Why do you choose to do, or not do the dining plan?

[jlk806]

We did free dining a few trips, then the choice was obvious. But this trip we have a split stay booked (BCV 5 nts, 40% off, AKV-Kidani, 4 nts, rented points).

We are choosing to do the dining plan the whole trip because:
- Our son (and us!) LOVES the character meals! If we werent on the dining plan, we'd probably only do 1 or so.
- We like not choosing our meal based on the price, as my husband esp. is one who looks at the menu and orders the cheapest thing on there.
- We would never order dessert if we werent on the plan. Not like we always NEED it, but we are on vacation and its nice to have dessert at least some of the time!
- When we eat at the resort, the meal comes with a drink, which we take and then just fill up our mugs and drink from those and save the meal drinks to take to the parks with us.
- Snacks - we like to have the flexibility to grab ice cream or slushies throughout the trip when wanted. We also sometimes use the snack credits to get a cinnamon bun or such for breakfast.
- The convenience! Its so nice to just not worry about paying for food, its all pre-paid and convenient!

With that said, we always do the traditional dining plan. Would not do the QS plan because we like the character meals and TS restaurants and would never to the deluxe plan because to us that would be WAY too much food.


So why does everyone else choose to do or not do the dining plan?

 

[imthatgirl]

Convenience is my deciding factor. Having the DDp makes my trip easier so we use it...thats it.

 

[5boyz]

I like it being prepaid and not having to worry about looking at prices...mind you we do the qsdp now so not a big difference in the prices there....

 

[Nadjalu]

We always get the DDP, whether we pay for it or it is free.

Either way it saves us $$$$$.

 

[Cafeen]

It saves me money, while allowing me to experience what I desire to experience.

Now, not everyone saves money. If your planned itinerary (at least for dining), fits the general outline of a plan, then there's a good chance it will. This holds true for me as my 2 sit downs per day fit the style of DxDDP just fine. (Several signatures, though you can come out ahead doing 2TS/1CS per night of stay).

 

[ccgirl]

You really have to do the math. For some, it is not a $$$ savings and rather a convenience factor. We have done the basic dining plan several times. This next trip we are doing the QSDP. We are going during F&W so can use the snack credits to eat around the world. We will probably pay for 1 TS meal OOP.

When we go with the kids we are going to get the QSDP again. With the Basic Dining plan we always had leftover snack credits. Granted, we got some stuff to take home but that was only because we had the credits. I did the math and we can get the QSDP and pay for 2 character meals and still be ahead $$ wise than if we got the Basic Plan. So, if you are going to eat at a TS meal every day the Basic Plan might be for you. Else, the QSDP and paying for TS OOP might be better. Of course, it depends on how much the TS meal is.

It really just depends.

 

[jm106]

It seems with the 4 ADR we had plus CS we might save money. Probably not a lot but adding snacks and drinks with lunch plus adding tax to meals it adds a bit more value for us. When I ran my numbers adding those extras it was close with 4 TS so going to DP we get 6(not that we wanted 6) so it was like getting 2 free TS meals. I have dessert party which isnt on it- we are looking forward to it but I also think if I knew we were doing DP with dessert offered daily we would have skipped it. Now its booked and paid for, Ill just go with it and get fruit for some of the desserts. Once I was able to secure meals with better kid options for my son, I booked DP. We also got family style and a couple buffets so saves us purchasing for 2 yo.

 

[mousegear]

Our family like to do at least one TS meal per day on our vaction. However, if we only had adults, OOP is cheaper. We don't always get desserts every meal. However, this September it's just mom and son trip and we bought DDP b/c child's DDP price is 11.99 which is less than one TS meal price at Crystal Palace/Tusker House breakfast price. So you really should do math and see if it's worth it. But I think general rule is if you have child/children (according to disney up to 9), DDP is good.

Also, it's nice that it's paid for so you don't have to worry about extra spending money.

 

[Colleen27]

We have chosen the deluxe plan for our last three trips for several reasons - we love to try new restaurants, we like having everything pre-paid and never looking at menu prices, and we like the flexibility of being able to use credits for TS or QS or signatures or room service according to what best fits into our days.

We're choosing to skip the dining plan for our next trip for two reasons. First and foremost, both our girls are aging up a step - older DD to an adult and younger DD to counting as a child. Older DD doesn't eat nearly enough to justify paying adult prices, especially not on the deluxe plan where each meal is three courses, and younger DD doesn't eat most kid menu foods. Plus we will have both a car and a cabin with a kitchen on the next trip, so getting groceries won't be a problem and we'll be able to do breakfasts in the room and one or two dinners on the grill.

 

[3pletprincesses]

For us it's cheaper to pay for dinning plan then OOP as we love caracters meal. It's something like $100 to feed the 5 of us and way I would only pay that if I was paying OOP. We love not having to worry about cost of food as it's already paid for. Now we are doing the Deluxe because the girls get a better meal options and I won't be the one eating their yucky nuggets because they had my meal. We love Deluxe because we will do many signatures and not blink an eye when ordering a $58 entree.

 

[VeganRazzleDazzle]

The convenience is a HUGE factor for us. I like the idea of having it prepaid and my budget already figured out. I hate having to count every penny we spend as we go. We do the DxDP (Big Eaters/Foodies)! While we probably don't "need" an appetizer, entree, AND dessert, I feel like on vacation I want to try different things. So even if I only have a few bites of each, it's still very enjoyable and vacation-like for me!

I like my ''all inclusive'' vacations so even when we vacation away from Disney (very rarely) we go on a cruise or all inclusive resort. Just adds to that vacation feeling, but I guess everyone defines vacation differently!

 

[PoohsFan1]

We like it because it is convenient for us. Also since we do DxDP, we do a lot of TS restaurants which makes us slow down in the day and relax and take a break from the heat. Another reason is my kids are like the OPs where they want to do a ton of character meals while we are there, and on top of that my DH and I love to do the Signatures...so with those two combined, it is really worth it for us to get the DDP.

 

[kaybird]

Do!!!

 

[Pakey]

We go often. We do not do the dining plan. We have done the regular plan once and the deluxe twice. We do not like it.

1. I don't want to do the math to make sure I'm selecting the correct meals and correct entrees in order to make it come out mathematically.

2. I don't want the under 10 group to feel that they have no choice but to order the kids' meals.

3. We are not huge dessert eaters; I don't want to have to take one just because I paid for it.

4. I prefer to have a salad and then an appetizer for my meal rather than an entree.

5. It's too much food for us. We are a one snack/one meal type of family.

6. I do not follow the popular thought of "prepaying" for food. I'm an accountant; the concept makes no sense. We put our meals on our rewards credit card, pay it when we get home, collect the rewards.

7. The best restaurants on property are not on the dining plan. V&A, Bistro, all of the restaurants at the Swan/Dolphin, many of the DTD restaurants. I'm not willing to give up eating at these places.

So for us, we eat where we want, order what we want.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I prefer pre-paying for meals. We don't do any credit on vacation, and I don't want to worry about bringing the cash or having a huge charge to my debit card at the end of my trip. I don't really want to think about money at all while on vacation.

 

[nurtz]

We do not use the dining plans for many reasons.
I do not really want to prepay for food I may or may not want when I am there.

We make ADR's for restaurants we want to eat at and sometimes the day comes around and we just don't want to eat there...either we are not that hungry or we are busy having fun doing something else. No problem canceling ADR and we don't have to worry about where we will "make up that credit".

We are not dessert eaters...rarely, rarely do we order dessert anytime we eat out. Usually we are way too full. I do not want to get a dessert to go and carry it around with me. We prefer appetizers and many times split an entree. We just aren't that big of eaters that we each need all three or even two courses.

We have been to Disney World many times and have AP's. We have eaten at most of the popular places and really don't feel the need to eat at that many TS each time we go. Plus, we have a TIW card now which gives us a discount.

If given a choice between free dining and a room discount, give us the room discount. We like to stay deluxe or moderate and we just feel the room discount gives us the better bang for our buck given the way we eat.

We pay OOP, use TIW, and use our debit card to pay. That is not "charging" as it comes directly out of our checking account and is paid for right away. We just make sure we have the money in account before we leave. We will also use our Disney Rewards Visa and collect points for the next visit.

We don't snack much either. Not sure we would ever get the number of snacks on the plan and I really don't want to run around the last day using all the credits up and taking a bunch of stuff home with me.

We eat where we want, when we want, and order what we want. Sometimes it is the most expensive item, sometimes not. If I was on the dining plan (and I am speaking for myself here), I would feel compelled to get "my money's worth". I don't feel that way when I pay OOP. And our family eats quite well without it.

I understand that for some the dining plans work...we prefer to vacation without them. We have had almost 30 incredible trips without any dining plan and don't feel we have missed out on anything.

 

[smiths02]

We did it (regular DDP) when we went two years ago because we were staying in a room with the ILs (yes, we survived a week with the ILs, DH, me, and our 2 turning 3 year old DS). We were splitting the cost of that trip with the ILs (they paid 1/2, we paid 1/2). It was very easy to split this way with everything pre-paid.

Also, since DS was not yet 3 when we arrived, this made the character buffets and Ohana dinner seem like really great options...we didn't have to pay extra for him. Also, ILs didn't really have to realize how much the food cost so we could just order what we wanted (when we ate at a non buffet or CS place or got a snack).

We are getting it again (we did get a pin for free QSDP and are upgrading to DDP) for our trip in July even though the inlaws aren't coming. Since we have a 5 year old (which are a good value, I think on the plan) and we like buffets and character meals in peak season...this will help. I don't know if we save money in practical terms, but we will get our "value" out of it. I mean, could we do it cheaper? Absolutely! But could we eat how I plan to eat cheaper? No.

 

[pmaurer74]

We are considering DXDP because we are doing about 9 character meals and plan to spend time with the characters that way plus the in-laws are coming and had some places they wanted to eat and so did we.

 

[TosaTrio]

We normally do not purchase the dining plan. We do not want our vacation to revolve around food, and since you really have to book reservations for table service, we feel it really restricts us. We normally book one or two TS (early lunch or dinner) and pay OOP. We have found in the past we would rather eat when we are hungry or skip meals if we are not...

If we were taking a trip where I knew we were going to have more TS I might have to re-evalutate however that is really not our style...

 

[egdanger1]

You are on vacation-

Who wants to count meals and such to make sure that you are getting a value or have it sitting in the back of your mind?

Who wants to worry about not overspending and get the cheapest thing on the menu? (Believe me, without the DDP, I probably would be the first to do this.)

Who wants to limit yourself to CS only.

As for me and my family, we love love love the DDP, more specifically the DxDDP. We know that when we step foot on the property, the only "money" that we have to be concerned with are tips and "other" beverages. I (the stay on the budget person) do not have to look at my husband cross-eyed when he orders the filet. Plus we are not tied down to ADR's because we are simply not commando type tourist when it comes to the parks. Heck, eating different foods is a part of the vacation.