The Dining Plan, why I'll never/always do it.

[susieq76]

We have used the DDP since it came out. Prior to that we still had one TS meal every day- so for us it fit our style big time.

Now, yes, it always saves us money. Why? DH is a big time steak guy- he orders steak everywhere we go (not just at wdw) and that is usually the most/almost most expensive item. Now me? I love me some seafood and that is also up there in price. The third reason is we have three boys U9. They eat a lot. I mean they eat a pizza pie (big NY one not little dominos one) by themselves. Thus, we wind up at least a few buffets for them. With the price of the kids dp being so inexpensive in relation to the buffets we make out. Not sure how that will work when they are older.

 

[aviva5675]

We used the regular dining plan 2 years ago and Im going to try the deluxe next fall if we are able to go back (me, DH and DD17). We like at least one ts a day and like the signature restaurants. We like appetizers, so deluxe would work for us.

Also we went during Food and Wine festival, and used alot of snack credits to eat our way around the world for lunch the day we were at EPC. That was nice.

 

[bobrex]

I've used the DDP for my last 2 trips and saved around 30% (200 bucks) each time. It's just my wife and I and we do like to eat in a decent restaraunt every night. We have found that an adult breakfast holds us over until about 5:00 when we typically eat dinner. Then, sometime during the day, we'll grab a Mickey bar or a pretzel as a snack. I'm in the process of planning a trip with my nephews, I'm expecting to save as much with them on the plan.

 

[joy13]

It works for us because a big part of vacationing for my DH is food. We also like character meals for my DD - so we would be eating TS most days anyway.

 

[Mazz]

We used the dining plan and the deluxe dining plan. For us it works well as part of going to Disney for our family is meals at many of the finer restaurants. Using the deluxe plan for meals at CG, AP, and YS where the bill can be very pricey anyway has always worked to our advantage. The only drawback is that we never use all of our snack credits. We could really do without them.

 

[Suellen]

Here is how I look at it:

We don't necessarily care about the food. Although we have definately tried some GREAT places we wouldn' have.

For us ~ having ADR does a couple of things:

1. We get to take the girls to all the character meals they can handle
2. It forces us to take a break and sit down together, enjoy a meal and a little break from the "theme park" atmosphere that can overwhelm our small children
3. We aren't constantly eating the same three items
4. We try some places we wouldn't have.

That being said when we went in March we had problems with them charging us ADULT entitlements for our 2 1/2 YO daughter. It was a MESS! Even when we said we wanted to charge her meal to the room (for the kids'meal). So when we went for the April/May trip we added her on dining even though she SHOULD have eaten for free most of the time. So that trip they didn't charge us for all her meals and ended up with meals left over. It was worth it to us to NOT have to think about it.

Also ~ don't forget to take into account tips. We spent about $300+ on tips for 24 meals for 4 of us and sometimes 6.

Food for thought.

I guess if you are doing to save money ONLY ~ not worth it.

 

[over50visits]

The DDP is a brilliant marketing plan by Disney that hugely increased their profits.

Don't believe for a minute you're really saving money. It's like buying a $1000 dress for $500 off and thinking you saved $500. Nope. You purchased a $500 dress you wouldn't have otherwise.

 

[aaarcher86]

We do the DXDP. It saves us a bit of money if we get FD or for our 2013 trip with SPD. Comparing it to the OOP cost of what we would be doing it saves us about $500 this trip on 2 TS meals a day, before factoring in the cost of a QS lunch and/or snacks.

We'll use it whenever it remains cost efficient, and I'll be sad when it's not. The convenience is great for us, and the kids love getting a dessert with dinner.

The DDP is a brilliant marketing plan by Disney that hugely increased their profits.

Don't believe for a minute you're really saving money. It's like buying a $1000 dress for $500 off and thinking you saved $500. Nope. You purchased a $500 dress you wouldn't have otherwise.

? That doesn't make sense. If I was planning on buying the dress for $1,000 and it goes on sale for $500 I just saved myself $500.

If I'm going to certain restaurants for our trip with or without the DP and the DP saves me $300 versus what I would pay OOP, then the DP is saving me $300.

 

[DsnyQueen]

My husband and I love the basic DDP. We have only used it when it was offered free with rack rate room at a value resort, so any alternative offer was really not that great. We love to enjoy restaurants that require a reservation, and find that it's a great break from the parks. There are times when we actually visit because of the free dining plan with the park visits being second in priority on our list. Generally we end up with snack credits left, but use these on a wide variety of candies and special items that can be taken back as souvenirs.

With that said, each family is different. The table service restaurants require advanced planning and a significant time commitment. If I had to pay for the dining plan, I would have to run the numbers to make sure it was a better deal than out of pocket. For example, one of our favorite spots is 50's Prime Time Cafe and entrees there are big enough to feed 2 (or more) and are very reasonably priced for Disney standards in the $15-20 range. So, I think it's still important to plan, then run the numbers to see what makes sense.

 

[Colleen27]

The DDP is a brilliant marketing plan by Disney that hugely increased their profits.

Don't believe for a minute you're really saving money. It's like buying a $1000 dress for $500 off and thinking you saved $500. Nope. You purchased a $500 dress you wouldn't have otherwise.

That's only true if you wouldn't have bought the dress (or eaten onsite at WDW) to begin with. For those of us who aren't interested in cooking or driving off-site on vacation, the right dining plan can still offer a savings on something we'd have purchased anyway. But it is important to compare the DDP cost to the way you'd eat without it, rather than to the menu prices of the items covered.

We're at a point now where it depends entirely on the trip - with my girls the plan is a loser because neither of them eat as the plan provides for their ages, but if it is some combination of DH, DS14 and I without the girls it can still be a solid savings because the way we eat fits the DxDDP very well.

 

[disneychristmasx3]

There are a couple points to this for us:

So the room discounts offered to the general public for our dates would only apply to the first 2 nights of our 8 day stay. We can not change dates as with kids in college there is zero flexibility. Free dining covers our whole trip because we are checking in during the free dining offer. That covers the why it's a better financial deal than a room only discount and discount tickets. We could never get a big enough discount on the room and tickets during our dates to cover meals for 5 adults.

Beyond that if we were paying OOP for our meals we would not eat at 90% of the TS places we have reserved. So the experience would be less special. The DDP allows us to eat at places we might never otherwise have the chance to go to. And no, we do not eat like that at home....that's kind of the point. We want to be able to let the kids order whatever they want with no regard to price. I don't care if they choose the cheapest item or the most expensive item. I don't care if they order soda or water or a milkshake. I don't mind if they get dessert and then only eat a few bites. I can assure you I would not have this same mentality otherwise. I want them to just get what they want and enjoy themselves. That's part of the family Christmas gift of going to Disney for the holidays. Living large for a week is part of the fun. We would probably pay for DDP just so we could have this same mentality and relax and enjoy - although I fear I would spend more effort trying to "get my money's worth" if I were paying for it.

And lucky for us we get free DDP for the entire trip.

 

[KorieDWnut]

We just Like having everything pre paid. Less spending money to stress about.

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm all about the food but have quit using the dining plan since 2008. Tables in Wonderland is the way I roll. I'll eat wherever I want and order whatever I want anyway (and will have the option to get two appetizers if that's what I prefer).

Used to be the DDP was a great deal at a la carte restaurants and not so much at buffets/family style (for adults - it was a tremendous deal at those for kids). The structure of restaurant pricing has changed and it's now the best deal if you do lots of buffets/family style. Which I don't do.

 

[married2mm]

does basic dining plan mean regular dining plan?

we have only had fd, would not be worth our while to pay, as we actually fall into the credits left over category of people.

first 2 times was regular dining plan,we did not like missing out on park time and felt dictated by adr's. second time, we literally used 3 of our ts credits, and did not feel the need to eat, just because we could.
3rd time was quick service plan, and this suited us much better.
doing it again next year, but only as it's free!

 

[SPOERLX3]

does basic dining plan mean regular dining plan?

we have only had fd, would not be worth our while to pay, as we actually fall into the credits left over category of people.

first 2 times was regular dining plan,we did not like missing out on park time and felt dictated by adr's. second time, we literally used 3 of our ts credits, and did not feel the need to eat, just because we could.
3rd time was quick service plan, and this suited us much better.
doing it again next year, but only as it's free!

Yes, the basic dining plan is the same as regular dining plan.
In my family....if we can get the FREE dining plan, we definitely do a dining plan, if we are going during a time that the free dining plan isn't offered, then we just go on our own, we never pay for a dining plan. We would not normally eat a desert with every meal but with the plans, it is nice to have one to take for later.
The last time we went, we took 3 of our grandkids and did the QSDP and it worked much better than being tied down to a ressie. However when it is just me and my DH we LOVE to enjoy our sit down meals in the evening.

 

[ses1230]

Thread resurrection! I didn't read the whole thread but just pointing out that some things are different now than in 2009.

 

[nooneshome]

for us the dining plans are simply too much food. TS eats up a lot of time and we like to just wing it. We will only do FD.

 

[SPOERLX3]

Thread resurrection! I didn't read the whole thread but just pointing out that some things are different now than in 2009.

You are soooo right! We went December 2011, just 11 months ago and I am sure that some more things have changed since then. Going back soon so we will find out then

 

[momof2gr8kids]

I would never pay for the dining plan. I've crunched the numbers and it wouldn't work in our favour.

We've lucked out and have gotten the free dining last trip and this upcoming one. A room only discount would have been about $50 at POR. With 4 "adults" and one child, we definately come out way ahead with the FD. Could not eat for $50 a day!

But, if we did not get the FD, we def. would not eat $240 worth of food each day, which is what it would cost our family to add the dp.

 

[bdklein]

for us the dining plans are simply too much food. TS eats up a lot of time and we like to just wing it. We will only do FD.

???? So if it's free it's not too much food? So if it's free the TS take up less time?