Torn..To do a dining plan or not..Opinions please

[IheartAriel]

My DH and I along with our 2.5 year old DD and 1 year old DD are going to DW at the beginning of August so we're arriving just shy of the free dining offer. I was trying to figure out for those that have purchased the dining plan do you feel that it was worth it?

Our normal plan of attack is to wake up and hit the cafeteria, we usually stay at a value, but this year we're staying at a moderate, so I'm not sure besides the following planned breakfasts at Chef Mickey's, Kona Cafe, and the Princess breakfast in Norway where we'll grab breakfast. We are planning on ordering snacks and breakfast foods from Garden Grocers along with a few other things. Our lunches are usually on the run and since the girls are so small we're figuring that we'll do a counter service for dinner if we're in a park. I don't want to schedule too many table side dinners since the girls are so small and I'm afraid that after a long day in the park neither of them will want to sit.

So basicly I curious those that bought the DP did you get your moneys worth? I don't want to have all these credits left for not.

Thanks!

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Absoutely works for us. I love it and would never go with out it. Me & my DH split a CS for bk & 1 CS for lunch then we have our 1tb at dinner. LOVE IT!

 

[IheartAriel]

How do you split? I thought everyone on the reservation has to be on the plan?

 

[ROEDISNEY]

Okay I'm only talking about CS. You just order 1 cs when u order your bk. Then u bring to the table and split it. Then lunch time you only order 1 again
and do the same. Now for lunch if your getting a burger some place have double burgers. Which is nice.

 

[IheartAriel]

Oh I got that part but then what do you do with your extra counter service meals? I must be confused which is not hard to do. lol

 

[ROEDISNEY]

I'm sorry. Let me try again. Each day you both get 1 cs & 1 tbs.
Now for bk we will use say my 1cs for the day & for lunch we will use his.
It really dont matter cause if comes off your total cs's. I hope that makes it clearer. If not let me know. It's np.

 

[hart6066]

Definitely check, but I think kids under 3 are not charged at buffets. If that's the case, and the only table service you'd do would be those, I don't think it would be worth it to the DDP.

We were on free dining when DS was 4 1/2 and DD was 1 1/2 and then have done the DDP ever since--they are now 7 and 4. My kids both eat a full meal at lunch and dinner (we maybe could have had them split a counter service adult sized a year ago, but now they both need their own meal) so it is definitely worth it to get the DDP. Now if you and your husband are both going to order a counter service meal 2x day (meaning you will each order your own lunch and dinner without sharing with each other) it may well be worth it to get the quick service plan--I'm pretty sure that kids under 3 don't need to be on any plan.

I think the DDP works well if everyone paying would be eating and ordering their own meal 2x a day. Good luck with your decision!

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

I wouldn't do it with kids that young. You will feel like you are always going to a resturant and even if the kids are too tired you will feel like you paid for it so must go. They will be much happier if you pack foods/fruits and feed them while you wait in long lines/for parades/fireworks. I will kill time instead of waste time. Now when they are teenagers that is a different story.

Go to a character meal or two and pay out of pocket.

 

[IheartAriel]

Ok that's what I was thinking. I don't want to drag them somewhere just for an ADR and DH and I are flexable so we'll grab something as we go. Being that it's August I'm sure we'll be too hot to eat anyway!! LOL

Thanks!

 

[irunnoft]

This will be the first time in several years that we aren't doing the DDP. We just joined DVC and so we're going to buy APs and that opens up the TiW card to us. We're actually going to spend close to the same amount of money as we would on the regular dining plan, but we're going to have almost every meal as TS and we'll also have more signature dining, too. One thing I didn't like about the DDP or the Deluxe DDP was the fact that you feel obligated to eat all that food. I want the flexibility to decide whether I want an appetizer OR a dessert. Also, I might not want either. I may just want an entree. There are times when I've thought just an appetizer of a salad and one other larger app split between my wife and myself would suffice. That would be a huge waste if I was on either dining plan. I sat down and actually looked at our ADRs and went through the menus of the restaurants and mocked up bills for all our dining. In totalling it out and discounting the 20%, it turned out to be very close to the cost of the standard DDP.

Here's our ADRs
Day 1
Lunch - Le Cellier
Dinner - Jiko

Day 2
L - Liberty Tree Tavern
D- Teppan Edo

Day 3
L - Yak & Yeti
D - Brown Derby

Day 4
L - Whispering Canyon
D - Yachtsman Steakhouse

Day 5
L - Plaza Restaurant
D - California Grill

Day 6
L - 50's Prime Time Cafe
D - Beaches N' Cream or ESPN Club

Day 7
L - Le Cellier
D - California Grill

Day 8
L - Coral Reef
D - Pizzafari or Flametree Barbecue

All of these are on TiW AND with my son being able to order from the kid's menu, especially at the Signature restaurants, we're going to be saving a quite a bit of money. So we had a total of 1 counter service, 10 regular table service and 5 signature restaurants. Compare that with the regular DDP and we'd have had 8 counter service meals, 2 signature meals, 4 regular table service meals and then 2 more meals out of pocket. The DDP would cost us $959.76 and I mocked up our dining on my TiW dining plan and we'll spend about $1100. Neither estimate includes a tip. I know I'll be spending more on tips with my TiW plan because I'm going to be dining at more sit down locations, but I'd rather have a table service lunch than a counter service any day of the week. Also, some of the prices of burgers at the TS locations are similar to the CS. It's worth the extra money to me to not have to fight for a table.

 

[hart6066]

You wouldn't pay anything for the 2 kids to be on it, so for the 4 of you to eat each day, you'd have 4 counter service meals and 4 snacks. That means you probably would never pay OOP unless you do character meals. You and your husband could share your counter service meals with the kids, and never--probably all day--have to buy them food OOP. If you're planning on going to a TS meal on your own every day there, it won't be worth it, but if you're there for a week, and only plan on doing 3 TS meals, you should price it out. Even a quick hamburger at a park counter service can add up if you end up ordering 2 or 3 meals plus a few drinks and snacks a day. With all 4 of you eating, but only paying for 2, this year it might work out. Have fun no matter what you do!!

 

[Alesia]

The only way to figure out if it will work for you is to do the math.

Figure out where you would like to eat and what you would typically order and add it up. Don't forget to include tax and tip.

Then figure the cost of the dining plan, again adding in tips.

See which comes out cheaper.

We didn't get the dining plan and ended up spending $200 less than the DDP would have cost us.

 

[lynnebla]

I have 3 kids - 8, 4 & 2. We had never done the dining plan before this year because the kids just can't do a table service meal everyday, so it wasn't worth it for us. But this year, we did the quick service plan and it was great. Of course, the 2 yo wasn't on the plan cause she's too young, but we actually never had to pay for a meal and ended up bringing home a bunch of snacks. The plan had paid for itself by the 2nd day we were there. I would definitely recommend it!

 

[keywestbride]

IMHO, the way to figure out whether it's worth it or not is to ask yourself if you're going to do at least 1 sit down meal every day if you're not on it, or a couple less if you're going to do signature meals. If the answer is no, it's not worth it.

Even if the answer is yes, I think it's close to being a wash. I've done the math a couple of times, and things add up pretty much the same for our family. The only difference is that with the DDP, we tend to do more character meals, and we get all of those desserts, which we'd never order if we were paying OOP.

 

[TheDWord]

For us, the DDP was essentially a wash. It will be different for everyone because it becomes more than just a pure dollars and cents thing, as there are some psychological and subjective factors involved. You can check out a DDP cost-benefit analysis I did (follow the link on my sig) and you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

[winterman]

I don't want to schedule too many table side dinners since the girls are so small and I'm afraid that after a long day in the park neither of them will want to sit.
Thanks!

Based on that statement, I would say 'do not buy the DDP' yet. With the DDP you essentially pay for your meals in advance. If your girls are tired and you decide they can't sit thru a meal you are stuck.

Go, enjoy. Make ADRs for dinner if you want, knowing that it is no big deal if you cancel. You can always eat CS at your resort. In the future you can buy the DDP when your pattern of eating is a better fit.

FYI, we participate in free dining but since the tip and appetizer were eliminated, we will not buy it.

 

[mwatson011]

Depends on what you like and how your kiddos are. We went in January, me, dh, dd2 (just turned 2) and dd3 (just turned 3).

We had the deluxe dining plan, because we love to sit down to meals, and our girls are very well behaved and enjoy eating in restaurants. Some kids won't sit still in restaurants, and if ours were like that, we would not have opted for this dining plan.

We did a character breakfast every day, because the girls are early risers, then either a cs or ts in whatever park we were in that day in a very go-with-the-flow manner, then had dinner ressies every night.

One night dd2 and dh were knocked out at 5:30, no lie, for the night, so dd3 and I went to 1900 park fare and had dinner with cinderella and the prince. It was great. We ended up with a couple leftover credits our last day, so we were able to grab some sandwiches before our flight home.

If you choose any dining plan, remember kids under 3 are free, so you would only be paying for the two adults. I think on the quick serve or deluxe dining plans, you will have enough food to feed both kiddos from your plates.

All in all, it was nice to know that the meals were prepaid (except tips which we budgeted for) and that was one less worry for us.

 

[Mom2JPL]

We've done the ddp the past two years with our young kids and will definitely be doing it again for our future trips.

Our first year our kids were 3, 2 and 1 - so we only had to pay for 3 of us on the plan. It worked out great! We "split" our cs meals so that all 5 of us could eat and we booked all character meals for our ts credits. It definitely took a little planning looking over menus to see where we'd get the most food for our dining $$'s. I also would save our desserts from the cs meals and we used them for a quick breakfast some mornings. It was definitely a $$ saver and saved us a lot of time because the kids got to see sooo many characters while enjoying a meal, instead of standing around in line in the hot muggy weather to see their favorites! Plus, don't feel hemmed into only eating a ts dinner - we split ours up into all 3 meals depending on which characters we wanted to meet.

Have fun planning!

 

[ntsammy5]

We have done the DDP 4 times now and I'll probably never do it again. You should try it one time though.

The minuses are

1. Requires a lot of planning
2. Trip revolves around eating - loses a lot of flexibility
3. Too much food - we never eat deserts except on this plan
4. Forced to eat at WDW and we like offsite places too

Pluses

1. It's prepaid
2. It's probably a little cheraper than OOP but only if you plan on a lot of deserts and character meals

I might consider the QS plan, but probably not.