Why do YOU do the dining plan?

[Melodious]

My DMom and I are going to WDW this November Our ADR date is coming up and we have both added and re-added the cost of what we want to eat versus the cost of the dining plan. It looks like we'll about break even to use the regular plan.

But as I was obsessing over it , I began to wonder about others. Do most other people use the plan because they see a significant savings? If there isn't a significant savings, is there a non-monetary value that you see in using the plan? If it is 'convenient' for you, can you explain that? Does anyone who loves the plan ever have a complaint about it?

Basically I am thinking about this way too much and want to hear what others think

 

[wezee]

Why? Because if you book at the right time its free.

 

[wayneg]

Did it for 1st time last August 16 nights free DDP, this August 21 nights free DDP, no way would I pay for it but great free.
Works very well for us as we like CS for lunch, TS for eve meal & don't eat breakfast, don't drink alcoholic drinks or eat appetizers. Exactly want what the DDP gives. If it wasn't free we would eat offsite, far better value than paying for DDP.

 

[topmonkeygirl]

It works great for us we're big sit down meal kind of people. We Do breakfast before park opening, lunch around 1 or 2, then dinner around 7 or 8. We don't take breaks during the day, it's just me and DH so we don't need to. So the sit down meals are our breaks. I don't have to worry about money and are we spending too much, we just get what we want. It is vacation after all I feel like we should indulge.

 

[cassandrap83]

We like it because everything is pre-paid. We aren't very good at "saving" money, so when we get it, we plunk it down & don't have to worry about anything else.

Oh, and you most definitely have to 'PLAN' your snacks or counterservice credits.... Not sure where you got that idea from. Almost every food item in DW is included on the dining plan, so there's not much planning really. You want a CS meal, you walk up to a CS place of your choosing & get one. Same thing for snacks. There are some crazy over-planners on this site that may list their 'favorite' snacks, but in no way are you tied to any of them permanently.

 

[Kate716]

We have done the regular dining plan for years and convenience is definitely one of the reasons why. (We are trying Deluxe this trip!)

We are a TS family when it comes to dinners. We do plan those in advance and yes, we stick to our plan. We like sitting down to dinner, having a nice meal and relaxing for a while. I also like that we don't have to look at any prices while we're on vacation since everything is paid up front.

I do not plan snacks and I don't factor them into my "savings" calculation when deciding on the dining plan- those are always a bonus for us. For our upcoming trip we will be eating a few CS lunches. I did not plan those either. That's the point - just walk up and order whatever.

If you look at the menus for where you think you will be eating bfast/lunch and dinner - would you pay more than $42 OOP per day for those meals (without thinking about apps, alcohol, and tips)? I know I can easily spend $10 at a CS lunch and $30+ at a TS dinner (between soda, entree, and dessert).

My family always does better on the plan than without it and if it was break even I'd do it anyway since it allows me to relax and enjoy and not think about the high food costs at Disney! Good luck with your decision!

 

[Melodious]

It works great for us we're big sit down meal kind of people. We Do breakfast before park opening, lunch around 1 or 2, then dinner around 7 or 8. We don't take breaks during the day, it's just me and DH so we don't need to. So the sit down meals are our breaks. I don't have to worry about money and are we spending too much, we just get what we want. It is vacation after all I feel like we should indulge.

So it works for you because you do three sit down meals a day? I'm just asking to understand. We're definitely people who eat three meals a day, but my mom doesn't want to stop in the middle of a park day to eat a sitdown lunch. Yeah, we do it commando still. Not having breakfast covered on the regular plan is also a downside for us

We like it because everything is pre-paid. We aren't very good at "saving" money, so when we get it, we plunk it down & don't have to worry about anything else.

Oh, and you most definitely have to 'PLAN' your snacks or counterservice credits.... Not sure where you got that idea from. Almost every food item in DW is included on the dining plan, so there's not much planning really. You want a CS meal, you walk up to a CS place of your choosing & get one. Same thing for snacks. There are some crazy over-planners on this site that may list their 'favorite' snacks, but in no way are you tied to any of them permanently.

Well for snacks, I know that some things that I might consider a snack is not counted as a snack on the plan. Like if I want a snack at Epcot's boulangerie (and we always do ) not everything there is considered a snack. Same with Main Street bakery and places like that, or that's what I thought from what I've read on here. Or things like Goofy's Candy Company make your own treat, because I always get one of those too.

Also in my calculations, if we don't spend about $4 on each snack, we will lose money with the plan. So if my mom wants a bottle of Coke as she often does, we will end up losing money. We'll have to think about whether we should just pay for a bottle of Coke and save the snack credit for a more expensive item to get our 'money's worth'.

I know counter service you can get anything on the menu and don't have to plan that. In my calculations, I calculated what we normally eat (not the most expensive item) and a soft drink. We don't normally purchase desserts so I didn't add the price of CS desserts into the calculations

 

[CristyKnight]

PREPAID

 

[Kate716]

So it works for you because you do three sit down meals a day? I'm just asking to understand. We're definitely people who eat three meals a day, but my mom doesn't want to stop in the middle of a park day to eat a sitdown lunch. Yeah, we do it commando still. Not having breakfast covered on the regular plan is also a downside for us

Melodious-
Are you sure the Deluxe plan doesn't work for your trip? Based on what you said , if you do 1 sit down breakfast, commando lunch, and a sit-down dinner I would think the Deluxe plan would be a savings for you and your mom (without snacks!). We have sort of the same schedule planned and that's why we just went ahead and upgraded to the Deluxe plan for our trip in 2 weeks. (I was going to have to pay OOP for ~4 meals, appetizers at dinners, and for refillable mugs). It made sense for us to switch.

 

[Melodious]

I'm also just curious about what people love about the plan.

We have done the regular dining plan for years and convenience is definitely one of the reasons why. (We are trying Deluxe this trip!)

We are a TS family when it comes to dinners. We do plan those in advance and yes, we stick to our plan. We like sitting down to dinner, having a nice meal and relaxing for a while. I also like that we don't have to look at any prices while we're on vacation since everything is paid up front.

I do not plan snacks and I don't factor them into my "savings" calculation when deciding on the dining plan- those are always a bonus for us. For our upcoming trip we will be eating a few CS lunches. I did not plan those either. That's the point - just walk up and order whatever.

If you look at the menus for where you think you will be eating bfast/lunch and dinner - would you pay more than $42 OOP per day for those meals (without thinking about apps, alcohol, and tips)? I know I can easily spend $10 at a CS lunch and $30+ at a TS dinner (between soda, entree, and dessert).

My family always does better on the plan than without it and if it was break even I'd do it anyway since it allows me to relax and enjoy and not think about the high food costs at Disney! Good luck with your decision!

So it's convenient for you because it's prepaid so you don't have to worry about ordering something expensive and because you don't have a problem sticking to the plan?

I've priced it out several times based on what we normally eat (believe me, I have stared at those menus plenty ). We're going for thirteen nights and we don't have thirteen dinners planned, some of our table service is going to be breakfast at the GF Cafe and breakfast isn't the most expensive meal. So we're not going to save any money on the plan, but we'll break even IF we stick to the plan (and all our snacks are $4).

So the question is really what is great about the plan if it's not really saving you money? Or if you do it differently and the plan saves you a bunch, that'd be a good answer. We're are hesitant about locking ourselves into a plan because what if we want room service or don't like the GF Cafe enough to have breakfast there three times. We've never done this many TS restaurants or a trip this long.

How do charges outside of the DP work? Like appetizers and drinks? Do they bring you a separate check?

 

[Melodious]

Melodious-
Are you sure the Deluxe plan doesn't work for your trip? Based on what you said , if you do 1 sit down breakfast, commando lunch, and a sit-down dinner I would think the Deluxe plan would be a savings for you and your mom (without snacks!). We have sort of the same schedule planned and that's why we just went ahead and upgraded to the Deluxe plan for our trip in 2 weeks. (I was going to have to pay OOP for ~4 meals, appetizers at dinners, and for refillable mugs). It made sense for us to switch.

Oops I think I must have said something confusing. We're not going to have TS breakfast and TS dinner every day. For thirteen nights, we will have twelve TS meals including a two credit at California Grill and then three breakfasts at the GF cafe. Most of our breakfasts will be CS and some of our dinners will be CS and all but one lunch will be CS. As far as I can tell to get our money's worth out of the deluxe plan, I believe we'd need more TS meals. There really aren't any other TS restaurants we want to add to the trip either.

 

[Melodious]

So do you do the dining plan because it's free , because it saves you money based on what you wanted to do anyway, because it allows you not to worry if you want to order the most expensive thing on the menu, because it's prepaid? Do you not worry if you're getting your money's worth out of the plan because you've already bought it? Do you do TS meals because you have so many TS credits or because you want to go to all those restaurants? Do you plan your trip to make the most out of the plan? Is there something I'm missing that makes the plan convenient for you?

And what does happen when you order things off the plan such as appetizers and drinks?

 

[pasofan]

For our family, we about break even on the price of food. We go with the dining plan, this time Deluxe, because it helps the "vacation" mood. My DH is able to relax and enjoy his meals if he doesn't have to think about paying cash or by credit card for each meal. This is true even if we had set aside the money before hand--the moment the money is leaving his hand, he is thinking about how much it is. When we get the dining plan, the money left his hand months earlier and he doesn't think about it when the check comes. For us, the feeling of being able to not obsess about the prices and being able to just relax and "be on vacation" puts the value over the top.

 

[Kate716]

Oops I think I must have said something confusing. We're not going to have TS breakfast and TS dinner every day. For thirteen nights, we will have twelve TS meals including a two credit at California Grill and then three breakfasts at the GF cafe. Most of our breakfasts will be CS and some of our dinners will be CS and all but one lunch will be CS. As far as I can tell to get our money's worth out of the deluxe plan, I believe we'd need more TS meals. There really aren't any other TS restaurants we want to add to the trip either.

You're right! I thought you were planning a TS breakfast, CS lunch, and TS dinner! If you're doing CS breakfast and lunch with TS dinner you probably wouldn't get as much out of the deluxe plan vs if you had more TS.

So it's convenient for you because it's prepaid so you don't have to worry about ordering something expensive and because you don't have a problem sticking to the plan?

So the question is really what is great about the plan if it's not really saving you money? Or if you do it differently and the plan saves you a bunch, that'd be a good answer. We're are hesitant about locking ourselves into a plan because what if we want room service or don't like the GF Cafe enough to have breakfast there three times. We've never done this many TS restaurants or a trip this long.

In all the trips we've done on the regular dining plan, we maximized the plan by doing CS lunches, TS dinners, then simple quick snacks (pastry, fresh fruit) or in-room snacks for breakfasts (ie. PopTarts, cereal, etc). As you said, breakfast is one of the cheapest meals in Disney, so we chose to use the plan for lunches/dinners instead. If we did do a bfast as a TS, it was usually a buffet - where the cost is almost as much as a dinner to start (ie, Crystal Palace bfast buffet). Days where we had 2 TS meals (ie breakfast and dinner), then we'd eat 2 CS meals the next (for example- we don't like the TS restaurants at DHS, so we'd eat 2 CS meals there instead of wasting a TS on a sit down place). We book the TS meals we want to eat at, not because we feel we have to because we're on the plan.

We don't park hop, so we can plan our meals around the park we're at (nearest resort area). Planning our meals this way has always ended up savings us a bunch of money by doing the plan. (And we usually go to Disney in May, so no free dining - we pay for the plan!) We've never had an instance where the plan didn't work in our favor. The second bonus is that we've already pre-paid everything so we didn't have to think about the cost of ordering the filet at dinner. (And in my husband's case- for EVERY dinner!)

 

[disneymom06]

Whether we get the dining plan free or paid for, it still has a price and to our family the price is always worth it. We have 4 children, 3 considered adults. I like not looking at the price of items and letting the children order what they want and want they would like to try. I will admit that with 6 of us eating, we do share at times as well, because someone my not be that hungry for a full meal. The dessert is a nice option and if we aren't hungry for dessert, I will take the items to go because someone is always hungry later. For counter service at the parks, the cost of a meal with drink and tax is about $12 (middle ot the road price) and that is without a dessert. Again, we always get something for dessert,( a water, fruit or cookie) and take it with us for later in the park or that evening. We tried WPE and I didn't worry about the money and the selections were wonderful. WELL WORTH a CS credit on the plan.

We have paid for both DDP and QSDP. I have never done Deluxe because it would be too much food, and my kids do eat. I do make the plan work for us but it isn't difficult, I just make sure we use all of our credits. Everyone orders what they want, no matter the price but in the end, we always come out ahead. I do include the snack credit and desserts in my calculations but am fully aware that if I was paying OOP for everything, we would not order dessert at a CS nor at each sit down. But the price that I pay for eating, I believe would still be the same.

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

We used the DDP for the first time last Dec. We got a free dining pin for the regular plan with a Value resort stay. WE loved it, we stayed 10 nights, so if we had bought it, the plan would have cost us $420 each. I kept all our reciepts for snacks, counter service and table service and after adding everything together, if we had paid OOP for the same meals we would have spent just over $600 per person. Considering that, we have decided that we will buy the DDP plan for our Nov. 2010 trip if free dining doesn't come out and if all we get is a free Quick service deal we will upgrade to the regular plan. Sure, we might eat at a higher priced restaurant than we would if we were paying OOP but we are on vacation and its nice to have a great meal and knowing that, one way or another, its already been paid for. Anyway, which ever way you go, have a great trip.
oh, yeah, cokes, water, bags of chips, fruit, etc are not the best use of your snack credit, pay OOP for these items.

 

[2cats1kid]

We did it for 5 nights last time over. We did it at the time because we could get DDP priced in £ the way it had been priced when it was £1=$2. At the time it was £1=$1.34 and I was over how many £ it was going to cost us for food. That prepay that effectively gave us $2 to the £ stopped me stressing so much. We wouldn't have done it otherwise.

It was way more food than we would normally eat and we were eating for the sake of it, because we had paid for it, and because we had credits to use up, not because we were hungry. The second part of the trip we didn't have DDP and ended up cancelling a Le Cellier ADR because we'd eaten so much and just didn't want any more!!

We would normally reckon on one sit down every couple of days, so I imagine we'd do 7 or 8 dinners in the two weeks. This wouldn't put us even close to breakeven on the DDP, and we'd have to eat totally onsite. I have 4-6 restaurants in mind onsite and 3 or 4 offsite for next year, so I'll cut it down to 7-8 and we'll also have a bit of flexibility over where we eat. And a couple of nights DD just likes to flop on the bed and we have a chips and dips and movie night, which is nice too.

Wouldn't do the QSDP as we do like a few nice TS meals, and given that we couldn't keep up with the food on the DDP the deluxe is a total no-no for us!

 

[Kate716]

And what does happen when you order things off the plan such as appetizers and drinks?

If you're on the dining plan:

1. Your server will bring your final bill to your table where it will show the full total of the meal (so- entree, dessert, etc + any appetizer, alcohol, or extras that you've added).
2. If charging the extras to your room or other charge card, you will write in on your bill how much tip you'd like to give (this is done before the server removes the dining plan credits).
3. The server will take your room key (dining plan card), remove the appropriate amount of dining credits, and bring you the charge receipt (for the extras and tip) for you to sign.

 

[ReneeA]

I like it for a variety of reasons - my kids are still considered "kids" by Disney's standards. Which means that they are only around $11 a day on the plan. I can't feed them for that much paying OOP. That right there is one way we "save" with the plan.

Another good reason? We seem to come out WAY ahead with the kids meals, and about $10 per adult per day on the plan. If we went without the plan, my frugal minded sense would come out, and I'd order ice water and an appetizer (or the cheapest thing on the menu) in order to save money. I don't want to eat that way, but I know it would happen based on previous behavior. Or, goodness forbid, I'd end up eating only one or 2 TS meals and mostly CS meals in order to save.

The CS meals are large, so DD and I end up sharing frequently. This frees up CS credits so that we can pick up breakfasts at the food court some mornings. Most mornings, we are all perfectly happy with breakfast bars at the bus stops...nobody wants to waste prime morning park time on breakfast.

It works for our family. We've gotten it free a few times, and paid for it OOP once, so it's not like we only sign on when it's free.

 

[TillyMarigold]

It's like anything else in life--it's cost-effective if you want to eat the way it's meant for you to eat; not cost-effective if you want to eat differently.

We are big foodies and so part of going on vacation is eating a lot of sit-down meals. It's not an enormous cost-savings, just a small one, but it does work out to be a savings.

We don't plan CS meals except that we sometimes look at meals/snacks and decide if it's worth using credits for or if we should pay OOP. Like we did the Picnic in the Park (sandwich option) and paid cash for it because it's so cheap, and saved the QS credits for later in the trip.