Should I add the dining plan, and if so..when?

[mmcl123]

Hi all,
New here! We have a trip planned for August 2017, and it will be for me, my husband, and our 6 yr old. We go to Disney at least once a year, but usually do not stay in the parks, or go for as long as we are going this time. This time we are staying at the Beach Club for 8 days. We eat at a significant amount of table service restaurants when we visit Disney. At the time of booking I booked the Beach Club CL, with park hopper tickets, and didn't really think about adding the dining plan. I'm thinking that we probably do want it now, and it would be even better if free dining will be offered. How hard is it to add the dining plan to our current package right now? I'm really concerned that it involves a cancellation. There are no club level rooms left at the Beach Club, and I don't want to lose my current room. Would it be easier to add the dining plan now, and pay for it, then add it to the package later when it is potentially free? I also understand that not all rooms/resorts are included in the free dining offer. Any advice would be great. Thanks!

 

[Faldred]

Ok... "should" is a question fraught with a lot of things to consider. First and foremost, do the plan entitlements of entree plus dessert plus beverage (or buffet replacing those three) match the way you want to eat for the duration of your vacation? If not, DDP is unlikely to be a good idea regardless of any other factors. If so, you should try to do a little homework, comparing estimated OOP costs (plus tax) to the cost of what you'd get with the DDP, to see what the difference is and decide if that difference is "worth it" when weighed against issues like flexibility, convenience, and the risk of being stuck with extra credits if something unexpected happens.

As to when - you can add the package to an existing reservation at any time until (IIRC) 3 days prior to check in; it does not require a re-booking. Regardless of whether you add DDP now or later (or never), if you want to take advantage of any future offers, such as free dining (assuming it's available for the category of room you desire and you can manage to get one of the limited number of slots), that would require re-booking.

Just a note: if all the rooms in a particular category are sold out this far in advance, I would not expect to see any discount packages, and especially not the free dining discount, for those rooms. The whole point of discounts is to increase occupancy in rooms that aren't selling for one reason or another.

 

[kniquy]

It is not difficult at all to add the dining plan, just a phone call and credit card is needed - needs to be paid in full up front (to the best of my knowledge). Because you have club level and it sounds like you are planning on keeping it I would say no to the dining plan (club level offers some food and snacks. correct?).

The best way to figure out if the plan makes sense is to first figure out the cost of the dining plan for your family. Then look at the restaurants you plan on going to, look at the menu's and figure out what you typically would order and the price. Would you always order dessert? are there some TS restaurants where you would prefer to just order a few apps and salad (forgoing the actual meal and dessert)? What would you typically get for snacks during the day and how much would you spend. The dining plan typically does not save and significant amount of money but is more for convenience. My guess is - with the food offered with the club level the dining plan would not make sense.

You will receive a variety of opinions, but to truly see if it make sense for your family you need to do the above. The dining plan can sometimes work out better if you have a number of kids and you are doing mostly character meals. For our family of 5, 2 of our kids are now Disney adults, so the plan no longer makes sense. If you go every year can you work it out to get annual passes for those 2 trips? if so then there are AP dining discounts with which you will make out much better than compared to the dining plan. Just something to consider. The break even for an AP is typically 10-11 days, so if this trip is 8 days and you can make your following years trip fall within your year this would make sense.

 

[Faldred]

It is not difficult at all to add the dining plan, just a phone call and credit card is needed - needs to be paid in full up front (to the best of my knowledge).

That's true for DVC stays. For resort guests, it will turn your room-only reservation into a package, and follow the normal package rules about payment schedule.