Yup, another Dining Plan v. OOP Post

[PatsGirl]

So, finalized ADRs this morning and then went back to check menus and prices, etc. as I did before making my original reservations last month. Now, because I've added in H&V dinner buffet and Hoop DeDoo, I think its a wash. My original calculations came up about $50 cheaper OOP and didn't include either of those, instead those nights were BOMA and Saana with an dinner at RFC or TRex with Landrys gift card. I'm so torn.

 

[Hopefully]

Sounds like you have done your research !!! We like the DDP. It works for our family as it is pretty much how we like to eat. As you have found it is not designed to save the average family a lot of money. It is all of the other intangibles that put it over the top for us
Good Luck deciding

 

[Vernie822]

If it comes down to that little of an amount, maybe you can put into thought what you think would work best for you? When we did the dining plan for the first time, we did not feel restricted and felt like it was plenty of food. Getting dessert at each meal was a treat. Then we started just paying OOP for more flexibility- and on our last week long trip, I was (like I always am) nervous about spending too much. Even though I had saved up and purchased Disney gift cards beforehand so that wouldn't happen. In the long run we ended up preferring the DDP more because of convenience. We also did a quick 4 day trip and didn't worry too much about over-spending because it was such a short trip, that was harder to do than on our recent 8 day trip. We are planning another 4 day trip and I think we will go with DDP for sheer convenience factor!

 

[ChasingLeslie]

I used a dining calculator and the saving was about $100 with the DDP. IMO, it's worth it if you are doing multiple character meals and F+ packages.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

When my family goes on vacation we don't like to think about money, lol...If we were paying OOP we would probably just eat cheese burgers and stuff the whole time. I figure if we are paying a ton to go to WDW we should just pay for the dining and be done, lol. We always get the Deluxe plan though bc our kids love character meals and our family are 3 meal a day type of people and we don't like quick service. Anyways with that being said we have gone enough times now to know what works and what doesn't. We are starting to plan our 2017 trip already and for what I want to do we are actually able to fit in 2 dinner shows so my kids are going to love that! Anyways I think the dining plan depends on how you plan to tour the park and what you like to eat. We use our meals as part of the experience. Sitting down to a meal is just as important to us as going on Space Mountain or meeting Anna & Elsa lol. We also like variety so when it comes to the apps and the desert we usually split everything 4 ways so everyone gets a little bit of everything, lol. It works out well for our family!

 

[Jetta8300]

The dining plan has never worked for us. But we do not like buffets much, or character meals, or steak. I feel like to just break even you have to do a ton of buffets, eat your weight in steak at ala carte places , and want dessert with each meal. We like appetizers, and not dessert also. We like signatures as well so the regular dining plan does not work, but the deluxe plan is WAY too expensive for what we would pay out of pocket.

So each trip we buy a very large gift card to sort of prepay for the food and not worry about paying either. But this way we eat what we want without feeling like we have to get the best dining plan value. It's great and we usually have some left over at the end for souvineers!

 

[B-Ride]

We like the DDP if it is free and there are no room discounts. Otherwise it is OOP for us because it only pays if we eat more than we usually do.

 

[abarriger]

I thought the DDP sounded really silly at first-- like, why couldn't you just pay when you got there? Then one year we went for it, and it totally changed my experience. I limited our TS meals a lot before, but the dining plan gave me permission to enjoy those meals. It works really well for us, we save a tiny bit of money but that's not why we do it, it just enhances my experience. Plus, I know the worst of the drain on my checkbook is over once the trip is booked! All that's left is souvenirs.

 

[LSUfan4444]

We dropped the DDP a few years ago and never looked back. It took one trip NOT on the DDP, saving every receipt of everything we ate and drank for a week (including gratuities and alcohol). We ordered whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, Wishes Dessert party, took a trip over to Sea World where we Dined with Shamu, at California Grill and had a grocery trip in there as well and spent a couple hundred more than what the DDP could have cost us before we spent anything on alcohol or gratuities.

This is the "review" I posted just after the trip: