Did Anyone Actually Save Money Using the Dining Plan?

[sharonabe]

Thanks. I can't figure out what is the correct cost for the buffets as there are different prices quoted on different sites. So I called Disney to get the prices. Of course, we all know how reliable the phone agents are.....

Rusty does a great job of keeping his updated. For future reference, you can find his sticky over on the restaurant board, but here's a link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3108466

 

[patsal]

I am a huge advocate for not being tied to a dining plan and ordering what I want, where I want and when I want. There really is no dining plan that fits how I eat, so it is better for me to pay OOP. I have found over the past three years that I have eaten less expensively, had flexibility with where I eat (signature vs. reg TS), apps and no desserts, alcohol and deserts, etc. something no dining plan really lets me do.

 

[ptcbass]

It really does all depend on what your family does while at Disney. We enjoy experiencing the TS meals and makes us feel more like we are on vacation (and enjoy that time to rest). Then on top of that not worrying about watching prices or our food budget while on vacation is a vacation in itself. I do think we could come in a little cheaper (eat more CS meals) but to us it just isn't worth the savings.

 

[davedmaine]

I cannot see how the current dining plan prices saves anything at all. What am I missing? Are the dining prices higher than what I think? If the regular dining plan (not quick service or deluxe plan) is about $61 per night for adults and $19 for kids per night, how is it possible to spend more than than? For adults, I'd think most table service meals (including fixed price buffets and character meals) range in price from $30 to $45. And a QS meal, maybe $12-15, and a snack $3. This doesn't seem like a deal to me. And most of the time, we do not eat dessert. Thanks.

It doesn't; you're not missing anything..

 

[LuvGoofy6]

Here is a very useful tool. This calculator asks question such as: do you drink soda or alcohol at your meal, do you order appetizers, on average how many desserts will you have, how many snacks (water, ice cream, fruit cups) per day does each person get, do you order meals that are typically on the low side, high side or average? It then has you choose restaurants you want to eat at and then tells you if it is a better deal to do a dining plan or OOP. You have to register but it is free.

http://seeyareelsoon.wix.com/seeyareelsoon#!dining-plan-calculator/cxc0

 

[Littlelulu01]

I've calculated out quick service, regular dining and deluxe dining every which way and the best case I could come up with was only losing $40 with quick service and worst case losing $600 with deluxe dining. We are family of four adults for dining purposes. I could not make the dining plan break even for our family and so gave up and booked what I wanted vs. how much I could save or lose. I wanted the dining plan to work for us but could not get it to break even no matter how I changed up our dining choices.

We are staying 5 nights and doing 4 character breakfasts, including sci fi Star Wars breakfast, CRT breakfast, crystal palace and tusker house. Five TS dinners including BOG twice, rose and crown, brown derby and via Napoli pizza. Only one occasional soda drinker in the group. We are fine with iced tap water but even budgeting two snacks per person per day, wishes dessert party, a quick service somewhere along the line, tax of 6.5 percent and total tips of 20 percent, I think we are still way ahead of the game compared to a dining plan.

I was worried about getting a shocking bill but after pouring over the menus, figuring out what I think my family will eat etc i think I've got it figured out.

My husband asked me, "Are we spending a crazy amount on theme park food like $6-800?" I told him no. Didn't mention that it is going to be way south of this amount. It's his first and probably only visit so while I know we can eat for less i wanted to have fun memorable dining experiences.

We are going in May. I plan on saving receipts and then analyzing the costs afterward. I'll report costs after our trip.

 

[momandseandodisney]

I've often wondered if the dining plan is meant as more of a convenience than a money saver.

I think so, even if it cots a bit more money, I just find it easier

 

[robndani]

we used the disney dining plan for the first time in feb. with our party of 5. i saved all the receipts and figured out we would have spent $120 less if we had paid out of pocket. it was nice to know everything was pre-paid and it was convenient, but we probably will never do it again!

it's my vacation, and while i do like planning, i won't reserve only the most expensive meals or always order the steak to "beat" the dining plan system.

i'm sure it really works for some families though!

 

[Frankiemack]

I think so, even if it cots a bit more money, I just find it easier

I agree 100% - having it be a part of your main vacation budget and not worrying about how much everything costs as you order it makes life so much easier.

I also brought my MIL on our last trip and she would have NEVER eaten the way she did without it since I told her that every day it was included, she always looked for the most expensive items to get the most out of it...

 

[chelleb1974]

It really does all depend on what your family does while at Disney. We enjoy experiencing the TS meals and makes us feel more like we are on vacation (and enjoy that time to rest). Then on top of that not worrying about watching prices or our food budget while on vacation is a vacation in itself. I do think we could come in a little cheaper (eat more CS meals) but to us it just isn't worth the savings.

This is why I like the Dining Plan also. I've paid for it once and gotten it free once. I have a trip this September and will be paying for the Plan again (unless they offer Free Dining again). For me, it takes the worry out of what I'm spending and having to budget for meals because it's prepaid for. I could probably spend less...but it would mean looking at prices at every meal and figuring out how much is left for our food budget, etc.... I'm on vacation and that's not part of vacation for me. With our food prepaid for my only other expenses are souvenirs and tips.

~Chelle

 

[techman20]

Although I liked the convenience of the dining plan, I probably wouldn't do it again.

I have a nut allergy, so my options for desserts and snacks were very limited. It's hard to get as much value from the DDP when you have to stick to pedestrian snack offerings rather than the more indulgent stuff. And the desserts offered where often things I didn't really even want (the decadent chocolate cake would have been much better than the sugarfree, gluten free brownie... lol)

Also, I often opted for the most expensive options even if I wasn't crazy about them. Like ordering the $32 steak rather than the $22 pasta, which I would have preferred, since I'm not a steak person.

Your mileage may vary, but I will likely go OOP next time. The meal alone was often more than enough food, the dessert was usually overkill for me.

 

[Lisa71]

We do when we book lots of character meals..our upcoming trip we have 4...that really does save us..of course when we had it for free we saved!! The best part for us is not the savings but not penny pinching each meal. We just go and eat...and we would likely only do 1 character meal without it. Those meals make the trip for our kids ..they love seeing characters without a long hot line..and Tusker house at AK has gotten some great smiles each trip.

 

[labelo]

Another important piece that often gets left out of the discussion is TIPS.

You may be getting more "money's worth" out of a dining plan in that you get appetizers or desserts or more expensive entrees than you might get if you were paying OOP, but you'll also be responsible for the tip on those extra items. If you were planning on getting those extra items anyway that's not a big deal, but if you're getting drinks or desert or whatnot just because you're on the dining plan and not because you really want them or even have room for them, you'll end up spending more on tips in the long run. This won't cancel out the savings of the DDP, but it will reduce them by 18% if you follow standard Disney tipping. Just something to keep in mind.

When my husband and I considered the dining plan last year for our honeymoon we decided not to get a dining plan. It just didn't fit our eating style (we often get water as a drink, we split deserts, I often order appetizers as entrees). I did run the numbers, and if we were totally gluttonous and ate the more expensive menu items while on the DDP we'd only save about $100 (2 adults, 6 days) over if we bought those OOP. I compared the cost of the DDP to the cost of what we'd probably order if we weren't trying to get our money's worth out of a DDP, and realized that because of our eating habits we'd actually spend about $200 less than the cost of a dining plan. For us it was a no-brainer.

To sum it up, if you have a family of big eaters, want to eat at lots of buffets/character meals, usually order drinks/deserts, then the DDP will probably save you money. If you want more flexibility in where you eat/what you order and aren't necessarily big eaters, I wouldn't bother with it.

 

[momofmaz]

With these ADRs:

Boma (Dinner)
Tusker House (Breakfast)
Askerhus (Dinner)
Crystal Palace (Breakfast)
1900 Park Fare (Dinner)
TS (breakfast)

And with two adults, one 5 year old, and a 2.5 year old we save. I did 3 calculators and (we are paying out of pocket for 2 of the above still by choice) we saved between 150-200 dollars depending on which CS we chose for lunch.

 

[Tanyabeth8]

I just returned from 6 nights/7 days without the dining plan. For 2 people we spent right around $1000 on food, alcohol and tips. I believe the dining plan would have cost us close to $700 and that would not have included the tips, alcohol and appetizers that we ordered and we also only ate two counter services the entire trip. We only ordered dessert to split at Raglan Road and Kouizzina. I enjoyed not having it this time. We had lunches at San Angel Inn, Via Napoli, the outside cafe at Brown Derby, Yak and Yeti, Raglan Road and Cosmic Rays. We had dinners at Raglan Road (always visit twice a trip), Il Mulino, Le Cellier, Kouizzina, Jiko and hotel food court one night. We often ordered an appetizer and at least one drink and ordered whatever we wanted for a meal not thinking about the price. Plus we had about 10 snacks (combined) throughout our stay and purchased the rapid fill cups (all included in the $1000 spent). Also, we tipped right around 18-20% at every meal. I think we got out of it cheaper than had we purchased the plan for nearly $700 and then paid out of pocket for apps, alcohol and tips. Plus we were able to try Il Mulino which isn't on the dining plan. Unless Disney was offering it for free I'd skip it.

 

[rdearth]

I agree that the Dining Plan isn't really about saving money. It is about convenience, but it's also about another thing that kind of goes along with that.

When you're sitting at home planning on your vacation and your budget, you might tell yourself, when you don't have the dining plan, that you'll drop by the convenience store for breakfast/snacks, hit a QS restaurant in such and such park for lunch, maybe hit a fast food place or chain outside of the parks for dinner.

That plan will undoubtedly save you lots of $$$ over the dining plan and if money's tight, I'd recommend that strategy and you could even go cheaper.

But, when I'm in the parks and everyone's tired and getting cranky and hungry and there hasn't been an official time set up for a meal (like through an ADR), the money-saving plan quickly goes south.

Then there's also the issue of some QS being unexpectedly closed when you're there or lines around the block, etc. Although, that can certainly happen on the plan as well.

The other issue is that when you go cheap, you often wind up eating a lot of the same type of food and it's often not the healthiest of choices. Your mileage may vary, but I think the Dining Plan keeps all the meals interesting.

And I love planning our eating strategy before we go just as much as I like planning the other parts of the trip.

 

[sharonabe]

I agree that the Dining Plan isn't really about saving money. It is about convenience, but it's also about another thing that kind of goes along with that.

When you're sitting at home planning on your vacation and your budget, you might tell yourself, when you don't have the dining plan, that you'll drop by the convenience store for breakfast/snacks, hit a QS restaurant in such and such park for lunch, maybe hit a fast food place or chain outside of the parks for dinner.

That plan will undoubtedly save you lots of $$$ over the dining plan and if money's tight, I'd recommend that strategy and you could even go cheaper.

But, when I'm in the parks and everyone's tired and getting cranky and hungry and there hasn't been an official time set up for a meal (like through an ADR), the money-saving plan quickly goes south.

Then there's also the issue of some QS being unexpectedly closed when you're there or lines around the block, etc. Although, that can certainly happen on the plan as well.

The other issue is that when you go cheap, you often wind up eating a lot of the same type of food and it's often not the healthiest of choices. Your mileage may vary, but I think the Dining Plan keeps all the meals interesting.

And I love planning our eating strategy before we go just as much as I like planning the other parts of the trip.

Did you read the post before yours??? She didn't go cheap, but OOP she got a lot more bang for her buck than the DDP.

Paying OOP does not mean you "go cheap." It does mean you plan your eating strategy and stick to it. You have to stick to it on the DDP if you're going to get any value out of it, so why would planning to pay OOP be any different.

 

[JimmyV]

On our most recent trip, I kept track of every penny because I know this topic comes up so often (and I was curious to know the outcome myself, though I was pretty sure I knew what would happen). Here are the results:

Total OOP expenses for food/drinks/snacks = $1228.98

Total if we were on the DP and had eaten the exact same things = $1585.73

Total if we had been on the DxDP and had eaten the exact same things = $1986.49

Total if we had gone during Free Dining and had eaten the exact same things = $705.83

So obviously, FD would have been the "cheapest", but then one has to factor in the cost of "rack rate" for the room versus a cheaper room during a % discount time of year.

 

[auralia]

Yes... about 6 or 7 years ago lol

 

[indigoxtreme]

We have always saved at least 300 to 400 using the dining plan. We do not order the most expensive item either. Not sure if some people are ordering groceries in for brakfast etc and dont count that expense as part of food or not. I am a fan of the dining plan. For our snacks we usually get fruit or something like that at breakfast or snack time. Sometimes a soft drink. so we eat our QS at lunch or dinner and at least 1 TS a day. Everyone has their own way of touring.