Meal Plan or No Meal Plan?

[Mrs. Ciz]

My family has only done the dining plan when it was either free or part of a specially priced sports team package. The rest of the time, we prepay for all our dining by buying Disney Gift cards at a discount (buy when Kroger has 4x Fuel Points with a cash back credit card). This way I get an automatic discount on my dining costs, my dining is prepaid, and we get to eat what we want. The DP is not always the best deal and it becomes even more expensive in comparison to my gift card method when I factor in my discount. There is a huge thread on the Budget Board about ways to get discounted Disney gift cards.

 

[Nancyg56]

So we went without the meal plan our last trip and honestly worrying about money kind of took the joy out of things. That aspect of it alone prompted us to go with the meal plan. We tend to eat on the high end of menus and love getting a specialty drink and desert. We also like the idea of snacking more than we did last time.

This is me. I have gone with the plan, with the DxDDP and without the plan. I know how my family dines, and I know where we tend to go, and how we all like to order, so I know which works best on any given trip.

Frankly, I have no idea how anyone can determine if the OP will save or not until her family dynamics are shared, along with their ADR's. My family does save on a DDP, and we do not tend to try to max it out, although I know ahead of time where we will pay OOP< where we might share, and because we love our snack, we even have many of those planned out in advance. Turns out we are food planning crazy so I have only been blindsided one time with OOP costs.

I always suggest that folks plan their ADR's first, and look at where they will choose CS, and if they plan snacks and beverages. In order to know how you will fare you really have to do your own math.

 

[marsh0013]

Thanks, everyone. We have 4 adults and 4 kids in the party and are looking to have several character dining meals. My thought, from watching the videos associated with this website, is that the extra money we're paying is basically for the privilege of meeting the characters inside without waiting in line. I don't mind planning a bunch of stuff in advance, but even 110+ days out there appears to be a lot of people preparing more than I.

I appreciate all the input. Thank you.

Are you split into at least 2 rooms? I guess the only way you wouldn't be is if you're in a 2-bedroom villa. If you have 2 rooms, get the deluxe dining plan on one of them and share between everyone. Obviously check the math, but if you have at least 2 children 9 or under in the room with the plan, you can make out very well.