Meal plan or pay as I go

[Ndusmama]

so staying for a week at a dvc resort. Can't get free meals because it's a dvc resort. My question is what meal plan would be best? I only went to WDW once and had the QS meal plan but we had to pay for the 3-4 sit down restaurants we went to. Could we do the 1 QS 1 TS and use a TS meal towards QS? Or would getting the 3 meals anywhere works best? Out of the two adults, 1 child, and 1 toddler going I am really the only breakfast eater (I like my Mickey waffles). The rest are more snackers (the toddler eats anything on my plate).

 

[Hopefully]

You need to do the research for your family. Many here will tell you that the Dining Plans are not designed to save money and are not value added. Many feel you can save more by paying OOP for the meals and food you will actually eat.
For us, the meal plan works. But my primary goal is NOT saving money. I like the convenience and it does work for the way we eat ie. DH and DS do eat a dessert at meals etc. We feel we about break even.
Look at the menus here and at allears.net. Estimate what you would really order and do the math. See if you will pay more per day with the cost of the meal plan or the cost of the food you would order.
It is the only way to be sure. The links to web calculators are really not that helpful as the estimate based on averages, not actuals.
Good Luck

 

[BusyP76]

I agree, if you are looking to save money on meals, the only way to do that is to compare menus and do the math. I like the deluxe dining plan for my family but I guarantee we could eat for cheaper OOP. We wouldn't eat at the places we like or order certain things if we were OOP. Dining at Disney is a part of our family experience and so the DxDp allows for us to budget those meals in ahead of time. If this is less important to your family (every family is different in their likes and traditions) then you need to crunch the numbers!

 

[rwdavis2]

Using a TS credit for QS is a big waste of money. As was said, the plans are ot designed to save money except under limited circumstances such as lots of character buffets or you order the most expensive thing on the menu most/all of the time. But then, do you always what the most expensive thing is. Do the math.

 

[SleighBelle]

Another way to look at it. . . The dining plan is $61.84 per adult and $20.96 per child. If you opted for the dining plan, that's $144.64 per day in food (let's assume your toddler is 2 and won't need to pay). Multiply that by 7 days and it's $1012.48.

Do you think you'll spend more or less than $1012.48 out of pocket for a week of eating?

 

[serene56]

http://www.distripplanner.com/
use this calculator to see if the dining plan works for you. It does not work for us. We are 3 Disney adults. We do not do desserts with meals. (saves 5.00 pp per meal) some of our CS only cost 10.00pp. With the dining plan your CS should be 20. your TS should be 40 and your snack about 5 just to break even. I find what we would pay for the dining plan and put the money on a card. I used the calculator and it told me my meals will be about 800 so I put 800 on that card and came home with 6.and change. My card paid everything dining including waters and soda, Tips etc. Dining plan would have cost me 1200.00 for our stay

 

[Mousemommy1]

We stopped using the dining plans about 4 years ago and have not looked back. We have always come out ahead. That being said, we are AP holders so we do use the Tables in Wonderland card, but not having the dining plan allows us to eat more the way we want and not just to make the meals "worth it". It's very liberating.

 

[robinb]

so staying for a week at a dvc resort. Can't get free meals because it's a dvc resort. My question is what meal plan would be best? I only went to WDW once and had the QS meal plan but we had to pay for the 3-4 sit down restaurants we went to. Could we do the 1 QS 1 TS and use a TS meal towards QS? Or would getting the 3 meals anywhere works best? Out of the two adults, 1 child, and 1 toddler going I am really the only breakfast eater (I like my Mickey waffles). The rest are more snackers (the toddler eats anything on my plate).

You'll have to do the math to see if it's worth it. If your child is a "Disney Child" under 10 and you're planning a couple of character meals it will probably be worth it to pay for the regular DDP. IMO, the QS plan in now completely useless. I can't even see breaking even on it since they raised the price and removed the 2nd snack.

 

[Tonberry]

Money wise, the dinning plans rarely come out as a savings over OOP.
You would have to do a ton of research, and plan out ahead of times what foods you can eat.
If I'm going to Disney and eating at any restaurant, I will want to order whatever I feel like without cost concerns.
That's why I see the dinning plans as pre-paid meals even though I know I'll be losing money in the long run. But if I pay thousands of dollars for a Disney resort and park passes, the last thing I want to do is calculate and think about my meals.

 

[nkereina]

Agree with PPs that it's rare when someone saves money using DDP. The dining plan includes a soft drink and dessert for each person at every meal, and you pay for that. If you would normally order water or refrain from ordering a dessert for each person, you won't come out ahead on the dining plan.

That being said, the dining plan is a way for people to budget a large expense of their vacation (meals) into their planning and pay of it off ahead of time. As such, you're also paying for the convenience of it to a degree. Many people, including myself, find value in that so we opt to do the plan. The dessert at each meal is not the way we'd eat if paying out of pocket, but we do enjoy it as a treat while on the dining plan.

 

[robinb]

Agree with PPs that it's rare when someone saves money using DDP. The dining plan includes a soft drink and dessert for each person at every meal, and you pay for that. If you would normally order water or refrain from ordering a dessert for each person, you won't come out ahead on the dining plan.

Actually, the OP is in what I call the "DDP Sweet Spot" with 2 young children. The DDP can save you money if you have kids under 10 and you go to character meals because the character meals are so ridiculously priced.

 

[henry72]

I agree with the others...do the math to see if it is worth it. We did it last time (2014) only because I did the math and it was worth it. We did CRT as well as a special Star Wars meal (only offered that year at SWW) and some other character meals. I looked at it for our upcoming trip and it would cost us about $200 more so we aren't doing it this time. (We are staying DVC too so can't get free dining offer.)

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

http://www.distripplanner.com/
use this calculator to see if the dining plan works for you. It does not work for us. We are 3 Disney adults. We do not do desserts with meals. (saves 5.00 pp per meal) some of our CS only cost 10.00pp. With the dining plan your CS should be 20. your TS should be 40 and your snack about 5 just to break even. I find what we would pay for the dining plan and put the money on a card. I used the calculator and it told me my meals will be about 800 so I put 800 on that card and came home with 6.and change. My card paid everything dining including waters and soda, Tips etc. Dining plan would have cost me 1200.00 for our stay

Doing the math, if you reach your minimums for the day, you "spend" $65 "just to break even." For a meal plan that costs only $61.84. You are also not adding in the cost of the refillable mug.

I agree that the dining plan doesn't always save money.

But if you rig the math, it will never save money.

 

[aggiedog]

We've always done the DDP (one TS, one snack, one CS, and the free refills soda cup) and been happy with it, up until this last trip. Dh and I just don't eat as much as we used to, and my kids prefer to try appetizers then split a meal, and don't usually do dessert. We don't drink soda, so that was completely not used at all. So what was included wasn't really what we needed. We decided we'd just pay out of pocket if/when we go again.

 

[rpcvpanama]

We also never do the dining plan. For 3 adults we usually split and appetizer and share 2 meals. Then if we want dessert (only if it looks really good) we will share a dessert. We did the dining plan years ago and just found that it was too much food and we felt we had to order the most expensive food to make it worth it, which was usually steak. I can't eat that much red meat in a week.

 

[geekbri]

My wife and I have previously always gotten the Disney Dining Plan. This provides 1 TS 1 QS and 1 Snack per night per person. For our upcoming December trip we used an online calculator to list the restaurants we wanted to eat at. Turns out for what we wanted + what we order per mea it was cheaper by about $150 to just pay we go. This can be very different depending on your eating habits.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

We have always gotten the dining plan, but this next trip we will not. We always leave with roughly 6 QS credits and 10 snacks, so we never use it all. I'm the only one who eats roughly three meals a day, but I usually eat chicken which is never the most expensive thing on the menu; thus, I find myself ordering more steaks and more expensive items to make up the cost. I personally think I could save roughly $100 on myself alone by just paying out of pocket. I used to be much better when an appetizer, entree, drink, dessert, and tip were included. The theme of reducing value while increasing price has always been happening at the world.

 

[geekbri]

We have always gotten the dining plan, but this next trip we will not. We always leave with roughly 6 QS credits and 10 snacks, so we never use it all. I'm the only one who eats roughly three meals a day, but I usually eat chicken which is never the most expensive thing on the menu; thus, I find myself ordering more steaks and more expensive items to make up the cost. I personally think I could save roughly $100 on myself alone by just paying out of pocket. I used to be much better when an appetizer, entree, drink, dessert, and tip were included. The theme of reducing value while increasing price has always been happening at the world.

We almost never end up with QS (simply because we force ourselves to use them), but our snacks are almost always left behind. The only time I found snack credits to be really great is during the Food and Wine festival. I spent most of mine (and my wifes!) that way.

 

[Nancyg56]

The best way to decide if the plan is for you is to research the restaurants and the menus. Look at them, and be honest in how you all like to eat when you are on vacation. For my family vacation food is way different than home food, and I found that out the hard way when I though my DH would be okay using the food in the CL lounge to supplement the meals I planned. No. I should have purchased the DxDDP and factored in breakfast out, along with appetizers. My family likes them. We order them. We also like dessert and coffee after dinner.

Now you need to know these things about your family. If you are out, will you choose Character meals, and TS meals every night, and do you have at least two meals a day? Do you enjoy desserts and beverages? Will you look at snack prices and cringe? No? Do you snack?

People tell you to add the gratuity in, and I agree, you need to tip. You will do that off the plan as well, and if you order more food on the plan than off, yes, the tip increases. When you compare, add tax to the CS and TS meals. Do not add it when you use the costs on the DDP for all that is included.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

We are doing the dining plan because we wanted to overload on character meals and BOG, which make the plan "worth it" for us.