The Dining Plan - Why don't some people like it?

[padawans]

I would never buy the regular dining plan. The deluxe is the only one that works for us. We eat at a lot of signatures, and we like appetizers. We sometimes skip dessert, but thats ok. We have been too wdw a lot, and don't spend a lot of time at parks. We never go in the evening. We are rope droppers. If there were some reasonably priced restaurants at wdw I would not get it. It's not so much that I like the ddp it just makes the vacation more enjoyable. I don't have to get irritated over the inflated disney prices.

 

[PFlo]

We have found that Disney food just isn't very good. Feeling you had to eat every meal on site because it was prepaid would be awful. We enjoy getting off site and trying some other restaurants.

 

[TDC Nala]

1) The Dining Plan is not nearly the moneysaver it used to be. Some guests can do better paying out of pocket, depending on what they like to order and where they like to eat. For example, a party that prefers a la carte restaurants to buffets, drinks water and rarely orders dessert can spend less than the cost of the dining plan.

2) If you don't eat or order the way the dining plan works, it isn't really worth using. If you like ordering a couple of appetizers rather than an entree, or your preferred drink with a meal is water and/or an alcoholic beverage, it's probably not going to work well for you.

3) If you prefer not to eat as much food as prepaying for the dining plan buys you, then it's likely not a good purchase (if you tend to split meals or eat mostly at CS to give yourself more park time), although a lot of guests purchase the dining plan so they can feel as though they are "splurging" and getting snacks or desserts they ordinarily wouldn't get, for example.

4) Disney rather counts on guests being unable to use all their prepurchased credits. When this happens, Mickey gets to keep the money already paid for food that wasn't even ordered. Many guests make plans to use every credit, but a lot of guests don't plan (possibly they buy the dining without knowing they ought to plan their meals), or the prepayment aspect is what matters to them and they don't care if they leave credits unused. You can possibly get a deal out of the dining plan these days but you need to make plans to do so.

5) Not everybody wants to make a restaurant reservation for every day of their vacation. And now, there are 23 restaurants and one special Fantasmic package that require a credit card hold, a no show fee and cancellation a full day in advance, so you can't back out at the last minute if you don't feel like eating, without it costing you.

Now, the plan is like $46-47 a day

2012 adult price for the regular dining plan in non-peak season is between $51 and $52 per night.

I realize this thread was moved here - I removed a sentence from a post where someone stated exactly what they planned on tipping, because tipping preferences and habits are not up for discussion on the Restaurant boards. Anyone with questions about tipping discussion should see the Tipping Information sticky thread on the main Restaurants board.

 

[eliza61]

The Dining Plan - Why don't some people like it?

I have heard a few people on the boards say they will never so it again and will pay cash next time. Can I ask why that is? If you have all of your reservations pre-made, how is the Dining Plan difficult?

Ethan

Its not difficult it just doesn't work for my family as a big money saver or a big convenience.

• I over budget for meals when I budget for the total vacation, so I never worry about the cost of my meals at disney. so the convenience factor is moot.
  
• It allows my family to eat more "naturally". we rarely do desserts at dinner and prefer appertizers so we would pay oop for that anyway.
  
• Some days we don't want a big TS meal, I hated forcing ourselves to eat dinner simply because I did not want to waste the credits.
  
• Some days even when we did sit down all I would want was a salad and a drink, once again comes the issue of wasting credits.
  
• I found my family and I concentrated way to much on making sure we ordered the most expensive thing to make sure we got the value of the credits. I hated that. I wanted my family to walk in, order what they wanted whether it was 7 bucks or 27 bucks.
  
• Last year it was actually more expensive eating on the dining plan. this year, no way would it be a cost savings. I have 4 adults and since we don't do character meals, I'd be hard press to spend 204 bucks a day on meal.

lastly we are dvc members and always have a car. Disney doesn't have one restaurant that I would say is a "must do" for my family, they simple aren't that good IMO. so if we miss a TS it's not big loss for us.

 

[pilferk]

The Dining Plan - Why don't some people like it?

I have heard a few people on the boards say they will never so it again and will pay cash next time. Can I ask why that is? If you have all of your reservations pre-made, how is the Dining Plan difficult?

Ethan

For us, it's never been about "difficult"...it's been about cost savings.

We have, in the past, been traveling with 3 kids all under 10. We're DVC members (so there's no necessity for booking rooms or buying tickets through WDW, or pre-paying FAR in advance).

In recent years, on the adult side, we pretty much have broken even...maybe saved a little bit. On the kids side? We save a LOT.

However, with the price increases for 2012 (30% for kids?!), the fact that we find no value in a refillable mug (we have a full kitchen in our villa and can stock the fridge pretty inexpensively), and the fact that our oldest will be 10 on our next trip (and no way she eats an adult portion of food): It will no longer make financial sense for us to do it. It will be MUCH cheaper to pay OOP.

I doubt we'll go back to the DDP...it's no longer the cost saver that it was, for us.

 

[chmurf]

1 - price always gets higher / food quality is on the downslope

2 - too tied to the Disney bubble. You want to go to Cape Canaveral to see the rockets, you lose a credit or two, you want to do gatorland, you lose a credit, you want to do IoA, you lose a credit. You want to relax and go shopping at the Florida mall ... yeah, now you know, you'll lose a credit (how many more fun things is there to do in the Orlando area ?)
When you get to Florida once a year, or once every two years, You may not want to remain on property the whole time. There is so many things to do, it would be a shame to only stay on property. Of course, if you've seen it all, I guess it's ok, but on a personal note, if I went to the parks for the full 18 days of our stay, I'd begin growing large black ears on top of my head ...

3 - It's very unhealthy. ADRs are great, but if you can plan almost everything, there is one thing you can plan : the time you'll get hungry at. I learned the hard way that you had to eat because you felt the need to, not because you have an ADR and it's "now or lose money" time
Plus, having everything paid for in advance will most of the time have you eat more than you would normally have.

I've tried DDP, and it doesn't allow for the kind of flexibility I want for my trips. I even cancelled QSDP for this year's trip.

I'd rather go for a all day dining deal like they do a Seaworld.
It's about half the price of a day on DDP and I'm not sure the quality is less.

If Disney offered that kind of deal, it would make DDP worth it, because you could choose the number of credits you purchase.

4 - This plan is really designed to keep guests on property, and it will often discourage guests to go see something else, because in essence, they would lose their credits AND pay for the restaurants OOP.
I don't like ties, vacations is freedom.
Actually most pro-DDP say how much DDP frees their hands on the whole dining matter. But while the right hand is freed, the left hand is trapped.

Making a Disney only vacation may sound fun, but I spend my holidays in Florida. And DDP won't allow me to sightsee and explore.

Being on the DDP and be forced to either lose credits or miss out on other places of interests ... well to me it's a bit as if you went to WDW and never got to ride Splash Mountain because you thought you had to pay extra for that ride.

5 - I can't drink sodas or things with bubbles in them, even sparkling water due to health condition. Refillable mugs are pretty much useless


Bottomline is that DDP will suit lots of people, but won't suit everybody.
The thing is that it's widely accepted to say "yeah it's great wooot wooot" but when you say it's not good for you, you could even end up being questionned about your sanity ... Well some people are not comfortable paying too much and having strings attached.

 

[wide awake]

I love the DDP, of course we've always gotten it for free. That said, if I decided to do WDW during non-free DDP I would buy the plan. I am a person who always looks at the right side of the menu...it is a luxury to order what I want, which is generally the most expensive item on the menu. I don't see how the DDP makes eating a TS more rigid...if you're going to eat someplace decent at a normal hour you have to make ADRs in advance, DDP or not. I like ordering dessert and eating one bite. I always order water in a restaurant if I am paying for it...I like ordering diet coke and not being charged. I like the snacks, and I like the counterservice meals. I would never pay for a $7-$9 lunch, but we all enjoy a nice break during the day. Lots of people don't see the value on the DDP because they go to inexpensive restaurants, or they order cheap food.

 

[eliza61]

I love the DDP, of course we've always gotten it for free. That said, if I decided to do WDW during non-free DDP I would buy the plan. I am a person who always looks at the right side of the menu...it is a luxury to order what I want, which is generally the most expensive item on the menu. I don't see how the DDP makes eating a TS more rigid...if you're going to eat someplace decent at a normal hour you have to make ADRs in advance, DDP or not. I like ordering dessert and eating one bite. I always order water in a restaurant if I am paying for it...I like ordering diet coke and not being charged. I like the snacks, and I like the counterservice meals. I would never pay for a $7-$9 lunch, but we all enjoy a nice break during the day. Lots of people don't see the value on the DDP because they go to inexpensive restaurants, or they order cheap food.

LOL. now that last line is funny

 

[Ginny Favers]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the dining plan, except that it isn't flexible enough for everyone. It hasn't worked for me on a number of occasions, but it works for me now because:

1) Having a 2 and 5 year old, we booked mostly character meals, which are generally more expensive.

2) We always want dessert.

3) We like having the structure, as most of our life is chaos.

 

[TDC Nala]

Lots of people don't see the value on the DDP because they go to inexpensive restaurants, or they order cheap food.

Interesting, as the DDP has little to no value for me and I usually do signature restaurants. I find that I have far more options without the dining plan.

 

[DDM101]

For some WDW vacations I like the dining plan. For instance, one year I went with my Bestie (everything was pre-paid...nice & easy), and this year we brought along my son's Bestie for 10 days. 17 year-old boys can eat a lot, so free dining was a great deal...although we still had a couple of CS and several snacks to use on the last day... Generally, I prefer using my TIW card and ordering whatever I want. I find that the DDP is a litttle restrictive in that you can only order desserts and no app. for TS, and I certainly don't need a dessert for CS meals (although we often sub fruit or extra water if allowed.) All in all, I really think it depends on your specific party and vacation when deciding whether or not to go with the DDP.

 

[niccikatie]

1. We like to have breakfast in our room/on the bus to rope drop. I could never make rope drop if I had to get something to eat before we got on the bus.

2. We don't enjoy eating huge meals every evening - and this is pretty much a must to break even/come out ahead on the dining plan.

3. We very, very rarely order dessert or an appetizer (though I know those are not included now).

4. I don't like to be tied to getting my tickets through disney. For our next trip in February, I'm saving $739 over the price of "free dining" by using YES tickets (and we're getting park hoppers with the YES which I never would have paid for without the YES option!) and a room only discount. That will more than cover our food, in fact it will be close to covering all our food AND souvenirs based on our spending during our last trip.

5. The $827 that the dining plan would cost does not include tips (for most things) and we would be tied to more food than we normally eat - this cost makes it even more unlikely that we would find the dining plan a "value".

To each his own. We tried the dining plan on our first trip. We liked the pre-paid aspect and the convenience of not worrying about the cost of the meal. We liked the refillable mugs. We didn't like how much food we felt like we wasted and found that with decent budgeting, we didn't worry about the cost of our meals and felt a lot better about the quantity of food we ate on our second trip. Budgeting works a lot better for us than the dining plan, although I realize that people see them as the same thing.

 

[angelmav]

Interesting, as the DDP has little to no value for me and I usually do signature restaurants. I find that I have far more options without the dining plan.

Alot of people have still not woken up to the realization that the plans are not the deal they used to be. They still think there are savings (without doing the math) and that it opens up a world of choices they couldnt otherwise afford without looking to see they may be spending more for less of what they really want.

There was a time when the dining plan was a great deal, then a pretty good deal for most, then it evolved into a plan that you had to work hard to save on, now it has lost any semblance of that unless your taking a caravan of under 10 year olds, who are darn close to the break even point.

To the OP, it's not about not liking the dining plan, its about not liking what the dining plan has turned into over the years.

 

[cmurray234]

I haven't liked the DDP for a number of years, but I still purchased it until this year because the savings slightly outweighed the inconvenience of ordering in the prescribed way. (one entree, one drink n/a, one dessert).

Unless something changes, I will not be using the dining plan again for the following reasons:

1. Our family chooses to stay at deluxe resorts. The 35 or 40% room discount is a better savings than a free dining offer (though it looks like there are fewer of these now), thus to get the dining plan, we would have to pay OOP.

2. The cost of the dining plan has risen so much that it would take work on my part to eek even a sliver of savings out of it.

3. I prefer appetizers to desserts and don't want to eat a TS meal every day.

4. We're going to see Harry Potter one of the days of our trip...and there is NO WAY I'm going to waste a day's worth of credits.

5. I don't want to think about trying to "maximize" my credits by buying steak every night when I'd rather have chicken or pasta.

6. My DH and I don't like food quality at buffets...and they're really the only way to come out ahead (though only very slightly).

7. My daughter is 11. She would cost us $51.54 per day, but the last time we were at Wendy's, she ordered a "big person" sandwich (no fries, just the sandwich) and could only eat half of it. She would waste so much food and money I can't even bear to think about it.

 

[goofy4tink]

I used the DDP back when it first came into being....great deal back then. Then, they took the gratuities out, and raised the price...used it once. Then, I got free dining (stayed at Pop to do that and it saved me about $150 since it was just me traveling).
I own DVC, and always have an AP..so I like to get the TiW card. That seems to work better for us.
But, having said that.....when my dh and I traveled to WDW in Oct, with another couple, we decided to go with the deluxe dining plan. I sat, for hours, running figures every which way, to see what was the best deal for us. Since we decided to do a lot of signature dining, the deluxe plan worked very well. And it saved us money. We had a 2TS meal at night, and a late breakfast for 1TS each day.....seldom used snack credits. In fact, we bought a ton of stuff on our last day in order to use them up, and took the stuff home with us and handed it out to our kids!!

Now that the cost is over $50 a day, per adult?? Disney keeps raising food prices....not sure if that's to cover the cost of the DDP, or the DDP is going up to keep up with the increased food costs. All I know is that I, the guest, am caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to eating at WDW. I don't think the restaurant choices are 'all that and a bag of chips' anymore. There is a huge sameness to them...nothing special about each one. And the menus are ridiculously similar. So now.....I tend to eat more counter service, with one or two 'nicer' table service meals. So, obviously the dining plan isn't going to work for me.

And I am one of those people who has no issue booking ADRs 6 months out. I know where I want to eat, and want to get the times that I want, so the 6 month window works very well for me.

And as noted by many here already....many, many guests tend to forget to add gratuities when figuring out their daily food costs. And that can add a huge chunk of change to your final accounting!!!!

 

[Huff]

The 35 or 40% room discount is a better savings than a free dining offer

We're going to see Harry Potter one of the days of our trip...and there is NO WAY I'm going to waste a day's worth of credits.

My DH and I don't like food quality at buffets...and they're really the only way to come out ahead (though only very slightly).

40% off on a Deluxe would save more than free dining in a Deluxe if you were only 2 adults and possibly 1 child. 2 adults with 2 older kids would save more with free dining.

You could use 2TS credits another night for a signature restaurant or show. But the QS credits may be tougher to use as I don't normally need 3 meals in a day.

I find the exact opposite. Buffets are much cheaper than most of our 1TS dinners if you figure in entree, dessert, drink and tax. Our TS dinners average about $40-$45 per person. Most buffets are less than that.

 

[TDC Nala]

I find the exact opposite. Buffets are much cheaper than most of our 1TS dinners if you figure in entree, dessert, drink and tax. Our TS dinners average about $40-$45 per person. Most buffets are less than that.

Buffets are the best deal for children on DDP. For adults, they're not such a great deal when compared with ordering expensive items at a la carte restaurants.

 

[cmurray234]

40% off on a Deluxe would save more than free dining in a Deluxe if you were only 2 adults and possibly 1 child. 2 adults with 2 older kids would save more with free dining.

You are incorrect. We booked a 1 bedroom villa at beach club at 40% off. The savings was $192 per night.

I find the exact opposite. Buffets are much cheaper than most of our 1TS dinners if you figure in entree, dessert, drink and tax. Our TS dinners average about $40-$45 per person. Most buffets are less than that.

That is not true for us. My daughter is 11 years old. She would NEVER order OR eat $40 or $45 worth of food at one meal.

 

[patsal]

I don't like it because it does not save me any money (in fact it costs more than I would spend without it) and it is not set up in a way that I eat. If I can have what I want wherever I want it for less money OOP, why would I tether myself to a plan that costs more?

I also do not go to inexpensive restaurants or order cheap food! lol

 

[Priorityonecb]

We paid for it once (in the good ole days when tip was included!), and got it for free once. We will not be using it on our 2012 trip only because I am going with only my youngest daughter, also known as "Four bites and done girl" in our family! She is not at all picky, and likes adult foods...but is literally full after four bites. She and I always share a meal, not because we are frugal but because we both have tiny appetites. For just us two, it's not a deal. We are also planning a more laid back, go with the flow type trip so we will book a few "must have" TS ADR's and then wing it the rest of the time.