What factors into your decisions as to pay OOP or dining plan

[supersnoop]

You are correct, I haven't used the meal plan in coming up on two years and I didnt realize that had been eliminated from the plans. You used to get an appetizer, meal and dessert with a table service meal. I apologize.

The regular dining plan has not included the appetizer for adults since 2008, over seven years ago.

 

[HockeyIsLife]

The regular dining plan has not included the appetizer for adults since 2008, over seven years ago.

Well thank you very much for correcting me. The last 4 times we have been to Disney we had the deluxe dining plan. I assumed that the same benefit would be there for ALL table service meals.
I still stand by my original statement.

 

[supersnoop]

Well thank you very much for correcting me. The last 4 times we have been to Disney we had the deluxe dining plan. I assumed that the same benefit would be there for ALL table service meals.
I still stand by my original statement.

I'm sorry if my corrections felt insulting; that was not my intent. I'm just trying to make sure the information available as accurate as possible. You say you stand my your original statement, but this reason you provided was not accurate.

 

[HockeyIsLife]

I'm sorry if my corrections felt insulting; that was not my intent. I'm just trying to make sure the information available as accurate as possible. You say you stand my your original statement, but this reason you provided was not accurate.

Actually, I do stand by my statement that the Dining plan is a great tool for vacation, but the Deluxe plan ties you to make reservations, and go from reservation to reservation, rather than enjoy the park.

You have a fabulous day.

 

[canadiandisneynut]

After our last trip I did the math on what it would have cost us OOP vs our Dining plan cost and for our family of three we would have saved $200 for the week. It doesn't seem worth it to worry about the cost of everything. If I wanted to make it even we would have to cut a couple of character meals out. We find the Base Dining Plan to be more than enough and do not have to go to the Deluxe. We maximize our credits during QS meals by ordering an adult meal to share with our daughter. The portions are huge. We are not dessert people either. At a QS counter, you can ask for grapes or apples (they serve them as sides with the kids meal) as your dessert. We either eat them if hungry, or pack them along with us to munch on later on in the day. You can also ask for a bottled juice instead of a fountain pop, which is easy to pack along with you as well. Doing this also helps us maximize our snack credits as well. When our daughter is older I am sure that we will approach it with OOP or even the QS Dining Plan but right now let the magic be the magic and not worry about what each bill is costing you.

 

[dansdad]

We have used the DDP 4 times during the "free" dining offering. We had kept our receipts from those trips to be able to see what we spent for alcohol and tips so I know what exactly what we spent on those things and every year was very, very close. For our last trip there was no "free" dining offered so we took what $$ the DDP would have cost us plus what we would have spent in alcohol and tips and put that $$ on a Gift Card. During our 8 day trip each of us ordered whatever we wanted not caring about cost and used the Gift Card for whatever snacks we wanted during the trip. We had gotten used to eating with the DDP so during this trip we still did 1 TS and 1 QS per day. When we got home we had $204.45 left on the Gift card.

So going forward if we go during "free" dining, we will use the DDP. But if we go when "free" dining is not offered, we will pay OOP with a Gift Card. I really do like having everything paid for before we leave and not have to cringe when we open the CC bill after our trip.

 

[robinb]

After our last trip I did the math on what it would have cost us OOP vs our Dining plan cost and for our family of three we would have saved $200 for the week. It doesn't seem worth it to worry about the cost of everything. If I wanted to make it even we would have to cut a couple of character meals out. We find the Base Dining Plan to be more than enough and do not have to go to the Deluxe. We maximize our credits during QS meals by ordering an adult meal to share with our daughter. The portions are huge. We are not dessert people either. At a QS counter, you can ask for grapes or apples (they serve them as sides with the kids meal) as your dessert. We either eat them if hungry, or pack them along with us to munch on later on in the day. You can also ask for a bottled juice instead of a fountain pop, which is easy to pack along with you as well. Doing this also helps us maximize our snack credits as well. When our daughter is older I am sure that we will approach it with OOP or even the QS Dining Plan but right now let the magic be the magic and not worry about what each bill is costing you.

We have used the DDP 4 times during the "free" dining offering. We had kept our receipts from those trips to be able to see what we spent for alcohol and tips so I know what exactly what we spent on those things and every year was very, very close. For our last trip there was no "free" dining offered so we took what $$ the DDP would have cost us plus what we would have spent in alcohol and tips and put that $$ on a Gift Card. During our 8 day trip each of us ordered whatever we wanted not caring about cost and used the Gift Card for whatever snacks we wanted during the trip. We had gotten used to eating with the DDP so during this trip we still did 1 TS and 1 QS per day. When we got home we had $204.45 left on the Gift card.

So going forward if we go during "free" dining, we will use the DDP. But if we go when "free" dining is not offered, we will pay OOP with a Gift Card. I really do like having everything paid for before we leave and not have to cringe when we open the CC bill after our trip.

Canadiandisneynut, why not try dansdad's method next time? He seemed to have the best of both worlds: prepaying his dining and feeling able to spend whatever he wanted and not wasting money on the DDP.

 

[canadiandisneynut]

@robinb I did see @dansdad s post and thought that was a great strategy. We always end up with so many snack credits at the end of the week that we are using on rice krispie mickey ears, money I would not have spent otherwise

 

[chs27]

I just won't spend the money while I'm there! If the dining plan is already paid for, I eat up. Otherwise, I turn into somewhat of a miser. Let's share a dessert...

 

[emilik]

It's so individual that I think you really do have to do the math. I mapped out each restaurant we wanted on our next trip, and what we would want to eat at those restaurants. I added up the cost and it was very comparable to the cost of the dining plan - except on the plan we would get WAY more food. Way more food actually works well for our family because our youngest will be an under-3 toddler on our next trip (not incl. on ddp) who we will share that excess with. Free dining is even further in our favor as the savings greatly outweighs the room discount we could likely opt for.

I guess we are in that sweet spot, with 2 adults, 2 Disney "kids", and 1 under-3, doing several character meals, several buffets, a table service every day in addition to a QS whether we have the plan or not... In general we are all about the food - paraphrasing Jim Gaffigan, vacation is basically eating somewhere we've never been before hahaha!