When doing a solo trip...

[disneymmc]

Do you tend to use the Disney Dining Plan? Trying to figure out if it makes financial sense. I used it on my trip with my nephew and we didn't use all our quick serve credits, but traveling alone when I won't have to worry about finding something that he would like, maybe it would work better? Or, do you find yourself constantly eating to try to use all your credits? Thanks!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

I've never used it, and I don't like that it would add constraints to my vacation.

 

[Dug720]

Solo, with friends, or with family have never used it. Solo definitely it would cost more than my eating style - I tend to do a character breakfast (all buffet or ACYE) and then just kind of snack throughout the day in the parks rather than eat more big meals. They would MAKE money on me if I did the plan.

 

[disneymmc]

Thanks for the replies! I was leaning against using it, but wanted to make sure there wasn't something major I wasn't considering!!! Sounds like I was on the right track!

 

[automaticsoap]

I'm the same as the others -- I never use it for solo or group trips. To break even on the dining plan, I would have to eat way more food than I usually do -- and then you have to keep track of those credits. I find it much easier and cheaper just paying regularly.

 

[karly05]

I never ever get the dining plan. I want to eat what and when I want and not worry about "getting value" for my credits. This year, I want to go to Skipper Canteen and try the arepas appetizer for my lunch. I have an ADR for lunch at GF Cafe mostly so I can try the French onion soup. Any time I've done the math, the dining plan doesn't benefit me, and I don't like the restrictions.

 

[Discodropped]

I always felt like you HAD to get the most expensive thing to make the dining plan work out, which forces you to make decisions instead of just getting whatever you want without throwing money away.

 

[disneymmc]

Thanks for the advice! When I took my 8 year old nephew couple of weeks ago, we didn't get through half the quick service credits and used almost all the snack credits for him, so I KNOW I'd have a hard time getting through the credits! After reading all the advice, I won't be doing the dining plan. THanks all!!

 

[bamacmac]

I've used it twice on solo trips and it worked great for me. I would do it again. I even did deluxe dining on one of my solo trips and just ate at some of the 2 credit places for dinner and one breakfast and soooo got my money's worth out of it. I enjoy nice meals and this made those meals a lot cheaper for me. You can use the snack credits for so many things...even small things. And if you have them left at the end you can go get some fun snacks to take home. It's not really difficult to keep track of credits (they are on your receipt after you get something) and to me it doesn't add any stress or anything to the trip. It makes it easier. Just my 2 cents.

 

[samsteele]

I've used it twice for solo trips during the Fall Free Dining promotion. It worked well for me because I planned in advance to order 1 of the top 3 most $ entrees on each menu and it was a real treat to actually think about ordering most $ instead of least $. I did get my money's worth by eating at TS restaurants that I normally wouldn't consider a value OOP. I also used my snack credits at Food & Wine and that worked out very well. I never used 2 credits for a Signature. However, by giving my money upfront to WDW, even through a dining promotion, I had to assume the risk that if I became ill for a few days or was just too tired to keep walking around the world eating like a little monster, then the DP would beat me in the end. It was also a huge amount of food. Desserts at lunch just aren't the norm for many of us. But it was a fun dining experience & I don't regret it at all. I wouldn't purchase the DP outside of a promotion and I always crunch the numbers and compare to a seasonal room discount to see if that is a better deal for me. Given that the seasonal room discounts for values & mods aren't as deep as they used to be, a dining promotion can work for some of us. Its definitely not a one size fits all solution.

 

[raddisneyfan]

Never.........unless it's free, of course. Takes away from the extreme flexibility you enjoy when traveling solo. I'm very much into canceling and rebooking my ADRs all the time depending on what I feel like at the moment. Can't really do this with a group and don't really want to cancel ADRs if you've paid for the food in advance.

 

[JustCor]

I used it on a solo trip and I found that I spent more time trying to get the maximum value out of it instead of picking restaurants that I would actually want to go to so that I'd get the most out of it. Also, I didn't eat near as much as I thought I would. It turned out being a little more food than I wanted. For me, at least, it would have been cheaper for me if I had just gone to the restaurants that I wanted and eaten the meals I would have normally got. At the end of the trip, I had a snack credit and a quick service credit left. I ended up exchanging the quick service credit for three snack credits and getting four cupcakes before leaving just to burn off the credits.

 

[Lothlórien]

Do you tend to use the Disney Dining Plan? Trying to figure out if it makes financial sense. I used it on my trip with my nephew and we didn't use all our quick serve credits, but traveling alone when I won't have to worry about finding something that he would like, maybe it would work better? Or, do you find yourself constantly eating to try to use all your credits? Thanks!

Regardless of the number of people in our group and ages of those people, we never find the dining plan to be a value. Out of pocket always comes out better, even when compared with the cost of the Tables in Wonderland option.

 

[keahgirl8]

I never have. I don't think I eat enough for it to be worth it to me.

 

[ludari]

I never have used the dining plan as a solo traveler because I felt it was too much food. Although I do enjoy dining out I typically have groceries delivered to my room to have snacks around.

 

[lustergirl]

Going solo or even just hubby and me: no dining plan. All of the family: definitely. My sons can eat.

 

[keahgirl8]

Going solo or even just hubby and me: no dining plan. All of the family: definitely. My sons can eat.

I can see where it would probably be helpful if you have boys (especially teenagers)! Disney probably loses money on you!

 

[bryanb]

I normally would not want to have the dining plan because it's a lot of food to eat every single day of my vacation, but it made sense for me during a split stay.

On the dining plan, you get until midnight of your check-out date to use up all of your credits.

Therefore, with a split stay (2 nights POFQ, 2 nights Dolphin), that meant that I could buy a 2-day dining plan and spend the meals over 3/4 of my vacation.

With Boma on day 1, the big Flame Tree BBQ platter (quick-service) on day 2, and Cape May on day 3, three big dinners were covered. Add on the snacks and resort mug refills, and one more QS meal to spare, and it more than made up for the $120 upfront cost.

 

[richmo]

I don't for a couple reasons. One is that when I do a solo trip, I tend to do it on the cheap, as much as possible. That may mean staying offsite, which of course would rule out any DDP. Secondly, even if on site, I tend to do things more "on the fly" than I would with the family. I wouldn't necessarily want to be tied to ADR plans. I suppose I might consider a QS plan if onsite without a car, but not the full DDP.

 

[keahgirl8]

I don't for a couple reasons. One is that when I do a solo trip, I tend to do it on the cheap, as much as possible. That may mean staying offsite, which of course would rule out any DDP. Secondly, even if on site, I tend to do things more "on the fly" than I would with the family. I wouldn't necessarily want to be tied to ADR plans. I suppose I might consider a QS plan if onsite without a car, but not the full DDP.

That's the other thing! I usually make 1-2 ADRs tops. This year, I had two. One, I only had because I met up with some friends. The other, I literally made an hour beforehand. I love being solo.