Will you pay for 2013 Dining Plan or too much?

[ExtinctDino]

I've had the DDP several times when it was free, but would never pay for it. Especially with these price increases, anywhere from 7% to 17% over last year, depending on which plan you get and kid or adult prices.

The official inflation rate over the last 12 months is only 1.4%.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I don't think it's worth paying for. Maybe it would be if I figured out exactly how to use each credit to get the most expensive meals, but I save more buying my food OOP and ordering exactly what I feel like eating, and not just because it's included.

 

[Q-man]

To reach that up to 20% savings you have to go to the most expensive qualifying restaurants, order the most expensive qualifying available item every time, always get the very average dessert, and use every snack credit.

The room discount for deluxe properties is usually the better deal than rack rate and free dining. Size of party and level of accommodation need to be considered. Free dining for a family of 6 staying at say FW cabins is worth more than it is for a family of four.

I make 20.5 meals a week(that is eating out twice a month) plus snacks. Not having to cook for that week is a huge part of vacation for me and I'm willing to pay for that treat. But, we no longer purchase the dining plan and always crunch the room discount vs free dining numbers.

 

[mouseketeermama]

We will not be doing the dining plan, but paying OOP. We are staying CL so with breakfast and light afternoon snacks covered, we just pay OOP for an early dinner and do late snacks back at the resort or while we are out. We ended up spending 1/2 of our food budget on our trip in February doing things this way. I am glad that we didn't do CL and get the dining plan like we had intended, it would have been a giant waste.

 

[loveshak22]

Yes, but I already have my trip booked with dining that I asm willing to pay for. If the FD offer comes out, I get a big chunk off my bill Ill take it , its extra money for the next time we want to spend our maoney at Disney!! To us its worth every penny

Does that work? So if I book now and FD comes out do I get the hotel rate I booked at now or if the hotel rate goes up to compensate for FD then do they just reprice the package??

 

[loveshak22]

If Free dining is offered I may upgrade to Deluxe so i can get the table service meals 3x a day which I believe also includes an appetizer on top of the dessert. (we're more of an appetizer couple than a dessert couple)

We're in the same boat and that's what I'm thinking. My DH and I will be there the end of Jan and if we get FD we may upgrade to deluxe. I haven't compared menu prices yet but right now I have ADRs for 2 character breakfasts and then all TS meals for dinner with 2 of them being 2 dining credits. I figure on the days we do breakfast we could use snack credits for lunch and the snack credits can be used on a variety of items that are pre-packaged so we'll buy that and take it home with us. We are more appetizer people as well so it's hard to imagine that apps and entrees at 5 TS restaurants, plus the breakfasts, wouldn't equal what we'd pay OOP and then the snacks and desserts are the icing on the cake....maybe if I do the math though I'll be surprised!