up all credits. When it come to getting a soda in the park we pay the $2 and save the snack credits for real snacks like something tasty at the Kringla Bakeri in Norway EPCOT or a late night ice cream sundae at the resort.

 

[wood145]

I would think about whether you really will have a TS every day of your trip. I know our kids and I'm sure there will be 1 or 2 nights we cancel our ADR and grab a bite to eat at CS, so I know it just wouldn't work out for us financially. My DH and I did the DP in Oct, but it was just the 2 of us and we wanted to have a nice dinner each night. Even so, we did end up with 1 extra CS meal and were spending the night before we left using up our snack credits at BW Bakery. That being said I loved the fact it was all paid for.

On our next trip, our 3 children will be with us. All 3 are considered adults but 2 of them will mostly eat off of the children's menu. I have an AP so will buy the DDE and that will end up saving us around $120 (not including the cost of the card).

Good luck with your decision!

 

[diskids2]

You don't have to do a TS every night. Do a breakfast or lunch or a breakfast and dinner TS one day, whatever. It's really a good deal if you like to eat TS and especially if you have kids. They can't really eat for $10 a day without it. I guess you "pay" for the convenience and the fact that it is paid for. My kids love getting desserts because they rarely do, and ordering soda which they never do. It's fun for a week to order whatever you want! I don't understand people saying it's too much food. It's two meals a day and one snack? Some of the snacks are a real bargain...like egg rolls at AK and warm, ice cream sanwiches at MK! We don't buy anything else. $200 a day to eat 5 or 6 TS during the week doesn't sound like enough to me? I've never really done the math.When we go to Disney, Disney is all we do, so it works for us!

When we went for Easter week in March of 2008 we spent an average of $200 a day for food. We ate at: Rainforest Cafe, Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's - breakfast, 50's Primetime Cafe, Planet Hollywood. The rest of our meals were: One night we "ate around the world" at Epcot at the various counter service locations or stands....We ate at Picabu's which is a food-court style at the Dolphin....Columbia harbor house....

MY DH and DS ate breakfast at Picabu's almost every morning. DD and I had breakfast bars in the room.

For lunch we ate at a variety of counter service locations like Flame Tree BBQ. We are big snackers and share things. Like we may get two churros and the four of us split them.

I have been doing some more thinking and calculating and I think the plan won't be for us. Mostly at TS we order appetizers in some cases we order four appetizers and split two meals. Second, since I know we are big snack people....I will end up paying more for snacks. My DD and I usually share a combo meal at a CS if we do sit down and take a rest.

I can really see how the dining plans fit some families. In fact if it were DH and I alone...I could see loving the dining plan and for families with children that actually eat meals together....lol.....with my two teens this is rare.

I just want to say thanks because you all did what I had wanted you to do which is to get me to think more about "our style".

Everyone at the DIS is great

 

[itchin2go]

I know for us, If we had to pay for the DP, we would never get it. Its just too much food and very restrictive by having to plan 90 days out.

It's ADRs that force you to plan 90 days out, not the DDP. So if the OP is going to do ADRs for most dinners anyway, that part of the argument is not applicable to OP.

We do have an ADR for dinner every night, but are not doing the dining plan. I priced out what we would spend OOP vs. DDP, and we would either spend more with the DDP or break even. Without a monetary savings, there's no real reason for us to opt for the DDP. It ties us to choosing our food in a very narrow way that just doesn't work for us.

We have done the original DDP (back when appetizers were included!), and we did the Deluxe plan last year. This year -- no DDP! The DDP is a great savings for some people. You just have to figure out if you're one of those families.

Here are some considerations:

(1) Do you want to do a TS and a CS on most days?
(2) Do you want to order an entree and dessert for every CS and TS meal?
(3) Do you tend to order the expensive entrees (or wish you could)?
(4) Do you want to do any signature dining (2 TS)?
(5) If you didn't do the DDP, would you buy the snacks?

Sometimes I order an appetizer for my meal. Sometimes I want to just snack and not eat a full meal. I almost never order (or want) dessert. I'm vegetarian, so my meals are always the cheapest. When we've done the DDP, we never use up all the snack credits! These are some of the reasons why the DDP is not a good idea for my family.

Just food for thought!

 

[Momto3Girls&Max]

I would think about whether you really will have a TS every day of your trip. I know our kids and I'm sure there will be 1 or 2 nights we cancel our ADR and grab a bite to eat at CS, so I know it just wouldn't work out for us financially.

This happened to us during our December trip. We missed an ADR because our kids just weren't up to it and ended up using those credits as CS instead of TS so we didn't lose the credits entirely but we received less value for them.