Room only or dining plan?? What do you do?

[carrielovesdisney]

I just cannot decide what way to book. We love the dining plan. It allows us to eat at places we wouldn't normally, but I am wondering if it is worth the money. How do you book?

 

[cosmolette]

We always do the dinning plan. We did figure it up and it all equals out but we know if we did not have it we would eat as cheap as possible and miss out on great restaurants/experiences. Our very first trip I priced out everything feom renting a car, flights, staying off disney site. Then I found a deal to stay at the disney moderate resort with free dinning. So that is what I did and now we are hooked. My son could really care less but my boyfriend and I enjoy trying the different foods and getting the whole experience.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Moving to the Codes and Rates Forum

 

[LovesTimone]

DH and I love the dinning plan, we perfer ddxdp as we are foodies and really enjoy the 2 ts options and we love character meals, it is just so much fun Even when we are planning on the whole family we feel this is the best option, this way everyone can get what they want and we don't worry about the cost. It also give us a chance to spend some "real time" together as a family taking. Great Memories are made

DH likes to know that everything is paid for up front. except for tips and adult beverages.

I just plan to pay rack rate or whatever, and then if a discount is offered, I feel that it is extra just pixie dust..

 

[Marionnette]

There's a great calculator tool on http://seeyareelsoon.wix.com/seeyareelsoon It lets you input where you plan to eat and how you dine (lots of QS? appetizers? etc.). It even takes into account any discounts that you may be eligible for. Then it compares what you would spend on the dining plans vs. what your OOP costs would be. Just take a look at the OOP cost plus your discounted room + tickets and compare it to the cost of a free dining package. The cheaper trip wins.

It turns out that we tend to do better by paying OOP for our meals.

 

[danceintherain]

It turns out that we tend to do better by paying OOP for our meals.

Us too. We can usually do around $300 better by paying out of pocket, and eating exactly how we would eat anyways.

Everyone's results are different though. The only way you'll know is if you use the above mentioned calculator, or go through all the menus yourself.

 

[rocky41102]

I went through the calculator for us and I priced it out myself a while ago. There's 2 adults and 3 children in our family. We would do a little better paying out of pocket but only by a little. However, I tend to be cheap so we would go with the dining plan for the prepaid factor so I don't stress or worry about it and we could eat where we really wanted. Basically it's totally psychological for us!

 

[designermv]

It depends. If I can get a really good room-only discount, with no option to add the dining plan, I'll usually take it.

The offer I am booked with now is a great room discount that allows the dining plan to be added on, so I will likely do that. I have two kids, so the DDP makes sense to me. If I were travelling with just adults, I'd probably skip it.

 

[scrappinginontario]

There's a great calculator tool on http://seeyareelsoon.wix.com/seeyareelsoon It lets you input where you plan to eat and how you dine (lots of QS? appetizers? etc.). It even takes into account any discounts that you may be eligible for. Then it compares what you would spend on the dining plans vs. what your OOP costs would be. Just take a look at the OOP cost plus your discounted room + tickets and compare it to the cost of a free dining package. The cheaper trip wins.

It turns out that we tend to do better by paying OOP for our meals.

This is an awesome tool I highly recommend too! A few minutes of work will help you determine what is best for your family.

 

[VACamm]

I went through the calculator for us and I priced it out myself a while ago. There's 2 adults and 3 children in our family. We would do a little better paying out of pocket but only by a little. However, I tend to be cheap so we would go with the dining plan for the prepaid factor so I don't stress or worry about it and we could eat where we really wanted. Basically it's totally psychological for us!

Agree 100%.