We saved $150

[pittsburghmarc]

By not purchasing the Dining Plan.

In past trips, we would either purchase the plan or travel during "free dining".

But this past trip, no free dining was offered so I crunched some numbers. You know, view the menus prior to the trip and take an educated guess as to what we would spend for the week. It seemed like we would save a lot of money by spending out-of-pocket for all meals and snacks. Maybe up to $300!

As you can see in my signature, my wife and I have 8, 5, and a 20 month old children. And the 8 year old eats like an adult in amount but not very adventurous.

We ate and drank what we wanted when we wanted. And had one table service meal each day.

• Mama Melrose
• Be Our Guest for dinner
• Sci-Fi Drive In
• Rainforest Cafe
• La Hacienda
• The Plaza
• Tepan Edo

OK, maybe not the most expensive restaurants, but we are always thinking about what the kids will like.

Half-way through our 7 night stay, we thought we were going to soar way over budget. But at the end of the week we saved $150!

By the way, the shareable meat platter at La Hacienda was the best meal we've had on property in a while! Highly recommended.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Not surprised, the DDP is no longer about being a little bit of deal, but just the convenience of paying up front for meals. A friend on mine went with her DH and daughters 10 and 11. I told her it was crazy to get the DDP because the girls hardly eat and often share meals, but she didn't care, she just wanted it paid for and didn't want to have to look at menu prices.

 

[goofeyken]

How did your 20 month old do at Tepan Edo? I have one that age and it is one of our favorite restaurants at the world.

 

[Kimberle]

Yeah, I'm not a fan either. I don't like the restriction of having to plan each TS & CS. (Though you don't need an ADR for counter service, you need to plan when to have them or you could wind up with lots of credits on the last day.) We also rarely eat dessert. I'll make a few ARD's for the "key" places I'd like to eat, but mainly played it by ear (a/k/a, stomach).

 

[pittsburghmarc]

How did your 20 month old do at Tepan Edo? I have one that age and it is one of our favorite restaurants at the world.

Not well. Most ended up on the floor.

The staff was very understanding, my wife was very embarrassed.

Oh, I just remembered the funniest part (in retrospect)! He reached over to my wife's plate and grabbed a bit of wasabi and ate it! Cries, tears, but thank goodness we grabbed his hands before they reached his eyes.

It will be a while before we go back.

 

[goofeyken]

LOL. I think we'll skip it for a while then.

Glad you saved some bucks, never been a fan of the dining plan unless it was free.

 

[PinkBudgie]

This is exactly what we were thinking. We looked at the dining plans and decided none of them fit the way we eat. We will be two adults. At DLR sometimes we share a meal, other times we have ice cream for lunch. And then we might go to a nice sit down meal. In researching it I've read about people having all these snack credits left over so they bought a bunch of Disney treats to bring home. To me, that is money I wouldn't have spent. We also never buy dessert with our meals so that is another item we wouldn't have bought normally.

 

[pigletto]

I rented DVC points for our December stay and got a free dining pincode for my dates 4 days later. I was worried at first, but decided to crunch some numbers. We are staying in a studio at the Wilderness Lodge Villas. The cheapest room I could get was a standard view at Wilderness Lodge. With free dining it was still going to cost me more than paying out of pocket and a point rental. So apples to apples I will break even or even save a little, and I can eat what I want. With the "free" ddp I would have stuck with 1 credit places to stretch the plan. With paying out of pocket, I picked exactly what we wanted to eat and where, which included a Candlelight Processional package, and the HDDR.
My son is 9 and while he still qualifies for the childrens ddp, it's nowhere near enough food for him. My dd is a vegetarian and many places she'd rather make a meal of appetizers than be limited to the one vegetarian choice. And we rarely finish the dessert. So, not only do we break even or save a bit without really trying, we aren't limited to the menu constraints of the "free" ddp.
We have always gone with free dining and just made it work somehow. I'm excited to try eating the way we want. As far as pre-paying.. I will just stick the money on a gift card and be done with it. Pre-paying for something that doesn't work for me doesn't offer me any convenience.

 

[serene56]

I rented DVC points for our December stay and got a free dining pincode for my dates 4 days later..

how do you get free dining when renting points?

--
We also did the math-- we do not need desserts after each meal-- and a snack every day-- depending on when our meals are.
We saved 70pp not using the plan. As for having the meals prepaid-- I took the money I would spend on the dining plan and put it on a gift card-- mymeals are now prepaid.

Meal plan will costs us 770. per couple plus tip,

Mymeals come to 700 including tip

 

[pigletto]

how do you get free dining when renting points?

--
We also did the math-- we do not need desserts after each meal-- and a snack every day-- depending on when our meals are.
We saved 70pp not using the plan. As for having the meals prepaid-- I took the money I would spend on the dining plan and put it on a gift card-- mymeals are now prepaid.

Meal plan will costs us 770. per couple plus tip,

Mymeals come to 700 including tip

No, I meant that I rented points and was ready to pay out of pocket. Then I got an email with a pincode for free dining if I booked a regular rack rate room. I was worried I could have saved more by not renting the points. Turns out it was about the same.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

I did free dining for several years and finally came to the same conclusion it is way cheaper to get TIW card and eat what I want than to do the dining plan. I always save money.

 

[pittsburghmarc]

I did free dining for several years and finally came to the same conclusion it is way cheaper to get TIW card and eat what I want than to do the dining plan. I always save money.

No doubt. If you qualify it's the best way to go. But most of us can't get the card.

 

[VLee]

We too use the TIW card and don't know if we will ever get the Dining Plan again. We would rather have a dessert at another point in the day somewhere at the parks. We often share a couple of entrees among the three of us and get a child's meal for the youngest.

It has just gotten too expensive since a couple of the kids have reached adult ages. And I have found more and more that I like the freedom of counter service. Actually, since they now require a credit card down on a lot of restaurants, it is easier to get into TS restaurants at the last moment.

We have one or two favorites that we still like to make a reservation ahead.