Did Anyone Actually Save Money Using the Dining Plan?

[BandontheRun]

We have the free dining because of our dates, but I upgraded to the regular (3 meals day/2 snacks) for our stay. It was $400 extra for 4 nights. What is it saving me? It's saving me hear my husband grumble every time we go somewhere. It's saving me from choosing which restaurants I really want to go to and just being able to do them. We currently have 4 character meals booked, and I'm thrilled that we don't have to worry about any of them. Will I end up saving money? I really don't know. Is it worth every penny to not hear my husband complain? YES. Obviously this is a personal decision, but everyone knows the dynamics in their own relationships. Happy travels everyone!

Now you just get one grumble over the cost of te DDP vs a grumble for every meal!

 

[alyssa18o6]

I don't know if we will actually save money using the DDP. We've been debating it, but my fiancé likes the idea of "prepaying" for our food so that we don't need to worry about it when we're there. I also like the idea of being able to order anything I want without having to worry about the cost. So I definitely think we will be using the DDP, also it's our honeymoon so we don't mind the splurge for some extra food.

 

[famy27]

We paid for the dining plan once and agreed then and there to never pay for it again. It wasn't even about the cost to us, it was honestly just WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. By the end of day 3, we were just sick of eating. But you couldn't miss a meal or your savings was gone. So we kept ordering and ordering until we just felt like big slobs with no energy, that's being honest. On holidays, we still tend to eat like we do at home. We don't eat dessert everyday. We have protein smoothies for breakfasts, lunches are typically a sandwich and fruit, suppers always involve a salad and some kind of meat on the BBQ. If we go out for supper, we usually share a meal and appy between the 2 of us, again, not because we are cheap, it's because we just can't possibly eat a full meal and appy.


It's far cheaper for us to go and pay OOP. We still have table service meals, not everyday. We eat when we are hungry and not when we feel we have too. It sucked the fun right out of the trip for us. I don't even think I'd take the DP if it was offered free. Just too much for us and I'd feel wasteful.

I hear you. And there is only so much carrot cake I can eat. We ended up taking so many desserts back to eat as breakfast the next morning. We were so sick of brownies and carrot cake by the end of that trip. But we didn't want to refuse the dessert, because then we'd be "losing money." We ate so much that we felt a little gross. We were also tired of TS meals. Our toddler ran out of patience for so much sit-down dining. If it's free dining, sure. We'll take it. But if it's paid, we just prefer OOP now.

 

[persimmondeb]

I'm always curious about what people who have two TS meals a day and spend less than the cost of the Dining plan on eat. I believe them, really, but I couldn't do it.

We did not do the Dining Plan last trip, because Disney will not sell it to you without park tickets as part of the package and we had our tickets already through their education program. So we stayed off property and paid out of pocket with a combo of cash and pre-paid gift cards. Bad mistake. We spent a lot of that trip grumping at each other because we were all hungry and cranky and wanted to do eating we had not budgeted for.

We are big eaters anyway and DS is still growing, but for some reason we are ravenous when we hit the parks. The DxDP is just never in my budget, but I'm sure we could do it justice. The regular dining plan is not quite enough, but it takes a lot of the sting out of Disney eating. We've never not used more than the value of the plan, and I am shocked by how quickly Disney restaurant bills add up.

I drink wine or beer with many meals, but the beverage credit can be used for coffee, which both DS and I like with dessert, or sparkling water, which we also both like and I'll drink along with my wine. These are all usually skips if we have to pay for them, but we enjoy having them.

I don't necessarily want the most expensive thing on the menu every time, but it's probably going to be on the more costly half, and eating dessert is not a hardship. The only place I've ever had trouble finishing is WPE, which isn't technically a TS anyway, but is a fairly regular stop for us on the dining plan.

We once had the CS plan when it had two snacks and we didn't eat all of them, so we wound up getting things to eat in the car on the way back to Pennsylvania. They did not go to waste.

We'll sometimes split 2CS meals between the three of us and get an extra dessert with a snack credit to make it go a little farther.

Of course I'll never top '07 when we paid 39.99 each for the DP and the dinner bill for the three of us came to $160. I actually felt guilty.

 

[2girlsmomma]

We saved a lot' for two reasons" 1. We did LOTS of character dining, and 2. We did park days on the outside of our stay(3 nights, 5 park days), so we actually ended up with 2 meals a day.

 

[CinderElsa]

I'm always curious about what people who have two TS meals a day and spend less than the cost of the Dining plan on eat. I believe them, really, but I couldn't do it.

We did not do the Dining Plan last trip, because Disney will not sell it to you without park tickets as part of the package and we had our tickets already through their education program. So we stayed off property and paid out of pocket with a combo of cash and pre-paid gift cards. Bad mistake. We spent a lot of that trip grumping at each other because we were all hungry and cranky and wanted to do eating we had not budgeted for.

We are big eaters anyway and DS is still growing, but for some reason we are ravenous when we hit the parks. The DxDP is just never in my budget, but I'm sure we could do it justice. The regular dining plan is not quite enough, but it takes a lot of the sting out of Disney eating. We've never not used more than the value of the plan, and I am shocked by how quickly Disney restaurant bills add up.

I drink wine or beer with many meals, but the beverage credit can be used for coffee, which both DS and I like with dessert, or sparkling water, which we also both like and I'll drink along with my wine. These are all usually skips if we have to pay for them, but we enjoy having them.

I don't necessarily want the most expensive thing on the menu every time, but it's probably going to be on the more costly half, and eating dessert is not a hardship. The only place I've ever had trouble finishing is WPE, which isn't technically a TS anyway, but is a fairly regular stop for us on the dining plan.

We once had the CS plan when it had two snacks and we didn't eat all of them, so we wound up getting things to eat in the car on the way back to Pennsylvania. They did not go to waste.

We'll sometimes split 2CS meals between the three of us and get an extra dessert with a snack credit to make it go a little farther.

Of course I'll never top '07 when we paid 39.99 each for the DP and the dinner bill for the three of us came to $160. I actually felt guilty.

You can buy the dining plan without tickets now.

 

[persimmondeb]

Can you? This is the first I've heard of it, although our YES ticket trip was in '12, and I haven't planned one since. For us, this would be a dream come true. I've posted frequently in the past (a while past, obviously) about my frustration in not being able to purchase the DDP separately.

 

[persimmondeb]

You can buy the dining plan without tickets now.

And it seems to be a dream that has not come true. Darned if I can find it on the website. They are not giving me the option to add it to a room-only, and the description says "part of a Magic your way package".

Historically, I know DVC owners and AP holders can, but I am not, and not likely to be, in either of those categories. I think there may also be an exception with some military tickets.

 

[snolin]

I've used the dining plan twice and if you go to character dining or sit down dinners you will definately save money. We looked at our receipts and typcially will spend at dinner more than the cost of the whole days dinning plan cost.

 

[sharonabe]

And it seems to be a dream that has not come true. Darned if I can find it on the website. They are not giving me the option to add it to a room-only, and the description says "part of a Magic your way package".

Historically, I know DVC owners and AP holders can, but I am not, and not likely to be, in either of those categories. I think there may also be an exception with some military tickets.

The ticketless package was something they toyed with a few months ago. If you call, you might still be able to do it. You need to ask for a ticketless package with room and dining.

 

[supersnoop]

And it seems to be a dream that has not come true. Darned if I can find it on the website. They are not giving me the option to add it to a room-only, and the description says "part of a Magic your way package".

Historically, I know DVC owners and AP holders can, but I am not, and not likely to be, in either of those categories. I think there may also be an exception with some military tickets.

You have to call. The "ticketless" package cannot be booked online.

 

[persimmondeb]

You have to call. The "ticketless" package cannot be booked online.

Thanks. I'll call and ask about it sometime, but I'm really not in a place where I can book my next trip. We're just barely starting to think about it.

 

[mgsquared]

I don't know if we are saving money because we are vegetarians and pretty healthy eaters so we wouldn't be ordering dessert normally (at least not twice a day!). This is all quite a treat week!
Here's the thing, I didn't analyze the individual costs much. I told small world vacations some dates, that a value resort would be fine (preferably POP), and that we would want to upgrade to the regular dining plan if it is a free dining promotion. We just wanted the best overall deal and to not eat junk food all day. We got a quote for a week at pop, free dining, water parks, upgrade dining plan, and 6 day park tickets (no hopping, don't see the need and DH loves water parks!) for $1,960! Convert that to euros and it's a no brainer. Disneyland Paris costs that much for less days and less things overall.

If the overall price with the dining plan works, I would do it again simply because even though we are vegetarian and it's probably not cheaper- we would never go to character meals, a sit down per day, etc. if we weren't on the plan. It has been so much fun to make reservations for all of these awesome sounding places that I know we just wouldn't go to otherwise! The sticker shock would be too much!

But of course this is all with the free dining base so it's easy for me to say now. I am happy we get to eat at all the places we will be at though! It will make the trip extra special! It's my hubby's birthday and very first trip. My first time on site, and a last hurrah for us before we have kids and say no to long flights for a while!

 

[Alicatt]

We just came back from an 8 day trip w/ adult and 2 kids, 3 & 5. We did do 4 of character meals and had 4 other ADRs scheduled besides that, and a general don’t use a snack credit for a snack under $3, we ate what we wanted and didn’t try to beat the system by ordering the most expensive thing on the menu or eating at the most expensive places. I didn’t even keep track at the time of how much we would have spent. I did remember what we ordered and, when I reconstructed it we saved about $250. I will admit that I did order a dessert that I couldn’t finish once ( it wasn’t very good either) and I did take my dessert home once and ate it the next day for snack. I probably wouldn’t have order it if it didn’t come with the plan but I’m glad I did. I eat everything but my husband eats no fish and not a lot of meat. He prefers salad, cous cous, pastas, etc, so I doubt he ever ordered the most expensive thing on the menu (or even 2nd or 3rd most).
My parents were also on the plan, and I don’t know if they did as well as they never totally got the concept of the snack credit. I’m glad they had it though because my dad is the type to worry about how much he’s spending and the fact that the receipt always said 0 made him happy. He ordered steak and mom my ordered seafood and they felt spoiled because they didn’t care what it cost.
For us it did work and I really liked it.

 

[georgina]

I've been looking at the regular dining plan for our next trip, for 2 adults. I have a room-only reservation now, and from what I have read here I can purchase the dining plan? I have non-expiring tickets left over from previous trips.

So far I can't bring myself to purchase it because we don't get dessert at QS meals, or sodas, and my snacks are often a piece of fruit. I usually get a cup of ice water for lunch and a beer with a QS dinner! I am planning one character breakfast buffet, one TS dinner, and one signature dinner (4 night stay), but don't want to feel like I HAVE to get food I don't want to just because I bought the dining plan. I'm still looking at it, possibly doing 2 QS meals in one day because we won't be around for lunch the day we check out, trying to weigh all the possibilities. First I am going to see if I can get the ADRs I want, then I have time to do more calculation. I do like coffee in the morning, which may be the tipping point. Decisions, decisions.

 

[persimmondeb]

I've been looking at the regular dining plan for our next trip, for 2 adults. I have a room-only reservation now, and from what I have read here I can purchase the dining plan? I have non-expiring tickets left over from previous trips.

So far I can't bring myself to purchase it because we don't get dessert at QS meals, or sodas, and my snacks are often a piece of fruit. I usually get a cup of ice water for lunch and a beer with a QS dinner! I am planning one character breakfast buffet, one TS dinner, and one signature dinner (4 night stay), but don't want to feel like I HAVE to get food I don't want to just because I bought the dining plan. I'm still looking at it, possibly doing 2 QS meals in one day because we won't be around for lunch the day we check out, trying to weigh all the possibilities. First I am going to see if I can get the ADRs I want, then I have time to do more calculation. I do like coffee in the morning, which may be the tipping point. Decisions, decisions.

I don't know if it's something that works for you, but that "beverage" can be bottled water, and I've gotten the fancy stuff, not just Dasani. DS and I have also gotten those Illy capuccinos in a can.

 

[Mariep26]

We don't do well on the meal plan. MH had gastric bypass surgery a few years ago, my son is a picky eater and the rest of us aren't big eaters either. Not only do we not save money but we waste an inordinate amount of food. We only enjoy dessert once in a great while so I certainly can't do it for a meal per day. We end up with half drunk cans/bottles of soda etc... We go to buffets and have a piddly amount of food.

We ended up going with Tables in Wonderland on our AP and that has worked so much better for us.

I had a TA driving me bonkers in a FB group today saying how could I not see free dining as a savings since it is free...