To dining plan or not to dining plan...

[hotmamac]

...that is the question.
I was hoping I could get the Free dining offer with a tent site, but I see that it not to be.
So when I crunch the numbers, I see the difference between staying at the fort (tent site) with the dining plan vs. without the plan is $811.72
Even at Disney World, I can't imagine the 4 of us (me and DH 35, DS 8, DD 6) ever eating $811 worth of food.
When I was there in 2008, my mom and sister had the plan and it was nice and easy and convenient, but there were times we used their 2 plans to feed all 6 of us.
Anyone want to weigh in on what I should do??? I'm planing on going Sept/Oct 2011.
Thanks!

 

[clkelley]

Nope, PAYING for the dining plan is never worth it in my opinion.

Now, unless you just HAVE to stay at the Fort, getting a Value room and getting the FREE dining plan may be a better value for your family.

 

[ZeroMyHero]

If the money factor is most important and you feel that you can spend less by paying OOP or cooking on site, then nix the dining plan. If you want the convenience of not having to pay as you go for meals or cook much on your site, then keep the DP.

 

[cheekymonkey]

We are contemplating the same thing. We are only staying for a few days and don't plan on cooking. I "think" we are leaning towards the quick service dining plan #1 because of the refillable mug and 2 snacks #2 we have two kids and the price to add them is super good. We have not made a final decision yet...

 

[LarryJ]

Nope, PAYING for the dining plan is never worth it in my opinion.

Now, unless you just HAVE to stay at the Fort, getting a Value room and getting the FREE dining plan may be a better value for your family.

I agree and if you qualify for the TIW now that is worth it IMO. Also some of the restrictions and caveats of what you can do and where and when can make again IMO a pain.

Lary

 

[thegoofyfamily]

We never do DDP because we're not big fans of the counter service and we always eat breakfast at the Fort and pack sandwiches for the parks. When we just had the girls, we had the option of eating a nice dinner at Epcot or one of the other nicer restaurants....or coming back to the Fort and grilling. Now that we have a toddler again that needs to be in bed earlier, we have been coming back to the cabin and grilling or hit Trails End.

Depends on what is most important to you, convenience or
saving $$ IMO.