meal plans

[GillianP1301]

The only way to really know, is to do the math. Generally speaking, getting free dining on a moderate resort booking will be more of a savings than a room discount, where as a room discount on a deluxe will be more savings than the free dining.

As for whether the meal plan itself saves you money, the only way to try and figure that out is to look at menus and add up your costs to compare. I really like the dining plan, but I would not say it's a huge savings. I either have a little savings or close to break even.

The other consideration is the makeup of your party. If you have kids under 10 and plan on lots of character meals, then you get some pretty good value/savings on the kids portion of your dining plan, as an example.

 

[Keishag]

For us, the "all inclusive" aspect wins every time. I think we do still get more value out of it because we do a character meal every day, but I'm pretty sure even when it doesn't make perfect financial sense, I'll stick with it because I'm the budgeter in the family and even if it's all on a pre loaded card, I'm still going to be worrying about prices. My kids are now Disney adults (13 and 11) so they love that they can pick absolutely anything off the menu, whereas when not on vacation I do make them choose with the budget in mind.

 

[alex9179]

The flexibility aspect is an interesting one. Some feel that they have more when on the plan because they've already paid for it and can order without regard to pricing. Some feel that that the plan is too restrictive for how they eat and don't like ordering based on getting their monies worth...which also leads to higher tips. I'm in the second camp.

We bring gift cards and use the rewards from our Disney Visa to pay for food & drinks by charging to the room and applying payments at the desk. It's all pre-paid, we DO order what we want, and I'm not thinking about how to make a plan "worth it" in terms of dollars. Some of our upcoming restaurants even offer a 10% discount with the Visa. Convenience, an occasional discount, and flexibility all rolled into one!

We'll be 4 Disney adults/1 child next year. I've priced out our upcoming vacation eating, several times, to try to figure out if the DDP was a good option for us. Even with switching lunches for dinners, everyone ordering an entree' (not how we normally eat), and looking at more expensive TS, we don't come out ahead. We don't love lots of buffets, or character meals, and would rather eat a substantial late lunch prior to our resort break than a heavy dinner.

This tool is helpful to get an idea of the approximate costs. I also looked through individual menus and priced it the long way. I'm saving between $300-400 by paying OOP. That's our adult beverage money!
http://www.distripplanner.com