Dining Plans: Worth the cost?

[SquierJosh]

We're booked for a week in January at Saratoga Springs. We'd prefer to buy some groceries and make most of our meals, but realize we're going to be pretty busy that week. Are the plans worth it? They seem awfully expensive for what I hear isn't the greatest food. Are we better off packing some PB sandwiches and just stopping for the occasional snack inside the parks?

 

[Kevlar10]

Here is one thought that I did not see here. If you have a child between 1 and 3, the dining plan makes a lot of sense. We went with my son (4) and my youngest son (2). If you are under 3, you do not pay for their plan but the food is enough to share with the youngest and they will give you full table settings for children under 3. My older son is not a big eater and neither is my wife so there was always plenty to share. At the buffets, it is also a big bonus, because under 3 is still free. Myself, I can eat more than the rest combined so the DP worked out great for us. Now that my sons are older, they will have to be paid for but we have a new princess (1.5 yo) and we will taking her along as well, and getting the dining plan (1QS and 1TS). One other thing to consider, the snack credits can be used for a lot of different food items in all of the parks, for everything from drinks (which we pay for) to candy and ice cream. Make sure you use them, even if it is for souvenirs or snacks for the way home.

 

[AngryEyes]

My daughter and I did the dining plan in September and it was just too much food for us. The only way we could eat everything was to do a quick service breakfast, which killed any sort of value we might have received, and then a table service dinner. Then, we ended up having to find places to squeeze in the snacks. One day, for example, we had a very early breakfast and had a later dinner scheduled, so we went and bought like six snacks from the food court for lunch.

We've got free dining again for Christmas for four of us and I expect we'll do the same. No way would I pay for it, because we'd definitely lose money on the deal.

 

[BrianV]

My daughter and I did the dining plan in September and it was just too much food for us. The only way we could eat everything was to do a quick service breakfast, which killed any sort of value we might have received, and then a table service dinner. Then, we ended up having to find places to squeeze in the snacks. One day, for example, we had a very early breakfast and had a later dinner scheduled, so we went and bought like six snacks from the food court for lunch.

We've got free dining again for Christmas for four of us and I expect we'll do the same. No way would I pay for it, because we'd definitely lose money on the deal.

Just curious...how did you manage free dining at Christmas? I thought they usually offered at off-peak times.

Have fun!

 

[Tuvalu]

Just curious...how did you manage free dining at Christmas? I thought they usually offered at off-peak times.

Have fun!

A free dining promotion was offered thru December 20/21 (not sure on exact day). As long as you were checked in by the expiration date of the promotion, you got free dining for the length of your stay. My friend's vacation is from December 20-30 and her family has free dining.

 

[BrianV]

A free dining promotion was offered thru December 20/21 (not sure on exact day). As long as you were checked in by the expiration date of the promotion, you got free dining for the length of your stay. My friend's vacation is from December 20-30 and her family has free dining.

Awesome. What a good deal!

 

[PhilharMagician]

A free dining promotion was offered thru December 20/21 (not sure on exact day). As long as you were checked in by the expiration date of the promotion, you got free dining for the length of your stay. My friend's vacation is from December 20-30 and her family has free dining.

I thought they stopped allowing the free dining to be carried past the promotion dates a few years ago?

 

[AngryEyes]

Just curious...how did you manage free dining at Christmas? I thought they usually offered at off-peak times.

Have fun!

A free dining promotion was offered thru December 20/21 (not sure on exact day). As long as you were checked in by the expiration date of the promotion, you got free dining for the length of your stay. My friend's vacation is from December 20-30 and her family has free dining.

Yep. I don't remember exactly what the last day was, but we check in on the 20th, so it's good throughout our stay.

 

[Tuvalu]

I thought they stopped allowing the free dining to be carried past the promotion dates a few years ago?

Apparently not. Both my friend and @AngryEyes have free dining past the end of the promotion date

 

[englanddg]

I get the Deluxe every trip. It's always too much food. We never spend all the credits (though I have "saved" money off it it before). I always end up splurging the last of my snack credits on rice crispy treats on the last day or two to give away to family/co-workers/friends when I get back. In fact, this past trip report, I broke it down day by day, and didn't break even at all (though, I did come out ahead quite a few times).

All those observations about it are true. That being said.

I like it for one reason. I don't sweat the cost of meals. I can completely ignore the prices, in most cases, and since it comes with app/entree/dessert, I try things I normally wouldn't (such as apps and desserts, which I'd probably skip if I were paying out of pocket).

So, to me, it's a psychological "enjoyment" thing, just like one of the things I loved about the cruise is that the food was, for the most part, "free".

 

[Dubman]

We just had free dining on our last trip Nov 8-16th. Only pain was checking out on the 8th and checking back in on the 9th. It's definately a lot of food! Almost to much because you feel the need to get the most bang for your buck. In cases where we would normally share a desert we were each getting our own. Snack credits we used up in one day at the food and wine festival between the 3 of us. We would never spend money to get the dining plan, but in a way we did this last trip.. I priced out room only package(we stayed at Pop) and free dining offer(we upgraded to regular dining plan from quick service plan) and the "free dining plan" cost us ~500.00 more than room only res because you are paying the non-discounted price for the room. But we would have spent well more than 500.00 on food with the room only plan.. How much more? I didn't keep all the receipts but I imagine we would have spent close to 1000.00 in 7 nights ~ 150.00/night so I figured we saved roughly 50% on food by using dining plan.. Hope that makes some sense..

 

[PHS79]

Our last trip the "free dining" promotion was already going by the time we booked so we took it. We found out that we enjoyed the DDP (1 qs, 1 ts, 1 snack), actually we enjoyed the fact that we didn't bother looking at the food prices we just ordered what we wanted. I know that if we were paying out of pocket that we probably would have only done 1 character meal, instead we did 4. Also instead of ordering steak, ribs, shrimp ect, I probably would have gotten burgers or pizza because of the prices.

The TS meals do give you a good amount of food. There is now way that my DW and DD could finish their meals, but lucky for us I have a GREAT metabolism and I am usually a bottomless pit. So we all end up full and happy from the TS. The QS on the other hand I usually had to "top off" with a couple of snacks afterwards, but for most normal people the QS meals will usually fill them up.

For our next trip this February, we just booked the DDP right away but then lucked out that our dates fell into the free dining promo that came out a month or so ago.