Do I do the dining plan or not? About This Page:

[dutchdisneyfamily]

I've gone on allears. I'm worried that once we get down there the prices will be higher than what I estimated. We broke out about even. Here's my pros and cons of getting the dining plan:

Pros:
Not having to worry about the cost of what we are eating
Getting dessert with every meal
Only paying for 2 or three meals OOP

Cons:
I have a 10 year old that won't want to eat off the adult menu at every meal
Getting dessert with every meal
Sticker shock

What do you think?

[Kobeychiev]

We love the Deluxe Dining Plan, we have to have it every time we go. We feel like it enhances the experience because it gives you built in breaks and time to rest and relax. We have never felt like we HAD to eat everything on the table, and if you want they will wrap it up for you to take home.

You can request the childern's menu, you will just have to pay the adult price.

We absolutely love the dining plan and we could not go without it.

[dsruton]

My wife and I think of the Dining plan as convenience, and not hving to worry about how much we are spending on food while we are in the World. I myself do not believe that it saves any great amount of money, but it gives my DW the peace of mind to allow her to have a good time. The kids seem to like it when they go along again because they know what to expect. It all comes down to personal preference. So whatever you decide it will be OK. Just remember, you are at WDW. how bad could it be.

[dutchdisneyfamily]

Originally Posted by dsruton

My wife and I think of the Dining plan as convenience, and not hving to worry about how much we are spending on food while we are in the World. I myself do not believe that it saves any great amount of money, but it gives my DW the peace of mind to allow her to have a good time. The kids seem to like it when they go along again because they know what to expect. It all comes down to personal preference. So whatever you decide it will be OK. Just remember, you are at WDW. how bad could it be.

I just showed your post to my husband and he said, "I agree with that person completely". Thanks!

[MelissaL]

If your 10 year old won't eat enough to make an adult meal worthwhile, you may be better off without the dining plan. My daughter is 9 but doesn't like the kids meals, so on our last few trips we have ordered her an appetizer as her meal at some places (for example, flatbread pizza or a cheese platter). This wouldn't work on the basic dining plan.

I am not sure if it is possible to order off the kids menu at kid prices with a 10 year old at table service restaurants, but it is definitely possible to get a kids meal at counter service restaurants if an adult meal would be too much.

We stopped getting the Dining Plan for the opposite reason -- when my son was 8 or 9, the kids meals were not enough for him, and the dining plan required them.

If you have run numbers based on that you think your family would order and the dining plan is close to even, it may be worth getting it so you don't have to watch your spenfing. If you are concerned about wanting items not on the plan and not wanting everything that is an the plan, though, it may not be right for you.

Happy planning!
Melissa

[Caldercup]

The DDP is no longer a way to save money -- you basically pay exactly what you'd pay (on average) for that combination of table service, counter service and snack per day. There are ways to "work it" and make your money go a little farther, but that's more effort than I want to do on my vacations.

What I get the DDP for is the convenience. Not only do I pre-pay my dining costs, but I don't worry that, for example, my husband orders the steak at every meal. Or, when traveling with friends, we don't have to fuss about splitting the bill. I just hand over a card and let them take credits for what we ate.

I do know that we tend to save more if we purchase out-of-pocket because we don't eat dessert every day, let alone every meal, and we can be happy "grazing" around the parks and having only one traditional meal per day.

But you can't beat the convenience of the DDP.

[WDWJAMBA]

We've never done the dining plan because it just didn't seem to add up for us. There are times when we're just not hungry enough to warrant a full meal. DH and I have just ordered apps, split one entree, or ordered salads. I just can't eat multiple courses at every meal.

Our style of touring is changing as well. We usually eat breakfast in room, eat a light lunch like salads, and then book dinner at a table service place.

The other reason we've never seemed to do the dining plan is the whole credit numbers balance. I was afraid that if we did purchase the plan and then toured in our usual way, we'd be left with lots of credits unused (particularly snacks).

I'm glad it's out there for families that make it work in their favor either from a financial or convenience standpoint. We've just never been able to see the benefit for us.

[apqsmom]

My family has done the deluxe dining plan in the past but this last time we just did the quick service and feel that is the way to go! I love the character meals but they take so much time that my kids don't want to spend as they get older. I absolutely love that I just don't have to worry about our food! I like that we can eat and have our receipt stamped and pick up our dessert later for a snack! We had 2 meals and 7 snacks left over on the morning it was time to head home. I picked up the snacks to bring home. The convenience for me is so worth it!

I will definitely do the quick service again over the deluxe! If we want a character meal I can pay for that out of pocket. Also, I used to do the character meals to make sure we saw the characters...they are easier to find these days.

[JoanneS]

The dining plan doesn't really work for us. There's no savings for us and we always end up with lots of credits (especially snacks) left over at the end. And when that happens, I end my vacation feeling like I wasted money. I don't want dessert with every meal and I often choose a kid's meal at CS restaurants, so I find I spend less if I go OOP and use my Tables in Wonderland Card. I'm paying for my meals in advance by buying Disney Gift Cards, which I will use to pay for our food.

[Tink and co.]

I think if you've run the numbers and its about the same, I'd do the dining plan. It saves a lot of hassle and fuss. Leftover snacks were our favorite part! We had a great time choosing treats to bring home! Your daughter will find plenty of choices even as an adult on the plan.Most places can do a larger portion of chicken strips or the like. We generally have some CS leftover too. We've gotten sandwiches for the trip home, and on our last trip we had a late big breakfast before heading to the airport.

[Thomhazel]

For what we want to eat and where we want to go I am convinced the dining plan would cost me money not save money. I have looked at it several times and I cannot figure a way it would save us money. This may be because we prefer not to do QS and tend to just do TS meals so we would be paying OOP. The DDP has too few TS credits for us but the deluxe has more than we would use. We prefer to pay OOP for our meals that gives us the flexibility to cancel one night if we feel we have eaten too much.

[yalibrarian]

We have been using the QSDP for several years. We know that we are not really saving money over paying OOP, but my husband can finally relax and order what he wants instead of just the cheapest thing--or even skipping meals because he just didn't want to pay. And it's so easy to use; no counting money out or worrying about how much you've charged. We have taken advantage of the "free" DP offer too; it works financially for us as we are three adults in a value room, so we normally save a couple hundred dollars, even paying full price for the room.

We previously were not big dessert people, but we do get it now, choosing things like cookies, muffins, fruit or yogurt parfaits much of the time as we can tote these back to the room for later snack consumption. And my son loves being able to have ice cream with his dinner. We also choose bottled beverages when dining at our resort food court and use our refillable mugs instead. That lets us have a beverage to take to the parks or just to enjoy in the room at night. We normally only eat one TS meal per trip, so the regular DP would not work for us at all, but with our roaming around/eating at will style, the QSDP works fine for us.

[Glenn Heyer]

We are a family of9 and have been doing the DDP for 4 years. We find it makes us relax and cool off by forcing us to sit and enjoy one another. With three grandchildren under six they seem to really enjoy the fantastic deserts and the much more relaxed atmosphere makes them eat more.. We do signature meals each night and so we actually only eat 2 meals per day and its perfect

[Coop]

We have done the reg DDP and the DxDP both. We like that the meals are all prepaid with the dining plan. That said, we are not going to do the plan on our next trip.

When we did the reg DDP, I had to figure which places were 1TS or 2TS. And if we used a 2 TS, then which day did we omit a TS all together?

When we did the DxDP (which we have done twice) we always had way too much food and ended up with 6 or so meals left over and at least 10 snacks! One time they let us convert our meals into 3 snacks each so we ended up with 40 snacks to take home - good thing we were driving!

Then you also have to take into consideration, you need to pay tips on all those TS you have. We had an additional $500-$600 just in tips on the DxDP.

Next time, we are planning on the TIW. We will put all the $$ that we would have spent on the DxDP onto a prepaid card (Visa or gift card) and use that specifically for dining only. There were times when DH and I would have been satisfied with appetizers and a beverage. But on the dining plan, you feel you HAVE to eat/order everything "that is coming to you". (I've actually had CM say that before). We have also been so full and not really wanted dessert but because it was on the plan . . . We would have been happy waiting and getting a Mickey Bar in the park. So with the TIW card, we will still get a discount at select restaurants but be able to eat at our pace.

Either way you go - enjoy eating at Disney! Some of the best restaurants ever!

[Thomhazel]

Originally Posted by Coop

We have done the reg DDP and the DxDP both. We like that the meals are all prepaid with the dining plan. That said, we are not going to do the plan on our next trip. When we did the reg DDP, I had to figure which places were 1TS or 2TS. And if we used a 2 TS, then which day did we omit a TS all together? When we did the DxDP (which we have done twice) we always had way too much food and ended up with 6 or so meals left over and at least 10 snacks!

I totally agree, now if they did a plan somewhere between the two we would probably buy it. For our next trip we need 7TS credits but would get 4 with DDP and 12 with deluxe. Not a good fit.