Summary of Value of Disney Dining

[Keyser]

I thought some would be interested to hear our summary of the value we got from the Disney Dining plan on our recent trip. Situation: 2 adults, 1 child (5 years old), staying 6 nights.

Overall, we received $820.27 worth of food for a cost of $533.82. So, we saved 35% by using the dining plan. As a comparison, on our trip a year earlier, we saved 32%.

The breakdown was:
Table Service: $552.31
Counter Service: $208.55
Snacks: $59.41

TS Restaurants: Boma, Coral Reef (lunch), Chef Mickey's, 'Ohana, Le Cellier, Hollywood & Vine
CS Restaurants: Columbia Harbor House, Tusker House, Pinnochio's Village Haus, World Premiere Food Court, Cosmic Ray's, Earl of Sandwich

We picked our restaurants based on what looked good, rather than what would be the best value.

Best Values for the credits:
TS: Le Cellier ($128.60), for child only, Chef Mickey's ($16.18)
CS: Cosmic Ray's ($43.06)
Snack: Pineapple Float at Magic Kingdom ($4.25)

Worst Values:
TS: Hollywood and Vine ($74.67)
CS: Earl of Sandwich ($26.90)
Snack: Probably Orange Juice or Grits at Food Court (~$2.40)

We were very happy with the Dining Plan. Overall, we spent about what we would have spent otherwise (in fact, within about 5%), but ate at much nicer restaurants than we would have otherwise. It was a LOT of food, and yet we still ended up paying out of pocket (about $12/day) for some of our breakfast meals.

Edited to add one other thing: even with our "worst values", we would have come out about even. That is, if you eat all the meals you purchase on the plan, you're almost guaranteed to come out ahead, value wise.

 

[princess~yo]

thanks for the info! Makes me that much happier that we chose the DDP. Great values

 

[dizcrazed]

omg you picked the same restaurants I did. I just made ressies for May for all of these ts restaurants. how were they. This is my first time going to Disney World. Did I make good choices?

 

[Keyser]

Quick summary of the restaurants:
Boma - loved it. Great food
Coral Reef - surprisingly, I loved the food here. I had low expectations for the food (mainly thought it would be a place my daughter would enjoy) but it turned out good.
Chef Mickey's - Very good food, great character interaction. We went for dinner.
'OHana - Food was good, not outstanding, but activities for my daughter were great - she loved this place. Plus, we happened to get seated in a place that gave us a great view of the fireworks.
Le Cellier - We loved the food here; it was very good. Only possible negative is that it's the type of food that's easier to find anywhere, and there are many more unique options in Epcot.
Hollywood & Vine - we did the Fantasmic package (that was nice - we got great seats when other sections were crowded). The food was fine - decent quality buffet with good variety, but not outstanding. Next time, we'd probably try Mama Melrose instead if we're on the DDP and wanted a Fantasmic package.

On the counter service places, we ate where it was convenient. Only standout in there was Tusker House. Others were fine but not particularly special.

 

[MHTeacher]

There's no question that the DDP can be a huge value, if you eat at a lot of table service resturants, buffetts, etc. But if we're paying out of pocket we would never eat that many buffetts, table service resturants, etc. AND I promise, we never starve to death.

So for me the value question is..."Would I spend this much money out of pocket to begin with?" For our family, the answer is no.

 

[The Sweetness]

I agree with you there. W/out the DDp I wouldnt be eating a WDW TS daily. I would manage with CS/ snacking.
Unless, I just scrapped the whole onsite idea and stayed off. Having a nice breakfast every morn

 

[Keyser]

There's no question that the DDP can be a huge value, if you eat at a lot of table service resturants, buffetts, etc. But if we're paying out of pocket we would never eat that many buffetts, table service resturants, etc. AND I promise, we never starve to death.

So for me the value question is..."Would I spend this much money out of pocket to begin with?" For our family, the answer is no.

You're absolutely right. For our family, though, of the TS restaurants I mentioned, we would still have eaten (and paid OOP) at:
Chef Mickey's (for a character meal)
'Ohana (because my daughter loved the activities, and the food was good)
Hollywood and Vine (we liked the Fantasmic package)
Boma (because we really liked the food, and it's unique)

That means we'd have dropped Le Cellier and Coral Reef (the two most expensive on our list) and eaten counter service instead. But, lets not even count the cost for additional CS meals. For our other meals, we might have skipped/shared desserts at some counter service meals, so lets say I cut the cost for half of the desserts from the CS meals. Plus, we'd have eaten only half the snacks we did, so let's drop that, too.

Doing all of that, the DDP comes out to almost exactly (within $1 when I figured it!) what we would have spent otherwise. So, we ended up paying about what we would have otherwise, and yet got a significant amount more: two very nice table service meals, and more snacks/desserts.

Obviously, if your family never would eat table service meals, DDP is not likely to be as big of a value. But, even if you don't try to "max out" the value you get by eating only the most expensive things, it can still be a good deal.

 

[kate2961]

"Overall, we received $820.27 worth of food for a cost of $533.82. So, we saved 35% by using the dining plan. As a comparison, on our trip a year earlier, we saved 32%."


I was just wondering if the savings included just the cost of the food or if it also includes the tip that was saved? I thought DDP includes an 18% gratuity.

I already have the DDE experience and I'm not sure if it makes sense to get DDP.

Thanks much.

 

[Keyser]

"Overall, we received $820.27 worth of food for a cost of $533.82. So, we saved 35% by using the dining plan. As a comparison, on our trip a year earlier, we saved 32%."


I was just wondering if the savings included just the cost of the food or if it also includes the tip that was saved? I thought DDP includes an 18% gratuity.

That was total cost, including tax and the automatic tip (yes, I think it was 18%). And, the $533.82 included the tax on that portion.

 

[clydenora]

We could not do the DP last year when we went. (We were staying thru DVC and it was a week before they offered the DP to club members.)

Anyways, I kept pretty close track of our costs vs what the DP would have cost us, just because I was curious. We ate and ordered where and what we wanted...not trying to save money or anything...and we came up with a savings of about $85 I think it was, below what the DP would have cost us.

Just FYI.

P.S. We had 4 adults, DH, DS14, DS12, and me. All good eaters...I mean, none of us are picky eaters, not that we over-eat.