The Dining Plan, why I'll never/always do it.

[aaarcher86]

This is our first trip to WDW; we are DL veterans so DDP was never something we had to factor in/consider. I just can not decide what to do!! In DL we usually hit a charcter dinner once and maybe 1 TS. The rest is usually CS or snacks. We usually only stop once a day to eat and than grab something on the way back to the room at the end of the night (corn dog/pizza). BUT WDW has so many places to try. We already booked; Ohana, Be Our Guest, Via Napoli, TREx, and Coral Reef.

On the positive side;

- I LOVE the thought of everything being paid for in advance. No sticker shock.
- Trying new places we would normally not budget for sounds fun. A chance to enjoy some real family dinners.
- Try new dishes; no hestiation to order a big steak or have dessert.
- We have 7 nights so lots of extra time to slow things down; AKA more time for TS.

On the negative side;
- Normally my daughter and I would share things , not order dessert and be perfectly satisifed. Do we really need all that extra food? Will we come back 10lbs heavier?
- Will I spend more??

My trip is May 31st and payment in full date in mid April; so I guess my question is when do I have to decide by??

You can add DP up to 72 hours before arrival. Definitely add and not take off within 45 days or you will get hit with a change fee.

 

[chttyangel]

Thanks. I think I will just save like I am going to add it and than decide at the last minute. Good to know I have plenty of time!

 

[nat8199]

We are doing the DxDP for the first time in Oct. I am very excited about it. We are going to do a character breakfast every day before park opening (my kids are VERY early risers) and eat a 1-2TS dinner most nights (my kids also go to bed very early and we will have enough adults that one will stay with them while the rest eat). We will most likely sit down for lunches as well. My kids will be 2, 2, and 4 and the TS lunches will be a time for us to relax since they do not nap. I ran the numbers and we will definitely save a lot money. When we are on vacation we like to eat and eat well. Doing a lot of TS will also help us avoid fried food, burgers french fries, and all that type of stuff for every meal.

 

[SPOERLX3]

Currently we are struggling with the Dining Plan decision!
Right now we are set-up with the Deluxe dining, 2 adults, 3 kids (6-9 years old) which will cost $1,963.22. Since this is our 1st trip we will be doing alot of character meals. We will be staying 7 nights and have 9 TS meals booked (7 of them dinner). I conservatively calculated those meals costing $1,232.00 with using 65 meal credits. With that, we will have 40 TS credits left and $731.22 to meet our break-even point. I anticipate we will eat 8 more meals through-out the stay which will probably be counter service (maybe 1 or 2 TS). If we factor in our snacks (alotted 70 total) at $5.00 per snack x 70 = $350.00, we should meet our break-even easily! That's our thinking, whether it's right or wrong, we'll find out!

The DDP is ALOT of food and alot of time away from the parks. I took 2 of my grandkids (both 11- 1 boy, 1 girl) 3 years ago on the regular dining plan and eventhough they like the sit down restaurants we chose, they seemed to get frustrated that our days were planned around a reservation and they didn't like having to stop what we were doing to leave to get to the reservation. Last year we took 3 of our other grandkids and did the QSDP and they loved it. We ate when we wanted to and never had to stop to get to a ressie. You will probably find that you will miss out on a lot of park time but you will love the food! Let us know how you like it! P.S. Even with the regular dining plan, we had credits left over (we used them to grab sandwiches at Earl Of Sandwich to take to the airport with us).

 

[robinb]

Wow. I just went back to the 1st page of the thread and the regular DDP has increased in price by 42% since Dec 2008.

 

[pauly's girl]

I have always said I will always do the dining plan. I love having everything paid for before we go but I am doubting my decision this year. We are booked with the DDP, the last two trips we have done the DxDP and it was way to much food and I agree with OP it took so much time away from the parks we missed some of the night shows and fireworks, not to mention the parades. My struggle this year is the cost of the DP s in general have increased so much and for the Reg DDP they have taken so much away despite the cost increase. We normally get the FD and pay the difference to upgrade. I question that the dining will be free at all and in the resort we are staying this year, so I'm really debating paying OOP for meals. I will obviously wait to see what the fall discounts are but for the first time and I actually considering NOT doing the DDP!!

 

[TACK]

And only quick service. I realized after I crunched numbers that the cost is way over my budget. Even with free dining, I will not upgrade anymore to table service. I only like a few restaurants and it is cheaper to book and pay oop.

I rent a car so for my May trip (no free dining - room only discount), I am looking to try other places around the resort. I will most definitely eat less and will be using the fridge more often.

However, if I get free dining, I am back in.

 

[Sheaboys]

Even with the best and biggest room discount and cheaper tickets, we would never in million years save as much as we do with Free Dining. We are a family of 7, with 2 adults, 3 disney adults and 2 kids. The free dining vs room discount (even with the 2 rooms we get) and discount tickets does not even come close to the dining plan for free. We eat a sit down at home together and continue to do so on vacation. After doing a counter service when your kids out number you, I felt like the server even though my 3 older kids (14, 12 and 10) pretty much held their own, it is just alot of work with crowds of people at lunch or supper time. So sit down was great, for relaxation, and for us to be served. It totally works for us.

 

[skeettafic]

So much to weigh out -

We're going for our first trip in November. If dining is free, great. If it is free and just ends up being QSDP, we will probably upgrade to the regular plan. But if it isn't free, we may not do it. I would have to look primarily at the cost of the character meals we wanted to do and see if we just want to skip some of those. My DS, who will be 5 when we go, is very picky and doesn't necessarily eat well when we travel so he will have a lot of food go to waste no matter what we order.