Meal plan worth it?

[lipejeff]

Have two young boys and we will be heading to Disney the first of August. Is the dining plan worth the extra expense?

 

[sharonped]

Wow - you'll get a million very different, very passionate answers on this one. For US - OUR FAMILY....we love it. We feel free to order more expensive/luxurious menu items that we never would without the Disney Dining Plan (DDP). And we love having as many expenses paid up-front before we step foot on the plane. We order drinks rather than just water (which we do at home to save $$ while eating out); and get to experience fun and different desserts. I'm guessing if you and your little guys don't eat much, or tend to eat Counter Service (CS) rather than Table Service (TS) meals, and don't like to try new menu items - pay-as-you go would end up costing less. It really depends on how much restaurant/food experiences are a priority for your family in Disney World. Cheers!

 

[maxiesmom]

It depends. You really have to look over the menus, get an idea of what you would eat, and then figure it out.

I've only used the Dining Plan a few times, but I always run the numbers to see if it makes sense or not.

 

[smbowtie]

Have two young boys and we will be heading to Disney the first of August. Is the dining plan worth the extra expense?

You should post on the DDP thread under Disney Restaurants. You will get a lot of tips and advice.

 

[lipejeff]

My boys, especially the youngest, eat a lot. We don't eat fast food a lot at home and I prefer to not start on vacation. We've never been to Disney with the kids and want to make it as easy as possible; I know it will be hot and I don't want to lug a book bag around with snacks to keep the youngest full. I'll check out the other board that's mentioned. Thanks!

 

[jco_direwolf]

It starts at how "young"? If they are on the adult (10+ as I recall) plan likely no. Then continues to things like do they want/eat lobster and steak or if you offer them anything besides Mac-n-Cheese they'd rather go hungry?

It's very hard general question. Even if you think you are more of an "on-the-run" eater than a sit down and have a meal every day type.

I will tell you Disney makes money off the D*DP, because it's a credit system and you have to buy a set of credits for each Night of your stay for each person in the room, so if you leave with credits on the table, that is just cash that you are giving Disney. The credits expire at Midnight the day you checkout, and there are no refunds for unused credits.

Personally TiW/DDE works much better since you can choose what you want and how much to eat (adding in adult drinks to the 20% off is just a bonus.)

A friend of mine was on the DDP, they where checking-out, and checking-in to DVC with us. they had 4-5 credits left. The 4 of us ate 2 meals off of what we brought back to the room, and snacked on the deserts for in-between.

You can make it work and make out on it. But a lot of people don't make that effort.

 

[lipejeff]

My boys are 9 and 7.

 

[SA mom]

When our kids were under 10 years old, we got our money's worth. However, now that they are "adults" it costs us more. It is just too much food for us. We can easily share meals and eat much more cheaply than the dining plan. But that is just us.

If you prefer to have expenses paid up front, buy some gift cards an load them with meal/souvenir money.

 

[jco_direwolf]

My boys are 9 and 7.

If you are up for some math. You can do a DDP simulation. Grab the menus (there are several sources with prices) and figure out what you would order out of pocket off of them. Then look and figure out "the best use of your credits." and you can tell if you are close enough to make it.

The rule of thumb I've heard mostly is if you aren't winning by at least 10-15% (cost of DDP*1.1) for go it. You are too close and one "light" meal will likely make any saving vaporize.

 

[stepdisney]

There are 4 of us. We always eat at least two full meals a day. We are all considered Adults (even my 13 year old) and we have run the numbers for years. One TS for us is nearly $200 with drinks, dessert, and tips. It doesn't make sense for us NOT to utilize the DDP, and if it is free, this is our biggest discount. Again, this is MY FAMILY. We don't skimp on food at Disney and we aren't the "share a plate" kind of family. We all like to have our own choices. Sitting down for two nice meals a day also helps us to keep cool as well. We save money with the DDP.

 

[Wenda]

When DH and I go alone it is not worth it. we use TiW instead. Next time we go it will be with our princess and it will be worth it as we will want to do several character meals. I will say that you can share meals on the dining plan (except at Italy) and do more sit down meals. You share and just pay for the extra beverage. If you go during free dining we either eat at buffets or share meals. We only have snack credits left and buy some goodies to take home.

 

[jco_direwolf]

One TS for us is nearly $200 with drinks, dessert, and tips.

@ $200 unless it was a 2 TS meal that is $50pp that is really good (one TS credit is worth about $25). If it was a 2TS meal then you about broken even.

None the less tip is a wash because you are paying tip with or without DDP now. Since it's no longer included in the DDP.

 

[BMC423]

Every time I plan a trip I say maybe we won't get the DDP but always do and here's why. We like to eat at table service restaurants. Sure every now and that we don't mind eating at a quick service but mostly we like to sit down and take our time.

So when the time comes for me to book I start making a list of possible restaurants we would like to eat at and make an estimate and how much the meal would cost. If the total for our potential meals out of pocket is significantly less than the DDP will cost us then I wouldn't bother with the DDP, that hasn't happened yet.

That being said most times the DDP is more but that's when I factor in the ease of having your food prepaid. I equate it to staying at an all-inclusive even thought tips and alcoholic beverages are not covered.

Then there are the snacks. The DDP entitles you to 1 snack credit a day per person. I know my son who was 4 last time we went loved his popcorn, frozen lemonade, and ice cream. We also enjoy snacking around the world showcase in Epcot. All those snacks add up! Lastly, there is the refillable resort mug benefit.

I hope all this helps! As you can probably already tell you're going to get a lot of different answers to this. It really depends on your family and your dinning style.

 

[Aurora0427]

If you are going to be doing a lot of character, buffet, and table service dining, I think it's worth it.

 

[joannamet]

I've done the math many times and it only makes sense for my family of 3 if its free. Otherwise it absolutely does not save us money but that's because we eat 3 meals a day and my daughter and I tend to eat only small meals.

One big consideration, however, is where you want to eat. On our first trip we got free dining and we ate at Cinderella's Castle and several other buffets and expensive restaurants. On this trip we are not getting the dining plan and there's no way I'm paying out of pocket for more than 3 or 4 of those expensive restaurants. So another reason to get the dining plan is the freedom of eating at restaurants that you might not feel are worth the expense out of pocket.

 

[lipejeff]

We considered going in November when the dining plan was free and it was actually more expensive. Same options, minus the dates, and it would cost about $300 more for the "free" plan. My youngest eats nonstop and I really don't care to be a pack mule all week. Thanks again for all the input. It's appreciated.

 

[Jenn55]

I am by no means an expert, but here's my opinion.. I've been to the world 3 time (and I realized when I got back the last time that each visit was spaced out the exact same number of years!). I went when I was 2 (sister was 7.. More her trip then mine!), then again when it was 15 (13 years later).. As far as I remember we never used the dinning plan cause we drove, from toronto, canada to Florida, my parents and 10 year old sister so we packed a lot of food and also bough groceries and such. Then I went back when I was 28 (this past January), with my almost 8 year old son. It was his first time and he's an extremely picky eater.. He basically rotates with pizza, pasta (no sauce), fries and plain white rice as far as dinners are concerned and recently added Mac and cheese to his menu. Lunches he's huge into peanut butter sandwiches but our rule is if we eat out and I take a sandwhich it on,y has jam cause do other ppls peanut allergies incase he touches something before he washes his hands after he eats. Because I'd all this when we went in January 2014 I stayed away from the dinning plan cause I knew it wasn't gonna work out price wise, neither of us usually eats a lot, especially at lunch time. We did 3 character meals and even tho we stayed at disney property the entire time. We spent 2 full park days at universal, which would have wasted money if we were on the DDP. With that being said, I'm planning on taking him back novemeber or December 2015 and I'm budgeting for the DDP. His eating as increased (he'll be a few months away from 10 at that point) and so has the selection of what he eats. I also noticed that we ate a lot more counter service meals then I originally planned on us eating when we were there last and even tho we went with gift cards, we spent a lot on out of pocket expenses for snacks (and we went down with a suitcase full of food!).

What I did was basically pick at least one TS restaurant in each park and figured out with the menus if my son would eat anything from there and I'm pretty sure well come out on top money wise. 99% of the TS I want to try next time we go are character meals as well, and the refillable mugs are a huge advantage. We used those 4-5 times a day when we bought them last time so to have them included works really well for us as well.

 

[sethschroeder]

http://allears.net/dining/menu

Estimate where you might eat and what people might order, that will give you the math to work with.

Note that not everything in the park can had through the Dining Plan. Also with Table Service you cant share plates either.

With two younger kids if they are not big eaters know that you possibly could get by with 2 table service meals split between three people possibly. I know me and my wife will really share food all day long except each will get our own plate at dinner table service.

The dining plan does not make sense for us as we would only breakeven really for the week. We could possibly come in under budget if we decide one night just to grab a pizza instead of Table Service for instance.

 

[wareagle57]

I've never done it and honestly can't see how it could possibly be worth it. Obviously it is to some. The Quick Service plan is something like 42 dollars per day and that only includes 2 meals and a snack. I'm not sure how the dessert thing factors in with the meals though. Regardless, I can not see myself ever eating 40 dollars worth of food every day. Quick service meals are in the 10-15 dollar range for the most part. So those 2 meals and a snack are at most going to put me at 35 dollars.

Now maybe the Deluxe plans have more ways to save and are more valuable. But I definitely don't spend 50 dollars a meal. I don't think I've ever had a tab that big for a single meal. So obviously I am not the target audience for the table service restaurants.

 

[bryanb]

Many good points made here. Free dining isn't actually free. They're basically adding it into the price of your hotel room, instead of giving a deeper off-season discount. Even if you found another discount, you can't combine it with free dining.

Some people like pre-paid meals because it lets them relax and just enjoy whatever they want from any menu. I'd find it more stressful to try to game the system. There's a website that tells you what to order at each restaurant to make a profit on the dining plan... but honestly that means you'll be eating a lot of steaks and buffets during your trip.