Difference in Dining plan options

DisneyDonny

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 10, 2016
Hey everyone, me and my family are planning an upcoming trip to Disney and we have been going every year now for many years. We have always been on the deluxe meal plan, and during our last few trips we almost thought it was too much food. I was wondering if anyone has went down to the regular dining plan from the deluxe, and if so how much different was it was? Thanks
 
We used to do the dining plan years ago, but feel now that the value has significantly diminished and just pay out of pocket now.
 
We find the regular plan to be too much also. We don't do a dining plan.
personally I almost agree with you, but the people in my family would never go for no dining plan. I am just hoping to go to the regular instead of the deluxe the deluxe is just way too much
 


Plan your meals, and add in what you all normally order. Don't forget snacks. Don't choose the most or least expensive entrees, and only choose the appetizers and desserts your family would most probably order. Add beverages if you think your family would want them, but leave out anything they would order just because it is on the plan. Do the math.

This is a little work but honestly you should be purchasing a plan that matches your dining habits, not matching your dining to fit a dining plan.

Once you have your basic sheet built compare the cost of what you think you will use to the cost of the plans. You will have the best answer if you preplan.
 
Hey everyone, me and my family are planning an upcoming trip to Disney and we have been going every year now for many years. We have always been on the deluxe meal plan, and during our last few trips we almost thought it was too much food. I was wondering if anyone has went down to the regular dining plan from the deluxe, and if so how much different was it was? Thanks
What are the ages of the people in your party? You have the potential to save the most money on the deluxe plan. Your unlikely to save any money on the regular plan unless you have children (ages 3 to 9) in your party. If you can come to terms with the fact that ordering exactly what you want when you want it will cost you less and be easier to manage than the dining plan, then you'll come out ahead by simply paying as you go.

Check out www.distripplanner.com for a rough estimate.
 
We do the Disney Dining Plan (regular not deluxe) and enjoy it. The Deluxe is waaay too much food for us and the regular seems almost perfect. We have never used the Basic, as we like having TS for dinner. If for some reason we don't use all of our meals in one day and have an extra, we'll use it on a breakfast or something, as we typically eat three meals per day and normally pay OOP for breakfast. We sometimes have a couple extra snacks at the end of our trips, but I don't mind having those because I can go to the confectionary or elsewhere to get some goodies to take home.
 


We used the regular dining plan and the next year went to the deluxe. This year we are going back to the regular dining plan. I felt guilty for not having a nice meal three times a day after paying so much....most days I was just feeling stuffed all day because it seemed like we were eating all the time. Not to mention tipping three table service meals a day adds up fast!
 
We are planning to do the deluxe for the first time this year. It it just myself and my DD (now 21)-we have free dining on a bounce back and paid to upgrade to deluxe ( so our actual cost is minimal). We want to try some signature, as well as do Candlelight pkg again. I doubt that we will eat three meals a day and just want to make sure that we are not snacking too much in between our early lunch and dinner ( I'm not a late dinner eater)- Call us crazy but.... isnt this half the fun????
 
We are planning to do the deluxe for the first time this year. It it just myself and my DD (now 21)-we have free dining on a bounce back and paid to upgrade to deluxe ( so our actual cost is minimal). We want to try some signature, as well as do Candlelight pkg again. I doubt that we will eat three meals a day and just want to make sure that we are not snacking too much in between our early lunch and dinner ( I'm not a late dinner eater)- Call us crazy but.... isnt this half the fun????

Can you tell me what the person adult cost was to upgrade the free dining with the bounce back to the deluxe? I am thinking of doing the same thing.
 
Can you tell me what the person adult cost was to upgrade the free dining with the bounce back to the deluxe? I am thinking of doing the same thing.

If you're going from regular dining to deluxe dining, the upgrade is around $36-37 per adult, per night.
If you're going from QS to deluxe, the upgrade is $56-57
 
We do the Disney Dining Plan (regular not deluxe) and enjoy it. The Deluxe is waaay too much food for us and the regular seems almost perfect. We have never used the Basic, as we like having TS for dinner. If for some reason we don't use all of our meals in one day and have an extra, we'll use it on a breakfast or something, as we typically eat three meals per day and normally pay OOP for breakfast. We sometimes have a couple extra snacks at the end of our trips, but I don't mind having those because I can go to the confectionary or elsewhere to get some goodies to take home.
 
I used the calculator above and was surprised that even if we "use" all of our QS and TS credits on the reg dining plan, we will still come out about $400 ahead paying out of pocket. So out of pocket we will go!
 
We've done both the deluxe and regular plan. To decide which one to get, we figure out where we'd like to eat each day, and estimate a cost for each meal looking at online menus. Then, we compare the OOP cost of no plan, with the regular dining plan + what we'd still have to get OOP (we generally like 3 meals/day), and also with the DxDPP.

The key is to match the plan that suites what you would like to do. Not try and match your vacation to the plan you happen to get.

The calculator mentioned above does everything I suggested, and is a really good way to start. But, I've found some of the values it places on the meals to be a bit wonky from what I'd estimate our meal to cost. That said, I compared the calculator with my own research, and while I calculated we'd save 14% by getting the DDP, it said we'd save 15%. Pretty close.

However, for the DxDP, I estimated it would cost us $77/day more to go for the DxDP v. paying for the extra meals OOP (family of 5).
The calculator said the DxDP would only be about $16/day more for the DxDP.

So, while the conclusion were the same, and the quantitative analysis of the DDP was about the same, the quantitative analysis of the DxDP was way off based on those wonky TS cost estimates.
 

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