First time going without a dining plan

[JennaDeeDooDah]

is there a maximum amount i can put on a gift card?

$1,000

 

[CounselorX]

I never get the dining plan. I love being able to buy what I want, when I want, and also not feeling guilty if I don't want something (dessert for example).

 

[serene56]

dining plan would have costs me a tad over 1000 for 2 adults 1 child

i put 800.00 on a gift card. We did not do desserts with meals- preferred a snack in the park later. We did one sit down and one counter every day.

we had a snack every day

I came home with 6.36 so that gift card paid for our meals, tax and tips.

Some of our counter service meals would not have been worth a credit.
Earl of sandwich and sleepy hallow

in one sit down I preferred an appetizer instead of an entree.. which you can not do on the plan.

 

[jco_direwolf]

Yea the TiW/DDE works much better for us. Because apparently unlike everyone else I don't worry about what food costs out of pocket if it sounds good when I'm ordering it I do. When I've been on the dining plan I always order what will maximize the the cost.

I'd rather eat what I want when I want.

 

[tiggerunner]

I too purchased the gift cards from Target for our last trip and it worked out well. I am doing it for our upcoming trip too. We don't always eat the way the dining plan works. For example, last year we ate at Sci Fi Dine In at HS. I really wanted a milkshake, but could not eat a meal with it. So, I ordered a kid's meal and the milkshake By purchasing the Target gift cards, I have "prepaid" for our food and I don't stress about it while I am there. Have a great trip!

Wow, love the idea of a gift card, really keeps you on track. Thanks for the info.

 

[jco_direwolf]

Wow, love the idea of a gift card, really keeps you on track. Thanks for the info.

and if you live somewhere that the Target Disney Gift Card Discount works. 5% off meals, makes it even harder to beat the DxDP.

 

[gtpoohbear]

For years we couldn't imagine going without the DxDDP. With the continued price increases though, we finally had to admit this year that it just wasn't worth it.

We ate exactly the same way we would have with the plan (usually 203 TS meals/day), and saved several hundred dollars. The first couple of days were a little rough, DH kept getting stressed about the bill. But then I would tell him how much we had saved so far that day over what the DP credits would have cost, and by about the 3rd day we weren't even thinking about it anymore.

I say try going without it once, and you probably won't look back

 

[JAMIESMITH]

You can nearly always eat cheaper without the DDP, but you can not always eat better. We go often with and without, and I will say that without it we ate much less, suffered tremendous sticker shock, and didn't buy extra food even when we wanted it. However, it was a cheaper trip.

Do what is best for you, and don't feel like you need to apologize to a chat board of people for enjoying the dining plan or preferring to pay OOP. There is freedom in both ways!

I could not agree with you more

We were spoiled by free dining on our first trip to Disney World in 2012. There are a few places that we really want to return to on our upcoming trip and some new places that we want to try. I ran the numbers and if we all order what we want to order at the places we want to try, we won't come out cheaper out of pocket. Sure we could eat at some less expensive places or in the room, but we only go on vacation every few years and I like to eat along the structure of the dining plan.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Oh, I also wanted to throw this out there. It might just be a coincidence, but every time we go without the dining plan, we seem to get better seats (window seats at 'Ohana and Be Our Guest, things like that) and better attention from our servers. And once we got Tables in Wonderland, the service really seemed to pick up.

 

[turkey1031]

I've done the quick serve dining plan for the last few years but that is also because I was still a newbie and had never done the math to see how much more we were paying for using the plan. I think I'll have to check it out now. I do plan on going next October probably when there is no free dining and I'm trying to talk myself out of the dining plan. I do love not looking at the prices at all and just ordering what I want but sometimes it seems like maybe I don't want a desert now but maybe in an hour I'll want that chocolate cake. Plus the fact that you have to make sure you used all of your credits. On the last day of my trip this year I had to find four snacks to use up my credits. Even if I convince myself we'll save money by not doing the dining plan I still have to convince my bf who doesn't read disboards or other forums to know that we aren't saving money. He just goes by his experience and knowing he can order whatever he wants at the quick serve. Might have to do a spreadsheet of our meals for the trip last month to give him a visual if we really did lose out.

 

[blabbermouth]

February will be my first trip without FREE dining, now that's sad!

 

[MIGrandma]

We've never used the dining plan. We don't care about eating in the best of Disney's restaurants and do not want to make reservations so far in advance and being locked in to where we have to have dinner each evening. We generally grab something from the food court for breakfast (we stay at Port Orleans Riverside) and take it back to our room, or occasionally we'll sit down at the food court and have eggs, bacon, etc.

We usually just grab a quick snack for lunch (hot dog, Dole Whip, etc.) and then quick service for dinner.

Food just isn't all that important to us when we go to Disney.

That said, our next trip to Disney will be in January with our DD, her DH and their two children (6 and almost 10 at the time of the trip) and her DH's parents. DD and her family want to do the dining plan just so everything is paid for before the trip and they don't have to pay OOP for every meal while we're there. She hopes to make reservations for a couple of nights at nicer restaurants and DH and I will just pay OOP for those but the rest of the time we'll just do as we always do, wing it and eat where we want when we want.

 

[ariane37]

Every time a friend asks me if the DDP is worth it, I tell them it really depends on the family, how they eat, and how they'd feel having to look at the prices lol. August will be our first trip since 2006 w/o a dining plan and I'm looking forward to it. DH on the other hand keeps trying to get me to add it. He likes having it paid ahead of time and feels that we save $$. I don't think we pay a lot MORE with it or w/o it, but, I agree with many here that it affects how we eat.

Many times I would have preferred an app and dessert. There are also many times I would have preferred to skip dessert w/ my meal and get a snack in the park later. However being on the plan, I feel guilty not eating the dessert that comes w/ the meal, and I feel it's stupid to not order an entrée when I've already paid for it. We also order alcoholic drinks at just about every dinner (and some lunches, depending on how the kids have been that day lol) AND we like our apps so we almost always end up paying for something OOP at each meal even with the plan! DH doesn't care-we both like our food and want to enjoy meals and his philosophy is, he wants what he wants and if its good, he doesn't mind paying whatever for it-but it bothers me. This is why I'm anxious to try it w/o. I won't feel bad not getting an app instead of or in addition to an entrée, or skipping dessert at a meal for one later in the park. Also won't feel bad when we sit down at a TS or QS and one DS only wants fries. I'm sure in the end DH will still feel it's a better deal with the DDP and we'll be back to it next trip, but I still think it varies by family.

Now when we got it for the first time in 2007 and apps/tip were included, THAT was a deal

 

[jco_direwolf]

Now when we got it for the first time in 2007 and apps/tip were included, THAT was a deal

Back then yes it was a lot of food but it wasn't hard to come out ahead even if you left some credits behind. I assume that is what happened Disney did the math and they decided they were only making x%. And some one said if we take off the app and remove the included tip well make more.

One thing that really got me was when they made the change someone at Disney said "the changes are due to guest demand. Guests said they prefer to decide the tip and that there was too much food"

 

[Jenn55]

Even though financially it makes no sense for us to do the dining plan this time I guess the comfort of knowing our meals are prepaid can't really be valued by dollar amount. Help

That's my issue as well, my son and I went back in January and didn't use it, but were going again dec 2015 and I was going to. I made sure I picked TS meals that would get us a savings by using the plan and we use the mugs a lot, he puts hot chocolate in it and is constantly refilling it with water. He doesn't drink pop, thankfully! But now my husband is looking at coming and we actually loose money being in the plan and he doesn't like the locked in feel of having to eat certain meals a day. So I think were gonna skip getting it, but I do like the peace of mind and as u say, u can't really put a price on that!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I've never used the dining plan. I love eating how I want. The dining plan just doesn't fit with how I eat.

I usually only have a couple of TS meals each trip. Some days I just eat snacks for meals, other days I want more. I love alot of the QS restaurants - lots of different options.

I think you'll enjoy the freedom.

 

[agavegirl1]

OP, if you are most concerned about the "feeling" of having everything prepaid, do what I do. I make my ADRs, check out the menus, estimate what I might like to order and buy gift cards at Target with my 5% Red Card discount in the amount I expect to spend for food. Prepaid, discounted, no tracking snacks vs CS vs TS.

Yes, I like having things pre-paid but no, I will never do the dining plan (unless they give it to me for free after I already booked my time)

 

[drinkme]

We've had the DDP on every trip since they started it, except our last trip. We said we will always get the DDP from now on. We are a family who enjoy going to a TS every night for dinner. We ALWAYS get desserts, too. When I was paying OOP for food I tended to watch how much I was spending and we ended up eating too much junky food just because it was cheaper. We only ate at 2 TS restaurants on that trip and ate the rest of our big meals at CS. I never realized how awful most of the CS meals are!!! lol. And for some families the sharing of the meals would work, but it doesn't work for our family.

 

[darkpixie08]

We usually do a prepaid Visa gift card for vacations. It's all prepaid, and any money not spent can go to pretty much anything else. It's simple and it gives us peace of mind. We'll do the same for our upcoming Disney trip.

 

[Novakm]

When I went in December, we did not do the dining plan. After the trip was over I totaled everything up, and it was several hundred cheaper that way. I was there with 4 adults and 2 kids, all fairly big eaters. We also ate more TS than the dining plan would cover, and had some adult drinks at most dinners that the DP would not cover. I think the only, way the DP will save you any money is if everyone orders the most expensive entrees available at every meal.